stacey ewing

I’m so flippin’ excited! Our National Novel Writing Month (www.nanowrimo.org) Write-in Event for next week in the InfoCommons is shaping up quite nicely!!

Christy approached local mystery author, M.D. Abrams, and asked her if she would come in and speak and offer encouragement to our Nanowrimo Event participants. Marjorie agreed and will be coming out to speak at 6:30pm!

Then I contacted three of my fave authors to see if they would be interested in participating in a live chat with our participants and they were both game!! Jeaniene Frost, paranormal writer and author of the Night Huntress Series will be chatting with us at 5:30pm. Ilona & Gordon Andrews, urban fantasy writers and authors of the Kate Daniels Series (ACE Fantasy) will be chatting with our group around 7:30pm. Then at 9pm, Ann Aguirre, sci-fi writer and author of the Jax series (ACE Sci-Fi) will also pop on and do a Q & A round with our group.

I’m holding 30 minute “word war” contests throughout the evening and giving away “Murder on the Prairie” (signed!), “Halfway to the Grave,” “Magic Bites,” and “Grimspace” to the participants who write the most words during that time. Ann Aguirre contacted me and said that she would even mail a signed copy of “Wanderlust” to one of the winners as well! So, my childrens, prizes galore next Wednesday, prizes galore!!

Anyway, I CANNOT wait! These writers have been SO awesome and VERY giving of their time. Approx. 75-80% of last year’s participants were working on some kind of sci-fi, paranormal, urban fantasy story and the rest were working on novels & mysteries so I think our Nano participants will be ab. thrilled to find out who is on the docket for next Wednesday!

Well, I didn’t make it to 50,000 this year but I’m really not as bummed about it as I thought I would be. Actually, I’m pretty damn satisfied when I take a sec to think about what an insanely busy month it’s been (at work AND at home). A bunch of people have asked if they could read what I wrote…hahahahaha…yeah right. Sorry folks, not until Nanoedmo (National Novel Editing Month) is over and done with in the springtime!! :) Maybe I’ll have some more word count by then! :D Anyway, thumbs up on Nano- it was alot of fun and I learned ALOT!

The Nanowrimo Event at work was a success! We had 27 people show up to work up some final word count, hang out and dish about writing, and hear the two guest speakers offer encouragement and inspiration. One participant made it to 50,000 words and we all gathered around her computer to cheer as she submitted her novel to Nano for verification. It was great! Everyone stayed caffeinated and sugared up on the donated Starbucks coffee and treats. Seven of us made it to the very bitter end and wrapped things up at 1am. What a fun night and a super-cool bunch of folks! :D

you can see more pictures of the event here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/uf_infocommons/sets/72157603364596428/

I guess it’s probably a sad day when the guys at Harbucks see me pull up in the parking lot in my 1990 VW Fox and have my drink ready before I even make into the store and up to the counter. They are so sweet there. I stopped feeling bad about going to this corporate giant a coupla weeks ago when everyone that works there started calling me by my first name. I feel kinda like Norm from Cheers:

“Staceeeeey! What are you up to?!”

“My ideal weight if I was 6′7″ “ ;D

Good news is that I’m up to 11,869 (words not pounds) so I’m around 23% done. Bad news is that I should really be around 50%…sigh. I almost quit yesterday but changed my mind- I still wanna see how far I can go.

Other good news, I figured out how to embed a soundtrack on the wiki I made for the story Wes, Tim and I are working on. It’s prety cool. Not quite sure how legal it is once I noticed there is an option in the emedded player that asks if you want to “download this song” but maybe it will be okay since our wiki is password protected and only visible to the three of us.

I’m using wetpaint and they seem to like it because the GUI is pretty easy but Wes got bit hard tonight by the lack of an auto-save function when he accidentally navigated away from the page- everything he’d just spent 30 minutes on was wiped when he quickly clicked back. Definitely a check in the “minus” box there.

geesh…. “labor pains” for 48 hours before getting a chance to write again… tonight somehow managed to squeeze out about 1650! Yatta!! ;)

Hey, changing the subject, does anyone else out there wonder why Pushing Daisies hasn’t been cancelled yet? It’s so damn good- Tim and I are waiting for the axe to fall any week now and for PD to join the likes of Firefly, Wonderfalls, and Arrested Development… we really don’t think the networks can handle writing this creative and meaningful… ;)

