I stopped writing a bit early tonight. I don't have to be in bed for nearly an hour, but I need to study some more and get everything together for tomorrow. I have such a long day. I have to get up, get ready (and look nice because I'm getting my picture taking for my security ID for work), leave an hour early, go vote, work all day, go study for an hour, take an exam, then I get to come home. Then I have to shower, eat, and get ready for work Wednesday. Maybe I'll even have time to write for a few minutes.
I got more writing in tonight than I expected to, which was nice. Word wars helped. Still pretty well ahead and I'm trying to keep it that way. I'm stuck on some names though. At the moment I'm just leaving them blank or putting in something stupid that I can easily change later. Niall has made an appearance, but he has a cousin who needs a name. Right now he's just "Vampire 2". I also need a good name for a nightclub. If anyone has any suggestions please let me know!
I'm hoping to have time to write tomorrow. I'd really like to break the 10k mark and get into the massive fight scene that's starting within a few pages. But for now I'm off to study...or to download Rough Draft and see if I can learn to work it.
Needed word count: 5,001
Current word count: 9,019
Words left to 50k: 40,981
Monday, November 3, 2008
Sunday, November 2, 2008
Day 2
I still haven't picked between the three names I have for one of my vampires. But he hasn't actually been mentioned in the novel yet, so I suppose that's alright. I'm going to get to him in the next chapter or two though so I need to decide soon. I did manage to come up with names for three of my other characters with very little hassle though, which was surprising but I will definitely not complain.
As far as the story goes, I'm pretty much through with the initial setup and should be getting into the fun stuff in the next day or two. I can't wait, though there are going to be a number of fights and I am not at all confident in my ability to choreograph fights and make them realistic. The first turned out really well though. I'll just wing it and see how it goes. I can always spend time editing them later on.
I'm really happy with the progress I've made and the story so far. I can definitely see myself writing this one through to the end and then going back to fix it up. I adore this plot. Here's hoping I don't botch it too badly!
If anyone knows any good programs for novel writing, please let me know. Microsoft Word sucks, big time. I've heard of Rough Draft and yWriter, so I'm thinking of checking one or both of those out. Please comment if you have any suggestions!
Needed word count: 3,334
Current word count: 7,077
Words left to 50k: 42,923
As far as the story goes, I'm pretty much through with the initial setup and should be getting into the fun stuff in the next day or two. I can't wait, though there are going to be a number of fights and I am not at all confident in my ability to choreograph fights and make them realistic. The first turned out really well though. I'll just wing it and see how it goes. I can always spend time editing them later on.
I'm really happy with the progress I've made and the story so far. I can definitely see myself writing this one through to the end and then going back to fix it up. I adore this plot. Here's hoping I don't botch it too badly!
If anyone knows any good programs for novel writing, please let me know. Microsoft Word sucks, big time. I've heard of Rough Draft and yWriter, so I'm thinking of checking one or both of those out. Please comment if you have any suggestions!
Needed word count: 3,334
Current word count: 7,077
Words left to 50k: 42,923
Saturday, November 1, 2008
Day 1
Ok it's 11:50pm, so day one of Nano is pretty much finished. I'd wanted to get about 10k written this first weekend, as I know I'm going to fall behind during the week and wanted to get off to a good start. I didn't hit 5k today, but at least I'm ahead a little bit.
I did get some notes down regarding plot and whatnot, which aren't part of the word count since they're not part of the novel. But it helped to get the general plot organized in my head, and I added in a few more major events that need to happen.
I have a list of details that need to be figured out in the next few days, dealing with some of the characters. And I'm working on names for everyone. Which is always the hardest thing for me to do. I've got two of the main characters though, and I've narrowed it down to three choices for another character. Hopefully I can figure out a few of the others, or if not they'll just end up being numbered for now, like I did last year. I'm supposed to write 1,667 words a day, I can't spend two weeks messing around with names.
Enough of a first update. I probably won't even write this much every day, but I will at least post the word count I'm supposed to be at, as well as my actual word count. See you tomorrow!
Needed word count: 1,667
Current word count: 3,124
Words left to 50k: 46,876
I did get some notes down regarding plot and whatnot, which aren't part of the word count since they're not part of the novel. But it helped to get the general plot organized in my head, and I added in a few more major events that need to happen.
