Loss (and Links)

I did not mean to ignore my blog. I had good intentions when I wrote that last post. Intentions like 'I will post every couple days! I will be interesting! I will be entertaining!' But then, on Sunday morning, I found out that four of my classmates had died in a car accident.

I will not go into details of the next few days. Let's just say it's been horrible, yet I have faith that they're in a better place and things will be better soon. But in the meantime, my blog has been suffering.

I am back now. I am here, and I will continue to be here. Posting. Every couple days.

Since the rest of this post is rather less than cheerful, I thought I'd advertise a few awesome things to brighten up your day.

First, NaNoWriMo is just around the corner! Yay! *does happy dance* *panics about plot holes* *tries to come up with more ways to outline*

For those of you who are going 'NaNoWriwha?' right now, I shall explain. NaNoWriMo (or National Novel Writing Month) is thirty days and nights of joyous literary abandon! For the whole month of November, novelists all over the world will be pounding on those keyboards, trying to produce 50,000 words in a new project before the time runs out! (An average of 1,667 words a day.)

But Sarah, you say, what does this have to do with you? You already have three projects going! You don't need another one!

You're right. And yet, you are also wrong. The truth is, I am out of gas. I have become so drained I don't even WANT to work on any of my current projects. I don't want to write. But I need to write if I'm ever going to get out of this slump.

It is a problem. NaNo is the solution. The sheer awesomeness of the people I do it with might be enough to cure me, and if not, hey, I still get a new book done, right? And you can too! Feel free to hop over to the site and join me. It's totally free and totally insane and totally fun. A lot like me, actually.

Not sure you can write 1,667 words in a day? I have an answer for that, too! The other day, a friend (who herself is the answer to many problems) (but you can't have her. She's MINE.) (Um ... hi, Lisa. You appreciate my possessiveness, right?) told me about a little site called 750 Words. The basic idea? 

You write. 750 words, or the equivalent of three pages. You don't have to do that much -- you can do anything from one to seventy million words. (Although the latter might make the servers blow up. Which would not be good.) Everything you write is totally private, but it has a nice sprinkling of competition to make it more interesting. Every day that you write 100 words or more, you get a point. If you write 750+, you get another point. If you do it all at once, without getting distracted? Another point! You also get special badges for going so many days without a break, or for writing fast, or whatever. It is delightful. I highly recommend it, both to NaNo-ers and ordinary people alike.

So, now that the linky love is done, I am going to go write my 750 words! (Bet I can do it in 15 minutes. Are you listening, Lisa? This is a CHALLENGE.) Tell me if you're coming too, so I can admire your awesomeness!