NaNoWriMo 2016: Dammit

 Well... uhm... okay look, this time it did not go as planned. I actually had a good start the first week or so. Kinda like last year, where I was thrown off by illness and the starting of my new job, but I was able to make a comeback that I was quite proud of.

Not this time, sadly.

basically me by month's end

First off, I will be blunt and say that Trump becoming the president-elect bummed me out something serious. I mean, what the hell do you do when you did as much as you could to make sure the asshole didn't get elected and he "won"? It turns out I wasn't the only one, there were a lot of writers I followed on Twitter that were depressed. Even Stephen King had to take a break from Twitter.

Then slowly but surely, more people I followed revealed they were upset about what happened. They were concerned for family and friends, angry at those who voted and/or were reacting by being horrible human beings (well, more so than usual), and wanting to do something good (I promise I'll address this more in an upcoming entry on what I'm thinking about doing...).

Tweets after the election were outpourings of love and awareness, even a few speaking to those who created art to get ready and be more empowered to create more than ever. In dark times such as these, art will flourish, speak for the voiceless, and bring us a measure of joy when we think there is none left. It was those tweets that got me to think of coming back to the projects and also to do NaNoWriMo every year until otherwise indicated (I was thinking of calling this time as my last).

While I did not return to the projects, I learned a valuable lesson: do not do multiple projects during NaNoWriMo. Just focus on one! I ran into a similar issue in 2014, but it didn't sink in until this time.

actual footage* of me trying to write later in the month...
*not actual footage

After somewhat recovering from post-election malaise, I got smacked with an awful, ass-kicking head and chest cold. It was a perfect storm of WTF that took up most of my last days as a twenty-something. The cold delayed my initial appointment to get my tattoo, which was on the 18th (it changed to the 22nd). On top of all that, I also got so wicked drunk that I was violently ill for most of the night (also learned watching Interstellar drunk is not a good idea, despite that it was a fantastic movie). Needless to say that November was not a month in my favor.

But now empowered to keep creating, I vow to keep doing NaNoWriMo every year and to get back to my project (in this case, Dolls) next month so it can be done by New Year's Eve. Despite the setbacks (aw, that's cute, "setbacks" is being nice...), I did get over 15K on Dolls and it's getting close to being finished. So not all was lost nor underachieved.

Bottom line is that whenever craziness throws lemons at you, make lemonade and not invite craziness to your awesome lemonade brunch 'cause it can go f*** itself.

OMG I'M 30 AAAAAHH

me in five years, just you wait...

So on Saturday, I turned that fated age of 30, marking three decades of living behind me... one decade closer to being a "middle-aged adult". As I sit here in my abode, listening to Norah Jones's new album, watching Commander Holly's videos, and babying my tattoo... I can say with absolute certainty I am happy to be finally here.

My twenties were... really rough (and that's being nice). The last year of it or so were better, but I dealt with eight+ years of bull-crap, too much for me to want to stay in that decade for much longer than needed. So it was a huge sigh of relief to get to this point. I am beyond fortunate to have survived the toughest decade of my life to get here. From here on out, I declare my thirties to be the most awesome ever.

I celebrate even in these dark times of uncertainty, fear, and downright surrealism we as Americans face now and will continue to until... the cows comes home? Man, I don't know. (More on my thoughts about this going forward in a future entry...)

For those who had a birthday Saturday, happy birthday fellow Sagittarians! For the ones already here, we're in for the long haul, let's get to it. For the newcomers, welcome to Spaceship Earth! We need you more than ever.

*just remembered that Steve Buscemi is also a Sagittarian... O_O*

Surprise Big Thing!

Hey people, it's been a while, so glad to be back here on the blog! As I mentioned in a past entry, I had some big things happening this month. Well, here is the surprise one:

I got a tattoo!

I Am Not Proud to Be an American

A long time ago, when I was a wee lass, my mother told me that my great-grandfather on her side was a member of the KKK. Needless to say, I was horrified on learning this. After the shock wore off, I made a vow that I would do everything in my power to undo as much damage as he had done when he was alive.

Today, with the election results, this feels more relevant than ever. I'm writing this, cringing for the impact of what will be an unmitigated disaster for this nation.

I feel like how I did when I found out that I am a descendant of the KKK: ashamed. Yet responsible. No, I did not elect for that asshole. Yet it was my race and the privilege that comes with it that did it.

I want to apologize, but I feel the words will hurt more. A bandage on a broken soul.

Instead, I will do more than apologize. I will vow not only to undo as much of the damage that this will wrought, but I will stand at the front lines with all those that will fight.

Fuck you if you voted for Trump. You are responsible for this and you will clean up this mess once the damage has been done.

For those who fight and will continue to, I love you from the bottom of my heart and without condition. I am on your side. Count me in.

This got too personal. This has gone on far too long.

And you don't want to fuck with me. I am part Irish. I am a liberal stuck in a red state. I am also a writer armed with words. Just sayin'...

NaNoWriMo 2016: Whoops, Meant to Tell Y'all This

Yeah sorry for the radio silence. Again, it is all because of work. But I am happy to let y'all know that some BIG stuff is set to happen this month! One I'll keep as a surprise, the other I'll reveal now:

I'm doing NaNoWriMo again!

But instead of a brand-spankin'-new project, I am working on finishing not one but TWO unfinished WIPs. One is last year's NaNo winner and the other is our good friend Dolls (who yes, still remains unfinished... until now!). Right now I am over the estimated word count for Dolls (100K), but I still need to add some scenes, so I'm going into overtime.

Once that gets finished, I'll begin on Thing and continue on until it's all over (or November finishes out, whichever happens first).

I'll get back to regular updates. Until then, enjoy one of my favorite episodes of Ross's Game Dungeon: