It’s Almost Over

The year, that is.

NanoWriMo ended almost a month ago. I wrote over 50,000 words in 29 days, and I didn’t have to get up half an hour early every weekday morning to do it. Last year, I was taking work home and had to edit that first, so writing those 50,000 words was more stressful than it was this year. Last year, in order to reach my goal, I got up at 4 a.m., instead of at 4:30 a.m.
And, I am happy to report, this year I finished the project without destroying my computer.

Will I do NanoWriMo in 2007? I’m thinking: No. But that’s what I thought this year— right up until the middle of October.

It’s Me Again—Finally

I am writing, but I’m not posting much of anything these days.

I'm busy planning and preparing for National Novel Writing Month. I'm planning my entry and preparing an outline. I hope I can write 50,000 words again this year. And I hope my computer doesn’t try to electrocute me this time.

As you might guess, I will not be around much, if at all, during November.

Happy Halloween, Election Day, Veterans Day, and Thanksgiving. See you in December.

Maybe.

My Computer Is at It Again, but I’m Not

My computer is being a pest again. I’m getting pop-up messages about the proximity of wireless networks and the updates available for my computer, along with more warnings about those nasty unused icons that are littering my desktop.

Several weeks ago, a pop-up message informed me that electrical storms had been detected in the area. The computer suggested that I shut down the system. Having been zapped by my last computer, I took its advice. We are in the middle of the monsoon season here. I have detected dozens of electrical storms in the area since then, but I haven’t had that message pop up again.

(Oops, I missed posting something semi-interesting for July. I confess that I’ve neglected my blog, but I’ve been very busy for the past six weeks. Now that I’m not going to be so busy for a while, maybe I’ll do better next month. Then again....)

Yes, I'm Still Here

Busy at work and busy at home. Took a day off and toured a cat house last Friday. Will write more later.

Blog Blahs and the Bizarre

I’ve decided to launch an advertising campaign to promote my blog. After all, what good is a blog if no one ever visits it?

As a first step in this project, I analyzed my posts. After critiquing them, I’ve concluded that WestWord Arizona has a chronic case of the blahs. This blog needs more relevant and more interesting stuff…er, content. It needs content with universal appeal.

I’m fairly certain that no one out there in cyberspace cares about the score I received on an exam in PowerPoint, Excel, or any other subject. A relative thought that the entry recollecting my dream about doing taxes for a serial killer was a little wild. And how many non-writers understand what a storyboard is?

An acquaintance remarked that the post about my purple finger was a bit bizarre. I agree—now. But, hey, the darn thing hurt like heck at the time. For those of you who haven’t read the entry, that disaster happened one morning on the way to work. I was paying too much attention to what was happening at a house across the street and not enough attention to where I was walking. I tripped over an uneven spot on the sidewalk and ended up on the ground.

I considered deleting the “purple” post, but I decided not to. Every time I read it, it will remind me to mind my own business (at least on the way to work).

My Icons are None of Your Business!

That’s what I felt like screaming at my computer last week.

When I turned on the darn thing one morning, a message popped up informing me that I had unused icons on my desktop. Hey, what am I supposed to do about it? It’s 5:30 a.m. I can barely deal with making coffee this early, let alone deal with unused whatsits.

Compared to the desktops of some people I know (and you know who you are), my desktop décor is a bit on the sparse side.

Anyway, I’m not responsible for the icons on my desktop. Dell is. The icons came with the computer. Among others, I have icons urging me to take advantage of a free six- month subscription to AOL, a trial version of QuickBooks Simple Edition, and a trial version of Word Perfect. I have no intention of using these trial versions because I know that I will not be buying the Internet service or the software at the end of the trial runs. Thank you, but I’m happy with NetZero and Word. As for a fancy accounting program, I don’t need one—yet.

Maybe I should delete the unused icons. Then the computer wouldn’t have to nag me about them. And maybe, while I’m at it, I should also uninstall the actual trial versions of this stuff.

On Hiatus This Weekend

I’m really trying my best to post something semi-interesting every other weekend. However, as April 15—make that April 17 this year—will soon be here, I’m doing the annual tax return thing this weekend. I don’t outsource them because, a couple of years ago, I paid H&R Block good money to teach me how to do them.

Unfortunately, I’m still doing them the old-fashioned way and mailing them. Maybe I’ll e-file next year.

Where Did All the Proofreaders Go?

As an editor, I correct errors and typos in business documents that have been created by other people, so I think my own work should be perfect. I confess that sometimes it isn’t.

But I’m not alone.

Typos and errors in grammer, punctuation, and syntax are common in almost everything in print today. Don’t publishing houses and newspapers hire proofreaders or copy editors anymore?

I guess not.

Several years ago, I bought the first book published by an author who is currently writing two mystery series. In the first half of the book, the name of one of the main characters was Harvey. Then, in the middle of the book, he was referred to as Harry. A few pages later, he was Harvey again for the rest of the novel.

Jeremy

Every year around St. Patrick’s Day, I think about a fellow I knew when I was a junior in high school. He had an Irish last name, a modified Elvis haircut, and a whole lot of freckles. We dated for about four months one summer when he was on the outs with the girl he had gone steady with since he was about thirteen.

“Jeremy” liked cars. He mostly liked to see how fast they could go. He also liked to see how fast he they could stop. (Hey, former neighbors, now you know how all those tire marks got on the road in front of your houses.)

During one of the several times that he was stopped for speeding, he told the policeman that he was “just burning out the carbon.” That excuse failed to impress the policeman, and Jeremy ended up in court the next day.

The judge he appeared before had a reputation for being unsympathetic to teenage boys with a hot foot on the gas pedal. When Jeremy’s case was called, the judge told him: “Son, there are three rates of speed in this town: slow, medium, and ‘Good morning, Judge.’”

Yes, I'm Still Here

Honestly, I really did want to post something more inspiring than this short paragraph. Alas, I am suffering from the usual spring allergies and also from writer's blog....er, block. I hope both go away soon.

Sorry About That

Shame on me. I haven’t kept my blog up to date; I’ve been too busy.

In November, I took part in the National Novel Writing Month challenge known as NaNoWriMo. I wrote 50,000 words of a novel in approximately 27 days. I’ve also been very busy at my day job.

My goal, when I created this blog, was to post on either Sunday or Wednesday at least twice a month. My new goal is to post whenever I get a chance.

Will return soon. Maybe.