NaBlo and NaNo...and face transplants

That picture is actually a photograph of a photocopy of a pen/ink drawing. By pen/ink, I mean it was an inky pen that I drew with and then wet with some water to make it more 'inky smudgy' like. I recall that the original paper is kind of crinkly because of the water I dabbed onto it. It's one of many pictures I copied from a photograph originally, so I can't claim all the credit. Still, I like it! And I am using it for this year's NaNoWriMo profile picture.

Yep, I'm all ready for NaNo this year!! I can't wait! I'm writing two novels, or at least I'm spending 15 days on one, and 15 days on the other. It's going to be tough, because sometimes with NaNo I finish my 50k and then get to slack off. This year, I won't be able to slack off for the entire month! Unless I make 50k on each novel really quickly. But no, even then I won't be able to slack off till I reach 50k on my second novel.

Today is head cutty cutty day, so wish me luck! Naturally by that I don't mean I'm getting my head cut off - wouldn't be much point in asking you to wish me luck with that, would there? Speaking of that, I have always maintained that if the time should ever come that I should need a face transplant, I'd ask to be put out of my misery instead. Naturally I can't really say what I'd do until I'm in that situation (which hopefully I never will be!), but at this stage I just think I would too gross having someone's dead face on my head. Same with any exterior limb, I think. Weird that having an organ transplant isn't nearly as gross to me.

What about you? Would you get a face transplant if you lost your own face?

Awards & NaBloWriMo day...what's it?

I'm totally slack when it comes to Awards and acknowledging them/passing them on. But I figure since I'm having trouble deciding what to post for today's NaBloWriMo entry, I'd take the opportunity to get all caught up!

In recent times, I've received the following awards:

• Versatile Blogger award from Jenni Merritt (September 14th) and Dangerous Dan (September 18th)
• Irresistibly Sweet award from Jenni Merritt (September 14th)
• 7x7 Link Award from Jen Burke (October 11th)

First off, thank you to Jenni, Dan and Jen for these awards! I really appreciate that you guys thought of me! But since I have previously won the Versatile and Irresistibly Sweet awards, I thought I'd cheat and just respond fully to the third award in that list, the 7x7 Link Award, which is entirely new to me! From Jen's example, I get the idea that I'm supposed to nominate blog posts of mine that fit the following categories:

• Most Beautiful: Oh, I don't know! I quite liked this one.
  
  
• Most Helpful: I don't tend to do 'help' posts, I tend to ramble on about whatever crap enters my mind at any given time. But I think at least a few people got something out of my CreateSpace proof copies...answering some questions blog post.
  
  
• Most Popular: Based on number of comments alone, as Jen did with hers, I'd say my First Campaigner Challenge entry wins this one. But if you look at which post has been visited the most, you'd find it was one I wrote during the A-Z blogging challenge in April, about Voltron.
  
  
• Most Controversial: I don't really do controversy on this blog. Don't get me wrong, I've made my fair share of bold political statements in various places online before, but this is my writing blog and I tend not to get too in people's faces here. However, I guess the obvious one to choose is one I wrote recently for the Peace Blogfest.
  
  
• Most Successful: What makes a blog post successful? I guess this question feels slightly like a repeat of the "Popular" one, and I could give the same answer here as I did there. But instead I'll go with my award-winning Power of Tension Blogfest entry.
  
  
• Most Underrated: After a very, very quick browse, I'd say my entry in the Inanimation Blogfest...
  
  
• Most Prideworthy: Probably this one, in which I reviewed my Goals met to that point in 2011. I have since met more, but it was cool to lay them out the way I did in this post.

Then I need to pass the award on, to 7 blogger friends:

1. Jenn @ Hunting Sea Glass with Wolves
2. Brooke R. Busse
3. Deniz Bevan
4. Madeline Bartos
5. Charlotte Jane Ivory
6. Michael @ Hypothetically Writing
7. Jenni Merritt

I will tell you all that you've won, but maybe not before you stumble across the truth on your own (because I have to post this now, then run off from work!). P.S. If there are typos, I will have to fix them later! ARGH running late!

Bloody Mary(s)

(NaBloWriMo) I don't have much experience with Bloody Mary drinks, but I do have one particular fond memory:

I also clearly recall the SUPERNATURAL episode titled "Bloody Mary" - scary stuff! Naturally, though, the SUPERNATURAL dudes weren't the inventors of this myth.

According to the ever-reliable Wikipedia: "Bloody Mary is a ghost or witch featured in English folklore. She is said to appear in a mirror when her name is called three times or sometimes more while in a dark room, depending upon the version of the story, often as part of a game or dare."

She's also a crazy mean old Queen from English history - Mary Tudor was her name.

What do you think of when you hear the words Bloody Mary?

Another day missed

I was going to try and throw something together for my daily NaBloWriMo post last night, just before bedtime, but in the end I said..."Naaaaaaah." So there you have it. Anyway...because I seem to have a policy now that requires me to put an image in every blog post I do, I'm going to share this one:

This is a photo I took when in Melbourne (at the airport) in errr, 2008 I think. I had gone there for a professional conference (library stuff), but of course professional stuff doesn't preclude enjoying an icy cold beer at the airport. Which is precisely what I did!

I think this picture really sums up travelling for me.

In other news, I'm up to page 33 of my edit transfers. Slow going, but at least it's going at all!

I need need NEED to answer today's (or yesterday's...or the day before's, really) NaBloWriMo prompt, because it says this:

Given that Autumn is busting out all over, which is your favourite season and why? Alternately, which is your LEAST favourite season and, of course, why?

First off, we don't have autumn here right now. We have spring, going into summer. And to answer the second part, I abhor summer to the fibre of its very being, especially given how humid our summers are getting down here. I recently heard it summarised something like this: "Perth is becoming Melbourne, and Melbourne is becoming Hobart...and Hobart's becoming the Antarctic."

And to answer the first part, my favourite season is winter, autumn and spring, in that order.