October 2009

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National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo)

October 21, 2009 in Internet, Software, Writing by faltarego | 1 comment

Well, I've gone and done it. I've signed up for National Novel Writing Month (or NaNoWriMo as it's affectionately known). I'm going to spend the month of November immersed in words. The object is to write over 1600 words a day in order to amass a thirty-day total of 50,000 words, the equivalent of a short novel.

I did something like this three years ago, when I purchased a book entitled No Plot? No Problem!, written by Chris Baty, the originator of NaNoWriMo. The book goes into great detail about how the thirty-day novel works and gives some excellent advice and suggestions. So, although I haven't "officially" done NaNoWriMo before now, I did write an "unofficial" thirty-day novel in the middle of the summer.

The damn thing still isn't finished, though. I wrote the requisite number of words, but I didn't finish the story. And there it sits. I've read through it a number of times in the past three years, and I really like most of it, but I haven't added anything new to it. I know where it's going, and I know some of the scenes I want to write, but I haven't written them yet.

This is typical of  me. I write a bunch of stuff, and then I let it sit unfinished for eons. Read the rest of this entry »

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Whip It Good!

October 19, 2009 in Movies by faltarego | No comments

I went to see Whip It this past weekend, and I have to say it was a most enjoyable night out at the movies. I am an unabashed Ellen Page fan (I've rattled on at length about her elsewhere in this blog), and I'm also a big fan of Drew Barrymore, so this was a combination I had to see for myself. I was also eager to see the results of Drew's first stint in the director's chair.

I'll say right off the top that the movie was big fun. The casting was near perfect, and the sheer jubilant energy of the film was infectious. This was a great ride, and I buckled up and let it sweep me away.

There was a bit of "formula" lurking around the edges of the film, but not so much that it detracted from my enjoyment of it. The main premise is a bit typical: Our protagonist (Ellen Page as Bliss Cavendar) discovers a heretofore unknown passion (roller derby), which of course is frowned upon by her nearest and dearest (her parents). It's also an "underdog" story, in that Bliss is a newcomer to the sport and the team she joins is the worst in the league. I will give Barrymore and team kudos, however, in that they did depart from cliché at a couple of crucial spots and made what could have been true formula into more of a concoction. Read the rest of this entry »

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The King of Fiction

October 7, 2009 in Blogging, Books, Language, Writing by faltarego | 1 comment

Stephen King doesn't need my accolades. He's doing quite well for himself. But I thought, since I've been in a rather retro frame of mind the last while, that I'd talk a bit about some of the stuff that King has come out with over the years.

I'm not a King expert. I haven't read everything he's written. Not by half. But what I have read, I've liked.

A lot.

There are those who like to dismiss Stephen King. I don't know why that is. Maybe it's his genre. Maybe it's the fact that he's sold a bazillion copies of every book he's ever come out with. Or maybe it's because he's not "literary" (whatever the hell that means). But there are definitely King-detractors out there. Read the rest of this entry »

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Write or Die!

October 2, 2009 in Blogging, Internet, Writing by faltarego | 1 comment

I'm using another new, free writing tool to compose this entry. It's called Write or Die, and it's not a product that you download and install on your computer. It's a writing tool on a website. You just go to the site, tell it how many words you intend to write, how much time you're giving yourself to write them, and how strict the site should be as you type away.

But let me back up a bit, here. This is not a writing tool for the faint of heart. This is a tool for people who seriously want to get some wordage down. It's a nagging tool. It's the closest thing you'll find to a schoolmarm with granny-glasses standing behind you and whacking you with a pointer if you pause too long in your writing.

I'm using this site for the first time today (okay, it's actually the second time, but the first time, a couple of days ago, was a bust, because I was seriously interrupted and had to abort the whole process), so I don't yet know all the ins and outs, but this is basically what happens: Once you've entered your proposed word-count and the time you're allowing yourself (and optionally setting the level of strictness you want brought down upon you), you click the big "Write" button, and off you go! You're taken to a page with nothing on it but a big text-entry field with a countdown timer and a word count at the bottom. Read the rest of this entry »

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