So we are now into week two of NaNo and does the slowness of the site bug the crap out of anyone else or is that just me? And what’s with the ‘disabled author search’?

Yeah yeah they exist on donations etc but hell, it’s frustrating!!! Someone give them some money please!  I never want to hear anyone complain about the speed on my site EVER AGAIN or I will have to point them to the nano site where you can literally watch paint dry, while cooking and later eating dinner, and still the page hasnt loaded!

So anyway, since we have no way of finding authors, friends etc unless we are lucky enough to spot a post on a forum (with 2000 other people online at the same time!!!) or be lucky enough to be present when they ‘enable’ the author search function. Here’s what I propose.

The Empire of the Cat writing group has a thread over there in the Writing groups/clubs section, so mosey on over there and post something and then we can find you! And if we can find you, well you know we can add you as a buddy, and the more the merrier right?

Here’s the link to our general chat and pep talk thread. So if you read this message, then get over there and say hi. Don’t make me come looking for you, cos that site makes me cranky enough as it is! LOL

Meanwhile back at the writing course…

So I’m doing a 2nd year writing course at Uni at the moment and guess what! Here was me wondering what else to do next year (along with either 20th C Fiction or 19th C Fiction) and bam! new writing course announcement for 3rd year students!!!

New creative writing course for October 2008
Advanced Creative Writing  <— ‘advanced’ no less!

This 60 point Level 3 course will be introduced in October 2008. Advanced Creative Writing will develop students’ writing ability by widening their generic range. The course will work extensively on the forms introduced at level 2 - fiction, poetry and life writing - and supplement these with dramatic writing, showing students how to write for 3 media: stage, radio and film. By widening the range of possible outlets, students will use this richer repertoire and greater variety of approaches to develop their individual writing style and voice. The course will offer guidance on professional layouts and editorial methods, and will be a natural progression after Creative Writing.
A full course description will be available from the Courses and Qualifications website from the end of January 2008 and registration will open on 15th March 2008. <— special note for your diary, Ides of March and the Cat Mistress’s birthday!

Maybe I won’t have to read Heart of Darkness after all!

Oh yeah and about nano and tracking you all down - poke poke poke

Halloween

So it’s Halloween again.  I keep meaning to make tablet but keep forgetting to buy the ingredients, and besides I’d just eat it and watch myself expand, so it’s probably a good thing really.  (still thinking of nipping down the shops and buying the stuff this afternoon though) *grin*

I seriously doubt any kids around here will be out trick or treating, but I am not ‘holding Halloween’ as they say, so I will keep the curtains closed and the lights at the front of the house out, so as not to disappoint anyone by giving them an apple!

Book Group

Tonight is the last chance for everyone to get in their book recommendations for next year.  We’ve had quite a varied range of books suggested so far, so it’s looking good.

Next month, somehow I am hosting two book groups at the same time.  I don’t really know how that happened, but with that, and Nanowrimo, work, two assignments due for Uni, some family birthdays and just general life stuff, I have no idea how that will pan out.  The books I am hosting however are from two of my favourite  series.  Agents of Light and Darkness (Nightside series by Simon R Green) and The Choice of the Cat (Vampire Earth series by EE Knight).  I have read them both before (hence why I can say they are favourites) and I have started re-reading them again in preparation for November, just to refresh my faulty memory.  If you have never tried them or never heard of the authors, then what kind of a rock have you been living under?  lol  I keep telling people about them, and even give them as presents, so if you are on my Christmas list, you just might get one!

University

Uni is going well this year.  I was going to say much better than last year but since it’s only been a month, it might just be too early to tell.  However, I did submit my first Literature assignment ON TIME, and I got 70%.  I could have got more but I missed something stupid off my essay and didnt realise until it was too late.   My first Writing assignment is due on Friday, so I really need to get working on that!  I have to say that this course is doing wonders for my writing and inspiration.  Normally I can’t write unless I am really inspired but the techniques in this course are making me write more than I have in a long time.

Oh and I bought Virginia Woolf’s writer’s notebook which I am looking forward to reading.  It was quoted so many times in the coursebook and there were so many excerpts that I just had to read more of it.  It arrived yesterday from amazon, along with 8 other books :)  Of course I have no time at all to read these books but at least I can look longingly at them as they sit on the shelves.

Halloween Writing Contest

The entries for the Halloween Writing Contest on the site were really great.  Everyone is so talented and they have great imaginations.  All the stories/poems are very different. I suck at poetry so I am always very impressed at what other people can achieve.  It’s really hard to vote for your favourites as they all deserve a vote.  I ignored my entry because I don’t like to vote for myself, and also I didnt think it was very good.  I just rushed it out after a dream I’d had about eyeballs.  I like the idea though, so it’s something I might expand into a short story (with much better writing hopefully) later on, after NaNo of course.   Oh yeah, and if you are reading this and you haven’t voted yet, then please come show some support for our Writing Group.  Halloween Harbingers of Horror Writing Contest

The Kitties 

My little poorly kitty seems to be doing a bit better.  Poor boy, he really needs a hug.  If it’s not asthma he has to deal with, it’s urinary blockages, and now they think he has an ulcer and maybe a stomach full of hairballs :(   Anyway after three weeks of treatment he actually seems a little better.  I hate having to take him to the vet as he really doesn’t like other people, or cars, or vets.  He gets quite traumatised by the whole business, and then when he comes back the other two hate him because he smells like the Vet’s surgery.

There’s a photo above but if you are reading this in LJ, you might have to come to the blog to view it, I’m not sure if it will display in LJ or not, but it’s a photo of my lovely boy.

Apart from the maggot in my hair incident last night, I can’t think of anything else for now, so I better get on with some work.

Ok all you writers and budding writers and people who want to be budding writers, NanoWriMo starts in just over a month, so who is up for the challenge?

What is NaNoWriMo and what is the challenge?

National Novel Writing Month 1-30 November
The Challenge is to write 50,000 words starting on 1st November and finishing on or before 30th November.

So who wants to give it a try and join our Writing Group in the process?

Book Addicts Writing Group <—– clickie the linkie and let’s get planning. Oh yeah, no writing before 1st November, but we can plan, plan, plan and talk, talk, talk

Besides which you will be helping me and I really need the help lol  I have a ton of work to do and two new courses starting today, and I need to keep motivated and squeeze NaNo in too, so come on!