[Sovalis]

Sounds like a very busy day! Glad you made it home safely and got some rest. ❤️ 

[MaeradCase]

Good afternoon! Today's been interesting. My half-shift of work went okay, but ended on a sour note. When I got home, I put off lunch so that I could bike instead. Cid came along since he has his bike now. I redirected us to bike to lunch instead of bike out, bike back, and eat leftovers.  😅 But it was good! We had Korean fried chicken! I'm counting the sweet potato fries as a fun veggie. 😂 

When we got home again, I stretched out my legs, and sat down to do my typing. I got 1900 words through my tablet and keyboard combo so that I could be cozy on the couch. But weirdly, after adding those number to NaNoWriMo... no, I'll get back to that in a minute.

After I was done typing, I didn't have my phone handy so I was trying to decide what to do since Zemi was so cute cuddled up next to me (no pictures because no phone handy). What was in reach? "The Adventure Zone"!! Which I've been putting off because I don't know why. I finally read it all the way through and it made me laugh and cry (as it usually does). The chapter count especially was the funniest bit. The writer in me appreciates it as much as the D&D player. 🤣 (I will give no other spoilers)

After that, I finally betrayed Zemi who was still so cute cuddled beside me. My body ached, so I did my movement warmup to loosen up.  I'm hungry for dinner, whether that's the postponed leftovers, fresh spaghetti, or leftover fried chicken and sweet potato fries.

Oh, yeah, NaNoWriMo! So get this! In my word doc, after copying over yesterday's and today's segments from the tablet through Google Drive, I have 13,759 words, but on NaNoWriMo somehow I have more than that tracked. I need to find where some 600 words are. Were they ones I emailed to myself from my phone on a lunch break on Thursday? I will look through my emails and hopefully find them, otherwise I have a bit of a deficit to overcome tomorrow to update the word count total and be matching it in my word doc. There was a 658 word segment update I put into the NaNo website on the 6th, so maybe I can find it, and it's not in my story file? Wish me luck, I guess! 😅

 

Hope you find something delightful before the day is out!

 

Edit: less than a minute of looking in my emails, and I found the segment I wrote on my lunch break on Thursday to meet quota. I confirmed with Ctrl+F that the segment wasn't in the doc already, and have moved it over resulting in an appropriate word count total of 14,420 words, which is only a smidge over NaNoWriMo's website report because I fixed a few places where I'd missed the space key.

[Rhovaniel]

10 hours ago, MaeradCase said:

The Adventure Zone"!! Which I've been putting off because I don't know why. I finally read it all the way through and it made me laugh and cry (as it usually does). The chapter count especially was the funniest bit. The writer in me appreciates it as much as the D&D player. 🤣 (I will give no other spoilers)

Hmm, I may need to track down this book!

 

Sounds like a great day. Sorry the shift ended a little sour though  

[Everstorm]

Glad you found your missing words!

 

I am also curious about Adventure Zone....

[MaeradCase]

3 hours ago, Rhovaniel said:

Hmm, I may need to track down this book!

 

27 minutes ago, Everstorm said:

I am also curious about Adventure Zone....

You have come to the right place!

 

Spoiler

The Adventure Zone is originally a podcast of the McElroy brothers playing Lost Mines of Phandelver with their dad (youngest son Griffin runs for Clint, Travis, and Justin). I was introduced to them by some cosplayers of the three main characters, and the series was one of the few things I showed Cid that he hadn't already heard of but instantly loved (mostly he'd already heard of a thing I told him about...).

 

Starting in 2018 they've been releasing the story arcs in graphic novel form:

Here There Be Gerblins

Murder on the Rockport Limited

Petals to the Metal

The Crystal Kingdom

The Eleventh Hour

I think there are probably three more to be released, so those will be coming out over the next few years.

 

If there's a nerdy influencer you like, they've probably recommended it: Patrick Rothfuss, Adam Savage, Hank Green, Felicia Day, etc. All the cast of Critical Role seems to like it - Marisha and Matt joined the McElroys for a live reading (as well as Lin Manuel Miranda!!!). 😃

 

They did a great job capturing the characters on page. I can hear the voices from the podcast as I read the lines even though it's been some 5 years since I listened to it. They also have a bajillion podcasts for all sorts of topics and tastes, originally starting with My Brother, My Brother, and Me (fondly called MBMBAM (pronounced muh-b'm-bam)). The McElroys are an excellent group with lots of humor (probably not all suitable for children) and a good family relationship.

