If I counted everything right, this post recounts weeks forty-four to forty-eight. Huzzah!
NaNoWriMo 2022
Let’s start with the reason I didn’t blog for the month of November – National Novel Writing Month! Even though I was challenged to write a non-romance novel, I decided to take the “easy” route and write the romance story in my head at the time because it had to be done. Some stats, for the curious:
- title: IKAW LANG, MI AMOR (Only You, My Love)
The characters are Filipina and Spanish, and even though the story is in English (because of course I am not fluent in either Tagalog or Spanish), I thought I’d go for a non-English titles to reflect the characters’ backgrounds. - word count: 55,531 words
I hit the 50,000 word count on November 25th but the story needed more words to be complete. If I actually edit the story, I’ll probably add more words because towards the end, I skipped writing some scenes that I think would benefit the story. - daily word count average: 1791 words (according to the stat page of my NaNoWriMo profile)
After the first day, that average word count is probably accurate. I somehow wrote over 4k words but after that I always tried for 2k a day until near the end. - muse: Miguel Ángel Silvestre
I think that one is not a surprise if you’ve been paying attention.
I really enjoyed writing the story but I know it has flaws. As always with my novels, I would like to go back and clean it up and maybe even get it presentable for publishing. I’m actually letting someone read it! I’m excited and nervous about what might be said. I hope it’s not utter crap to fresh eyes but I wouldn’t be surprised. Fingers crossed!
SOCIAL MEDIA AND OTHER HOOPLA
For awhile it felt like Twitter was going to go down in a ball of fire but I think at this point it’s just going to whimper into the ether. I still post there everyday (let’s go Wordle domination!) but after signing up for different places online and starting the curation of new follows, I realize that I derive little joy from Twitter. When my friends post, it’s amazing but I have been following accounts that seem to insist on sharing the doldrums of life around us. Don’t get me wrong, that stuff needs to be shared and understood. I’m just so TIRED of seeing all of it. I told myself I should keep following those accounts to be informed but you know what, I’m done with it. In recent days, I’ve unfollowed a few accounts that are quite informative but just such a downer on the soul. I’m going to continue posting my inconsequential tweets until I can’t. And honestly, if Twitter does burn to the ground, I’ll be sad and glad for the memories but also relieved.
So what am I trying out? Well…
- Mastodon – I have two accounts right now, one on a big instance (https://mastodon.social/@kiari) and another on a smaller one (https://twit.social/@valerie). I follow a lot of the same people on both but there are some differences. I like Mastodon as it reminds me of days long ago in the social media realm where PEOPLE shared ideas as opposed to companies or corporations. It’s been a much more pleasant experience for me there and I’m sharing in little bites for now since I’m not sure which instance I want to be my main one…
- Post. – I signed up for Post and was on the waiting list and somehow got in! (https://post.news/walelia) I’ve only posted once so far as I’m not sure how I want to use it. There has been some criticism about this particular social media network and I wonder if it’s because those complaining have to wait to get it. It’s very news oriented and I think they’re trying to position themselves as a place to find legitimate news. So far I’m finding that at this point, I’m more a consumer of what’s posted as opposed to being a contributor. There is no app at this point– the site runs on your browser so you can access it from your computer or your phone. On the phone, you’d have to make it a bookmark to your home screen, if you’d like for it to act like an app. It’s pretty straight forward.
- Hive Social – This one is an app only social network, which makes it a red-flag for me. I like to be able to consume my social media on my computer as well as my phone or tablet. This one had some security issues recently as well so who knows how long it will last.
TV & MOVIES
Wednesday [Netflix] – Very much enjoyed this show. I usually like more adult fare but give me a supernatural bend and I’m very open to it. This was a fun show to watch. Wednesday Addams is such a fun character and I just loved watching her. I would definitely recommend it…
Bullet Train [Netflix] – This one got to Netflix pretty quick, eh? Super violent but I liked it. I thought it was very entertaining.
Andor [Disney+] – Look, I love The Mandalorian but damn, Andor was amazing from start to finish and I am so glad that there’s going to be a second season. I went into this show with that thought I’m sure lots of people had– why do we need to know this story, this character? I had that thought when Obi-Wan Kenobi was released and in the end, I thought it was a good series but served more as fluff than anything. Andor, on the other hand, presented us with this character we know and expanded the world around him. Yes, it’s his journey but so too the characters around him. I found the series utterly compelling and intriguing. It took the things I didn’t care about from the prequel series (politics and the like) and made those things reasons for the actions of the characters. It’s such a well done show. Can’t wait to see what’s next in that world…
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever [in theatres] – This was really a wonderful movie. There was such grief throughout but also, finally, hope. I saw this on opening day and yes, I cried. I haven’t gone back to the theatre to watch it again but once I will end up buying it on disc. I like it that much. If you loved the first Black Panther, then you’ve already seen its sequel.
Willow [Disney+] – We started watching this one yesterday, after watching the original movie. I remember the movie as one of the ones playing at the movie theatre when I first started working there. As we were watching the movie last night, I realized that I’d never watched it all the way through. The tv show is interesting enough to keep watching and so it goes.
RANDOM MUSINGS
- Dusted off my resumé and my intro letter, updated my references, then applied. Let’s see what happens…
- We finally had some rain these past couple of days. And it’s sweater weather! I know it won’t last too long so I am definitely enjoying it.
- We bought a new truck! It’s a 2023 Toyota Tacoma. I’m not the primary driver so most I can say is it’s comfortable riding in the passenger seat.
- We watched a lot of soccer during Thanksgiving break. The USA team played their last game yesterday and we watched it with other soccer fans early in the morning. It was great! Although it wasn’t the result we all wanted.
- I’m still very much enjoying my iPhone 14 Pro Max and I should probably post my review sometime soon. Let’s shoot for the end of the year.
- So many changes at work. People moving to different spots, people retiring, people leaving. It’s a little unsettling but so it goes, right?
- I might miss writing for NaNoWriMo. Maybe this means I need to start another story. Oh, maybe a short story…
If you got to the end of this post, nice! Here’s a shot of Midway on Saturday morning:
