You are currently browsing the monthly archive for October 2008.
Wondering what the gibberish in the title means? It stands for National Novel Writing Month. Novemeber is National Novel Writing Month. 50,000 words in 30 days! You win if you finish the novel and the word count. What do you win? Bragging rights.
The point of the novel isn’t to win. It is to be able to finish a novel, crap or not. So many writers have a novel they are working on and have started- but not finished. NaNo gives people the opportunity to finish one.
So this will be my first attempt. Here is my page, stop and checkmy progress…
My NaNo page. I also would like to educate people on what NaNo does, besides encourage crazy writers to churn out crappy novels.
They help fund literacy programs, help build or establish libraries in countries where education is slim, they run a NaNo for kids to foster the love of writing for them, they even have a script writing challenge.
The reason I am telling you more about them is because I would like you to donate if you can. They are a non-profit, 501 (c) 3 organization, so your donations should be tax deductible.
Accentuate Services is trying to raise $500 to donate to the office of letters and light. If you can please contribute. All of the money goes directly to the charity. CLick here to help.
My job kind of sucks. I am an accountant by day. My job is bad enough, but the company had another round of lay offs. Nope, I wasn’t included but another person in the department was laid off. I am to take over her job duties, plus keep most of mine. Hey, I should be happy I have a job right? Wrong.
I am not happy to have the job. I was okay with the old job and figured I could stick with it until this whole writing thing took off for me. But the new job duties, forget it. I hate doing AP (paying the bills) especially when the bills aren’t getting paid and vendors are calling constantly to yell.
I have a dream of quitting my job and writing full time. I even had a plan on doing it once my son goes into school next year because I won’t have to pay $185 a week in daycare.
I have worked since the age of 12. Work to me has always meant doing what you have to do to pay bills. Not what you want to do. I have a hard time thinking that I can do what I want to do and get paid for it.
I agonized over this choice and as I was pulling out of the parking lot I said, “If I could only have a sign, I don’t need a burning bush, just a sign.” The first car I got behind was this SUV and their license plate read “MMbyeby” I’m bye bye. I am outta here. I call that a sign!
So after talking to my husband and several nudges from Michelle (Michy) from the Accentuate Services Forum, a new nudge from Cindy also from Accentuate and a whole lot of what ifs and freaking out to my good friend Susan I have decided to quit my job.
Wow, It is amazing just typing that one sentence. Let me do it again, I am quiting my job!
I am going to write full time. I am going to be a freelance writer. I am trying not to freak out.
Michy pointed out to me that I felt like I was not “enough…. not enough for everyone. Not just not good enough, but rather, not enough.” She went on to tell me that I have always been more than enough. She’s kind of wonderful like that.
She’s right. Even as I sat there at my desk today really considering quitting and almost going into a panic attack, I could hear that voice telling me that I am not good enough. The more I started leaning towards quitting the louder the voice got. It found some friends that chimed in that I won’t make it. I won’t make enough to pay the bills. I will bankrupt my family and will have to find some other accountant job that will pay me a lot less.
Screw ‘em. I am not listening to those voices anymore! I am listening to Michy, Cindy and Susan. They each have offered me so much encouragement and praise. I am listening guys. Thank you!
Susan, I am doing this for you too. If I do it When I do this and succeed, it will give you what you need to do it too. I have no doubts you will be successful!
I am going in Monday and announcing my freedom. Monday is Columbus Day, the day that Columbus supposedly discovered America. America the land of the free. He changed the world. I will be changing my world.
This is my Declaration of Independence!
I’ll admit it. I get a high off of saving money at the store. I like getting stuff for free or even getting paid to buy stuff. Yes, that’s right, with several deals I end up making money. Here was today’s Albertsons take:
36 yoplait yogurts, 12 popsecret boxes of popcorn, 6 cans of Progresso bread crumbs, 4 warm delight minis, 2 cans pillsbury cinnamon rolls, 3 packages of Green giant frozen veggie steamers, 3 tubes of Farmland sausages, one freshetta pizza (an impulse purchase- no coupons used) and cottage cheese.
Total out of pocket: $19.43 but I have a $5 off your next purchase coupon left over, so it comes out to $14.43. if I would have skipped the pizza and cottage cheese- which weren’t part of the deal it would have been $8.99. Total savings $116.54.
I also got a coupon for free french bread or a reusable grocery bag if I do a survey.
Wanna know how? Albertson’s has a sale where if you buy 10 of a list of products, you get a $5 off your next purchase. On top of that, for today only, if you buy 3 or more pop secret popcorns, you get a $3 off your next purchase coupon. I used manufacturers coupons to save even more. You can only do 10 in one transaction, so I did 3 transactions in one trip and went back and did another three. I used the $5 & $3 off your next purchase coupons for the next transaction.
Heck I also get enough stickers to get a free dish for the dinner ware promotion.
Think I am a genius? I’m not. I am a member of Couponsense.com and my wonderful instructor, Maria Michael sends me detail emails spelling out exactly how to get each deal. I highly recommend signing up! If you do, select Maria as your instructor and she will email you all the deals. Tell her Rissa sent you.
Since joining last year, I have had to buy extra shelves because my pantry was overflowing with the free or almost free deals. I have donated so much to charity. I will never pay for toothpaste or toothbrushes again!
I love it, I love saving money. Heck, I might even roll that savings into a new Coach purse. But don’t tell my husband!
Think I can give them away instead of candy for Halloween?
I was so excited to win the short story contest. In fact, as soon as I received my $100 in prize money, I sent in my entry fee for the next one. No resting on my laurels for this girl. No sir!
I had several ideals for the Fire and Ice theme. I couldn’t wait to start writing. Then, well, these laurels turned out to be pretty darn comfy. In fact they were so comfy that I didn’t want to get off them.
I haven’t written a darn thing all month. My poor blogs have tumbleweeds blowing around on them. My paypal accounts are sitting empty because I haven’t been writing articles and getting paid. I haven’t written one word of my short story. Darn stupid laurels!
So tonight I vowed to get off of them. I rested instead on my computer chair and started writing. I managed 2 articles and started the first short story. I am excited. I am typing away at 2:31 in the morning trying to decide if I should sleep or keep going.
I am going to keep going.
How about you? Are you going to try the contest this time around? The grand prize is $300, copies of the book and a publishing contract. You could be a published author in an actual honest to goodness, not self published book. Care to join…click here.
Even if you don’t want to enter, you should check out the site. Accentuate services has so much to offer for writers. There are job and contest listings that have all been verified. You can get critiques on your work. You can get help if you have something that needs tweaking. You can ask the grammar question that has been driving you crazy.
Check it out, you won’t be sorry. As for me, I will be sitting here typing up my contest entry. Think you can beat it? You won’t know unless you enter the contest.
