Don’t worry – I plan on being back before you know it!

And as a general reminder, due to NaNoWriMo, classes, projects, etc that are due in the month of November, this blog will be going on a semi hiatus.  Why semi? Because, knowing me, I will still find some time to goof off online and update this blog.  A good thing or bad thing? I’m going with a good thing! You know you love me  ;)

“Our cultural bias of overvaluing emotional control and undervaluing emotional flow can block us from healing fully from feelings of rage and broken heartedness attached to injustices in the world. This effort to suppress and deny our deepest sorrows ends up blocking our deepest joys and passions and connections to other human beings. During “Touch Someone” please relax and remain open to all of the feelings the activity brings up for you. So let yourself be inspired, let yourself be moved, let yourself be open to the courage, the perseverance, and the love that human beings demonstrate in the face of unfathomable challenges.

Procedures:

Decide ahead of time how many people at a time you want to bring into the middle to do the touching and how many statements you want to read for each round based on the size of your group and how much time you have.

Have participants start the activity by sitting in the circle with their eyes closed. The only exception to this is that participants need to have their eyes open when being selected as a “toucher” for the next round of “Touch Someone”. [...] During each round, those seated in the circle (i.e., “receivers”) are asked to keep their eyes closed, refrain from making sounds, and notice what it feels like to be touched.

Then read off a statement saying: “Touch someone who…” and fill in the statement (ie:“is a good role model”). See the attached list of example statements. Allow time for people in the middle to touch a number of people then move to the next statement. After the round has been completed, ask those participants who just provided the touching to return to their seats and close their eyes. Repeat.

Example statements

❖ Makes a difference

❖ Is a good role model

❖ Has effected your life

❖ Makes you feel special

❖ You really admire

❖ You believe in

❖ Has a good personality

❖ Cares about people

❖ You trust

❖ Is kind hearted

❖ You will never forget

❖ Is love in action”

If you’re curious, frustrated, or just unsure what to do in a situation like this, take a look below. I can’t say all, or any, of these procedures will work, but it seems some people will swear upon these methods.

You can use a plunger, an auger, or a bucket of hot water in order to dislodge the clog.

Remember, like the woman in the video said, “you’ve been very brave” – just don’t forget to disinfect afterwards!

I haven’t fully participated in NaNo since my high school days.

It’s hard and terrifying and can kind of make you nauseous, yet thousands of people from around the world participate.

Why?

Because, at least to me, it’s fun. When I first head of NaNo, I thought people were pretty much crazy. Moving on, I said, clicking away. But then I clicked back and went through the forums. Yep, I said, y’all are loco and I left. Less than ten minutes (because I can be obsessive like that), I clicked back on and read up on NaNo history. I’d leave and come back, leave and come back, pretty much all of October. In the middle of the first week of November, I finally decided what the hell, just do it.

So I wrote.

And I wrote.

Then I wrote some more.

I also didn’t tell anyone what I was doing. Friends and family suddenly saw me carrying notebooks around, ignoring pleas to get off the computer, and muttering about how Character C couldn’t get with Character A because that would somehow destroy the space continuum (I am still so very proud of my first NaNo which I titled Moon Rocks, Pizzas, and Crazy Dancing Elves. One day, I’ll find where I hid it. One day).

When I actually clocked 50,000 words, I thought my eyes would fall out of my head – I couldn’t believe it! I did it. I actually did it! Printing out that NaNoWriMo certificate was one of the happiest moments I had that month. And every year since I found NaNoWriMo, I dragged other people with me on the quest to write 50,000 words of a novel in the month of Novemeber (shoot, even when I wasn’t participating, I still tried to convince others to give it a shot).

I put aside NaNo (and writing stories) throughout college. Now, I’ve rekindled my love for the written word. And, with that love came people, other writers who ask “Hey, have you heard of this thing called NaNoWriMo?”

Um….

So, I’m doing it again. After a rather long hiatus, I’ve signed up in the NaNo forums, buddied up with other novelists in various stages of their writing career, and will be writing to my heart’s content.

The only difference – this year I’m aiming for 100,000 words.

Even if I don’t end up on the moon, I’ll land amongst the stars, right? Right?

It’ll be hard and terrifying and thinking about 100k kinda makes me nauseous. But I’m also amazingly excited.

Why?

Because come November, it’ll officially be National Novel Writing Month. And during NaNo, well, anything can happen.

*smile and cue dancing elves and pizza slices for everyone*

How about you? Will you be participating in NaNo?

Well, within 24 hours of being reminded of its existence, I’ve decided to enter the Golden Heart competition and because of that decision I joined RWA. I became an official member yesterday and had  spent a few hours crawling through RWA affiliated listservs and looking through various special interest chapters.

I must admit, it’s kind of scary to be putting myself “out there,” but plunking down the associated fees makes my dreams of turning into an established and published author more concrete, more official. When I bought my domain name, I gave myself a deadline of submitting and hearing back from at least one agent or publisher or contest by September 12, 2010.

As is my nature, I’ve made list after list detailing scenarios from most ideal (dream agent, fantastic editor/publisher, starting off a long and successful illustrious career of writing one hit book after another in a multitude of genres) to the worst with a healthy dose of optimism (where I still get that agent/publisher/editor, but it’ll take a few — what a relative word! — years). I’ve categorized the WIPs I want to work on and even put them in numerical order. I’ve written out business plans and even scheduled out every hour of my day to maximize Real Life things with Writing Life activities (Real Life and Writing Life really should be synonymous, but I’ll save that for another post). Anything that crossed my mind as a way to better improve myself, I’ve looked into it (or, at the very least, written it down). It’s me preparing myself for the road ahead to avoid any unexpected (unwanted?) surprises (good surprises, however, are most welcome).

But really, in all honesty, it’s me taking an optimistic leap of faith (note, it is important for me to note optimistic; indeed, it may be the key word in that phrase) – the belief everything will turn out fine in the end because I gave it my all, not because I held a part of myself back to insulate my heart and mind from rejection.

There isn’t any formula to this madness (aspiring to be) published novelists are drawn to – which is somewhatunfortunate considering all the time and effort I put into the activities mentioned above.
But honestly, that’s alright – sometimes a bit of insanity is a good thing. At the very least, it’ll give me something more to write about.

How can you relate the above to your life? Something you’ve written, a book you read, even a tv show you just watched or a CD you listened to recently? Share your thoughts below!

What is it?

Once a month, a bunch of authors get together and post excerpts from published books, contracted work or works in progress, and link to each other. You=2 0don’t have to be published to participate–just an writer with an excerpt you’d like to share. For more info on how to participate, head over to the Excerpt Monday site! or click on the banner above.

 *

I’m offering up a free serial novel, The Top Ten Reasons, on my writing blog Stone Carvings. This is my first time participating with EM, so show me some love and give me some constructive feedback. The second part of Chapter 1 will be posted by the end of this week. 

-Rosalind

That’s why today’s Friday Treasure Find is Steampunk Fashion on Livejournal. I came across it awhile ago; I’m even a (total lurker) member in it. But, damn, I love that community. While the focus is on steampunk fashion, members seem more than willing to discuss various aspects of the genre.

Through the LJ community, I just found out that there’s a SteamCon in Seattle, Washington. I need to research it more, but I’m actually debating going (a trip to Seattle and a three day membership to the convention for $40 sounds like a great deal to me).

Anyway, Happy Friday, ladies and gentlemen! I’m going to kickoff the weekend by rewatching Treasure Planet! Watch the trailer here!

Let’s see here…

 Now it’s your turn: Find the most crowded area in the room you’re in currently. What makes it so?