I did it.

Writing Furiously!

Hello again to my friends and supporters!

I am thrilled to announce that I’ve collected my NaNoWriMo fundraising goal in just one short week. Next Saturday night, I will be tapping away at my laptop along with a big room full of other ambitious novelists at The Night of Writing Dangerously.

Thanks so much for all you’ve done to help me get there.

If you did not get a chance to make your donation to The Office Of Light and Letters, you still can at this link.


But since I've made my goal, it’s also okay to just hang on to your money or send it to another worthy cause. There’s still plenty of opportunity to support me and cheer on my writing campaign.

For example, you can call me or write me an email congratulating me for making my daily and weekly word count goals.

That’s right, just nine short days of November have passed and already, I have written the first 15,000 words of my novel. Before you trouble yourself with the math, yes, that is up to par with the daily quota. And if you do want to do the math, my goal is about 1,670 words a day. Multiply that number by the day’s date to figure where I should be on any given day.

If you’d like to follow my daily progress, you can do so at this link.

From there you can also learn a little something about what I’m writing and the NaNoWriMo experience. Feel free to check up on me and make sure I’m sticking with my daily word count goals. I respond very well to peer pressure.

That’s it. Thanks again for your support.

Yours with laptop in lap,
Kristy

I don't know what else to say . . .

We Interrupt Our Usual Friday Program For This Word From Our Sponsor

Dearest blog readers-
Many of you have already heard that I am participating in this year’s National Novel Writing Month. NaNoWriMo is a wonderful and crazy Internet gathering of thousands of writers worldwide to support one another through 30 wild November days of artistic productivity. It’s actually a contest, and everyone who writes at least 50,000 words wins!
That comes to about 6 pages a day—or 10 pages if I don’t write on weekends. Good thing I’ve been thinking about this novel for years! No matter how you divide the word counts, it is an ambitious endeavor, and I am enthusiastic. I am also proud to count myself among the supporters of the fantastic organization that administrates NaNoWriMo, The Office of Letters and Light.
The Office of Letters and Light teaches kids and adults to write the books they want to read; draft the movies and plays they want to see; and build the kinds of neighborhoods in which they want to live. Their programs are web-enabled challenges with vibrant real-world components, designed to help participants become active doers in their personal lives and in the lives of their communities.
Can you imagine a nonprofit mission better aligned with my own life’s mission? For five years I have been building a business based on my passion for the writing process and my belief that we are all writers with something valuable to say. Letters and Light believes in ambitious acts of the imagination, and so do I. That’s why I’m a writer and why I choose to work with writers.
So, I am appealing to you because by reading my blog, you have already offered me your emotional support in my recent artistic outpourings. I am participating in NaNoWriMo’s fundraising event, The Night of Writing Dangerously, a 5-hour write-a-thon, and I need sponsors!
My fundraising goal is modest: $200. That’s just $10 from 20 people or $20 from 10 people. What do you think? Can you handle $15? Go make your donation now!

Poison!

It's a humbling experience, accidentally poisoning yourself.

I've been doing it for years, come to think of it, smoking at least a pack a day of cigarettes for a solid fifteen years. And I do like me a glass of wine or six on a Saturday night. And let's not even talk about the illicit substance list. Poison, all of it, I tell ya. And I get along well with these poisons. I really really do.

I've been sick for a week. Influenza, darling. Hacking and sneezing and snoring and coughing. Phlegm in my head and chest. Shivers and fevers. Aches. Pains. Exhaustion.

The last time I had a cold--and the time before that--I experimented with an herb called black cohosh with dazzling results. The stuff tastes like gravel, but it really breaks up the snotty phlegm and gets it moving on out of the old body.

The cold hit me full force on Wednesday. I spent Thursday and Friday in bed. Saturday, I was determined to attend a friend's birthday party and so went on a little adventure. That night, after an exhausting trip to a birthday party in the outdoors and feeling much worse for it, I realized I'd forgotten all about my secret weapon, the black cohosh.

Immediately, I brewed up a strong pot of the bitterest herb I know and drank it down. This stuff really is especially good at the tail end of a cold--when you think you should be better but you are still suffering. It chases away the last remaining colonies of phlegm and virus.

Have I ever mentioned on this blog that I am allergic to avocado? It's sad, heartbreaking, really, especially for a California girl. My allergic reaction is downright violent. I am down on my knees, begging for my life for an hour or so with horrible stomach cramps. And then I puke it all out, with gusto.

I was poisoned unwittingly once at my local raw food cafe. This place, beloved by many, offers organic, vegan, raw, and otherwise thoroughly trendy and wholesome dining treats with fantastic names. The way the menu reads, you end up sounding like a new age crazy whether you want to or not. For instance, if you wanted, say a mixed green salad with carrots, beets, tomatoes, sprouts, Brazil nut "Parmesan," and choice of dressing, you would say to your waitperson, "I am Satisfied." More in the market for nachos made from spicy sunflower unfried beans? Tell your server, "I am Honoring." And so on.

A girl who's allergic to avocado has to be careful in a place like this. There are bits of avocado lurking everywhere. "I am Passionate," I told the tall, sunshiny hippie girl taking my order. "You are Passionate," she exuded when she brought me my sundried tomato, olive tapenade, and basil pizza.

They must use avocado in their pizza dough, for I was one hell of a violent avocado reaction exactly 30 minutes after paying my check. I was down on my knees, cramping like an idiot, and crying for mercy, "I am Poisoned!"

But that is a story about somebody else poisoning me. Yesterday, it was all my fault.

I awoke feeling somewhat recovered from the flu. I brewed up my fifth or sixth strong pot of bitter yet satisfying black cohosh tea. I prepared for a morning meeting, despite a lingering headache. About halfway through the meeting I finished my tea. Soon after, I gave in to the pain in my head and took a couple ibuprofen tablets. I had a cookie.

And then WHAM! I puked my brains out--not like a controlled, teenage bulimic puke, but a violent, "I am poisoned," convulsing, shaking, desperate retching.

Was it the pain killers? The cookie? I was beside myself to be suffering a new symptom on my first big day out from under the spell of influenza. I cried. I went back to bed. I slept the sleep of the dead for five solid hours.

And when I awoke, I went to my witchy books bookshelf, and I read this about black cohosh:

Black cohosh is a powerful herb . . . . Large doses of this herb can cause symptoms of poisoning. It is very beneficial so don't be afraid of it. Do remember not to take it for more than three days in a row.