Voodoo Child v. 17: Welcome to the One Woman Show

Okay kids, now that I've conquered the world in fiction writing, now it's time for me to move into the realm of poetry.

I've been a big fan of poetry myself: Bukowski, Angelou, Cesaire, Shakespeare, Gibran, Neruda, to name the few gods I've read over the years. I need to go back to memorize my favorites; it's been far too long.

So here's my goal: 60 poems. Pretty easy. I do two a day. If I bust out in Haiku, it's 5 for that day. If I decide to do a day of sonnets, so be it. You will notice that February only has 28 days; I have to put in a few poems extra. I also have a recruiting trip I'm going to (Chicago, baby!), so I'll have sufficient distraction to get in the way. I would dare say I could do 100, but if I do, that'd be nonsense...but then again, why the hell not. Okay fine, 100 poems. God what did I just type.

I could easily change that, but...oh well. I thought it, I commit to it. There you have it.

Someone said, my god, how many books are you going to do? Well, if I make it through this month, then it'll be 3 at the least: I have a nonfiction book I've got sitting in my head as well, and I'm going to give it some time until I get that one out. I've been completely sleep deprived from the January sessions.

I don't think I'll lose sleep over the poetry, but then again you never know, right?

So that's my goal. 100 poems for February.

Oh and the title of January's work: All the Things She Left Behind. The February title will be revealed March 1.

Voodoo 

PS: I failed to mention to things: 1) if anyone wants to go in cahoots with me to do 100 poems, let me know. I'd love to schedule a writing session with you. 2) help pay for beatsrhymesnlife! it don't pay for itself, children!

Posted by Voodoo Child at 08:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I hate being exhausted at work. Four hours of sleep is crazy hard to function on. I'm not a coffee person, but if I was I probably would have had at least three cups. Is that a lot? I have no idea.

Anyways I have loved the adrenaline (last night was frightening adrenaline) but it's killed me personally. I like my sleep, but working on five hours of sleep has been sheer hell. I came home today and passed out. Seriously. It's pretty sad.

I've been asked about what nexts, and here's the list. Let me preface this by saying that 2007 is the year of creativity for me. I've committed to trying to be more creative: writing, painting, poetry and other things that I'll keep under wraps for now.

It's exciting, yes, but it's also taxing, which I'm sure you understand, and not just about losing sleep. My plan for the text is to let it breathe for a bit and then set to editing it down. I'm going to start up a work group in the next few months to work on new projects as a group. Pretty flossy. But in a meanwhile, I plan on getting my europe album done (I've put that off for too long!), and catching up on sleep.

Okay kids. I'll be back with more goodies. Promise!

VDC 

Posted by Voodoo Child at 10:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

So after I lost everything, and I mean everything that I had done today, I panicked and got my shit together and fired up my baby Mac Mini and got back to work. I uploaded the last version of the document I "backupped" that's a mango word, btw, and cranked it out. Fuck that. I was not going to let this get me undone, people.

I am done. DONE you hear me. DONE DONE DONE.

I did it after eating a fat bowl of garlic fries with husbandido. Maybe that was it. And the picture, thanks Toodles. It's my fave, right here next to me.

I am not, I repeat, NOT going to let anything get me down! Bah! I lost a good amount of work but made it up and finished in 1.5 hours. Celebration date to be announced soon. I am now going to get some sleep. Fucking DONE DONE DONE!

Voodoo 

Posted by Voodoo Child at 02:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)

I realized that, before writing this entry, I could have finished it tonight, but I opted not to and save it for tomorrow.

I honestly don't know why, but it feels good to be able to look those last 700 something words in the face and say, hey fuckers I'll be back for you. At any rate, I'm going to hit the sack early, but not after doing some reading. Who knows, I might just come back and finish it tonight just to spite myself.

nah, I want to rest. Been a busy day! We took Papa Voodoo to the Palace Hotel to have brunch to celebrate his retirement. I was a little bummed that he didn't want to eat much more, but that's a dad for you. The food was great, and if you have ducats to spare, head on down there for some EXCELLENT food and you wont' be disappointed, I promse. I came home afterwards and guess who passed out? Man, it was that good. I never pass out these days.

