Okay, now first things first. I had the “new” 90210 on in the background Tuesday night while I was writing and am wondering – am I only the person who noticed that Lucinda Nicholson has suddenly been reincarnated as Liam’s modeling agent? Named Sheila? I mean honestly people…must you insult the die-hard fans by resurrecting old actors to play new roles? (Straightening Lucinda's hair wasn't enough to make her a whole new person.) Kelly coming back as Kelly – no problem. Brenda as Brenda to direct the school play – main reason I tuned in to the show then and now. Totally believable returns to 90210.
But if Jesse Vasquez shows up as a music producer for Dixon (a.k.a the kid with the David Silver storyline of drugs and DJ-ing) or if Noah Hunter is suddenly a college professor at CU (where once again everyone conveniently goes to college), I just might be driven to complain to the casting agents themselves. And if Gil Meyers comes back at all, never mind as a teacher that’s supposed to be a student favorite and also supposed to be sexy! (Retch!) Well I’m going to LOSE MY MIND. It’s a good thing D’Shawn Hardell has found a second career as the Mayor of Bluebell on Hart of Dixie. Just saying….(and yeah, yeah, yeah, I know….I have no business watching this crap show of recycled story lines with an actress who graduated from DeGrassi, but you never know where inspiration might strike.)
Now that I have that out of my system…
In far more important news, NaNo is officially over and here’s how I landed:
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| My NaNo profile picture |
Days: 30
Word: 56,378
Pages: 214
Total words written for all of NaNo: 3,073,176,540 (O!M!G!)
I honestly am so happy that I signed up for the NaNo challenge and so proud of myself for seeing it through, sticking with it and exceeding the 50K word goal. It’s been an eternity since I’ve written so consistently, never mind on a new project that was longer than a blog post. This is EXACTLY what I needed on all fronts.
Now, I still have great affection for my last project, another mystery novel that has circulated critique groups, a few contests and was sent to a group of agents. But it didn't make any noise. And I think know I got buried so deep that I couldn’t see the forest for the trees (a phrase I love and a book that’s on my re-read list). The novel (or is it a manuscript before it gets published? I'm never sure)...anyway it honestly needs another harsh round of revisions to make it good enough to send back out. But I hit a wall and was paralyzed to change it. That book and I? We needed to go on a break.
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| Ross & Rachel long before they were on a break! |
So to start something totally fresh during NaNo has been exciting and inspiring and addictive and just because November is done, it doesn’t mean I am. (Insert a dramatic pause and picture me raising my fist in the air, like Jeter does after every win.)
There’s a long road ahead. Gaps that need research. Characters that need names I truly love (and that truly suit them). Clues that need to be planted. Holes that need to be filled. But overall I am excited about the story. My characters are starting to lead me places and my mystery is taking solid shape. I said it before and I’ll say it again – TOOT! TOOT! And I don’t even feel like I want to take a day off from writing. But I officially “popped” that carton of eggnog last night to celebrate. And it was so damn good!
Other things to celebrate:
December 1st means all the new horoscopes are out. Mercury is in retrograde and I’m blaming it for my latest sidelining-back injury, so I need to see what’s coming next. And to see when Mercury is going to get the hell out of here. Because surely things are going to swing up soon!
I couldn’t possibly be in less of a holiday spirit mood these days. Now I’m no Scrooge, but the weather has been too warm, I’ve had zero desire to go shopping (Black Friday? Cyber Monday? The most I got was a paperback, some fun stuff from Bliss and some essentials from Soap.com). But I resisted pretty much every sale, every enticing offer and didn’t make a slew of stupid purchases for clothes I don’t need. And J.Crew continues to try to seduce my with their 25% off, but the dress I've been stalking still isn’t on sale, and I haven’t given in yet. Shopping + willpower is not usually my thing, so am raising a glass to that too!
The Thanksgiving break did allow me one day to be a total slug and catch up my DVR that was filled to an embarrassing degree. I knocked off two episodes of The Good Wife, one episode of Castle, and finally watched the Pretty Little Liars special from Halloween. And bravo! to the writers of that show. I hope they do more full-flashback episodes to bring the two stories together. Allison is such a wonderfully, evil character that it’s fun to see her in a full ep. And yes, I know I’m talking about a show for teens (again), but who cares? I’m so excited for the winter premiere – January can’t come fast enough. And maybe, just MAYBE I watch it for Sidney Andrews and Piper Halliwell and Kat Arujo from Mystic Pizza. Confused? You’re just going to have to tune in then.
Some things not worth celebrating?
Limitless. Even Bradley Cooper couldn’t save that movie. I appreciated the token close-ups and his day-two facial scruff and the man does look delish in a suit, but even that wasn’t enough to keep me entertained for almost two hours.
Dealing with all the things I haven’t done since I’ve been too busy writing. I have lots of housework to tackle. Laundry. Dry cleaning. Pre-Cyber Monday impulse online purchases to be returned. (My 60-day return policy is almost up!) I did wash my windows a few weekends ago. Woohoo! I do love me some cleaning.
I haven’t even picked out the photo for my holiday cards, never mind bought supplies. This time last year, cards were in progress, gift lists were made and I’m sure it was freezing outside, which kept me inside. I’m happy to stay in the 50-degree zone, but need to get on the other two things. (The fact that is hasn’t snowed is kind of crippling my holiday card picture though….crap!….not that I’m complaining.)
And in the land of pop culture, Bethenney Frankel’s talk show is a no-go. Kind of bummed, but perhaps she was getting over-exposed. I'll wait for her to come back to Bravo. Ringer is on it's mid-season hiatus. Booooooooo!
It’s time to get down to business. December is always crazy and goes by in a flash and I definitely want to end the year on a high. Look at me! I’ll turn all this negativity into something to celebrate. (Cue the cheesy montage of me doing all my chores, looking a little haggared but eventually filled with totally self gratification on a job well done. I think I’d like this to be my montage soundtrack.)
So there you have it. A month of totally literary abandon leaving room for little else. But I would do it all over again. And hoping, I can keep it up.
Here's to the next 50,000 words!
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