13/03/2010

Cruel world but there's always NaNoWriMo if you don't feel bad enough already


I had laugh at the photo my daughter emailed me yesterday. So much for the new toy I sent Owen the dog. I guess it lasted about a day. Cruel world. The santa bear I gave him for Christmas lasted a week.

The big news around here is that the other day I finally printed out the manuscript I wrote a few years ago during NaNoWriMo. I finished it a day or two before the Nov. 30th deadline, or more accurately I belly crawled past the required 50,000 word finish line, called it good, encrypted it and emailed it to the NaNo word counter bot who counted it in about two seconds then shot back my NaNoWriMo "winner" badge, sort of like receiving a gold metal in the "special" Olympics. I then filed the manuscript and that was that. I never read it and tried not to think about it.

However, I thought I might have lost it during a recent computer upgrade so the other day, out of curiosity, I went looking. The shame over writing such total crap has kind of faded. Time heals. And there it was. It seemed harmless enough so I released it from it's digital limbo. It lives incarnate in the world as black ink on white paper. It looks impressive, especially printed out in 12 pt. Courier, double spaced with 1" margins, 197 pages of .... well ... words. I started reading it and kind of like some of it, although it is shamelessly about nothing. Uncle Monkey, Ugly Bear and Clarence are dubious.


Other than that, I'm headed up to the lake this morning. Some writer friends, also NaNoWriMo gold medalists, put together a weekend retreat. I planned on going last night but got to the base of the Sierra and was turned back by the flashing red CHAINS REQUIRED sign. I'm sure most people forged on, chains or no, but I did not. Okay. Gotta go.




7 comments:

Roy said...

I had to laugh as I read this. You receive a graphic for winning NaNo? Can you at least trade it in for gifts on Facebook? And is there no short yellow bus that ferries NaNoWriMo winners to the top of the mountain? You did not get out of the car and stand, arms raised, as you yelled at the flashing sign "These are the chains I forged in life!"?

Anyway, have a nice retreat. Write Frankenstein or something. I hope you see some cool fauna. Or flora.

asha said...

I want a ride in the short yellow bus! Fuck! Now I feel so cheated.
Yes, all I got was a stuuuuuuuuuuuip little gif. But hey! It represents a unique form of madness which looks more delicious as time rolls by. Yesterday Susan mentioned that Nanowrimo's Scrip Frenzy is coming up in April. Maybe they have a short yellow bus?

BTW, I haven't forgotten about that prize you won awhile ago for something or other. Can't remember now but I do intend to make and send it one of these days. At least it will handmade on real paper with real ink, not some digital, infinite replication.

Roy said...

I would love to receive an award for an unremembered deed, since it would have to go uncontested. In return I will speak highly of you in a personal reference, should you ever require one.

asha said...

A worthy exchange

Don said...

Tonight I am in Tonopah. Got here after dark so the picture-taking will occur in the morning. It threatens to be so relaxing I might stay for St. Pat's but whether or not, I truly hope the Sierra are passable when I get there because I am not driving my tiny little chains-les rental car all the way back down to take I-15.

asha said...

Hey Don, I'll miss you by a couple of weeks. I'll be in Tonopah at the end of the month. Good ol' Tonopah. Be sure and check out the area behind the Mizpah. Really interesting old buildings and abandoned miner residences (holes in the rock).

At least where we are, we're half expecting rain in the Sierra this afternoon so no worries.

someone said...

Of course I want to read it. You don't even have to ask.