see more pwn and owned pictures

HELP US STOP COMPULSORY NET FILTERING BY GOVERNMENT

yes I mean in AUSTRALIA...  not China or North Korea....  here in my country !

Snicker, Snort, PMSL

http://www.smartbitchestrashybooks.com/index.php/category/covers_gone_wild_non_snoop_dogg_edition/

This is the funniest site I have seen in a long while.  It snarks at the covers of 'romantic' fiction.

OMG talk about taking the piss out of something, the people on this site are experts in their field.

I had tears of laughter rolling down my face reading the first ten pages of comments...   It is SO worth the read ! ! !

I found a forum devoted to NaNo participants who want to finish the writing they started in November.

As I did meet the NaNo goal but did not finish my story, I am joining this forum to get the incentive to finish

http://www.nanofimo.org/forums/index.php

and they have a badge.

TV Reviews

Damn MUST try harder ;)

53%

Created by OnePlusYou - Free Dating Sites

something I found via another blog LOL

How reassuring/not!

50.326 

and I am a winner  !!!  with a two thirds or maybe three quarters finished novel.  I hope to keep writing til the end of the month and see how far I get.  It is getting complicated with a sub plot or two but it is also getting more interesting to write.

I hope I can keep going with the novel

Good luck to all the other participants :)

WOOHOO

45,016 / 50,000

So close !  Fortunately/Unfortunately I have a lot more to write to finish the story.  I have mostly enjoyed the process and the deadline aspect of NaNoWriMo.  My partner was also inspired to work on a fictionalised autobiography, and I hope she keeps writing it after the month is out.  I think she has an important story to tell as a male to female transexual lesbian.  It is a hard concept for most people to get their head around, so maybe if she can tell her story we can spread some more understanding out into the general population.

My plot has changed over the course of the month, and I think I was trying to work too many elements into the one novel.  I have dropped one sub plot entirely for the moment, and I don't think I will be putting it back in later.  I probably don't need the wordcount, and I think it makes the story over complicated.

I hope all the rest of the NaNo writers are doing well....  if you aren't at 50K yet there is still time !!

38,343/50,000

Wow what an interesting day.  I was having a problem with my plot and was lucky enough to get in a chat with another writer who pointed out some things about one of my characters and the bit I was missing just fell into place.  I now know who sabotaged the ship, how, why and who was pulling their strings.  I have no idea if I will be able to wrap the plot up in 12000 words though.  I'd like to get to 75,000 really, in the hope I have some left after editing LOL.  I don't think I'll get that far in the next week though LOL.  Never mind, I do still want to hit the 50K and am still basically on track to do so.  Fingers crossed I get there.

Good luck to the other NaNo participants :)

By the lame duck god of duckweed ! ! I think I can do this ;)

36,116 words now

I am working on this still.... though some times I wonder why as even I find it dull.  I have to cling to the hope that I can edit and rewrite this in January into something worth reading.  I am pretty sure I need to work on the dialogue.  I am not sure I am using it effectively to illustrate the right points in the plot.  I still have a saboteur with no motive LOL to sort out as well, and some alien technology to figure out how to use and what it does.  Not sure I can wrap it up in 14K remaining words, but that's not a problem as long as I either finish at however many words within a month or keep writing EVERY day until I do finish.  And no editing until the draft is complete !

Sigh.  I must be nuts ....

I've been testing Aussie jokes here and there in forums and it seems some of them just don't work away from home :(  Pesky Aussie refugees on the moon will insist on trying to share their humour.... It's a shame that in my novel America has been annexed into the Occupied Zone of Southern Canada.   Otherwise I'd use some American jokes ;)

I have lost the plot.... I mean it has run away from me altogether and I am chasing it as hard as I can but it's getting very weird in here now.

I have written about 5,000 words in the last two days trying to get this plot back to serious sci-fi but I am losing hope.

My self propelled electronic suitcases have been turned into alcohol stills by a group of Australian refugees from the next Ice Age, living in the mines on the moon. Said suitcases are now drunk on alcohol fumes and causing brawls among the Aussies by running into their ankles.

