NaNoWriMo

I suppose I should mention that I'm doing nanowrimo this year. I'm thinking of doing something very stupid and trying to get all 100,000 words of draft one of book two done over November (or there-abouts). I figure if I have 33 chapters and each chapter has 3,000 words that'll get me to 99,000 which is close enough to 100,000 to me. That means I have to write a chapter a day (that's where the "there-abouts" comes in, because that puts me three days over). And that's why this idea is stupid. On my best days in previous nanos I could write 4,000 words in a day, but that happened only a handful of days and I was exhausted by the time I'd written that much. I'm not sure I can sustain that energy for a whole month. Even to have a chance I'd need an immaculate outline, which I don't have at this stage. But there's still time before November.

First, I have to get my Halloween costume finished. I'm almost done with it. I have a bunch of fur to sew and the bodice to make and I have to put velcro on all the pieces to make them stay on me. Then it's just finishing touches and a bit of painting (and a paper mache shoulder guard - which I'm working on tomorrow) and I'll be done.

Our trip to Flagstaff was really good. We went to the Grand Canyon on Tuesday, the lava cave and meteorite crater on Wednesday, and Sedona on Thursday. Sedona is amazing. I want to live there. I drove there from Flagstaff, and we decided to go the scenic route (which is also the shortest distance). Oh wow. The drive was something else. We went over the mountains and coming down the other side was nothing but breathtaking vista after breathtaking vista. It was so beautiful. And the weather was perfect. Warm, but not too hot. The town itself is nice, if touristy. I wanted to see a vortex (how could I not want to visit a vortex - it's Sedona, you practically have to visit one) but either there was no parking or we had to hike (which lordkilljoy wasn't up for). So I'm going to go back some day and visit a vortex by myself. We just went home on Friday because it was raining. I can hear a voice in my head going: "Call yourself Irish? A little drizzle puts you off?" Yes, well. I hate rain. And living in Arizona has made me hate it even more.

Gravy makes such a difference

Dinner last night was amazing. I made bangers and mash and it was better than any I've had in a restaurant. They always try too hard, and add extra things into the mash or make their gravy overpowering. Mine was a perfect blend of buttery mash, salty-spicy sausages and sweet onion gravy. Delicious. I did do the restaurant thing of making a little mound of spuds and standing the sausages around it and pouring the gravy over the top. Nom nom nom.

I also made pumpkin pie yesterday. I was totally excited putting it into the oven, because the raw filling and raw base tasted amazing. What I didn't realise is that pie is not a straightforward thing to bake. So the edge of the crust got burned (badly enough to mean that it doesn't taste nice, but not so bad that you can't eat around it) and the filling didn't cook up properly. It was still quite liquid-y coming out. That didn't stop me nibbling at it while it was still warm, and I was less than enthusiastic about the taste. Somewhere along the way the sweet, rich flavours of the raw things had gone missing. So I put it in the fridge, but didn't forget about it. I had a small slice for breakfast (because even flavourless pie is better than dull cereal) and was pleasantly surprised. I think the flavours must have come back as it all rested together. And possibly pumpkin pie is better cold. So yea. I'm looking forward to eating the rest of it for breakfast over the weekend and next week, and desert and probably lunch, too. A whole pie is a lot to get through by yourself. I would invite friends over to help, but I don't think it's good enough. I don't want people thinking I'm a bad cook (because I'm not).

Did I mention we're off to see deftones in November? I'm so excited. I can't wait to go. I've wanted to see them since 1st year of college. And now it's happening.

I don't think I have any other news.