I’ll try it.

What is NaNoWriMo?

National Novel Writing Month is a fun, seat-of-your-pants approach to novel writing. Participants begin writing November 1. The goal is to write a 175-page (50,000-word) novel by midnight, November 30.

Valuing enthusiasm and perseverance over painstaking craft, NaNoWriMo is a novel-writing program for everyone who has thought fleetingly about writing a novel but has been scared away by the time and effort involved.

Because of the limited writing window, the ONLY thing that matters in NaNoWriMo is output. It’s all about quantity, not quality. The kamikaze approach forces you to lower your expectations, take risks, and write on the fly.

Make no mistake: You will be writing a lot of crap. And that’s a good thing. By forcing yourself to write so intensely, you are giving yourself permission to make mistakes. To forgo the endless tweaking and editing and just create. To build without tearing down.

As you spend November writing, you can draw comfort from the fact that, all around the world, other National Novel Writing Month participants are going through the same joys and sorrows of producing the Great Frantic Novel. Wrimos meet throughout the month to offer encouragement, commiseration, and — when the thing is done — the kind of raucous celebrations that tend to frighten animals and small children.

In 2005, we had over 59,000 participants. Nearly 10,000 of them crossed the 50k finish line by the midnight deadline, entering into the annals of NaNoWriMo superstardom forever. They started the month as auto mechanics, out-of-work actors, and middle school English teachers. They walked away novelists.

So, to recap:

What: Writing one 50,000-word novel from scratch in a month’s time.

Who: You! We can’t do this unless we have some other people trying it as well. Let’s write laughably awful yet lengthy prose together.

Why: The reasons are endless! To actively participate in one of our era’s most enchanting art forms! To write without having to obsess over quality. To be able to make obscure references to passages from our novels at parties. To be able to mock real novelists who dawdle on and on, taking far longer than 30 days to produce their work.

When: Sign-ups begin October 1, 2006. Writing begins November 1. To be added to the official list of winners, you must reach the 50,000-word mark by November 30 at midnight. Once your novel has been verified by our web-based team of robotic word counters, the partying begins.

Hopefully it is the first quarter, and not the last.  Only three more days of being 25 and into 26. Over the hump. The 25th year was not a particularly good one for me.  It had some momemts, like getting a new job that I like and going to Italy, but I think I was depressed for most of it.  My old job really crushed me emotionally and school was just a struggle.  The last few months, things started to look up and then my mom became sick and has been getting worse.  She really depressed, hasn’t worked in months, and is staying with a friend who has her own issues which is not helping either of them.  I’m going down there today to figure out what we are going to do.  I also have two job interviews while I’m down there: UM’s CARD program as an educational consultant and the MDC ACCESS Program as an advisor.  The UM is full time and the MDC is part time.  I also applied to the doctoral program at FIU, so we’ll see how that goes.  If I do get accepted in the program for the Spring Semester, my plan was to maybe take the MDC job, so I can take as much classes possible at school and apply for a public school job in the fall.   If I get the UM job, I’ll have to school part time, but I’ll have a full time job with the benefits.  Problem with the UM job is that it doesn’t pay much, but the benefits are good if you plan to go to UM for a Masters.  So there are pros and cons to both.  Of course I have to get offered either of the jobs first.  Oprah said that 26 was a “wow” year for her, and I hope for me as well.  I do feel a little bit more motivated about school, be dedicated, and be done.  I also need to work, but the time will pass and the time will come.

Sam.sa.ra: The eternal cycle of birth, suffering, death, and rebirth.

I have a serious problem with procrastination.  I have a 12 page paper that was due today and didn’t even lift a finger.  Now I’m going to drop the class because I will miss the dead line for this paper and apparently there is no going back according to the syllabus.  So, now I’m out of the money for the class and out of the credits.  I think part of it is that I can’t do all these things at the same time. No matter how much I want to, I do need some down time in my life.  I’ve been working 7 days a week for the past 2 1/2 years and I’m just braindead for anything extra that doesn’t have to be done. But at what I price, the price of tuition of course.  Why do I keep on doing this to myself! 

While I was sitting watching Sunday morning tv, the objects on my mantle started rattle slightly. My first reaction is a huge truck rattling the neighborhood, but I didn’t hear I truck.  A few minutes later on the news, there was a earthquake in the middle of the Gulf of Mexico.  At least it wasn’t a poltergeist as my father suggested.