I have a list of details that need to be figured out in the next few days, dealing with some of the characters. And I'm working on names for everyone. Which is always the hardest thing for me to do. I've got two of the main characters though, and I've narrowed it down to three choices for another character. Hopefully I can figure out a few of the others, or if not they'll just end up being numbered for now, like I did last year. I'm supposed to write 1,667 words a day, I can't spend two weeks messing around with names.
Enough of a first update. I probably won't even write this much every day, but I will at least post the word count I'm supposed to be at, as well as my actual word count. See you tomorrow!
Needed word count: 1,667
Current word count: 3,124
Words left to 50k: 46,876
Friday, October 31, 2008
Wheeee!
I was at the bar for a bit tonight. I'm still sick, but wanted to get out as I haven't been out in a couple of weeks. Plus it's Halloween. So Danielle and I go to Tom's as usual. It was a lot of fun seeing everyone's costumes, plus we saw a butcher, a cow, a cowboy, and a pregnant farmwife do the entire Thriller dance. Twice. XD
Anyway, I was lamenting my lack of a plot for Nano. Danielle and I were tossing some stupid ideas back and forth and not coming up with much of anything. Then out of the blue I had it. Seriously, my entire plot just hit me like a freight train. I've got the main few characters, the entire story, everything in my head. I stopped in the middle of what I was saying, grinned like an idiot, and was like, "I got it." Then I told Danielle my basic idea and she just said, "Holy shit. This is why you're the writer. I wish I knew where you came up with this stuff." She loved it.
So now I'm jotting down all of the ideas I had so I don't lose any of them, and waiting for Nano to start in just over 20 minutes. I honestly don't remember being so excited to write something, and I've never had such an intricate story just pop into my head in its entirety. As long as I manage to implement it correctly, it will be GOOD.
Not even sure if this all makes sense, but I'm really pumped as I've been struggling with plot ideas for a few weeks now. I just wanted to share. Fifteen minutes to go!
Anyway, I was lamenting my lack of a plot for Nano. Danielle and I were tossing some stupid ideas back and forth and not coming up with much of anything. Then out of the blue I had it. Seriously, my entire plot just hit me like a freight train. I've got the main few characters, the entire story, everything in my head. I stopped in the middle of what I was saying, grinned like an idiot, and was like, "I got it." Then I told Danielle my basic idea and she just said, "Holy shit. This is why you're the writer. I wish I knew where you came up with this stuff." She loved it.
So now I'm jotting down all of the ideas I had so I don't lose any of them, and waiting for Nano to start in just over 20 minutes. I honestly don't remember being so excited to write something, and I've never had such an intricate story just pop into my head in its entirety. As long as I manage to implement it correctly, it will be GOOD.
Not even sure if this all makes sense, but I'm really pumped as I've been struggling with plot ideas for a few weeks now. I just wanted to share. Fifteen minutes to go!
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Goals Update 16
Ooops. I realized that I've been meaning to redo this list and do another update for a while, but I hadn't realized the last update was from the beginning of September. Guess I should actually try and get it done now. >_>
I took a couple of things off the list last time, and there are a few I think I'm going to add in. So here goes...first for the goals from the original list. I haven't made nearly as much progress on these as I'd have liked to the past month and a half. Work has been nuts and I haven't been doing much of anything once I get home. As I get used to the new job I'm going to make the effort to not slack all night once I get home (just most of it).
1. Nano novel. A little bit of work on this, but not nearly as much as I'd like. I probably won't get to writing any of it again until December, but I may try and do some editing over the next month.
2. Write every day. Ha. Hardly. I wrote to Jade a bunch of times but that's about all I've managed lately. I'm definitely doing this all week though, need to brainstorm for Nano ideas. Once November hits I'll obviously be keeping this goal.
3. Let other people read my writing. I haven't written anything for anyone to read. >_>
4. Learn Japanese. I've kept up with what I already learned but that's about it. I suppose it's better than dropping it completely and forgetting everything? I'd like to get back to it but realistically I don't think it will happen before Christmas break. I'm going to make sure I keep reviewing what I know though.
5. Physical therapy. Taking this goal off the list. I'm not able to bend my finger completely but I think I'm as close as I'm going to get. I use my hand normally for most things, and I'll still pick up the stress ball out of habit, so maybe it will eventually get back to normal. But either way, I'm done keeping track of it here.
