another Taste of NaNo

I ask for one simple favor and it's like I have to scream at the top of my lungs to get any kind of attention around here. It makes me so angry I just...I'll smash everything! Destroy it all! Every stinking thing in my way, obliterated! No one does anything right around here, I feel like I've got to do everything myself and people keep getting in my way! I've got to talk to management about this, because it has gotten way out of hand.

Of course you can't go to management with any kind of complaint these days because it always comes back to male versus female. Stupid bureaucrats, yes, I'm a girl, but that doesn't mean I'm being irrational. Maybe age has something to do with it, but anyone could look at me and agree that I am not overreacting. Anyone would be upset. Even you.

And it's not just the people, more about them later, but it's this whole place. Everything is so difficult and it doesn't have to be. First of all, I can never find what I'm looking for. Seems like everything is kept on shelves that are unreasonably high and always out of reach at the most inconvenient times. And picking your way through this place is a joke. I'm always tripping over things or people are tripping over me All the time. I'm not even exaggerating. It happens all the time. Is it so hard to watch where you're going?

But the people, good grief, some days I just don't know how to deal with these people. They are so demanding, so controlling, and so overbearing. They are extremely particular about where I go and what I do. It's like I'm always being watched! Is it any wonder I broke down crying this afternoon? And don't tell me it's a girl-thing, because I swear I will scream if you say it. I feel like I'm at the end of my rope, just so sick and tired of it all. Sick and tired...tired...

I am tired, now you mention it. No, I don't want to nap! I don't want to! Is that my crib? No, I don't want to! I don't! I...my blanket? I love my blanket. So soft...so nice...so tired...maybe just...a little nap...

This snippet was inspired by my daughter, who is 15 months old and complains to me constantly about the state of things.

random NaNo excerpt

I think truth would be offered freely 

if the question were asked and there were room to receive it, 

but my mouth is full of high-fructose corn syrup and genetically modified organisms 

and my nose is full of pollution and ozone 

and my eyes are filled with hollow lights of screens and apps and magazine ads 

and my hands are full of plastic parts and metal tubing and green printed paper of imaginary worth 

and my ears are filled with angry cries of masses of the forgotten 

and despair of generations past 

and lies of those who call themselves my leaders. 

My soul sorrows and sorrow is my truth.

still On Track for 50,000

Been working like a fiend on NaNoWriMo this year. Not sure why I feel so driven, I'm not even pursuing a definite storyline, but I'm flying towards 50,000 words!
(find me on NaNoWriMo.org here, btw. We should be nano-buddies.)

I'm hoping to bust out another 1,000 in the next 30 minutes, so I don't have a lot of time to write here.
This blog doesn't count toward NaNo, so, I can't be seen here with you. I mean, I still love you and everything, it's just word distribution. You understand.

To satiate your obvious addiction to my glorious word-smithing (ha! yeah right), here's a small tidbit I wrote while warming up today.

 Arms

Thighs

Cankles

Two parts carrot juice

One part sewing kit

Some assembly required

Trimming

Stitching

Rearrangement

Change the body you have today

Don't be afraid of trimming too much

Smaller is always better

Tighten

Lengthen

Straighten

Almost ready for display

Still too much around the middle

Still too ugly to be seen

Softer

Smaller

Lighter

Hollow out what's left of the inside

Opinion, intellect, self-respect and character

These will not be needed

Slender

Delicate

Perfect

Every inch thoroughly examined

All undesirable features now gone

For display use only

As Promised...

I present to you, in all its glory, a comic page.

I want this little project to count towards my NaNoWriMo word count, I feel that it should since graphic novels are a valid and challenging form of story-telling. 

But here's the conundrum - 

- how many words should this qualify as? It takes a freaking long time to draw a page. Most published graphic novels have at least four people listed in the credits: the writer, the artist, the inker, and the letterer. 

Doing it yourself takes a loooot of time. 

I want to do more of these but I need a system to quantify the work. Something simple: 1,000 words per graphic page, or 100 words per panel. It's got to be fair, but still challenging. 

How many words do you think this page deserves?

artist Version of NaNo

I drew a comic page last night.

"Comic page"? It wasn't a comic, it was a graphic novel. But it's not really a "novel" because it is only one page long. What is the terminology for such a thing? Anyone out there "in the know" want to let me in on it? I'll let you use "quotation marks" if you'd like.

The script didn't take long to hammer out and the panels didn't take too long to place.

Drawing is what took for.ev.er.

Maybe I'm out of practice or maybe I'm just slow, but I did not expect a rough draft to take me 2 hours. (ugh! embarrassing!)
It's not even finished, yet. I've got to scan it into the computer and do the rest of it digitally. Doing it on the computer will save time in some areas, but I'm planning (tentatively) another 2 hours (if it takes more than that, I'm quitting).

I count 'graphic novel' as being part of NaNoWriMo (cuz it's my nanowrimo, I'll do what I want), but how many words would this be equivalent to? The whole script is only 50 words, at most, but it's the time, people. The crazy amount of time it takes just to draw a single panel!

I'm wanting to count it as 1,000 words. Straight up, nice and even: 1,000 words.

I'll post the finished project tomorrow (or the next day...or whenever it is done) and you can weigh in on what you think the NaNo word-equivalent should be.

Check back tomorrow (or the next day...or whenever it is done). You'll love it. {wink}