→ Web Design! At work we’re completely updating/re-doing/content overhauling one of our major web pages. I have had the joy of coding until my eyes were crossed for the last 70 hours or so. It’s been an incredibly high! In what little free time I’ve had, I’ve also finally settled on a theme (with original design and touches by myself, of course) that I’m completely in love with right here at theluckiest. What do you think?

→ Speaking of – I’m lovin’ getting to dork out about such things with new friends/acquaintances that are just as into web design as I am. Between co-workers, people I’ve met throughout the city, and lots of coding-inclined Young Democrats, I’m awash in talk of languages, tags, and aesthetics, and I’m loving it.

→ Senator Kristen Gillibrand’s Off the Sidelines online book club: the club chooses a book roughly every two months and is launching next month! The Senator will discuss social, gendered, and modern political issues (with both men and women!) through Facebook chat and streaming video, connecting with her campaign, her constituents, and political nerds like myself. If you’re into political punditry, policy know how, and awesome women – you should absolutely sign up and join me.

→ My newest Spotify playlist (I think I might end up listing one of these every week — Because we’re all Disney princesses). Who doesn’t need more joy, laughter, true love, fairy tales, and triumph in their life?!

→ Last but certainly not least, Boyfriend Piece and I got the Kindle App for our HP Touchpad last week and I am obsessed. First of all, the Touchpad cost us half what the Kindle Fire costs and has a lot more functionality. I have access to all of my Amazon ebook purchases via WhisperSync with an incredibly quick reaction time, and I can even use the app to ‘borrow’ library e-loans. From what I’ve seen there was frustration when the Touchpad first came out because the app wasn’t yet available. But it being released in July and me not getting my Touchpad until December worked out wonderfully for us! I haven’t had a single problem with the app yet and I’ve read more in the last week than I have in ages. Definitely something to love.

Yes, yes, yes, Nanowrimo continues. Today’s excerpt comes care of my main character’s best friend, Justin (lovingly played by country rocker Jason Aldean in the movie inside my head). This clearly hasn’t been edited, even for spelling or grammar, as is the nature of November.

The rush from the open mic and the flush from her three glasses of wine kept Lee up most of the night. Come morning light, she found herself out on her back yard balcony – sticking out in a small platform from her one bedroom window, like a fire escape almost, smoking her fourth cigarette in a row. She didn’t normally smoke, it was a dirty habit, but she had picked it up from a boyfriend in high school – one of those bad boys that her high school sweetheart hated and who really only liked that he got to make out with a Varsity cheerleader on Friday nights after the big game. It was a stress thing, she always told herself, but she couldn’t imagine what on a Monday night spent with friends would stress her out, especially at sun up when she had to be in work in a couple of hours. Justin came out and found her there, curious and concerned as any good best friend would be. She looked up at him with a smile, “Just couldn’t sleep,” she had bags under her bright brown eyes and a glow to her cheeks that he attributed to the chill in the air. “What’s up?” He asked, leaning next to her against the metal railing.

Lee shrugged, “I think I missed that, after last night I just… Doesn’t it seem awful how we work all the time and try to forget how we do by singing other people’s music in loud bars to drunken strangers?” Justin had never heard Lee put karaoke down and his concerned spiked. “Are you sure you’re all right? You love karaoke more than anyone I know, Lee, what’s going on?”

“It just… It felt incredible. Saying *my* words instead of someone else’s.” She shrugged again, knowing her understood the feeling, but his calling in life was law, no matter how much he loved music. “Do you ever wonder what would have happened if I had applied to school like I’d meant to?” She didn’t voice this curiosity often, and 6am on a Tuesday was certainly not their usual routine for in depth conversation. Justin leaned into her shoulder, “You’d have graduated by now, probably be searching for a nine to five job and trying to write on the side, much like you are now,” Justin, ever the pragmatist.

