50k!

Well, there goes another exciting, depressing, fun, hair-tearing NaNoWriMo. Even though November isn't actually over yet, I quit. 50k is plenty for me this year. Maybe next year I'll do 75k, but for this year, I'm done. I've got a presentation to give on the applications of gas chromatography-mass spectrometry and reconstructed ion chromatography in forensic science Friday, and I should probably get started on it.

But it was a good 50 000 words (well, no, but it was a good time. Some of the time). Here's a screenshot I took:

BOOK!

So last year, for completing NaNoWriMo, I received a promo code for a free proof copy of my novel, from a self-publishing site called CreateSpace. After much fussing over formatting and cover-making, I uploaded my files and ordered my book about a week or maybe two ago. And it came in the mail today *happydance* and it is pretty damn awesome if I do say so myself. Now I just have to read it and decide how many people I'm going to let see it. Last time I read it through was a while ago, so I can't remember much of it.

Stress, maybe?

Been getting these headaches lately. Not sure why. Maybe cluster headaches come back to haunt me, maybe stress (novel/school/weird guilty apathy thing/relationships/lack thereof). It's usually a nighttime thing, although they occasionally come charging through during the day.

So, in my novel, the gay pirate has decided he's bi and he's going to fall in love with a salty wench, and the bi pirate has decided he's just gay and doesn't care much for salty wenches anymore, and Captain Jacques is way too close to finding out about the two of them banging each other at this point in the wordcount - er, novel...

33, 457 words and sort of maybe would be counting if xkcd weren't so damn distracting...

update

30, 616. Why am I doing this again?

My name is Michelle, and I'm an addict

To two things. And we all know that mixing drugs is dangerous. It's not my fault AdventureQuest is so damn fun and word wars are the only way I get much writing done. I just finished the Trobble quest and I'm in the middle of the Rogue quests, but I need to level up a bit before I can get any further in that. And last night we had an online write-in in the OttawaWriMo chat room, I won one of four word wars and tied in another two (the counts were within ten, so we called them ties).

And last night I managed to get to 25, 034

Fred's all better

Day two of NaNo, the going is good, when what happens? My laptop has a nervous breakdown. The touchpad stopped working, and no matter what I did I couldn't fix it. The driver for it ended up uninstalling itself in the process, so I can no longer zoom or scroll with it, but thanks to an awesome, google-going friend on MSN I managed to fix it a few minutes ago, which means it's time to get back to novelling.

9, 156 words and counting!

Go me!

I just won the very first Ottawa regional word war of November! We have a chatroom to hold virtual write-ins in, so we all hung out in there for the few minutes before the end of the day. Then we started at midnight sharp, cranked out words for 15 minutes, and then all posted our word counts. It was a pretty narrow margin, but I actually won!

Happy NaNo-ing, everyone.

4 hours 15 minutes 'till novel!

And I am so excited it's ridiculous. I'll have time to get in a horror movie or maybe two (if they're short) before midnight, but once that clock hits twelve I get to delve into all sorts of novel-ey goodness.

Happy Halloween!

Awesomeness

So last night was the Ottawa regional NaNoWriMo kick-off party, and it rocked. The friend who I was planning to bring missed the bus, so I went alone. I don't think he really would have enjoyed it anyway, it was just a bunch of people talking excitedly about their novels (my idea of fun, not really his). Besides that, the service was pretty bad and the food wasn't exceptionally great (everything I had was good except the chicken fried rice). The couple sitting next to me each ordered an appetizer and a main dish, and the food arrived in the following order with long breaks in between: husband's main dish, wife's main dish, wife's appetizer, husband's appetizer. Mine took a really long time, and the girl on the other side of me didn't even get her food at all.

But somehow, it was still fun. I got some great ideas, there were a couple fun activities, and everyone was so great and weird. It was kick-ass. And apparently, I'm some kind of hero for having been able to win NaNo last year without doing any write-ins and handwriting it. It was just cool all around. And there was a guy there who looked like Fred Flintstone.

Forecast for tomorrow...

20 to 30 cm of snow. Out of nowhere. First snow of the season and we get a god damn foot of the stuff. They better be wrong about this one.

In other news, 4 days, 4 hours, and 10 minutes until NaNoWriMo!

Awesomeness

Today went by pretty fast. All my classes felt short.

In art, my teacher told the grade 11s to get pens and ink and get to work on our projects before giving the grade 12s instructions. We were all well underway by the time they got all set up. Then he told them to each grab an easel, set it up somewhere around the class, and draw some grade 11s. We were all like "say what?" but it didn't end up bothering me, for one, because it's not like I could tell if any of them were drawing me.

And I managed to get one of my friends to come with me to the Ottawa NaNoWriMo kick-off party on Wednesday (my mom said I'm not allowed to go alone), so that'll be good fun. Definitely looking forward to it, and just remembered that I have to RSVP in the next 25 minutes, so I'd better get on that soon.

*Does a happy dance*

5 days, 7 hours, 17 minutes until NaNoWriMo starts. And I *might* be able to go to the kick-off party for my region if I can convince one of my friends to go because my mom doesn't want me bussing around downtown alone at night. *Is excited*