Any ways, I'm out. Gotta think of a way to wrap it all up, but in actuality I need to think about how to support the ending by filling in some blanks in the middle, right? Aw fuck it who cares, all I was shooting for was 50K, and I'm almost there.

VDC 

UPDATE: did something completely stupid. erased everything. thankfully i uploaded a backup from this afternoon. so...number goes back down. excuse me while i barf a little...oh and I've never broken out in a cold sweat like that before...well maybe this one time when I really had to pee but couldn't find a place...but i digress.  

Posted by Voodoo Child at 10:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

So I wound up doing a little bit more tonight than I thought...I'm pleased. Cranked out almost 3K words. Bomb.

I thought i'd take a moment to do some FAQs witchoo:

1. So, did you outline your entire book?

No, actually on day 1 I just started to write. I had an idea, but I tried to keep it real and limited myself to whatever I could come up with on that particular day. Sometimes I'd try to do a plot line, but I felt limited by it, to be honest so I try not to think too much when I'm doing the work.

2. What are you going to do with it when you're done?

I am probably going to invite you to drinks. If anyone's in the area and is down, let me know.

3.  If you can sum up what you've done so far, what would you say?

I will say it's about coming of age for fresh college grads as well as parents. Starts out kind of not like my life then turned into my life. I won't say which parts.

4. Is there any sex?

Ha.

5. What is the hardest part about writing?

Getting in that zone and maintaining it. Being committed to the project was not that hard after I told you all. You're very...motivating.

6.  I'm down to do it in November. What do I need to do...

Stay posted, I'll do the call in October and then we'll do a get together crank it out session on the first day. It should be fun, people! I'm glad you're interested.

7.  Did you do any of it at work?

I did very little at work. I thought it was going to be difficult, and I'd need to bring my machine to work to hammer out a chapter or two, but I've done little if anything at work. I found it easy to do it at home; actually I didn't sacrifice anything other than sleep this whole month.  

8. What's the title?

All the Things She Left Behind

9. Don't lie: am I going to see myself in the book?

Some of you might see things that are familiar: phrases, situations, themes, places. I think my characters are all of you rolled up, the good and the bad, but I won't tell you anything more.

10. What kind of machine are you working on?

A Dell D610 Laptop running Ubuntu Linux, Edgy Eft distro. My entire story is written on Open Office 2.0.

11. How many pages? 

71 so far. Single spaced.

12.  Are you going to let other people read it?

I don't know just yet. Maybe i'll clean it up and make it look presentable. Then I'll decide. I know I have lots of holes to fill, so it might take a while.

Okay I'm off to bed. Good night people. ANy other ?'s , let me know in the comments.

Voodoo 

Posted by Voodoo Child at 11:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I decided (because I'm the decider!) to get an early start today so I wouldn't stay up so late tonight..unless for some reason i was going to be productive tonight...Did pretty good, 1325 in two hours or so. I have tons of errands to run today, involving running around town and the like. Hope all is well with you! Hope it won't rain on me! Yikes!

VDC 

Posted by Voodoo Child at 01:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Whee. I'm trying to tie up loose ends at this point...Like I've said before, the story might not be there just yet, but it's good to start on the end. I figure I'll bust my ass to finish, and then fill in the dead spots. You've heard this before, I know. But I'm quickly moving towards a saucy love scene. that should knock out 5000 characters alone. Ha.

It's almost 3AM, and I took a nap earlier, so I'm a little out of sorts time wise. I had a busy day at work today, dealing with students, running meetings, etc. Pretty average day for me. I'll be doing more in the next week, and that's just par for the course. Any first week back brings me joy to see the kids again, but it is also a shitload of work to be done.

