NaNoWriMo...Nah

November is National Novel Writing Month. It challenges aspiring novelists to complete a 50,000 word rough draft in 30 days. I discovered NaNoWriMo when I was in middle school and I was positively titillated by the prospect. I have never been a NaNoWriMo winner, and this is another year that it won't happen.

I have written 50,000 words in less than 30 days before, so I have no compunctions about my giveuppance in this instance. I don't need a t-shirt to prove that I'm a novelist, nor do I need to have my inbox flooded with pep-talks from other writer. I haven't read any of the pep talks, but I imagine that they focus on artsy-fartsy things like the beauty of writing and the satisfaction of finishing something, and the need to carry on even when inspiration is miles away. Who has time to read that stuff? No offense, NaNoWriMo.

Furthermore, I have other projects filling my November. I am starting a course in Chinese (super-duper excited for this). I am enduring hours of Christmas music at my retail job. Can that really be considered a project? I feel like it is. Aye, aye, aye. Oh, and I'm also still attempting to edit my novel.

On the last project, I admit that it has been the subject of my negligence lately. Sigh. However, my goal to have it completed by the end of 2013 stands. I invested too many hours in that bad boy to let it fall into the annals of the uncompleted now. You see, this is like my pep talk to myself, so if you don't read it, I understand. ; )

I'm on project and personal life overload, I feel, and NaNoWrimo don't got no place in there (I say as I bobble my head). NaNoWriMo is a great motivator for writers who have trouble spinning out a completed rough draft or those who hare looking for a writing launchpad. It's also a fun idea. The sense of community is nice. However, I am making November my novel editing/bunch of other stuff month.

I started on a novel for NaNoWriMo this year, and I'm almost halfway to the 50,000 word goal. I may or may not ever finish it. Oh well. I don't mind if that one falls into the annals of the uncompleted. It was fun while it lasted.

9 More Things You Didn't Know About the English Language

Gear up, nerds! English is a strange and unfathomable form of communication. Here are some more useless and fascinating facts about it.

• "uncopyrightable" is the longest word in common usage that contains no letter more than once. 
• A sentence that has all 26 letters of the alphabet in it is called a "pangram." Here's an example: "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog." Why is there even a word for that, seriously? 
• We can find 10 words in the 7-letter word "therein" without rearranging any of its letters: the, there, he, in, rein, her, here, ere, therein, herein.
• The longest word with only one vowel is "strengths."
• The longest one-syllable word is "screeched." 
• There are no real English words that rhyme with any of the following: month, silver, angel, orange, and bulb. Beware, couplet writers!
• It's generally agreed that "the sixth sick sheik's sixth sheep's sick" is English's toughest tongue twister. Good thing I don't know many sick sheiks or sixth sheeps. 
• The words "silent" and "listen" contain all the same letters. 
• There used to be a word in the dictionary without a meaning. The word was "Dord" and it got there because of an error. I love it. That poor word. We should give it a meaning and get it back into the dictionary! 

Sources:

http://www.englishclub.com/interesting-facts/

http://voxy.com/blog/index.php/2013/02/10-interesting-facts-about-the-english-language/

http://www.makemegenius.com/cool_facts.php?mId=56

Old Words and Old Meanings

For someone who speaks so little, I sure like words. I like to learn about the history of words. Sometimes it adds to their richness. Other times its just amusing. I found a fun webpage that lists words that have changed meaning over time. Here are some common words along with their old meanings.

• Abandon--subdue or subjugate
• Accent--to sing
• Actual--pertaining to an action
• Afford--to go forward
• Amuse--to distract for the purpose of misleading
• Balderdash--a frothy liquid
• Basement--toilet
• Bellboy--the boy who rang a ship's bell. 
• Brave--described a showy or gaudy person
• Coil--a noisy disturbance
• Disclose--to open a hatch
• Emphasis--appearance
• Evil--uppity
• Forehead--An expression easily conveyed by the face
• Girl--a young person of either sex
• Harlot--a vagabond or beggar
• Heartburn--referred to someone full of hatred
• Hilarity--simple cheerfulness or calm joy. 
• Infant--not able to speak
• Keister--a suitcase or satchel
• Last--highest, utmost

Of course, most words probably have old meanings, and if someone used those words intending to communicate the old meaning, we would be utterly baffled. Well, English is baffling anyway. Almost as baffling as Chinese. But that's another story. 

Just a Few Thoughts

The revision and editing process for my novel is turning out to be more laborious than I bargained for. First I needed to fix the plot--streamline it, make sure all the conflicts came to a conclusion of sorts. It involved a lot of index cards (I summarized each scene on a card so I could get perspective on the overall story), a hand sore from writing, and quite a bit of glaring at my computer screen wishing the story would fix itself. Eventually, though, I got that done.

Now I'm on to more intricate work which, I must admit, tests my patience. I constantly have to look up words to make sure I used them correctly, switch words around, smooth out clunky sentences, fix the rhythm of individual scenes and paragraphs. I discovered that in the rough draft of my manuscript, the word "just" occurs nearly four hundred times. That's four hundred "just"s out of a total of roughly 98,000 words. I just justed myself crazy! I also used the word "obviously" 20 times, which I think is obviously just too much.

So I slog through my novel, one paragraph at a time, analyzing, comparing, rewriting, second guessing myself, wishing I had more patience, and trying to convince myself that it will never be perfect.

I've learned a lot about my writing habits and where I need to improve (I keep hearing the voice of my eighth grade English teacher in my head. She composed a dirge for "dead" verbs that she didn't want us to use in our writing.) I'm also losing patience because reading through my novel makes me itch to write the rest of the story. I'm planning a series of at least four books featuring the same main character. But it's going to be so much work! Whine. Whine. Whine.

