April Fool's Day

It used to be there would be all kinds of jokes and fake news on social media on April 1st. There was always outrage from idiots who didn't realize what day it was. The ones that struck were the peole who got their panties in a twist if someone joked about being pregnant. I understand the rage and frustration at not being able to conceive or losing a baby.

Seriously, I do. Genius Kid was a fucking miracle. However, I didn't get too upset over someone else's idea of a joke. It had nothing to do with me or my life. Those April's Fool pranks actually helped me to let go of my own fury at my situation. Life goes on after all.

But all jokes disappeared in April of 2020 with the rising death toll and the overwhelmed hospitals from COVID-19. Most April's Day jokes remained missing until this year.

Today, a few jokes popped up on my feeds. The moderator of a fan site dedicated to Neil Gaiman's Sandman switched the header to say it was a fan site of Goldie the Gargoyle. Another friend beyond her child-bearing years made the usual pregnancy joke. Mainly, there were an abundance of puns.

After the last four years, most of the humor was actually humorous instead of cruelty-based. In a way, it's reassuring the world hasn't totally devolved into fractious fighting and mean-spirited insults.

Or maybe I'm just doing a better job of weeding out the trolls.

Either way, Camp NaNo started today, and I have a book to finished. Wish me luck!

Coronavirus Pandemic Day 117 - Staying Safe While Learning

Most writing conferences and classes have gone virtual during the current pandemic if they haven't been cancelled outright. If you're having a hard time working on your wip, maybe now's the time to join with some fellow writers or take a class in order to get your mind off the news.

1) Camp NaNoWriMo

July is the second camp of the year from the people who bring you National Novel Writing Month. If you don't know anybody to join up with, my old RWA chapter Northwest Houston is holding a virtual write-in in relations to Camp NaNo. The cost is $10 for non-members, but they are a sweet, encouraging group of people, especially if you're a newbie.

2) RWA Conference

Whereas, most of the individual RWA chapters are pretty awesome and inclusive, the national organization is still trying to get its shit together. It may a good thing this year's conference is on Zoom. I mention it because I got some good advice and information from its panels back in the day, and it's one of the few national writing organizations that allows non-members to attend for a higher fee than members.

3) NINC Conference

The Novelists, Inc., Conference is a popular one among published authors of all genres. As of this writing, it is still scheduled to start September 23, 2020, in St. Pete Beach, Florida. However, the NINC will be issuing a statement next week on whether the conference will continue given the current COVID-19 spike in the state. It may be cancelled or have fewer speakers due to the travel restrictions between the U.S. and Europe.

4) WMG Publishing

With the record spikes of COVID-19 across the south, Dean Wesley Smith and Kristine Kathryn Rusch are offering half-price classes, lectures, and subscriptions for the third time this year. The sale ends tomorrow night, Tuesday, July 7th. I've taken a few over the last couple years and found them valuable. Just a warning: most of them come with homework that makes you exercise your writing muscles!


At the rate things are going, those of us in the U.S. may find ourselves stuck at home for the rest of the year for safety's sake regardless of what our government says.

Hang in there! Write, study, watch Hamilton for the umpteenth time. Do whatever you have to in order to stay sane during this pandemic.

We really are in this together.

Camp NaNo Has Begun!

The nice folks that run NaNoWriMo, aka National Novel Writing Month, has two "camps" during the year. The first one starts today.

Camp NaNo doesn't have any specific rules. The rules are what you make of them. You can write the traditional 50K in a month. You can finish a project you've been dragging your feet on. You can edit your latest project.

In this new world of limited contact, it's a nice way to keep in touch with your writing friends by gathering online.

TGIF!, Part Deux

Another crazy week at Casa Harden is coming to a close.

Poor GK returned from the testing facility not enlisted in the Army. He failed one stupid little balance test. One, that with his height, he'll never pass no matter how much he practices because his center of gravity is too high. GK returned home sorely disappointed.

However, his recruiter, not wanting to lose a valuable asset especially with record low volunteers, has started the paperwork for a waiver. He texted GK yesterday to confirm this. GK then proceeded to boogey through the apartment for the next two hours.

In the meantime, I've been focusing on Camp NaNo to keep from spazing about GK's future and my own upcoming medical tests. It's the first anniversary of my cancer diagnosis, so I'll be scanned and stabbed in an effort to make sure a few cells haven't created a new home somewhere else in my body. Of course, those all start the week Hero Ad Hoc drops.

Tomorrow, I'm making nachos for dinner and we'll watch the Final Four games. And we'll try to have a quiet family weekend at home.

Bring the Hot Dogs and Marshmallows!