This weekend comes to me at a good time; I have a break from the madness, and for the first time in a long time I don't have any plans. I will do a coffee meet up with a friend and that's probably about it! Enjoy your weekend and if all goes well I'll make good progress towards the end of the book!

Peaceout!

VDC 

Posted by Voodoo Child at 02:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

An extraordinarily productive night. One of the nights that I did the most writing, actually. Maybe it's inspiration, maybe it's because the end is so near, maybe it's because I had a cracked out mocha boba at 3PM while I was at work. I love working near the New Chinatown...it's so freakin' easy to get the sesame balls I love so much and damned boba. Crack boba.

I realized tonight that I will probably need to push past my goal to satisfactorily end the story, but that's a happy problem, right? I am glad that I got this far, though.

Work has been sheer hell this week, with so much to do be done, and sometimes I feel like I'm the only one who knows what's going on. Truth be told, maybe I think I'm the only one who knows what's going on. I have a small world, it needs to be said. I will say this: one of the most important things I've learned to say thus far in my professional life can best be summed up in one word: "No."

I had a lot of work today, and I needed to bust out a few projects Voodoo-style: things only I can do because of my knowledge; and planning that needed to happen in only a few minutes of private uninterrupted time. I closed my door and cranked it out. Its' hard to do that in my world - the path to my door is well-worn and memorized by many who like to encourage others to stop by for a bit. So shutting my door, holding my calls, delaying responding to that email at this very second (my email is set to only fetch mail every 55 minutes, not every minute. try it, it's amazing or my productivity), gets me crankin' and bam, products DONE. I will do that again tomorrow, if only I can turn off my IMs! ;-) Say no, peeps. It's amazing what you can get done.

At any rate, I can't wait until the weekend gets here. I needs to get some good quality sleep! Last night before 1? Tonight before 12? I'm on a roll here, people.

Kisses,

Voodoo 

PS: Did I tell you that the other day, my trusty laptop crashed? I couldn't boot it back up. I got command line looking stuff. I honestly don't know what happened, but I got up to 40K and the ol' girl died on me. I thought I was going to cry, but luckily I emailed myself a copy of the text that I have so far, so thank god, but can you imagine? Anyway, whew to that!

Posted by Voodoo Child at 11:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Yep. That's a 4-0-1-2-8, people. Can you diiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiig it. Of course you can. I knew you could.

It's early tonight, about a little after midnght, and although I think I can squeeze another hour and a half out of me, I'm going to put it down for the night. A little Thai coffee at Lingba Lounge helped me out, as did the Rock Cod curry, which I highly recommend.

I had dinner tonight with The Traveller who helped provide many laughs, as always, and that was nice. We are homies online and love to chat it up, especially about where in the world we'd like to go next, and he had some interesting perspectives to share, which is always nice. I love the well-travelled set, they know what I mean when I say, it's nice to get out of the country for a bit, because you realize how insignicant everything is. You question not only your concept of space and time and place, but your concept of self. If you can get away from it all, then by all means, get the fuck out of dodge.

40128!

Today at work was hell, there are always meetings to go to, people to see and consult with. It's tiring at times, and not to mention challenging to stay focused. I am, for the large part, easily distracted (ooh pretty bird!) so I have to reallywork at it to stay in one place long enough to get my shit done. Luckily it was handled well, my friends, and I'm ready to go back tomorrow for more.

I only wish I had the time at work to put some words down for the libro, I get great ideas all the time. Luckily I am SO ripe with material at work it's painfully overstimulating, but I gotta focus on the task at hand. So far so good, right?

Anyways, I'm goign to go to bed early. Seriously, this is the first time before 1AM that I've gone to bed this entire month. Hopefully Thai coffee won't hurt a sister too much and I'l be able to crash. ;-)

Goodnight and 40128!!! 9872 to go. 20% left. God I love the numbers.

Voodoo 

PS: Are you the ONE?: http://www.helpharrison.com 

Posted by Voodoo Child at 12:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I think the hardest thing about this project has most definitely been the lack of sleep. Today I only put down 600 or so words, nothing serious, but luckily I'm ahead of the game. I'm up so late every night because there's a part of me that needs uninterrupted time to work, when people are engaged in their television or video games.

