Let the 30 days of NON-STOP writing begin! (At least for me it's time!) :o)

Alright Eastern Time zone NaNoWriMo's blast off in 5... 4... 3... 2... 1!! START WRITING!! :)

Less than FIVE hours to the start of NaNoWriMo 2009!!! :o)

Cast of characters for NaNoWriMo 2009 (updated)

Well my characters are almost all accounted for... now I just need to start coming up with some destinations for when all have climbed aboard.

btw... here are those who have "signed up"... so far... There are just a few whom I'm waiting for confirmation to use their screen name. So they're not on the list just yet.

Maegan; Dio; KittyChile; Spooked Dreamscape (a dragon, in case you didn't know!); Caffienated Jo (may just call her Caffi Jo!); Cali the Quill & Ink; Passion Wolf; Stilly Bee; Nomie Panda & her imaginary friend Jessifer; MystyDragons & her Pixies; & the Warrior Princess (you all know her as HeartsofParis)... & Now we have Gina Bean (my sister!) :)

I have some ideas for the destinations... country wise that is (ie: Africa) but will need some town / village / city names. Any ideas??

Please feel free to add your ideas below... if I use it, I'll be sure to give you (your screen name that is.) in my "credits".

Thanks to all who have stepped forward & agreed to lend their screen name in this project of mine! It's been a huge help & relief to know I should not have a problem meeting the 50,000 (or more) words in 30 days challenge!! :o)
*******************
Guess I should have read my other messages before I started to type this... seems that KittyChile has given me a list of town names. HOWEVER... don't let the stop YOU from giving some suggestions.

Just remember can't be any thing that would be in someone else's novel. (Ie: Hogwarts)

If you think of something... let me know what country it maybe in.

Thanks again all!!! :)

************
Due to copyright... I had to change the name of our dear friend Dory Panda. She will be known as Nomie Panda in the story. (Mutually agreed upon between the two of us.)

I'm down for the count... Meaning... G'd NIGHT! :)

YOUR name on my list.... (updated 10-31.. TWICE!) ;)

Re-posting this from a quick note... in hopes to get ya all to look at it... (sorry for the duplication.)

In case you've missed my other blogs / notes... I finally have an idea for my novel for the NaNoWriMo... but I need some character names... & below is the list I'm looking at.

Please keep in mind I will NOT be using any of your real life details (except maybe the country you live in as a destination stop)... This will be strictly a work of fiction. If you want more information, please send me a PM. Thanks :)

(You think 12 characters is too many???) I may not need all of these... but these are the ones I think I can really get a good story lines with!! :o)

Maegan - ON BOARD ... might be the Train Engineer??

Dio & Flagon - ON BOARD - (already ok'd via the THIS BLOG.) <~~~ Go there in case you want more info.

KittyChile - ON BOARD... & will be defending the Pixies!! ;o)

Spooked Dreamscape (can't have Kitty without her Spooked! *grins*) ??????

Caffienated Jo - ON BOARD!!!

Cali the Quill & Ink - ON BOARD!!! (She knows who she is! & this one is OK'd!!)

Passion Wolf - just received a text confirmation... she's ON BOARD!! :o)

Stilly Bee - ON BOARD! - buzz buzzz

Buggal the Lady Bug - I have a great idea for Buggal... hope she will join us!!! ;o)

Dory Panda - ON BOARD - & will bring along some friends too, maybe! :)

Emma Monkey ?????

MystyDragons & her Pixies - ON BOARD - & there will be NO eating of the pixies!!! :o)

Warrior Princess (you all know her as HeartsofParis) - ON BOARD! Thank you! :)

Actually make that at baker's dozen of characters... because I'll need my name, Lady Harley, in it too, as the conductor of the train!!! ;o)

Now... it's hurry up & wait until 12:01a Nov 1st!!! LOL

(btw... You can either reply below OR send me a PM to ok or veto your user id.)

Oh wow... this is coming together quite nicely!!! *BIG grins!*

NaNoWriMo update... (just a quick note) ;)

Ok, in just less than 2 hours I have had the inspiration hit me, like a ton of bricks, for my novel this year...

I, now, think I'll have NO PROBLEM whatsoever meeting this challenge!

The ideas are just pouring out of my little brain... (I mean the brain that's too big for my head! LOL... yes that's a reference to my Chiari Malformation.) ;o)

Anyway... stay tuned... more updates to follow...

Let the COUNTDOWN begin!!!

I just LOVE IT when inspirations hits!!! *grins*

Now that I have the characters in mind... just need some destinations!

May I use your user name for my book?? (See below) Is 12 characters too many??? (UPDATED!!!)

So much for that idea!

Yes, I'm talking about NaNoWriMo again...

