TaeKwonDo Competition.

Aside from NaNo other things do happen in my life. My kids are going to competition this week end. My daughter is keyed up and ready to kick some butt. She'll be doing point sparring and yellow belt form. She's both excited and nervous. My son still isn't sure if he wants to compete. He knows she's better at it then he is in both catagories, so he's not sure if he wants to give it a go. I'm not sure whether to encourage him any way or not. I think I'll just let him make this decision on his own with no urging either way from me.

Trying to be supportive without over inflating his ego or giving a false sense of security is not easy. Ah, the trials of being a mother. I'm just proud of both of them. Hell, I don't care if they never win a competition. Just seeing how much they've improved and grown makes me smile. I'm a proud Mama.

Okay, enough of with the kid, I'm sure your saying. Be forewarned though. Come competion time, you'll be hearing from me again. Mothers have a way of doing that when it comes to their babes.

NaNoWriMo Has Begun.

NaNoWriMo has begun. The thrill, the panic, the frustration, HEHEHE, the excitement. I love doing NaNo. Its a huge boost to my self esteem. And this year, things seem to be going fairly well.

Since I haven't yet written a word this morning, my end count for yesterday, day two, was 5534. That's pretty damn good. My personal WC goal is 2500 which is just under 1k of what the daily minimum is to win by the 30th. 1600 and some change will get you to the magically 50,000 by the end of the month. See, breaking it down like that it almost sounds easy.

This is my second year doing NaNo. So far I'm amped and ready, Hoping for the very best by the end of this month. Then again, the dreaded week two marker hasn't hit me yet. Ouch. That always sucks. Week Two is the scourge of all NaNoites. If you can make it past that, you'll most likely make your goal, or close anyway.

For those wondering what the HELL those weird letters are all about...

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check the links section. There's a link to NaNoWriMo (aka. National Novel Writing Month) site.

For those who already know what NaNo is and are actually giving it a shot, be it your 1st or 10th, Good Luck!

Happy writing every one.

Tae Kwon Do Advancement

Hi all, my kids did it. They made the advancement in Yellow Belt. Not the best picts, I know, but we couldn't get any closer without causing a stir, is it is, I was the only momma there snapping pictures, though one Dad was video taping his boy advance in Blue Belt.




They look so cute, don't they?

:)

Great Editing Day

You probably don't care, but I sure do. I got a massive amount done yesterday with my novel. 2 and 1/2 chapters. Now this consisted of rewriting two chapters and almost fixing one, so I'm pretty pleased.

I have now rewritten and fixed 15,600 words all together. I'm on chapter 12 out of 52. So, I have a long way to go, but I'm getting there. This is just the plot filling and fixing stage, I haven't even started to add description (I always forget description for some reason), rework individual sentences or make it into something that flows well. I'm just fixing the series of events so the characters and plot do what I want them to do by the end of this thing.

By the time I'm finished, I still wouldn't show it to my mother, and see thinks nearly all the trash I write should be published. Ah, mom's are so wonderfully blind, aren't they? Or, maybe they just pretend to be. I don't care which, it's fun just to hear her talk. Some days I just need to hear it.

Okay, that's it for me. I'm sure I'm boring you.

Later.

Halloween Begins

Last night, I dragged out some of my decorations. Including the bloody fountain, the creeping hand, owl, bats and countless other thing. Oh Man, I love Halloween. The spooks and scares, the CD that screams and gargoyles that scare my neighbors. Eh, they have no sense of fun.

Every year, things at our house get better and better. I have two dummies, who I've named Uncles Fred and George. They live in the attic until Halloween, and then sit on my porch steps for a month out of the year. For something new we want to set up a mock guillotine and expand our small graveyard.

Hehehe, I think my neighbors really hate us this time of year. I always get dark looks every time I set up our outside display. Last year we splurged and bought my nephews fog machine for $10. He never uses it anymore and its several years old. Works like a charm though. We had enough spooks to scare adults and children alike. Of course, children under 7 don't get the full treatment, and my little nephew who is frightened of everything from spooky noises to skeletons, knows better than to hit our house trick-or-treating. He just waits for the grab bag we set aside for him. You'd think at the age of 11, he'd be use to us by now.

Halloween, my favorite holiday. The time when I can dress up like anything I want to be and hand out candy. Just be careful, my zombie-daughter might be hiding in the bushes between the houses, and that's my sickle-wielding-son not another dummy sitting beside the porch. You never know which members of the family have decided to come by and spook our neighbors.

A family that scares together stays together.

Time is running out for us to start getting all of our stuff set up. Looks like this weekend we'll try and start things off. My kids love to help, and you should hear the new ideas that have for this year's freight fest.

Later.

NaNoWriMo Impatience

A friend and I were talking the other day, and both of us are eager to start the grand stress filled month of November. Its so close now that I'm afraid to start any new idea in fear of having nothing to write come November. If I'm this antsy now, can you imagine how I'll be come mid-October?

I did find a great link I somehow lost over the past year. A word count meter. Very cool. It looks like this:

25,000 / 50,000 (50.0%)

I thought it was neat as hell, and if I have time during NaNo to keep up with this blog, I'll use it.

Okay, so I'm obsessing. Shoot me.

Tick, tick, tick.

Ugh, November hurry up already. :)

Inside My Characters

I decided to have a bit of fun and play write today. After accomplishing 1500 words all before breakfast, and most of next month's web pages coded and out of the way this weekend, I thought some fun was in order.

Play, as in, writing something a little bit different. I made a blog. Not this type of blog, this one is fun. My blog Inventive Rambling is for characters only. That means anyone who is wandering around in my mind is free to leave a message or journal entry from the terrible life I happen to be putting them through. These characters are not necessarily from the same stories, but they are all mine, and 100% pure fiction.

Take a peek and tell me what you think. Remember, these are entries from the character, not me (well, you know what I mean). And, NO, none of these journal entries make it into the stories, they are just fun for me to play with.

-Chris

Adventures in Babysitting

Well, I certainly had an interesting week. My niece went on vacation this week and I volunteered to what her 19 month old son while they were gone. I can sum up the experience in just a few words. Fun, pleasant, exhausting and stressful.

Don't get me wrong. I really LOVED having him, but both of my kids are now in their teens, so baby proofing, diaper changing, and crankiness have not been in my life for sometime now. I forgot how exhausting baby's are. Thank God my kids are older. I get the wonderful luxury of having them go to school for eight hours a day, and making them clean up after their own messes. I am really going to have to take him on again next time I think about having another baby. LOL.

Actually Zander was an angel, considering his mother was gone almost a week. I only had one really bad day, but his schedule was all out of whack, and spending the first night in a strange house didn't help matters.

I'm so proud of my niece, she's young (just turned 21) but as a single mother, she's done a great job with Zander, working, finished school and is even looking into college. Considering her sister had three kids by age 18, no job and no want what-so-ever to get a job or an education, I must say, Crystal is a great girl. She's raising a wonderfully happy boy and has a great head on her shoulders. If anyone deserved the vacation, it was her.

-Chris