“Thanks,” she said sarcastically. “Seriously though, I know you have other stuff in your life, stuff that’s more important but Jus… I don’t. Nothing feels like this. Nothing feels this good, this… full.” “Full?” He laughed. “Full! Yes! Like, I’m all full up and could burst from the goodness of it. It feels like what I’m meant to do, the only thing I’m meant to do. I mean, I’m good at my job, you know that, and I love the people I work with and my bosses… but… Being good at that doesn’t feel half as good as being mediocre at music, writing.”

Justin shook his head, “You’re not mediocre, Lee, you’re… Incredible. Absolutely incredible.” His tone was somber and she broke her long looking stare to turn his way, next to her, close to her. He was serious, sincere in a way she didn’t normally see her happy friend turn to, “Incredible.” He added again before turning to head back into the house.

Lee stopped him, “Hey, do you mind grabbing the train today? I’m gonna take a day,” she smiled shyly and he nodded in understanding, “No problem, hon,” he finished before heading in to get ready for his day. Lee lit another cigarette and finished watching the sun rise in the chilly gray dawn before heading in.

Justin was heading out just as she wrapped herself in her bathrobe and headed to their bathroom. “Enjoy playing hookie,” he stage whispered and laughed as he headed out. Shaking her head, she set about her day – fixing her long brown curls after her shower, throwing on thick tights and jean shorts, a fuzzy sweater and a headband before grabbing her guitar and a coffee to go, nearly racing to her car in her excitement.

An excerpt from the opening of my current National Novel Writing Project, Come Back Song. In my perfect world, Leighton Meester (have you seen her Country Strong performance?!) would star in the big Hollywood adaptation as Lee.

“’Cause someday maybe somebody will love me like I need, & someday I won’t have to prove. ‘Cause somebody will see all my worth, but until then I’ll do just fine on my own with my cigarettes, & this old dirt road,” Lee sang quietly to herself and tapped on her steering wheel in time with the country song, a cigarette jutting from her left fingers, ashing out the cracked window in time with the music. The gig had run late and she was only just getting back into the city from a little town called Spencer, in central Massachusetts. She’d been drafted by a karaoke-singing friend, last minute of course, to sing back-up at a wedding at a beautiful little barn set on a hill over looking the fall colors of New England. The crowd had frozen throughout the ceremony, but the couple had seemed so truly in love that Lee couldn’t help but enjoy the evening.

Lee didn’t normally sing professionally, but she did frequent the karaoke circuit throughout Boston, and every so often a friend or a friend of a friend would seek her out for small gigs like this one – she’d had the pleasure of singing along at a bar mitzvah just three weeks earlier – and she liked to think they asked her because maybe she was the smallest bit talented. Tonight, however, she wished she’d turned down the two hundred dollars and gotten to bed early like she’d originally planned. 6am was going to come very quickly, she groaned to herself as the winding roads turned into Route 93 and rain splattered her windshield in the cold night.

Cold autumn nights, even after 5 years, she didn’t think she’d ever adjust to those. Snow in October. There’s no such thing as sitting out on the porch, a glass of wine, a guitar, up here in New England. It was moments like this, alone with a lit cigarette and a country song, that she missed the South the most. Carolina had felt nothing but too small to a teenager with too much enthusiasm and a mild case of OCD, but after years of Boston, with it’s art districts and colonial history, she didn’t see the smallness of Columbia, rather the warmth – literally and figuratively.

Her last night in South Carolina had been quiet. She and her mom had shared a bottle of shiraz. She’d been seventeen, chain smoking with her dad on their front porch, mom and dad sitting in the swing, gently moving back and forth. The breeze was warm, she remembers. Her high school sweetheart, a good guy named James, had come by later in the night, to drive around town together and just be out of the house. She’d asked him to take her to their high school football field, and they sat on the hood of his truck. Lee was wrapped in his sweatshirt (in the morning before she got in her Cavalier to drive 16 hours north, he’d tell her to keep it, but she’d refuse). He’d ask her again why she needed to go, why they couldn’t stay together even if she did leave. She told him it was better, to have a full fresh start, not half of one, and as to why she needed to go in the first place… She just felt it in her bones, it was time. Everyone has that moment, she said. Her accent was thicker then, she remembers now, 22 and mostly alone in life. She could imagine sitting on that porch with her parents, and lying on that truck hood, just far enough outside the city to count the stars.

