I took Chris Baty's advice....and I'm scared

I love No Plot, No Problem!. It's a book of awesome things, and re-reading it never gets old.

Last night I was reading a thing about chore-based betting, and I've always loved that idea. During one of my 2012 NaNos, I did that with my sister. If I didn't reach a certain word count, I'd have to do something for her and/or give her something. Needless to say, I made that 50k. xD

This NaNo, I thought "Hey, to help motivate me for my insane word count goal for 250k, why not do it again?"

My sister always tires of hearing me talk about NaNoWriMo, but this time she was more than happy to have me talk about it a bit. She wrote out a list of things like she did last year, and honestly, I was getting a bit frightened. Well, frightened is actually an understatement. I was scared! xD She's been begging me for the top bunk of our beds and my Doctor Who "Keep Calm and Don't Blink" t-shirt for the longest time. Needless to say, she wrote those into the list.

Here's the list:

If I don't reach-
30,000 words: Do whatever she says for the entire day

50,000 words: Give her 10 dollars

70,000 words: Do her hip-hop routine with her as many times as she wants.

100,000 words: Do her jobs (chores) for the day.

150,000 words: Do her jobs for a week.

200,000 words: Give her my top bunk.

250,000 words: Give her my "Don't Blink t-shirt

Yeah, this is a huge motivator. I don't doubt my ability to write those words, I doubt my ability to have enough projects to last that long! So far I have one novel (edit: two novels, actually), two novellas, and a bunch of fanfic that I'm going to write.

She also told me (with a very, very devious look on her face) that she has a "bunch of distractions planned".

Oh Baty help me.

Exercise goals for November (Not as boring as it sounds...I hope.)

Along with doing crazy NaNoWriMo things in November, I have some exercise goals. I've been dancing for many years, and one of my teachers commented that I have a really good core. But lately I haven't been doing the proper exercises during the week like I should (crunches, sit-ups...). I do, however, have a bit of an excuse as to why: It's painful. Yes yes, I know, no pain no gain. But I'm really skinny and every time I lie down on a hard surface I can feel every single disc on my spine. I need to get over that, though, so perhaps doing them on a slightly softer (not too soft) surface would help.

Here's a list of my exercise goals for November:

• 50 crunches a day
• 40 "calf stretches", which is basically me going up on releve until my calves burn so much I can hardly stand it.
• Taking a walk 3 times a week. I've already tried to get into this, and I walk on a regular basis, but I want to create an absolute minimum for myself.
• 10 sit-ups

Ah, this is going to be painful. But hey, no pain no gain! xD

Shipping two very cute people in real life....and using them as the MCs in one of my stories.

Omg I've been wanting to do this for the longest time. Partially because it gives me warm, fuzzy feelings to write these two together because they'd make an adorable couple; also because I want to make my best friend blush.

See, said best friend has had a crush on this (very cute) guy for over 5 years now. Unfortunately, they never even became friends, because it seemed like he ignored her most of the time. And he sorta kinda did, but sometimes I think that he was just too self-absorbed to notice her sometimes. That or he was ignoring her because he liked her (which I strongly suspect. Who wouldn't have a crush on said best friend who happens to be insanely cute?!).

Anyways, I've written a scene with them before, and it's adorable and gives me so many fluffy feelings/omg-they're-so-cute kind of feels. But I really want to write a full-blown story with them as the MCs with all the adorable, cute flirting and stuff.

I'm grinning so hard right now. I know she's going to kill me when she finds out I've written a story like this. xD But that's the fun of it!

Challenge: Bed Day!

So! While browsing the nifty Word Wars, Prompts, and Sprints board, I came across this thread: http://nanowrimo.org/forums/word-wars-prompts-sprints/threads/127081

It's a cool challenge, IMO, and I'd love to undertake it. But!!! I'm still not allowed to have my computer in my bedroom, being on my computer (writing) for 12 hours would certainly give Mom enough reason to take it away (lol ;P), and it takes me less than 30 minutes on average to reach 1k words.

So I propose a slightly more challenging....challenge. Write 2,500 hours an hour for 3 hours straight. If I don't make the desired WC at the end of the hour, I have to do something unpleasant. I actually like exercising somewhat, so I think standing outside in summer-time-definitely-not-fall/winter-season-appropriate-clothing might work?? If y'all have any suggestions (save for me streaking. Please, it's just too cold.), leave 'em in the comments section.

I don't know what day I'm doing this on yet. It'll probably be on a Saturday, seeing that my siblings (and Mom, for that matter) probably won't let me get away with spending hours on my computer on any other day.

Anyways, BED DAY! I'm actually excited about this. I think this challenge will definitely get my arse into gear.

You know what's hard? Writing poetry

I've been working hard lately. I've gotten a lot of great ideas for poems, even written out words on a brainstorming page that inspire me for a particular theme. But for the life of me, I cannot write a darn poem.

It's frustrating. I think that I'm slightly inhibited by my fear that I'll write another insanely crappy poem, and that I'll never be better. Having gotten 3 rejection slips a month or two ago, it's hard. I know why those poems got rejected (I suck at constructing metaphors.), and I know that work on my writings and be a better poet. But it's just so freaking hard.

Tomorrow I'll be making another attempt. Here's to hoping that I can write a few decent lines.

Marriage equality, conservative parents, and opinions

Recently the HRC (Human Rights Campaign) offered a free equality bumper sticker. Of course, I love stickers, and while I had no intentions of using them on a vehicle, I got one anyways.

I didn't know when exactly it'd arrive. It knew it'd take a few weeks, but I really really did not want my parents coming across it. I think that before the sticker arrived, they sorta kind of knew my opinion on marriage equality (pro), but it's not a discussion I want to get into with them. I've already heard their opinions on it (against) and....well...it's just not something I care to discuss with them.

I've been thinking about the sticker lately, but I didn't expect it to arrive today. I was lying on my mom's bed when she came in and handed me an envelope from none other than the HRC. I don't know if she realized what it was at first, but she wanted to see what was in it. Crap. She opened it and handed it to me. I took the sticker out and read the little slip of paper. She mentioned the sticker, something about it meaning equal, and what it was for. I said marriage equality, probably not in my best voice, and she read the slip of paper.

Anyways, that was awkward, for me at least. I don't know what she thinks about it. I really don't want to talk to her about it. Marriage equality just isn't a subject I want to talk about with them.

Preparing for a month of epic overachieving

NaNoWriMo's less than 2 weeks away, and I'm pretty darn excited. But before the event starts, I have some things to prepare.

Somehow I coerced my brain into thinking that doing a 50kKillMeNow challenge was a perfectly good idea. I plan on doing it on a Friday. Thankfully Mom has no work on that day, so I think it'll be a little bit easier to coerce her into letting me stay up late that first night.

But on the "off-chance" that I don't make that 50k day, I plan on shooting for it over the weekend. Of course, there's a slightly better chance that I could actually reach such a word count on those days. It's just a matter of making my siblings leave me the heck alone! ;P

Yeah, this should be interesting. xD

Here's a list of all the NaNoWriMo challenges I'm undertaking:

-50kKillMeNow on Nov. 1

-50k weekend

-Writing anywhere from 200k to 300k words that month

-Writing 8-10k every day

So, my fellow NaNo'ers, whether you happen to be overachieving or not, what are your NaNoWriMo goals?