As you've probably noticed, Wanderlust Girl has been on hiatus. I've been working on other projects (including a new blog which I hope earns me some money), building websites for a new client, starting to pursue another money-making operation (doing something I really enjoy), and petsitting.
So anyway, I probably won't be writing here again much, if at all, and I've taken down most of the posts here. I've left some of my favorite or fun posts up, so there's still a little of me here. Re-reading the posts when I was in Argentina make me want to travel again (I never stop wanting this...it just becomes dormant when I intentionally ignore the wanderlust for a while (a girl needs property of her own, remember?)).
So if I start travelling again, I'll start writing here again.
Thanks for having read!
Un besito y un abrazo!
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Saturday, February 02, 2008
Recent Life: A Brief Recap
Work: keeping me busy. I negotiated a rate increase with my primary client, and I'm very pleased with that. Am putting the finishing touches on a website I've built and written content for, for a new client. (The website building has been lots of fun.)
Men: went on a date, but it just wasn't a match. It wasn't a Bad Date, so I don't consider it a total loss.
Travel: as always, it seems, I'm currently planning an escape to a warmer climate. I'm seriously considering returning to Mexico, for a little beach vacation, in late March. El sol! La playa! Margaritas!! Last week, I went to Vancouver BC with a couple friends, to see the opera. Had a good time, though the cold that won't quite go away came back while I was in Vancouver.
State of the NaNoWriMo manuscript: uhhhh. I've made a few edits, but haven't really touched it in any significant way. I always think about it when I get busy with work...and then ignored it when I wasn't busy with work...
Dancing with the Stars: well, haven't been dancing with celebrities, but I've had some great times in the two dance classes I've been taking recently. For a while, my tango skills were just a memory (distant memory) in my mind, and then last week it just started feeling natural and I felt like I actually knew what I was doing in the intermediate class. Salsa is still fun, though my partner is down in sunny, hot Uruguay and Buenos Aires (!), so I haven't been practicing and going to dances as often.
Men: went on a date, but it just wasn't a match. It wasn't a Bad Date, so I don't consider it a total loss.
Travel: as always, it seems, I'm currently planning an escape to a warmer climate. I'm seriously considering returning to Mexico, for a little beach vacation, in late March. El sol! La playa! Margaritas!! Last week, I went to Vancouver BC with a couple friends, to see the opera. Had a good time, though the cold that won't quite go away came back while I was in Vancouver.
State of the NaNoWriMo manuscript: uhhhh. I've made a few edits, but haven't really touched it in any significant way. I always think about it when I get busy with work...and then ignored it when I wasn't busy with work...
Dancing with the Stars: well, haven't been dancing with celebrities, but I've had some great times in the two dance classes I've been taking recently. For a while, my tango skills were just a memory (distant memory) in my mind, and then last week it just started feeling natural and I felt like I actually knew what I was doing in the intermediate class. Salsa is still fun, though my partner is down in sunny, hot Uruguay and Buenos Aires (!), so I haven't been practicing and going to dances as often.
Thursday, November 29, 2007
A novelist and a WINNER!
I have just passed 50,000 words for NaNo. I now have a little purple bar above my name on the site, with WINNER! written in all caps.
28 days (+plus about 15 minutes)=50,000 words.
And now I just have to start editing, rewriting, filling in the blanks....
Yet the important thing is this: I sat down, stretched my fingertips, and strung 50,000 words together to create some semblance of a first draft of a novel.
Did I mention I'm a WINNER! ??
28 days (+plus about 15 minutes)=50,000 words.
And now I just have to start editing, rewriting, filling in the blanks....
Yet the important thing is this: I sat down, stretched my fingertips, and strung 50,000 words together to create some semblance of a first draft of a novel.
Did I mention I'm a WINNER! ??
Saturday, November 24, 2007
Inspiration returns as the end draws nearer
OK. So it was like this: I was at a lull in my writing, and highly discontent with what I'd written for the last couple pages. Being that this is a NaNo novel, editing is not allowed [in November]. One of my roommates gave me a suggestion for how to get out of the lull, but it didn't quite take. Instead, I decided to start a war. It was very exciting! In hindsight, that could be the major sub-plot of the story, and I could move it up earlier in the book, when I start editing. I'm not sure.
I'm also battling with incorporating the idea of my short story Edith into the novel, now. Edith is a 250 word story, and perhaps my favorite from when I was in college. My main character is also named Edith, for this novel. From what I've written today, and just what today's mood is, I'm thinking she will turn out something similar to the microfiction Edith.
Then again, perhaps my mind is still foggy from this nasty sore throat and cold I woke up with yesterday.
Then again, I already want to change several bits of the novel, so who knows what will make it in to the second draft, and onwards.
Statistically, there are six days left, and I have about 10,500 words left to write. I want to actually have an 'ending' by the time I reach 50k words, though I suspect the story will end up being longer than that.
I also suspect A Lot of what I've written will end up being abandoned, but hey:
It's just the first draft!
I'm also battling with incorporating the idea of my short story Edith into the novel, now. Edith is a 250 word story, and perhaps my favorite from when I was in college. My main character is also named Edith, for this novel. From what I've written today, and just what today's mood is, I'm thinking she will turn out something similar to the microfiction Edith.
