NaNoWriMo - done on time!

Here's my last posting in the "30 minute word wars" for NaNoWriMo.

My main character got caught up in an interesting conversation, and then a dream sequence followed, which carried through most of the last 5,000 words, written today, the last day of Nano.

It feels pretty good - I was able to finish on time even though I spent 10 days at least in the middle of hte month obsessing about my apartment hunt.

I'd like to thank:

* Dave, for being very understanding and supportive, and cooking endless meals for me.

* The word wars on the Nano site, which provided structure for the task of writing thousands of crazy words so quickly.

* Annie Lennox and her new album, "Songs of Mass Destruction"

* Pat Murphy, Madeleine Robins, and Ellen Klages, for providing inspiration, and the impetus to actually finish, because we are seeing a play on Dec 1 and I told them all I'd be done before that time!

Unwrapping the Gifted: blog for teachers of gifted kids

Here's another site I'm looking at instead of actually writing.

This woman who started this site is in Montana.

NAGC (Gifted Child) conf in MN - Keillor keynote speaker

This is an interesting karmic thing maybe (or maybe there are conventions for teachers/parents of gifted children all the time).

This is one of the topics of my Nano, and I just googled around looking for some info on what a good "gifted and talented" teacher is supposed to be like, since I didn't think I had one.

It turns out that their convention was just a few days ago in Minneapolis, and Garrison Keillor spoke.

Also, we just saw Beowulf last night, which should probably be a separate topic.

LiveJournal

It appears that LiveJournal is the place for writers, more than facebook or myspace. Or even blogger.

I have linked two LiveJournals already to my links area - it looks like there are even more due to the links that they have linked to in their blogs.

Wild Girls Writing tips

These are from the back of "Wild Girls" - quotes from Pat's fictional writing teacher, Verla Volante:

A good writer tells the truth by telling lies.

When you're talking to a character, you find out what they think and feel. But what a character feels isn't always true.

Pay attention. Notice things and think about what you notice.

Sometimes you're writing about one thing and you realize that you're really writing about something else.

You can work on a story while you're doing anything that doesn't engage your whole attention.

Anything that doesn't kill you makes you stronger. And later on you can use it in some story.