Panera Bread robots are taking over the world

Right now it feels as if every molecule in my body is aching. My arms are feeling better but now my legs have that same toothachey radiating pain. It’s kind of hard to concentrate on writing like this.

I attended my very first NaNoWriMo write-in today, at a local Panera Bread. I’ve come to the conclusion that everyone who works here is a robot. They are abnormally polite and even the way they speak is odd. They’re just so proper and… weird. Dexter, the guy who was sitting across from me during the two hours I was writing, thought the same thing.

Anyway, when I first walked in I was really nervous. I’ve never purposefully gone to a place to meet with strangers before. Everyone was really nice though, and even though I can’t remember any of their names — sorry, guys — I had a good time writing with them. They didn’t seem to mind that I am officially a NaNo-dropout, even though I barely got any real writing done. In the whole two hours I was supposed to be writing, I wrote five paragraphs. The aching is starting to come back, too, so I think I’m done for the day.

I emailed Professor H. with a synopsis of the block I’ve hit (I’ve been writing chapters for a different character instead of continuing with the rest of the novel because I’m stuck). Hopefully he can help me out.

Well, I am off to go get some things at Wal-Mart and maybe some things at Michael’s (the craft store, not my boyfriend) as well. I’ll update with something better later, if it’s physically possible. ):

Finally, I am going to finish something

I’ve decided to get back to The Cure Program full-time. Well, as much time as possible. I’ve also asked Professor Harding to edit it for me, and he’s agreed. I need to have it finished by xmas break so that he can look at it. In the meantime he is going to help me with the parts I’m stuck on. The bad side of this is that I am dropping NaNoWriMo this year.

I’ve participated in NaNoWriMo since 2005. That year, I finished writing a novel for the first time — but did not make it to the 50,000 word mark. Up until then I had started several novels and left them in limbo. In 2006 I quit because I wasn’t happy with what I was writing and I didn’t have the time (it was my first semester of college). In 2007, I won but didn’t finish the novel. To me, I have won twice. I have already gotten the full NaNo-experience, and I think it is more important to finish The Cure Program rather than let it collect dust. I don’t have time to do both. I need to jump on the opportunities that I have: my professor will be available at the end of the semester to edit for me, and the genre I am writing in is apparently very hot right now.

So, during the month of November, I will finish my baby. I will finish writing it and prepare to begin the editing process. In December or January, I will start contacting agents. Thumbtacks will get written, just not right now.

I do, however, plan to attend the write-ins for my NaNoWriMo regional group. That way I’ll have specific time set aside to write, and I can get to know some other writers in my area. Hopefully they won’t mind hanging out with a NaNo-dropout. :D

Bitching about nothing

I don’t think I can sit here much longer but I need my Visual Basic professor to look at my programs!

Lately I’ve fallen ridiculously behind in VB, which I’d been sort of ahead in to begin with. At this point I’ve completely given up on trying to read the chapters, and have been printing out his lecture slides instead. I still have two and a half assignments to finish, and tonight he is giving us another one. At least I’m all caught up with Creative Writing (I just have to edit poems to hand in for my portfolio).

Between all of the pain I’ve been in lately and this maddening rush to catch up on school work, I’m beat. Pile on a few other personal things and I’m ready to hop on a plane to Florida. (Besides, it’s warm down there!) I like to say that I thrive under pressure, and normally I do, but right now I’d rather ignore certain things than face them like a man — um, woman.

As for something totally random, I managed to smash two of my fingers in the door of the Director of Student Activities’ office. My middle finger has a crescent shaped blood blister below my nail and it hurts. It’s kind of cool looking but it kind of grosses me out.

NaNoWriMo starts in less than ten days and I still need to finish my characters’ profile sheets and my outline. I wonder if my professors and boyfriend would be okay with it if I totally ignored everything else just so I can get ready to write? :D

Priorities

I need to follow Miss Britt’s lead and prioritize. (If you want to skip my boring to-do list, help me figure out why we beat ourselves up!)

I have a long list of projects. Every time I turn around, another one pops up and insists on being completed as well. (For example, as I plan this year’s NaNoWriMo novel an old WIP pops up and begs to be completed.) I have priorities and I have things that I think are priorities. The question is, which are which? Continue reading

Taking all my sunshine

Things have been very frustrating lately, but I’ve decided that the only way to deal with them is by writing and ignoring the things stressing me out. Easy to say, tough to do. Still, I think that by focusing mainly on my writing this coming winter I might just make it out of everything alive. Mainly, there are two people who are causing me the most stress. One is a family member and the other is a good friend. Both are for very different reasons — or are they? There is nothing I can do about either of them, considering one is seen as a golden child in the eyes of everyone else (so who is going to believe me when I say that this person treats my sister and I like dirt?) and the other yeah-I-knows me but continues to do what they do anyway. I do have to say that I’ve decided not to take anymore shit from either of these people, no matter what the consequences may be. I’d rather have them and everyone else angry with me than be treated like shit. I do matter, despite what these people’s actions may say.

Anyway. My back is still hurting. Every once in a while — like when I stand up — I’ll get a nasty little spasm, and for the most part it just aches in general. It’s all in the lower back, which was what I hurt when I fell last winter. (I sound like an old person. Oh my goodness.) I’ve noticed that since then it will hurt occasionally for a few days, no matter how much rest I give it or how many times I pop Aleve. I’ve accepted that it’s probably something I’m going to have to deal with for the rest of my life, but I don’t like it. Speaking of pain, I am still getting pain in my arms — still mainly in my left arm. As I type this my fingers are not very happy. ): I’ve accepted that this too is something I am going to have to deal with, unless I can magically find a good doctor who can actually figure out what’s wrong.

I didn’t mean to make this a complaint post, but that’s exactly what it’s turned out to be. Sigh. Here are some good things that have been happening: Continue reading