Then again, perhaps my mind is still foggy from this nasty sore throat and cold I woke up with yesterday.
Then again, I already want to change several bits of the novel, so who knows what will make it in to the second draft, and onwards.
Statistically, there are six days left, and I have about 10,500 words left to write. I want to actually have an 'ending' by the time I reach 50k words, though I suspect the story will end up being longer than that.
I also suspect A Lot of what I've written will end up being abandoned, but hey:
It's just the first draft!
Friday, November 16, 2007
Interview with an Author, pt 1
Interviewer: So Shana, I hear you're writing a novel this month.
Shana: That is correct. I'm doing it as part of NaNoWriMo.
I: Is it hard?
S: Surprisingly, not so much. I generally just sit down and start writing and that's it for the day. There are lulls, or points where I'm not exactly happy with how it's going. Though, one of the NaNo points is to write -- even when you know it's bad.
I: Gotcha. I hear this novel is based on the year you "retired."
S: That is correct. Though, I'm lying about a lot of things, so only someone who knows me really, really well could spot the variance between what really happened, and what I'm fictionalizing. I'm having a spectacular time making people that peeved me into nasty characters, and then, well...I can't tell you what happens to them.
I: You tease!
S: Well, I won't be rich if I tell the story here! [smiles coyly]
I: Very true, very true. What kind of music do you listen to while writing?
S: It varies. Sometimes it's just NPR. Recently, I've been listening to Moby's Hotel (Disc 2), and the Hotel Costes series, and my own personal Downtempo mix (649 songs). At one point, I will listen to a lot of Keane. Honestly, I've not found one disc, or group of discs, that has dominated my writing playlist.
I: Are you writing from an outline? Notes?
S: Um, no. I'd forgotten that NaNo was near, when a friend reminded me about it. Three days was certainly not enough time to create any kind of an outline. I just sit down and write. Though, I am basing it on a personal experience with a very specific timeline, so that does help. Usually.
I: Only usually?
S: Well, the problem with lying is this: when you start lying A Lot, events change, characters change, etc. Then, I have to get my character from one point to the next in an entirely different way.
I: Do you ever worry that your novel will sound too much like a memoir?
S: I do, in fact. It can be hard to balance writing exposition, against having it sound like just some windbag telling you a story about what they did in suchandsuch a place. It's something I'm very aware of and will be revisiting during the editing process.
I: Are you nervous for friends of yours to read the novel?
S: As it is now, a bit. As it will be when I've finished NaNo and had some time to edit it, not so much. Characters who are friends of the main character in the novel are composite characters. So, some people may recognize bits of themselves, but there is no character (ok, maybe there is one) who isn't really fictionalized.
I: Hm, well hopefully you won't include any pesky interviewers!
S: Ah, no. There are no fictional media tours planned.
I: Finally, how far along are you?
S: A little more than halfway -- just over 25,000 words.
I: Very nice. Good luck to you!
S: Thank you.
Shana: That is correct. I'm doing it as part of NaNoWriMo.
I: Is it hard?
S: Surprisingly, not so much. I generally just sit down and start writing and that's it for the day. There are lulls, or points where I'm not exactly happy with how it's going. Though, one of the NaNo points is to write -- even when you know it's bad.
I: Gotcha. I hear this novel is based on the year you "retired."
S: That is correct. Though, I'm lying about a lot of things, so only someone who knows me really, really well could spot the variance between what really happened, and what I'm fictionalizing. I'm having a spectacular time making people that peeved me into nasty characters, and then, well...I can't tell you what happens to them.
I: You tease!
S: Well, I won't be rich if I tell the story here! [smiles coyly]
I: Very true, very true. What kind of music do you listen to while writing?
S: It varies. Sometimes it's just NPR. Recently, I've been listening to Moby's Hotel (Disc 2), and the Hotel Costes series, and my own personal Downtempo mix (649 songs). At one point, I will listen to a lot of Keane. Honestly, I've not found one disc, or group of discs, that has dominated my writing playlist.
I: Are you writing from an outline? Notes?
S: Um, no. I'd forgotten that NaNo was near, when a friend reminded me about it. Three days was certainly not enough time to create any kind of an outline. I just sit down and write. Though, I am basing it on a personal experience with a very specific timeline, so that does help. Usually.
I: Only usually?
S: Well, the problem with lying is this: when you start lying A Lot, events change, characters change, etc. Then, I have to get my character from one point to the next in an entirely different way.
I: Do you ever worry that your novel will sound too much like a memoir?
S: I do, in fact. It can be hard to balance writing exposition, against having it sound like just some windbag telling you a story about what they did in suchandsuch a place. It's something I'm very aware of and will be revisiting during the editing process.
I: Are you nervous for friends of yours to read the novel?
S: As it is now, a bit. As it will be when I've finished NaNo and had some time to edit it, not so much. Characters who are friends of the main character in the novel are composite characters. So, some people may recognize bits of themselves, but there is no character (ok, maybe there is one) who isn't really fictionalized.
I: Hm, well hopefully you won't include any pesky interviewers!