I got home, talked to the folks, watched the State of the Union for a bit, and then said, I'm going to take a nap. Four hours later, I kid you not, I wake up, and voila, it's midnight. I crank out what I feel like I can, and then I'm done. I might have to beat myself up for not writing, but I think tonight my sleep was more important, right?

So forgive me. that last 13K is going to have to wait a little longer, but I feel much better than i did earlier today.

Your zombie,

Voodoo 

Posted by Voodoo Child at 01:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Okay, non novel related stuff first.

1. I have a colleague who always asks for copies of my work to see what I've done, to presumably see what's been done and form her own presentations/works from there (she's asked to see my work before, usually it's because she has to do the same presentation i've done before yet has to somehow make it his own). I've learned to not get upset about it (all the time, people, it happens all the time), and give up the work, even though there's a piece of me that wonders if I'll ever get the appreciation I deserve. She literally doesn't have to do much because I've given everything to her. This has got to appear in my book somewhere. If not here, fucking definitely in the next one, oh it totally will.

2. Job search comes and goes, and there are days that I'm excited over it and other ones where I want to just suck it up and live it up while I can.  It's a classic struggle between the benefits of one over the other, and the need as well that I have for something new and challenging that will probably kick my ass, but we all need a kick in the ass every now and then.

3. Bone Marrow Meeting went well today, you'd be surprised how many people want in on the party. If any of you want to come out and help, please let me know in the email . Hey, OFD, get back to me. You will be helping a brother, you know.

4.  Trying to not be bitter over #1 still. It's hard, but yah, not bitter.

Okay so we're at #37076, and the story has taken a turn for the supernatural! I think I'll incorporate dragons and talking trees next. God knows I've already introduced the hobbits. I've also learned tonight that Sex Machine, by James Brown is the most AWESOMEST work song ever. I chopped out about 900 words alone to it. You heard it hear first, it's my clutch song. Sort of like beer goggles at a party with no so rock star attendees (present party not included, of course).

I'm ready to start winding up, which means I'm going to have to bust out some moments of AHA! and OHO! the kind of moments in books or movies where you say, awwwww shit, the key was in dude's pocket the whole time! daaaaaaaaang. Okay maybe not, but 13K words? We better wrap this shit up soon. It's now officially Tuesday, 1/23, and one week from now I'll be banging out the last of the words. If you want anything funky to happen, put it in the comments, I'll try to work it in. I'm not making any promises here, but chances are, if someone gets scooped up in a UFO to be taken to a planet of hot women who are sex starved, I'll just blame it on you, my faithful reader.

And before I leave, here's something for ya':

 From Giant Mecha:

Cause Voodoo Said So, in 37076 words. 

Posted by Voodoo Child at 01:13 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Whew. 70% done.

I took last night off to be with family, two family parties to be exact. I hadn't anticipated being away that long and feeling so tired, and I had massive guilt about not writing that night. I couldn't wait to sit down and crank out some words. Luckily I worked ahead of myself these last few days, and I technically didn't lose any ground.

I am reaching the point of the turn in the story, the downhill slide that will take me to the end of the show only a few days away. I'm wondering if I can get there neatly, or if I have to add in some parts here and there to fill in the blanks. I feel like it's the latter. Nothing ever ends neatly, does it. 

I spent today having brunch with the one and only Bruce Leroy and cruising around with Cream Puff. It was nice to be out in the City today, but I was constantly working out story kinks all day, and feeling eager to get back home. I have to admit that I already know this feeling: when I was working at my dissertation, when I was done, I felt a great sense of accomplishment, but I also felt a great sense of loss. I was...done.

I'm looking forward to finishing this story, but I'm also looking forward to my next one. It will come soon, I know, but at the very least this is one life goal that's DONE! I'm thrilled beyond belief, but I'm also bustin' my ass to finish! I have lost lots of sleep over this, and I'm feeling like I will take a very nice well deserved nap when all of this madness is done.

