Wow. Writing fan fiction is much more difficult than I thought it would be. The words flew out of me for the original fiction novel. This is impossible; I keep getting hung up on little details. I've managed a whopping 675 words in two days. It could also be that all of my momentum went away once I hit 50,000. :)

I wrote a novel. :) Okay, it's a really short novel and probably in need of major editing, but hey, I did it.

It feels good to have accomplished something that major. And for the record, writing a novel (at least a first draft) is WAY easier than running a marathon. For me, anyway.

Sooooooo tired, and for no good reason.

Can anyone explain to me how I keep falling into leadership positions? I swear I don't go looking for things, but anytime I join a group, I seem to end up on the "board" or whatever within a year or two. It's almost enough to make me stop joining groups. Okay, so actually, I usually like being in charge; I just don't always know how it happens.

3,538 words (2 chapters). Must keep momentum.

My book is available on Amazon!!!


Hmmm, maybe I should have finished the PhD. This is pretty damn exciting. :)

I'm beginning to think I have an obsessive personality. Ok, maybe not just beginning to think that. :) When I was marathon training, all I thought about was running. Now all I think about is NaNoing. I guess that makes for a pretty boring blog. Sorry!

In non-NaNo news, I finally got an invite to Google Wave today. And I was so excited and opened it up, and I have no idea what I'm supposed to do now. I can see how it would be useful if everyone I knew was on it, but since I can't invite anyone, it seems pretty useless.

If anyone has 49 euros burning a hole in their pocket, my book will be available through Amazon soon (ISBN 978-3-639-08590-7). My German press sent the book for printing today, and I should have my personal copy in about a month. I think it's a little bizarre that someone could pay 49 euros to buy a short MA thesis, but hey, I'm not complaining. (I also don't expect to make anything on royalties, but maybe it will become a hot commodity!)

Speaking of publishing, I have half of my outline done for my NaNo novel, and I've started to sketch out the characters. No title yet, but that will probably come at the end. If I write something that I don't absolutely hate (that's two big ifs), I'll probably publish through SmashWords, for like $3 instead of 49 euros. There doesn't seem to be a downside to that, and maybe someone would enjoy it. Of course, I need to write it first, but I think it will help my motivation to have a goal in mind (beyond the 50,000 words). And it would be nice to work with a publisher whose website is in English. :)

Hi, I'm still alive. I had a great post about the marathon, but I lost it. I'm recovered and running again, but just 3-4 miles at a time and not every day. The next race I do will be a 10k. :)

Work is picking up again, and soon we will be in full admissions swing, and I will not emerge for months. I'm currently helping students with fellowship applications, which is pretty rewarding, although it will be more rewarding if they actually win.

I'm thinking about doing NaNoWriMo. If I do, I do not think I'll be posting my book as I go. I don't know exactly what I'm going to write about, but I've been thinking about family a lot. My great uncle (whom I'd never met) died recently, and it struck me that he was the last of that generation of my family in England. He was the last person who could have told me about my grandma as a little girl or about how my grandma and granddad met during World War II and had to get married in a hurry while my granddad was supposed to be guarding an arch in in Paris. I really miss my grandma, and I wish that I had recorded oral histories from her while she was alive. I certainly thought about it, but I always put it off, and I wasn't in Ohio all that much. I always thought I'd have more time. Anyway, my novel, if I write it, is probably going to be intensely personal, although very probably not about my grandma, since the crying might get in the way of the writing.