6. Start buying less stuff, and finish what I have lying around the house. Good for the most part here. I've bought a few things, but I've also been getting through quite a lot. I'm going to try and cut my buying even more though, for the next few months. Christmas and bills to take care of.
7. Organize my stuff and get rid of unnecessary clutter. I don't remember what I said I was going to do in the last update, but I know I never did it. >_> I'm mostly done with this though. I have a box of books to put away, and have to reorganize my games. And I have to get my winter clothes out and go through them to see if there's anything I don't want. I'm going to do all of that for next time then this goal will be off the list too.
8. Get through borrowed stuff. Finished the Indigo books of Corey's, and decided I really wasn't into the other series he sent, so I'm just going to return it. That gets rid of 12 books right there. >_> Also finished a good bit of Christian's stuff, and I only have one library book out. I'll probably keep working my way through the two series I've been getting from the library, but other than that I'm not taking anything out. Now I just have to get through all of Doug's books...
And now for the new goals, or ones that used to be here but are getting put back on the list.
9. Nano 2008. I want to participate again this year, even though I think I'm insane for trying. And I want to win. I'd really like to hit 75k words instead of 50k but I don't see that being realistic so for now the goal is just to win. I'm contemplating doing daily updates through Nano on here for some feedback but we'll see how that goes.
Actually...I'm not going to add any more. It's nearly the end of the year, and these goals were originally things to try and do over the year. I'll just stick with what I have for now, and see where I am in two months. Then I'll start with an entirely fresh list on January 1st.
That's enough for now, I'll probably have a work update soon enough or else I'll write after my first day of Nano. If I come up with a plot for my novel.
I took a couple of things off the list last time, and there are a few I think I'm going to add in. So here goes...first for the goals from the original list. I haven't made nearly as much progress on these as I'd have liked to the past month and a half. Work has been nuts and I haven't been doing much of anything once I get home. As I get used to the new job I'm going to make the effort to not slack all night once I get home (just most of it).
1. Nano novel. A little bit of work on this, but not nearly as much as I'd like. I probably won't get to writing any of it again until December, but I may try and do some editing over the next month.
2. Write every day. Ha. Hardly. I wrote to Jade a bunch of times but that's about all I've managed lately. I'm definitely doing this all week though, need to brainstorm for Nano ideas. Once November hits I'll obviously be keeping this goal.
3. Let other people read my writing. I haven't written anything for anyone to read. >_>
4. Learn Japanese. I've kept up with what I already learned but that's about it. I suppose it's better than dropping it completely and forgetting everything? I'd like to get back to it but realistically I don't think it will happen before Christmas break. I'm going to make sure I keep reviewing what I know though.
5. Physical therapy. Taking this goal off the list. I'm not able to bend my finger completely but I think I'm as close as I'm going to get. I use my hand normally for most things, and I'll still pick up the stress ball out of habit, so maybe it will eventually get back to normal. But either way, I'm done keeping track of it here.
6. Start buying less stuff, and finish what I have lying around the house. Good for the most part here. I've bought a few things, but I've also been getting through quite a lot. I'm going to try and cut my buying even more though, for the next few months. Christmas and bills to take care of.
7. Organize my stuff and get rid of unnecessary clutter. I don't remember what I said I was going to do in the last update, but I know I never did it. >_> I'm mostly done with this though. I have a box of books to put away, and have to reorganize my games. And I have to get my winter clothes out and go through them to see if there's anything I don't want. I'm going to do all of that for next time then this goal will be off the list too.
8. Get through borrowed stuff. Finished the Indigo books of Corey's, and decided I really wasn't into the other series he sent, so I'm just going to return it. That gets rid of 12 books right there. >_> Also finished a good bit of Christian's stuff, and I only have one library book out. I'll probably keep working my way through the two series I've been getting from the library, but other than that I'm not taking anything out. Now I just have to get through all of Doug's books...
And now for the new goals, or ones that used to be here but are getting put back on the list.
9. Nano 2008. I want to participate again this year, even though I think I'm insane for trying. And I want to win. I'd really like to hit 75k words instead of 50k but I don't see that being realistic so for now the goal is just to win. I'm contemplating doing daily updates through Nano on here for some feedback but we'll see how that goes.
Actually...I'm not going to add any more. It's nearly the end of the year, and these goals were originally things to try and do over the year. I'll just stick with what I have for now, and see where I am in two months. Then I'll start with an entirely fresh list on January 1st.