While I muddle through the revision process, I eagerly await feedback from my beta readers, and I hope they don't point out anything super major that requires a total remodel of my manuscript. My goal was to get this beasty done by the end of October, but now I'm thinking I may have to push my deadline back a little. It'll definitely be done by the end of the year, even if it means I have to self-publish a wreck of a book.

Well, we'll see how things go.

That's it for today's ramble. I'm not sure if anything I just wrote has a point to it.

Name that Color!

The visible spectrum of light makes the world beautiful, and word-lovers work hard to give every shade a unique name. Every wander through the paint aisle just to giggle at the ridiculous names of colors? Me neither. But now that the thought occurs to me...haha. Okay, I don't have time for that, but I did have time to browse through my book,  The Bibliophile's Dictionary and discover some awesome color words. 

• argent--silver
• carmine--red, purplish-red, or crimson
• cerise--bright red, cherry red. French for cherry. (My car's name is currently Cherry. Do you think I should change it to Cerise?)
• glaucous--dull or pale, grayish-, bluish-, or yellowish-green.
• heliotrope--reddish purple
• madder--bright red, reddish-purple, crimson.
• roseate--rose-colored. Now you can tell people to take off their roseate glasses. 
• rufous--brownish-red, rust-colored
• subfusc--a somber, dark, or dusky color. 
• titian--reddish yellow or auburn
• verdure--the lush, vibrant green of flourishing vegetation 
• viridescent--green or slightly green.

Richard Of York Gave Battle In Vain...yeah, we're going to have to come up with a longer mnemonic. 

The Origins--Maybe--of 7 Common Phrases

Ever say a common phrase and then pause to wonder, "where did that come from, anyway?" Here are some interesting stories about things we might say every day.

"Rule of Thumb"
Legend has it that a bully of a judge back in the 17th century gave the go-ahead for husbands to beat their wives using a stick--as long as the stick was no wider than a thumb. Okay, so in truth, the phrase probably just came into being because carpenters and tailors measured things in thumb-lenghts. But that's not nearly as interesting as the first story.

"Basket Case"
Soldiers who lost all their limbs in a war would have to be carried around in a basket, right? Yeah, that's kind of gruesome, and there is no way of telling if that's where this phrase actually came from. Ugh.

"Bust Your Chops"
Mutton chops. Punched in the face. Chops busted, right? Uh...maybe. Whoever thought mutton chops looked cool, anyway?

"Butter You Up"
Apparently back in the way way back days of India, people threw balls of butter at statues of gods. They did this to seek favor. I can think of much better uses for butter.

"Humble Pie"
In the Middle Ages, when a lord held a feast, he of course got the best cut of meat. The not-so-privileged folks received a pie filled with the innards and entrails, or the "umbles." Yum...

"Saved by the Bell"
People used to be buried in coffins connected to a bell. Thus, if a not-dead person woke up underground, he could ring the bell and and call someone to the rescue.

"Go the Whole 9 Yards"
During World War II, a 9-yard chain of ammunition went to each fighter pilot. When a pilot used the entire chain, therefore, he went "the whole 9 yards."

Of course, it's not very likely that all these things are true--there are oodles of different theories on where the phrase "raining cats and dogs" came from. Still, next time you're saved by the bell or have to eat humble pie, you'll have something new to think about.



Sources:
http://www.cracked.com/article_16108_the-bizarre-history-10-common-sayings.html
http://list25.com/25-common-sayings-and-where-they-came-from/

Too Tall to Hide Behind My Mother

I've always been shy.

I was the kid who hid behind my mother when people tried to talk to me. Of course, that just made them want to talk to me more. Why does that happen?

In school, I hardly ever said a word. In kindergarten, I was so shy that I couldn't even ask to go to the bathroom (you know how that turned out). In first grade, they divided the class into three groups based on how well we could read. I received the honor being in the lowest level because I never volunteered to read anything out loud. Eventually the teacher figured it out and moved me to the highest level.

My shyness still gets me into trouble. For example, there was the charming but quiet young man who lamented that he wished I would talk to him more. Our conversations consisted of a lot of awkward silences and nervous smiles.

I find it difficult to make eye contact with people. I have nervous habits (I fiddle with my jewelry, my hair, anything within reach) and I never know what to say. Well, almost never. Once in a while there is a miracle and I have a conversation that is completely non-awkward.

Now I'm too tall to hide behind my mother, and I demand restroom breaks when necessary. Progress, right?

Here are a few things that have helped me along the way:

• Good friends. When I was really young, I think I only had friends because I never said anything. They could talk all they wanted and I wouldn't interrupt. Later I met awesome people who took the time to get to know me, as much as I resisted. I love outgoing people who boss me around and try to shove me out of my shell. 
• Having something to say. Okay, this doesn't always happen. Sometimes even when I think in advance about what I can talk about, the conversation totally falls flat. That is, unless I'm out in the ministry (and speaking English)--then things go more smoothly.
• Growing up. It happens to everyone. Bummer. 
• Taking care of myself. I admit, I haven't been doing a great job of this lately, but when I eat healthy foods, exercise regularly, and have fun picking out my outfits, I feel a lot more inclined to talk to people. 
• Cultivating a positive outlook. I don't like to admit it when I'm feeling sad or annoyed or frustrated,  so I just don't say much of anything. Keeping Joy joyful is something I really need to work at. 
• Focusing on other people. 

I'm rather tired of being shy. I don't mind spending time alone, but sometimes I think I'm alone too much. Everything becomes me, me, me until I get out and get in touch with people. It's an awful feeling. I get tired of me. 

I guess I'll just keep working, then...