A Book On Isms

 I warned you this was coming: My National Novel Writing Month project this year is going to be a non-fiction work examining American -Isms.

I've already done the introductory chapter, and starting into the first -ism I want to examine: Liberalism (you may remember when I bashed Conservatism on this blog awhile ago that I argued Liberalism was the primary ideology of our nation, and that Conservatism a reaction against that).

So I will not be blogging extensively this month. I need to focus on this project (and get one DONE for once!). I do have two other book projects on hand to finish up as well: I need cover artists, dammit!

If I do blog here this November, it will have to be in response to a major breaking news item like oh donald trump pleading GUILTY on one of his 91 criminal indictments.

Good luck on your writing projects, y'all. NOW GET TO TYPING!!!

Quick Word: NaNoWriMo 2021 Ongoing

I might not be on this blog much this month because National Novel Writing Month is back and I really really really need to focus on that.

Also, I'm a little pissed at Virginia voters right now and writing that whole state out of my will, WTF Virginia anything Youngkin (sp?) does to screw up your state is going to be on you now.

Also also, I really think Joe Manchin is officially more evil than Mitch McConnell right now because he keeps cutting at his own party's attempts to improve American lives for no other reason than to be an asshole to everybody making less than $77,000 a year.

Also also also, the Qanon nutjobs not only believe now that JFK Jr. is still alive and well and supporting trump but also that John-John's dad JFK (you know, the guy with a fcking rifle shot hole in his fcking head since Nov. 22 1963) faked his public assassination and was set to return this past weekend to publicly support trump for 2024 as well. Never mind the fact that EVERYONE'S SEEN THE ZAPRUDER FILM DOCUMENTING JFK'S GAPING HEAD WOUND, if Jack was still alive he'd be 107 YEARS OLD, which is kind of very very very very very fcking rare to see in a dead guy.

/headdesk

Some Novembers, the shit in the real world can't compete with the sci-fi fantasy stuff I try to write.

Keep Writing That NaNoWriMo Project: The 2019 Affair

I'm digging in my heels and getting sh-t done.

I promise.

Like the last 12 times.

It's gonna be a book about aliens! And trump making it worse.

The Reasons I Haven't Been Blogging Much and Probably Won't For October

For all the madness happening with trump's growing Ukraine scandal and the impeachment inquiry that finally triggered because it, and for all the stuff happening with Brexit that deserves attention, along with fifty other things ranging from climate change to police brutality to civil rights to protecting families from trump's ICE thugs...

I just can't keep up right now.

Work has been a mess for some time since 2018 when I got tabbed to serve as interim library director and coping with juggling two job duties at one time.

There's National Novel Writing Month coming up in November, and due to circumstances I had to take over as ML again which is tying up my free time.

And... I'm coping with some medical issues that's requiring me to focus on visiting doctors and maybe even getting prepped for surgery. I might talk about it later when I get a chance.

Simply, I'm just tired. I need a break of some kind. I'm sorry.

So for now, October is going to have to be a quiet month for me.

If something insane or dire that requires comment comes up, I may post something then.

Until then... well... wish me luck.

Feeling Askew At The Moment

There's stressful situations at work and I'm losing focus on this year's NaNoWriMo project and I'm not entirely sure I'll even get out of bed for much of the Thanksgiving weekend...

So you get a Maru with a magnifying glass.

Good luck with the turkey bombers.

NaNoWriMo 2017: Day One

Start writing a novel, people.

50,000 words.

You know you need to.

Thanksgiving 2016

Things I am thankful for:

My parents.
My siblings, older sister and older brother and slightly annoying twin brother.
My kittehs.
My closest friends, though few and on many days so far from where I am. I miss them, often. Facebook barely helps.
My professional career as a librarian. I get to help people, I get to solve problems, I get to do research and find out new things that I forget five minutes later.
My personal efforts at a writing career. Getting some of my stories out there for others to read. Getting a few decent reviews (would love, of course, to have more...) here and there. I am thankful I got another NaNoWriMo year of getting past 50,000 words on a novel project (that I know I NEED TO FINISH ONE DAY, DAMN ME).
I am thankful we got eight years of an Obama Presidency, as a measuring stick for our nation to see how a President should behave and lead.

Things I am not thankful for:

Watching my country get taken over by Nazis and Klansmen and total bastards, as the number of assaults both verbal and physical go up while the goddamn wingnuts openly give the Nazi salute. I thought we fought a f-cking world war to get rid of these Nazis. I thought we were growing past the race hatreds of the Jim Crow era. I thought we were going to listen to the better angels of our nature. Apparently, I was wrong. Apparently, there are still millions of total bastards among us eager to prove themselves bastards towards Blacks, Latinos, women, gays and transgender, and pretty much people Not Of THEIR Tribe.
And I am sure as hell not thankful the Presidency is going to get taken over by a known con artist, liar, and bankrupt thief like Donald Goddamn Trump. What the hell, America, what the hell.

Even kamikaze turkeys cannot brighten my mood.

