Monday 15 in 15...

This is a challenge from Erinn's blog, originally taken from another blog that she follows (Kate Hart)
The Rules: Don’t take too long to think about it. Fifteen authors (poets included) who have always influenced you and will always stick with you. List the first 15 you can recall in no more than 15 minutes, and they don’t have to be listed in order of relevance to you.


Here's my 15 in 15, in no particular order.  These are authors to which I regularly return, to read new things or re-read old stories.  Even though it was hard to get the last few, I know there are many I'm forgetting.

1. JRR Tolkein
2. Laura Ingalls Wilder - the first book series that kept me up into all hours of the night
3. Stephen King 
4. John Steinbeck
5. Lucille Clifton 
6. Katherine Paterson - this is the first book I remember reading that made me cry
7. Anne Lamott
8. Edith Wharton - the first author that made me realize that the 'classics' are classics because they still apply years later.
9. Terry Pratchett 
10. Edgar Allan Poe
11. Richard Bach
12. Christopher Moore
13. Mark Twain
14. Shel Silverstein
15. Jack London

H to the P...

Please enjoy the long weekend.  We'll return to scheduled programming on Monday.  In the mean time, thanks to The Rejectionist for sharing this vid.

If ninjas played multisport...

They might play cycleball.  What's that you say?  Yes, Ninjas ride bikes.  


Of course, they don't wear tube socks.  Or shortie bike shorts.  And you'd never be able to see them, which would make spectating difficult.  


So maybe not.

Heard of cycleball?  Me neither!  Watch this fun video and get more information here, courtesy of wired.com.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Wednesday Weeklies

Welcome to the first installment of Wednesday Weeklies, where I offer a few of the interesting happenings and links that I've stumbled upon during my trip through the internets.

Events

HoCo blogger?  HoCo Blog reader?  Check out the next HoCo blogtail party at Pure Wine Cafe on Nov 30.  If you haven't been to PWC before, it's worth a check-out - it's a cute little wine bar (really, it's little) right off Main Street in Ellicott City.  I wasn't wild about the customer service on my first visit here, but I was with a group more or less overwhelmed the place... so I'll have to try it again.


Worried about tanking on turkey this year?  Check out the Howard County Striders' Thanksgiving Prediction 10K on Thursday.  Registration starts at 8:30a.  Cheap race, and a really nice run through my old stomping ground.  Hope the rain holds off!


Black Friday kicks off on Friday morning, with some Columbia Mall stores opening as early as 3:00am midnight.  The mall officially opens at 6:00am. Will I be there?  With my camera!  As part of a strategy to attract customers despite the lagging economy and lukewarm deals, giveaway bags will be distributed near Lord & Taylor and include chances to win an iPad, a flat screen TV, and more presents for me prizes.


If you can't wait that long to get in a fist fight over this year's version of Tickle Me Elmo, Arundel Mills Mall will be opening at midnight on Thursday (or 12:00am on Friday, whichever you prefer).


Still not in the holiday spirit?  Check out the Howard County Library's holiday music Coffeehouse on Dec 2.  Are you a musician yourself? Register in advance with Jean Salkeld at 410.313.7766. Remember Libraries are closed on Thursday and Friday of this week.


Don't forget about the Symphony of Lights, open now through Jan 2. (except for Dec 31)

Links

Check out an interesting discussion on Sarah Says about the disparity between male and females blogging.  There's Part I and Part II.


I keep walking past Nazar market, and HowChow posts about them again.  You win, food-blogger-guy.  I will check it out when I go for my next Bon Fresco fix.


Is there an increase in crime in Howard County, or are stories just more visible in the local news network?  In light of recent violence - the brutal murder of a homeless woman and an assault on a Jessup jogger - take the chance to join in an honest discussion of crime in the area.


Congrats to Lisa Rossi of Columbia Patch/Domestic Wrecks on the birth of her baby boy (who was not named Sweatshirt)!


Milo goes to puppy school, much to Meathead and Grimace's relief.  Maybe Grimmy can get his GED.


Interesting mention on a Tale of Two Cities about airport screening - not what I expected.  News reports blown out of proportion?  System overwhelmed?  Will have to keep an eye on the news this weekend.


Check out a cool interview with Astronomer Andrew Rivkin on One Writer's Mind.


That's all for now on Wednesday Weeklies (Weekly?  It's the first one.  Hm.).


See you all for the Thanksgiving post tomorrow.  Travel safely!

It's not just about a novel, you know...

By week four, I really need to try to remember that.

