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Who's in? I don't have a plot or any ideas yet. Not that that's particularly new for me. I'm a total pantser. I'm not starting at midnight. I'm too old for that shit.

Who's in???

Who is getting ready for NaNoWriMo this year?! I’d like to take November to get the rest of my novel hopefully close to finished. I’d like to be completely done it by the end of the year so I can work on editing and second draft for 2020.

Anyone else attempting NaNoWriMo this year? I have lost my mind. I'm doing this. We'll ignore the fact that this is my busy season in the day career. I'm stealing characters I worked on for something 20 or so years ago. And reworking a mystery novel/procedural into Urban Fantasy. (I told you, I've lost my mind).

Yesterday in a discussion here at FJ, I linked to something by Pastor Joe Schimmel. I know I've talked about him before regarding a different movie. Someone at that time suggested a thread. I thought I'd blog about things first. Depending on reactions, I might start a thread. If you enjoy fundie rabbit holes of the angry, judgemental pastor variety - take the rescue ferrets and head on in. I not only listened to this guy - I went back and listened to his podcast history. (Podcast/radio here: http://www.goodfightradio.org/ ) He is very focused on 'gay agendas.' Very focused on satanic worship, demons, and can trace all sorts of new age stuff in his warped mind to Aleister Crowley. But I let him get in my head. I was trying to be the good Christian. I was, admittedly, on a path to fundie light. A few years ago I tossed 'religion' to the side. I've elevated past narrow-minded, legalistic thinking. Joe is very big into seeing the "Gay Agenda" everywhere. (a sample of his entries on homosexuality: http://cupofjoe.goodfight.org/tag/homosexuality/ ) And Satan. And demons. ( sample of his bits about the occult and such: http://cupofjoe.goodfight.org/category/cults-occult/ ) He has videos out there about 'They Sold Their Souls to Rock and Roll.' and "Hollywood's War on God." http://cupofjoe.goodfight.org/video/ (more videos at the link) This morning I went looking for a quote from him about Stephanie Meyer, author of the Twilight books. And yup - I found what I was looking f http://cupofjoe.goodfight.org/twilight-harry-potter-the-wizard-of-oz-and-the-wiccan-revival/ Sorry - had to enter to be able to do what I wanted to there. Joe has his material spread across a few websites. Don't miss this one https://www.goodfight.org/ He has videos on this one discussing Hollywood Movies. Click on the "theater" button to explore that one.

So yesterday I saw a meme on Facebook that made me go hmm. It triggered - or rather confirmed a direction for my writing. My writing has been on hold for a while. For many reasons that I'm going to spare you here. Because that is not the point of this entry. Although the start over in the meme is what I'll probably do with the project that won't go away. That I tried to set aside and, yes, is again nagging at me. And when I shared, I did put a line or two about my writing when I shared the post. Some friends hit like. I appreciate that. Then there is that one friend. The one trying to be, shall we say, overly helpful. She hit like but she also replied that she had gone to a local library and heard a mystery writer talk and had I read her books. I did the virtual version of smile and nod. Or in this case, replied that I had just finished (no, really, yesterday) a book by this author. Did not say that I found the novel adequate but lacking (the concept was good, wanted to smack the protagonist and I just can't love a book where I dislike the protagonist unless you are, say, Patricia Highsmith and we are talking Ripley). So thanks for your... what do I call that? Support? Although that is not support. I know you think it is. Because for me it was a books suggestion from someone who knows I like mystery and suspense but doesn't really 'get' what I really read and enjoy in a book (and I can be very very nit-picky) And while I'm on a ramble about suggestions, can we talk about reading suggestions. You've seen them around the net. Books to read if you loved "Gone Girl" for instance. This is not helpful to me. What I need is suggestions for books to read if I read "Gone Girl" wanted to love "Gone Girl" and found the whole experience a load of hooey and I should have gone with my initial gut reaction and skipped it but didn't because I wanted to see what the big deal was (after the movie came out). And, okay, I may have read it to check out the whole unreliable narrator aspect. By the way, the friend above babbled to me in person about "Girl on the Train" and said, paraphrasing, I had a hard time getting into it but then I did and I figured it out way before the end. This, by the way, was a glowing recommendation. No, really, because it confirmed my suspicions (see all comparisons I had read to Gone Girl) about my not reading the book. I don't want to figure it out long before the ending.

So I'm binge watching season 2 (so far) of Blindspot. Yes, I have a TV addiction. No, I'm not going to reform. While watching an episode this morning before my weekly trip to my weight watchers cult meeting an episode dropped in the tidbit that Joss Whedon wrote 'the good parts' of the movie Speed. Say what? Now Speed is a movie I've seen eleventy times. I've used it for 20+ years to study plot structure. And Joss Whedon is not who got the credit (Graham Yost did). So I took to google and found an interview at Huffington Post about this with Whedon. I think I'm going to have to watch Speed again. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/06/10/joss-whedon-speed_n_5473795.html

It's less than a month until Camp Nanowrimo! Held twice a year (April & July). I enjoy camp more than regular Nanowrimo because I can set my own goal and/or work on other things. Due to various circumstances I've done little with my writing since November ended. I have been thinking though. Before I even ended my 2015 pursuit, I had come to the conclusion that November goes much better if I, gasp, prepare. Which means I have to have an idea of what I'm writing a year in advance. So I'm going to use Camp in April & November to do characterization, backstory and maybe a bit of plot work. I can also use it to edit a novel I already have in progress. They have a formula buried in the camp rules (or the nano site) to convert editing time into word count. Yes, I'm excited. Now, where's Miss Raquel....