Write, Write, Write

It's been a surprisingly productive writing month for me. I got a short-notice writing assignment for the Mills Quarterly, which turned out quite well considering the brief time frame (I had about 2 weeks to do it, which included going after some quotes from multiple parties).

Then, on Monday afternoon I finished the first draft of YA novel #4. I was hoping to finish it a little sooner, but really, the important thing is that I finished it before the end of the month--for next month is National Novel Writing Month, and I plan to use it to get novel #5 underway. This time I'm thinking about a dystopian piece, with a slightly older teen narrator--18 or so. I want to do a story with a male narrator, but I'm also considering two narrators that switch back and forth. I don't know yet. I'm also not sure what the circumstances of the dystopian setting will be--climate change, radical governmental shift, alteration of social structure as we know it, etc. I'm not sure how far in the future this will take place, nor am I certain even of the ultimate point of the story (other than the obvious cautionary aspects of any dystopian fantasy). But I'm pondering...

Links R Us.

In the absence of actually having anything to say at the moment (seeing as it's late at night and my brain has stopped working for the day), why not enjoy these links?

Firstly--and this is part of the reason my brain's not working--I found this rather useful page, complete with amusing photographs, upon trying to get a song out of my head. The song? Hall and Oates' "You Make My Dreams Come True." Why? Saturday Night Live's Election Special. (It starts about a third of the way through the clip.) Now, it's not that the skit wasn't funny, or that I don't like the song (or at least enjoy it for its cheese value); it's that the shit kept me awake at night. This happens to me occasionally--an "earworm," as they call it, will annoy me while I'm attempting to sleep. I likes me my sleep, so this is extremely irritating.

Anyway, via Twitter, I think it was Elimare who drew my attention to James Gunn's PG Porn starring the cute Nathan Fillion. As it states on the site: "How many times have you been watching a great porn film – you're really enjoying the story, the acting, the cinematography – when, all of the sudden, they ruin everything with PEOPLE HAVING SEX? A bunch of times, right?" Uh, right. Anyway, watch the "Nailing Your Wife" video. Highly amusing.

Wasting Time

Holy Jebus, there are some nasty mixed drinks out there.

So, I'm looking up mixed drinks that I can make with Bacardi 151, because we happen to have some in the house. Also, we ran out of wine and beer and I'm too lazy to go to the store right now. And look! I found "30+ appetizing drink recipes." Only I find this assessment somewhat disingenuous when I find out that a Jamaican Ass-Kicker is Bacardi 151 mixed with Jolt cola.

Other interesting libations: Parappa the Drunk Rappa, which, besides bringing back memories of a really frickin' old video game, also made me want to vomit just reading it; Dick in the Dirt, which sort of made me feel icky even before reading what it was; and The Shanaynay, which, despite the catchy name, sounds pretty ghetto. I mean, seriously, lemonade powder?

I'm either going to have to go with the old standby of rum and Coke, though all we have is Diet Coke Plus, and moreover I don't really like cola; or I'm going to have to stop being such a wuss and just gulp it down; or I'm going to have to check for something more appealing in the really high-up liquor cabinet. (That's the other thing: the Bacardi 151 is within my easy reach.) Or I could just not be such a booze hound. That would work, too.