S: Ah, no. There are no fictional media tours planned.
I: Finally, how far along are you?
S: A little more than halfway -- just over 25,000 words.
I: Very nice. Good luck to you!
S: Thank you.
Friday, November 09, 2007
Novel Update 1
So, I have a bit more than 10k words. By the end of today, I should have 15,003 to be meeting the daily 'quota' (which isn't what you have to follow, but helps you keep on track for where you need to be at the end of the month).
It's going well. It's surprising how easy the words just fill up the page. Yes, I'm basing this (at least initially) on the year I took off and travelled, but still. It's not unknown that I can knock out 800 words in 30 minutes, or (more often) 1000 or so in about an hour. In reality, I've only been spending 1-2 hours writing each day, yet I spend a lot of time thinking about the novel.
I've started to lie (in relation to whether or not these things actually happened to me or someone I met on the YOL trip), and it's been great fun. I'm able to say things I didn't, change events around, or just create things that just sound like fun to write.
My MSN Messenger has a running tally of my word count, and someone (who had no idea that I'm doing NaNoWriMo) finally asked me what that number was. Of course, he loved my blog, and asked when he could read the novel. Ummm. It'll be a first draft... I've already realized that much of the first 5k words needs to be edited down and/or changed and/or just plain deleted. We'll see.
But in terms of numbers alone, I'm a little over 20% of the way towards the final goal of 50k words! Yippee!
I never thought writing a (first draft of) novel, even based on my own personal experiences, could be so easy. I guess it's just a matter of sitting down and actually starting something. I'm not even working from a formal outline, and I've (temporarily, at any rate) stopped looking at my blog/journal transcript for a guide of where my main character is going and what she's doing.
Which makes me wonder: how many other novels are lurking about in my head??
(hint: I already have an idea for next year's NaNoWriMo, and I'll start drafting an outline for that once this one is done -- which will make this process even easier!)
It's going well. It's surprising how easy the words just fill up the page. Yes, I'm basing this (at least initially) on the year I took off and travelled, but still. It's not unknown that I can knock out 800 words in 30 minutes, or (more often) 1000 or so in about an hour. In reality, I've only been spending 1-2 hours writing each day, yet I spend a lot of time thinking about the novel.
I've started to lie (in relation to whether or not these things actually happened to me or someone I met on the YOL trip), and it's been great fun. I'm able to say things I didn't, change events around, or just create things that just sound like fun to write.
My MSN Messenger has a running tally of my word count, and someone (who had no idea that I'm doing NaNoWriMo) finally asked me what that number was. Of course, he loved my blog, and asked when he could read the novel. Ummm. It'll be a first draft... I've already realized that much of the first 5k words needs to be edited down and/or changed and/or just plain deleted. We'll see.
But in terms of numbers alone, I'm a little over 20% of the way towards the final goal of 50k words! Yippee!
I never thought writing a (first draft of) novel, even based on my own personal experiences, could be so easy. I guess it's just a matter of sitting down and actually starting something. I'm not even working from a formal outline, and I've (temporarily, at any rate) stopped looking at my blog/journal transcript for a guide of where my main character is going and what she's doing.
Which makes me wonder: how many other novels are lurking about in my head??
(hint: I already have an idea for next year's NaNoWriMo, and I'll start drafting an outline for that once this one is done -- which will make this process even easier!)
Thursday, November 01, 2007
NaNoWriMo
As if I haven't been busy enough trying to keep up with my new salsa partner's requests to meet for dancing, the Sudoku I've finally started playing (a late adopter yes, but I'm already looking at possible addiction), I've decided to try NaNoWriMo.
NaNoWriMo is National Novel Writing Month. The goal: 50k words in 30 days. Am I crazy? Perhaps. Am I finally using the document I created of my first blog and personal journal entries and creating the book I always threatened I would? Yes. [note: No, it's not forbidden to use a blog or other outline/notes for this project -- you just can't use a partial (novel) manuscript as a starting point -- BreakupBabe created an early draft of her blog-to-novel during NaNoWriMo.
It all works out to somewhere between 1700-2000 words per day.
Where am I at today? 769. But I only threw some words on the page, just so I could start it. I need to review my blog/journal document, and decide what I want to mine (and lie about).
I once saw a video of an author (John Updike?) who said [sic]:
"Every year, I decide to write my autobiography. Then I start to lie, and then I have my next novel."
NaNoWriMo is National Novel Writing Month. The goal: 50k words in 30 days. Am I crazy? Perhaps. Am I finally using the document I created of my first blog and personal journal entries and creating the book I always threatened I would? Yes. [note: No, it's not forbidden to use a blog or other outline/notes for this project -- you just can't use a partial (novel) manuscript as a starting point -- BreakupBabe created an early draft of her blog-to-novel during NaNoWriMo.
It all works out to somewhere between 1700-2000 words per day.
Where am I at today? 769. But I only threw some words on the page, just so I could start it. I need to review my blog/journal document, and decide what I want to mine (and lie about).
I once saw a video of an author (John Updike?) who said [sic]:
"Every year, I decide to write my autobiography. Then I start to lie, and then I have my next novel."
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