Last week, he put up a survey of sorts for those participating and/or considering jumping in to the insanity of 50,000 words in the 30 days of November. My answers in obviously far-too-long-for-one-little-blog-comment-form (all in good practice for the word wars of the next month, of course!) follow!

Chuck says: So, the questions I have are these: Who out there is doing NaNoWriMo this year?

Who’s done it before?

How did you prepare for it, and what happened to those novels that you completed?

What were your experiences?

What are your thoughts?

Any wisdom to pass down to future participants?

Like it? Love it? Hate it?

Discuss.

First of all. Hello. I’m Tina (also known as atlimbo / littledupont / pasted / @theluckiestnet). On the NaNoWriMo forums, I’m littledupont. And yes, I’m a NaNoWriMo addict, ack, participant. I have, indeed, taken part in the annual challenge before. Nine times, as a matter of fact, rather, this is my ninth go (started in 2003). Though I’ve only won twice (2005 & 2006). In 2006, I won a day early, hitting my lifetime record of writing 32,000 in one day. From then on I should have known I’d be hooked.

I’ve always been a bit crazy when it comes to planning. I basically get my plot idea (a general summary) figured out and then do character planning – I pick out celeb lookalikes, list their likes, dislikes, styles, quotes, personal histories, and personalities. I like to pick nicknames for them all. And then I just let them talk to me. It builds up, the week or two before November 1st, when you want to write, when they want to talk but you can’t yet, so on that first day I tend to get out the gate with a good 5-10 thousand words. Sadly, that’s most of my momentum right there. Post-writing (after taking a nice little break throughout December and the holidays), I’ve tended to just… Never get back to them. I love the writing part but the editing part feels like sticking forks into my eyeballs. Possibly the reason I’ve never pictured myself ever being published. I love the creative release of prose, but the only manuscript I’ve ever “finished” has been poetry. After years, I went back and started slowly but surely editing and fleshing out the first NaNovel I finished, known for lack of a better title as Carrie (it’s not Horror, though, rather very Chick Lit to be honest), but it’s been a slow (ok, nonexistent) process.

Other than failing to make the 50k and failing to actually do anything with what I do write, NaNoWriMo is one of my favorite times of year. I look forward to it more than I look forward Christmas, Valentine’s Day, and my birthday all wrapped up in one. I love the write-ins, the parties, the crowds, the sleeplessness, the friends. NaNoWriMo is an entirely social event for me, whereas normally writing is very solitary. I love it for that. I’ve been lucky to know (so far) two really great groups of NaNo-ers, #DCNano and the writers of the 757 (the Hampton Roads & VA Beach areas of Virginia). This is my first year in @NanoBoston and I’m excited to get to know the group – they’ve been so enthusiastic, encouraging, and welcoming already!

My only advice to people on the fence about NaNo would be to dive in. Don’t worry about the deadline, the word count goal, or the plot. Just dive in, get a feel for yourself, your voice, your fellow authors, and have  a blast.

This year I’m trying something a little bit different and keeping my NaNo tweets to my blog twitter (@theluckiestnet) – this way I’ll save my normal twitter followers (@atlimbo) from the onslaught. Thoughts? Suggestions? I’ve never split tweets before (that sounds very strange), so I’d love advice!

And now, inspired by the countdown – we start on Tuesday! – and this post over at Julie Writes, I’m using this week’s Friday I’m in Love to tell you ten reasons I’m in love with National Novel Writing Month!

