Tales of Spinning and Spinning Tales

Am I spinning too fast?  I’m spinning, there is no question… every waking moment seems to be filled with some activity, or crisis aversion, or preparation to avoid future crisis.  I am the preparer of sustenance, nagger of homework, social and sporting chauffeur, labourer of laundry, shepherd of hygiene, soother of booboos, purveyor of discipline, finder of lost things, unclogger/unplugger/untangler/unwhateverer… Apparently what I am not these days is a reader of books and writer of blogs.  There has been no time.

I need that time.

This thinking is, of course, exasperated by the fact that November looms, and with it the two Nano challenges…

First, NaBloPoMo… National Blog Posting Month…. A post a day for thirty days.  I have tried this for the last few Novembers, and some years actually managed to pull it off.  Can’t say the content was top notch, but it was there.

The other is NaNoWriMo… National Novel Writing Month… A 50,000 word novel in 30 days… I have tried this twice, and failed dismally both times.  Each year I think I’ll have a larger plan for my characters before November 1st, and each year I enter with no clue where the story eventually goes, and invariably where it goes is down the tubes.  This year, however, a character from a kid’s (unpublished and rarely submitted) story I wrote when my own children were little has been popping into my head advising me that his tale is much much bigger than I originally told it.  Dare I go down the road again?  And how do I do all this with all the life spinning going on?

Perhaps I will spin myself silly.

So my dear blog friends, what do you think of these crazy notions.  Am I just so punchy from tiredness that I am actually considering these?  And would any of you jump into these spinny games with me?

Something You Don’t Know About Me #3

Since reading the Eragon books, I think I’ve started to develop an interest in dragon stories (though probably not necessarily of a ‘slay the dragon’ variety).  Does anyone know of any other books where a dragon is central to the story, but is not necessarily the enemy to be vanquished? 

And while we’re on the topic of books, In addition to NaBloPoMo, I signed up for NaNoWriMo again this year and am failing miserably.  The problem is, I like my characters too much to write crap about them.  It’s too tramatic for me.  I need to struggle with the perfect words.  I know it will be a great exercise for me if I can just let go and do it.  I think I need to start over with brand new situations and characters that I haven’t imagined yet and don’t necessarily even like and see where that takes me.  Maybe I’ll even throw a dragon in for good measure…

One More Week!

One more week until November….

Are your keyboards ready?

First, for anyone with writing aspirations, allow me to direct you to NaNoWriMo… National Novel Writing Month. Challenge yourself to write a 50,000 word novel in 30 days. I’ve tried twice and failed twice. Meh. You have nothing to lose by trying, and if you succeed you win the much sought after bragging rights of calling yourself a novelist. While I admit I have not yet signed up for this one yet, I probably will. Maybe.

And for those who may wish a somewhat mini version, there is NaBloPoMo… National Blog Posting Month. Challenge yourself to write a blog post every single day for the month of November. You might actually win real prizes. I have the achieved the bragging rights of winning this challenge last year, though I am still disappointed that I did not win that “Writing Well” t-shirt I have longed for, which happened to be a prize last year. This year, it doesn’t seem to be a prize, but think how cool I’d be a cocktail parties if I could say I was a two-time NaBloPoMo winner. Not that I go to cocktail parties. Or ever seem cool. Meh. I’m doing it anyway.

Bring on the coffee. Let the games begin.