 

[MaeradCase]

Good morning, nerds!

 

Yesterday was a day. Cid and I went grocery shopping. He made spaghetti for our lunch when we got home. I got my writing quota in so that I wouldn't have to worry about it in the evening. We went to visit my mom a few hours that afternoon, with an early dinner, a full game of UNO, and a missing duck hunt. (TW: this one's a little sad)

Spoiler

I wanted to say wild goose chase for humor, but the reality is much sadder. The neighbors' dogs have been attacking my parents' ducks, and now she only has one left that was quacking sadly outside the window during our game of UNO. I helped mom make a full perimeter check of where the missing duck could be, but we saw no evidence of the duck or her death.

We collected the one remaining duck and the few reluctant chickens and locked them up in the coop. Mom isn't going to let them out anymore. She'll try to build a chicken run for them, but she's afraid to have the last four birds die grisly deaths. (No, it's not fair, and no the neighbors aren't being responsible about their dogs, and yes I'd like to do something about it, but I don't think any action I'd take in this situation would actually be the right thing to do.)

 

We came home afterward, a little drained. I decided to pick through some graphic novels Cid has on hand to see if I might recommend them for my nieces (I've been told they like graphic novels) - the two I read seemed maybe still a bit too mature for the girls. Cid turned on Creed II. I eventually went to play Terra Nil.

 

I hit all three food goals and my word goal. I didn't do my stretches, but I did walk around a lot. Cid rode his bike while I was in the shower. He biked all around the mall, so he's already a step ahead of me - hopefully he doesn't suffer painful consequences that I'm avoiding by working my way to that level of exertion. 😅

I chose to start this morning off with exercises when I woke up at 6. I then spent an hour and a half writing to get today's quota. I'm nearly 2/5 through on the word goals, and I can't help but be frustrated that in the writing chair I'm writing boring slow stuff, and that what I really want outside that chair is to get to the part I know is really exciting... but I also want to figure out how to show the progression of time, and that means a lot of stuff happening over a long period of time. So, it's very likely I'll find out by the end of this how much time I can fit into this book before I revise it to express that time in fewer scenes and words.

I'd better get ready for work. Even though it's my half-day today, I've also offered to pick up a cake for my coworker's birthday, so I want to be there as soon as possible after they've opened. I'm also being lured away by the thought of breakfast.

 

Hope today has something good in store for you!

Sincerely,

Maerad

[Sovalis]

Poor birbs. 😥❤️‍🩹

 

Good job on the words. 👍

[Gemma]

Ugh, the boring time passing stuff is indeed awful. I admire your discipline in sticking to it! 

[Salinger]

Poor ducks how horrible  im sorry 😢

 

Sending love x

[Silmarilliane]

Sad for the birds (and your mum and you) so hope building a coop will help.

 

Great work on the rest of your goals, and finding those hidden words!

[Rhovaniel]

Ugh, irresponsible pet owners is a real peeve of mine. So many people forget that it is a RESPONSIBILITY to ensure their pets are under control. I'm sorry about the ducks. 

 

Really nice job with the writing though, Maerad. You are smashing it!

[MaeradCase]

On 4/10/2023 at 10:48 AM, Sovalis said:

Poor birbs. 😥❤️‍🩹

 

Good job on the words. 👍

 

On 4/10/2023 at 10:48 AM, Gemma said:

Ugh, the boring time passing stuff is indeed awful. I admire your discipline in sticking to it! 

 

23 hours ago, Salinger said:

Poor ducks how horrible  im sorry 😢

 

Sending love x

 

20 hours ago, Silmarilliane said:

Sad for the birds (and your mum and you) so hope building a coop will help.

 

Great work on the rest of your goals, and finding those hidden words!

 

6 hours ago, Rhovaniel said:

Ugh, irresponsible pet owners is a real peeve of mine. So many people forget that it is a RESPONSIBILITY to ensure their pets are under control. I'm sorry about the ducks. 

