U - Unecessary Quotation Marks and Other Things

I could have titled this post "Uuuuuuuuugh."

I tried to find a good topic. I bet there are dozens of them out there. I could've blogged about your uniqueness (all of you). I could've redirected you to Margo Lerwill's fabulous blog, Urban Psychopomp (see what I did there?). I could've told you to make sure everything you write is useful to your plot. Or not to be afraid to use every free minute of your day to write.

The truth is, all these topics left me uninspired. I'm depleted. Spent the weekend catching up on my Script Frenzy (not even there yet) and studying.

So instead, I'll redirect you all elsewhere. Yes, again. This one is funny, though, I promise! These two sites are perfect procrastination tools, though they may induce frequent facepalms. You've been warned.

The Blog of Unnecessary Quotation Marks
The Blog of Apostrophe Abuse

Have fun!

B - Being A Cheerleader

In yesterday’s post I mentioned MLing for NaNoWriMo and Script Frenzy. A Municipal Liaison is a great many things, but my favourite of them is, without any doubts, the cheerleading.

I learned through my first time as a NaNoWriMo ML (in November 2009) that there is one thing more satisfying than crossing the 50,000 words line yourself... it’s watching a struggling Wrimo do it.

The wrimo who gave up on countless hours of sleep and a wee bit of sanity to get the final words in. The wrimo who overcame death in the family. The wrimo who lost 10,000 words five days before the end and rewrote them. The wrimo who broke up with their boyfriend. The wrimo who was 25,000 words behind on November 28^th. The same you drove six hours to encourage.

No one is a lost cause. Sometimes, believing in your Wrimo and cheering them onward is all they need to keep going. A little push. A smile. A high-five.

A good cheerleader is generous with his time and energy. He’s always rewarded, too. There is nothing as heart-warming as a Wrimo walking up to you and saying ‘I wouldn’t have made it without you.’

The best in all this? My entire region is made of cheerleaders, and I have received more than my share of love in encouragements through the years.

So to the Wrimo struggling with his script, to the writer behind on edit, to the author receiving yet another rejection letter... Find a cheerleader. Let him support you, no matter what.

And...

Don’t give up. You can do it. We all can.

A - April's Awesome Alphabetic Adventures

This month promises to be... special. If March was Butt-in-Chair month, then April is the Awesome Alphabetic Adventures month.

Somewhere at the end of February, I decided I wanted to drive myself batshit insane in the course of April. (it’s research. The script is in an asylum). I thought “Hey, you have finals, but how will that ever be enough?” It won’t!

I already knew I would be doing Script Frenzy in addition to the finals. Any excuse to write Fezim Aulm’s story (AKA February’s Shiny New Idea) was a good one, and the no-nonsense approach a script provided seemed perfect to establish my basic storyline.

It seemed natural, as last year’s Script Frenzy Municipal Liaison for my region – and NaNoWriMo’s to boot – to also volunteer for that position. After all, organising a month of write-ins, cheering on Wrimos behind their page count, relaying information from HQ and making April a frantic and fantastic scripting ride isn’t time consuming. Not at all! (thankfully I have help this year)

Three time-consuming tasks, but would that be enough to drive me insane? I was not certain. Thus, I subscribed to the A to Z Challenge, and decided to blog every letter of the alphabet... turning April into the month of Awesome Alphabetic Adventures. I’m supposed to be blogging A today. Does it show?

Buckle in tight, my friends. The posting will increase, but so will the craziness. Apologies if I am a rambling mess by the time I hit the letter Z.

And see you tomorrow, for our friend... B !