First a PSA: in the United States, election day is Tuesday. It is too late to mail in a ballot, so either drop off a ballot if you received one in the mail or go vote in person. There is still a chance to vote early on Monday. The website vote.org has information on finding your precinct and voting laws for every state. Please take a look at your local races, as well as the Presidential race. Local and down ballot races often don’t get as much attention, but can be more impactful locally.
Second PSA: In the writing world it is NaNoWriMo time. Its when many writers try to write the first draft of a novel of 50,000 words in 30 days. Purely to get a draft on paper to stop people from procrastinating/letting the inner critic win. It is a month when the strong decide to end all leisure activities and time with loved ones to wall themselves away as they wrestle with the muse to put words on the page. unfortunately, every November I am usually deep in another project so I rarely do it myself. However, it is a great idea and I encourage people who want a novel to try it.
My NaNoWriMo alternative is I am pledging to work on writing every day for the month of November. The problem with word count is when revising having lesser word count can actually be a sign you’ve accomplished something, because it means you’re cutting out the stuff that doesn’t need to be there. However, when you’re in the generating stage, word count is useful because sometimes you do just need to keep going. In writing, it is very rare that you get a strike of lightning and you solve all the problems in your manuscript. What usually happens is you make a small change fro problem A, realize you solve problem B in a way that solves problem C, and slowly inch your way toward a polished and completed work. Step back and realize you need a scene that does this, then think of how to make that scene do a second job.
For blog news, I am going to stay with 2 posts a week. For reviews I am trying to decide if I want to do two or three a month, and I am planning on reviewing things other than podcasts in the “other” category. I am continuing my Journey to Paganism series with a post on caring for your altar, and then will talk about divination. If anyone has any feedback or ideas for topics of the series please contact me.
Stay healthy and safe everyone, as the cold drives us all indoors.