Happy Thanksgiving!

HAPPY (slightly belated) THANKSGIVING! I hope it was a good one. Although we didn't have the day off here, I was able to have a large Thanksgiving-style dinner last Sunday evening with a bunch of other English teachers in the area. Also, we had the day off on Wednesday due to a Japanese national holiday so it was a good week all in all.

To top it all off, I finished my NaNoWriMo novel last night at 50,121 words! I've updated my "NaNoWriMo 2011 participant" badges to the "2011 NaNoWriMo winner" ones. Anyone who crosses the 50,000 word finish line is a winner. Towards the middle of the month I was feeling less motivated, but I got a final burst of motivation triggered by comptetive spirit and I finished. The novel needs a lot of work, but perhaps someday it will turn into a published short story. For now, it is just a rough draft and will probably stay that way for some time. I think I'd like to do some planning throughout the next year and write another novel next November. Hopefully I'll have time to think up a fun plot-line and some interesting characters before then.

Here is a very short blub from my 2011 NaNoWriMo novel:

H&F

Sometimes I wonder if I could change things still. Even now.

There are light-brown stains on the index and middle fingers of my right hand. My hair is brittle from dye. I try to tease it for volume but it’s pretty useless. The cheap cloth of the uniform I’m wearing is wrinkled and discolored from overuse. It hangs loosely on my frame. Cigarette burns, beer stains, and oil marks from the dirty men who grope me as I walk through the isles form a visible pattern on the blue fabric, like they’re part of the design. God I hate this job. I hate those men. I hate their smoke and their money and their crude language, and everything about them. The people who come before the doors even open and stay until we kick them out are the absolute worst. Where do they get the money to gamble all day? Every day the same people come. They’re as addicted to pachinko as I am to not coming to work.

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All for now. Good night!

Happy Halloween 2012

http://dailycontributor.com/happy-halloween/8236/

Happy Halloween!

Halloween isn't a very well celebrated holiday in Japan.  Some people decide to have parties, but in general it's not a big to-do.  Tomorrow my three English club students will be making some Halloween sweets with me after school, but I don't have a costume or any fun party gifts.  They may be a bit disappointed, but it's hard to decorate for such a thing with no budget and no materials available within a reasonable distance of my house.

Last year, teachers asked me to do special Halloween lesson plans during the month of October, but this year there were too many events happening at our school and no one had time to deviate from the textbook curriculum.  Let's hope they don't suddenly ask me to have something ready in class tomorrow, since I don't have anything to bring and not enough time to make something on the spot.

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As tomorrow is the last day of October, NaNoWriMo will be starting the day after on November 1st!  Here is a short video from the creators of NaNoWriMo.

I was told the following: "Warn your friends, family, neighbors, and pets about the upcoming challenge. The more people who know what you're working on, the more accountable you'll feel and the likelier you are to hit the 50,000-word goal."

I agree that having friends and family know about my projects, as well as supporters cheering me on for whatever goal, helps keep me focused as well as holds me accountable for my actions.

So wish me luck!  I haven't quite decided on a storyline yet, so maybe I'll be day-dreaming all throughout tomorrow about a possible story plot.  Any inspirational ideas?  It is supposed to be easy and fun to write, to the goal is to stick to fiction.

Stay warm, and have a very wonderful and happy Halloween!  It finally feels like fall.  My favorite season.