Lines from Linda

Crossing the Finish Line

Whew! It's November 30, and I managed to post each and every day this month during the National Blog Posting Month challenge. Unfortunately, I didn't do as well at NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month).

I changed gears mid-month and decided I wanted to self-syndicate my humor column, Overweight & Underorganized, before the end of the year, so I spent most of my time over the past few weeks polishing columns, designing the Web Site, writing a query letter, designing a logo, letterhead, and developing a database of editors I want to submit to. That's another "whew!" as I'm nearly finished with the prep work. Hopefully the first 100 submission packets will go in the mail Monday.

I've enjoyed this month of blog posts. On the days nothing major was happening in my life, I researched the date to see what sort of happenings had occurred and wrote about them. A ran across a lot of interesting information and picked one thing to post about each day. Of course, during the final days of the month, the Arkansas Razorbacks blessed me with tons of blog material. The head coach resigned, the basketball team emerged as a force to be reckoned with, and rumor has it that a new football coach has been agreed upon and that fans are to expect an announcement over the weekend. Sorry, Auburn!

The Legend of William Tell

According to legend, on this day in the year 1307, Austria sought to dominate parts of Switzerland and appointed Hermann Gessler to rule the area where William Tell, a mountain man and expert crossbowman, lived. Gessler hung his hat on a pole in the town square and demanded that everyone who passed bow to the hat. Tell refused and was arrested. Gessler was furious. He commanded Tell to either be executed along with his young son or shoot an apple placed on the boy's head. If Tell was successful, Gessler promised to release both Tell and his son.

Tell's shot was successful, but Gessler asked him why he had a second bolt ready. Tell replied, "Know this: if I had missed the apple and killed my son with the first bolt, I would not have missed your heart with the second." Gessler had William Tell captured, but he later escaped and killed Gessler.

The actions of Gessler sparked a rebellion and led to the formation of the Swiss Confederation.

Good Morning, Americans! It’s FRIDAY!

I was needing a Friday this week! Actually, I have a busy weekend planned as I'm heading out to Nashville right after work to see my daughter. It's "Family Weekend" at her school. It seems as though I have a lot of plans squished into the month of November--two out-of-town trips, a ladies retreat for our church, Thanksgiving, a couple of family birthdays, a one-day seminar, and I'm sure there were some other things that haven't filtered through my brain yet. That should help make the NaNoWriMo/NaBloPoMo challenges more interesting!

Last weekend Hubby & I enjoyed traipsing through the Missouri Ozarks. The autumn colors were just starting to peek through the greenery. Some areas had more color than others. We hiked around and visited several old mills and many of the springs that southern Missouri is famous for. This beautiful area is Alley Mill and Spring, located near Eminence, Mo. Eminence is a quaint little Ozark town filled with friendly people and great food. We enjoyed spending time viewing nature and God's glorious creation.

What Have I Done?

Welcome to November, the month where writers around the world are asking themselves the same question that pounded against my skull as I poured my first cup of coffee this morning, "What Have I Done?" Since November is somewhat synonymous with indulging ourselves--binging on bags of half-priced Halloween candy, stuffing our bellies alongside an overstuffed turkey, football overload, shop-til-you-drop sale storming, etc.--writers have taken the concept a step further, just in case we don't have enough pre-holiday stress in our lives. Writers participate in NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month). Not all writers, but plenty.

The purpose of NaNoWriMo (other than padding your WIP's word count by 50,000) is to write past your inner editor. Those who have completed the challenge claim that somewhere around the middle of week two, the magic happens. I've never made it to the middle of week two, so I can't back up that fact, but this year, I've plotted & planned out what I think will be a great story, and I have vowed to do my best to finish what I've started.

And just to pour salt in our why-am-I-doing-this wound, some clever person invented NaBloPoMo (National Blog Posting Month), where bloggers commit to posting daily for the entire month of November. It was designed to be an easier-to-accomplish alternative to NaNoWriMo for the consistency challenged, but guess what--many masochistic writers have signed up for BOTH challenges. Including me.

I've gotta run now. Insanity calls.

National Blog Posting Month

For those who may not wish to embark upon the NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) journey, where one sets out to write a novel during the month of November, someone has come up with an alternative challenge: National Blog Posting Month.

The blog posting rules are simple--post something on your blog every day, no cheating by using the time/date stamp in case you missed a day. To be eligible for the various prizes and drawings, register at the official site and follow the instructions for submitting your blog. If you've been a blog slacker like I have lately, it might be a good thing to get into the routine of posting regularly.

And for the really insane, I suppose you could commit to both programs! I'm considering it. I mean, for the blog post, I could simply write, "I did not meet my NaNo word count goal today" for 30 days straight!

Actually, I plan to take NaNoWriMo seriously this year. I have a novel plotted and ready to roll, just waiting for November 1.

How about you? Which challenge do you plan to attempt? Both? If nothing else, it can make us more aware of being consistent and work on that word that gives me more goosebumps than a Brandilyn Collins novel: discipline.

Are You Ready?

*humming theme song from Jaws* It's coming! Are you ready? Show of hands...er, comments--how many of y'all are planning to participate in NaNoWriMo 2007?

In case you aren't familiar with the term "NaNoWriMo," no, I'm not having a flashback about Mork and Mindy. NaNoWriMo is the nickname for National Novel Writing Month, an annual challenge began by Chris Baty for writers to complete 50,000 words of their novels during the month of November. So, sharpen your pencils and dust off your keyboards. It's almost time!