I blame MSN Messenger. Well, maybe it was my friend who used the messenger as the conduit for her crazy idea. Okay, so it wasn't exactly her crazy idea, but she did tell me about it. Millions of people writing fifty-thousand words in thirty days. During the month of November. Yep, November--you Continue Reading
NaNoWriMo
Winking, Blinking, Nod(ing): A 2020 NaNoWriMo Parody
It happens every year... the annual NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) parody. I've done a few of these, of course! The Night before Nano (A "T'was the Night Before Christmas" parody) The Raven (as in Poe's, of course) Tease (as in Joyce Kilmer's "Trees") Till November (A "My Continue Reading
All the Preparation in the World Won’t Write It for You
Anne Shirley once said, "I am so glad that I live in a world where there are Octobers." Well, I happen to agree with her. Here in America, though, October isn't just a month full of harvests and pumpkins, crisp autumn nights and vibrant trees. October is that month. You know the one... The Continue Reading
When Your Novel Is Awful, Shovel a Little Death into It
I made this video the other night. It says it all. I’ll wait while you have a laugh at my expense. … … … Yeah. So after I finished with that, I did just what I said. I went for the classic NaNoWriMo scene generation ploy… The Traveling Shovel of Death. This little bit of NaNo Continue Reading
The Best Formula for Destroying Beloved Poetry in 3 Easy Steps
It happens every year. I get an idea, and I run with it--a parody to celebrate the coming of NaNoWriMo--the national novel writing month. This is when crazies like me decide to write 50,000 words in 30 days--during the Thanksgiving holidays, no less. Now really, for me, that's not a lot of Continue Reading
NaNo’s Raven Is Rapping:
It's become a habit of mine to write a parody of different poems or stories as a prelude to NaNoWriMo each year. Some I posted on Facebook or private message boards, but you can find two of past years' parodies HERE and HERE. This year, I played with Edgar Allen Poe's "The Raven." It's not a good Continue Reading
Conquering NaNoWriMo: How I “Win” Every Year
Just days before November 1, 2006, a friend asked, "Have you seen this NaNoWriMo thing?" My response? Totally predictable. "NaNo-what, what?" But, of course, when I heard it was about writing--you know, that "wri" part?--I went to look it up. And signed up. Needed a book idea. I went Continue Reading
Night Before NaNo: A parody
It's that time! Time for this year's NaNoWriMo poem! T'was the Night before NaNo T'was the eve before NaNo And all through the house We were frantically cleaning-- Even my spouse. The blue bowl was filled With candy to spare In hopes that costumed darlings Soon would be there. The Continue Reading
Just One More…
I promise I won't turn this into a "woe is me" blog. There was a question on the NaNoWriMo forums tonight. I often don't get involved in discussions there, but this one tugged at me. The question that prompted the discussion was a simple one. "Anyone else just not... feeling it?" I thought Continue Reading
Camp NaNoWriMo!
Tomorrow I climb on the cyber bus to Camp NaNoWriMo. Well... for me it is almost today. I'll be starting at 12:00:01. Here, I'll join my other campers around the campfire and swat at the mosquitoes that try to suck the life from our stories. I'm sure there'll be a few letters written "home" (i.e. Continue Reading
What If…
The glass is just a glass? What if it isn't half anything? I mean, it was a nice little object lesson once upon a time. Now it's just annoying. I hate it when people ask me if I see life with a half full or half empty glass. Wanna know the truth? I don't see it either way. It's life, not a Continue Reading