50,434

I won! I won! Three time Nanowrimo winner!

And yes, we did go out and have a celebratory dinner. I wanted celebratory cocktails after dinner but Natalie did not have that kind of energy.

I would post the cute little winner's icon of the squirel with the viking helmet (two things I love together at last) but I can't be bother to figure out the bloggerbot right now. Tired. My hands ache from so typing.

While reachign 50,000 words I have not actually finished the story yet. There's lots more I haven't done and whole chapters which are only outlines that reads "Virginia goes to Miss Holz for help. Holz figures out a way to get the girls to London." Real quality literature. So, I will post the chapter I have completed. I will even post the chapters that have big chunks already written. But not tonight. Tired, I told you that already.

And now, I shall do nothing for a very long time.

Oh, got a Christmas present early. Andy took me shopping last night for new printer. It's very nice. No surprise Christmas morning, but at least I get the one I want. It's a Samsung ML 1740 laser printer. Very nice. Right, I'm meant to be doing nothing right now.

Hell is overflowing into the elevators of the Tropicana

Yesterday was Natalie's birthday. She is now 21, she informed me. "What would you like to do tonight, birthdya girl? I asked, all innocent.

"I want the pizza in Atlanic City."

:"Okay." Yes, we drove and hour and a half for PIZZA. But, to be fair, it is actually the best pizza I've ever had. Plus you get all the fun of the Boardwalk and the casinos. Speaking of which, we parked at the Trop because was close to kick-ass pizza (I don't really know the place's proper name. Something in Italian.)

Waiting on the fourth floor for the elevators, we waited for a good ten minutes, watching elevator after elevator stop, open, reveal that it is filled to the brim with people, and decide to wait for the next elevator. The next was just the same. And the next. At the point when Andy said, "We already saw that guy! He was in the last elevator," we decided to walk down the stairs. Hell was full that night so everyone had to ride the elevators in the parking structure of the Tropicana.

So, the evening in review: walking on the Boardwalk on a windy November night, pizza, funnel cake (yum), video poker which I was doing quite well at but couldn't walk away when I was winning, and nickle slots which was just like flushing five bucks of nicks down the drain. It was fun. Andy before anyone asks, Natalie made reach 45,000 before I was allowed to go out and play.

42,166!

Last night at dinner, Andy and I discussed the merits of Thor's Lesser Known Cresent Wrench. And a usefull thing it is. It can open practically anything. I, of course, think it would be pretty nifty to have Thor's Training Hammer. Sure, not powerful enough for a grown god, but a good learning tool for a godling. And in the hands of a mere mortal...Bahahaha. Yeah, I was really tired after writing all day when Andy took me out for a movie followed by pancakes at Denny's.

Saw National Treasure. It wasn't bad, had some really cool parts, but it tried so hard to be Indianna Jones that is was a little painful. And Nicolas Cage seemed to be doing an Elvis impersionation in the first half of the movie, which was creepy. Overall, worth the price of admission. It was fun.

So this wasn't the glowiest of glowing reviews, I know. There were improbable things and out and out impossible things but the pace of the movie swept you along so fast there wasn't time to think, "How the hell do these guys have a detailed knowledge of Phialdelphia? How the hell did they run from Independence Hall to City Hall in one minute? It's like ten city blocks!" But it was fluffy fun which was what I was expecting and it was not worse than Van Helsing which is what I was dreading.

Post-Turkey Blues

I ate so much yesterday I feel like I'm going to puke. Charming, I know. But the turkey...oh my god. hands down, best turkey ever! It was so succulent, so moist, the meat was practically dripping...*drool*...And everything else was pretty good, too.

I am currenlty at 39,072 words. Haven't written a word since the 3,000 word rocket pack under my chair was activated Wednesday night. Now I'll try to push through and enjoy the downhill ride.

Anything else? Just posted Chapter 6A. I know, 6A? Yeah, I already had seven finished when this one popped along and bemanded to be between 6 and 7. I'll rename in December but there's no time now. 11,000 words to go!

I Believe in Turkey Terry!

Thanksgiving, the time of year I haul out twenty pound boxes filled with waaaay too much food for a senior citizen. Only this year I had far more people asking me about turkeys than I did last year, and certainly more people wanting turkeys than I had access too. Oh no.

