Takoyaki Journals

It's time for my annual Nano quibbling! Wahoo!

So Nano is my favorite time of the year, even though I always feel like I'm about to have a nervous breakdown and spend much of it whining and panicking. On the other hand, I don't have any projects that I'm really _itching_ to do this year. On the other other hand, this would be a good excuse to get myself a new laptop. On the other other other hand, I've done this 8 times now and I've proven that I can slog it out, some of the thrill is gone.

What do you think?

[Poll #1621590]

Yesterday I went with my boss to Honda to give a presentation to other Honda suppliers about our incredible new databases. The presentation part was ok, but afterward I got to go on a plant tour. My boss at first wanted to cut out early, but since I'd never seen the plant he said we could stay, which I really really appreciate.

OMG you guys, the Honda plant is run by Daleks! Ok, maybe not quite, but they do have all their material handling done by robotic carts. The carts go and pick up full boxes of parts, and deliver them to the station, and then wait, grab the empty box and run it to that location, go get more parts, and so on and so forth. They're not on any sort of track that I could see (I've seen ones run on a magnetic track before). They just run around and do their thing. Luckily they do stop if someone is in their way.

The other startling thing is that I have not gained any Nano weight. Usually I eat so badly for the month that I put on a fair amount of weight. And even though I know I ate badly this month, I came out exactly where I started. To the ounce.

Also, Japan has the best office supplies. I am extremely picky about my pens. I have tiny cramped handwriting, so I want a very thin pen. Until now my ultimate pen has been the uniball signo micro in blue. It has a 0.5 tip and not only does the blue write better than the black, it is a navy-ish blue which I never see in blue pen ink. It stands out in a subtle way. But last week in Detroit I found one better. This would be a JAPANESE uniball signo. And it comes in 0.38 tip. OMG! Love!

Oh My God. Ihatenovembersomuch.

I apologize for not being around, not commenting or doing much of anything. I've just been so swamped between Nano and Work. This week was especially bad. Tuesday and Wednesday we had our two sister companies in to do an audit that lasted all day long. Then Wednesday after work a coworker and I drove to Michigan so that we could audit one of the other sister companies on Thursday. Once that was done we drove back to Ohio. Next Monday we drive up to Canada, audit the last company Tuesday and Wednesday, and drive back down on Thursday.

I'm thinking of taking the rest of the month off after that. I should have just enough vacation to cover it. I'm so behind on my Nano I'm not sure I'll be able to catch up. I'm 3000 words behind now. And after the auditing next week, I'll probably be further behind. I know a lot of people can bounce back from that, but I'm very slow (and not just because I handwrite).

But on the other hand I don't want to take the time off of work because I'm falling so far behind there too. And if it's impossible to catch up, should I even bother?

So far I'm feeling pretty good about Nano. The writing is absolutely terrible, but that's Ok! That's what it's all about. I am really happy about the little bits and pieces of world building and character quirks that are coming out and that's more than enough to balance out the repetitiveness and wobbly characterization. And I'm even ahead on my word count! This is not something I expect to last, especially the week of the ISO audit, so it's good to get as much cushion as I can.

In other news, fall is definitely here. The trees are gorgeous, the temperature is crisp. And the air in southern ohio is so dry and the water hard, so I am dry and itchy and nosebleedy. I have an impressive array of creams and lotions collected over the winters, industrial ones, fancy aromatherapy ones, shea butter bases....the list goes on. Right now I'm trying Burt's Bee's hand salve with beezwax in it. It's a little greasy, but so far it seems to be doing a good job, and I like the sharp eucalyptus smell. Anyone else with the same problem have anything to suggest?

Ok. With only two days left to go, I feel confident that I've finally picked a project to work on for this year's Nano. The same one I've been debating doing for like, 3 years now. The train one. I'll probably be posting it on my LJ, under a friends lock in all it's fabulously unedited quality. Partly because I like to have a lot of copies squirreled away if anything happens to my computer/flash drive, and partly because it's fun to read other people's Nanos, and unless it's REALLY bad, I want to be in on the fun.

The Train story now has a title at least. 'Three Winters' from a Chinese proverb that "A Kind Word Warms for Three Winters." It follows a few people on a cross-continent journey while they put themselves back together in the aftermath of a war.

Now here's where the Disclaimer comes in. Neither of the made-up countries in my story are stand ins for America, Iraq or anywhere else. At the same time I know that there's no way my opinions on current events aren't going to bleed into whatever I'm writing. I've tried not to blog about the war, I don't feel like I know enough to give any sort of worthwhile opinion. And for the most part, I don't know your opinions. But whether you're agreeing or disagreeing with anything I say that has to do with the war, I really don't want to talk about it in the comments. If you comment at all, I'd rather it be about plot or character or how miserable my grammar is.

I really don't think anything will even come up. But it's my ounce of prevention.

So for nano stuff my mind is drifting back towards maybe doing the train story after all. At least it wouldn't be hanging over my head anymore. I don't know.

Brain! We need to figure this out before the 31st!! You're on Notice!

Autumn is coming and it's time to start thinking about Nanowrimo. I'd thought that I wouldn't be able to do it, because I thought I'd be getting ready to move in November. But now that that time table's been moved up I think I'll probably be able to after all. (What I don't know is whether my wallet will be able to handle a month at Panera after the move XD) So it's time to start thinking of possible projects to do.

At the top of my list is the Train Story. I've had it in my head for years now, but I keep putting it off because it's kind of a depressing story...at least to begin with. It's about people who've been kind of shattered by a war putting themselves back together again on a long cross-continental trip to the ocean. It's delicate in a way that I'm really not sure I can pull off. Last year I decided against writing it because it was kind of sad and subsumed, and decided to do the Hong Kong story...which was supposed to be full of wacky hijinks, and that ended up being all emo despite myself. So maybe this time I won't fight it.

Another option that I have is a fluffy regency romance story where our heroine has made a marriage of convenience to a gay man, who, with his lover decide to get her a lover. This is mostly based on my friend Chris & his partner who sporadically decide that they need to get me a boyfriend, and then they shoot down every name they come up with.

And the last idea I had was based on the old fairy tale trope of the hero getting the princess's hand in marriage. And I got around to thinking about how she'd feel about that. And decided that she wouldn't be at all pleased, and that she'd put him in his place fairly quickly. He may be very good about swinging a sword, but SHE knows about government and would like him to keep his nose out of it. And basically he'd have to prove himself as more than a trophy husband.

As far as moving goes...Google Earth is an awesome tool. I can put in an apartment address and see where all the grocery stores, restaurants and such are.

I still need a title for this thing. 'Geomancy for Imaginary Places' isn't going to cut it seeing how there isn't any Geomancy anymore and it all takes place in Victorian Hong Kong, not AU fantasy Hong Kong. Any ideas? After this bit the plot should even out and be coherent with no more talk about I Ching and other things I don't know anything about. Well, about mystical things i don't know anything about. I have been trying to research what I can about the Hong Kong police force and what it was like when it began, but correct titles and such probably own't filter through for a few chapters, if ever.

So anyway...

( Chapter Five, which is really more like Chapter Two )