November 2009 Archives

It's been a great Thanksgiving weekend. But right now I am busy being in awe of myself because I am a winner.

You read it here first.

This has been an incredible experience for me, building my confidence as a writer but on a more personal level as well. Too often I can't reach the goals I set for my projects, and I am stunned that I have done it here.

This post is going to be about how great I am. Deal with it.

All of you people out there: even if you don't like writing, and are certain that you would fail, I think you should give Nanowrimo a try. You'll learn a lot about yourself, and step outside your everyday routine for a month. The experience verges on the transformative, and everyone can gain from it.

Now pardon me, please. I need to go into the bathroom and gaze at my winning smile with smug satisfaction.

I received this amazing photograph from my Auntie Ba in response to my posting about creepy goat masks.

It's taken from the Baton Rogue period, where Ba and Uncle G were living on the Mysterious Bayou.

There's something really fantastic about these, and it's not just that my family is so cool. The aged look of the picture, the bold colors, strange setting, and the completely awesome mask make it seem more like found art than a family snapshot. But maybe that's the point?

I'm trying hard to focus on my writing, but it's nearly midnight and I've barely started. Perhaps I pushed myself too hard last night with the big 5k.

For some reason I'd rather play the banjo (poorly) and sing (not half bad).

Ah well.

Here's the thought for the day:

After passing several milestones on Nanowrimo, I've stalled this weekend. I'm two days behind, plus what needs to be done tonight. Not auspicious, it's true. Especially considering how close I am to the finish line.

I'll make it up, though.

While I struggle with my projects, be sure to check out this great Tom Waits/Kool Keith collaboration off of the N.A.S.A. album "The Spirit of Apollo."

This was brought to my attention by one Cathy, and I've been enjoying the album all weekend.

Also: David Byrne, Charlie 2na (both of whom I enjoy), Gift of Gab, and Z-Trip (neither of whom I know).

Since the beginning of November I've been participating in National Novel Writing Month, more frequently reffered to by the awkward acronym NaNoWriMo.

The idea is to write a 50,000 word novel by the end of November. I was doing great for a while, but I would now list my status as "pretty good." I am about 3,000 words behind because I was lazy for two days, but I am hoping that I can get a big push in this weekend and take me back to where I need to be.

It doesn't help that I am reaching the end of what I had actually planned for, but oh well. You can follow my progress here. Wish me luck! And if you're doing NaNoWriMo yourself, be sure to let me know!

Until December, NaNoWriMo (in addition to some fun collaborative things I have going on in Google Wave) are going to keep my pretty tied up. I'll try to kick it up and start making some content, though. I miss working on Passable Adventures.

Anyway, here are some doodles. The first was playing around with gradients and how much I love the Tumblr logo. If I didn't already have a bunch of under-nourished blogs I would totally hit that up.

The second is a story story or something. I don't know. Click for a larger image.