Tag: NaNoWriMo

Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s quote – one worth pondering

“She generally gave herself very good advice (though she very seldom followed it).”
– Lewis Carroll, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland

 

I read the above quote recently and saved it because it seemed a good one to ponder. As a young girl I read Alice in Wonderland more than once. At the time this quote didn’t set itself apart but reading it again I can relate to it.

I quite often give very good advice  – to others and myself. None of us give my advice the full respect it deserves.

The advice I give myself most often leans heavily toward being more organized and on schedule. It doesn’t work out very well, though, mostly because I balk at being stuck in routine. I like my routine to have wide boundaries, flimsy (pliable) structure for when I feel like changing things up, and varied so that I … don’t feel stuck.

Does that make me a bit of a rebel? Perhaps. But maybe that is why I like to NOT be like everybody else. Not too different and out there, but not a carbon copy of everything around me. 

How about you? Do you – like Alice – give yourself very good advice? And do you follow it? Or do you find yourself chasing the white rabbit now and again, just trying to find out what oddity lies ahead? 

Nano – at a standstill; one more idea for PiBoIdMo making my total 24 ideas for day 18.

Thanks for reading, and … Creative Musings!

Who was born on your birthday?

My writing update: the usual ‘nothing more’ for NaNo, but I got one more idea for PiBoIdMo today, making my total 23 ideas for day 17.

piboidmo2013-lightbulb-happy-200x254

 

 

 

 

 

I’ve still got the ‘warm fuzzies’ from the love that came my way on my special day, including e-cards, emails, phone calls, a parcel in the mail – some of them a little early which adds to the fun. Because I’m still on a bit of an emotional high from all the festivities Saturday, I would like to tell you about a link I found awhile ago.

It’s called:  Who was born on your birthday?

When you click on the link above and enter your birthday month and date it will bring up names of famous people born on your birthday. It also will show the year of their birth.

For mine, November 16, I learned of four famous people born on that date:

Who was born on your birthday?

Thanks for reading, and … Creative Musings!  🙂

 

 

Birthday surprises!

Nothing to report regarding NaNo, but I have added one more idea to my PiBoIdMo list of ideas now totalling 22 on day 16.

Today when I got up I walked into the living-room and there were … um …  many…  pink balloons tied up by pink cord and strung in the living-room and dining-room. My husband got them put up as a birthday surprise for me.

My sister and I went to a wonderful craft fair this morning where I bought a few Christmas presents. Then later my family had a birthday supper for me at Dad’s … thirteen of us there … and lots of special birthday balloons, bouquets of flowers, cards and gifts. The one they all contributed to is an album full of pictures and memories. They had me crying from the start when I first opened the album. There were pictures of Mum and me; Mum passed away five days after Christmas of 1997. Each page was for a member of my family .. and me. So sweet and special. I love them all! Plus, we face-timed with my daughter who lives in Alberta, so she was part of it with us.

Today was a special birthday and a very special day. 🙂

Do you have special days like that?

Thanks for reading, and … Creative Musings!

 

Longhand or computer?

It is late. I will be “calling it a day” soon .. another day in which I got no writing done. I feel as if I have this dark cloud around me through which I get little glimmers of inspiration … but not enough to motivate me. blah! Some would call it writer’s block, but I call it oppressive tiredness. I hope tomorrow (my new year) is better!

NaNo novel — zilch for yesterday and today.

PiBoIdMo – one idea for yesterday and one for today = 21 ideas so far

Here is a better link than the one I posted a couple of days ago, and what I was wanting. Thanks, Jamie! The link I posted stopped working, anyway. http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/  On this one you’ll find a new picture daily.

I have some questions for you writers.

  • When you are working on your story, do you write longhand or do you type?
  • If longhand, do you use pen or pencil?
  • If you type, do you strictly use a computer? did you ever use a typewriter?

I write longhand, usually using a pen. I have yet to type the very lengthy very rough draft of my novel over onto computer. That is going to take a long time to do!

Thanks for reading, and … Creative Musings!  🙂

 

 

Alzheimer’s caregivers support group & pre-birthday party

First, I apologize! It seems the link I posted yesterday for NASA (space photos) no longer works. Perhaps I can find a better one later, or do you know of any?

For today’s PiBoIdMo I wrote down an idea for a picture book. Idea #19 on day 13. Still nothing more on my NaNo novel. I may have made a mistake by trying to do that this year, half way through the month already!

Tonight I went to a meeting of the Alzheimer Caregivers Support Group. It is something I don’t like to miss. We’re a small group that meets once a month and are free to ask questions, talk about our concerns, worries, problems, also sharing what good things have happened and what works for us. Our group moderators provide us with information and sometimes we have guest speakers. This time, since Saturday is my (rather important) birthday, I took cupcakes and Ambrosia (a fruit dessert) I’d made for us to share, for a sort of little pre-birthday party.  🙂 

From what we (my sister and I) are going through with our experience with Alzheimer’s Disease, I’m gathering ideas for a book – ideas based on anecdotes from which come chapter titles, such as The Fire Extinguisher, The Hedge, The Car. Who knows whether this book will become a reality. It’s one thing to have the experience, quite another to write it out in an interesting and captivating way that someone else would like to read about.

Tomorrow I may not post about my PiBoIdMo and NaNoWriMo progress since it is Book Reading Challenge day here on my blog, but I will update on Friday.

If you are taking part in any challenges this month, how are you doing? How’s your writing coming along, and are you participating in my book reading challenge?

Thanks for reading, and … Creative Musings!  🙂

 

 

Fun stuff to do on the Internet, aka Procrastination activities

Writers. 

Writers write.

But writers don’t always only write. Writers often procrastinate.

I wanted something different – but brief – for my NaBloPoMo post today, and in my search I found some things on the Net that would be great for those times of procrastinating. Call it character or theme research. 🙂  I will add them to my Writers’ Helps page later.

Check these out:

http://www.nasa.gov/  <—- This may be slow loading for you (it is photos)

http://www.howtofoldashirt.net/  <—-  This is a great thing, but I have tried it and although it looks very simple I haven’t fully mastered it yet. I think my brain can’t or won’t think that way, but I will keep working on it. This set of instructions seems a little better than the one I was using.

http://www.rinkworks.com/dialect/  <—- This one looks like great fun for when you are writing dialect for your characters, without going overboard with it, of course.

Today I was so tired, didn’t get any writing done on my NaNo novel. I did get one fun story idea drafted out for PiBoIdMo, though. That makes idea #18 for day 12.

Thanks for reading, and … Creative Musings!  🙂

 

Free online gluten-free summit; challenge updates

Just a quick post tonight:

It was a busy day for me and by evening I was/am tired and didn’t add anything to  my NaNo novel. For PiBoIdMo I came up with a cute character name so that makes idea #17 for day 11.

Now I’m all mixed up because today was a day off work for my husband, and we were at the Remembrance Day service followed by the Veterans dinner. It doesn’t feel like Monday to me.

I just learned of a free online Gluten-free summit which started today (Nov 11) and ends November 17. You can still register — go here to do so — and each day’s interview runs for 24 hours! That means I can catch today’s tomorrow (Tuesday) and so can you. 🙂

Here ends today’s NaBloPoMo post. Now I must sign off, get some sleep, and tackle my writing tomorrow.

Thanks for reading, and … Creative Musings! 🙂