I thought I had a great idea of what to do... but then I wanted to be sure that I could do a piece of Non-Fiction / a sort of auto-biography...

Then I read this:
Write a novel. We define a novel as a lengthy work of fiction. If you consider the book you're writing a novel, we consider it a novel too!

Well, that idea is thrown out the window & back to square 1...

So, again I ask... Anyone have any ideas for me???

Wait... STOP THE TRAIN!!! Something just hit my train of thought here...

But I guess I'll need all of you to give your ok on this... Well, a few of you at least...

If I were to write something using your user id... would you mind? (Of course I'd give you credit & a thank you in the book.)

It would be one of them type of stories where I would use the names and / or pictures to base the character upon. Meaning, I would NOT use any of your real life details!!! ;o)

For example: KittyChile would be a kitten... then there's Passion Wolf, she'd be... a wolf. (Big stretch there.) and etc... LOL.

Ok... with that said... I best get to thinking of a plot for these characters.

In the meantime... keep an eye on this blog for updates of how it's going.

~~ TOODLES ~~

Hubby is taking me out for supper (WooHoo)... so I do not have to be here while the neighborhood is filled with kids trick or treating!!! :o)

FOUR days until NaNoWriMo starts

Writers on your mark... only FOUR days away from the start of the National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo)!

In case you don't know, that's the challenge to write a 50,000+ word novel in 30 days. That averages out to over 1600 words per day; over 138 words per hour & 2.3 words per minute. Now that's doesn't sound so hard, does it???

It does if you don't have a plot idea in your head at this moment... I have NOT a single one!!!

But my main concern is I may have another episode of my backwards typing... Yeah, I know... the spelling / context of the words don't count, it's the quantity they're after.

Only thing is I hope that when I have my sister read & proof this one that it's not sooooo far off that she may not get the story. LOL.

Anyway... Get stocked up now on all the snacks & prepare to spend a few late nights typing up a storm.

Just remember, if you're going to do this challenge to take many breaks so as not to get stiff! (Mainly saying this for myself.) ;o)

On you marks... Get set.... WAIT... it's not November 1st yet!!! *giggles*

(Yes that's my "badge" from last year. And to think, I started 11 days late last year!!)
(Title corrected... I forgot there are 31 days in Oct! LOL!)

I have a Dr's appoint tomorrow afternoon. Just a follow up from when I was in the ER. With that said... ~ NIGHT! ~

YES I am a Chiarian

What is that you ask? Well, it's someone who has the birth defected called Chiari (pronounced: KEY-are-EE) Malformation. (Also referred to as Arnold Chiari Malformation.) See this link for more information.

It is something serious if you have the symptoms like I do. However there are some who live symptom free all their life & never know they have it unless they had an MRI of the brain.

I'm not going to go much into this, because I've talked about it many times... I just wanted to post a little about what happened the other day that sent me to the ER. (Mainly typing this for record... & for those who were worried. Not trying to gain sympathy or anything like that... This is my blog & I consider it my journal. I say this because of a problem a friend went through about a year ago when she blogged about some of her health issues. I can't deal with the drama of anything like that... So, please don't get on me about posting this blog. Again, it's my blog / journal.) Now with that said (& I hope I won't have to say it again. LOL)... Here's what's going on...

It was 3a Friday & I started have a more intense odd type of headache. My hand was shaking & then by the time I went to the bathroom & came back to the couch I started to convulse... I was aware enough to holler up at my hubby & he came down here... after several calls to my mom & sister, he then realized it was not something I've had done before... & especially when I started talking nonsense... some words were backwards... (ie: saying ON ON ON to my dog who was in my face when I was trying to say NO NO NO go away.)

Then I would sort of pass out... probably from the exhaustion of the shaking... but would come to & would be a little more coherent enough to tell my hubby I had NOT taken anything different that I have been. This happened a few times... finally the Rescue squad came & after accessing the situation, they tried to get me to walk out to the ambulance... but my legs gave out... So they had to carry me to the gurney which was in our computer room. On the 2 minute ride to the hospital I passed out a couple times & the EMT in the back with me did that knuckle thing to my chest... TWICE. Man that hurt... but it brought me back.

The thing is, before he did it he would lift my arm up & let it drop to see if I was responsive. How do I know it? Because... my brain was actually conscious... (& I'm just now remembering this by the way.) But I could not respond by resisting. To me that was just plain odd. & Yes, I'll be bringing it up to my hubby & to the doctors.

So, we get to the hospital... & I really think they thought I was on drugs or something because they sure were not acting as if there was a problem. As my hubby pointed out to me... once they got the blood test results back, I'm sure they're feeling awful for thinking that way. At least I know I would be.