Well, I’m at 8350 as of Midnight 11/10. Tim had two gigs tonight so I went to Harbucks after he left around 7pm. I only planned to be there for two hours and was going to leave at 9 but then I got on a roll and lost track of time. Ash & Ashley gave me the heads up at 10:50 that they’d be closing shop in 10 minutes. Where did all the time go? wow. But then I added up the word count and it’s just up to a measley 8350. Nathaniel just started writing today or yesterday and already he’s at 5,000. I’m too scared to look at Sam’s word count- I’m sure she’s at like 50,000 as of yesterday and I know for sure that Christy’s at 29,000. I’m just way too OCD, I’m still catching myself editing as I go. That’s me in the corner, that’s me in the spot. light. losin’ my effin’ word count… heh heh. ;) I’m starting to regret not finding out sooner about the National Blogging Contest that the Misplaced Misfit hipped me to yesterday- I might have had better luck with that! haha

Music this eve:
M83: Dead Cities, Red Seas and Lost Ghosts
M83: Before the Dawn Heals Us
M83: World
M83: Run Into Flowers

The upside to this evening was that Starbuck the Frog was hanging out with me at the same window again only it was so chilly out that his/her poor little legs were tucked tight under his/her body, looking kinda like a nesting chicken. I was glad to see that ol’ Starbuck had gained a little weight since the last time I saw him/her a few days ago. Guess the bug catching thing next to the bright window is working out. I would have taken a picture but was too busy writing.

BUT, I wasn’t too busy to take a break later and look at KK+’s newly posted photos tonight. He posted new pictures he shot at a fashion show in China. I really enjoy looking at his art- he’s a fantastic photograhper. This picture (below) was one of my favorites. Doesn’t this dress look like shaved ginger or ribbon candy??? I love how he caught the movement too- that dress just shimmers and flutters around her legs. God, I’m sure it is must be like a $15,000+ If you go to the set, you can click on that image for an even larger size with more detail. Please do- it’s so cool.

Why the mime? I hate mimes. That’s how annoyed I am tonight. I’ve reached MIME THREAT LEVEL ORANGE.

The only exception to the above is ANGRY mimes like Eric Stolz:

Mime: I’ll tell you about love. Love… disappears baby! Every time I’ve been broke, babe has been off like a prom dress.
Girl: Maybe it’s the girls you choose.
Mime: Hey! Maybe I’ve been hurt. Maybe I’ve been dogged!
Steve: Does anybody know where this place is?
Mime: What do I look like, a Thoms Brothers guide?
Steve: You know you really shouldn’t speak.
Mime: Yes! Where do you guys work?
Bailey: I’m a maitre ‘d.
Mime: Wow.
Steve: Department of Transportation.
Bailey: He’s working on the gridlock problem.
Mime: Thank God.
Guy: I build airplanes.
Mime: Woo wooo woo!

Anyway, I digress- the real problem: my wordcount SUCKS tonight!!!!

But hey! MAYBE I’ve been hurt! MAYBE I’ve been dogged! heh.

…maybe tomorrow will be better… :P

Aaaaaaagh! I’m still behind! Tried to go Harbucks where I could really concentrate (too many distractions at home) but I got there too late- all the tables were taken. Bummer. :P So back to the casa I went and tried to grind out some more word count- managed to eek out a few more but not as many as I would’ve liked. The beat goes on… :)

Music for inspiration tonight:
Danger Doom: The Mouse and the Mask
Flaming Lips: Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots

My little friend chilled out with me at Harbucks tonight while I tried to get in some more word count. He filled up on all the bugs that were drawn to the window by the light. I took this picture with the webcam built into my laptop. Poor little thing- needs more bugs- it’s too skinny.

click on the picture to see larger. :D

Well, I’m only at 5433. Lost alot of time this weekend having to visit Tim’s mom and then catching up with house stuff on Sunday. Will have to turn up the heat this week and get caught back up. Still having a hard time not stopping and editing…I know, I know, it’s a control issue, what can I say? :)

Music for the last 1,000:
The Decemberists: The Crane Wife
The Decemberists: Castaways and Cutouts
The Decemberists: Her Majesty the Decemberists
Royskopp: Melody A.M.