That's enough for now, I'll probably have a work update soon enough or else I'll write after my first day of Nano. If I come up with a plot for my novel.
Saturday, October 25, 2008
Oh my....
And so ends my first week in my new job. Today I spent the majority of the day changing prices, because merchandising decided they wanted to use a different kind of spreadsheet? We have a price spreadsheet for each of the 300 or so vendors we have, and each of them needs to be redone every time any prices change. And suddenly merchandising decided the format used for the past 4 years isn't good enough anymore.
Yeah I don't get it, all I know is that means all of the old spreadsheets Jen spent countless overtime hours doing are worthless. Nice of them, huh? I'm going to redo about half of them for her before she goes absolutely batshit insane. I'm surprised she hasn't already, actually. I did one brand of shoes today and between all of the styles, colors, and sizes, had to change over 3200 prices. Must remember to start taking a pair of glasses to work so when I have to stare at Excel for 5 hours I won't get such a headache from my contacts.
Luckily, that one I did today was one of the worst. I have one more shoe spreadsheet and then the rest will be quick ones for some of the other stores. No more than 20-30 items on any of those so they will go quickly. This is good, as I'm starting to actually place orders next week and won't have the time to fuck with Excel so much. Cori also decided how she's going to split everything between me and Jen. She's giving me the flag, tea, and safety stores, and then Jen will have the other four. Mine are by far the biggest three stores, and the ordering for them involves some crazy Excel formulas. But Cori says I'm better with Excel so she wants me to handle them.
Jen and I will both be trained in all of the stores, so that if someone is out sick or on vacation we can cover for them, but for the most part we'll just be handling everything associated with our respective stores. Jen will do the returns for all stores on her own. There are a couple of other little things that Jen will do as well, so the work load will be pretty even overall even though I'm responsible for the bigger stores. Or that's what Cori says; I haven't done enough of this to know. She said that once I'm trained to let her know if it's too much and we'll see about redistributing the work a bit.
To say I'm nervous about all of this would be a huge understatement. Whether the workload is supposedly going to be the same or not, the fact remains that a week ago I was doing customer service and suddenly I'm going to be responsible for purchasing for stores that make up over 3/4 of our revenue. Luckily I will be clearing everything Cori for months before being left to my own devices, but it's still a lot to take in.
At any rate, I'm done thinking about it for now. I'm exhausted and need to get some sleep. Goals update will be coming on Sunday if all goes according to plan, and then I'll probably update on work yet again sometime next week. Or I might just post to panic about how I'm never going to learn everything and will get myself fired. We'll see. ^_^
Yeah I don't get it, all I know is that means all of the old spreadsheets Jen spent countless overtime hours doing are worthless. Nice of them, huh? I'm going to redo about half of them for her before she goes absolutely batshit insane. I'm surprised she hasn't already, actually. I did one brand of shoes today and between all of the styles, colors, and sizes, had to change over 3200 prices. Must remember to start taking a pair of glasses to work so when I have to stare at Excel for 5 hours I won't get such a headache from my contacts.
Luckily, that one I did today was one of the worst. I have one more shoe spreadsheet and then the rest will be quick ones for some of the other stores. No more than 20-30 items on any of those so they will go quickly. This is good, as I'm starting to actually place orders next week and won't have the time to fuck with Excel so much. Cori also decided how she's going to split everything between me and Jen. She's giving me the flag, tea, and safety stores, and then Jen will have the other four. Mine are by far the biggest three stores, and the ordering for them involves some crazy Excel formulas. But Cori says I'm better with Excel so she wants me to handle them.
Jen and I will both be trained in all of the stores, so that if someone is out sick or on vacation we can cover for them, but for the most part we'll just be handling everything associated with our respective stores. Jen will do the returns for all stores on her own. There are a couple of other little things that Jen will do as well, so the work load will be pretty even overall even though I'm responsible for the bigger stores. Or that's what Cori says; I haven't done enough of this to know. She said that once I'm trained to let her know if it's too much and we'll see about redistributing the work a bit.
To say I'm nervous about all of this would be a huge understatement. Whether the workload is supposedly going to be the same or not, the fact remains that a week ago I was doing customer service and suddenly I'm going to be responsible for purchasing for stores that make up over 3/4 of our revenue. Luckily I will be clearing everything Cori for months before being left to my own devices, but it's still a lot to take in.