Ok... so I'm there & my hubby is on his way... so they're asking me questions like are you having a seizure? Uh... what? Isn't that what you're supposed to determine. I guess they were trying to see if I could answer.

Well finally my hubby arrives & tells them about what Chiari Malformation is (from what he knows). They don't seem to care... but still they gave me a shot of Adavan (or Atavan?) & sent me for a CAT scan.

At this point I'm not shaking nearly as bad... but they got my head strapped down & a couple moments later was wheeling me back to my ER room. (Oh, they tried to get me to scoot onto the scan table & my legs just wouldn't move. UGH!)

Anyway, the CAT scan & blood tests came back normal, so they say & they sent me home. (Thankfully we were not there very long. It must have been a slow day for them.) I still think they're thinking I was nuts or something.

I finally fell asleep about 10 to 20 minutes upon getting home. Hubby tried to go to work while I was sleeping, but they "kicked him out" LOL... I guess basically saying go home to be with your wife. However, he brought home the laptop & did some work & they said to call in his time & they will pay him for it. To me that's great!

I woke up when he got home after Noon because the dogs were barking. Then didn't go back to sleep 'til about Midnight.

Well things don't end there... & maybe a few of you noticed it when I posted the quick note about my trip to the ER... Yesterday when I woke up after only about 4 hours sleep, I typed up some emails to family & friends... & the quick note... & it was brought to my attention a few of my words were backwards. (ie: tib instead of BIT or 'ko' instead of 'ok'.)

It's just another symptom in the long line of other ones with this condition. What do you expect when something is blocking the fluid / blood that the brain & the rest of your body needs???... Of course there's going to be problems.

What's so frustrating is that, as you all know, I'm a writer (at least I'm trying to be!) & with my yearly challenge coming up next month (50,000 words in a month)... well... all I can say is ... ARGGGHHH!!! well, that & ... I sure hope that this particular symptom will not rear it's ugly head anymore!!

At this point I am catching some (hopefully all) of my mistakes... but if it's bad enough I may not be able to write this year. & For me... that is completely depressing. Because that's the only thing I can really do right now... that & play games on Facebook. (giggles). (I've even stopped playing Second Life for the most part because it was stressing me out too much. Long story for another day.)

So, anyway... for now, I'm doing ok... beside still battling one major headache... I have to keep my stress as low as possible & stay relaxed. (Another reason I'm thinking about skipping the NaNoWriMo challenge this year. We'll see.)

As long as my stress is low & I don't get over heated (physically) it should keep the pressure off my brain to where I can function. Other wise, I may end up in the ER again... & honestly... we do NOT have the money for that... (nor the insurance!)

Alright, alright... I've gone on long enough about this. Again, if you want to know more about this rare birth defect, please check out The Chiari Center Foundation's (TCCF) website. (It's new but still they have quite a bit of information up already!)

OH... wait... I posted a note awhile back about having new found hope... I almost forgot to tell you... I spoke to a lawyer & he said he thinks we can win my case for Social Security Disability... Then I talked to the gal who founded TCCF & she has put me in touch with a specialist in PA... & she gave me a lot of hope in the fact that she had the surgery & is now completely SYMPTOM FREE!!! So... again, I have HOPE that my life can become active again... not a guarantee... but it's good news!!

Maybe Social Security will look at that aspect & see that I may not be on it long & finally approve me. If they do... the back money I would get WILL be going to getting the surgery! (Oh, I can't believe that I'm actually saying I want a surgery... well, not really... but if it will help get rid of these headaches & give me back my life... Yeah, I'll do it!!!)

Alrighty... I believe I've gone on long enough. Take care all & don't worry, I'll keep you all informed.

btw... if you're on Facebook & want to keep in touch... send me a PM & I'll consider adding you to my real name page. If you're one whom I'm not quite familiar with, I can add you to my other page that I set up with my web name. There are a few of you that I won't mind having you connected on my main page... but please don't take offense if I give you the other... I think you'll know. Also, I've not sent out invites to those who I will accept, because I didn't want to bug you. Hope that make sense.

Hope all this make sense... & Please let me know if it doesn't (or anything else in the future)... I do need to be made aware of when I'm NOT making sense. I need to keep record of this stuff.

Okie dokie... that's all for now... *tosses some chocolate out to the masses & gives you all a big HUG!!* Take care! ~ Toodles! ~

(P.S. The blog picture is the logo & ribbon from TCCF. The "awareness ribbon" can be purchased on the site. See link above!)

Had an odd episode that landed me in the ER today. I'm ok. Did find out other Chiarians have had the same problem. Again I'm ok!

TimTams return in 8 days! (Officially) Will my store have them by then? HOPE SO!!!

15 more days, until the return of TimTams!! WOOT! ;)

My hope has been renewed!! (Long story, will explain later!)