So I called the Red Cross. I got turkeys from them last year. Nope, no luck. Donations are down. They don't have enough for people on their list, let alone people on my list. Fine. Philadelphia Food Pantry? No. Philabundence? I saw their add in the paper asking for donations, so they must be looking for places to give all that donated food to, right? No, not interested. They don't have any turkeys to donate to my organization. Jerks. I call some of the food pantries in local churchs. No turkeys, no turkeys, no turkeys. Damn it!

The guy who normally donates turkeys and all the fixings to us is Turkey Terry (not his real name. Well, Terry is. Not the Turkey part.) He collects money from the local hospital and calls us to ask how many turkeys we need (usually 10-12) and then he shows up with enough food to a feed an army. It's wonderful!

Only this year, no call from Turkey Terry. Others in the office were afraid, but I had faith. Yep, had faith last Friday after being shot down by all the food pantries in the city. Had faith on Monday, even though he was cutting close. Real close. Turkeys have to go out on Tuesday, we're close for half the day on Wednesday. Yep, plenty of faith right until 4.30 Monday afternoon.

This morning my faith was empty, the gauge sitting on zero. Three people were on my turkey list and I couldn't find a single turkey to split among 'em. I was only counting on one turkey from T.T. So at 10 a.m. I made the bad news calls, no turkeys, no donations, no one in the city had turkeys. Everyone was very kind about it, said I worked hard for them and I was sweet to call and let them know, but I felt like crap. No turkeys?! What has the world come to? Holidays are the one time of year people actually behave like decent, compassionate human beings and GIVE, making my job a joy rather than the constant uphill battle.

And then I got a call. One of my favorite clients died. I know, I'm not suppose to have favorites, but I liked her. She had no legs, was partially blind, which was good because she couldn't really tell she was going bald, and a pacemaker. She had problems but she had spunk, real fire. The first time I visited, she yelled at me for half an hour about how social works never did her a lick of good and why would I be any different and I promise all this help with my magical "program" and she was probably the meanest old woman I ever met.

"No," I said. "I like you. You're spunky." She laughed and melted right in the palm of my hand.

The day after the election, it was on her behalf that I yelled at an HMO all morning to get her ambulance service so she could visit her cardiologist, what for the pacemaker and all. Finally, just last week, I won. Got an approval code and everything.

I'm going to miss her. But I worked hard to make the end of her life better and that matters for a lot. And I totally kickedthe HMO's money-tight ass. :)

Jule's client walked in and thought he was having a stroke. She took him to the hospital. (Don't know how he's doing yet.)

So, yeah, my day was going pretty crappy.

At noon, who roles up but Turkey Terry. Halalujah! I had faith in T.T. Never doubted the man for a minute. Okay, 4 hours, but not a minute more than that.

I burned up the phone lines calling people to deliver their turkey. Delivered on Jule's behalf, too, because she was at the hospital. And I broke my back hauling turkeys to people who can't carry one from the store to their door or don't have the money and have no one else who thinks of them on a holiday. And people invited me in, sat me down for tea and cookies and showed me photos of grandbabies and I really like my job. I do. Even sucky days can be turned around. I believe in the magic of Turkey Terry.

Oh, 36,758, by the way. No writing tonight, making the dough for rolls. Want to get a head start, just in case I kill the yeast like I did last year. I am so tired, just as a random aside.

32,826!

Sweet mother of mercy, I'm on fire!

Okay, back to writing.

Caffeine Consumed

I made a little list. So far this Novmember I have consumed:

1 peppermint flavored hot chocolate from 7-11.
2 Starbucks pumpkin Spice Lattes.
4 hot mugs of White Tea.
7 hot mugs of the Traditional Afternoon tea blend Clare gave me in 2003.
12 Swiss Miss packettes of hot chocolate and now the box is empty. :(

Via la caffeination!

28,234!

Just posted chapter four. I went back and added snipey dialogue between Virginia and Charlotte. Of course, in three and four they are still on their best behaviour. By chapter six, they are trully bitchy. And it's really fun to write snarky, bitchy dialogue, too.

By Popular Demand

Charlotte will not go blind. Fine. *exasperated sigh* But I do like the fumbling with glasses idea. She's always taking them off and her Grandmother is always telling her to put them back on. It's a teenage defiance thing. Won't wear her glasses. *Grins*

Charlotte and Virginia did have a spat yesterday, which made writing so much easier. I suspect the problem I was having was do to the fact that I was forcing these characters to get along. Basically, I said, "Here's Charlotte. She's your new best friend. Play nicely," and then shoved them together. But they don't like each other much (Virginia's bossy/rude and Charlotte complains and is a bit of stick in the mudd) and they don't on very well. At least not yet.

