Journal of Post-Ralphaelite Thought

I've begun this year's Nanowrimo novel and am off to a slow start. Is this a surprise. Happened last year, too. So far, after a week, I'm hovering at just over 4,000 words. The target number to stay on track is 10,000 words right now. The upside is that after making some notes in church Sunday (instead of paying attention to the sermon) I've got the start of a roadmap, and some of my characters are starting to develop a bit of a life of their own. That's a good thing. Ed was good about egging me on to hit word count goals this weekend. Thanks, Ed. We are, by the way, re-watching season 3 of Alias as a prelude to getting the 4th season on DVD. The new novel's working title is "Purple Haze."

Saw Good Night, And Good Luck this weekend. Great film about the "Golden Days" of television and the rampant fear and paranoia of that time. The film is largely an indictment against the news media for refusing to take on controversial stories. Sound current? George Clooney, who directed, is turning into an outstanding character actor. More power to him. I've even forgiven him for the Batman film... Shot in exquisite black and white.

National Novel Writing Month has officially arrived: 50,000 words in 30 days. I got home from my Trinity Writers' Workshop meeting around 9:00 last night and did some fine-tuning to a short story I'd read, then started The Second Novel (working title: Purple Haze). I'm a little behind schedule already; to keep up I need to grind out about 1,600 words a day. Last night I managed a paltry 300. Ouch. When I mentioned last month that Nanowrimo took place in November, my loving, supportive, long-suffering wife gave me a pained look and said "You aren't going to do that again, are you?" Did I mention that Nanowrimo can be hard on families?

So now that "Scooter" or "Skippy" (or whatever Cheney's former chief of staff was called) Lewis has been indicted for lying, obstructing justice and whatever, he's saying "Golly, it's not that I lied. I just couldn't remember." Sounds like that may be what Karl "the turdblossom" Rove uses as his explanation as well. Sounds like we are about to have another serious outbreak of ARFS -- Acquired Republican Forgetful Syndrome. Last time we had an epidemic this big was during Iran-Contra, one of Mr. Reagan's less-mentioned legacies. Tom "the Hammer" Delay, Dr. Bill Frist--all have run afoul of the law. You can bet your bottom dollar we'll be hearing "I forgot" a lot in the months to come. Unfortunately, we seem to be adrift in a time when the voting public seems to suffer from a related problem: ACTSTC American Citizens Too Stupid To Care.

It is Saturday night at 7:30 and I'm sitting at my office, awaiting the evening's last software build. Last night, when I got home at 8:45, I'd already put in 65 hours for the week. I got here at 7:45 this morning, and I'm about to hit 12 more hours on my day off. I've been on this project for 2 and a half years. I'm on a Death March . The people I report to have either gone home or never were here today. Two of my peers are sitting in the surrounding cubes. We are, at this point, exhausted to the point of goofiness. Bad things happen at this point. I like the intellectual challenge of my job, but not the boneheadedness that seems to be driving it. Most of the people involved I have a lot of respect for, but there are a few I'd slap stupid. I'm tired and I want to go home. I think I know what my next novel is going to be about.

Went to the Arlington Guitar Show yesterday with Ed and old buddy Dennis. It was freaking amazing. More guitars that one ever thought possible. Two whole exhibit rooms (the photo barely shows a quarter of one of the rooms) with electric, acoustic, new, vintage--you name it. Ed and I got there around 11:15 and wandered for about half an hour until we ran into Dennis. This is arguably one of the three biggest guitar shows in the US. Sellers from Texas, Oklahoma, California, New York...you get the idea. Saw a vintage Stratocaster that someone had priced at a quarter of a million dollars. Wonder if he sold it. More typical were collectibles selling for $10,000 to $25,000. Still. Also some very pretty handmade and limited edition guitars (I picked up an acoustic and tried it, then noticed it was priced at $13,000). Despite my best intentions, I did end up buying a new electric guitar--an Epiphone Dot semi-hollow body with a natural finish. It's sweet! Bought it from a dealer from Lake...

Once again, National Novel Writing Month draws near. Here's the deal: sign up and write 50,000 words during the month of November. How hard could that be? It's not about polished, perfect prose, ready for publication, it's about vomiting approximately 1,700 words a day for 30 days. 50,000 words. My current novel (ha! I like the sound of that--my current novel) got its start as a Nanowrimo effort. I managed to hit the magic number on target, then wrote another ~25,000 words before finishing. I'm now editing the rough (and it is rough) draft. I even joined a writing group, which is a big help. So I got the email notification that November was fast upon us, and I've started planning my next opus. You can, by the way, do all the planning, plotting, character outlines you want before November, but to abide by the spirit of the deal, no actual writing on the draft until November 1. Prizes, you ask? The best of all possible prizes: acknowledgement of your feat and the s...