NaNo Update

As you can see the month is almost over.  I might not die.  And I have over 40,000 words so I might actually do this thing.  Wow.  Just wow.

Now I have a couple of problems.   The first one is I’m afraid I am going to run out of story before I hit 50,000 words.  Then what do I do?

The second is I am having a hard time finding something to read.  I don’t want to read anything in the genre I am writing because I don’t want it to influence what I’m writing.  And I have a book in the genre I am working on sitting on my desk calling to me in an inviting fashion.  It’s such a tease.

Of course now I also want to re-read On Writing by Stephen King and Bird by Bird by Anne LaMott.  But I’m afraid if I read any writing books right now it will interfere with my groove, if that’s what you want to call it.  They will have to wait until December.  That’s probably a good thing because December Is For Editing.  Although in my case I suspect any editing will have to wait until January.

I probably shouldn’t be talking about this like I’ve already finished it.  Disaster could still strike between now and next Monday.

New Moon

So I went ot see New Moon this morning.  I went with my friend A to the 11:30 show.  We figured that still gave us an hour after the movie got out to do whatever else we needed to do before the kids got home from school.  A is my movie buddy.  She goes with me to all the movies I really want to see but feel like I shouldn’t.  We have seen the last three Harry Potter movies together and now this one.  It’s good to have a partner in crime.

So here is how my day at the cinema went.

When I finished at the gym it was only 10 o’clock, still way too crazy early to go to the cinema, this was too bad, because the cinema is just across from the gym.  I should have planned that better.  So I came home and dropped off my gym stuff, checked my email and got back in the car.

There were a handful of people milling around waiting for the ticket office to open, but not hundreds or anything like that.  I’m sure it was a different story at the midnight shows.  The crowd looked like it was made up primarily of college age girls, a few other Twilight moms like A and myself, a couple of guys (that surprised me – they didn’t even have dates with them) and two middle school age girls.  I am assuming those girls did not cut class and catch a bus to the twelveplex from the middle school.  I am assuming their moms called them in sick at school and took them to the movie. In other words, their moms are infinitely cooler than me.  If you would like verification on that point ask The Princess.

I am not going to try to review the movie for a couple of different reasons.  First of all, I’m bad at that kind of thing, and second; I could never top this one.  So I will just say you get what you paid for.  If you are a Twilight fan you will like it.  I did.  OF course, if you are a Twilight fan it won’t matter what I say about the movie, or what anybody else says for that matter, you are going to see it anyway.

In some ways this movie was better.  The pacing was better, and the styling was better.  The supernatural fight scene was still pretty corny, but I have come to the conclusion that it’s possible there is no good way to stage a vampire fight without it looking stupid.  And Robert Pattinson doesn’t look quite so much like a meth addict, although the red lipstick still comes and goes from scene to scene.  Perhaps the continuity editor should pay more attention to that.  Sometimes his lips are very red, sometimes not.  It’s distracting.  I should note here that I am in no way suggesting Robert Pattinson is a meth addict, just that in the last movie he kind of had that mangy junkie look going on.

I am very conflicted about my Twilight fandom.  This article describes it pretty well.

The books are truly ridiculous.  The writing is terrible and overblown.  Stephanie Meyer does love her adjectives.  The books are awful, and as I was reading them I kept saying to myself, this is ridiculous, this is So Bad.  Why am I still reading this?  I said these things to  myself as I turned page after page.  In short, I find them strangely compelling.  Like when you see a car wreck at the side of the road, you just cannot turn away.  Twilight is a lot like that.  You know you should stop, but you can’t.  I would feel bad about saying that, but I don’t think Stephanie Meyer cares.  Stephanie Meyer is laughing all the way to the bank.  With my money.

Eclipse comes out June 30.  Mark your calendars.

Two more days

Here is an email I sent out today

Ahoy fellow book club members

I am deeply embarrassed to admit this, but I am planning on going to see New Moon on Friday morning.  The first show is at 11:30 and that’s the one I am planning to attend.  Does anybody want to join me?

I will probably try to buy my ticket tomorrow if they will let me.  Yell if you are interested and I can get one for you too.

Hanging my head in shame

Kathy

So far I have one “yes” one “no” and one “I’m already going to the 4:00 show”.

I wish I didn’t like these movies as much as I do.  I should also mention that Princes O is furious that I will not take her to the movie with me.  I am mean mean mean.

Almost time

Friday baby

Oh yeah.

It has come to my attention that our local multiplex will be showing all New Moon all the time this weekend.  In fact, as near as I can figure it, New Moon is the only film they are showing.  Wow.  Just wow.

