Nanowrimo update: I won!!

I are a winner! This month I successfully wrote a novel 50,000 words in length. Many of my friends feel the need to mention, "Hey! That's just a novella!" The answer from their site goes thusly:

Why 50,000 words? Isn't that more of a novella?
Our experiences over the past seven years show that 50,000 is a difficult but doable goal, even for people with full-time jobs and children. The length makes it a short novel. We don't use the word "novella" because it doesn't seem to impress people the way "novel" does.

What they don't really mention is that this is a really difficult goal when one is in college, still passing classes, getting sick, and travelling fairly extensively. >.< But it is done! Every other attempt at fiction that I have stabbed into words has ended up a half-written piece of junk on a scrap pile. This has resulted in a finished half-written piece of junk. So, it's a victory. I've learned a lot, that I will use next time I try to write a work of fiction. Hopefully my next attempt will result in significantly improved writing, and maybe I won't be finishing up at 10:43pm on June 30th. Anyway, to all who have offered their thanks and support, I deeply appreciate it. To those who have celebrated victory with me, I wish you all the best with your novels!

Technorati Tags: nanowrimo, novel, fiction

Things I am Thankful For

1. Continuing my long tradition of not spending holidays in blogland.
2. My hunny:

And not the cute, you can ressurect me by crying over me at the end of the movie, dies, dies as in the I'm going to fucking eat your brains when I come back as a zombie

Technorati Tags: quotes, qotd

Rule #4 Things

Those in the know get it.

I went to Midwest FurFest last weekend. I was sick for pretty much the whole thing, but I got some pictures. Here are the pics.

Technorati Tags: furry, convention

20,000 words!

I think, for the most part, I have stayed on track at about 1667 words per day for nanowrimo. Here's a sample from the latest:

James opened the door, and there was Kyrin, in a somewhat ragged set of red robes that he had obviously thrown on in a hurry. "Time to go!" he told James with a smile. There was some kind of rumbling in the background which encouraged James to scan the rest of the hallway. To the left was Delenna, fully dressed (for her) and ready to leave, with Thomas standing behind her and framed in a strange orange glow. To the right was the rest of the fire, which was slowly consuming the building the four of them had been sleeping in moments ago.

Exciting, no?!

Technorati Tags: nanowrimo, novel

Winning Things

It seems pretty official: we won. With or without my vote, Joe Micon went to state senate. Unfortunately, it seems like we elected Buyer again, but Indiana changed over 3 seats in the House to Democrats. Good going, state! The Indiana House was also captured by the reality-based party.

Unfortunately, it looks like Lieberman beat out Lamont. Lieberman is more of a republican than most republicans, but apparently he still gets democrats to vote for him somehow. I hope he transitions back into the party, since his pro-PATRIOT ACT, pro-torture, anti-withdrawal views might not be the majority any more. Certainly not a strong majority.

The word is still out about the national Senate - we may have captured that, too, depending on how Montana goes. More news tomorrow. I'll be celebrating at Drinking Liberally - today was a good day to wake up, unlike a similar day about two years ago.

Technorati Tags: politics, happy, democrats

Voting Things

Indiana passed new legislation this year to keep people like me out of the polls. The new photo ID requirements are confusing and misleading, and specifically disallow ID's from state-run institutions like Purdue or Indiana University. Mostly, the laws were designed to keep blue-staters from Chicago and other big cities from getting to vote for Democrats around here. They may as well have instituted a literacy test.

I figured I was fine - I had a passport already. Passports are the one ID that counts for anything in the US, and since they're federally issued, all states have to acknowledge them. But, lo and behold, when I went to grab it this morning, it was not in either of the places I keep such important documents. In fact, it wasn't anywhere in my dorm room. I tore the place apart, with the slowly dawning realization that without it, I was totally disenfranchised.

I never found it. Looks like I won't get to vote today. I have to say I'm pretty hopping mad. I'm a Purdue University student with everything from a driver's license to a birth certificate, and none of it is sufficient proof of my identity to allow me to vote, thanks to the obscure regulations in this bass-ackwards state. Go Indiana.

Then again, this is a trend with republicans. From Governer Ehrlich's Diebold voting problems to the reports of election challengers and vote suppressors in Ohio and Florida during the last two presidential elections. This has all led to the video the vote project, which I hope documents some or all of this crap.

I worry about the state of our votes with all of this. There are so many ways to defraud people, and it seems many of them are now being employed in one capacity or another. Soon it may escalate to outright fraud, as Ars Technica reported.

Anyway, good luck to all the voters out there.

Technorati Tags: politics, voting, id

Planet Hollywood @ Downtown Disney

Planet Hollywood @ Downtown Disney
Originally uploaded by agius.

This photo was included in Schmap's Guide to Orlando. It's in a weird, proprietary format such that you must download their player to read them. But, in a Google Mapsish kind of way, their maps provide a lot of interactivity and allow you to print out custom maps and travelguides. Seems pretty useful.

Schmaps are free to consumers, according to their wikipedia article, so feel free to head over and download one if you're interested. I'll probably grab one next time we travel somewheres.

Schmap scores three Web 2.0 brownie points here: 1) using Creative Commons-licensed photos to enhance their product, 2) offering free guides to towns, and 3) using bloggers like myself as viral marketing. Good going, guys!

Daily Weasle

Daily Weasle
Originally uploaded by agius.

This is your daily weasle, signing off.

Quote of the Day Things

Bill:

Imagine if you were starving. And across the street, there was a whole country full of food. And instead of stealing it, you walked across the street and worked for it. That's what illegal immigration is like.

Technorati Tags: quote, qotd

NaNoWriMo Things

So, I started National Novel Writing Month yesterday. I wussed out last year due to lack of a plot, but I won't let that stop me this year. I may be blogging my progress - I haven't decided yet. Maybe y'all can keep me somewhat accountable. But I certainly hope to reach that critical 1667 words per day.

Anyway, here's their web page, and here's the thread for Purdue NaNo's.

And here's the first paragraph. It's not very good, so I'll probably redo the whole first section in the editing. But for now, I have to march forward - no time to look back!

Kyrin waited outside the Chamber of Lords, somewhat anxiously. He clutched his hands betwixt his knees and looked around nervously. It's not that he was in trouble - probably the opposite. But the Chamber of Lords was always intimidating, and it usually meant big changes. Basically, he would sit in the middle of about twenty of the most dangerous mages on Aerth and get lectured about what needed to be done. It was all their opinions about what needed to be done, and usually it devolved into a politically correct argument between two or three of the big players, and whatever gguest happened to be in the room was barely involved at all. But, if he screwed up sufficiently, Kyrin might just find himself on assignment in the Sea of Malagam, whose noxious odor is said to spark vomiting from miles away.

Yes, my novel is set in a fantasy universe whose dimensions I have not yet determined. No, my world will not be as detailed as Tolkien's. I feel like with the shotgun, hurried approach I'm using, I'll be lucky to have a descriptive voice, let alone deep characters or an approachable setting. But, there will be words on the page, and that's more than I've done in years.

Also, I'm using Google's Writely for writing and editing. I like having a decentralized storage, and their editor is more simple (and therefor nicer) than Word or most other text editors. I was thinking about using a wiki, so I could easily organize character and setting information, but then it occurred to me that I won't have time for such things.

Anyhow, wish me luck!

Technorati Tags: NaNoWriMo, writing, novel