Time to go camping again

Well, not camping in a tent, sleeping on the ground.  Whew!!  I’m pretty sure my body couldn’t handle that these days.  Nope.  Instead it’s time to do Camp NaNo, 2014.  I know I haven’t spent much time writing lately, so you may be shouting, “What in the world are you thinking?  You’re going to tackle NaNoWriMo again?”

Hold your horses there, cowpokes.  Camp NaNo is a tad more relaxed than the NaNo that takes place in November.  I’m not going to commit to writing 50,000 words during the month of July.  I don’t have to.  What I am going to do is commit to writing a couple of short stories, no more than 10,000 words each.  I’m thinking that’s a much more manageable task for me at this point in time.

And, my hope is, this will get me back in the habit of writing on a somewhat consistent basis.  That’s really all I’m hoping to get out of this camping session.  Wish me luck.  Or, better yet, join me.

She’s baaack!

Before you say anything…I know I’ve been MIA for much too long. April has been an extremely hectic month! I went back to work after being sick for two months…believe me, that wasn’t (isn’t) easy. I’m still not at 100%, but I’m getting there…slowly…

And, being the crazy chick that I am, I decided to do another Camp NaNo during April…yep, you read that right…writing 50,000 words over the course of the month. I managed to hit 50,378 today…early, well, at least a little early. Some of it’s good, most of it’s not…but the whole point of NaNo is to simply write…and I did do that. And I think I may come up with, you know, maybe 10,000 publishable words from this month’s writing…maybe.

Now it’s time to focus on my health…I’ve got a big, several-hours-long pulmonary test coming up on the 9th and maybe then we can figure out what to do to make it a bit easier to breathe and do something else at the same time…in the meantime, I’m trying to eat healthier and exercise as much as I can without negatively affecting my breathing.

And speaking of eating healthier…let me ask you all, do you use a juicer? If so, what brand? Pros and cons? I’m trying to eat more organic foods and working diligently to avoid GMOs and making my own juices would be another step in that direction.

Where in the world have I been?

Dead plant in pots (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I realized it’s been a coon’s age (one of my grandma’s phrases) since I sat down to write anything at all for my poor, neglected blog and all of my faithful readers.  Sorry about that.  Even though I’ve not been taking the time to post here, I’ve still been writing.  I’m taking part in Camp NaNo again this month and I’m pleased to say I’m doing a pretty good job…a little over 12,000 words written (not counting whatever I may churn out tonight).  I had every intent of writing something new, but when I sat down that first day, my fingers had other plans…so still working on the same story just at  a different stage in his life.  I know, I know…I’m such a rebel!

I do have something positive to report!  After seeing the pulmonologist and taking a ton of meds, I’m finally feeling better…not great….not 100%…but oh so much better than I felt a month ago.  I still get on these coughing jags in the evenings and at night or if I’m outside in the cold….thank goodness mother nature is finally giving me a break in that department.  I’m back at work, just this past week.  Sometimes it’s a struggle, but I’ve got a pretty compassionate boss, he’s working with me to make sure I continue recovering.  I love the folks I work with…and really did miss seeing them on a daily basis.  Sounds like a pretty good gig, huh?

I’m so happy that spring is finally here.  I have Tuesday off work and I’m hoping the weather will cooperate so I can get outside and plant some lettuce and radishes…I need to stop and buy some pansies to plant too…maybe I can do that after work tomorrow, if I’m not just worn out.  I haven’t decided how much I’m going to plant this year..definitely a couple of tomato plants, but I may end up buying most of my produce at the farmers’ market this year.  We’ll see…

How about you?  Got any gardening plans?  Getting outside to allow that sweet spring breeze to kiss your face?

 

Related articles

• Easy Spring Planter (thisbudisforyou.wordpress.com)
• 5 Reasons Why You Should Join Camp Nanowrimo (tonettedelaluna.wordpress.com)

Writing is easy…except when it’s not

Writing (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Okay, I was feeling pretty good yesterday when I very quickly came up with over 2000 words on my first day of Camp NaNo.  Then today…well, it was a struggle.  I think I eventually managed to come up with something that was okay.  And I came up with a lot that was maybe not quite so good, but that’s the way it goes some days.  After two days, I’ve written 3420 words, so not a bad start.

Just so you know, tomorrow is my trip day (you know, the whole Amish Acres gig), so it’s highly unlikely that I’ll do any writing for Camp NaNo.  I hate to skip a day this early in the month, but hey…it’ll work out by the end of the month.

I have to tell you about something shocking that I saw today.  I was in the kitchen, the kitten hanging around at my feet.  Spook came walking in, walked up to the kitten, and leaned over and sniffed her head.  Then the kitten sniffed Spook’s head before scampering off behind my legs.  Progress?  I’m thinking this could be the start of a beautiful friendship…

Related articles

• August Camp NaNo (thedarkglobe.wordpress.com)

Time for Camp NaNo, August edition…

camp nano wallpaper (Photo credit: ulianne)

Wow.  I didn’t realize I’d pretty much taken off the entire month of July from just about any form of writing.  What’s up with that?  Did June’s Camp NaNo wear me out that much?  I don’t really know what happened.  I fully intended to take a few days off then get right back into blogging and working on my book, revision and all that jazz.  Then I got sick, didn’t even go online for several days (I know there are folks who don’t go online every day, I have people tell me that at work all the time…but I’m definitely not one of them…), was still dealing with the kitten and trying to keep Spook from killing her (whose idea was it to get Spook a kitten anyhow?  She was perfectly fine without a kitten, she didn’t want a kitten, she still doesn’t want a kitten), and work…what can I say about work?  Or what can I say about work that I haven’t already said?

