Totally Random Care Packages

Rules:

• Recipients for the TRCPs will picked October 1st, approximately 5 pm central time, USA.
• Recipients will be picked using BattleJesus's !pick function.
• To have a chance at winning a package, your nick must be logged in the chatroom at 5pm.
• Winners will be required to provide shipping addresses via e-mail.
• Packages will be shipped on or before October 15th.
• If you do not want to be included, please state this via PM any time before 5pm (central time), on October 1st.
• If you can't be in chat at this time but still want a chance at a package, log in and hope you don't ping out before 5?
• You do not need to do anything other than be present in the chatroom for a chance at one of the packages.
• There are only two packages being offered. A list of contents for each follows*.
• If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions post below.

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TRCP #1

• Moonlight & Vines - Charles de Lint(mass market paperback)
• 1 college ruled 1 subject notebook and 1 journal-style notebook
• 1 magic pencil
• Winner's choice of 3 candies/snacks
• Mystery Item
• 40 Writing Prompt cards
• 1 mini-calendar (per planned project) with stickers
• A copy of my 2009 NaNo Swap CD.

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TRCP #2

• Jack of Kinrowan - Charles de Lint (trade paperback)
• 1 college ruled 1 subject notebook and 1 journal-style notebook
• 1 magic pencil
• Winner's choice of 3 candies/snacks
• Mystery Item
• 40 Writing Prompt cards
• 1 mini-calendar (per planned project) with stickers
• A copy of my 2009 NaNo Swap CD.

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- The list of package contents will be updated as items are added.
* Final contents depend on space inside the shipping boxes.

- For more information on the Writing Prompts and Magic pencils, see this entry.
- For previously answered questions, see this entry.

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Opt-Outs:
Loquacity, Rawr

PlotShot is a great plot generator. It is funny AND has pictures. Very confusing pictures that have nothing to do with the plots themselves, so far. But that only adds to the hilarity. This is my favorite plot so far:

Our hero, a trusting mercenary with a grudge , lives in the Scottish Highlands and has everything one could wish for but still can't find happiness . One day the mercenary with a grudge meets a fashion conscious wizard . Together they set out to coach a hopeless high school basketball team to the regional championships . Along the way they survive a plane crash and in the end they find themselves sad and alone .

The one about the chain-smoking President starting a religious cult was pretty hilarious, too.

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Here is a random Writing Prompt Generator as well as THIS! Don't ever say I never gave ya nuthin'.

Murphy's Laws of Combat:

Never stand when you can sit, never sit when you can lie down, never stay awake when you can sleep.
No combat-ready unit ever passed inspection.
The crucial round is a dud.
The Cavalry doesn't always come to the rescue.
If your attack is going really well, it's an ambush.

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Note to self: Get off your ass and get working on Nano.

1. Open your library (iTunes, Winamp, Media Player, iPod, etc).
2. Put it on shuffle.
3. Press play.
4. For every question, type the song that's playing.
5. When you go to a new question, press the next button.
6. Make it a plot for a book!

Title: A Different Kind of Pain (by Cold)
Comment: O.o Are you serious?

Waking Up: Talking in Your Sleep (by Crystal Gayle)
Comment: Main Character (MC) is distraught because Love Interest (LI) is having really involved dreams about Someone Else (SE) and talking to them in ways LI has never spoken to MC. ((Oh my fucking God, are you serious?))

First Day At School: Hurricane (by Something Corporate)
Comment: MC notes LI's growing interest in SE and how others are acting like it's completely normal - everyone knew way before MC but MC can't help but be drawn to LI. MC knows it's going to end in disaster but Just. Can't. Resist.

Falling In Love: Right Here, Right Now (by Jesus Jones)
Comment: MC finally snaps and gives LI an ultimatum and a tell-all confession of undying love. LI responds accordingly and it's all gravy again.

During a sex scene, you scream: Olwen (by Alan Stivell)
Comment: In MC's flurry to stake a claim on LI, MC screams SE's name during climax. LI goes batshit.

Fight Song: Robot Rock (by Daft Punk)
Comment: Infuriated and guilt-ridden, MC finds SE and commences to try and beat the shit out of SE. Only to be pummeled into paste and then taken advantage of (sorta) by SE.

Breaking Up: Epilogue, The Will (by Alan Silvestri, Who Framed Roger Rabit OST)
Comment: MC sits at home with several ice packs and a package of beef jerky, watching LI's favorite movie and sobbing while somewhere, out there, LI is shagging SE's brains out.

After getting drunk you say: Cold (by Matchbox Twenty)
Comment: LI shows up, smelling like SE, to get some of her things. MC tries to convince her to stay. "You have been found out, I have been deceived by the one that I need. Tell me why you gotta be so cold? . . . You're ready to fly, I'm ready to crash."

