Beard Status plus a piece of NaNoWriMo history I just unearthed.

 

1. Beard Status - My beard is definitely getting fuller.  I'm not sure how long it will last beyond when I see my brother on Saturday, though.  Way more white hairs than I thought.
2. The very first set of notes for Bullets Don't Blink.  The part that I think is funny is that one of the characters is listed as "girl (dead)."  Apologies for the photo being sideways.  I thought I could rotate it after I uploaded it.

NaNoWriMo 2011 - Day 28 Report

Can you believe NaNoWriMo is almost over?  It seems like just yesterday I was worrying about not being prepared enough.

I had big plans about printing out Bullets Don't Blink today and starting my revision but I'm a little gunshy about it.  Not to mention still tired from the earlier exertions of the month.  Well, that might be an exaggeration.  I did write a short story during my clandestine writing time today that may become the first chapter of something somewhere down the line.

I guess I feel like I need to recharge my batteries a bit before returning to Bullets Don't Blink.  Reading a few quick crime books would go a long way toward preparing me for months of editing.

On a side note, it's really hard coming back to work after four days off.

The Brief Thanksgiving Rundown

1. A yellowjacket stung the shit out of me while I was walking to a cave on my Grandpa's property with some cousins.  It did not hamper my spelunking.
2. Only 4 desserts this year, way down from 2007's 14.
3. I found out my dad comes up with an excuse to leave early ahead of time when these family gatherings come along.  That must be where I get it from.
4. My cousin that's a nurse has the best stories in the family.  Most of them are quite disgusting.
5. Beard reception was overwhelmingly positive.  Looks like I'll be hanging on to it for another couple weeks at least.
6. Since it was nice outside, there were no post-dinner comas on the couch.  This is the first time in recorded history when this happened at a family gathering.
7. My uncle dug through a bag of trash for a reason that I can no longer recall.

That's about it.  It was very fun as far as Thanksgivings go.  Make me think Christmas will also be enjoyable this year.

NaNoWriMo - Day 23 - Finished Already?

My first set of eyes emailed me today telling me she finished reading Bullets Don't Blink already.  I think it was Monday evening when I sent it to her.  Shouldn't it have taken her longer to read something that took three weeks to write?

Choice comments include:

1. What's the deal with the Yankee's hat? Garvin found it in a tree and you never mentioned it again.
2. I couldn't put it down.
3. I can't believe you made me care about a murdering ex-con.
4. Didn't see the twist at the end coming.
5. When are you writing the next one?

All good points besides me completely forgetting about the Yankee's hat after I mentioned it.  I can't decide if I'll take it out when I start editing or work it in.

Even though I wasn't planning on it, I sent it to a couple other people for feedback before I start editing.  We'll see how they feel about it.

NaNoWriMo - Day 22 - Stop reading so fast!

So last night, my friend that always gets to read my NaNoWriMo novel first, usually while it's in progress, emailed me, hinting that she needed something to read.  I sent Bullets Don't Blink to her last night and went about my business, reading and thinking about writing.

This morning, I get into work to find her 25% done already!  It probably took me five or six days to write what she read in an evening.  Not fair, if you ask me.  She's enjoying it, though.  That's good.  I think having a picture on her desk of one of the real life locations depicted in the novel has boosted her enthusiasm.  I told her to make it last but I have a feeling she'll be done when we come back from the Thanksgiving holidays.

In other news, I was reading through Sweating Bullets, my July Camp NaNoWriMo novel last night.  While I like big parts of it, I'm thinking about using the overall plot and the nuns with chainsaws and combining them with some older things of mine that I also only like parts of.  I will have to think about this for a bit more before I commit.

What would you do in this situation?

This morning, I was checking my Gold Box on Amazon like I do every morning, looking for the 5% off deal of my dreams, when I saw a flashing banner telling me I could spend my Discover Rewards points on Amazon.  Since I always forget said points exist, I went ahead and linked my account.

Imagine my surprise when I suddenly had nearly $200 to spend on Amazon.

With almost 200 bucks to spend, I could buy most of the Christmas presents I'm responsible for and still have money left over.  Or I could go hog wild and buy a few books with this sudden windfall to reward myself for NaNoWriMo and put the rest toward Christmas gifts.

I went with the second option, of course.  Although my definition of "a few" turned out to mean nine.

At least the money I spend on Christmas presents will go toward my reward points and thus continue to fuel my addiction.

NaNoWriMo 2011 - Day 20 Report - Beard status picture

Anyone remember what I used to do in my spare time?  Aside from a trip to the grocery store, I haven't done much today other than mess around on Facebook and catch up on blogs.