Plans for the New Year

In lieu of making a bunch of New Year's resolutions that I have little to no chance of keeping, I've given some thought as to what I can do at this site. I've been increasingly lax in posting here, partly due to being busy with other things (mostly work, but I do from time to time have something bearing a slight resemblance to a social life - shocking!).

The main problem, though, has been a lack of something to say. There has been more than one occasion when I've wanted to post, known I was long overdue for a post, and couldn't think of a single interesting thing to say. I've noticed that in other places where I write, I spend an inordinate amount of time whining incessantly about my crappy job and what a humongous loser I am. Honestly, I don't need any more places to do that.

There were a lot of things that went on last year that, frankly, amounted to a big ball of suck that I'm still trying to cope with and process. Sudden and unexpected family illness, and a few complications of my own. More than one friend who inexplicably disappeared from my life without saying a word, and one who exited with a word or two to say that made me doubt pretty much everything I believed to be true. Massive amounts of self loathing. People who, through their actions, constantly reminded me how worthless I am. Dealing with my past. Coming to terms with my place in the world. Yeah, 2005 kinda blew, but I don't feel comfortable writing about the details in such a public forum. (Ah, the paradox of blogging: what I sometimes need to get out of my system is stuff that is for the most part nobody's business.)

Of course, there were some bright spots: the New York trip, a second completed (but not yet edited) novel, the Cleveland abduction weekend, friends that reappeared from my past, new and wonderful friends, drunken nights at the Dubliner (R.I.P.), overcaffeinated plots hatched at the IHOP, and weekends filled with knitting and silliness courtesy of Zappagirl and Memnoch.

So anyway... 2006. So far it's been, as my buddy Gojiro so aptly put it, kind of a little bitch. But that's a whole 'nother blog.

In an effort to post here more than once a month, I have come up with a plan to post certain things on specific days. On Mondays, I will post a music mix of some sort or another. It may be a Rhapsody mix, it may be themed, it may be the first ten songs that played when I released the shufflemonkeys on Antoinette (my iPod). Fridays will be reserved for a lame online quiz or meme. And between those two scheduled posts... well, who knows? It could be a laundry list of what's going on in my life, a political rant, or the end product of a word-prompt exercise.

I'm not guaranteeing anything. You all know by now that I'm great with the planning, but awful on the follow-through. But I'm going to at least make an effort....

NaNo 2005: The Wrap-up

Aw, crap. I did it again, didn't I? I completely let time get away from me and almost didn't get a post up for the entire month of December.

(Actually, I'd been planning to do a year end wrap-up after the holidays, but I got a nudging reminder from a reader that I'd left the results of the NaNoWriMo thing up in the air. So consider this a brief update until I get all ponderous and melancholy about my life next week.)

I finished NaNoWriMo again this year, crossing the finish line at 50,949 words on the morning of November 25th. Miraculously, the story doesn't completely suck. It's still in need of some major editing; some scenes need to be fleshed out towards the end, and some tangents need to be expanded upon. The "John Hughes movie" gimmick needs some polishing. But all in all, I'm pleased with the results. (I'm also pleased with the fact that I resisted and didn't do grievous bodily harm to my antagonist. There was a particular chapter where I completely loathed him to the point of having to walk away from the keyboard. It's a miracle that his next appearance in the story didn't conclude with something like this:

I smiled at him, reaching behind the sofa to retrieve the flamethrower I'd left back there for just such an occasion. "After all this time, I'd hoped you would have some sort of respect for my feelings," I remarked, checking the settings on the weapon. "But I guess I always saw things the way I wanted them to be rather than the way they actually were."

The color drained from his face. "Can't we talk about this?" he asked nervously, carefully setting his wine glass down on the coffee table.

I shook my head. "What's the use? I can't remember the last time you were honest with me."

I pulled the trigger and watched as the flames engulfed the recliner. Damn. That was going to come out of my security deposit.

Doesn't really have that cheeky chick lit feel to it, does it?

So, yeah. The evil ex character lives. I not only spared his life, I actually gave him a chance at redemption in the last scene. I'm a hopeless sap.

In addition to contending with evil ex-boyfriend characters and plotlines that jumped back and forth between present day and 1987, I kind of ended up as the de facto Municipal Liaison for the Cincinnati area. Our official ML had asked back in October if I could cover for her while she was out of the country for a week or so in mid-November. She organized the Kick-Off party the weekend before Halloween, and then... well, I don't know. She dropped off the face of the earth. Her last post to her online journal was on November 2nd, she disappeared from the NaNo forums, she didn't reply to any of my emails. In despeartion, I randomly selected a coffee house for the Saturday meeting. And the Tuesday meeting. And the following Saturday's meeting... And the Midway Day party... And you can see where this is going, huh? (It's now almost a month later, and I still haven't heard a thing from her. She posted a few times to her journal, and both I and another NaNo writer made "welcome back" comments to no response. Oh well.)

Somewhere over the course of many drinks at the Thank God It's Over party at the Dubliner, a vote was taken by the other NaNos and I was elected the new ML. I was not present for this coup; I was in the bathroom at the time. (Hmm. I see a new motto for next year. It's not as good as "I only signed up for the parties!" though.)

At one point I stopped writing to make a seed beed necklace. Hey, it was integral to the plot. Calling it method writing.

I'm in the process of compiling the soundtrack this week. I have to hunt down a few songs that I currently only have on vinyl or never got around to buying. Who knew I would need Anthrax's cover of "Bring tha Noise" at this point in my life? So it's off to the iTunes Music Store with me, I suppose. Hopefully that will inspire me to actually edit this year....

This year's NaNo was brought to you by Chock Full O' Nuts, Gallo Café Zinfandel, Sampoerna Xtras, Smithwick's, the Highland Coffee House, Rhapsody New Wave Radio, and WOXY Vintage.