I'm about thirteen thousand words from finishing, and my story might be finished too soon. :D

I'm at the final revelation, the one that reveals who did the dirty deed. It's a bit of a complicated scene, but not thirteen thousand words. It's going to be a little rough stretching this scene, the capture, and the wrapping up stuff afterwards out that long, but I'll find the way.

I'm making a big push to finish it, tomorrow. I've got no family in the area, anymore, so I'm pretty much on my own for the day. If I spend the vast majority of the day sitting in front of my netbook cranking like crazy, I should be able to do it.

In the meantime, here's a short clip...

“Keller!” The Captain had called her name, so she snapped back to reality.

“Sorry, Captain. Viewing memories.”

“Oh, yeah. I want that thing cataloged and examined, by the way.”

“Oh, this is the wrong one. This one belongs to a witness by the name of Vanessa Teng. We got the chips turned around and so I'm going to have to go and pick the right one up from her.”

The captain stopped and stared hard at her for a long moment. “Did you just say Vanessa Teng?”

She shrugged. “Yeah, I know her through Chesire. We're old friends.”

“Oh,” he said. “I... think you should come see this.” He waved her into his office, where a monitor on his wall was running newsfeeds.

CNN's Cathy Sullivan was in the street with Police lights and throngs of Rescue and Police milling behind her in a scene surrounded by bright yellow guard tape. “If you're just now joining us, folks,” she was saying, “the tweets you have been receiving are all true. Vanessa Teng - Grammy Award winner and protege of Chesire fell from her Manhatten hotel room just moments ago. She is dead.”

So, one of the important things I was doing last week instead of writing was learning how to use a new feature on my Ubuntu Operating System. It's called Ubuntu One, and it's essentially, an automatic file backup / file sharing system.

Essentially, it creates a special file folder for the files that are most important to me. (like my NaNo.) I keep my NaNo in that folder and then every time I hit the Save button, not only is my project saved on my local machine, but Ubuntu One automatically backs it up on their server, so there's two copies in case anything happens to mine.

Or, that's the theory, anyway.

Truth be told, I think it's entirely my own fault. I think I disconnected the network before it could finish backing me up. I got up this morning, and there were two files on my Ubuntu One directory, and one of them said something about an "Ubuntu conflict." It was empty. The other file was my NaNo, but from a couple of hours (and almost 3,000 words) back from where I'd finished last night.

Like I said, I think it was my own fault. I shut down the program without making certain it was finished. :(

So, I managed to recover a few hundred words from the excerpt that I posted last night, and did one hour of quick writing to clear my head and get the blood flowing and did 2,000 words. So, I'm almost recovered from this little tragedy, but I am still starting from behind, today.

I'm not going to let this little setback get me down, though! I am SO going to kick NaNoWriMo's ass, today.

So, after the unexplained loss of 2,000 words, last week, followed by a lackluster performance in writing the following day, I spent a good part of this last week struggling to get any writing done.

Now, mind you, I was making a serious effort every day, I just wasn't accomplishing much. Part of that had to do with all the stress at work. I'm telling you here and now, folks. The closer we get to Christmas, the more tensions go up and the more I.Q.'s all over the world just drop like stones. People just get inexplicably stupid, this time of year. And grumpy! I have been cursed at with foul language more in the last few days than is even close to normal. I've been coming home from work just worn out. One day, somewhere in there, I actually slept eleven hours! My normal is just six.

So I wound up totalling only about a thousand words for the four or five days that I've been away. I started out this morning at about 21k. To be on track for the month, I would have to finish today at 35k, leaving me 15k words (about eight days) behind. :( I wasn't in very high spirits when I started out at Noon, but I set goals of 8k for today, and 9k for tomorrow to try my very best to catch up over the weekend.

I've got a really cool recording of a rainstorm that's an hour long. My plan was to pace myself through an hour of typing, take a quick break, and then do another hour, etc... My first hour, I thought I'd only done a few hundred words, but it turned out to be more than 1,500! I got revved up over that. The next hour, I did 1,900 and another 1,900 the hour after that! I took an hour-long break somewhere in there, but kept up a good pace. I kept challenging myself to beat 2k in an hour, but only accomplished it the last full hour before my brain hit a full stop and I couldn't do any more.

Final word count for today: 11,721 words! Woo-hoo! :)

I'm not caught up, yet, but I'm awfully close, and that is without a doubt my highest daily word count ever! I'm going to get an early start tomorrow and see just how far I can get!

In the meantime, here's an excerpt:

( Bastet learns about the mirror )

Half the day at work, today, I was falling asleep at my desk. I got a good night's sleep, last night, so I have no idea why, but I felt sleepy for most of the day.

So by the time I got home, I couldn't keep my eyes open. I popped off to bed and just got up, so I haven't written a word, yet. I'm going to start writing now and see what I get done before I have to leave for work.

In other news, I was supposed to start my new work schedule, this morning, but completely spaced it, signing in at my old time, which is now half an hour late. The folks in scheduling got a good laugh out of it, though. Apparently, people do that all the time, so I needn't worry. I just start the new schedule today.

So, here's a transcript from what little I didn't lose of yesterday's work:

I am so pissed off.

I didn't get any writing done for most of the week partly due to it being the busy season at work, leaving me stressed and tired, and partly because that muscle relaxer I took last week left me feeling tired all week long.

I went to the write-in on Saturday but only got about 600 words in because everything going on at once there left me a little overstimulated. That's okay, though, because I mainly go to those things for the social aspects. :)

Spent most of Sunday trying to get the wifi on my netbook working. Long story. Fedora sucks. I'm back to Ubuntu. If you don't know what I'm talking about, don't sweat it. Essentially, I had to reformat my hard drive a couple of times. Mind you, it would have been smart to back up my files first. *blush*

So, today, I started out at the very same word count I was at last week. A whole week behind. :( I worked my butt off for most of the day, agonizing over what should happen next, and finally had a good 3,000 words in there. Good stuff, too. I thought up another juicy little twist for the story to follow, and all that. I was exhausted and brain-fried, and my netbook needed a rest, too, so I saved it, backed it up, and shut the machine down.

An hour later, I turned it back on to partake in a "word war" with a friend and lo and behold! THOSE 3,000 WORDS WERE GONE! I checked the backup and it was the same! Just gone. No earthly idea what the fuck happened. None. Whatever happened must have happened before I backed it up and I just didn't notice, or something, but I just lost another damned day.

I checked the word count and it turns out I only lost 2,000 words, but STILL! I can't figure out what the hell happened to my work! I'm so pissed off.

*sits and fumes*

I'm ecstatic!

This afternoon, my NaNoWriMo wordcount was at a paltry 7,700 words.  To stay on track, I'd have to finish the day, today with exactly 15,000 which means I would have had to do four and a half day's worth of work in one day.

Ladies and Gentlemen, my word count as of now is 15,031. 

YES!!

Not only have I caught up in a day (half a day, really, since I didn't get started until 4:30 in the afternoon), but in the last hour, my furious ramblings improvised a nightmare sequence formed out of the victim's memories (now permanently lodged in her sister's brain) in which the victim's "ghost" points out to her detective sister that she missed a possible suspect - one that even I hadn't considered until I wrote that scene!

Woo-hoo!  I am SO glad I underprepared for this!  Improvisation rocks!

So, I am now completely caught up, and intend to stay that way, thankyouverymuch.  I am flat out exhausted and in need of a good night's sleep.  But first, here's a little excerpt (not the dream sequence, though.  It wouldn' t make any sense):

(OH, I should have mentioned that the detective sister has accidentally had a bunch of her late sister's memories implanted in her own brain by a malfunctioning computer chip.  So the stuff in regular font is normal narration, and the stuff in italics is memories.  Hope that helps.)

(OH, AND CAUTION!  SOME ADULT THEMES, HERE!)

 

( Read more... )

For a good part of this last week, I've been feeling off.  All of my neurological problems - the Tourette's, the ADHD, the Depression - have been ramped up and making me feel edgy, jittery, and just plain sick.  I've been on the edge of a seizure for days.  I didn't actually have one, but It's been almost impossible for me to concentrate all week long, and I haven't been able to sit still at all. 

As a result, I haven't been able to get much writing done.  

I'm at about 7,700 words, tonight.  I should be at 13,336.  I'm about three and a half days behind schedule.  :(

I'm resolved to fix it by next weekend, though.  I'll need to work my butt off all week, but I can do it.

I went to the write-in, last night, but had troubles.  All the cross-chatter made the edginess much worse, so I was forever getting up to walk around and then coming back because I wanted to be there.  My friends were really concerned, but I assured them I was okay.  I am glad that I decided to do NaNo this year, afterall.  I would have missed this.

Anyway, here's a brief excerpt:

 

( Read more... )

I worked on my NaNoWriMo project for almost the whole stinking day (except for a couple of breaks and for meals and stuff), and I did just over 5,000 words!  My total is now about 7,100 words, leaving me at just over two days ahead of schedule!  :)

The story has, indeed moved off in strange directions I didn't anticipate.  In fact, I'm worrying that I'm moving through the main plot too quickly.  But the improvisation I did as it moved has intrigued me.  Already, there's a love interest in the main character's life.  He's an ex-boyfriend and he's looking after her after she gets out of the hospital.  Isn't that sweet?

Can't post an excerpt, as I just realized I'm on the wrong computer, but I'll post one in the morning.