Gee, look at the time. I bet you five bucks that latte I had earlier today won't let me sleep, and that I crank out another 5K. LOL I wish! ;-)

oodoo

PS: swatch has a voodoo watch now! can you believe it? sa-weet!

Posted by Voodoo Child at 12:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Woot! What a productive day. See what happens when you throw in a good dream sequence? LOL

My big goal is 35K by next Tuesday, so I think I'm in good shape. I might need to spend some time thinking about these characters and finding out what's going to happen in their lives. Big family party tomorrow night; I might get some material there ;-) Who knows, maybe I"ll bust out 40K by then. Okay, putting the pipe down.

It is farking COLD tonight, people! Doesn't help that my desk is near my window. Thank god for North Face fleece. My favorite stuff ever. Husbandido El Mango passed out early tonight (I suspect his love of meat has done him in), so that's part of the reason why I busted a move tonight. I might even play some XboX if so inclined. Doubt it, but still. Just sayin'.

Also, big LOVE to my biggest and bestest fan who sent me mail (REAL MAIL, fancy that). I'm going to put it up by my desk to keep me pushing until 50K! It's so damn easy to start, but getting the middle down is a bitch! I am looking forward to making 50K early so I can go back and fill in the dead spots, and I know there are few.

I haven't been this productive since my dissertation, yo. But like my last post was, I set up a bone marrow drive at my office, so that was a MAJOR coup for me. I am very fortunate to have resources that I can do that kinda stuff. So happy! Okay, I'm going to sign off, get my butt into bed and read my fat book: Eldest by Christopher Paolini. Then off to sleep. Remember, in order to become a good writer you need to be a good reader.

Much love!

Voodoo 

PS: I write best to James Brown (RIP), Jack Johnson, Damien Rice, Tupac, MC Solaar and some good house/ambient music from Brazil/SF. I need a new iPod b/c I can't read what's playing, and I usually just hit  next until I find one of the artists I mentioned. Sad.

Posted by Voodoo Child at 01:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I’d like to tell you about, Harrison Leonardo, a two-year old boy who lives in the San Francisco Bay Area. His father, OJ Padua Leonardo, is a San Francisco Fire Department firefighter. His mother, Stephanie Isaacson, is a public affairs representative with Pacific Gas and Electric. He has a baby brother named Lucas. Harrison is fighting Acute Myelogenous Leukemia (AML), a rare form of cancer. He was diagnosed in early 2006 and went into remission in August. He relapsed just before Thanksgiving and is currently undergoing chemotherapy and needs a bone marrow transplant to survive. None of his immediate family members are suitable donors.

Finding a suitable donor is particularly difficult because he is bi-racial Filipino and Caucasian.  There is a severe shortage of asian american donors on the national database. Biracial donors are even more rare. Please take a moment to visit his website  www.helpharrison.com  to see if there is something you might do to help Harrison find his miracle match.  If you are already registered on the national marrow donor database, thank you!  Your gift could save this young boy’s or another person’s life.

I am putting together a drive where I work and would love to have you come out to help with the cause. Just remember, this is not for Harrison, it's for everyone who needs a bone marrow transplant around the nation. email me if you want to come out to the event. you can also order free kits if you're too busy to come out. See Harrison's site if you want to order some.

I'm on the registry already. Are you?

Voodoo 

Posted by Voodoo Child at 03:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Meh, not a great night. I did get started early which is always good, but I am just tired. Physically going to bed late has kicked my butt, and I'm going to take a night off to read a little and think a little more about how I want this story to end up. I'm about 20K away from the end of all things (60% completed, thank you very much), and I think I know how it's going to end, but from this point, I don't know how to get there. So I'm going to sleep on it.