 

Really nice job with the writing though, Maerad. You are smashing it!

 

Thanks, guys, both for the sympathy and for cheering me on for writing.

It is awful for the birds that they've been picked off that way. 😤  I don't have any updates or solutions for the problem at the moment.

 

On the other hand, my writing is going pretty well. I found a snippet in my last reading of "Refuse to be Done" that justified writing what I know is the somewhat boring trip details in expectation of later cutting most of the fat and leaving the meat on the bones of the story when it's time to review, revise, and such.

😍 It's encouraging because I do actually believe that about books. Mad respect for the authors who set the precedent of writing all the words and publishing the best ones. 😃

 

I'll be back in a little to give an update on challenge progress. I just wanted to say thanks for the support.

[Sovalis]

Elie Weisel would probably know better than most. You could feel the weight of everything unsaid in “Night”. What a difficult, necessary read. 

 

You’ve got this, Maerad. We are so happy to be cheering you on! ❤️ 

[MaeradCase]

4 hours ago, Sovalis said:

Elie Weisel would probably know better than most. You could feel the weight of everything unsaid in “Night”. What a difficult, necessary read. 

 

You’ve got this, Maerad. We are so happy to be cheering you on! ❤️ 

I haven't read that one yet. The story I've read from the Holocaust was "The Hiding Place" by Corrie ten Boom, though I've also seen several films and have seen a play of Anne Frank's Diary.

 

Good afternoon, everyone. Sunday may have had a sour note, but Monday went pretty splendidly challenge-wise. I finally hit all of my boxes on the chart idea I borrowed from @Sovalis!

I got up, did stretches, did my writing, had fruit with breakfast, had salad with lunch, had nuts for my snack, got home, did weeding (!), and then when I had the choice of Terra Nil, I decided to work on one of the colorful puzzles I bought this weekend while at the store (Cid doesn't like the rainbow puzzles because he feels they have indistinguishable differences between the pieces, but I like them because they're sooo easy to sort into color).

 

The weeding was especially a big deal. Some plants were starting to take over the grassy area, and some more elm trees were trying to sprout. I yanked out a lot of both, and plenty of the grass, too.

I'm leaving the clover and dandelions. I'll try my patience one more week to put out the wildflower seed mix and bury it under a thin layer of potting soil that's been hanging out in my shed for a year thanks to when I had a sprouted onion I wanted to try growing. 

 

As for today, I also got up, stretched (my legs are mad about the gardening with no notice), and wrote. I decided to do a fast paced scene involving crossing a river after dark before flooding can submerge the bridge. The Week Two goals of the "No Plot, No Problem" NaNoWriMo guide say to have 25k words by the end of the week and something big happening. I know what's gonna happen, and just have to get there by the end of the week. I think I can manage that. 😃

 

I have to wrap up so I can wash my dishes before my lunch break is done.

Hope you take time to revel in a big success that you accomplished recently. 😃

[Sovalis]

Woot! Great job with your chart, Maerad! And your yard is looking fantastic. I love all the clover. I want to reseed our lawns with clover here, too. 

[Gemma]

15 hours ago, MaeradCase said:

I haven't read that one yet. The story I've read from the Holocaust was "The Hiding Place" by Corrie ten Boom, though I've also seen several films and have seen a play of Anne Frank's Diary.

 

I'm leaving the clover and dandelions. I'll try my patience one more week to put out the wildflower seed mix

 

I decided to do a fast paced scene involving crossing a river after dark before flooding can submerge the bridge. The Week Two goals of the "No Plot, No Problem" NaNoWriMo guide say to have 25k words by the end of the week and something big happening. I know what's gonna happen, and just have to get there by the end of the week. I think I can manage that. 😃

 

 

I actually saw a ballet performance of "The Hiding Place" a few years ago but I haven't read the book. I should check it out. 

 

Clover, dandelions, and wildflowers - on behalf of the pollinators of the world, THANK YOU!!! (signed, a former beekeeper)

 

Crossing a river in darkness and racing a flood ... ah, now there is an action scene! 

[MaeradCase]

19 hours ago, Sovalis said:

Woot! Great job with your chart, Maerad! And your yard is looking fantastic. I love all the clover. I want to reseed our lawns with clover here, too. 