Prom: Junkie XL Vocal Mix (by BT)
Comment: A techno/trance themed prom stars SE and LI getting down on the dance floor. They both look amazing. MC sits in the corner nursing a beer and a pair of black eyes.

At your speech after you become prom queen/king you say: Adagio (by Ludovico Einaudi)
Comment: MC is made prom whatever out of pity. MC takes this opportunity to conduct the band to play a slow song for LI and SE, then sneaks out to commit suicide in the parking lot.

Life's OK: She Moved Through the Fair (by Meav Ni Mhaolchatha)
Comment: MC sees a Ghost Person (GP), a dead classmate drifting through the parking lot. GP explains shit could be a lot worse and they dance. Everything is perfect for a moment.

Mental Breakdown: Social Enemies (by Orgy)
Comment: MC wakes up in the parking lot surrounded by cops. Goes to the nut hut for being an endangerment to self and others. Sees more ghosts and crazy stuff. Cue all manner of uncoolness.

Driving: Will the Future Blame Us (by Our Lady Peace)
Comment: MC makes an escape with the aid of GP who apologizes for fucking up MC's life temporarily. MC decides a road trip is on order and wonders if perhaps future kids will ever believe this story. "Don't ask why, anymore, anymore."

Flashback: When I'm With You (by Simple Plan)
Comment: MC sleeps in a seedy hotel and dreams of LI and how it all was before SE.

Getting Back Together: Fade to Black (by Zeromancer)
Comment: MC realizes getting back would never work. LI is so different. SE fits better in LI's world than MC does. "It's like heaven, where you never get bored. You self-inflected rock-n-roll whore!"

Wedding: Transitions (by Beastie Boys)
Comment: MC is invited to LI and SE's wedding on Halloween. Does not go. Spends the night in a funky blues bar taken over by rappers. Walks into a restaurant performing a dumb supper. Eats a meal with GP.

Birth of Child: Cardiff (by Stone Sour)
Comment: MC finds out that LI and SE were having a child together before LI broke up with SE. MC goes a little batshit, having wanted children. "How many years ago? How many deaths I can't let go?"

Your deepest secret: Over (by A Perfect Circle)
Comment: MC wants to go back in time and do things right with LI, even now.

The Final Battle: Hurt (by Nine Inch Nails)
Comment: MC confronts LI and SE and drags out all the bullshit in the name of closure and moving on with things. But LI and SE have still more tales of how they betrayed MC while LI was still with MC.

Cliffhanger: Wonders of the World - Club Mix (by Neuroactive)
Comment: GP shows up at MC's calling and takes MC away from the insanity of it all. "Yeah, I got it wrong. Everyday life got me so low."

Last line: Suite des Montangnes (by Alan Stivell)/ Superman - It's Not Easy (by Five For Fighting)
Comment: "I'm just out to find the better part of me."

Title for the sequel: Tattooed Love Boys (by The Pretenders)
Comment: Wow. I don't even want to know.

I went on an adding-spree. All of the #nanowrimo Wrimos that I could find. :P Sorry if I scared some of you.

So this is what some of us have been discussing in #nanowrimo :


Hehehe. I want to try this. Maybe I will weave NaNo-colored scarves or something, to include in the Totally Random Care Packages^TM.

Also. d_evil_trigger's playlist quest will go until the last week of October, so you have until then to find the 'Road Trip' song you want on there.

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And I will be picking who gets the Totally Random Care Packages^TM via BJ in the chatroom on October 1st, sometime around 5pm (Central, US). If you want a shot at getting a package, you need to be in the chatroom. If you don't want a chance at one - don't show up or tell me ahead of time. The packages will be shipped by or on October 15th.

Q&A

Q) Will you ship overseas?
A) Not a problem. But if shipping goes over $50 or so I might ask for help covering the cost. Also, if I'm shipping to somewhere that will be having summer during that time, you won't be getting chocolate in your package.

Q) Wait, what? What sort of packages are these? Are they official NaNo things or something?
A) Not at all. I am making two care packages for chatroom Wrimos up to send out. They will include one Charles de Lint novel apiece, notebooks, pens, candy, and random crazy other stuff. It's all coming out of my own stash (both novels, for instance, are coming out of my personal library and the notebooks are coming out of the pile of writing supplies I haven't used yet.), or in some cases, there may be a few things others have donated to go into the packages.

Q) But you're evil! Why are you doing this? Does this mean you secretly love us?
A) No, no. I love NaNoWriMo. And thus I chose to spread the love in this fashion. You have very little to do with it other than being on the receiving end. Which means anyone and everyone has a shot at a package, so long as they are comfortable giving me their shipping address.

Q) How will we know what you are sending?
A) A complete list of goodies or . . . semi-complete, anyway . . . will be put up here in my journal. I promise none of the 'surprises' will explode or be poisoned. Nor will they guide ax-murderers to your doorstep. That sort of thing is way too expensive.

