Hey Writers! Are you ready to be scared?

Halloween might give some a fright, with bats and ghouls roaming around all night. But for writers the day is scarier then many becasue it means tomorrow you have to start your story, even if ideas you don't have any!

Are you ready for NANO? I'm not. I mean, I signed up. I have an idea rolling though my head. I even figured out who the narrator was going to be. Sounds like I am on a roll, right? Wrong! There is just one tiny problem. I have no idea when I am going to find time to write 50,000 words! Oh well, what is the fun of trying if it didn't push you?

So NANO writers here is the deal...
If you are writing every day, you need to write 1,667 words a day to get your 50,000 in. If you are taking a break weekly (5 days off) it is 2,000. Now of course you can do this in lumps or all in one day, but this is your rough estimate. So how about we start with a bang?
For your first 500 words go buy yourself a coke (or your yummy drink of prefrence).
For your 1,000 word goal dig into the kids Halloween candy and pick any treat you want.
And if you hit 1,667 words tomorrow then you get to surf on the computer for 30 minutes!

More golas will be coming. Make sure you post what you are doing here, or somewhere else so you can get the encouragement it is going to take.

Last but not least. I will be trying to type goals as often as possible, but there will be no editing of my blog as all my spare time needs to be focused on my book, so sorry for all the typos. I don't care, I have a book to write.

Remember this is NANOWRIMO...Decemeber is for editing.

Hello my name is....

I love nick names. There is something fun about a special name that you can call your little one and they know mommy gave them that name. M has always been my Minchkineli because when she was little she would have me read YOU ARE SPECIAL over and over again to her. When C was born she had the sqiushyest cheeks ever so she became my Squishy Pie. And when L was born well we called him Poopers as you can imagine why. After awhile I felt bad for that nickname and since he had such a round tummy it was edited into Pooh Bear which he has been ever since.
It wasn't until recently though, that I discovered that he really thinks that is his name. Oh he will answer to his real name, but he never calls himself by that. The other day waiting for C to get out of school we met a nice woman and her dog. L loved the dog and while playing with it, the woman asked him his name..."Pooh Bear" he said. I then tell her his name and he gets mad. "My name is Pooh Bear!"
Last night at dinner he was blessing everyone at the table and when he got to him he said "Bless Pooh Bear". It was so cute. I've always known he was a wild animal, but it doesn't matter, I would not trade my Pooh Bear for anything!


PS 2 more days till Nano. Are you ready? I'm not, but I will make sure to post a reward to give yourself on Saturday, so come have a look and WRITE ON!

Yearbook

Tonight for family time we played with pictures on the computer. This is one of the kids favorite pass times. D's Mac is super cool. They can take pictures of themselves with warped faces, or riding on a roller coaster, or underwater. We did the look alike meter and all three kids looked equally like the two of us, but then we went to www.yearbookyourself.com and we found some post worthy treasures. Here is a little look at what the Berlin family might have looked like in a different time.

Here is D in 1964




M in 1984




C in 1966




L in 1952



And here I am in the year I was born, 1976.





What can I say? Are we a family of lookers or what?

A LITTLE BIT OF FUNNY

I have been sick this week. It has not been the most fun, as any progress towards getting the house packed and the other house painted have gone down the tube. SO the other night when I was grouchy, D pulled out the computer and casually just put this video on. It was not the first time he has shown it to me, but for some bizarre reason every time the doll hands come out I bust up. Since D and I usually watch a show together on his MAC before bed, he has taken to playing this nightly for me. If you need a little funny in your life go on and watch it. Another bonus is, it's a SNL skit that is actually kid friendly! (Hint, it really starts about a minute in so if you don't want to watch the whole thing drag the timer to 1 minute and start from there) Enjoy!