Some Notes: May 2016 Edition

Just to state for the record:

1) I'm still going to be at the Local Author's Signing event at the Wesley Chapel FL Barnes & Noble store on Saturday May 21 from 2 PM to 4 PM. I don't care if most of my blog traffic comes from Japan and Russia, I wanna see ALL of you there to support local authors, dammit.

2) I am still working on taking parts of this blog and converting it into a published work, following in the footsteps of Molly Ivins and the newspaper columnists of olde. I'm doing this partly because I want a print record of the ten odd years I've been blogging, partly because the book is going to be about Obama's tenure and there needs to be an outsider's view of how it all went down, mostly because I'm sick of seeing all these anti-Obama books on the shelves at libraries and stores.

2a) That said, converting weblinks to footnotes is a painful and tedious process when you gotta do it by hand. I'm also still stuck on a decent-enough title, not that many people voting on the poll of suggested ones...

3) Going back through the pro-Obama stuff, I now regret not finding the time back in May 2011 writing up the impact and significance of the SEAL raid that killed Bin Laden. It's a key moment in Obama's first term that deserved discussion and I missed it (too busy stressing out over job-hunting at the time I suppose). I'm going to have to write a book-specific article about it.

4) I've decided on going Friday in street clothes to the Orlando MegaCon May 27, and on Saturday May 28 going dressed up as the Jedi.

Friday at Noon, author Bill Hatfield and others are going to discuss writing as part of NaNoWriMo, a forum which I hope to be an audience member. Check out the full schedule here.

On the Friday trip, I'm hoping others I know are going to show up and maybe we all can go see the X-Men movie at a nearby theater. Anybody? Anybody?

I'm Trying Not to Pay Attention But Attention Must Be Paid

Getting deeper into the weeds with my NaNoWriMo challenge, and yet I can't ignore the current state of affairs in the political arena.

And so, without much comment, I present links to other news and blog articles of particular interest that I wanna share to the seven blog readers I'd like to keep maintaining an interest in this place.

Debate news: in the "finally happening" category, the next GOP debate THIS SATURDAY has weeded down two more names off the main stage - Huckabee and Christie - to the kids' table, and kicked off two other names - Graham and Pataki - from the debates altogether (which is weird because Graham has actually been scoring well in the prelim debate rounds and his polling isn't any worse than the other survivors).

Also: more attention getting paid to the down-ticket woes Democrats are suffering at the state elections level via Blog for Arizona.

Also wik: Pinku-Sensei came up with a debate drink for Lawrence Lessig just as Lessig dropped out of the Democratic primaries because he never had an invite to the debates in the first place.  Ah, well, it's a drink order peoples!

Considering how the Kentucky state election results turned out, Rude Pundit needs those drink orders from Pinku-Sensei...

Gerrymandering in Florida: The state legislature failed YET ANOTHER special session - costing taxpayers another hefty fee for NOTHING - to consider a new district map for the Florida Senate this 2016.  Senators refused to make appropriate changes because not enough of them were willing to relocate their "safe" seats into more challenging open districts. Straight up, Florida: these politicians' refusal to abide by YOUR state amendments for Fair Districts should disqualify ALL of them from any re-election effort. They are not doing ANYTHING to EARN those jobs.

And finally: WHAT THE HELL IS BEN CARSON DOING TALKING ABOUT THE ANCIENT PYRAMIDS?!  I mean, seriously, any X-Phile would tell you ALIENS, bro, ALIENS...

Now, I need to reach 15,000 words by Sunday afternoon or we are all DOOMED!  Well, that and I need to finish editing that superhero novella for pre-Christmas release and this short story for the writers group anthology and...

When Next I Blog I Will Be Writing A Novel

Well, not on the blog itself, but I will be doing my NaNoWriMo novel attempt again this year.

If I do blog here during the month, it better be after I've earned by word count for the day - 1667 words a day equaling 50,000 words for the month - so you won't be seeing a lot of blogging this month anyway.  I am focused elsewhere.

With luck, this WILL be a novel I can finish all the way to publication, to join the ranks of self-published short stories and anthology collections that have published my works.

I will at least offer a warm Turkey Pagan Sacrifice Day greetings to all when the time is appropriate.

Getting To The Writing: NaNoWriMo Time 2015 Edition

We're coming up to November...

Which is another round of National Novel Writing Month (aka NaNoWriMo).

As a personal note, I'm going to be busy this November working as a Municipal Liaison here in Florida, meaning I'm not only writing but organizing, getting Write-Ins up and running at various places for fellow NaNo writers to attend.

Here's hoping this year goes well, and that a lot of good novels get typed into existence.

So to the seven readers writers following this blog, GET WRITING.

Downtime From Blogging...

I am going to use the month of March to focus hard on getting the rough draft of my NaNoWriMo project Ocean Dancers done.

I will finish this.

That means no distractions.

If I check in here, it will be to either keep my seven readers appraised of my efforts, and/or if the political scene does something incredibly stupid or tragic or both.