So sue me, only 1,000ish words tonight. Tomorrow back on track because I plan on staying up until god knows when to knock it out baby!

oodoov 

Posted by Voodoo Child at 11:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Stagnation. Yuck. So today I consulted with a friend regarding my stuck-ness. I brought a character out of a coma, but now, I don't know what to do with her. Don't worry, she's not out doing the tango just yet, but she's definitely not...all there. It's kinda funny, you know, I wanted to bring her out to get the story moving, but it's not, and shit, so something else has to happen.

I was really hoping to bust through 30K today, but I think I need to plan out the course. I have at least another 20K to go, so things have to sort of start to resolve themselves or at least become self-evident, right? Well, I sat down to write a story. I didn't have one in my head when it started, I just wanted to write. Each night I literally sit down, maybe I think about what's happening, most of the time I don't. My routine looks like this:

1. Either get into bed or go to desk.

2. bust out the laptop or connect it to my docking station (a real pain in the butt, which is why I just write in bed now, but it's bad for my back) (3 minutes)

3. settle in. (2 minutes)

4. get out of chair and look for ipod. (2 minutes, 5 minutes if I've switched bags or if I'm really tired)

5. find ipod. get into bed. make sure feet are warm. when feet are cold, sucks to write. (5 minutes)

6. find suitable song to motivate self. (10 minutes)

7. log into www.google.com/reader to catch up with friend's blogs and other websites I read on a daily basis. (if you don't already do this, you really need to. ask me to show you my line up if you're ever bored). (30 minutes) If i'm commenting 45 minutes.

8. open up the .odt. that's right, i said .odt. i am writing on a linux laptop, not my beloved mac. it kills me, but I do need to be flexible and move my stuff around, and laptop is easy. (30 seconds)

9. stare at the page (10 minutes)

10. write something, then delete (5 minutes)

11. get angry because i shouldn't be editing myself so much, just write. (1 minute)

12. go check email (10 minutes)

13. write another paragraph or two (10 minutes)

14. turn on IMs. respond to the 5 windows that pop up with people asking me for word counts (5 minutes)

15. snack time? yes? (15 minutes)

rinse and repeat. I blame my lack of progress primarily on the google reader and checking email. the IMs? Yes I do better when they're not on, but I do so love you guys. BTW: go check out the newbs! They've been productive, they have!

VdC 

Posted by Voodoo Child at 12:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

I rule. Cranked out 2600 something words tonight. I decided to bring the character out of a stroke. I just couldn't take it ;-) I might however drop her back in a little longer (insert more chapters inbetween where she wakes up and where she went out).

I dunno. It's interesting...having gotten this far on nothing but a serious whim. I think about it daily...obsess over it really, that somehow it's possible that I can pull this off. Well, I'm not going to count dem chickens.

Anyways, the kids will be back en masse tomorrow. At least the newbs will be. I look forward to having some noise around the office, we're in a new semester, new vibe, all of that. So it's a good thing, and I'm happy to be at work. Classes start full blast on Monday, so you know, that means we're going to be at it big time, and I'm a little afraid of it taking up space in my writing life.

Granted though, I don't write until after 9PM, and if I'm lucky it's before 11. Most likely though it's not. Kills my sleep pattern. Speaking of which I really should get to sleep. It's a big day tomorrow! I hopefully will break 30000 (which leaves another 20K to go, babies!), and who knows what's next.

Goodnight! Sweet dreams and if you have any ideas for me to throw in the story, let me know.

Voodoo 

Posted by Voodoo Child at 01:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Okay, maybe you did (or didn't) notice the slight...dip...in numbers. I would normally expect a huge JUMP after coming back home from our trip to Los In Laws. The harsh truth is that I was busy with laundry. I am La Laundry Girl back at the house. It's normally my gig whilst Husbandido is either watching football (or in this case watching reruns of Tom Brady) or doing something other than laundry.

By the end of the night I was just too plain tired to write, and truth be told, I was up until 3 and 4 in the morning the last few days, seriously, up and writing. Husbandido was with his Xbox, and I, well, had my laptop and writing in the corner. At the very least, I'm where I should be at this time. I had a couple nights of stellar clarity that helped get me to double what I was supposed to do; those nights helped to offset my "aw shit I gots nothing" nights.

