Book endings

Gah! I saw the heading for a blog entry that made me think I'd found someone who would tell me how to finish my book, because at this point, I only have the vaguest of ideas and I really should know within the week! But at least this blog entry at Squawk Radio made me laugh, especially this part:

"So I guess the only advice I can give you for ending your book quickly and efficiently is to avoid eBay, Amazon, on-line quizzes and Sudoku while you’re trying to do it. And to end your book in a way that will satisfy your editor, your readers and yourself, you should avoid killing or maiming your characters, and you should keep them mentally sound. And also you should avoid killing or maiming yourself, and you should keep yourself mentally sound. And, okay, maybe you should hide any cutlery in the house, just to be on the safe side."

I thinkElizabeth Bevarly has been peeking over my shoulder. And maybe she should add avoid blogging, too...Nah!

Woohoo!

Tonight, hubby and I went to see Underworld: Evolution. Yes, I know it doesn't open until tomorrow! :o) Earlier this week, I won tickets for an advance screening from a local TV station (sometimes it pays to still be up watching TV at midnight).

The movie was pretty cool! Scott Speedman is now my hunk du jour! Well, probably longer than that, but we've just exhausted my French vocabulary. I could have done with quite a bit less blood & gore - I know it's a vampire movie, but this was pushing the limits for me. It's a lot more violent and bloody than the first movie. Definitely not for little kids. I know a lot of the guys will be thrilled that they go in expecting to see Kate Beckinsale half naked, and what they get is a view of half of Kate Beckinsale totally naked (with Scott Speedman equally so, so I really won't complain). Okay, that's enough drool on the keyboard (that goes for you as well as me)! I've got more to say, but I'm afraid it would all be spoilers, so I'll leave them out for now.

And just to illustrate how this movie had me glued to my seat - I didn't get up to go to the restroom even once! (Those who know me know how amazing that is.) :o)

And now for a little fun

Today's cleverest headline: Debt ode by Burns to City's ladies

HeeHee! I know...you're all rolling your eyes...or maybe wondering what the joke is. I hope not, but just in case, here's a clue: It's an ode one, but a good one. :)

WriMo update

Tonight I get a star in my calendar because I made my nightly goal (plus a little)!

Totals:
Tonight: 2,203 words
This week: 3,383 words
This month: 24,447 words

And from the figuring I did tonight, I'm right on track, but I don't have any slacking days left, so it could get sticky from here on out.

Busy busy...not writing

Okay, I need a slap on my wrist for the last two days. Friday and Saturday night were "freebies" - I had worked them into my totals for WriMo since I knew ahead of time I wouldn't get anything done those two nights.

My writers' group had our annual retreat Friday night and Saturday, so it was definitely writing-related "slack" time, and there really wasn't much slacking going on at all. Over the two days (more like 24 hours, counting sleep) we did 4 90-minute plotting sessions, where we took turns helping each other plot our books. I was very into this Friday night and Saturday morning, but after lunch on Saturday I was brain-dead. Afternoon is my least-perky time. If I had a choice, I'd sleep every afternoon away and stay up more of the night. I did my book in the last plotting session, and just couldn't get my brain to work. I'll know to try to go early if we do this again (though this was really by the luck of the draw, so "trying" to go early wouldn't have helped anyway). I got out my handy calculator (math whiz I am NOT) and figured out we spent 6 hours plotting. Whew! We also spent an hour on a collage and freewrite. I'll have to take a picture of the collage and post it (I'll leave that for later in the week). It was all very fun, and I learned a lot. Even without that it still would have been worth it because I got to know the people in my group much better (I'm a newbie). Still, Saturday night I went home and crashed.

Sunday was sucked up by this that and the other family thing, not that that's a bad thing, and I could have written Sunday night, but I didn't (no excuses, even). Monday I had the day off, and had fully intended to write, but realized just how bad my house has gotten since I've been doing this WriMo (that's my excuse, and I'm sticking to it. No, it's NOT just my usual bad housekeeping skills!). So, I spent all day doing dishes and laundry, and FINALLY took down the Christmas decorations (although at this moment, all the boxes are still sitting in the middle of the living room)

Tonight, my brain creaked and groaned, but I got some words down, and lo and behold, I hit page 100! Yay! Now I'm off to bed.