In other news, nothing else happened today, as I was writing all damned day.  But it feels so good to meet my (seriously challenging) word goal for the day!  *glows*

So I'm at the NaNoWriMo write-in for the day.  This is the second write-in, actually.  The first one was last night at eleven o'clock.  We all sat and talked and met new people for and hour, did a big countdown, and started writing together at Midnight.

That was at Perkins, tonight we're at Borders.  They're our corporate sponsor, this year.  Very cool.  They created a big space full of conference tables and miles of extension cords and power strips for us.  We're cozy and it's great.

Last night, I did 1,340 words, so I'm already doing well.  I'm doing this entry for now to get warmed up for the night.

Here's a little excerpt from last night's work:

Chesire had fallen from her 45^th story apartment at 05:36am. There were no early indications of a struggle – no marks on her skin, no bruising not consistent with the fall, no one else's skin cells under her fingernails. Chesire had been part of the “in” crowd in Manhattan, known to socialize with musicians, artists and the rich socialite assholes who tended to hang around with talented people to make themselves feel creative. No known regular boyfriends or girlfriends, numerous one-night stands. Professional relationship with her manager known to be shaky, as was the relationship with the producers...

Running the facts through her mind in marque style, moving them through her mind until they were second nature helped to steady her nerves. She didn't want to see this captain, and sure as hell didn't want to get involved in this investigation, but this had to be why she was being summoned there. And what was worse was that her captain at the 15^th had ordered her to give them all the help that they needed.

EDIT: Final word count for Nov. 1st was actually 2,049.

NaNoWriMo starts tomorrow night at Midnight!  W00t!

There is a kick-off writing session tomorrow night at the house of our local Municipal Liaison from ten pm until 2am.  Now that I think about it, though, we set all our clocks back at 2am Sunday morning, so I don't know if we're writing until the first 2am or the second 2am.  I'm hoping for the second one.

I am so underprepared for NaNo this year it's scary.  I really think that I overprepared a bit, last year.  This year, I have the basic idea and I'm improvising from there.  50,000 words of gobbledygook.  I'm just looking for the story and I'll sift it through in the editing process.  No goals for what scenes I'm reaching for, no preconcieved notions in my head.  I'm completely winging it.  Completely the opposite of last year.

Here's to hoping it works.  :P

I'm losing weight.

Woo-Hoo!

I've lost almost 30 pounds in the last couple of months, and at least an inch off the mid-section.

Go me.

:)

So, I had a little excitement at work on Friday.

I got a "bomb call."

I gave my standard greeting and he said (in a thick Middle-Eastern accent), "I'm buying a nuke."  I heard 'nuke,' but didn't think I'd heard right, so instead I thought he said, 'book,' and asked if he wanted me to send him a catalog.

He said, "No, I'm buying a nuke."

"A what, now?"

"I'M BUYING A NUCLEAR BOMB TO BLOW UP AMERICA!"

"Ah.  Hang on."

Here followed a brief pause as my brain activated 'Adrenaline Mode,' and I reached for my 'bomb alert' flag.  By the time I looked back, he was gone.

I filled out a report, and had to answer a few questions for security.  The supervisor who answered my flag told me that we had a lot more prank calls than usual, that day, but mine was the first that mentioned a bomb.  The girl sitting in front of me got the same guy a minute or two later, but he only mentioned a bomb; he didn't make any threats.

Now, I treat the word 'bomb' like I treat the word 'suicide.'  I don't care how much it sounds like a joke, I take it seriously.

...besides...

shit just wasn't funny.

In the meantime, I'm getting ready for NaNoWriMo, this year.  I think last year, I over-prepared in some ways and under-prepared in others, so I'm trying to learn from my mistakes.  I need to think up a few more ideas to work with, like characters, events, names, and such, but I'm not making an outline, this year.  I'm just going to ramble and see where the scenes take me.

I've already posted a synopsis for my project (see my last post) and tonight, I did a mock-up of a "cover art." for my NaNoWriMo info page.  I'll put it at the bottom of this post.

This year, I'm planning on not only posting a daily word count, but I'm also going to try to do a daily excerpt.

I don't know how much time I'll have in November, but I'm definitely psyched!

I've officially signed up for NaNoWriMo 2009.  My novel synopsis is as follows:

Good news!

One of the things that annoyed me most about not being on the Internet for however many weeks it was is that I wasn't able to get on the Internet and let anyone know how I was doing or keep up on their lives.  (My mild Internet addiction had nothing to do with it.  honest.) 

So now that I have just a few extra bucks, I went out yesterday and picked up a netbook computer.  This thing is so COOL!  The main advantage, of course, is that if (the heavens forbid) I ever lose my Internet again, I can at least travel to the nearest Borders or to the Scooters Coffee at the Westroads Mall and hook up on their free Wi-Fi and send out a few e-mails and such.

