And without warning… #NaNoWriMo

It’s that time of the year again in which thousands of people all over the world abandon their lives, their family, their jobs and their general well being to try and complete a 50,000 word novel in 30 days.

I feel as if this year’s event really snuck up on me. I almost forgot to complete my returning-ML form. I have not given my plot much thought since about… well… Today. And, I almost forgot to organise my region’s Kick Off party. It seems that this year, truly, November couldn’t have come at a worse time. But, I take heart in the fact that I’m not the only one unprepared. A lot of students are writing exams, it’s end of the year functions, it’s school, work, terrible weather (both hot and cold depending on which hemisphere you live in) and all round end of the year depressed funk.

Nothing seems like a better idea than to ask the organisers of the event to delay it another month… or two… Or maybe three.

And, in that lies the problem that NaNoWriMo tries to solve. (For those new to this – NaNoWriMo means National Novel Writing Month). There are a lot of ‘one day novelists’ out there. People who keep telling themselves that ‘one day’ they’ll write that novel. They keep putting it out and putting it out for a more convenient time but the truth is that no time is better than NOW. You see, we are so good at delaying ourselves, that we end up delaying ourselves in definitively. Which is why an event like NaNoWriMo is so great. It forces you to take a step, to write a book and get it done quickly. The focus is not on quality, but on quantity. The more you get out, the more you can edit in December.

A friend of mine, Suzanne Lazear, managed to use her NaNoWriMo book which she eventually got published. (Innocent Darkness will be released August 2012).

Things can happen during November that can change your life. I’ve done it for two years now (this will be my third) and I’ve been surprised everytime.

So, if you are a ‘one day’ novelist then maybe, it’s worth giving NaNoWriMo a chance. Not only will you get to write that book, but you’ll meet people such as yourself and find out exactly how hard/easy it is to write that book that you’ve been dreaming of for so long.

Of Aliens and Pigeons.

If you’ve been following my tweets you’d have noticed that there’s been a bit of an extraterrestrial trend in them. I’ll confess that I’ve had alien invasion on the brain (in no small thanks to Mass Effect 3 marketing – I present to you exhibit A).

Now, my gaming addiction aside, there’s actually a little bit more to this than meets the eye. The weekend before last I was dragged to a company function in which we treated our customers (and their partners) to a night away at a local game lodge. One of the activities presented there was Lazer Clay Pigeon Shooting. Although not nearly as fun as the real thing (which I did a lot in England), it was an interesting activity to observe and also, to see what my colleagues were capable of.

The ‘Alien’ theme took seed in my mind when I watched a colleague of mine miss pigeon after pigeon and after her fifth failed attempt at hitting the poor defenceless disk I found myself saying out loud:

“You know, when the Aliens come you’ll be amongst the first to go. I’m not hiding with you.”

The observers had a good laugh about it (though carefully when they saw me take the lead in the women’s shooting department and then finally almost win the shooting competition against the one client who had been shooting competitive for years…) and I got so distracted by the work that I let the subject drop.

It was only last week as I was driving from my one client to the other (through a desolate piece of farm land) that the theme came back. As I was driving around fairly early – there was nobody out on the roads. I found myself looking around and thinking:

I wonder if I’d notice if Aliens came and took everybody. Would they notice me? Would they not think to look in this god forsaken piece of land?
Maybe? Maybe not?

And of course, then I found myself thinking: What would I do if the Aliens came?

I’ve been amusing myself with this for the past week and although it’s not the most elaborate brainwave that I’ve had in the past couple of months, its shown me that I’m on track again, that what ever silence had trapped my mind in the past couple of months had dissipated and allowed space for more ‘silly’ thoughts. When I was in England I had reached a point in my life there that I had thought enough, that place where I had turned over every thought in my mind so many times that I was willing to just put it all on the shelf and let them sort themselves out.

I think (perhaps because of the extensive driving that I’ve been doing the past couple of weeks) that I’ve reached that point again. And, it’s a good point to be at.

So, hopefully you’ll be seeing more of me again. I’m hoping to continue back into some semblance of a routine and also log my writing progress (which I’ve been neglecting terribly).

NaNoWriMo is around the corner as well and yours truly will be competing again. I’m not shooting for the 100k words that I did last year. No, this time I’m hoping to accomplish something (And see a fellow Tweeter StillDormant in a dress) and to finally start working on all my outstanding projects again.

So watch this space and – if you see an Alien, call me.

I can shoot the hell out of it…

When We Stand Together

I’ve had a pretty rough weekend, which has been a focus point and summary of what my life’s been like really. One unexpected disaster on top of another, being pulled in a million directions at once without me actually wanting to go in any of them.