So, today's writing was a piece of cake. And going back to add snarky dialogue between the two? Super fun. And I suspect that I will get around to updating the Mauldy site sometime soon.

24,000!

Finally! And yes, I paused mid-sentence while typing to bring you this breaking news.

Didn't get much done last night. I was curled up in bed by 8pm. Damn cold. It's kicking my ass. Just snuffly enough to be annoying and not sleep comfortably and always tired. Not tired enough to stay home but tired enough to go to sleep two hours early. Maybe I need another day home to rest. I know, poor Mel...boo freakin' hoo.

Found a cool website on which you can Rate Your Writing. You can post and have fellow writers give criticism but the amount you get to post is directly related to the amount of other's work that you rate. Last night I posted two chapters from Nano2002, The Writer's Commune. You know, while I was dead ashamed by what I wrote in 2002, now that I reread it, I'm thinking it's not half bad. Mainly I'm amazed by how funny the characters are because I don't remember it being funny when I wrote it. Maybe the characters are actually changing the book from the inside...Oh, how Ffordian!

As for the current work, ACK! My God, these girls never want to do what I tell them. I think that the remaining chapters will be from Virginia's point of view. Writing Charlotte is too hard. After this is over, you know in December, I'll have time to go back and tease good narration out of the girl but not now. And I also think the story will flesh out nicely once Jenny can give me a hand. :) [Mel desperately pleads with Jenny: Remember, this was our idea! I only said I'd knock out the rough draft for Nanowrimo. You can't leave me on my own with this mess. Please.]

So that's where I'm at. Virginia got the girls into detention on the first night without really trying too hard, Josephine gave the scullery maids a rousing pep talk about the rights of workers, and Charlotte is always getting lost an blundering into the wrong places that I suspect she may be going blind. However, the blundering is a handy plot device and I don't think I'm going to take the blind remark seriously, even though I did spend a few minutes going, "Blind? Hmm...that'd take at least two chapters to talk about and then there'd be all this tension with Charlotte's Blind Angst...hmmm...No, can't run away from bad guys when you're blind."

Damn, I'm still thinking about Charlotte going blind. Someone needs to talk me out of it.

I guess it's funny

First off, I hit the Wall. Ack. Stalled at 18,000. Last night squeezed out about fifty words. All rubbish. I scribbled in my notebook and drew little diagrams. Then I had a revelation. Oh, and it was funny.

I explained my idea to Andy. "See, Charlotte and Virginia inhabit two totally differnet castles. Charlotte's castle is dark and mysterious, a labyrinth, and she's always lost. Virgnia's castle is orderly and designed to contain the flow of the students. One way into the dormitories. One way into the librarys. No back doors or short cuts. She sees it with perfect clarity. It's a trap. The girls are trapped in the dormitories at night. There's only one exit but you have to get past the warden. It's never pass the fire code but it's 1902. Two different castles! It's funny."

"I guess it's a little bit funny."

Hmph. I think it's very funny.

What we do agree is funny: Andy called me Miss Wrong-wrong-wrongdiddly-ongo-wrong last night night, for some reason.

"Yes," I said, "that was my maiden name. Now I'm Mrs. He-thinks-he's-so-great-knows-it-all-smarty-pants."

"So you married up."

Ha fucking ha.

But I have written 500 words today. Hopefully this is the end of the Wall.

17,318

Jumped ahead of the word count. I went home early from work yesterday, ill with a cold. Honestly. A cold. I'm all sniffy and sneezey. I didn't even get out of bed until 1om when the cat decided that being fedthat instant was the most important thing inthe world ever. Ever. Well, to him, I imagine, it is.

Went back to work this morning and three other people are out with the same damn cold. At least I did all that writing yesterday. I think I'm just going to curl up in bed tonight and try to get over this cold. It would be nice if I could breathe.

14,283!

No time for a long blog tonight. Busy writing like the wind.

I was alone in the office this morning. Everyone was at a training except Jule, Megan and myself. The secretary (you know the one) took off at nine because she wasn't feeling well. I suspect it had something to do with supervisor not being in all day. At one point Jule left, Megan left, and I was all alone. Very eerie.