I've hit a wall with my story, which is not too uncommon, but in my quest for 50K it's pretty messed up. I've decided not only to give a character a stroke, but kill off another one. It's not about the story which I am sure is kinda crappy to begin with, but knocking out 50K, people. To quote some sportscaster, "it's not about you made it to the playoffs, it's if you can WIN. Saying "you made it' is a loser's mentality."

So anyways, the story is pretty dope so far, with the exception of hitting a wall. I think I'm going to try to work on it early tonight so I can get some decent sleep. I'm pretty tired today, and at 4:15 I could use a nap. Okay maybe nap first, writing later.

BTW, anyone who wants to do National Novel Writing Month with me again in November (I know, twice in a year would kill me but I'll do it), please shoot me an email and let me know. I'm down! Nothing says "get that shit done" like having a bunch of your friends get on you and a very public deadline that everyone and their moms knows signifies the end of your 50K run. For those of you not so fictionally inclined, here's Script Frenzy, your shot at doing a script in one month.

Also, thanks you guys for IMing me. Pressure to me is nothing. Pressure from friends sucks balls, and yah, well, if when I finish, let's get a drink somewhere.

Wish me luck, I am going to be halfway tonight, and if I'm real lucky, I will be at 30K.

Voodoo 

Posted by Voodoo Child at 03:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Dude, I am SO hauling ass right now you don't even know. Just kidding.

Thanks for all the emails of support I've been getting, complete with threats of "I better not see myself in there" or "Damn you if you are going to write about that special time we shared together." Shizzo like that. JK,I'm writing about each and everyone of you, so help me god. It's the least I can do.

I have some side news: New Writers, people! I am proud to revitalize Girls' Night Out with Squeak making a return appearance, and now adding a new voice on there (I believe she's to be named Tiyan, damn right that's stomach for you taglish speaking honies). I've also added onto the heap The Nomad, a travellin' friend of mine who has a very unique eye on the world. Check both of them out; I know Nomad has a post up already, and I'm still waiting on Girls' Night Out for some love.

Check out the other writers for some new news for ya booty! The list is on your right---> :-)

Go Patriots (Tom Brady you are SO fine), and I need to get into bed. Peace out from Sacto!

V'doo 

Posted by Voodoo Child at 01:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Look at the time. I got a late start tonight, I usually start around 9PM, but I started at 1AM, fuckin' 1AM. But I hauled ass and I'm almost at 40% of goal. Good night, kids. Thanks for the support! You are all assholes, by the way. ;-)

-VDC 

Posted by Voodoo Child at 04:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

That's where I am so far. I feel like I'm totally behind, having taken a night or two 'off.' Oh well, that's life. I finally have a direction to go in, so I feel like the rest will just fall into place.

It's a pain though, not the writing process, just worrying about whether or not I have it all down: I have a character who goes through a significant medical crisis (a stroke) and I'm not sure if I have it all down. The point is, though, that I have to just write, even though its' wrong, just to get it written, right?

Even though 15429 is a pretty dope number, according to my goal of 1667 words every night, I'm off by one night. I am enjoying myself, really. It's kind of exciting, but it's taken a lot of work to keep focused. I find that i do my best writing around 9-12, and if I'm on a roll, I can knock out the daily average in an hour or so.

I'm not going to go into much detail about the characters, but it's loosely based on a conglomerate of a life I've led; figure that if I'm going to try and crank out 50K words, it might as well be somewhat familiar to me, right? And don't you go in there trying to find out who you are or what I've revisioned as you. I hope that I'll be able to finesse the piece more when I'm done with it. So far so good, I tell myself.