April's Camp NaNoWriMo started Monday.

For those who may not know, Camp NaNo is a slightly more sedate version of November's National Writing Month. You join cabins, which have a camper limit, instead of having national regions.  And unlike November, which has the major American holiday of Thanksgiving, April may or may not have big holidays in it, though this year Passover/Easter is the third week of April.

On the other hand, most schools had Spring Break back in March, so those with kids will only have a couple of extra days of screaming rugrats, instead of a whole week plus in-laws.

I joined a cabin with some friends. All of us have books to finish or write, so the impetus and/or camaraderie can help push through whatever may be holding us back.

Writing is a solitary occupation, but sometimes it helps to associate with others in our occupation. As hard as our loved ones try, they don't understand the trials and triumphs of this quirky profession.

The Last Days of Camp NaNoWriMo

I'm still working on Ravaged for Camp NaNoWriMo, but with ten days left and 35K to go, I don't know if I'll hit my 60K word goal for the novel.

Stuff like Camp NaNo is one of the reasons I don't do a lot of group activities with other writers. I'm not saying competition and spurring each other on isn't good. It works for a lot of people.

Unfortunately, my super-competitive AAA+ oldest-child Scorpio personality kicks in in those types of situations. Years ago, the worst result was me destroying friendships.

These days, setting off the "win at all costs" mentality literally leads to adrenal overdrive. For someone whose entire endocrine system is FUBAR'd, it can result in pan at a minimum and death at the maximum. (Wish I was joking about the last part, but I'm not.)

For the most part, I can keep my competitive streak leashed. But if I'm not diligent, I pay for the inattention later.

So I don't know if I'll do Camp NaNo next year, much less NaNo itself in November. I want to. It's actually a terrific program for jump-starting a project that's been on the back-burner due to LIFE.

On the other hand, NaNo would mean I'd get the Bloodlines series done by the end of the year.

Decisions, decisions...

Writer Burn-out

Well, I had a plan for Camp NaNoWriMo for the month, which was to finish the first draft of Ravaged and edit Zombie Goddess. "Had" being the operative word.

By the time I finished "Courting Trouble", dealt with the editing, and drove myself and my poor formatter insane with the typo gremlins from Hell, my brain was officially crispy fried. I literally wrote 100 words per day for three days straight.

On the fourth day, I said "Fuck it!" I edited an Alter Ego short story that had been sitting on my hard drive for some time, created a cute cover for it, formatted it myself, and uploaded it.

That little thing freed up some space in my brain, and I managed 500 words yesterday. Then DH said something about AMC's The Walking Dead marathon.

That's right. I totally blame DH for not getting more words done yesterday.

So if you're reading this on Monday morning, I'm sitting at Panera's with my bacon spinach soufflé and my large mango iced tea and pounding out some words.

Because I've got 40K to go and short time to get there.

(If you are a certain age, admit it. You sang that last line in your head to the theme of Smokey and the Bandit. *grin*)

Fast Note about Time, Editing and Potential Stupidity

Since I received an e-mail from my formatter on July 6th, concerning an issue with the print format being too small for the printing company, I've been focused on writing a new story and adding it to the Justice anthology collection to increase the page count and make the printing company happy.

"Courting Trouble" was finished Monday night, and it turned into a 10K blast of fun. I edited it and sent the new master file for Justice: The Beginning to my formatter around 1:45 a.m. on Tuesday morning.

She sent me the Kindle version by noon, and...

Right off the bat, I realize I didn't send her the updated copyright page. *facepalm*

So right now, I'm proofreading the second Kindle version she sent me.

I tried to do all this while keeping up with Camp NaNoWriMo and Ravaged, but everything to do with Bloodlines has been shoved aside for the time being. I hope to get back to it next week, if not this weekend.

And you know something? Despite all the headaches, I still have the best job EVAH!

When Boo-Boo's Happen

Well, I was clipping along quite nice on Ravaged, my Camp NanoWriMo project when I got an e-mail from my formatter. It seems the physical page count for Justice: The Beginning came in under Create Space's minimum page count.

Whoops!

My formatter listed out a couple of alternatives she could try, but it was my decision on what to do. So I grabbed some Lindor black label truffles, thought about it, and came up with a third possible solution.

What if I added a fourth story to the anthology?

So now, my formatter is patiently waiting for a new master file, and I've put aside Ravaged (currently at 27.5K) for this weekend.

Instead of Justice Anthea or Brother Luc being the central characters, the new story focuses on Shi Hua and how she became Ambassador Quan's bodyguard. It's turning into a lot of fun!

But it also means that it'll be another two to three weeks before the anthology is published. I hate disappointing my readers.