Q) What if I hate everything you plan on sending?
A) If you win a package and hate everything in it, let me know and I will fill it with stuff you do like. If there's only one or two things you think suck, pass them on to others.

Q) What if I hate Charles de Lint's writing?
A) Then you are a mangy blasphemer and I don't like you anymore. But I'll still send you a package and throw in a book from an author you do like, provided I have one such on hand. (Philistine!)

Q) Are you sure you're an evil bitch? This is an awfully nice gesture.
A) Alright, alright, each package will include a note, hand written by me that will contain the words 'fuck off and die!' if you need to be absolutely convinced of my evil intentions. But I am still not going to poison anything or guide hitmen to your house.

Any more questions? Leave a comment.

Coming Soon.

NaNo has released this year's icons and bits early. I am very excited that they have chosen a decent color scheme this year. I will get around to changing the layout of the journal to match up (since this is, after all, a NaNo-ing journal). And I should start putting up posts, figure out some sort of structure for how I want to work this baby a little more in depth, yeah?

But first off, d_evil_trigger is putting together a playlist, the theme is Road Trips. The point is to pick one song you would listen to on a road trip. He'll probably shoot me for broadcasting this, but, well. Playlists are the shizbah and you should all participate. Because music is the tie that binds and whatnot.

I need to get my buttocks in gear and figure out what this year's NaNo Bribes are gonna be and what all are going in to the Totally Random Care Packages - and how, exactly, I am selecting the recipients. Gosh, there's so much to do!

Can you feel the NaNo in the air?

*EDIT* I'll be using BattleJesus's !pick function to pick who gets the packages. I'll do it on October 1st at some interesting time when there are lots of people there. That gives me two weeks to get the packages assembled and get addresses and whatnot because I want them shipped by Oct 15th so they get there in plenty of time for NaNo.

Look, we need to talk.

This isn't working for me. It really isn't. I know you have your own world outside of chatspace and I know that society itself lends to following certain thought patterns regarding social interactions. But I need you to understand that chat isn't like it was in kindergarten or on Facebook or around the dinner table.

We frequent a chatroom. Cyberspace. We are real people altering ourselves (even if we don't realize it) to interact in an intangible setting with other people doing the same thing. In theory there's a common goal. In this case it is writing. Which lends itself to drama, stereotyping, and making things up more so than is already going to happen somewhere where people are responsible for their own accountability. Stupid things are going to happen, sorry. That's why there are ops. And I am an op.

If you have a problem or a question then I will always, always listen to you. Private Message me or e-mail me with any issue or concern you have and I am on it. I don't care if I like you, loathe you, or banned you last year for being a douche-bag from Belgium who made racial/cultural slurs towards chatters he'd just met. I'll listen and act as appropriate. That's my job as an op.

But I am also going to be myself and as honest as I can manage. I am not a happy bouncy person who lies to people and says how wonderful everyone is. If you do something silly I am going to call you on it. Compared to some of the other chatters I am mean. I try to be as clear with people as I can be.

But it is a chatroom so things can be misconstrued. I get it. That's why I'm here, now, trying to talk to you.

I expect you to be able to handle people without resorting to pre-school antics and passive-aggressive techniques. I expect you to form clear thoughts and type coherently and take everything in the chatroom with a grain of salt and skin thicker than a wet tissue. I expect you to say something to me if there is a problem.

I am not there to coddle your frail psyche and boost your flagging self-esteem because your boss yelled at you or you broke your nail or you gained six ounces since last week.

I am not there to do your homework for you.

We are in a writing chatroom. Theoretically we talk about writing and life that pertains to writing and our muses.

In everything else we are individuals. And as an individual I am sarcastic, easily amused, and I tend to feel compelled to balance out the sticky-sweet pap our 'good girls' spew on a regular basis with something more realistic. I will tell you what I am thinking. I will treat each Speshul Snowflake just like every other Speshul Snowflake and I won't lose sleep over it.

I am not your mother. I am a random person in the internet volunteering her time to keep the room safe and manageable for the masses.

No where in there did I sign up to be a liar or a fake or placate your individual ideals of what you deserve.

If you can't handle that, then there are dozens of other people to talk to.

Just remember I am an op and I will always listen to any problem you have about the chatroom. And I will do my best to fix it.

So I have goals. And I have a start on this year's NaNoWriMo Swap CD. But I suppose the goals are more important - the only thing more important would be a plot. But there's plenty of time for that. Yup.

My goals so far:

1.) 50k In A Day on November 1st.
2.) 25 to 50k of poetry.
3.) Random 50k project.

So I am looking at a total of 125 to 150k words this month, but I'll be happy to settle for 75k.

What are -your- plans for this NaNo? And do my #nanowrimo-ers have any ideas for another playlist?