What to do?

NaNoWriMo is next month. Last year I got a hefty start on my novel using this forum. I wrote over 50,000 words and completed about 1/3 of my book. I'm wondering whether to set off on this adventure again this year.

Here's the pros:
I could get another third of my novel done.
It's good practice for novel writing, which I hope to do more of once I move to Ohio.
If I can do it this year, there is no excuse for not writing when I am not working.
People are waiting for this book.

Here's the Cons:
I'm already writing a lot at work. In fact, I'm putting out about 100 pages/month.
It's hard to switch from tech writing to novel writing.
I have even less time this year than last.
Last year, I had just started this job in November. I was learning, not writing.
The book has gotten long enough that I need to do some organizational homework to be more efficient with the writing. For example: a name dictionary for secondary characters.

So readers, do you think I should jump back in?

Sorely missed

This weekend I was out of town and not able to remember the life of a good friend. Karine was my support and my humor in good times and in bad. I never met her in person though others of my Internet friends did have that fortune.

The first to rib me about duct tape and the first to answer just about any trivia question, Karine was the Queen of Pub quizzes and a true light in our life.

The woman had a comeback for nearly everything our little group of mothers came up with. She faced her cancer with dignity and courage.

I miss her so.

It's really happening

Like a bad dream, I feel hopelessly unable to do anything about the news.

http://www.comcast.net/news/index.jsp?cat=GENERAL&fn=/2006/02/21/330845.html

Even if you are "pro-life", I wonder why it is so important to not include a clause for medical necessity? This is the one point that makes it clear to me that the whole debate for or against abortion is all about what we think of women in this country. The pendulum swings and here is where it stands now:

Women are sluts
Women do not have the brains to decide when an unplanned pregnancy should be terminated.
A woman's life is worth far less than that of an unborn child.

Personally, I don't know what to think about the concept of partial birth abortions. It's totally abhorrent to me that a human being could do that to another life. Which is why I have to support it.

But, less than 1% of abortions performed are later than 20 weeks. Partial birth is only a small part of this 1% of abortions. The rate of abortions has been going down since 1996. In fact, the rates in the year 2000 were less than those in 1976! Not only that, but very few doctors even perform this procedure. So the 1% of abortions performed after 20 weeks can be even further reduced by the number of women who can actually reach that handful of doctors who will even perform these abortions.

Now that we have established that not all women go out to hunt sex and then kill the baby through abortion as the conservatives would have you think, lets move on to the next point.

Do you really think that doctors who perform partial birth abortions would do so without first finding a way to avoid the whole procedure?

To quote the article.
"Defenders of the law maintain that the procedure is never medically necessary to protect a woman's health."

Oh sure. Doctors just routinely extract a fetus and smash it's head. Just for fun! Sure.

So. I request that those of you who know so much about how to save the life of a mother with advanced pre-eclampsia, a blood clot or any of the other pregnancy conditions that currently warrant a partial birth abortion, please enlighten us and those in the medical field who are not familiar with these procedures. Because I can tell you there are a few women out there who have had to go through this to save their lives. Do you think that a day goes by for these women where they don't question the necessity of losing their child? I'm sure the OBs who are performing these procedures would far rather tell the mother that her infant is fine and she is fine as well.

The second condition for this procedure is that the baby is so profoundly deformed or mis-developed as to be incompatible with life. So, now mom has to make a decision whether to terminate her child's life in this horrible fashion or to allow her child to live very briefly and possibly painfully. I know two women who have made the decision to let their child live in this situation. It is a decision only a mother can make. The courts and the religious do not belong in this decision.

This isn't just a bad dream. Women will lose their lives over this and the other legislation that is being presented to our newly stacked conservative court. It's time to question the motives of the people behind this.

If the partial birth abortion is never medically necessary to protect a woman's life or health, why do they not just accept the bill with the clause? According to this logic, no partial birth abortions would be performed because it would never be medically necessary to protect a woman's life or health. That should be enough. But it's not, because the bill is not about saving the lives of babies.

Anne Lamott

Thanks to Karen for this link.

As always, there are others out there who say things so much better than I do.
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-lamott10feb10,0,6836804.story?coll=la-news-comment-opinions

I'm just glad when they don't stay silent. I think her final comments summarize wo well what I feel.

"Maybe I could have presented my position in a less strident, divisive manner. But the questioner's use of the words "murder" and "babies" had put me on the defensive. Plus I am so confused about why we are still having to argue with patriarchal sentimentality about teeny weenie so-called babies — some microscopic, some no bigger than the sea monkeys we used to send away for — when real, live, already born women, many of them desperately poor, get such short shrift from the current administration.

Most women like me would much rather use our time and energy fighting to make the world safe and just and fair for the children we do have, and do love — and for the children of New Orleans and the children of Darfur. I am old and tired and menopausal and would mostly like to be left alone."

Dialogue

Thanks PBW for your 20 questions post. I didn't post a question, but the answers for handling dialogue were so helpful. So, I'm forwarding on the link PBW included about how to improve your dialogue. I do believe I will be practicing some of these exercises in the future to work on this aspect of novelling.

I'm also really happy to note that many people struggle with this aspect of writing.

The Final Four

I've been tagged! This is my first tagged meme. I feel so special. But let's not make a habbit of this. I like to think of this as a serious blog.

This meme came to me by way of Charmaine.
Four jobs you’ve had in your life: sewing machine operator, waitress, technical writer of course, and, there's no good title for this job, sewing noses on stuffed teddy bears.

Four movies you could watch over and over: Princess Bride, Priscilla, Queen of the desert, Monty Python's Holy Grail, It's a Wonderful Life.

Four places you’ve lived: Schenectady, NY, Utica, NY, Tewksbury, MA, Burlington, MA.

Four TV shows you love to watch: Daily Show w/Jon Stewart, Grey's Anatomy, CSI, The Office (Brittish version)

Four places you’ve been on vacation: London, England, TX, Napa Valley, Charleston, SC.

Four websites you visit daily: Google, http://www.dooce.com/, comcast.net (to get my email from work), ebay. Many other blogs but they don't post daily.

Four of your favorite foods: Chocolate, prime rib, anything on the menu at Cappelini's, my husbands linguini and clam sauce.

Four places you’d rather be right this minute: back in college, cuddled up in bed with a good book,

Four albums you can’t live without: Genesis -- ABACAB, The Go-Go's -- Beauty and the Beat, Fiona Apple, soundtrack from Moonstruck for those Italian dinners we have occasionally.

Four to pass this meme along to: Drat! You picked Alyn already. OK. How about remcat, Jaedin, Jen-- since she promised to post more this year, Dorinna

Winner

I did it. Late last night, I passed my word count requirement for Nano. But on verifying the word count with Nano, I found myself lacking about 2000 words. So, I got up this morning and wrote more.

Now the novel is not finished. It's only about half done. But I completed my first nano and did it with style, so I'm happy. I'll continue working on the novel in my spare time over the coming months. I might print out the whole thing and edit what I have so far. I also need to make up a name glossary. Many of the characters are referred to as Miss. C or XX through the book because I can't remember what I called them. Nano is no the time to be looking back in other files for names.

Thanks for sticking with me through this. Now, I have to shovel snow and get on with my life.