Yep, we’re getting more snow tonight and our road still hasn’t been plowed. >_<

Luckily Brian was able to dig the car out yesterday to get some much-needed groceries, but he wasn’t able to get back up the hill to our house. He managed to dig himself a parking space on the street below us, but if he moves the car he’ll lose his spot. I have heard rumors of tires being slashed by people angry over losing their place, so with luck once everything is cleared away the car will still be in one piece. Our neighbors on that street are fairly reasonable, so I doubt anything bad will happen. And obviously we can’t get to any post boxes to mail orders out yet. I would say Friday is the earliest we can get to one.

All that aside, we are doing fine. We have all the groceries we need, we have a sound roof, electricity, heat, water, and the Internet. I also have a brand new work table that is getting broken in very quickly due to our being stuck inside. ^_^ I’m very happy to have it, and just in time, too! My old one was not designed for metalwork and was literally buckling under the weight. A large crack appeared once I cleared off the main table area, and the attached shelves groaned audibly as I took everything off of them. Apparently I was a few pounds of pressure away from a chainmaille disaster!

I will take pictures once everything is in order. Re-organizing takes time, as I have to learn how to maneuver in the new space and get all of my needed modifications finished; tool rack, spool rods, lighting, etc. But things are starting to come together as I work, and if current experience is any indication I should have a much easier time keeping my space in good working order.

But it is late, and I should sleep. Good night!

Yep, we’re snowed in!

Our road hasn’t been plowed yet, but don’t worry, we’re fine. Although the snow did cancel the I Made It! Mine event this weekend, for which we were bummed… But the Little One decided that she would take a step that day, so it was well worth it. ^_^ We lost our internet on Friday and it’s just now back up, and we’re allowed to use water again, which is great. Some of our friends were without power and/or heat for a little while, so we consider ourselves lucky.

The bad news is that because we’re surrounded by over two feet of snow, if you order anything from me it probably won’t get shipped until until the Friday shipping day. If we could move the car or had a post box nearby we could walk to it would be another story, but the mail didn’t even run on Saturday and I don’t think it’s going to come tomorrow, either. So… Dang. >:( I’m not happy about it, but I will let you know if/when we can move the car. Hopefully we will wake up tomorrow and our street will be plowed and we can get out. Although we’re supposed to get another 8 inches or so on Tuesday, so we’ll have to get out while the gettin’s good!

Brian’s Current Word Count:

6,344 / 50,000 = 43,656

So go and poke at him, via whatever method you wish. Posting here works as well! ^_^

Brian’s Plot Synopsis:

The Single Deed of Emeril Battles

Emeril Battles wants to take over the world, but before he can do that he must save it from a deadly pandemic. To do this, Emeril must go back in time to kill patient zero: Windsmith City’s most popular hero, Binary Squid. Failure could mean the collapse of civilization and the human race, leaving nobody left for Emeril to rule… and he can’t have that, can he?

What Emeril doesn’t know is that Windsmith has a new hero, August Munch. After foiling the evil plot of Horice Pickle, August has emerged from the shadow of his partner and become a hero in his own right. Now he must work to prove himself in the eyes of the city and his fellow heroes. Luckily for him, Emeril has arrived to cause chaos and death, the perfect chance to August to show his qualities. But August doesn’t know about the disaster Emeril is trying to prevent… all he knows is that Emeril is trying to kill a fellow hero, and the heroes of Windsmith City don’t abandon one of their own.

Sound interesting? I know I’m curious to read it once he’s finished. But he needs encouragement and people asking him, “Are you writing? If you’re not, you should be!”

Go figure! I upgrade Wordpress right after my last post and something goes *clunk* in my database code!

Ah, well. It’s fixed now and from what I can tell everything seems to be in working order. I’ll get Brian’s word count up so everyone can poke at him and make him WRITE!

I know it’s October, but before we know it November will be upon us, and you know what THAT means…

NaNoWriMo!

November is National Novel Writing Month, during which time aspiring (and professional) writers accept the challenge of writing a 50,000 word novel in the space of one month. Participants create on-line profiles and can post their word count, add other writers to their buddy list, and hit the forums for writing advice. The driving force behind it is The Office of Letters and Light, a nonprofit organization that creates and distributes creative writing materials to classrooms nationwide with their Young Writers Program, in addition to running NaNoWriMo and Script Frenzy in April.

A chainmaille necklace honoring Edgar Allen Poe - All sale proceeds go to the Office of Letters and Light

Well, a year ago for Edgar Allen Poe’s birthday I made this necklace inspired by his life and his works. Poe has a special place in my bibliophibian heart, so to honor his memory I will donate the entire $50 sale price to the Office of Letters and Light. Donors get goodies, but I will eschew those and list your name when I donate, so people know that you’re awesome! A mere $50 can do a lot at the OLL. If you or someone you know is participating in NaNoWriMo, I can add their screen name when I donate the money so that the donor halo is properly distributed. Just tell me in the “Note to Seller” box that’ll be up during checkout.

On that note, if you or someone you know is taking a crack at NaNoWriMo, add Brian to your friend list! He’s doing it again this year, and could use some writing buddies. He’ll also be setting up a sponsorship page like he did last year, so if you really like the idea of NaNoWriMo but don’t have $50, you can toss whatever amount you like at the event via that. It serves as motivation for him to get to his keyboard and get crackin’!

Have I perhaps inspired you to give NaNoWriMo a shot? In November I will make a Sticky Post where I will list Brian’s word count, along with his sponsors and goal. If you would like on that list as a writer, comment here or on that future post, add Brian as a writing buddy, and I will post your screen name with a link to your profile, along with your word count. If you’ve got a website or blog, I’ll link to that as well. Let’s see how many people we can get on the Rabbit Dance Writing Team! If you’re on deviantART, I can post you there, too. Just let me know.

Why am I doing this? I love books and writing, but right now, with chainmaille and the Little One, I have little time for both. So, I will encourage and enable the literary arts as much as I possibly can. This article about Kanye West where he declared himself a “proud non-reader” damn near gave me an aneurysm. And HE wrote a book. And it’s being published.

I think we can do better than that.

Leave a comment, join the team, and let’s show them how mighty our pens (and keyboards) really are.