This is the same group of refugees who said they would not evacuate Earth without taking some kangaroos, wombats, emus, platypus and rabbits with them. Bastards are making it so much harder to plot. And WTF with the rabbits they are an introduced species damn it ! ! I am surprised they haven't asked for a bunyip.

HELP MEEEEEEEEE LOL, no on second thoughts this is way too much fun ;)

Though I am worried that I am crossing two genres and making life hard for myself.

30013/50000 - 5,000 words today !  and it still doesn't make sense :O

"Holy Goat Ears of Doom, Batman." ... "Yes Robin, Holy Goat Ears of Doom, indeed." 

OMG OMG OMG LOL

CRAPTASTIC !!  I am over half way now, and still plotting along in the dark while my characters order me about the place.  I must be a masochist or some such, to have such demanding characters.  Not one of them has turned out to be who I thought they were when I began outlining.  Also I am only loosely sticking to the thirty chapter outline I had.

So this is a great ride and even I don't know how it ends yet :)

25297/50000

Holy alliteration Batman !! WTF was I on when I wrote this !!

"She had been staring at these maps for hours and still she had no answer for the apparent aberration from the precise pattern that had so far revealed itself as a series of concentric circles."

When does the editing month start !!!!

23565/50000

WOW  It's working today, I think I have done about 3000 words.  Not all good, but at least I know what's happening at last !

:)

We had a write in today, and that helped more than I thought it would.  Sometimes it is possible to write in company ;)

I hope all the other nanoers are going well !  Keep clicking those keyboards, perseverence pays off.

Part of me is finding this harder than I thought, as I keep tripping over plot holes.  I have to have a severe talk to my brain one day, when it comes back again.  My way of dealing with it at the moment is to keep writing in scenes, and worry about putting them all together later on.  

I am watching a really bad movie about Mars on tv for atmosphere while I think and type.  It's calle Crimson Force and I reckon there's more plot holes in that than my story so I feel a bit more confident.  I've worked out some more details and I think I'd better get typing right now !

Good luck to the rest of you NaNo entrants.

17913/50000

I just feel like I am banging my head against a wall tonight.  I just don't know why this isn't flowing well.  My MC is not quite who I thought she'd be.  Her partner has a better grasp on what needs to be done ... and the guy who is organising civilian rescue is stoned on the sofa and doesn't care who survives the end of the world.  He is quoting Pink Floyd's "Comfortably Numb" !!!

I figure there has to be a food replicator .. but I don't have a clue how it works.  And the meteorite shields are a mystery, and a Faster Than Light ship.  I think I have stuff happening in the wrong order and that's why I am finding it so hard to write the stuff I need...  my characters haven't invented it yet.

I have the time to add scenes so let's hope they come to me soon ;)

Here's an extract from my NaNoWriMo novel. 

Some time later, Mary raised her head and stared out the window to the blackness beyond. Something had caught her eye. Again she saw a sparkling light flash across the window. She turned to Star and woke her up with a smile like a kid at Christmas. 

"There's a meteor shower going on over Earth. Want to watch for a while?"

"Sure. Let's just put it on the screen instead, we'll see more."

Mary came back with some drinks, and they lay back to watch the show.  

"How long do you think this will last?" Star asked as she finished the drink.

"I don't know, but it can't be much longer."

"Wait! What's that?" Star was pointing to a prolonged flare that was visible as a band across the Earth.

"That must be a larger meteorite. It's burning up slowly as it enters the Earth's atmosphere. The observatories in Earth orbit will be ecstatic. GIve me a moment, I have to get Einstein to monitor this. There'll be some great data about meteors from this shower." Mary collected Star's glass and went to the main room. Star heard her voice as she contacted Einstein and arranged for the shower to be closely monitored.

"I hope you didn't offend Aphrodite when you got her to call Einstein."

"Aphrodite is a computer interface, Star. She doesn't have feelings." 

"Sometimes I think you are a computer, too. You only feel things when you want to."

