NaNoWriMo 2009

I must announce a possible shortage of "Folksy Musin's" in the weeks to come, for I am embarking upon a quest.

A quest that will take 30 days, from November 1 to November 30.

It is the quest of the NaNoWriMo. No, not a Japanese restaurant. It is National Novel Writer's Month, and I, my friends, am a novelist.

At least, I finished a novel.

The goal for NaNoWriMo is 50,000 words in 30 days. I have written over 5,000 so far.

But I don't like it. I don't like what I've written, and I'm not sure where I'm going. So, I have a choice, this early in the month: keep going, or start over.

I don't know what to do. I can keep plugging away at my clunker, and hope that something happens, or I can start over and hope that something happens, saving my clunker for future consideration.

My current story (AKA "clunker") is the story of a young woman who survives the 1900 Galveston Hurricane...as a vampire. She returns to the island a few years later and becomes involved in the Prohibition-era organized crime that took over the island until the 1950's. I don't know what happens after that.

If I let this one go, or put it on hold, I don't know what I'll do. I have an idea for a totally non-supernatural, regular story about a woman who runs into her high-school crush when they are in their 30's (she has grown and moved on, he hasn't, but she's the one who is miserable); I was also toying with a fictional account of Melusine von Schulenberg, mistress of George I (that one even has a title, it would be called "Maypole").

So, let me hear from you, my friends. What should I do?

(Today's post was going to be, "Has anyone seen my camera," but my mom has it. Thanks, Mom!)

Serious Hair

I was at a meeting once, years ago, with other choir directors. A band director meeting was scheduled to begin right after ours, and the band directors began coming into the room as we were chatting after our meeting. Upon sighting Sven, one of my colleagues leaned toward me and murmured, "Now that is serious hair."

Sven's hair is a huge part of our lives. Thick and lustrous, slightly wavy, and greying in that gentle, Orry-and-George way, Sven's hair is his crowning glory.

(Orry and George are the main characters in North and South, the landmark 1980's miniseries starring Patrick Swayze and James Read. Their characters age 20+ years over the course of the story, said aging indicated by grey, then white streaks at the temples only. And George grows a beard.)

When we first began dating, Sven meticulously styled his hair into a majestic style I dubbed "The Swoop." Observe:

Yes, that is us, in 1994. We had just started dating. Note that his hair is far more serious than mine.

Sven continued the swoop until he learned that most people cannot cut his hair. He has strange loops and whorls and cowlicks that cause his hair to poke up if certain strands are cut too short, so his current method of hairstyling is as follows:

1. Cut his hair far too short.

2. Complain about how short his hair is and how bad it looks.

3. Grow his hair out.

4. Complain about how long his hair is.

5. Continue to allow his hair to grow, while complaining about how long his hair is.

6. Grow a beard.

7. Complain about the beard for a while.

8. Shave the beard.

9. Go back to step 1.

It's a six-month to one-year process. Yes, it takes a lot of work, but Sven's hair's well-being is worth it.