Thank you! It's been interesting defying the cultural expectation of a fresh green grass lawn by pulling away the grass and leaving clover with the plan to use the cleared space for flowers. ❤

 

6 hours ago, Gemma said:

I actually saw a ballet performance of "The Hiding Place" a few years ago but I haven't read the book. I should check it out. 

I certainly had no idea that existed! How interesting! I remember reading The Hiding Place a year after it was a reading assignment, and finding a lot that was very relatable to my 16-year-old brain. I haven't read it since then, but I made sure to get myself a copy so I have the chance to read it again. ☺

 

6 hours ago, Gemma said:

Clover, dandelions, and wildflowers - on behalf of the pollinators of the world, THANK YOU!!! (signed, a former beekeeper)

I get it from my mom - we love the bright colorful flowers, and all the better if they grow well without careful attendance because neither of us is all that good at taking care of plants. 😂 But I also want to do it for the pollinators! 😃 Cid is concerned about it drawing wasps to our yard, though. 😧

 

6 hours ago, Gemma said:

Crossing a river in darkness and racing a flood ... ah, now there is an action scene! 

Yeah! 😃 

 

Quick update: I spent last night playing Terra Nil waiting for a friend to call. We hadn't spoken in forever, and we had set aside a day to talk. It was fun catching up, and I wasn't up later than usual - 11 pm.

This morning I did stretches (still have angry hamstrings) and writing. I forced my way to quota because tonight is game night/paint night. 

Hope you're having a good day!

[Sovalis]

As for the wasps, maybe hang up one of those fake wasp nests? I have heard they work really well to deter nest building?

 

Good job getting those pesky words in! Hope you have fun at game/paint night tonight!!  

[shaar]

Oooo I hate wasps... >< We always have problems with them around the house in springtime, too.  And YAY POLLINATORS, one of my favorite things is seeing all the bees flopping around my flowers ❤️ 

[MaeradCase]

On 4/12/2023 at 1:02 PM, Sovalis said:

As for the wasps, maybe hang up one of those fake wasp nests? I have heard they work really well to deter nest building?

Maybe. I'll look into it.

 

On 4/12/2023 at 1:02 PM, Sovalis said:

Good job getting those pesky words in! Hope you have fun at game/paint night tonight!!  

Thanks!

 

3 hours ago, shaar said:

Oooo I hate wasps... >< We always have problems with them around the house in springtime, too.  And YAY POLLINATORS, one of my favorite things is seeing all the bees flopping around my flowers ❤️ 

I like the hummingbirds my mom feeds. I don't think I'd get any in the middle of the city, though.

 

Update:

I got into a quarrel with Cid last night, and despite both of us apologizing for our part, neither of us is in a good mood today, and I feel ever on the verge of tears, trying to get through today.

I did do everything yesterday except any special exercising - that's bonus points, though, so no worries there. Likewise thus far for today. 

 

For paint night, I started a new mini, and tapped back into my better paints, rather than the acrylics, painting a tabaxi fighter to look like my tabaxi bard. There's some differences, like it's nowhere near as fluffy, and I painted it off-white instead of pure white, but otherwise he's half-done and I just have the equipment left to carefully detail.

Next week we should be finishing up our Fallout one-shot series with an epic fight (and maybe some bad decisions to use the Garden of Eden device as a weapon despite being dangerously close to an inhabited place).

 

I skipped a little ahead in time for my writing this morning because I'm impatient for the big stuff, and I just want to be further on to that... I might be able to put into words the change of season involved as they get to the elf woods, and elaborate further on the towns, but my hopped up brain is screaming for the portal. 🤷‍♀️ It's got to happen eventually. I'm nearly at the 50% mark of the writing goal, and I don't know how fast this is going to zoom through since I'm trying to pace the journey.

 

I'm gonna wash my dishes and maybe try to collect my emotions before I return to work.

Hope your day is going well, though.

[Sovalis]

6 minutes ago, MaeradCase said:

Update:

I got into a quarrel with Cid last night, and despite both of us apologizing for our part, neither of us is in a good mood today, and I feel ever on the verge of tears, trying to get through today.