Words today: 1,180
Words this week: 1,180 (for shame!)
Words this month: 22,244

Wizards in Winter

You may have seen this house on a beer commercial (for the life of me, I can't remember what brand - marketing apparently works on me really well) where this guy has put his Christmas lights to music. You can now watch it on Google Video. If you search for Christmas Lights on Google Video, most of this hits are videos of this house (but all the ones I tried were THIS song, so maybe that's the only one they played? I don't know).

Tonight's totals

Finally found out why my villain does what he does!

Totals:
Tonight: 2,070 words
This week: 4,373 words
This month: 20,430 words

WriMo Update

Exciting stuff tonight, though a bit disjointed. It all flowed out much faster than the last few nights. I'm discovering big things about my characters! Yay!

Totals:
Tonight: 2,323 words
This week: 2,323 words
This month: 18,360 words

WriMo and P&P

Well, I was supposed to do 4,000 words today, to finish playing catch-up. The plan was 2,000 words, go see Pride and Prejudice (finally!) at the theatre, then come home and do 2,000 more words. Yeah...uh, that didn't happen. It started off well, I did 2,014 words before the movie. Then I went to the movie. It was pretty darn good as long as you don't compare it with the 1995 version (nothing beats Colin Firth in a wet shirt) and then my friend and I went to Old Chicago to start our World Beer Tour we've been talking about doing for a year. One (very large) beer, mozzarella sticks and lots of chatting later, I got home and really really really had to squeeze the brain to get the drek I got - 1,208 words. Well, drek is better than a blank page (I need to post that on the wall above my computer...next to the P&P poster). But it means catch-up continues tomorrow.

So, on to the totals:
Today: 3,222
This week: 16,037
This month: 16,037

Friday & Saturday WriMo update

I was a big slacker last night and didn't write a thing. Sat down & watched Valiant with the family instead (I was a bit disappointed in it, really. Guess I expected more.)

Tonight, I wrote 2,875 words. I've got serious catch up to do tomorrow. I should have done more of it today, but it was finally warm enough out to clean the garage. After living in this house for almost two months, we actually have a vehicle in the garage! Yay! And then there was the obvious blog-reading earlier, along with e-mail checking, etc. Bad girl!

Totals:
Tonight: 2,875
Total for Jan: 12,815

Life with a toddler...or a five-year-old

I recently discovered Whitney Gaskell's blog, and it's a hoot! (I need to fix my vocabulary..."hoot" just is not a flattering word on me) I haven't read any of her books yet (shame on me!) but I'm certainly going to keep my eye out for them, especially Pushing 30. Anyway, this post made me laugh, and roll my eyes, because my daughter STILL tries to do this to me (though, thankfully, not in public).

Getting back on track

2,216 words tonight. 9,940 total.

Wednesday's WriMo Update

Only 1,225 words tonight. That puts me 775 behind (I'll have to work that into my total for the rest of the week to make it up). My total is now 7,724 for January.

Tuesday's WriMo Update

Exactly 2,000 words tonight, and boy, were they tough. My total so far is 6,499 words for January.

WriMo Update

I've written 2,226 words today. My total so far is 4,499.

My WriMo update

Yesterday, I wrote 2,273 words. Time to get to work on Day Two...

I'd never thought of this...

...but it'd be really cool. Cheeser at the Harry Potter Automatic News Aggregator (HPANA) site says Book 7 "simply can't not be released on 07/07/07. It's too perfect." See the entire posting at News: Commentary: Harry Potter Book 7 on July 7, 2007

Of course, I'm still trying to get through Book 5. I really need to just make time to sit down and read it. Maybe if I really work at it, I'll have 5 & 6 done by the time 7 (might) come out. :o)

Happy New Year & Mary's WriMo

Gee, it's 2006 already! 2005 felt like a big waiting game & there were lots of big changes. 2006 is an action year! So, I'm starting it off with a goal of writing 50,000 words by the end of January. I couldn't do NaNoWriMo for 2005, and I don't want to wait until November comes again to try it, so I'm doing my own "WriMo" now. We're moved in to our house (finally!), the holidays are done (finally!); now it's time to write, write, write! Watch this space for daily updates! Nothing like accountability to keep you going, right?