I've been looking forward to joining NaNoWriMo.org (National Novemer Writer's Month) since June. This was the 4th time I signed up, and this year I was determined to be ready, to hit the ground running, and to finish. I even trained for the event with this blog.
Well, the good news is that I'm still going to finish a book this year, for the first time ever. The bad news is NaNoWriMo itself. The kindly group of cheerleaders who used to offer inspiration to the 'Little Writer Who Could' morphed into a fundraiser.
I get it. It's a big job to keep a site up and running with such a big audience. People need to get paid. I might have kicked in someday, if I'd made-money-from-writing, thanks-to-their-encouragement. Which, of course, never happened. Frankly, I'd like to get paid for my time. I'm not. Why are they asking me for money?
Their 'hook' was that donations will help young writers who can't afford camps, workshops, and training. Apparently old writers who can't afford camps, workshops and training are dog-do. Seems to me that people with life experience who are trying to turn their lives around, and don't have lots of resources (or years) to do so, need assistance more.
There's also the feeling that they're milking the wrong cows. Markets for writers are drying up. Publishers become fewer and fewer. As more people give up on the job market, more of them decide that they may as well try write that book. So we have more writers than ever, and it's harder than ever to get a pay day. Seems like the wrong group to hit up for funds.
So I bailed out of Fundraising Central and took a full week off to get the bad taste out of my mouth. Now I'm starting again with a new attitude. Instead of NaNoWriMo, I'll celebrate "Personal Author's Year-end-Motivated Endeavor." PAY-ME pledges to motivate and encourage a struggling author, me, to finish her book by the end of 2014.
The time for fundraising will be when the book is finished. The fundraising drive will be correctly aimed at a target market of publishers and/or actual readers. So no donations, please. All I ask is encouragement.
Friday, November 14, 2014
Thursday, November 6, 2014
Too Much Stuff Two: The Sequel
We've collected all the wrong stuff. We've saved all the wrong stuff. Why did we do it? What are we to do with all this? I'm looking at our collection of one-thousand VCR tapes. You'd think I'd have learned my lesson with cassettes. Or perhaps not, since I still have a few dozen of those too.
Will I be stuck looking at the dratted things until the day I die? I wish I could do the same as we do with leftovers. ("I didn't like the meal, but I can't just toss this much food... so I'll put it in the refrigerator until it grows fuzz, then I'll toss it!") But alas. Tapes don't grow fuzz. They sit there in their cases forever. Even if the tape decomposes, fuzz will not result.
I could put them into boxes on the floor until Hubby trips on one and gets mad, then toss them. There are, however, four things wrong with that. One, I love Hubby and don't want him to trip. Two, the tapes might still be watchable. Three, doing anything with them would suck days out of my life, and I have a book to write. Four, there's no floor space left for boxes.
That's not all I collect. My beautiful Waterford crystal takes up 2 full shelves of the china cabinet, and china takes 4 more shelves. It's lovely, but I don't dare use any of it. Fears of lead content and radiation are valid enough that I don't need to go further. If I went further, I would mention dishwashers and microwaves. We use them constantly. They are the natural enemies of fine china and crystal. Nuf said.
Also lovely are my numerous collections of figurines, knick-knacks, and breakables. They were never meant to be used for anything. They're just for looks. Some are cherished mementos of my grandmas and my great-aunt, which means I'll be keeping them. Together with the crystal and dishes, that's 4 china cabinets full plus 4 cupboards plus any other storage and display space I can find.
Then there's stuff we saved because "you can't toss stuff that cost us so much." We have tons of old computer stuff. 3 1/4 floppies? We have hundreds. CD-ROMS? At leads a thousand. The old computers themselves? Many. Oh, and the cables! Parallel cables, Serial cables, SCSI cables, and proprietary cables for dozens of peripherals. The cables alone take up 4 big boxes.
Nor did we toss the peripherals. Our 1992 modems were quite the speedy dial-up connectors back in the day. And those zippy 4x CD-ROM players? Totally rad once. Now they take up space. No doubt they still work, but with what? And again, they cost so much money when we bought them.
Of course there are things we might actually need mixed among the useless stuff, so throwing it away by the boxload is not an option. I need to sort. But If I did, I'd want Hubby to participate, and he would have a fit if I threw away any of his 'stuff,' unless it flat-out didn't work. Sigh.
I thought I had the answer a few blogs back. Sell tickets to view the incredible mess... er, 'collections.' An even earlier blog advises, "Buy nothing and have the money." Alas, nobody listens to my advice, even me.
Will I be stuck looking at the dratted things until the day I die? I wish I could do the same as we do with leftovers. ("I didn't like the meal, but I can't just toss this much food... so I'll put it in the refrigerator until it grows fuzz, then I'll toss it!") But alas. Tapes don't grow fuzz. They sit there in their cases forever. Even if the tape decomposes, fuzz will not result.
I could put them into boxes on the floor until Hubby trips on one and gets mad, then toss them. There are, however, four things wrong with that. One, I love Hubby and don't want him to trip. Two, the tapes might still be watchable. Three, doing anything with them would suck days out of my life, and I have a book to write. Four, there's no floor space left for boxes.