Tremors rattle local residents
6.0 earthquake reported in Gulf of Mexico

By SUZETTE PORTER

The blue square shows the epicenter of Sunday morning’s 6.0 magnitude earthquake 260 miles west-southwest of Clearwater.

PINELLAS COUNTY – A magnitude 6.0 earthquake that originated in the Gulf of Mexico at 10:56 a.m. Sunday rattled windows of local residents, and tremors were felt as far north as Georgia and Alabama.

According to the U.S. Geological Survey, National Earthquake Information Center, the epicenter of the quake was in the Gulf of Mexico 260 miles west-southwest of Clearwater and about 6.2 miles below the surface.

A 6.0 earthquake on the Richter scale is classified as strong. According to Wikipedia, strong quakes can be destructive in areas up to about 100 miles across in populated regions. About 120 are reported a year.

More than 200 county residents reported feeling the effects of the quake to the U.S. Geological Survey, National Earthquake Information Center on Sunday morning. Local reports came in from Clearwater, Clearwater Beach, Largo, Pinellas Park, Seminole and St. Petersburg.

No major damage was reported. The USGS said there was no danger of a tsunami.

Florida is not known as a place where earthquakes are considered a hazard; however, history shows that the state has experienced several earthquakes or “tremors” over the years. Only one has ever caused “considerable damage,” according to an USGS bulletin.

The earliest recorded earthquake occurred near St. Augustine in January 1878, according to the 1971 bulletin, and reportedly knocked plaster from wall and articles from shelves.

Floridians felt the effects of two strong earthquakes located in Cuba in January 1880, and were shaken by the Charleston, S.C. quake in August 1886.

Minor quakes, 3.0-3.9 on the Richter scale, were reported in Jacksonville in 1893 and 1900.

Quakes in more modern history include the one reported in Captiva on Captiva Island in November 1948. In 1952, a “slight tremor” was reported by residents of Quincy, a small town northwest of Tallahassee.

Before Sunday’s quake, the most recent event was recorded Nov. 13, 1978, near Lake City. Authorities said the quake originated in the Atlantic Ocean.

No tremors were reported by the Gainesville seismographic station from 1978 to 1991.

According to information at www.dep.state.fl.us, Florida is located on the trailing (or passive) margin of the North American Plate while California is located on its active margin. The active margin is bounded by faults that generate earthquakes when there is movement along them.

“This is the fundamental reason that Florida has an extremely low incidence of earthquakes while California experiences many (mostly small) earthquakes,” according to the Florida Geological Survey.

The FGS said because earthquakes are most often associated with faults, it has received numerous inquiries about the location of faults in the state.

” A number of faults have been proposed by various authors over the years based on various criteria,” the USG said. “Because of the difficulties in defining faults in the state there is little agreement concerning the validity of those which have been proposed.”

Florida’s unique geology makes it difficult to define faults.

“The natural process that causes limestone to dissolve may obscure what was originally a faulted surface,” the USG said. “Faults have been proposed based on unconventional criteria such as water quality changes … None of the proposed features in Florida are known to have any seismicity associated with them. “

Article published on Sunday, Sept. 10, 2006

I’ve been listening to the Eva Cassidy version of “The Letter” and interestingly enough I got 3 letters today.

1. City Code Violation- The overgrowth in my backyard is violating the alley in the back.  The alley that no one ever goes through, except code inspectors.  Solution suggested – mow it.

2. Overdraft Protection- My checking account has overdrafted 500 dollars from savings account, since I didn’t have enough money to pay the mortgage in checking. (I had to buy a last minute plane ticket and pay for my car to be repaired in one week) Now I only have the requisite 5 dollar minimum in my checking.

3. Academic Probation letter – This one is from the special education department. Because I had an I that turned into an F, my GPA is under a 3.0. I’ve switched programs and I wonder will the GPA still be the same, probably. I got to get good grades this semester in my library science classes.

Lonely days are gone, I’m a comin home, my baby -he wrote me a letter.

I Quit My Job!

