It's National Novel Writing Month

It's that time of year again, National Novel Writing Month, aka NaNoWriMo, starts tomorrow. For those unfamiliar, NaNoWriMo is an annual project for participants to write a 50,000 word rough draft of a novel during the 30 days of November. The emphasis is on the word rough here. Can't be done, you say? Yes, it can and has. Thousands of writers around the world complete that task every year.

Me? Well, I've participated every year since 2002 and have never been able to make it to the 50,000 word mark. But, that's okay. I use NaNo as a jump start to a new novel every year. As I mentioned in a previous post on here, four out of my five published novels were my NaNo project books.

I'm really excited about my project this year and have spent most of October plotting, outlining, and creating my characters for my book this year. In that previous post, you can read the blurb for this year's book. Am I going to succeed this year and hit that 50,000 word mark? I'm going to do my best, but if I don't, well I'll have a darn good start on my next novel. Wish me luck.

Carol

Hot Apple Cider

Fall is finally here. It's my favorite time of the year. If I could live in Fall year round, I would be one happy camper. It's comfortable during the day, no air conditioning needed and cook at night, but no heat needed. There's nothing better than to curl up on the couch with a good book and cup of hot apple cider. What do you think? Sound good? If so, I've included my favorite recipe for it below. A word of warning though, it is addicting. One cup and you can't stop. Enjoy.

Hot Apple Cider

1/2 gallon apple cider
1 C. orange juice
1 C. cranberry juice
12 oz. apricot nectar
1 C. sugar
cinnamon sticks

Mix all ingredients together and pour into a crock pot. Heat to desired temperature and serve.

My NaNoWriMo Book

Next month, I'll be again participating in the National Novel Writing Month, NaNoWriMo. The goal is to write a 50,000 word rough draft in 30 days. I've participated since 2002, but have never achieved the 50,000 words in 30 days. However, four out of my five published books were started as NaNo books, so I count that as a success. This year's book is titled, "A Mountain of Deception." Hopefully, it will be available by next summer.
 

 Tessa Cooper has taken a year long sabbatical from teaching English at a university to go to the mountains of Tennessee to write a novel. She didn't intend to fall in love with the handyman while there or to find herself caught in the middle of some illegal activities, but there she was.
From all outward appearances, Silas Newberry is a man with secrets, including being involved in some bad things. Inadvertently, he has brought Tessa into the middle of them. In his heart, he cares deeply for her, but to keep her safe, he may have to end it, even if she doesn't want to let go.

Wish me luck.
Carol

Murphy's Law Strikes Again

If you're read a the past few of my blog posts, you know that I'm kind of a space nerd. My husband and I like to sit out in our driveway and look at the night sky. He has a great telescope for that and earlier this summer, I finally got to see the rings of Saturn. Pretty cool.

One thing my husband likes to do is look for comets. He's a member of an online group of comets hunters. If you find a new one, you get to name it and a few of his fellow members have been able to do that. So, we spent a lot of time watching the sky. This weekend, we went on a family camping trip on his sister's property. We were out in the middle of the country, no lights and a perfect sky. Yes, we took the telescope. However, the dew fell so early and so thick that we had to keep wiping the dew from the lens. It was a failing effort, so we gave up and headed to bed early.

This is where Murphy's Law comes in. On Friday night, there was a fireball over Ohio, a meteor burning up in the atmosphere. My husband's nephew was getting off work at and on his way to the campout at around 11:30 pm when the sky light up like daytime and we're in southern Indiana! We had gone to bed around an hour before that happened and missed it. It never fails. Below is a NASA video of how the fireball looked from space. It's a continuous loop showing it over several times.

ACHOO!!!

The temperatures have finally cooled, but my allergies are still in full summer mode. Just now, I nearly sneezed myself silly. I've always heard that living in my part of the country (southern Indiana) is a terrible place for people with allergies. I've had friends that have been completely allergy-free prior to moving here and then, BAM. It hits them.

So, it looks like I will still be adding an allergy medication to my grocery list again. I think I only have a couple pills left. Bring on the snow, because that may be the only thing that will save me. I love winter, by the way.

Carol

Spiders - eeeewwww

Spiders fascinate me, but the ones in our house right now are trying to tell us that it's their house, not ours. Last week, the weather was a little cooler and I was watching a football game on television. I had shorts on  and was getting cold, so I grabbed the cozy blanket that we keep next to the chair and gave it a shake to spread it out on top of me. My husband jumped off of the couch and started pounding on something across the room from me. It was a big spider that I had shook out of the blanket. The spider below is one that built her web on our porch this week.

Then, last night I went bed early so I could watch Sherlock on our other television. this morning, my husband tells me he was sitting on the couch last night and saw something big running around on our desks. He thought it was a mouse, but when he went to see, he found it was a HUGE spider. When we start seeing spiders as big as mice, I think it's time to bug bomb the house.

Carol

I'm Such a Space Nerd

Yes, I'm a Space Nerd. One of my favorite activities is to go out at night and sit in our yard and look at the stars. If there's no moonlight, it can amazing to see all of the stars. There's so many things out there to see, the moon, stars, comets. meteors, planets, satellites, the International Space Station, and yeah a bunch of air planes. It pretty neat to look up in the sky and be able to identify what you're looking at. So far, I've seen five planets, Mars, Venus, Jupiter, Mercury, and Saturn. The first four, I was able to see without the use of a telescope. Saturn, by far, has been my favorite. I have always wanted to see its rings and about a week ago, my husband said Saturn would be up and he would set his telescope up to see the rings. I actually could see Saturn without the telescope, but to see the rings, a telescope was required. It was so cool!

Last night, I gave my first try at astro-photography. My exposures were a little too long for the star shots, but it's a trial and error process. Below is my photo of the Milky Way. My husband was able to identify at least two constellations in that photo.

I absolutely love my photo of the Big Dipper. I felt like a kid when I saw it.

The real purpose for my venture outside last night was to see the International Space Station (ISS) fly over. I subscribe to the NASA's web site Spot the Station and receive email alerts when the ISS is going to fly over and I always try to be out there to view it. Last night, I wanted to try and photograph it going over. I did a lot of research to see how to program the settings of my camera and once I had the camera programed, I attached it to the tripod and out to the field we went. I did a couple of test shots to make sure I had the focus and settings right. I could have done better, but I'm pleased with the results. Below is my 30-second exposure of the ISS flying over my house.

My next challenge to attach my camera to my husband's telescope and see what I can capture then. Later this fall, the comet Ison will come so close to the earth that they say you'll be able to see it in the daylight. I can't wait for that. Just imagine if you can see it in the daylight, how it will look at night.

Carol