Missed post, and NaNoWriMo 2016

Oops! I fully intended to participate in the "Do You Have Goals?" and Cephalopod Coffeehouse traditions on Friday. But I have been so busy and distracted that the blog post was one thing that slipped. However, in keeping with my current "tradition" of posting at least once a month, I'm lucky to still have the last day of October (today!) to at least give some sort of update.

This isn't a proper post like I would have done on Friday if I had my wits about me, but I do have updates to share, so here they are:

Halloween-ready - including cutlass
created last-minute

1. Music - only three songs left to work on for the next album! I submitted two within the last month. Slowly but surely, we're getting there.
2. Study - second-last assignment for the year is submitted, so now just one to go  and I'll be home free.
3. Halloween - went to a Halloween party, and spent way more time than usual putting my outfit together - including home-made cutlass. ;)
4. Cats - we've had a few events lately for the cat rescue, and we're all looking forward to a break. This coming Saturday we have a huge event on that goes all day. I also have two other events that day. Gahhhh. When will it end?
5. Reading - reading Poldark book #7 now - the last book in the "main series", before we start reading more about their children's stories in the next books.
6. Writing - in a moment of sheer madness I decided to do NaNoWriMo 2016. Let me explain...

I don't know why I'm doing NaNo, but apparently I am. I thought I could try to work on finishing off some of my unfinished novels, but I also looked through my "novel ideas" and picked one to work on, just in case working on the unfinished novels doesn't get me enough words. I'll probably start the new idea first, because I'm like that. Then if I run out of steam I'll work on some of the other novels.

So my novel for this year is titled "Die Beachside", and was inspired by a dream (a very scary dream!) I once had. This is very much a pantsing scenario in which I have no idea how things are going to go, and had to quickly work out some details of plot in the few days leading up to November. Here is a link to my novel.

Are you doing NaNo?

If not, what else are you up to?

Write ... Edit ... Publish ~ SPECTACULAR SETTINGS

Lake Louise.

It's back! I'm happy to be participating in the WEP Challenge once again. Thank you to Denise Covey & Yolanda Renee for starting this baby up again!

Today's theme is Spectacular Settings, and while I could have drawn inspiration from where I live, by spectacular oceans and a mighty river, I tend to be more inspired by what I can never have. Sniffle. That's why I'm going to talk a bit about snow. ;)

The photo above was taken at Lake Louise, Canada, in 2009. Lake Louise was the coldest place I've ever been to, so cold it hurt to breathe. But I love snow, and cold weather. Easy for me to say since I never have to deal with any actual snow in my daily life. But it's still true - I love snow. One might say I'm a little obsessed.

Maybe that's why the song "Falling Snow" by Agalloch first caught my attention! It's one of the most mesmerising songs I've ever heard. The lyrics are beautiful to me, though to others they may seem rather bleak and dark. I don't know what it is about metal, but to me, it's often romantic. This song is no exception. And so I thought I'd share the lyrics, though I don't expect everyone to "get" my obsession with it / them. But here they are anyway:

The water pours its embracing arms 'round the stone.

Decay drips from the unquiet void.

Where the ice forms. Where life ends.

The stone is by the crimson blood, swallowed.

The red tide beyond the ebon wound, contorted.

My sacrifice bids farewell in this river of memory:

A wave to end all time.

Red birds escape from my wounds,

And return as falling snow,

To sweep the landscape a wind haunted

Wings without bodies.

The snow, the bitter snowfall.

You long to die in her pale arms, crystalline

To become an ode to silence

In the soul of a mountain of birds, fallen.

The cascading pallor 

Of ghostless feather.

The snow has fallen

And raised this white mountain

On which you will die

And fade away in silence.

Those last four lines are the ones that get me every time! 

Thanks for visiting. :)

I was away, now I'm back

My "R" theme was Reflections, but
another possible theme I was
considering was "Roads".

After the A to Z finished, I managed to put up my reflection post, and then I had to prepare for a work trip. I'm back from that trip as of tonight, and the weekend to come is going to be filled with collecting all my kitties back (my two, and some foster kitties).

I have yet to continue with my blog visiting catch-up, but I still plan on doing that. Meanwhile I have actual homework to do, because I'm doing a course in PHP & APIs during this month of May.

I also have a presentation at work to prepare for, this Tuesday, and I won't have a car all week because I got rear-ended a few weeks ago and the car needs to be at the shop for a whole week.

Another "Road" photo I would have included.

Hopefully some time soon I will actually have more writing stuff to talk about. I will say that I went to one Sunday session a few weeks back, and it was great. I did get stuck into revising one of my projects that's been stewing a while. But I haven't been able to get back since. That's yet another thing I fully intend on doing more of in the relatively future.

So there is all that. But I'm here basically to say hi, and to let you all know that I truly do want to be here more! ;)

A to Z 2015 - "Z" Photos

I CAN'T TELL YOU HOW RELIEVED I AM... that it's the last day of the A-to-Z challenge! Obviously I feel this way every year, as I stagger up to the finish line. I'm not yet across it 'cause I have to compile this post. But it's so close I can taste it!

I have too many photos for my "Z" theme, but at this point I don't really care. Besides - may as well go out with a loud bang, eh? ;)

Zoomed

P.S. Thanks so much to everyone who has commented on my blog.

I know all too well that I owe a lot of comments in return!

During May I'll be working on that.

A to Z 2015 - "Y" Photos

It's the second-last day of the A-to-Z challenge! Can you believe it? At this point I'm barely awake as I prepare this post, but that's okay. Just this one and tomorrow night's one to go!!

For the letter "Y", I have chosen to show you things that are varying shades of...

Yellow

A to Z 2015 - "X" Photos

We're at the hardest letter of the alphabet in the challenge - X!

The A-to-Z has three days to go including this one, so we're nearly there, people! But of course things can get seriously tough towards the end of the month each year. With the letter X, most people seem to cheat a little bit, and I'm no exception this year.

My X-theme is:

X-mas