Wednesday, December 21, 2005

Shopping. And then more shopping.

In case you were wondering why I've been too busy to post lately.

I managed to find the last few things for Trev yesterday. If I hadn't been so exhausted, I'd've opened a bottle of champagne to celebrate.

For some reason, I've found the shopping especially difficult this year. Usually, I pretty much know what I want, and go get it. This year, I've found myself wandering around numerous large shops in agonies of indecision, unable to find what I wanted, and equally unable to think of something else that would do instead. I've been to Forbidden Planet three times, when usually one trip will suffice. And I've been to Oxford Street, two local high streets, and Brent Cross (a large shopping mall in north London).

Never mind the time off work. I need time off from the shopping!

Monday, December 05, 2005

All NaNover For Another Year

For those of you wondering how NaNo went - very well, thank you! I had so much fun I did it twice.

I finished the first one, albeit with a slight problem in the middle which I plan to solve by dint of research which will consist of reading more techno-thrillers and perhaps watching a few bad movies, eight days early. So I wrote another. Think Gerry Anderson meets H.P. Lovecraft, with a splash of Star Trek. It seems to me this second one better embodies the true spirit of NaNo, having been thought up completely at the last minute. And it contains Giant Space Squid.

My thanks to Theresa Nielsen-Hayden for the Evil Overlord Plot Generator which allowed me to come up with a plot in an afternoon, and Seventh Sanctum for providing all the names.