And, worry. Fear of the future. All mixed together into one big mess of what has become my life. Yet, through it all – I’ve survived. My partner’s been super, bringing me to realize why we as people need to be more than one. Yes, I can focus on my own, I can get through things without the help of others. But it will be harder and I won’t necessarily be a better person at the end of the day. My partner became my moral compass this weekend, my guide and I think that I’m starting to learn that sometimes, it’s not bad to follow other people’s advice. Especially those who care for you. Deeply.

Another light this weekend has been the release of Nickleback’s new single – When We Stand Together. I have a long history with Nickelback the band (not the man naturally, lol). I started listening to them when I was still dating my first boyfriend and the music has followed me through my life. Some of their songs were amazing, others not so much. Like moments in my life really.

Yet, when I look at this new song – I can truly say that things have become better with time – that their music has just become better and that you must never think that the moment in which you are in now (or the song that you are listening to) is the best that there is because it isn’t. So, listening to When We Stand Together, I find myself hoping that the best is yet to come – and that life will improve.

And become amazing.

And the Winner is…

And adding onto my previous post I can now happily announce that the winner of Mass Effect 3′s default FemShep is our favorite GINGERSHEP!
After a week long voting campaign the red headed FemShep beat her competion like a red headed stepchild, doing all of us gingers proud. In March 2012, the galaxy will be saved by a pale faced, green eyed beauty. FemShep will appear on the Collector’s Edition of the game and will appear in her first trailer of the series. I feel that it is high time that Bioware gives her some credit. They say that only about 18% of all players play as FemShep, but I find myself unable to believe that statistics. I think there are many more out there.
The statistics looked as follows: GingerShep won with 19,576 votes, with the black haired femshep coming in at 12,838 votes. Dirty blond/brunette Shep had a meagre 5,574 and our blond pop star had a mimiscule 5,436.

Well done GingerShep, well done.

Mass Effect 3 – The Battle against the Blond

There are many ways to deal with awkward absences and one of them is to pretend that they never happened. So, for now – we’ll pretend that I have not abandoned you for over 60 days and I’ll write a review. As it is a Thursday.

The past month has seen quite an interesting movement in the Mass Effect universe. After Bioware declared that they were going to move its release on a few months, they’ve managed to keep themselves in the news through releasing trailers, statements and a beauty pageant for their award winning series.

Beauty pageant you ask, for a first person shooter? Why – yes.

Using the social Evil known as Facebook, Bioware posted six pictures of the different female leads, fondly known as FemShep (short for Female Shepard) to her fans on their website and asked viewers to vote for their favourite. The logic behind this was simple: Ever since the release of Mass Effect 1, FemShep has been ignored by her creators despite the fact that Jennifer Hale did an absolutely amazing job with the voice acting. (For myself, I always choose FemShep because there’s something… Charming about a female lead saving the galaxy. I’m tired of big, brawny soldiers running around and being heroes. Us girls can do it to). This time round, they decided that FemShep was not only going to get her own trailer (the video kind naturally) but also a marketing campaigne. And the fans could choose what she looked like. It sparked a bit of an outcry in the community. We had a default FemShep. She was a red head, with green eyes, shortish hair but not butch, and a lovely voice. But, we were game to see what Bioware had install for us.

The results were atrocious. I had gone to the page, looked at the candidates and thought: WHAT THE HELL?! I left without voting – I didn’t even want to get involved in that mess and my heart sank several levels when I realized that there was a chance Bioware might just muck this up. Eventually FemShep 5 won, a blond with luscious long hair.
And – there was a riot in the fandom.

Others, like myself – didn’t want a blond Shepard. Most of our Shepards weren’t blond. Mine was a red head. Most of my friends’ were red heads. Most of the fan fiction that I read had red heads in them. Red was the colour – and it was not there.

Luckily, Bioware seemed to have realised its mistake (after several articles like this one: http://n4g.com/news/813253/mass-effect-3-death-to-blonde-shepard) and gave us a second round. And, this time – we could choose our colour. Naturally, I leapt in there immediately and showed my support to my fellow ginger ninja. And, it seems that – to date – the red head is winning, now by almost 5000 votes. The blonds are lagging FAR behind and the only one that is mild competition (and a pretty good second I should add) is brunette.

Seems that I’m not the only one who doesn’t want a blond to run around and save the galaxy.

And, don’t get me wrong – it’s not that I have anything against blonds, (we all loved Pamela Anderson in Baywatch), but I like to know that writers, creators and all of the other story tellers out there are sticking to what they started. If you give clients a specific image, don’t change it halfway through.

Stick to what we know and love.

Stick to a red headed Shepard. (To cast your vote, feel free to visit the voting page on Facebook.)