At any rate, I'm done thinking about it for now. I'm exhausted and need to get some sleep. Goals update will be coming on Sunday if all goes according to plan, and then I'll probably update on work yet again sometime next week. Or I might just post to panic about how I'm never going to learn everything and will get myself fired. We'll see. ^_^
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
So far so good
Today was my third day on the new job and it's going well so far. I haven't really trained at all. I spent maybe an hour Monday morning learning how to receive inventory and a few other things, and then they just kind of started handing me stacks of papers. And GOD the emails. I added over 300 folders to my email on Monday morning because I need separate folders for each vendor for 8 stores. I thought that seemed a bit much until I actually started getting the emails. I'm not sure how often Outlook receives emails but I get at least 5 every single time it does. And it's not even the busy season yet.
I'm perfectly comfortable with everything I've learned so far, and Cori said she's impressed because she figured it would take at least a week before I was working entirely on my own (like I have been since Tuesday lol). She's going to start me on one or two other things tomorrow, and then on Monday I'm going to learn about drawing up and placing the orders for some of the stores. She's not sure how she's going to split the stores in the end. But I'll definitely have the safety store, and she seems to be leaning toward giving me the flag store as well. Maybe strollers. The flag store is our biggest and would be more than enough in itself, but I suppose I'll deal. >_>
Another thing I really like now that I've moved is I'm allowed to listen to music. All of the computers in the company come with iTunes installed, but in customer service I never got to take advantage of that since I was always on the phone. I've already ripped about 9 CDs over to my computer and I'm sure I'll have about 600 songs by the end of the week. It's also really nice because I can put on headphones and drown out the wholesale people who are right near me. I like Todd and Sherri but they're really loud sometimes. XD
And speaking of music....
April brought me over a bunch of mix CDs she had so that I could copy them to my computer and have something to listen to besides the one CD I brought in from my car. It's a pretty good and random collection of stuff. I'm sitting there fiddling with inventory and half listening to one of them, and this weird techno like song comes on. I'm still only half paying attention and then all of a sudden the words got my attention. I restarted the song and sat there actually paying attention to it, and absolutely died laughing. I was in hysterics at my desk, in the middle of work. April came over, looked at the track I was on, and just giggled and walked away. The bitch. >_>
Turns out it's some Adam Sandler song, but I've never really listened to anything of his so I'd never heard it before. Here it is so everyone understands what I'm talking about, and why is was so damn funny...
That's about it for tonight. I really will be getting another goal update up this weekend, I hope. I've just been too busy to redo my damn list!
I'm perfectly comfortable with everything I've learned so far, and Cori said she's impressed because she figured it would take at least a week before I was working entirely on my own (like I have been since Tuesday lol). She's going to start me on one or two other things tomorrow, and then on Monday I'm going to learn about drawing up and placing the orders for some of the stores. She's not sure how she's going to split the stores in the end. But I'll definitely have the safety store, and she seems to be leaning toward giving me the flag store as well. Maybe strollers. The flag store is our biggest and would be more than enough in itself, but I suppose I'll deal. >_>
Another thing I really like now that I've moved is I'm allowed to listen to music. All of the computers in the company come with iTunes installed, but in customer service I never got to take advantage of that since I was always on the phone. I've already ripped about 9 CDs over to my computer and I'm sure I'll have about 600 songs by the end of the week. It's also really nice because I can put on headphones and drown out the wholesale people who are right near me. I like Todd and Sherri but they're really loud sometimes. XD
And speaking of music....
April brought me over a bunch of mix CDs she had so that I could copy them to my computer and have something to listen to besides the one CD I brought in from my car. It's a pretty good and random collection of stuff. I'm sitting there fiddling with inventory and half listening to one of them, and this weird techno like song comes on. I'm still only half paying attention and then all of a sudden the words got my attention. I restarted the song and sat there actually paying attention to it, and absolutely died laughing. I was in hysterics at my desk, in the middle of work. April came over, looked at the track I was on, and just giggled and walked away. The bitch. >_>
Turns out it's some Adam Sandler song, but I've never really listened to anything of his so I'd never heard it before. Here it is so everyone understands what I'm talking about, and why is was so damn funny...
That's about it for tonight. I really will be getting another goal update up this weekend, I hope. I've just been too busy to redo my damn list!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
