Debbie Ridpath Ohi's Blog, page 142

NaNoWriMo comics from the archives

Not sure when Lindsey going to be posting the NaNotoons that Errol and I co-wrote, but I'm going to start posting comics from past NaNoWriMo events:

Learning about rondeaus from Robert Lee Brewer

Was fascinated by Robert Lee Brewer's description of rondeaus today, so decided to step up to the challenge and posted two. Here they are:

==========

I HOLD MY BREATH

I hold my breath as I check mail
Wait for the cruel words to impale
my fragile writer soul so low:
it shudders, rails against the blow.
Yet I will triumph, I'll prevail!

I start again, revise & quail
as my poor baby soon sets sail
into the ether, tidal flow -
I hold my breath.

An answer comes: they like my tale
but want some changes ("do prevail!")
so back to editing below
and next month I will let it go...
and hold my breath.

===========

OH RONDEAU WOE

Oh rondeau woe afflicts me now
as angst and sweat drip from my brow
and once again I wonder why
self-torture so appeals to my
twisted need to figure how.

Because this form does not allow
straying from the path, I vow
to master it before I die
Oh rondeau woe.

I grit my teeth and on I plow
trying to find rhymes somehow,
but my syllables go awry
I curse the French then start to cry
so to this form I do bid ciao...
Oh rondeau woe.

NaNoWriMo Comics

Quite a few of you have asked me if I was going to post daily NaNoWriMo comics this month. Sorry, but I've just got way too much going on right now to manage this BUT my friend Errol and I are contributing three comics a week (they didn't want more than that) to the NaNoWriMo blog! They should start appearing soon, I think; I'll post here when I notice any are up, though the NaNoWriMo site seems to still be in the birthing throes.

I'll also be posting some NaNo comics from last year, in case any of you missed them. :-)

PiBoIdMo (Picture Book Idea Month) starts today!

Picture books writers (aspiring and experienced): Picture Book Idea Month starts today! Check out Tara Lazar's blog for more info.

Comic: Witch Writer

NaNoDrawMo, NaNoWriMo, PiBoIdMo and PAD

Call me crazy, but I've always loved creative challenges. During the month of November, I'm going to be participating in:

NaNoWriMo: I've been doing background and outlining of my cartoon-illustrated middle grade novel, Vampire Zombie Squirrels From Outer Space, and it's finally time to start writing it. I may not reach 50,000 words, but that's okay. I figure it'll be fun to try, and if I finish the first draft before hitting 50,000 words, that's also okay. Call me a NaNoRebel, but quality is more important to me than quantity in this case.

NaNoDrawMo: Just found out about this drawing challenge from Jeff. The goal: 50 sketches/drawings in a month. I figure I need more sketching practice, so this is a good excuse.

PiBoIdMo: Picture Book Idea Month. The goal: to come up with 30 picture book ideas in 30 days. I'm counting on at least ONE of these ideas being good enough to turn into a picture book mss that I can submit to publishers, along with storyboard sketches.

November PAD: Poem-A-Day Chapbook Challenge. The goal: 30 poems in 30 days, with a daily topic prompt from Robert Lee Brewer. I'm a closet aspiring poet and have even sold a few poems in the past. The whole insta-poem aspect of PAD is creatively liberating, I find.

What about the rest of you? Anyone doing one of the challenges above?

 

Morning writing session in Second Life

I haven't written about Second Life in a while, but wanted to post this screenshot of the writing session I participated in this morning. Don't know about the rest of you, but I always find it motivating to write while others are working hard around me...one reason I've always loved working in university/college libraries.

My avatar, hard at work

Lacking the time to regularly visit a university library, however, I use Second Life instead. Popped in for an hour this morning for a "Writers' Dash" in the Milk Wood Writers' Colony (hosted by Virtual Writers) where we write for 15 minutes on a word that is announced at the beginning of the dash (prose or poetry) then exchange what we wrote with others.

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It's fun, writing in RL while your avatar writes in SL in a gypsy camp with other writers, the sounds of typing all around (manual typewriters as well as laptops and writing by hand) as well as birds singing in the trees. Some of us are also prepping for NaNoWriMo next month, and have our virtual books hanging up the trees, already displaying wordcounts (all read zero words at this point, of course :-)).

I'm "Inkygirl Omizu" on Second Life. Hope to meet some of you there!

If you're a writer wanting to learn more about Second Life, do visit Writers In The (Virtual) Sky. To find out more about Milk Wood and Virtual Writers, see Virtual Writers.

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A new NaNoWriMo music video from my friend Errol!

Title: "I Am The Very Model Of A Wrimo Individual," from Errol Elumir. Keep an eye on the NaNoWriMo blog during November from a comic collaboration from Errol and me. :-)

Lack of updates

Sorry for the recent lack of posts, all. I've had a nasty cold for the past week. :-(

Hope everyone's writing is going well!

New comic up on Writer Unboxed!

For those who don't know, I post a comic for writers over on Writer Unboxed on the first and third Saturday of every month.

I just posted a new one this morning. :-)