Saw the state of the union tonight. I had to quit watching it because his eyes were freaking me out. MacWorld was the shit yesterday, kids. I have to post pictures for your viewing pleasure, but in a meanwhile, the iPhone? Sexy. That bad boy is like porn: dudes crowded around it, coming from it at all angles, wanting to touch it, see it, smell it, but more likely than not, take a picture of it. There were two of them in glass cases, and everyone had to get a piece, but your Voodoo Mama says oh no child, I'll be back here while you boys have at it up there. I also had the great opportunity to talk to developers, those small companies who are cranking out great products to the peoples. I happened upon a few of them from the fun MyDreamApp project as well as MacAppaDay. It's real nice to meet the folks who put out programs I actually use (Overflow, Pzizz, and Noise) and give them live feedback: "Your app is the shit!"

Anyways, it's high time I passed out for the night, kids! Nite nite and once again, be creative this year. Sucks to be repeating yourself over and over again, even worse to reiterate what someone else said without citing it. And yes I meant that for someone in particular. Didn't you learn anything about plagiarizing? Tsk tsk.

Voodoo 

Posted by Voodoo Child at 12:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Took the day off today to go to Macworld. I'm pretty excited about it because I'm a freakin' nerd. I'll be back with pictures and updates when I get them. In a meanwhile, I'm watching the play by play at macrumorslive.com.

I wonder what stuff I'm going to find it hard to live without this year. ;-)

VDC 

Posted by Voodoo Child at 09:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

So far so good. I have 10,299 words, about 20% of my goal. I took last night off after about 900 words, so I'm a little behind where I should be. Oh yah, and my night out with the boys killed me too.

I did manage to crank out 2500 words one night, but that doesn't make up for it. I'll get back into it tonight. As it is, I'm kind of stuck on what to do next. Keep in mind I'm not really trying to write the perfect novel, it's about dumping 50,000 words out. And writing beatsrhymesnlife over and over again don't count.

I have added one more writer to the stash of writers...I will update you on the Nomad's page once I get it set up.

VuDu 

Posted by Voodoo Child at 10:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

So one of my life goals is to write a novel. I don't intend to have it published, although I suspect that that is, in fact, what every writer wants for him/her self. A big step I've decided to take in this direction is undertake the physical (mental?) challenge called NaNoWriMo. The NaNoWriMo is short for National Novel Writing Month, which officially by the way is in November.

Yes, it's January, I know this.

And it's two months late, but if you recall, kind readers, I was out of the country then, and it wouldn't have made much sense to write something down without having enough mental time to commit to it. So I opted for January to handle my business.

The task is this: in 31 days to write 50,000 words. You got it. No stuttering or mistypes. I have all this time to bust my ass to write. I've attempted this once in the month of November, but I just couldn't get into it. I stopped maybe around 2K words. Sucks. This time I've got a system down to write, and I'm pretty pleased with it. I knock out a good two hours or so on the computer a day, and I'm good to go. I bring my gear to work to do some of it there, but truth be told, I'm too distracted with colleagues and such to bust it out at all.

So here's what I'm asking you:

1. Forgive me if I'm not on here that much this month. I have brain cells dedicated to finishing this task.

2. I've recruited TWO new writers to the BRL family: Food Avenger  and The Big Aiyah welcomes it's newest writer, Shooter! These two fellas will keep you occupied, I hope, in my absence. I'm also looking for one good woman writer to take over Girl's Night Out, so any of you chicas out there who are down to throw down you let me know.

3. Keep checking with me if you are in close contact with my punk ass to make sure I'm sticking with it. Doing anything by yourself sucks, and I've tried to do it solo, but I'm putting it out there because I can't do it without you.

4. Clocked a little over 5000 words in the last three days, ya'll. See, your encouragement can help tons.

Thanks much all, I look forward to getting "there."  

Voodoo 

Update: Girl's Night Out now up and running.

Posted by Voodoo Child at 11:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

To all my readers, even the ones I hate, happy new years. Wish me luck, I have 50,000 words to write for my novel in the next 31 days. Wish me luck. I'll have more details for you tomorrow!

Voodoo 

Posted by Voodoo Child at 01:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)