1. You have full permission to live off of Twizzlers/pizza/coffee/the caffeine of your choice for 30 days.
2. The forums are full of also-insane, possibly-multiple-personality-disorder having creatives, just like you!
3. No plot? No problem!
4. Junk food & microwave burritos become a main food group.
5. Write ins, parties, and 24-hour marathons are great places to meet new friends.
6. The Office of Letters & Light goes out and gets awesome authors to write us email pep talks throughout the month!
7. It’s the only novel writing experience I’ve ever had that comes with cheerleaders.
8. Anything goes, but you’d better include pirates, ninjas, dragons, and Starbucks.
9. Inside jokes become their own language, no matter how many months or how many miles separate you from your fellow NaNo-ers.
10. There is nothing like crossing that finish line.

I’ve struggled in recent jaunts, including Camp NaNo this summer, but I’m feeling excited and motivated, and most importantly, inspired!

The official site has just been relaunched, I’ve got my super-loose premise set (see the summary under the jump, I’d love you’re thoughts!), and we’re less than four weeks away!

So, do you NaNo?

And baby I know you got your radio on, so this is my my bad, come back song.
	Meet Leann. Call her Lee, please.Leann Tucker, 22, born and raised in Columbia, South Carolina. She moved to Boston when she was 18, for Berklee (styled herself a songwriter) but never applied. Ended up a receptionist and lives in a house in Allston with 5 friends. Spends her free time playing with a guitar & singing karaoke; drinks more than she should. Girl meets boy. Girl wrongs boy. Girl needs to get back to her country roots to win boy back & in doing so becomes a major popular artist. You know the old story, a song, a sincere look, and then the curtain.
Drew Sampson	The CastDrew: The Boy. 28. Musician, Colette’s older brother, works at a coffeeshop to pay the bills, Boston-born. Justin: 30, Lee’s best friend, lawyer, helps her with music & the rest of life, too, loves her like a little sister. Toni & Colette: 26/21, newest housemates, girlfriends, share the fifth bedroom. Gavin: 27, from San Diego, been in Boston 3 years, a trust fund baby writing for a bunch of blogs and smoking a lot of pot. Sean: Joins Gavin in the smoking, 28, office worker downtown, from Dorchester, surprisingly considers himself super religious.
Gavin Morse Housemate	Justin Allen Housemate	Toni Canning Housemate	Colette Sampson Housemate	Sean Manson Housemate

 
*Click on the icon for the maker!

As a matter of fact, writing fiction has felt like pulling my own teeth out all summer. But I’ve been plugging away at a piece (most likely novel length; best described as ‘creative non-fiction’ or ‘very fast and loose memoir’) and slowly but surely it’s (almost) taking shape. I like the quick tone, the acidic attitude of it. It comes off as almost bitter, almost sad, almost angry – but in the end it’s just fact. It’s seen it all, and it knows the truth, and you need to sit down and listen to it tell you how it is. Does that make sense? The piece has it’s own voice, one that feels like a person in your head, one you can argue with (and it argues back). It flutters at times, falters, but the story calls for it. This piece is something I really feel, in my bones, and I want to keep working on it. So here goes, one of my favorite lines to inspire me to get writing tonight:

First and foremost, I cannot wait to finish reading The Mortal Instruments series, including the just-released fourth installment. I’m nearly half way through the third (City of Glass) and despite its schmaltzy language, slightly twisted love triangle, and eye-roll inducing plot devises, I love it. Maybe I’ll look past just about anything if I like a story enough. Cassandra Clare comes from a writing background of Harry Potter fanfiction, so the lady certainly knows what fans want – pretty people, angst, intense, quick action, and the occassional swoon-worthy kiss. She even through in a clumsy, totally-doesn’t-think-she’s-pretty main character and a brooding, bad boy with a heart of gold love interest. It’s pure cheese. It’s morally questionable. It’s terribly written most of the time. But it’s fun, too, it’s captivating and full of bright colors and well-handled characters, and that’s what I look for in entertainment, so this is just my cup of tea (or maybe more my tall glass of strawberry daiquiri). Find more romance, history, and suspense below the jump!