So…anyhow…it’s a new month and I’m doing the August Camp NaNo…kind of another book in the same series of books…today was the first day and I got in 2096 words…and some humor at that…do you ever wonder if other people will find what you’ve written to be as funny as you think it is?  I mean, really, I think some of what I wrote today was pretty darn funny, but what if no one else does?  Ah well…I can’t worry about that right now…that’s a worry for much later in the process, right?

I’m back…hopefully providing a little light entertainment as well as sharing my adventures in writing and well, in life, I guess.  Thanks for sticking around while I was on hiatus!

Related articles

• Camp NaNoWriMo (jessicaburdesblog.wordpress.com)
• Scramble for August – Camp Nanowrimo (thepilgrimx.com)

Camp NaNoWriMo Winner, June 2012

Winner’s badge

I’m so excited!  I validated my word count today and am now officially a winner in the Camp NaNoWriMo June, 2012 challenge!  I read over what I’d written today, made a few changes, added another chapter, then copied and pasted it to be validated….and then I got this nifty badge and printed out a very cool looking certificate that I’m most definitely going to frame.  And, in case you all haven’t heard enough about all of this, I just signed up for the August camp…I may be crazy, but I’m thinking I can write a sequel and actually end up with something publishable by late winter.  Wouldn’t that be something?  And a little bonus to finishing this…maybe now I can actually finish some of those short stories  that I started posting and didn’t manage to see through to the end.

Related articles

• NaNoWriMo Summer Camp (emiliajordan.com)

I did it!

camp nanowrimo t-shirt (Photo credit: wynlok)

Celebration!  I am now over 50,000 words in my novel for the Camp NaNoWriMo challenge!  I’m planning to read through all of it tomorrow, then copy and paste it to have the word count validated.  How about that? I managed to do it with a few days to spare~  Is that not just about the coolest thing ever?

I keep reminding myself that there’s still a lot more work to be done before I actually have a novel in my hands, but to have managed to sit down and write over 50,000 words in 27 days is something I never imagined I could do!  (And for those of you wondering about the exact word count…it stands at 50,145 today…I understand that the total may be higher or lower when it’s validated, but still…).  Anyhow, I’m feeling kind of proud tonight…like, wow!  I really am a writer!

Related articles

• 1.170 – #WordMongering Or Camp NaNoWriMo Day 2 (kissthemuse.wordpress.com)

46,000+ words!

Wow…who in the world would ever have thought I’d be able to write that many words in 25 days?  Not me, for sure!  Another 4,000 words and I’ll be a NaNoWriMo winner…Camp NaNo, that is…still not sure I’ll be able to do it in November when I’m working so darn much…but I’m going to finish this month’s camp, then there’s another camp in August.  I’m definitely going to do that one too.  And who knows?  I just may end up with a completed novel out of all of this!

Tomorrow I’m going to try to finish Tim and Maria’s story…just couldn’t carve out the time to do it tonight.  Working a full-time job sure does put a crimp in my writing time!!  But…gotta pay those bills somehow, right?

Well, little Scout just climbed up my leg and I guess that’s my signal that I need to pay a little attention to her…after I staunch the flow of blood…just kidding…this time!

I almost forgot…I was doing receiving at work this afternoon and opened up this huge box.  Once I moved the packaging away to see what was inside it, I thought it was delivered to us by mistake…nope, looked at the box…it had our store name and number on it.  Couldn’t figure out who would send us a huge gift basket of baked goodies…then I saw the little enclosure.  It was a gift for our store for coming in second in the zone in an email collection contest…cool!

Basket o’ goodies

Camp NaNo, day 24

Well, I’m approaching that 50,000 word mark…at 44,265 after today’s writing.  Again, I’m not sure how much of this would be publishable, but at least I’ve gotten into the habit of writing regularly.

I decided to take a break from Tim and Maria today…really tired after work today and wanted to get in a good writing session for NaNo.  Now I’m not able to focus on developing that short story.  Thinking about going to bed soon…very soon…

Still haven’t decided on a name for the kitten…thinking of Scout…what do you think?

Is it safe?

Camp NaNo, day 21

nanowrimo, day 16 goal (Photo credit: paloetic)

I came home from work hot and tired.  Talked to the neighbor for a while (he was sitting outside with his dog when I pulled up…I know, it’s so miserably hot that I can’t even imagine sitting out there for any period of time).  I stepped inside and the kitten (I’ve got to come up with a name for her sometime) was sleeping on the couch.  I grabbed her to introduce her to the neighbor.  I was a little worried about how she would react to the dog, but this little kitten is unafraid of anything.  Not sure if that’s a good thing or not…could prove dangerous in some situations.  Anyhow, she seemed to enjoy seeing what was happening out there in the big, bad world.  She watched a low-flying jet go by, kind of seemed to find that interesting.   Then we came back into the blessed air conditioning…ahh…

After doing a few every day chores, I convinced myself to sit down at the computer, thinking I’d probably do well to  write 500 words today.  Wrote 200 words, got up to do something else, planning to sit down and write another 200 words.   I only write like that when I’m not feeling it, just doing it to get in the word count and then it ends up not being worth reading.  But the second time I sat down, it started to move and I ended up with a little over 1400 words for the day.  Still not sure how much of it was worth much, but some of the dialogue ended up being pretty decent. So maybe it was worth it after all.

I’m pretty excited!  My word count for the month has now exceeded  40,000!  How cool is that?

 

Related articles

• Camp NaNo June 2012: Day 18 (myjadedvoices.wordpress.com)