Sunday Salon: This is what procrastination and not having enough sleep looks like

I have been up since four o'clock this morning. Why? My body thought it was five and I could not go back to sleep. After being too tired to do almost anything today, I only have 358 words typed for my book. I did find a great new blog called 37 Days hosted by Patti. I also studied for an upcoming biology test and spent some much-needed time with one of my kid sisters. So I did accomplish something.

Total word count: 2165. Not bad.

Just need to think about my character more.

Nanowrimo Day 1

I finally hit my quota of 1,667 words. I wrote an amazing (for me) 1,707 words. I'm starting to get a feel for my character and her life. I know it's a novel with the supernatural mixed in. I'm just blown that I completed today's count. At 5k words I will buy myself a nanowrimo-young writers program t-shirt. But I have to write five thousand words and remember to buy the damn shirt.

I need everyone reading this to leave a comment Monday, reminding me about my five thousand words. Tuesday I need you guys to remind me to buy the shirt only if I have every single word written down.

Now I can go read and wash dishes. Good luck to everyone participating.

Nanowrimo and The Bloody Chamber

I am not a writer.

I am a reader.

A lover of the real and the bizarre, great plots and even better sentences.

But since I think everyone should get step out of their comfort zone for a minute, I'm participating in this year's Nanowrimo, otherwise known as National Novel Writing Month. Nanowrimo starts every year on November 1st and for the whole month, thousands of people will write a novel, word by word, while trying to accomplishing their total word count. The prize: the ability to say honestly that you wrote a novel.

This will be the third year I've participated and I am determined to accomplish my word count of 50,000 words. What is my book about or its title, you ask? I have no idea. I barely have my protagonist's name.

But that will not stop me.

I will write word after word until I reach my goal despite tests, studying, family, and life in general. I will get to 50, 000 words by writing 1,667 words a day. I just have no idea what I'm going to reward myself with at the end. Maybe with a nice book.
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It's Halloween night and not one child has knocked on my door. I'm glad I'm not the one who bought the candy this year. But no worries; I have Angela Carter's fairy tale masterpiece The Bloody Chamber to keep me company on this spooky night.

I heard about Angela Carter through a review by Carl at Stainless Steel Droppings. Then recently I read a great essay called "The Angela Carter Workshop" in Tin House. The essay's author, Ricky Moody, described what it was like to be a student in one of her workshops and to have an ongoing correspondence with her.

Carter went and retold old stories in a way that leaves the reader in awe. I know I held my breath several times while reading "The Company of Wolves," a retelling of Little Red Riding Hood. Once I finished reading it, I had to read the story over again. Highly recommended.