The good news is, the first show on Friday is at 11:30 in the morning.  How handy!  That give me plenty of time to go to the gym, go to the movie and still be home when school gets out.  Excellent.  Of course this means I will be at the first show of the day.

My sister said she wasn’t sure she wanted to go on the first day.  She said it seemed kind of dorky.  I agreed with her but I am willing to own the dorkiness.  Besides, if I don’t go early I probably won’t get a chance to go and then I’ll miss it.  I don’t want that to happen.

They are also showing Twilight on Thursday night at 9, then The Very First  New Moon showing is at 12:01.  I don’t think I will go to that one.  It’s tempting though.

How not to become mother of the year

I have learned something this month.  I have learned that NaNoWriMo and housework are mutually exclusive.  Well, that may not be entirely true.  Some days I think to myself, “I have to do this, this, this, this, this and this before I can work on my novel”  (Or “do the NaNo as Tom and I refer to it) Other days it’s more like, “I can’t possibly do the laundry, I need to Realize My Vision” or some other such nonsense.

And by the way, I hate doing laundry, so I am getting behind.  It has to be the most Sisyphean and thankless of all household chores.  Nobody ever notices when the clothes are clean, unless they are pointing out to you that you have put their long sleeved shirts in their short sleeve drawer.  Again.  But boy will you hear about it if the laundry is dirty.  Usually 30 minutes before they have to go to school and realize they have no clean underwear.

But I digress.  The point of all this is I am preoccupied and easily distracted, even more than normal, and so things fall through the cracks.

Here’s an example.

Today the C-man decided he wanted Jell-O in his lunch.  This was a “plan B” lunch option because we were out of apples.  And if I wasn’t so preoccupied with the NaNo I would have known we were out of apples.  Anyway, I knew we had some in the fridge so I said that was fine.  It had been in there a while but I figured it would be okay.  I packed his lunch, put some Jell-O in one of those super-tiny Glad-Ware containers threw in a plastic spoon and took him to school.

Then I came home and dumped the rest of the Jell-O out thinking I would make him a fresh batch.  And what did I discover while dumping out the Jell-O?  Mold.  Yes, mold.  I had just sent my baby to school with moldy Jell-O.  What to do?

Well, what could I do?  I grabbed my car keys, drove to the store, bought some of those little cups of pre-made Jell-O (at great expense for Jell-O) drove to school and pulled the old switcheroo.  So the story has a happy ending, but what a train wreck.  I am planning to put all this on my application for mother of the year.

Twenty years ago

I love this movie

Don’t you feel old now?  I know I do.

NaNoWriMo 2.0 week two aka The Wall

Well week two is here, and I think I have hit the proverbial wall.

Now I understand why the NaNo people say week two is the worst.  I have come to the conclusion that this book is really and truly awful, and nobody but me would ever want to read it.  In fact I am not even sure I want to read it.  Ugh!

Well, I suppose there is nothing to do now but complain.  Complain and keep stringing words together.  And then complain some more.  The only thing more fun than writing a novel for NaNoWriMo  during November is not writing your novel during November or complaining about writing your novel.

Nearly half way there.  Week three looms on the horizon.  I hear things get better in week three.

Happy Birthday Sesame Street

Everything I ever needed to know I learned from Sesame Street.  I watched it when I was a kid.  I watched it with my kids.  What’s not to love?

This one was one of my favorites.  I don’t know why I remember this one so well.

And who could forget

A shopping conundrum

I was engaging in a little retail therapy this morning at Target.  We needed super exciting things like dish soap and shampoo.  While I was there I also checked out some of the Christmas stuff, but they don’t have all of it out yet, so it was kind of unsatisfying.

I think I found a new fake Christmas tree, but I’m not sure.  Maybe I will hog-tie Tom and drag him over there to look at it.  He should enjoy that.   I know he won’t care, but sometimes you just need somebody else’s opinion.  Even if that opinion is “whatever you want, dear”.  (And by the way, that is always the right answer).

But I digress.  That is not the conundrum.  The conundrum is this:

You may or may not know that Target now gives you a 5-cent credit for every reusable bag you use on your shopping excursion.  I think this is very cool.  The problem is, the people at the check out NEVER remember to give it to me.  And I never notice until after the transaction is complete.

So I never know what to do.  Should I get back in line and point out that they forgot to give me my credit?  It’s just a nickel, and complaining seems kind of pedantic and churlish.  Especially when one considers the fact that they will have to hold up the line to bring it to the cashier’s attention.

But on the other hand, if people don’t point out that they have forgotten the credit, they will never ever remember to do it.  They need to be reminded.

What to do?  What to do?

Nanowrimo update

10,529 down, 39, 471 to go.

I’m afraid I have used up all my words for the day, and I don’t have any to spare for the old blog-o-rama.  Sorry.