Two more days to sign up for NaNo

From NaNo Website

That’s right - national novel writing month is upon us again.  For those of you who want to give it a whirl, you have two more days to sign up.  NaNo starts on November 1.  All it takes is a committed attitude and lots of determination.  There is nothing to lose and everything to gain.  So set your goal and work towards it.  You just may get the rough draft of a novel started by the end of November.  Good luck everyone!  Here’s the link:

http://nanowrimo.org/

Book Review of Far Out by Rev Audie Derryberry

From Amazon

The reason I downloaded this book and read it is two-fold.  I follow a blog that listed this book as a free download, so I decided to read it because I enjoy this author’s blog posts.  In addition, this is a new author and this is his first book so he deserves a chance.  It’s a short and easy read.

In my opinion, this book would probably be of most interest to people who like science fiction, space travel, and the study of Christianity.  The book is centered on a family living in the southern California desert.  The father, James, is a retired astronaut, but is very interested in space, our origins and where we’re going.  After his retirement, he builds his own time travel machine in a laboratory he constructs at home.

After everything is ready, he travels back in time and then forward in time to see what will happen to Earth.  According to our main character, James, everything will end more-or-less in 2018, which is 70 years after the last generation born when Israel became a nation in 1948.  The story is based on Bible scripture and the author’s interpretation of that scripture.

This book is well written, but isn’t the type of literature I usually read.  However, if you’re into Bible scriptures and space books you’ll enjoy this.  It would be a fun way to get your Christian message across to younger readers.  The author says he wrote it to provoke thought and offers the scripture the book is based on free of charge through email at the back of the book.

NANO is around the corner



From NANO website

 

November is National Novel Writing Month.  If you’re thinking about participating in this for 2013, it’s time to get your act together.

 Last year was the first time I entered the NANO and I surprised myself at how easy it was to write 50,000 words in a month.  It may seem daunting to you now, but if you prepare before Nov 1, which is allowed (plot, character profiles, notes for scenes, etc) you’ll be ready to hit the floor (keyboard) running on November 1.  You need to write about 1666 words a day every day in November to reach the goal, but you’ll find it’s easy to write more than that if you stay focused and don’t get too distracted.  If you’re on a roll, keep going.

 The whole purpose here is to get you writing.  There are no prizes, but you’ll get to post a nice winner’s badge on your website or blog if you win (write 50,000 words).

 It’s worth giving it a try.  Remember the word CAN'T isn’t in your vocabulary.  And we’re only talking about a rough first draft here, not a finished ready-to-be-published book.  Turn your editor off and concentrate on writing only.  You can finish and polish later.

 Stock up on plenty of snacks and easy to cook meals, so you can keep writing.  Turn off distractions and let your imagination go.

 To sign up go here:  http://nanowrimo.org/

 There are links to lots of pep talks, tips, and writers boards.

 Good luck!

Tuning out for a while was great



Clipart

I’ve been away visiting family for the last couple of weeks.  I can’t express how great it was to be away from TV, radio, and any other news.  Frankly, I didn’t have time for it and I get plenty of that in my normal life at home.  I don’t get to visit family often and the time went by way too fast.

 

Tom Clancy - Wikipedia

 

Of course, life went on while I was away.  I came back to find out author Tom Clancy had died.  This was a shock.  He was only sixty-six and made number one on the New York Times bestseller list sixteen times during his writing career.

 

Part of the government had shut down and they’ve closed the national parks, among other things, which doesn’t surprise me.  There are protests here with people crossing the barricades to go hiking anyway.  The government website has crashed for the stupid Obama care we’re supposed to sign up for, if we have no insurance.  Again, this is no surprise.  I don’t want to get into a political rant here, but the government is so incompetent.  Did any of you know that on page 57 of this healthcare bill, that no one bothered to read before voting into law, states that the government gets control of your bank account when you sign up for Obama care?  That right there is good reason not to comply.

 

Government people cannot live within their means.  They should learn how, just like the rest of us.  Okay…on to other things.

 

Gas prices are a lot cheaper in Texas than they are here.  Wow!  I was stunned over that because sometimes it varied by a dollar a gallon.

 

When I stepped off the shuttle from Vegas, it was freezing cold, well 65 with a stiff north wind blowing.  I should have stayed in Texas where it was about 85.

Tarantula - clipart



 

On another note, we’ve seen a lot of tarantulas here lately.  This is surprising since we’ve lived here for nine years and have only seen one or two during that entire time.  I found out why in this weird news article, if anyone cares to read that.  Apparently, we have a bunch of lust-filled spiders this year.  Hmmm…

 

Please see my other blog here for more details and pictures from my trip.