Month of writing dangerously, Chapter 4

As of 0817 PST today, I crossed the bar as far as NaNoWriMo goes: I clocked 50,288 words on my novel:

In case you're interested, my 50,000th word was "funeral".

I reckon I’m about 25% of the way along in my story, so I still have miles to go WRT actually finishing the damned thing, but at least I achieved the goal of 50,000 words by 30 November.

No comment on the quality of what I’ve written, but since I’ve been assured by Old NaNo Hands that “your first draft will be crap”, I’m not really worrying so much about that.

Month of writing dangerously, Chapter 3

We’re just embarking on Week 3 of NaNoWriMo. It’s actually going well. I find I’m actually having rather a good time writing fiction. Well, mostly fiction. Um, fiction with various dashes and splashes of Things I Might Have Actually Experienced at One Time or Another.

One of the best parts for me is creating and setting in motion characters. I believe I mentioned that my novel is a police procedural. Meaning, there is some crime involved. Meaning, there’s actually some son-of-a-bitch malignant narcissist who’s responsible for the crime.

& when the time came for me to pin the tail on that particular donkey I had just the jackass in mind. Someone I was involved with for about 37 minutes, before I realized that all the freaking warning bells that had gone off when he first appeared were not just system malfunction, and he really was the lying scumbag I’d felt him to be from the beginning. But charming—he was charming.

Which makes him the perfect template for the charming sociopath my novel requires. Yippee—the bastard does have some redeeming social value, after all!

I have to admit that I’m having way too much fun writing this part—and I’m not even making most of it up. For example—I was filling out some “character questions”, you know, the kinds of things you need to know about your characters so you can picture them well enough to describe and manipulate them. Things like…clothes; what kind of clothes does he wear?

·         Sadly, favors double-breasted suits, which a man of his stocky build & short stature should not

·         Likes to wear his kilt to any evening event; will tell everyone within listening distance all about his relationship to the clan; no one cares

Favorite foods?

·         Whatever someone else is buying

Most important thing to know about this character?

·         He never makes a mistake—anything less than resounding success is due to the (unwarranted) malevolence of others, or to circumstances unforeseeably changing

Also, an unrelated NaNo pleasure, I get to have my American protagonist encapsulate all of rural Britain by referring to the nonexistent (to my knowledge) village of West Lesser Chipping Nowherehampton.

Okay, the “Chipping” part is real.

Power to the prince

So, an interesting (I guess) story on Prince Charles’s digestive & automotive policies.

Here’s the thing I want to know: what the hell is “waste wine”?

Eclipse of beauty

I wouldn't ordinarily do this, but this is an extraordinary circumstance.

A friend of mine took a trip to Australia; on the itinerary was a stop in Cairns, Far North Queensland, to view the solar eclipse yesterday. Here are the photos he sent me:

Partial:

 Total:

And here's one he called a diamond ring:

He commented that there would be "well-lubricated revelry" last night.

Well, I'll certainly drink to that.

Guilty, guilty pleasure

I think it says something for my job search that when I start typing the URL for a tech jobs-posting board, as soon as I enter “D” into the bar, Firefox auto-completes dog-shaming.com. Only when I add the “I” does Dice.com come up.

I do love Dog-shaming.

&, as a public service, I’m going to share a couple of the pictures from last week that just had me, um, howling:

There’s something about a circle of dachshunds that just cracks me up.

Now, this one: if—as it would seem from the caption card—the dog has done this before, I have to hold the cat at least partly culpable. Honestly—if you know what happens when you get in the shower & the dog’s around, you should make it your business to stay out of the bathroom.

I mean, dog-shaming is one thing. Being shamed by a dog is another entirely.

Idiocy is as idiocy does

Well, I don’t know about the creative sentencing involved in this story, but I have to agree that Shena Hardin is an idiot. An arrogant, self-absorbed, reckless SUV-driving cretin.

But I suppose all that wouldn’t fit on a sign, unless she’s an exceptionally large arrogant, self-absorbed reckless SUV-driving cretin.

Remembering

To mark Veteran’s Day, I’d like you to listen, instead of read.

NPR’s StoryCorps is starting a year-long project to document the memories of those who have fought our wars for us. Between Friday and Saturday, they have two installments you really should hear.

The first is from Harvey Hilbert, infantryman in Vietnam, who carries with him the sight and sound of a comrade who died in the field with him more than 45 years ago.

The second is from Justin Cliburn, who deployed to Bagdad in 2005 to train the Iraqi police, and met two little boys.

Listen, please. Listen to their words, and listen to their voices. And remember the price they pay.