NANOWRIMO

I can't believe that national writer's month is already coming up again. Last year I participated and wrote over 50,000 words in one month. This year I plan on doing things a little different.
It has been a hard year for my writing. It started off with a bang. In February I went to LTUE and got to meet several cool authors. I had a private (well Aly came with me) meeting with Orson Scott Card to discuss the first few pages of my NANOWRIMO story. I spent March and April sending out queries on AND THE SKY FULL OF STARS, and In June I went up to Bosie to see an agent who had requested a partial on the same book. Then I began to get sick and it seemed as if everything just flew out the window. I stopped writing, querying, thinking...Well you get the point.
So here I am, 1 year from NANOWRIMO and not a lot to show for my writing.
The good news is that I am feeling better. The thyroid is under control as well as the diabetes. I have more energy and my characters have popped out of nowhere and started talking to me again. I am even considering going to some writing conferences. The Bad news is...with the remodeling of a home, packing up the old one, and catching up on life that stopped while I was sick, finding time to write is near impossible. But I want to do NANO....just in my own way.
So, I will not be starting with a new story, but one that is outlined in my head and researched. NANOWRIMO encourages you to write a novel from scratch and then use December to edit. I will be starting from Chapter One, but have a lot of things worked out already. So here is a challenge for any of you who want to do Nano, (basically write 50,000 words in November), but don't want to start with a fresh story. Do Nano my way. I will be posting ideas for rewards you can give yourself and ideas throughout November to help you make your goal. If you need someplace to report to you can do it here, and if you finish and really really really want a certificate, I am sure I can come up with something! So just because you don't want to start a story from scratch, don't let that make you give up on the real NANO goal....50,000 words in one month. Oh, and we can also make goals for anyone who is done with a novel, but wanting to polish it, anyone who just wants to make an outline, anyone who wants to spend the month researching. Let me know what your goal is. Together we can get all those novels out of us and onto the shelves!

What is a girl to do?

I love TO-DO lists. In fact, I usually thrive on them. A whole schedule written down mapping out my day. I have even gone as far as assigning a time slot to each thing on my TO-DO list before. Sometimes I tell my kids I am not an octopus, but even as I joke, I still try to be one. But now? Now with having to deal with two homes, one that needs to be kept clean and packed, one that needs to be ripped apart and refinished; three kids, two who have home work, one that wants to do school the entire time the girls are gone, all three who need mommy play time and cuddle time (and a have a mommy that needs that too); the intense desire to write as creative thoughts that have been absent for so long, now seem to be flooding my mind; wanting to edit at least two friends stories that are sitting in my large email pile waiting for me to read them; the email pile itself; having to put together and figure out Halloween costumes; wanting to have Christmas shopping finished before Thanksgiving like I always try to do; knowing that D is going to be going out of town for a bit; and life in general, I don't know if I dare write all these things down. I am afraid that I will see there is not enough time in the day. I am afraid I need to be at least two octopodes. I'm afraid I need help!
And I know I did just write them down, but with no real specifics, with no real intention of looking at that list again for fear of what might jump out from it and bite me. So, I just am wondering, because I am not superficial enough to think that I am the only woman out there with way to much to do, how do you do it? How do you accomplish everything you need to and want to without going mental? How do you stretch the day to meet all of your demands? And what do you do if you can't? I am sinking in my own TO-DO list and calling on you to tell me: WHAT IS A GIRL TO DO?

What is the issue?

This is going to be a political blog entry. I have keep quiet for a long time because I truly believe that in America it is not only our right to vote, but our right to be free to vote as we feel. The upcoming election has brought many points out. I am not going to say that any of the candidates are perfect. They are not. But sometimes it comes down to what is important. I am not Catholic, but I think that this video which I saw on my friend Tristi's blog says something important to people of all faiths and religions. I don't want to start a fight with this. You can disagree with me, but please do so in a manner that is clean and tasteful. The thing I want to accomplish by posting this is not to tell you who to vote for, but to ask you that before you vote at least make a prayerful decision. I know that when we ask our Heavenly Father in humble prayer, having faith in Christ, our prayers will be answered. I have made my decision through prayer and hope that everyone will do so to be at peace with the candidate you feel is the best choice for your own beliefs. My friend said an interesting thing. If you vote for something, it is like saying you believe in it. So no matter whose name you check on November 4th, just make sure you are doing what you believe in, and not just voting to Rock the vote.

NEW HOUSE

Well we are officially homeowners. In fact, right now I am sitting on the floor of my new house (we have no furniture yet) blogging, and watching D chip out the tile in the downstairs bathroom. Our plans for the future include: new paint, new carpet, new tile (which the previous owners kindly left enough for us to use), raingutters adn then we will move in. I am thinking about a month. Yay!