Hey all, as those of you who have followed me for a while know over the past several years I have participated in the National Novel Writing Month. I have had varying amounts of success with it and to be honest I was seriously considering giving it a miss this year.
Until the other day when one of my daughters, who has written with me the past few times, let me know she really wanted to do it with me again this year.
So, NaNo… yup going to try to do it again this year. I don’t have any solid story plans and will probably work on multiple ideas as the month progresses. All my more successful years have been more free form like that.
Writing begins at midnight tonight, so to all you other writers out there… good luck and good writing.
For my first selection in the series I’ve decided to go with Metropolis(1927), directed by Fritz Lang with a screenplay by Thea von Harbou. I’ve been meaning to try to watch this one for far too long, it is such a foundational piece in the genre that I think that it is one that should be a must watch for Sci-Fi fans. So many later works are directly or indirectly inspired by the work.
Unfortunately I thought I would only be able to watch the much shortened Giorgio Moroder cut with a contemporary soundtrack. However I just discovered yesterday that the restored version is available online through Kanopy.
So expect the first installment of “I’ve Been Meaning To Watch This” in the next few days, and feel free to offer up other titles for the queue.
I was recently listening to a new podcast, “Our Opinions Are Correct” hosted by Annalee Newitz and Charlie Jane Anders. As they were discussing “Fear of robots” in episode 5, I was reminded again that there are a number of sci-fi films that I’ve been meaning to watch.
I keep saying I’m going to get back in the habit of writing and posting here. But it just keeps not happening. I’ve greatly enjoyed it in the past when I’ve been regularly productive on the blog, so I really think it will be good to get back to it.
Looking back, I tend to be more consistent when I’ve got a project to work on. Be it the near year of daily quotes, NaNoWriMo or the haiku projects.
I’ve got a number of different ideas, but one in particular is more interesting. I will write up a first post for it and get it up in the next day or so. It should be fun.
The old man stood on white chalk cliff watching the sky in the distance. Every day he would get dressed in his old uniform and make his way to the cliffs next to his old rusty mech.
The adults of the village treated him with respect. To the younger generation he was just a crazy old soldier stuck in the past.
As the pods crashed into the channel, casting huge waves as they split open, he sighed.
“Bugger. ”
Reaching over he pulled open the pilot’s pod and hauled his aching body into the chair. “Ok girl, let’s show em hell.”
I wrote this Drabble as a submission to an upcoming online Sci-Fi magazine. It is a reworking of a short bit I wrote during NaNo a few years ago.
It was a fun little challenge trying to get as much into 100 words as possible.
Well, in my last post several months ago I had set myself a goal…
My success at it that is best summed up by the words of Robert Burns from “To a Mouse”, “The best laid schemes o’ mice an’ men”.
Anyway, I recently tried my hand at drabble submission to an online sci-fi market, no luck with it. I will probably post it here at some point in the next few days as I try to get my hand back into creative endeavors.
Well NaNo is done for another year, I didn’t “win” but despite the various things that got in the way I did manage to put words to screen every day of the month. Which as anyone knows is actually an accomplishment, some days just don’t lend themselves to any writing time.
As I mentioned a few days ago I’m going to try to continue my writing momentum and write something every day. Be it a new post on this blog or new words on a story. My NaNo has a lot of story left to go, I just need to figure out how to get from where I am to where I want it to be.
So for all you winners out there, great job. And for all you who gave it your best, WAY TO GO!
