Building a world in 30 days

I've been tossing around ideas for Nanowrimo. I really think that I need to complete the trilogy that I started. Problem is I have never felt completely comfortable with the world I created for my characters to explore.

My first novel took place mostly in Seattle and Israel. I spent months researching Israel before Nano started. My scenes ended up great, but the characters needed a lot of work.

Second novel I wrote in first person and had it take place mostly in Paris. I had been to Paris before so I relied heavily on that. I dealt with some issues my characters were going through but I didn't like my depiction of Paris. And I found out I don't like writing in first person so much.

All that and I still have not developed the fantasy portion of my characters lives. The rules that guide their powers and define what should happen.

So, I am going to take the next 30 days to create my world using this little guide I found online. Linky later. Day one is climate. Wish me luck.

Too much. It's all too much.

Too much to go over that is. That is what happens when you neglect your blog for almost a month. I went to Sock Summit and was completely overwhelmed. I know I did not see 75% percent of what the vendors had to offer because I spent too much time wandering around with my mouth hanging open in sheer amazement of the scope of this event. I have never been to a knitting conference, but I can say that I will try my darnedest to be at any future Sock Summits regardless of whether or not I even get any classes.

Here is a cool video someone took with an overview of what was happenin' at Sock Summit:



I had five classes and I enjoyed 2.5 of them. Yarn Harlot and Chrissy Gardiner were the bomb and I would takes any classes from them again in a heart beat. Otherwise I could have spent the rest of my time more wisely in and about Portland and the Marketplace because there was too much awesomeness to possibly pack in four days.

Here is an awesome video of the Guinness attempt which took place on my birthday:



Did I mention that I also had a last minute roommate who was uber-awesome? I think I may be the Washington version of this Michigan native because we had too much in common to list and she was a blast. Only wish I could have been less overwhelmed and hung out with her more.


I completely went head over heels for fiber. I'm addicted. I joined the Blue Moon Sock Club which has already been going on since January. Today I got all my kits, four in total, that I had missed. I am simply aghast at the time and effort not only put into these beautiful yarns, but also in the presentation of the individual kits. Money well spent and I will definitely be a repeat customer.


Also, there is this little thing called Nano that is knocking on my back porch.


Yes, I hear you there Nano. Yes, I will be participating this year. No, I'm not entirely sure what I will be writing, but I will be there. Yes, I will. And to make it official:

Guinness

Guinness World Records that is. Yep. I'm going down in the history of Guinness. In a little over two weeks I will be attending the Sock Summit in Portland. One of the events scheduled to take place is breaking the world record for the most people knitting in one place at the same time for 15 minutes. The previous record was about 276 people. There will be quadruple that amount at the Sock Summit. So cool!

In other news, BB told me this morning he did not want to go to school. I think it had to do with him being shushed during naptime yesterday. He is very prideful and it takes him awhile to recover from being criticized in any way. Hmmm...wonder where he gets that?

Post school exhaustion

BB had a great first day at school.  Although he did come home exhausted. He spaced out on the couch for awhile when he got home. Hey, kind of like what I do when I get home from work. He was excited to go back today, so I'll call that a good sign.

Peanut Pug had his neurology appointment yesterday. His exam was normal, so we're just going to treat this freak seizure thing conservatively. Mostly because we don't have a few extra thousand lying around for an MRI. But he is acting happy and about 90% of the pug we once knew, so all is well.

Have a trial starting next week and I am going to have to majorly buckle down the rest of this week.

A gamer in the making

What is it like to be a paralegal

The picture above is what you will see a lot of if you become a paralegal. This is only one of five aisles of files in only one of the rooms in our office space which spans two floors. Many people talk about the paperless office and I just don't think it is possible in the legal field. At least not in personal injury cases.

You need a few things to deal with all this paper. First you need the will not to run screaming from the office. Next you need high level organizational skills and a file clerk that knows their alphabet so that you don't lose anything.

Sometimes I like to stand here in the stacks. It is quiet like a library and its dark. It smells like paper and plastic binders and I can pretend I'm at the bookstore.

Lately my work load has been obscene. There is this fine line between having enough to do so that it propels you forward and then having so much to do that it stops you in your tracks and makes you want to hide in the stacks.

Good news is that my team finally got an email today from my attorney thanking us for all our hard work and acknowledging that our workloads have been "unhealthy" as of late. I don't really see how it will change anything, but maybe it will make me feel better.

Not quite seeing the light, but trying to be lighthearted

I think the Gods Must Be Crazy. Did you see that movie? Don't feel bad if you didn't, it was released in 1980. But it pretty much sums up my reaction to the last few weeks. No, a coke bottle didn't fall from the sky, but I sure have had a lot of shit rain down on me and I sure wish I could drop it all at the end of the Earth and have it disappear.

We have Peanut scheduled for an appointment with a neurologist on Monday. Mike and I have been total wrecks watching our little pug baby go downhill. He turns nine next month. I thought I had another few years before I had to deal with geriatric dog issues.

BB starts school on Monday. Not sure how he will take this. It will be the first time he has ever been left with a bunch of people he does not know. I am hoping his curious nature will take over and it won't be too big of a deal. Probably won't be good if I start crying though right?

But before Peanut went and became epileptic on us last week, my mind had finally drifted back to one of my heart's desires. Writing.

I was reading The Writer, a magazine I subscribe to, and there was an article by a YA Author named Mandy Hubbard about getting published. Her biography indicated she was from Enumclaw which is in Washington. One thing I noticed was missing from her biography was her educational and publication background. When I read these articles I mostly see that they are written by authors with a laundry list of articles written, and oh, yeah, they all have MFAs. I checked her website and there was nothing on there either. So I took I chance and emailed her.

She was very responsive and confirmed that she was able to publish her debut novel without an MFA and without having ever published anything else before. She has also graciously agreed to meet with me to talk about it more and I will hopefully be taking her up on that offer next month. That will also give me time to read her debut novel, Prada and Prejudice.

Nanowrimo is starting to knock on the back porch of my brain. Reminding me that I have three months to come up with another concept for a novel if I hope to finish this year. I keep telling Nanowrimo to come back after Sock Summit in August and then we can talk.

You know you are stressed when you start talking to random constructs of your own mind.