Just a story

I'm researching edible plants for my NaNo story and one that I found was a common weed called sorrel. There are a number of different kinds of sorrel that have been used in salads, and as a green vegetable. They are high in vitamin A and C according to my sources.
I first discovered sorrel when I was a kid growing up in Seattle. Another kid introduced me to this weed she called "sour leaves." The leaves were easy to identify. All you did was pick them and eat them raw. The leaves taste sort of lemony and I really like them. I haven't seen them around Chicago but a couple of years ago I was hiking and there they were. I couldn't resist eating one and introducing them to my kids (with dire warnings about asking me before they ate any wild plants). Of course, as a kid, I didn't worry about minor details like whether they leaves were clean or if there were poisonous look alikes.
I'm keeping on track with my NaNo goals. I have 15,302 words so far. Yesterday I left for work around 10:30 AM and didn't get home until 11 PM but I made my 2000 word goal anyway. I consider that a minor miracle.

Shutterday--Mistake

Taken while driving but the focus is surprisingly good. And no one died in the accident I caused. (Kidding).

See It Sunday--Social

It isn't just people that are social animals. From Washington State.

Just a teaser

Nano Day 4 is going well. 10,271 words. I beat the 10K mark! I'm going to need it since it's back to work and real life tomorrow. Doubt I can keep up the pace on work days.
The teaser is: my character is trying to figure out if these are good to eat and how to catch one. What do you think?

Here is a link to my NaNo profile.
http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/user/238722

NaNo Day 3

Here is where I am setting my NaNo novel. If I have to spend a lot of time in my imagination I might as well pick a place I love. I'm fudging a little bit of the geography--a bit of novelistic license--to make the plot function more smoothly.
I'm currently at word 8127 and counting. Not too bad for a lazy bum like me. I think I owe some of my productivity to all the blogging.

And I am. . .

Obsessing about word count. Have you noticed how if you give something a number, how it seems so much more real? Like trying to lose 5 pounds makes you run to the scale that much more often. Or having a deadline on a certain date makes you count the days. It goes back to school days when I counted down the days 'til summer vacation. Now kids even have parties on their hundredth day of school.
So here are my stats courtesy of Microsoft Word:
Pages: 11
Words: 6339
Characters (no spaces): 25,224
Characters (with spaces): 32,024
Paragraphs: 103
Lines: 476

Whatever did people do before word processors? I really couldn't care less about the number of characters (with or without spaces) or lines but reproduce them here just because I can.

I am. . . .

I am adrift in a turbulent sea of bemusement. Actually, I'm. . . not going to insert some more torrid prose here and I have no idea what this sign is trying to imply. What I really am doing is writing to confess that I have made an impulse decision on invitation from a blog-friend. At the last minute, I signed up to do NaNoWriMo, the masochist's writing exercise promulgated on the blogosphere. So I and several zillion other crazed wannabee writers have signed up to do the triathalon of typing, 50,000 words of prose, with or without metaphors, to be completed by the end of November 30. The result, if I'm still sane, would be my longest piece of writing since the completion of my not-so-literary thesis dissertation which had something to do with genes and chromosomes if I remember correctly.
The next great American novel? Not too likely. But this will possibly tell me if I have 50,000 words still left in me. The good news is I had a fragment of something I wanted to write waiting for me. So I started with around 1100 words and an idea I like. The bad news? There are 29 days left to go. More good news? I made today's goal of 2000 words. So here I stand (or sit) at 3555 words and counting. Stay tuned.
If I lose ground on the blogging and picture taking front, you'll know why. You can also hold me accountable. No quitting or I will be shamed in front of my entire blog reading world! I still haven't decided if I am going to post more about my planned novelistic enterprise. Stay tuned.