"Star, that's just not true. I love you, and think about you a lot when we are not together." Mary let her voice trail off as she heard Star's sudden intake of breath. She turned to look at the screen, following Star's gaze.  

The image of the earth was changing from a blue globe covered in swirling white patches of meringue, to an agitated one being bombarded by orange flares. The sky above Africa was almost incandescent. Her eyes locked with Star's in a mutual sharing of the horror being witnessed.  

"Einstein. Tell me what is happening to Earth. Access all resources, using Administrator override G47521."

"Acknowledged" The view screen in front of them split into six large images, with each of them reflecting a different version of hell.

"What's happening?" Mary's voice sounded timid, afraid to hear the answer.

"The images on the left are from the main observatories on the Earth's surface. On the right, the images are from three main geostationary sattelites. Data confirms there have been several meteor strikes on earth. I am still calculating the location of some of them but there have been verified strikes on the North and South American continents, Africa and Europe. There are indications that these strikes have triggered seismic activity along the Pacific rim, and the North American Pacific rim is showing signs of severe stress and imminent instability."

"The planet is turning brown!" Star exclaimed in horror.

"The meteorites that have hit the planet have the combined impact of a small sun. The brown colour is the debris of the multiple explosions casting itself adrift within the atmosphere. There will be millions of tonnes of debris. The planet is going to cool, rapidly. Shortly it will not be able to sustain human life, or many other forms of life."

"What? Einstein, what are you saying?" Mary sat abruptly on the end of the bed. She pulled a swaying Star down next to her and kept a firm grasp on the gentle hand she held.  

"I am running analyses to confirm, but a meteor strike of this magnitude is believed to have happened many times in Earth's history, and the profound climate change it causes has brought about the extinction of many species from the planet. The most widely known case was the extinction of the dinosaurs. This time the quantities of debris that is being recorded by the atmospheric sampling monitors is already in the extremely high category, and it has not even finished rising. To put it quite simply, the Earth will enter another ice age. Very little will survive."

 

Mary and Star sat in a kind of anesthetised silence. Their eyes were fixed on the images that assaulted their minds. To see the horror unfolding yet be so remote from it was almost unendurable. Mary turned to Star and saw each single tear being shed as a brief reminder of the globe being destroyed before their eyes.   

7156 words so far... and a runaway plot LOL.

The guy who was going to be the hero has turned out to be a saboteur.  He is a Christo-Druid of times about 300 years ahead of us.  Yet he is a luddite, refuses to have a machine for a secretary.  Believes firmly that the earth is Mother and God is Father, and therefore there can be no life on other planets.  ie he is a nut job LOL.

He was easily converted into a holy saboteur by our MC's estranged father who wants a spectacular failure to the interstellar exploration plan that the MC is in ultimate charge of.

And that's just the sub plot.  The main plot has to start in a chapter or two at the most.  

AAARGH  lol.

Day one of NaNo.....  1514 words down, and just over 24 hours in.

I think I am writing crap LOL.  It is so hard to not edit what I am writing but evey time I do change someting I end up making it shorter, not longer so I am trying to resist the urge.

My MC has turned out to be an adamant ice maiden to men and a steamy lesbian in private ....  rather unexpected, and now I have to thaw her out somewhat so that she ends up bisexual by the end of the book...  as that will help the human race repopulate.  AARGH, why did she have to decide to be difficult, and so early in the writing too.  She has to calm down or else I will have to change the genre from sci fi to erotica.

I finally got my cordless keyboard to work today so I can type a bit more comfortably, as the laptop keyboard drives me nuts after a while and makes my shoulders hurt.

I have learned I can't write without Iced Coffee.  Upon learning this I went to the two nearest supermarkets today to discover they had both run out of the only two brands I will drink.  Which forced me to go to two petrol stations on the way home from the wasted supermarket trip and buy 6 X 600ml cartons of Iced Coffee at each ..... that should last me 4 or 5 days I hope, so I don't have to emerge again from writers hibernation until midweek.  Or that's the plan at least. 