The Mauldy Institute Online!

I've created a blog where you can read the freshest of my words for Nanowrimo. I totally stole the idea from Clare. I don't write in a linear fashion, so I've finished the Prologue but that's it. All the other chapters are still missing bits. I'll post the chapter as soon as they are finished and don't have great bit holes in the narrative.

7359!

Will I make todays goal of 10,000 words? Oh yes...

Jenny is, of course, light years ahead of me. I had a realization last night listening to Natalie lament her status at 3500 words. Jeny writes inhumanely fast. She's the Flash. I can't compete. And while I'm busting my hump trying to keep up with Speedy here, I'm out pacing others.

I'm doing fine. We're all doing fine. The important thing is that we are writing. Period. No matter then word count.

Peep talk over. Get back to writing!

Which alternate universe did you wake up in today?

Word Count: 6543 as of 7pm.


Some days I am absolutely convinced I'm living in the evil alternate universe. You know the one, where everyone is opposite and Spock wears the goatee. Yeah, that one.

Jenny called and wanted to know if I was sad. No. My heart is broken.

Bush is a failure as president. I can't believe 51% of the county voted for preimptive war, trillion dollar deficets, "with us or against us" foreign politics, holding people in barely humane prisons for three years without habius corpus or a lawyer, FBI searching library records, no warrants for wire taps, assault weapons on the streets, lower taxes but huge increases in spending, proposed amendments to actually restrict civil liberities, no bid contracts, vanishing stock piles of weapons, privitization of Medicare, and a man who lost all three debates in an astonishing display of grimacing and frowning.

After all, it's hard work being the president.

Okay, to be fair: we won Pennsylvania. I devoted a lot of time and money and was not disappointed. I registered many people, secured absentee ballots for them, and brought others to the polls to vote. I'm proud of the work I did and how my efforts and the efforts of others showed.

And it was prety damn exciting to be living in a swing state, knowing I was doing all I could to make my vote count.

4243 by the way

Vote! Vote! Vote! Vote!

What are you reading this for? Go vote!!

I feel good. I'm feeling confident that Pennsylvania is going for Kerry.

Andy was at the polling place at 6.55 this morning. He called at 7:02 complaining that the doors were not opened and there was a long line and should he call the news media? I said, "But my clock says it's 7:02. Give 'em a minute."

"Oh. The city hall's clock says it's fifteen after. It must be wrong. There's a lot of angry people in line who feel silly now." I assume Andy was one of them.

I passed by three seperate people holding signs that said "Honk for Kerry." And I honked. Only saw one "Honk for Bush" on the way home...and no one was honking.

Got to work. Miss Montero ran me down in her scooter and demanded that I vote before I could enter the building. "I already voted," I said, shins against the shinny chrome of her front bumper.

"Go right on in, honey." She's really very sweet but she will run you down in that scooter. Devil woman.

There a problem with the voting machines in Germantown, though. And Germantown is a poor, largely black, urban neighborhood. Mark, who lives in Germantown, said that people were calling the radio and WHYY, the local NPR station, was there covering the apparent voter disenfranchisement. Mark said they had waited an hour for the machine to work but once the news van pulled up, it was amazing how fast those machines got fixed.

The problem was apparently that the fancy new computerized voting machines were "beeping". Beeping. The story goes, the power went off during the night and the machines needed to be reset. Took over an hour to reset the machines, huh?

All our pulses were racing with election day excitement and the dispensing of social justice. Mostly, I'm impressed with the way the people who were told the machine were not working, took matter in hand and called the news media. That's amazing. The people, who thought they might be denied their vote, protested instead of sucking it up and being unhappy, and the machines were fixed. That's a great story.

I called up my clients, asking if they had voted. Most everyone had. People that needed a ride, I gave a ride. No problem.

Not that I asked (or could legally), but every single person I spoke to today said they voted for Kerry. Granted, I work with a very specific population and the Democratic Party serves their best interests, but every single one voted for Kerry. That's something.

The Magic Number of the Day

2815!

Not bad for the first night of frantic, fumbly writing. Dashed through the first chapter. I have plans on going back and filling in the bits I skipped and fleshing out the bare bones details but for a first night, I'm rather proud.

So far my main character, Virginia, has been kidnapped and then, in an effort to free herself, inadvertantly started a raging fire. Classic.