Tuesday, November 30, 2010

NaNoWriMo 2010: An Unfortunate End

Well, with 15 minutes left in the month, I'm going to sadly call my attempt over, falling short of 20% completion. I could make excuses, but honestly, if I had pushed myself, I probably would have done better.

Having said that, here are my excuses.

1) 2 Literature Classes and another class called "Research and Argumentation" which demands an 8 page research paper a week can really sap the drive and motivation to write something for myself.

2) I spent way too much time on my notes and not on actual writing. The blueprints are there, but the crew had to reschedule.

3) School. Again. School. Always. School.

4) It's hard to make progress when you have to edit what you wrote while drunk or sleepy. Or both.

So yeah. What it comes down to is school ate up all of my time. If I wasn't writing for a class, I wasn't writing at all.

What does this mean for the story?

Not a damn thing. I'm not stopping this one. I might put it on hold to work on a short story or two to submit to my school's writing journal, but Maelstrom (working title) will be finished. Probably better now that I'm not just trying to throw in as much as possible as fast as possible.

I'll keep posting the status of it as I make more progress.

And I look forward to trying again in 2011 with something brand new.

Oh, and before I forget.

NaNoWriMo 2010 Word Count: 7070 words.

Monday, November 22, 2010

Cooking with Goodwin: Steak

I know I should be working on something else. I have it open in the background, aching to be noticed. No, not my book. I am afraid I am talking about hideous schoolwork, with its opinions and soul-crushing. But if I don't do this now, I'll never get around to it.

Thanksgiving is fast approaching, where we can all spend time with our family at their house with their turkeys and fine china and place settings and, of course, grills.

Seeing as I live in an apartment and hate walking to our community grill (singular, but there's probably two), I am unable to really grill. Yet, I like steak. But without a grill, I am rendered steakless, like some sort of fish (note: fix analogy). This couldn't be further from the truth.

I will show you people how a simple student eats like a champion without having to deal with charcoal or propane or whatever. Keep reading to see how I, the amazing Goodwin, cook a ribeye with a cast-iron skillet. Fair warning, I have heard many ideas and rules on cooking steaks. I will break most of these rules.

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Cooking with Goodwin: Pumpkin Bisque

Felt like having something different today. Here's a recipe my mom came up with that tastes pretty decent (if you don't add too much spice. Like I did). It's a pumpkin bisque. Don't be put off by the "pumpkin" part, it tastes nothing like pumpkins.

Recipe and pictures follow after the break.

Monday, November 1, 2010

NaNoWriMo 2010: Day One

I started at around 1:30 AM.

I had to rename a bunch of characters as well as invent a couple, but the prologue is basically finished, save for an un-fleshed out scene that I will improve. I've also reworked the third faction to be split into two groups, depending on their careers. Sor'ran will be the ones who live in secrecy, while Mystics are the ones that interact with the other groups.

I'm going to stop for now (seeing as it's 4 in the morning) but I might add more later today.



1559 words and counting.