Summer tends to be the time I give non-fantasy romance fiction a go. I’ve just never really liked non-supernatural love stories with very few exceptions (the work of Scott Spencer, Story of O, Shakespeare – though I like his histories the best of all his work), but during the summer I’m always up for new experiences and broadening my horizons. So I’d like to try a book that falls more into the classical romance genre but I’ve never been a fan “bodice rippers” no matter the season and I figured I’ve heard great things about Nichols’ One Day, so why not?

I’m also feeling woefully light-headed lately – having celebrated 5 years since graduation last year – and am really excited to hit up some autobiographies and non-fiction tomes. I’ve got a pretty extensive collection of Republican biographies and analysis, but I’d like to read outside of that box (no matter the ideology) now that I’ve moved on from conservative politics. I’d like to read David Plouffe’s The Audacity to Win; George Bush’s All The Best (because he’s a Republican but it’s a more personal non-fiction); David McCullough’s 1776; Trotsky’s My Life; both Clinton’s autobiographies – Bill’s My Life & Hillary’s Living History.

On a slightly less serious topic, I’m excited to read one of the few Rainer Maria Rilke bios I haven’t ready yet, Rilke: A Life by Wolfgang Leppmann.

Finally, as far as the list goes at least (because I love just picking up whatever book or story that strikes my fancy – one of the reasons my To Read list will never be whittled down to nothing, I’m sure), I’d love to try an author that I’ve always been interested in but just never had the chance to check out. Carl Hiaasen writes “environmental thrillers” according to Wikipedia, based in Florida. What better to read in the summer than hot, corrupt, well-layered, comedy with thrills, suspense, lush backgrounds, laws broken and anarchists?

So tell me, what are you reading this summer?

I wrote 6,500+ words in two days, staying in line with the NaNoWriMo schedule despite starting two days late. I haven’t written in a burst like that in months, not once since I moved to Boston, and I can tell you it feels amazing. It feels like stress relief, emotional release. It’s physically tiring, even! I sleep better when I’m a writer, I breath more easily, I feel like myself.

The novel/short story collection is something different for me. I’m writing it as nearly 100% autobiography. This makes it more difficult than other pieces of prose or poetry to share (it’s so much easier when you change the names and claim fiction!), though I find it also makes it easier to write. Dealing with emotional scarred tissue is sluggish, even dreadful, but you also never have want for material. And so, I’ll be bringing you slightly censored excerpts and quotes throughuot the month (there will be even more at my tumblr, my dumping ground for all things shiny and interesting).

…with lips so full you wanted to chew on them and drink up their juice like you do with a plum, and they were nearly, naturally, that delicious dark red of plums…

It’s interesting to find yourself stopping in the middle of a thought – a story line – to remember the way a friend’s mouth curved the first time you saw them smile. Or how someone’s voice sounded when you were half asleep, smushed up against the ceiling of your dorm because you’re in a loft bed and the angle changes how you hear things. I love remembering quiet moments, personal moments, lonely moments, and I love writing about the crazier ones, too, the nights you can’t hardly remember and raging debates that leave your voice hoarse from shouting and laughter.

What do you think? The challenge of (completely) honest writing is difficult, and is draining, but it feels so worth the turmoil just be churning out words again. How do you bust the block? Are any of you out there hitting up July’s session of Camp Nanowrimo? (There’s another in August if you want to wait a couple more weeks!) Let’s get a real discussion going this month, all about writing, emotional literacy, intimacy with your audience, and of course, absolutely ridiculous online challenges that take over our brains and lives.

I could not believe my eyes when I saw it had been nearly two months since my last Tasty! While I’m still in awe of Seth Meyers and his political wit (because we all know I have a thing for political smarty-pants), I have fully moved on in my Hollywood Crush tastes. It was simple, you see, because True Blood‘s fourth season aired on HBO last Sunday and I have thought of nothing but since catching the premier! While there has been a ton of change in Bon Tomps since last summer’s season 3 finale, I’ll leave the reviewing to those better qualified than I, and instead give you what you really want: awesome photos of our favorite evil/or-is-he? vampire ever, Eric Northman. Aka, today’s Tasty is the versatile and gorgeous Alexander Skarsgård. After the jump, see some of my favorites!