Must keep typing LOL  Must keep typing NOVEL oops LOL not blog posts.  cya later

OK freaking out a bit now LOL..

11 hours til midnight and the writing can start.  The NaNo forums are down.  My characters refuse to talk to me.  The house needs cleaning :S and I know I ought to do it today BEFORE I start writing, but feel very uninspired.

Have had a run in with a moron on another forum I help to moderate ... I'd like to tell that creature to make like a gerbil and crawl up her own orifice and die.... , but that would not be polite.  I think I am beginning to be frustrated with the dumbing down of society as a whole.. it just seems to give the idiots more scope to run their mischief.

Hopefully I make it to midnight and actualy manage to get somewhere ..  Will let you know ;)

NaNoWriMo Synopsis:

Earth's colonies orbit the moon which we are strip mining for resources, having mostly depleted our own planet. A cataclysmic event occurs, leaving the earth uninhabitable in a matter of months. The refugees are installed in temporary living space on the moon while a portion of the survivors seek a new star with a planet that can support human life, intending to scout, establish a base, then come back to rescue the survivors. Meanwhile archaeological discoveries are made within the surface of the moon, and it becomes easier for humans to live there. Conflicts emerge, mutiny entails, and the survival of the human race becomes a choice of destination .. the moon or the unknown star system.

OK this is all starting to come together.

I found some prepsheets on the NaNo website to help with planning the plot and characters, and they are a great help.  There are even worksheets where you can select the personality traits of your protagonists, so you have a clear idea on who they are and then where they can go. 

So I went mad ticking boxes and have now painted a larger than life plot, that can hopefully carry me through at least 50,000 words.  

Still pestering my poor partner for ideas.... might be divorced by the time the month is out :O

Pre NaNo Plotting

AARGH  lol

This is doing my head in. I have a setting in mind for the novel, but I am struggling for a plot.  Hmm.  I am sure if I keep thinking I will get there, I just hope it doesn't take too long.

There is a pre-NaNo coffee meet this Sunday in the city so I think I will go to that, and talk to the people who have done this contest in previous years.  I am a bit worried I will get bogged down in details.  Since I like to know how things work, I am also tempted to tell my readers too much information about technology.  My partner says I should explain nothing and let the readers imagine everything ... not sure about that either but there must be a happy medium somewhere.

I am really fortunate in that I tripped over a writing site I like,  http://www.thenextbigwriter.com and several members there are entering NaNo.  So if all else fails I might get some moral support there.  

Here is a copy of my preparation list for NaNo:

1. Nag partner to let me buy a new computer ;)  am now typing from my new laptop  (downside .. now have to learn to use Vista )

2. Look through music collection and make up playlists of tracks that make me think.

3. Stock up on groceries so I don't have to go out in the heat and shop. For a month (I wish).

4. Tell the cats they are not allowed to disturb me for a month... no hairballs, no clawing the furniture... (Likelihood of success is somewhat less than zero)

5. Test airconditioning.  Summer has come early this year, it's been 36C last 2 days (97F)

6. Last LOL Find a semi plausable plot, or if all else fails wing it ;)

:S perhaps point 6 should have been point one !!!!!!

Stay tuned for my next update ... hopefully an Eureka moment !!!

I am just starting up this blog.  Probably so I have somewhere to come and whinge at while I attempt this year's NaNoWriMo.  Not at all sure whether I can write fifty thousand words that even make sense within a month.  

I am thinking of a science fiction plot because at least I can make up the stuff I don't know ;)  Never let facts get in the way of a good story :)

Luckily for me my partner is a geek and an electronics engineer.  I can always get ideas there and get some of my theories checked for obvious errors. Failing that, we also have some great debates about sci-fi tv shows.

I am thinking about using NaNo to expand a short story I wrote in 1999 into a novel.  But I am not sure if that is within the rules.

I have joined the perth group in the forums for moral suport.  Maybe I will meet up with some of the other writers.  The group for my side of the city meets somewhere terribly inconvenient, so I am still undecided.

wish me luck :)

Kosmos