I have just a couple pages left to go of Book One - I'm into the wrap-up scene, where my Main Character (MC) has just been rescued from the edge of apocalypse, and the convenient mentor figure is explaining why she was left all alone to combat the formidable antagonist. If my NaNovel were a movie, this is where I would be looking around for my purse and shrugging on my coat, which means this chapter will probably be cut in January.

Along with a lot of other things.

To be clear, I still like the story.  I'm glad that NaNoWriMo gave me a chance to get it out, and yet at this point, looking back (at all 300 pages).... I don't know.  I'm really dissatisfied. Despite the planning, I completely changed large elements of the world. My antagonist is creepy instead of insidious, my MC is too passive, and the mythology is all over the place.

Complicating things, there is a week left and I'm only in the mid-50,000 in terms of word count.  My goal was to write far more, and I'm participating in a word count challenge so I don't want to let down the team.

I've decided to start another story, and I've got four working ideas.  Yes, I started with two.  They keep cropping up - when I'm lying in bed half-awake, when I'm driving, while I was sitting in one of the long stretches of inaction that made up HP7.1.  Everywhere but the shower, actually.

Maybe that's where I'll find idea number 5.

But you know what, maybe that's the good thing about NaNoWriMo - a month spent thinking about writing and rolling around in my stories.

The goal was never a finished novel.  I'm not even sure the goal was a first draft.  My NaNo Book One is like an extended brainstorm.  Hopefully I can use it in January to do a meaningful rewrite.

As for the other ideas... here they are.

1. Historical fiction surrounding prison life in the 1920s and the age of gangsters and molls - with Rapunzel/fairy tale elements.
2. Prince Charming rescues the damsel, only to follow her into a life of crime - gangster story set within a fairy tale. (kind of the same story as #1, but very different setting)
3. A detective must unravel an intricate mystery surrounding the death of a young researcher at a university.
4. A private investigator's quest for a missing heirloom leads him into a world of Lovecraftian horror

I'm not sure which one I'm going to choose - they're all outlined - but tonight I'm going to start writing.  So hopefully it will be something that's fun, and that I can average about... oh... 10,000 words/day on.

So glad we're coming up on a holiday!

Week in Review: 11-21-10

Yeah.  I know.  It's the 22nd.  Better late than never?  :\  To be honest, I'm going to be glad when November is over.  Or at least, for a chance to sleep over the holiday weekend.


Here are some highlights from the last week:


Plans are in the works for a new Holiday Blog Segment: Holiday Coffee Deathmatch.  See the first face-off on Friday, November 28...


...which is also Black Friday.  Cindy, Bridget, and I typically get up (or stay up all night) and go shopping.  Last year, the deals at the Columbia Mall were lackluster, but the people watching was awesome.  This year, I think I'm going just for the pancakes.  We're looking for suggestions for a place to start.  


Arundel Mills opens at midnight (Friday morning), but hanging around outside that Best Buy will be slightly scary.


Matt and I caught the new Harry Potter movie with the Sixes on Sunday.  I know I read the book, but I apparently forgot most (ok, nearly all) of the details.  The effects were cool, but this stage of the story translated into long, drawn out periods of inaction on screen.  I felt 'Meh', though I'm looking forward to the finale.  I might have to go back and re-read the series...


...once I'm done Jessica Z. by Shawn Klomparens.  I'm enjoying the book so far, even though I'm going through it at a crawl.  Why so slow you ask?  Well, I have to ration my time because...


...NaNoWriMo is still going on.  I'm well over 50K and finishing my book.  I'm also realizing that January will not be editing.  It will be a rewrite.  There are lots of things I need to go back and add in, but I won't be doing it this week.  Instead.... 


I got the crazy fabulous idea to start another one and try to finish it in seven days.  Not just any book.  Per the twitter vote, I will be tackling crazy mashup of historical fiction and a fairy tale.


Is it possible to write historical fiction with approximately 6 hours of research behind it?  Because thats about how long I can spare to research the history of female incarceration in the US, the glam-gangster age of the 1930s, and Grimm's fairy tales. Anyone have suggestions for good resources?



Finally, the BBC released the new Doctor Who Christmas special trailer.  Yay!


That's all for now.  Tune in tomorrow for the Tuesday NaNoWriMo update.

What's an athlete?

I'll probably come back to this question later, but today I wanted to share a post my best friend made about her college swimming experience.


If you have ever wondered why anyone bothers to pursue sports, why someone would get up at ungodly hours of the morning or push her body repeatedly even through pain and tiredness... just take a few minutes to read Cindy's story.  


Thoughts from a swimmer: Back Where I Come From