Good timing Mr Eggers - 43 581

I'm having big procrastination problems today. Luckily that was the theme of the Nanowrimo Dave Eggers pep talk. (They get authors to write up pep talks that they send through the month.

So whatever procrastination problems you have, I probably have you beat. I'm the worst, and I'm getting worse every day.

It's a very strange thing, because we all think writing should be fun. That is, when I was temping through most of my twenties, wondering what it would be like to write for a living, hoping for such a life, I thought it might be pretty sweet. I thought if I ever got to write for a living, I would feel pretty lucky, and that I would be so appreciative that I would bound out of bed every day and, like a goddamned adult, I would write as much as I could every day, and get work done in a reasonable amount of time. Again, like an adult.

Instead, I need, on average, 8 hours sitting on my writing couch to get one hour of work done.

Castle Thunder is Go!

So far my story contains (or will contain) shades of William Randolph Hearst, Julia Cameron - a female architect, the 1918 influenza epidemic, WWI aces, Isadora Duncan, Josephine Baker, early Hollywood, early jazz, and conditions facing African-Americans, Chinese-Americans, Native Americans and Mexicans. So I think it's time I introduced a Pinkerton detective, don't you?

I didn't know, but there was a female division of the Pinkertons. One of whom was arrested (as a spy I guess) and imprisoned in Richmond, Virginia's Castle Thunder prison.

??!!

Can you believe there was a prison called Castle Thunder? The guards apparently had a reputation for brutality. Well duh!! Call your prison Castle Thunder and I expect you'll attract all manner of melodrama. Including  a woman who enlisted in the civil war as a man. Good heavens.

Wiki doesn't say how it got its name, but apparently there was another prison of that name is Petersburg. Virginia was a weird place in the 1800s. Or the state boosters were hoping to make it into an episode of Flash Gordon.

Ack! Carpal tunnel attack!

Ever since I was a fiction-writing-teenager I've had to contend with carpal tunnel and neck pain. I had such neck pain in high school that I had to do exercises for it; but that seems to have mostly gone away over time. The carpal tunnel I also have to do exercises for, as it regularly flares up. Luckily never to the point of debilitation.

Mind, I can never find my damned carpal book when I need it. Where are you?? I should keep it with my books about writing. Most of the exercise consist of stretching out the wristy muscles.

Well, I've notched my chair up a little higher and that's helping. This chair is adjustable in a multitude of ways, meant for Serious Writing Action. And I have a desk with a keyboard tray so that's nice and low. And I put my laptop on top of a stack of school books (Principles and Practice of Psyiatric Nursing, Human Development, and Retailing Management) so that the screen is high enough.

Now if only I could find an exercise for sitting-at-desk-eating-all-the-time-itis. (Aerobics you say? ... Oh.)

Or a cure for procrastination.

Currently Enjoying...

Lucinda Williams

Aaaalright I'm back

I have a doctor's appt at 10 AM today. So I figure it will be less painful if I just write all night and then go. I have some chores to do too. I've had an evening nap, so I think I'm ok.

Spent time with husbando.

Started reading another Regency romance, and this one's very funny--sucked me right in.

Felt on the verge of a serious headache, but the nap sent it away. Still feel it could come, though, so I'll have to be careful. (Ie. wear stoopid earbuds instead of good quality headphones--the latter put pressure on the top of my head.)

Have some pastas and brownies on standby. Ice tea on my right.

Stoopid kitty on my finger, must get rid of.

42 679

Okay my candle-of-the-day is almost burnt out. I had some long dry spells because I had to think up some important plot points--since these 50 000 words are going to be part of the novel I'm working on, I can't put down just any old crap. I don't mind if I write stuff that I later decide will need changing, but I need to make the best momentary decisions I can.

When I did this same story two nanos ago, the goal was just to get a bare bones backstory worked out for my heroine, so all I needed to do was generate ideas. Now that I'm re-writing it, and it's going to actually go into my book, it's got to be a fully workable draft.

Anyway, I got past some of the humps, and I think the last 8000 words should come easier-ish. I've left my heroine in the California Hospital in LA, the Jacobs are about to flee to Europe, and Pearl is going to bring about the next important plot point. We're just getting into the thick of the stuff that will drive my Henry V character several generations later. Yay! I can safely get to bed, then.

(Look, once I got around 39 000 words my progress bar went from yellow to green. So cute!)

KITTY PICS: Minion Helps With Word Count

"Hm yes. You definitely need some padding."

"I put big bum on keyboard."

Song of the Day: There's another Canadian Justin! I better one! -> Justin Nozuka "Swan in the Water." No idea how this song got into my library--must have been an iTunes song of the week that I downloaded and then ignored.

I loved this soundtrack

Was probably my first real exposure to good rap music. John Singleton and Spike Lee always had the best soundtracks. But I can't listen to these songs for long cause they remind me of the movie (Boyz N the Hood) and then I get all sad. And then I have to think about how gorgeous Lawrence Fishburne was in that movie, and that makes me happy. Also I wish my name was Furious Styles.