{ April 30, 2006

I finally go the courage to tell the principal I was resigning yesterday.  She took it well, but she probably saw it coming.  I was completely honest about what I would be doing and where I was going. Plus, I WILL be leaving before the end of the school year. Free at last!  Figuring out how I was going to break the news was a real stress in addition to
Antarctica. But now I feel ready for my next step in my career now that it is over.  I’ll be working as a Learning Disability Specialist at the community college, so it is a bit of a change from being a classroom teacher.  There are some parts that I will miss about it, but I need the change more than ever.  I know I want to continue teaching and maybe after awhile I’ll return to the classroom if higher education doesn’t agree with me.  Today I finished the training for the ESOL tutoring program with the HLC that will be fulfilling my teaching ambitions.  Teaching ESOL has been the best experience I have teaching so far and I would like to pursued it more in the public school system, but there is not much availibility for ESOL teachers.  In the community college sector, its even less and I want to continue in the field or else it will feel like my master’s is useless.  I should be assigned some students in about 2 weeks and I’m excited about being a part of this.  Feeling like I’m really doing something to help others, plus teaching AND continuing to gain experience in ESOL.  My life seems to be turning in a new direction and I hope its a better direction.  The past two years have been professionally and emotionally hard.  I’m ready to only cry for things that deserve my tears – no more pettiness and lies.  3 more weeks!   {Edit}

This site is just too pretty!

{ April 23, 2006 @ 10:39 pm } · { Uncategorized } · { Comments } I’m not usually a big fan of green, but this site just looks so “exotic” and at least I’m a fan of that.  Here’s my new blog with the name of my potential bookstore that I dream of opening. I am aware that it does somewhat religious - but I am referring to the written word in general and not specifically religious based texts.  I’m an admirer of words in every language in every form so therefore I am a Citizen of the Word (all of them!).   {Edit}

Eva Cassidy is my therapy

{ December 3, 2005 @

Well after a debilatating bawling fest yesterday for hours, I might be continuing my doctoral study. Just because I was to screw it to them. As soon as I got home from work in the afternoon, I just could not stop crying. I mean rivers of non stop tears. All I could think to myself was if I could only get meds it could stop. It has been a rough week mentally, expectations wise. I didn’t get the early intervention training specialist job. I called an left a message on Monday after I finally got access to my voicemail and the following day I got the official rejection email. Another to add to the collection. I looked on the jobsite and the job was still posted, they’re still searching, they just didn’t want me. My dad tells me not to take these things personally, but thats hard to do. I do not have much hope for the other job either, it would be a pleasant surpise if I did get offered, haven’t heard anything in weeks, so I guess they are still looking. Today I went grocery shopping with an expert(a blind expert), she had several neat technological advances to assist the visually impaired, an inspiring person in general. I listened to Eva today, always helping me out of my rut. Thanks, Eva you are missed, even though I didn’t know you personally. Guess what ! I got another 3 numbers in the lotto. I think this the 5th time in a year. Now I need to get all 6.   {Edit}

Finding the Bliss

{ November 26, 2005 @ 10:11 am } · { Uncategorized } · { Comments } In my constant state of confusion and indecision, I decided to start this blog to just spill I guess.Background Info:I’m a teacher. A special education teacher actually for a kindergarten through second grade classroom. I was originally hired to just teach kindergarten, because that what I want, but as those of you in public education know special education teachers get dumped on and therefore I know have 20 students with special needs in one classroom. Now I ask you, if these children could handle being in a class with 19 other students would they placed in special education in the first place. Now they must compete with 19 other children who have the same or sometimes worse difficulties as them, instead of the small classroom that special education students should have. Only in the primary grades, they already being institutionally disabled.
I am a student. I doctoral student/Master’s student. I am currently persuing a doctoral degree in Urban special education and a Master’s degree in Visual Impairments. I’ve doing this double duty for a year now, and its hard to admit, but one of them has to be put to sleep. Problem is, I want both and I want them both before I’m 30. Doesn’t look like its going to happen that way though. Yes, I ‘ll say it. I cannot do both while working full time and even if I wasn’t I still couldn’t do it both. It comes down to what are my plans (a topic I will be exploring in a later post) according to my doctoral advisor who so creatively ambushed me one day after class to tell me that I need to be more focused pursuing doctoral studies and to give this vision “business” a rest. At the moment, I am leaning toward the vision degree, simply because its more interesting and relatable to me. I have discovered that doctoral studies really have nothing to do with life. Maybe I’m just too practical for the Ph.d route. But I do want it, and forgive the shallow side of me for saying that it sounds so more impressive than having 2 masters. I have been having a difficult with my doctoral studies. It really has broken me down and they say it happens to everyone and part of growing in the program is building your self back up. Change is not supposed to be comfortable. Well, I guess my difficulty here is telling the program directors I’m not going on. It’s hard to admit that I failed. I don’t want to be a failure. My dad always told me the only time you fail is when you quit.

My new blog has a pretty green theme, which typically be first choice in color. Green might give me some new inspiration/incentive to continue to write.