NaNoWriMo 2003: Oniat
To help me commit to NaNoWriMo, I'm going public with it: http://loudpoet.com/tags/oniat/ Disclaimer: I will be cheating a little bit by including the couple of pages I've already written of my previously mentioned "fantasy" project.
National Novel Writing Month
Opportunity knocking...? National Novel Writing Month is a fun, seat-of-your-pants approach to novel writing. Participants begin writing November 1. The goal is to write a 175-page (50,000-word) novel by midnight, November 30. Valuing enthusiasm and perseverance over talent and craft, NaNoWriMo is a novel-writing program for everyone who has thought fleetingly about writing a novel but has been scared away by the time and effort involved. Because of the limited writing window, the ONLY thing that matters in NaNoWriMo is output. It's all about quantity, not quality. The kamikaze approach forces you to lower your expectations, take risks, and write…
Pumpkin Seeds: 10/29/2003
1. Last night at Acentos was one of those rare transcendent moments that puts a smile on your face and a spring in your step. I was so jazzed, I played Jordan Knight's Give it to You all the way home, complete with in-your-seat choreography! Mahina Movement, with a new-to-me lineup, was simply amazing. A female Rage Against the Machine, they brought tight collaborations with raw verse and absolutely smoked the mic. The open preceding them was an exciting mix of old and new voices, too, with Fish filling in as host like it was second-nature. Nine months in and…
In the end, Breath, Eyes, Memory turns out to be one of those disappointing books that is much less than the sum of its parts. I suspect much of the praise it received stemmed more from American fascination with youth and "exotic" cultures than from its modest artistic merits. Danticat is talented, without a doubt, but this book is a short story clumsily stretched into novel-length, barely, full of archetypes and allegories but not nearly enough character development. In the end, you don't really know or care about anybody or anything; what should be an intense and emotionally harrowing story…
LEO: October 28, 2003 Astronet Daily Everything is a game to Leo. However, this lighthearted attitude doesn't make you casual or careless. Instead of being driven by duty and fear, you're motivated by pride and delight. You can and therefore you will. You feel as if you've finally become the person you always aspired to be. So now what? Enjoy this time without question. Perfection is a process rather than a fixed state. I have been feeling rather good about life lately. I don't necessarily think I'm there yet, but I'm certainly more on track than I've ever been. :-)
It's an old joke that people have kids so they can have an excuse to play with toys again. While certainly not the only reason - they can have a nice affect on your taxes, too! - it's definitely in the Top 10, and Isaac's 3rd birthday proved to be a veritable bonanza. After getting a bunch of Crayola art supplies, including a cool desk/easel, from us on Friday, we threw him a party at Chuck E. Cheese on Sunday with a bunch of his cousins and friends, and we...I mean HE, made out like a bandit! He got more…