NaNo-NoMo?

I was ready to throw in the towel and admit defeat today … after all, it’s not likely that I’ll be able to write an average of 3,500 words over the next five days until the novel is complete.  Brighton had been pretty fussy the last several days, so I’m way behind with my word count. 

Also, next week is the last real week of classes, the graduate colloquium, the creativity showcase, and a few important meetings. 

I’m not quite ready to give up yet, though.  We’ll see how tomorrow goes…

Slashdot | Drugs Eradicate the Need For Sleep

Hmmmm … This seems like it might be … zzzzzzzzz 

Huh?  Wha?  Who’s there?   Zzzzzzzzzz

Link to Slashdot | Drugs Eradicate the Need For Sleep

NaNoWriMo: 30k, Hey Hey Hey

A little over 60% done now.  The end is in sight, but man, it’s getting tough.  As soon as this novel is done, I’m heading over to Bill O’ Reilly’s crib to play some Madden.

NaNoWriMo: Half Way There, and Livin’ on a Prayer

Whooah, we’re half way there
Livin’ on a prayer
Take my hand and we’ll make it – I swear
Livin’ on a prayer

As much as I hate to quote him, Bon Jovi actually got it right on this one.  25,000 words are now on paper, but I’m four days behind.

Here is what I need to do to actually finish on time:

Where I should be: 31,673 words
Where I am: 25,000 words
Deficit: 6,673 words
Days Left: 10
Extra Words Needed Per Day: 667.3
Total Words Needed Per Day to Finish on Time: 2,334
Average words written per day on non-NaNoWriMo tasks: ~3,000
Total words I’ll need to invest over the next ten days: ~5,300

Whoooah, Livin’ on a Prayer!  The only thing that will possibly get me through this is my fierce competitive instinct.  Well, that and copious amounts of heroin support from friends and family.

NaNoWriMo UhOh MeSlow NotSo?

Never thought I was going to be able to make my 1,667 words tonight. After a hard day of editing (who would have ever thought it could take an entire day to edit and revise a 11,000 word book chapter? And I’m still not done with the dang thing! Plus, I have another one I have to get done tomorrow!) Hmmmm … maybe I should start passing off some of this work onto my soon-to-be student assistant …

Anyway, I was out of juice and time by 11:00 when I started writing. 45 minutes later, though, I clicked the “Word Count” button and I’d gone from 16,828 words to 18,421 words. Not bad. Around 1600 words in 45 minutes. Plus, I got to introduce a new character, which was fun. Her name is Shelly, she looks to be around 100 years old or older, and she takes no nonsense from anyone. She should be a good influence on Tim-bo, who often is a little too curious and rambunctious for his own good. He should learn to be careful when dealing with the spirit world. Word is, the Oldman fella who is in charge of that place has a bit of a temper on him.

Of course this pales in comparison to the prodigious output from my pal Berserker, but that’s okay. As long as I don’t skip a day, I feel good about being able to finish this thing. We’ll see — I just took a look at next week’s schedule on my calendar and it’s going to be a Killer with a capital K. Just hope I can survive long enough to enjoy some turkey and mashed potatoes…

NaNoWriMo Day 9/30: Worst. Day. Ever.

If only I could remember who got me into this 50,000 word novel mess.  If only I could pull that one little factoid from memory, the world would be a better place.  Because I could sent Mort after that person.  Indeed.

NaNoWriMo Day 8/30: Wrists Hurt. Brain Hurt.

Well, lucky I had an extra buffer of 200 words from yesterday, because I just barely managed to squeeze in my word count for today.  This is becoming markedly more difficult as the days go by.  Story is still fun, though.  Just wish I could get someone else to type it for me

Wired 14.11: Posts: Disco Inferno

 Wired writes of a new hybrid, propane-fueled modification of Dance, Dance Revolution.  Stay on target and you’re free to shake it up like nobody’s business.  Misstep, though, and it’s Krispy-Fried time.

This would be interesting to adapt to the classroom.  I wonder if it’s possible to get funding for a set of 30 flame-retardant suits.  Not paying attention?  WHOOOOOSH.  Miss an easy question?  WHOOOOOSH.  Cell phone ringing?  WHOOOOSH.  WHOOOOSH.

You get the picture.

Link to Wired 14.11: Posts

Barbados Faces Invasion by Giant Snails

And here I was worrying about silly things like global warming, nuclear holocaust, deadly hurricanes, earthquakes, tornados, and avian flu.   I don’t know about you, but Barbados is a little close for comfort.  I’m stockpiling salt starting tomorrow.  No way am I going out like that.   

Link to Barbados Faces Invasion by Giant Snails

Wired News: Delete Your Bad Web Rep

Want to get rid of that flame war between you and 1TuffMother on the ilovekittens.com discussion forum?  How about that a-little-too-friendly announcement you posted to MySpace at 4AM after a hard night of drinking?  Need to restore a shattered digital ethos?  ReputationDefender may be the product for you.

While the ReputationDefender methodology (a combination of software search agents and what Wired describes as “good old-fashioned human Detective skills”) sounds good in principle, there are a few inherent problems with this:

1. I doubt the technology is sophisticated enough to retrieve emails from client computers.  You know those notes you sent to the the marketing division calling your boss a waste of perfectly good carbon?  Not gonna get em’ back.
2. Since this was a product designed for kids, I’d like to see some examples of what the designers consider to be “potentially damaging postings to social networking sites like MySpace or Facebook.”  All comments posted to these sites are potentially incriminating.  It’s a site designed for networking, and most users are bound to have at least one nitwit linked to their buddy list.  I wonder what makes a post “potentially damaging.”  Cursewords?  Pictures of juvey tats? Bad poetry? Unreadable Internet slang?  Take that away and you take away MySpace.  Wait, maybe that’s a good thing …. 
3. I’m a little skeptical that McDonalds or WalMart is going to go digging through MySpace looking for incriminating comments in order to keep a teen from getting their first job.  I think the Fresh Prince said it best in Parents Don’t Understand: “You’re only sixteen, you don’t have a rep yet.”  Careerbuilder says that 1 out of 10 hiring managers looks on a social networking site to check out potential employees.  Might this time be better spent on a little extra face to face time?  Don’t judge a person based solely on his MySpace heroes.  If Gallagher and 50-Cent are the primary role models in a young person’s life, then who’s to say that young person cannot be a productive member of society? 
4. The consequence of public communication is something I think is best learned early.  Understanding that anyone in the world with a computer can access your most recent blog posting is a lesson any up-and-coming Internet social journalist should pay attention to.  Maybe one day these folks will remember this and think carefully before “replying-all” to a LISTSERV with 3,000 members bragging about their latest romantic conquests.  ReputationDefender says, “It’s okay.  Be as asinine and immature as you want.  When you’re done, we’ll write a nasty legal letter and see if we can purge it all out.  No harm, no foul.”
5. Not surprisingly, the blame is shifted away from the true source of the problem (those users posting the offending material and, in some cases, their parents) to the service providers hosting the content.  What is really needed here is better parental monitoring of computer time (and there is good technology for this) and a heart-to-heart talk about how posting to the Net is different than talking with your two buddies at the lunchroom table. 

Link to Wired News: Delete Your Bad Web Rep