And of course, being the complete Linux fanatic that I am, I got it home and immediately ripped out the Windows XP system and installed the Ubuntu Netbook Remix 9.04.  I've been away from the Linux community for something like three years, owing to a motherboard in my home computer that freezes the mouse whenever I run any Linux system.  It's been driving me CRAZY!

I am so happy and relieved to be running Linux again.  :)  AND, I'm sitting in Borders as I write this!  Huzzah!  One reason I haven't bought a laptop yet - aside from the expense - is the weight.  When you walk or bike everywhere you go, those little extra pounds tend to add up, but the netbook is less than two-and-a-half pounds.  That's nothing.  I feel like I can get out more to write.  (Including, of course, the upcoming NaNoWriMo events in November.)

So, I'm a happier camper, all figured.  I did meet up with my NaNo friends, last week.  I completely forgot to post about it.  I'll write something down, later today.  I felt loved and missed.  It was good.

I've got a lot more work to do on this system, like downloading my favorite e-mail client, finding an old note-taking system I used to use, and so on, but I am so in love with this little box.  <3

Speaking of <333, did you get my e-mail, Mindy?

Lost my Internet connection for three months.

Pure.  Hell.

Missed you all SO much!

Business at my job plummeted early in the Summer and I lost a lot of hours.  I was getting about $100 a paycheck for a while, there.  I didn't have enough for the Internet, or my phone, and barely managed to keep up with my rent and my power.  (thank goodness for my VA disability pension.)

Business has picked up, though, and we are now entering the busy season.  They've even started to post available overtime hours.  I'm going to take as many as I can get through December. 

Now, I have over 2,000 e-mails to catch up on.  I'm canceling a lot of the crap mail I've been getting and ignoring.

Oh, and I am switching e-mails.  I've finally come to hate gmail.  I want to use Thunderbird to manage my e-mails and RSS feeds, but gmail doesn't play nice with it for some reason.  I installed Thunderbird and set up the account info for gmail, and it pulled down 260 e-mails out of 2,275!  I don't have time for this shit.  Besides, even though gmail FINALLY allows for folders, they only allow six!  Fuck 'em.

New e-mail for me:  ttmurphy@cox.net

Feel free to e-mail me.

In the meantime, I am reading your blogs again, and missed you all very much!

*BEAR-HUGS*  to you all.

Love you.

Happy birthday to a_red_autumn !

Great joy and much festivity on this day!

*pinch*

Merf

<333

The California State Supreme Court, in a statement summarizing their decision to uphold California Proposition 8 - effectively removing the rights of same-sex couples to marry - said that the state's constitution allows for the rights of any group of individuals to be removed or limited by popular vote of its citizens.

Essentially, this boils down to saying that unpopular people have no rights.

As an unpopular person, I would like to invite the California State Supreme Court to go and fuck themselves.

(and yes, that's my official reaction)

My father called at 8am to let me know that he and mom are on their way to see me, this morning.  They should be here by Noon. 

I would grumble about short notice, but apparently they didn't know they were coming until this morning, either.  They're running on a really tight schedule and a hole appeared in it this morning, so they decided to come up here.

They've bought me an electric grill to replace the gas grill they bought me for Christmas, which I had to get rid of because it turns out to be illegal.  (I have contraband goods in my apartment... it's so thrilling.)

It's not that I mind them coming up at all.  Quite the contrary.  But now I'm not going to make it to the gym, today, or be able to dye my hair, or shave my legs, or try out those darling new stockings, or paint my toenails Barbie-pink.

*LOL*  just kidding.  Except for the gym.  Won't have time for that.

Happy Memorial Day to all!

Whereas most people end their Memorial Day today, I started mine.  I have Tuesdays and Wednesdays off. 

I'm feeling better, today.  I've been feeling better, but today saw some real changes. 

First off, I pulled out my planner (the one I spent a hundred bucks on and then hardly ever use...)  and started getting back into the habit of using it.  Most of the time, the ADHD makes it hard for me to remember to get things done, but when you toss Depression into the mix, I wind up meandering through the days if I don't use my planner.  I swear, I'm going to get into the habit of using the damned thing if it kills me.

And speaking of killing me, I went to the gym, today.  I checked my record book, and the last time I went was right when the insomnia started, two-and-a-half months ago.  See what I mean about wandering through the days?  I'm going to have to adjust my workout levels, as I've de-trained a bit in the last couple of months.  Serves me right.  If I'd been going to the gym, I'd have had a much lower chance of getting sick in the first place.  (Yes, I'm mad at myself.  It'll help me go back to the gym regularly.)

Tomorrow, I'm going to list all of my storie ideas on the big whiteboards in my office.  I'm going to pick one and get started writing it.