Oof, that sucks so much. I am sorry. *Hugs offered* I hope you can get through the rest of the day without tears spilling over. ❤️

 

6 minutes ago, MaeradCase said:

I did do everything yesterday except any special exercising - that's bonus points, though, so no worries there. Likewise thus far for today. 

Good job! 

 

6 minutes ago, MaeradCase said:

For paint night, I started a new mini, and tapped back into my better paints, rather than the acrylics, painting a tabaxi fighter to look like my tabaxi bard. There's some differences, like it's nowhere near as fluffy, and I painted it off-white instead of pure white, but otherwise he's half-done and I just have the equipment left to carefully detail.

Next week we should be finishing up our Fallout one-shot series with an epic fight (and maybe some bad decisions to use the Garden of Eden device as a weapon despite being dangerously close to an inhabited place).

Nicely done with the painting. I’d love to see a picture when it’s all wrapped up! Hope the finale is fun and exciting!

 

6 minutes ago, MaeradCase said:

I skipped a little ahead in time for my writing this morning because I'm impatient for the big stuff, and I just want to be further on to that... I might be able to put into words the change of season involved as they get to the elf woods, and elaborate further on the towns, but my hopped up brain is screaming for the portal. 🤷‍♀️ It's got to happen eventually. I'm nearly at the 50% mark of the writing goal, and I don't know how fast this is going to zoom through since I'm trying to pace the journey.

I feel like I might do the same thing and fast forward a bit to where the action is and worry about bridging later. Wonderful work being near the 50% goal!! That’s fabulous!

 

6 minutes ago, MaeradCase said:

I'm gonna wash my dishes and maybe try to collect my emotions before I return to work.

Hope your day is going well, though.

*More hugs offered* Thinking of you, Maerad. Hang in there. ❤️ 

[MaeradCase]

18 hours ago, Sovalis said:

Oof, that sucks so much. I am sorry. *Hugs offered* I hope you can get through the rest of the day without tears spilling over. ❤️

The day never felt much better, but I did make sure the air was clear between us when I got home, which made me feel a little better at least.

 

18 hours ago, Sovalis said:

Good job! 

 

Nicely done with the painting. I’d love to see a picture when it’s all wrapped up! Hope the finale is fun and exciting!

I'll try to remember next time.

 

18 hours ago, Sovalis said:

I feel like I might do the same thing and fast forward a bit to where the action is and worry about bridging later. Wonderful work being near the 50% goal!! That’s fabulous!

 

*More hugs offered* Thinking of you, Maerad. Hang in there. ❤️ 

I revisited the entrance into the woods this morning because I did have the brain capacity to slow down even if I want the portal to be now. I'm not able to hit word quota this morning because I have to be at work a little early today. Still, I expect to have time to get the missing 700 words in at lunch or, if I'm feeling especially deviant, to write them at my work computer if it's not too busy (it's Friday, and my coworker is out... it's going to be busy). I can't do it tonight because mom got Cid and me tickets to an event. We'll head straight there (with a quick stop for dinner), and I don't expect to have energy for writing afterward. 

 

I got a badge on NaNoWriMo. It's not for 25k (though I'll get that, too, if I write 800 words instead of 700!)

Woot! Even if I feel like I'm having a harder time writing all this slow stuff, I am psyched that I've managed to be consistently sitting down to develop the beginning of my book.

 

Side note: Don't let me stop writing at the end of the month just because I get to 50k words, okay? I need to make sure I give the ending of the book its part in the second draft, too. It'd be weird to copy-paste the second half from the first draft even if I think it was great. I need to compose this draft all the way to the end of the book, and not just to the end of the month.

 

Anyway, I may check in again later. Just wanted to share my badge.

[Snarkyfishguts]

That badge is excellent! 

[MaeradCase]

5 hours ago, Snarkyfishguts said:

That badge is excellent! 

Thank you, Snarky!

 

I got the second badge, too! (Work was just slow enough for me to come up with a cool scene to meet the quota. 😃)

[Everstorm]

Nice work hitting the halfway mark already!  I have so much respect for all the work you have put into this book, especially on the second draft.

 

Seconding yay pollinators!

Spoiler

My husband is emotionally attached to mowing the grass, but he jokes that he will wake up one morning and the whole of our 2 acres will all be gardens 😆