That's not all I collect. My beautiful Waterford crystal takes up 2 full shelves of the china cabinet, and china takes 4 more shelves. It's lovely, but I don't dare use any of it. Fears of lead content and radiation are valid enough that I don't need to go further. If I went further, I would mention dishwashers and microwaves. We use them constantly. They are the natural enemies of fine china and crystal. Nuf said.
Also lovely are my numerous collections of figurines, knick-knacks, and breakables. They were never meant to be used for anything. They're just for looks. Some are cherished mementos of my grandmas and my great-aunt, which means I'll be keeping them. Together with the crystal and dishes, that's 4 china cabinets full plus 4 cupboards plus any other storage and display space I can find.
Then there's stuff we saved because "you can't toss stuff that cost us so much." We have tons of old computer stuff. 3 1/4 floppies? We have hundreds. CD-ROMS? At leads a thousand. The old computers themselves? Many. Oh, and the cables! Parallel cables, Serial cables, SCSI cables, and proprietary cables for dozens of peripherals. The cables alone take up 4 big boxes.
Nor did we toss the peripherals. Our 1992 modems were quite the speedy dial-up connectors back in the day. And those zippy 4x CD-ROM players? Totally rad once. Now they take up space. No doubt they still work, but with what? And again, they cost so much money when we bought them.
Of course there are things we might actually need mixed among the useless stuff, so throwing it away by the boxload is not an option. I need to sort. But If I did, I'd want Hubby to participate, and he would have a fit if I threw away any of his 'stuff,' unless it flat-out didn't work. Sigh.
I thought I had the answer a few blogs back. Sell tickets to view the incredible mess... er, 'collections.' An even earlier blog advises, "Buy nothing and have the money." Alas, nobody listens to my advice, even me.
Sunday, November 2, 2014
Daylight Savings Turmoil
Daylight savings time has ended and it's time to "fall back." Another round of deciding whether to change the bedroom clock radio or just mentally subtract an hour. You may think that's lazy of me, and you'd be right, but there's more to it than that. There's a barricade of heavy boxes that I'd have to move to reach it.
Also, the clock radio is so old that it could very well crumble to dust if I touch it. Last, I don't remember exactly how to do it. I had to move a switch and press 2 buttons. (Or was it 2 switches and one button?) Nothing is labeled "hour" or "h" or anything logical.
Another downer with the time change is knowing darned well it is bedtime, but your favorite shows are still on and you have more to do after they're over. Right now my body is telling me I can go to bed in an hour but my eyes are telling me I have to stay up because the cat needs food before her insulin shot at 9.
Every year I sing the same lament. Springtime is a busy time and it hurts the schedule to have that hour taken away. Many's the time I've been rushed, even late, because the time change slipped my mind. Now that it's fall, I don't need the hour... don't even want it. As I already said, I'm tired and want it to be bedtime.
Changing the clock is also a reminder that we should change all the batteries in our smoke alarms. However, half of ours are equipped with those new 10-year lithium ones that won't need changing until 2020-something. The other half? I don't recall which they are, but they'll chirp their heads off when they need changing. They're good at that.
Who thought of Daylight Savings Time anyhow? I suppose back in the day more people had office jobs with 8-to-5 schedules. I guess it would give Joe Average enough time to do some active, outdoorsy stuff after work. These days, however, if you leave the office at 5 you are either a slacker or a member of Congress... possibly both.
But we're stuck with it for now, so there's no sense being a total grump about it. It is what it is. There's talk of just staying on it forever. That would be a decent solution, and I hope it happens. Still, I can't help but wonder... why didn't we just start and finish work at the right time in the first place?
Also, the clock radio is so old that it could very well crumble to dust if I touch it. Last, I don't remember exactly how to do it. I had to move a switch and press 2 buttons. (Or was it 2 switches and one button?) Nothing is labeled "hour" or "h" or anything logical.
Another downer with the time change is knowing darned well it is bedtime, but your favorite shows are still on and you have more to do after they're over. Right now my body is telling me I can go to bed in an hour but my eyes are telling me I have to stay up because the cat needs food before her insulin shot at 9.
Every year I sing the same lament. Springtime is a busy time and it hurts the schedule to have that hour taken away. Many's the time I've been rushed, even late, because the time change slipped my mind. Now that it's fall, I don't need the hour... don't even want it. As I already said, I'm tired and want it to be bedtime.
Changing the clock is also a reminder that we should change all the batteries in our smoke alarms. However, half of ours are equipped with those new 10-year lithium ones that won't need changing until 2020-something. The other half? I don't recall which they are, but they'll chirp their heads off when they need changing. They're good at that.
Who thought of Daylight Savings Time anyhow? I suppose back in the day more people had office jobs with 8-to-5 schedules. I guess it would give Joe Average enough time to do some active, outdoorsy stuff after work. These days, however, if you leave the office at 5 you are either a slacker or a member of Congress... possibly both.
But we're stuck with it for now, so there's no sense being a total grump about it. It is what it is. There's talk of just staying on it forever. That would be a decent solution, and I hope it happens. Still, I can't help but wonder... why didn't we just start and finish work at the right time in the first place?
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