I Typed 50,000 Words For NaNoWriMo.

So there.

BRING ME THE FINEST CHEESES AND ROOT BEER IN THE LAND.

Should Have Told You About What Happened Last Hallows Eve

I mentioned last year that I lost a close kitteh, Tehya.  Still miss her and I miss the other kitteh Page...

I don't think I told you about what happened the Halloween that followed Tehya's passing.

I was at my apartment complex at night, waiting for kids to trick-or-treat.  I knew there were kids who lived in the complex, there were families there... yet, nobody knocking on the door.  Had the pumpkins out, and the hall light on, and signage... and candies...  Nope, no knocking.

But sitting there next to the door, in front of the laptop as I was prepping for my NaNoWriMo novel run for another November, I heard a kitten crying.

At the base of the apartment stairs was this small tuxedo (black with white patterns) kitteh meowing and meowing.

I knew there was a cat colony who lived in the complex.  We were near the woods and the woods were near a bike path and the bike path was near shopping centers etc.  Lots of abandoned kittehs too, left to fend for themselves.

She was this tiny thing, hungry and meowing.  Since I wasn't getting any kids for the candy, I went out to the Publix down the street and bought a box of pouches, poured one out on a paper plate, and served it to her.

Three other feral/abandoned kittehs jumped out for the plate from the nearby shrubbery.

They kinda came and went.  The tuxedo kitteh and an older grey tabby stuck around and got friendly.  The kitteh was a rolly, body rubbing kitteh that I nicknamed Wiggles.  She was friendly and fearless enough to approach me without a problem.  She was eager to enter my apartment and check things out.  It was like she wanted to hang out with me on a professional and personal basis.

By Thanksgiving, after checking around the apartments to see if Wiggles was already claimed, I wrapped her up and took her to the vet and adopted her.  Gave her a more formal name of Ocean.  Ocean the Wiggle Cat.

Mal and his 5 siblings came later.  More on him in the next post.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN.

Prepping for NaNoWriMo 2014

Being October means one other thing: getting prepared for National Novel Writing Month!

This year I've already got a plot idea - a quirky take on an alien invasion - so in that regards I'm ready to roll.

What's different this year is that I'm volunteering to serve as a Municipal Liaison (ML) for the Florida: Elsewhere region (Polk County despite it being the 5th largest metro population in the state doesn't have its own Region).  This brings with it some responsibilities.

I have to organize and host various Write-Ins in the area (getting those organized as we speak for local city libraries and writers' groups). I have to manage a calendar (although this might conflict with other MLs in other parts of Florida: Elsewhere, as it's a catch-all for a lot of places that are hours apart).

There's several other things I'll need to do during November, but with luck/skill/mostly luck we'll have a solid turnout of NaNo-ing among the writers of Central Florida.  Expect a wave of self-published ebooks out of Lakeland by the end of February!

Get NaNo-ing people.  Well, also get the damn vote out, but if I can juggle between those priorities you can too!

Personal Status: I NaNo'ed

NaNo: verb.  To succeed in writing 50,000 or more words to a novel during the month of November.

Victory is mine!  Now, to sleep!  

/face collapses on keyboard 

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ZZZzzzzzzzzzzzz

If Things Seem a Little Quiet Around Here, It's Because I'm NaNo-ing

I promise I will keep up with stuff like the Presidential Character reviews - next up, Carter! - and with any political craziness that may pop up on my radar here in Florida, but for now I'm not going to get too hopped up with some of the craziness on the national level.

Oh, and I'm currently stuck at 25,000 words.  I was going at a decent pace but slowed up last night.  I'll get back to it.  Feeling good about this year...

I Can't Hear You Over the Amount of NaNo-ing I'm Doing Right About Now

I'M TYPING AS FAST AS I CAN!

Figuring at this rate I might get to 3,000 words tonight.

Also wik, buy my books!

Bwhwhahahahahahahaaahahaahahahaahaahaahaahahaaaha

Personal Note: My Desktop Monitor is DEAD

My home computer cannot connect to any monitor or digital TV I try to plug in.

The Graphics Card may have quit in protest.

I have no choice now but to work from my laptop until further notice.

This also means I need to generate more money to pay for any repairs to the desktop.

Consider this my BUY MY EBOOKS post for the week.

Hero Cleanup Protocol - via Smashwords.com, although Nook and iBooks readers can access them through the regular retailer websites.

My author's page at Amazon.com - links to my personal anthology Last of the Grapefruit Wars and to the humor-horror anthology Strangely Funny (please also leave reviews if you purchase the titles, thanks)!

I'm working on finishing up a story or two before NaNoWriMo kicks in this November.

Slightly OT, but what the hell: I Survived NaNo

I survived NaNo.

The 50,000 word count was achieved last night.

And the novel itself is really 2/3s done, maybe half done. I have a ways to go before getting a publishable book out of this.

To all publishers: the bidding war starts now! Okay, okay, who's signing me for a 3-book $300 deal? Anyone? Anyone?