Miscellaneous (and somewhat random) writing (and other) ragtags.

1. I'm bang on schedule for NaNoWriMo wordcount: month half over, wordcount half achieved. Given that the first two weeks of the month were extraordinarily hectic and exhausting and involved many, many, many hours of travel (and concomitant jetlag), I'm very pleased with myself that I caught up and have maintained caught-up-ness for two days so far. Question: can I now edge ahead and finish the 50,000 before the end of the month? (Problem: last year's opus, while it seemed dreadful at the time, really wasn't all that bad. This year's opus is so extremely crapulous that there can be no mistake: it really does suck. That's demoralizing. Still, at the end of it, I'll have 50,000 words to keep, change, or throw away, which is better than a blank page and a heavy heart.)


2. I gave one of my stories (as yet unpublished) to Margaret to read tonight. She laughed and laughed and laughed, which is good, because I meant the story to be funny. There's not much that's more fun than hearing someone whose opinion you really value laugh like a lunatic at something funny you've written.


3. Doctor Grordbort's Contrapulatronic Dingus Directory is HUGE fun to read, and GORGEOUS to look at. I don't have the energy right now to grab the Amazon link for it; God knows you won't get too many hits if you search on that title, though, so I don't think you'll have much trouble finding it. Sample item description:

   Aether Distortion Receptor
   By golly, by hokey, and by all that is good in this world, they've done it. Yes, the invisible assassins of the future won't be murdering you in your sleep anymore. The Semmelweis Aether Distortion Receptor picks up wave anomalies within the aether field to allow perception of hidden ninjas and interplanetary invaders, the scourge of modern society. To boot, you'll look dapper and probably clever at dinner functions (where ninjas are most likely to attack.) As an added bonus, the Semmelweis will see five milliseconds into the future and hardly causes chafing or brain damage.

   
   The whole thing is like that, and the artwork is just stunning.


4. If you want to make banana bread that's just a little bit above the ordinary, throw a cup of almond meal into the batter. Subtle. But delicious.


5. Margaret and I went up to see the horses today. Miracle! My accident-prone beast is in good health, good shape, and good spirits!


6. I'm rambling. Better get to bed.