The Bad And Good...Yep, I've Had Both Lately

I've been noticeably absent, but I do have a note from my mom. Okay, maybe not, but here's whats been happening in my world lately. I got an eye infection last Thursday (through my own stupidity which I will not describe here), and just as I was starting to feel better, my youngest son came down with a nasty cold. In true parent-child fashion, he gave it to me and my wife. So I'm just about over my eye infection, but I'm still not completely over my cold.

Oh well.

On a good note, I passed my second technical writing paper with a 3.92 out of 4. I didn't think it was truly ready when I turned it in, but I figured I could fix whatever was wrong from the feedback the graders provide. So yes, I was quite ecstatic. Now I have only one more paper to finish and then I'll finally be done with all this technical writing *#$*%!

Oops, ignore that. I didn't cuss. I promise.

I have also signed up for NaNaWriMo this year, and I already have a somewhat defined story idea to run with. I plan on doing some concrete outlining prior to Nov 1, which I think will really help me in the long run. For those who don't know what this event is (who doesn't know about it? raise your hands...), NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month. During the month of November, writers are challenged to achieve 50K words in just 30 days. That's over 1600 words a day for all you math majors out there. It's tough, but I think I can do it (especially with a little up-front preparation). I wasn't ready for it last year, but I think I'm ready now. Mentally, I think I'm ready for it.

I was very recently in a book store looking for something new to read, and I saw an old sci-fi series by Melanie Rawn that I had read once before. It occurred to me that (in my mind) the series had never been really finished. This got me to thinking of course, which isn't always a good thing. I really enjoyed the series (and I'm sorry but medicine head is keeping me from remembering the name of that particular series), but there was only two books in it and at the end of the second book, there were unanswered questions and unfinished storylines. It really irritated me (as I stood there in front of the shelf) that the "story" wasn't complete.

Now don't get me wrong. I'm not the type to sit there and wonder if the hero and the girl finally end up married, do they have 10 kids, do they live to a ripe old age. I'm not talking about that type of nonsensical continuation of the story. But in general terms, shouldn't most stories have a somewhat complete and final ending? Where you get to the end and say "oh okay. That's the end." You shouldn't have lingering questions about major plots and integral characters. Is this just me? I hope not.

Anyway, while I don't read series books or trilogies exclusively, I do enjoy them and I am dismayed that this particular one has never been finished (to my knowledge). I picked up a new book from an author I haven't read before (sorry, medicine head still, can't remember title or author at the moment) which I will review here once I'm done. It's an interesting story involving assassins, and for some reason, I just love reading about assassins. I suppose that's rather morbid, but it's not because I like death or killing necessarily. I just like the idea of people who can sneak in and out like a ghost, undetected and powerful. It's probably because I'm as clumsy as they come. Okay, maybe not that bad, but definitely not ninja-caliber.

So that's the news and tidings from my world. Keep your fingers crossed for me in November. I will make updates here as to my progress as often as possible. Maybe I'll even figure out how to get one of those word progress thingies on my blog.