NaNoWriMo challenges participants to write 50,000 words during the month of November. This can seem like a daunting and time-consuming task and when you have a house to run as well it can seem almost impossible. With some preparation, you can make November run more smoothly.

I’ve looked at a few prep lists for NaNo and noticed that mine was a little different. I decided to share it in hopes it might help someone else. I know this is a little late. I’ll try to repost the revised version of this list a little earlier next year.

1. Plan all meals for the month of November. Make sure to keep #2 and #3 in mind while making your November menu and consider doing a search for quick meal ideas. I’ll try to post a few of my favorites during NaNo.
2. Freeze leftovers for easy meals in November. My Food Saver is one of my best friends all year round, but it’s particularly helpful for stocking up meals for November.
3. Dust off that crockpot. Your crockpot can be a time saver and is for more than just making roast. I’ll try to post a few more of my favorite recipes during NaNo on the Community Cookbook.  I’ll post some fast and one skillet recipes, too.
4. Detail clean the house. I have spring-cleaning and then NaNo cleaning. If the house is freshly detailed, those quick room cleanups go even faster. Besides, a super clean house can make you feel more comfortable with putting things off for a day or two longer so you have more time to write.
5. Schedule blog posts. If you have a blog, write a few blog posts in October and schedule them to post in November to squeeze out a little more writing time.
6. Jot down notes or make an outline. While there are many people who can sit down to a blank screen and just start typing, I’m not always one of them. Faced with a deadline, I feel more comfortable with some kind of direction in mind.
7. Do any research needed ahead of time. Frantically researching while trying to finish NaNo can be a word count killer.
8. Fill out your calendar with appointments and obligations. Make note of these. What days are you not going to be able to write? If there are five days in November that you cannot see a way to fit writing in for whatever reason, adjust your daily word count accordingly and aim for that.
9. Let your friends and family know what you’re doing. They might scoff, but knowing ahead of time can ward off an explanation later. Listening to the scoffing while you’re doing NaNo not only takes time away from writing but could also damage your flow with negativity and drama you don’t need.
10. Make a playlist. A playlist of music that fits your genre or in some way fosters your creativity can help drown distraction and get you in the mood to write. Use headphones for best results.

For those of you participating this year, write like the wind! I’d love to hear/read how you’re doing so feel free to comment on a post or drop me an email.  Feel free to add me as a friend on the NaNoWriMo website, too!

And now we’re back to almost all Twitter updates as posts.  I’m slipping…. again.

Actually, a lot has happened.  My daughter graduated from high school and moved on to college.  We moved her into the dorms, but we still see her often since she works near home.  We have brunch on Sunday, which gives us a chance to catch up.  She misses the quiet of home sometimes, but I’m sure she’s enjoying more freedom.

Someone shattered the passenger side window of her car and rifled through her glove box.  Didn’t look like they took anything.  Luckily, she’s smart and didn’t have anything of worth in her car.  She got it fixed and then the door wouldn’t open so she had to take it back.  They didn’t get all the glass out of the door before they put the window back in, but it works now.

I was sick off and on this summer, so I have a lot to catch up on.  Every nook and cranny of the house needs cleaned especially since we’re getting the house ready for a guest in October.  We’ve known her for about 12 years now and this will be the first time we get to meet in person.  I can’t wait!

The yard is a mess, so we’re trying to make it look nice again.  I’m sure our neighbors are thanking us already.  Pulled all the dead sunflowers from under the window and I plan on replacing them with either mums or irises.  I miss my lacy irises.  The plain ol’ yellow ones have pretty much taken over everything.  I think I might be able to get some of the lacy ones from my mom.  I’ll have to ask.

I’m back to putting things up on CafePress and actually added a few products to Zazzle.  Rushing to get the Halloween art and photography up on Zazzle before its entirely too late, so that’s what I’m working on now.  I’ll be posting on that as I get things finished.

I’ve started reading every night again and I’m trying to turn it into a habit.  Even if I only read for 5 minutes, I make myself read every night.  Maybe one of these days I’ll actually finish this huge stack of unread books.  As for writing… I haven’t gotten back into the habit yet, but I write here and there.  I’ll be trying to turn it back into a habit starting in October, with a break for our visiting friend, so hopefully Nano won’t be such a shock to the system.

Speaking of Nano, I think I figured out what I’m going to do this year.  I’m hoping the early decision bodes well for how it will go.  Gives me plenty of time to think about where I want the story to go and to get a little research done.  I think I’m starting to get a little excited about it.

Last year, I said I was going to post time-saving meals for Nano and didn’t get around to it.  This year, I’ll link to some recipes posted on the Community Cookbook and try to get some more posted before Nano arrives.  I’ll probably repost the Nano tips from last year, too.

Enough babbling… back to work for me!

Currently reading:

Apparently, I decided I didn’t have enough to do, so I needed a few more websites. I recently re-launched Crescent Moon Haberdashery as a blog to showcase my CafePress store. I’ve been selling products with photography, artwork, and graphic work on CafePress for years and will soon be trying my hand at Zazzle as well. Crescent Moon Haberdashery is also featuring some beautiful jewelry from Aether Designs.

My mother and I have looked for a way to share recipes and finally decided, after searching for and not finding a solution we liked, that we might as well share them with everyone. Thus, I launched Community Cookbook a few weeks ago. It’s still a work in progress, but hopefully I’ll get the bugs ironed out. I went for an actual community setting and it isn’t working quite the way I would like it to. The name might change, but Community Cookbook works for now. We have a couple of recipes up with many more to come in the future.

After I feel like I have Crescent Moon Haberdashery and Community Cookbook well underway and help Jane with The Diary of Jane, I’m going to re-launch Macabre Manor. Macabre Manor has needed a lot of work for a long time and I hate to go the blog route with it, but I don’t think I’ll ever get anything done with it if I don’t turn it into a blog. Hand editing pages is so 1990′s, right? I’m still unsure I can make it do what I want, but I’m going to try. I can never make Macabre Manor what it once was, but I can do something with it… when I figure out exactly what that is, I’ll let you know.

In the meantime, this site will become my master feed as it were and my writing blog. I’ll be cross-posting things here from the other sites for the time being, except for the cooking site that is. I might make a post with recipes that have posted for the week, but I’m not going to post all the recipes both places. If cross-posting everything stops making sense or becomes too much, I’ll stop, but for now almost everything I do will still be on this blog. Why? For people who want everything but don’t want to visit tons of sites to get it.

As for the podcast, I gave up on it a long time ago. I wanted to podcast, but the more I tried the more I figured out that I didn’t really have anything to talk about. Maybe some day.

Interesting article on Z’s removal from the alphabet and the mysterious 27th letter.

Sorry letter z! Learn why z was removed from the alphabet, and what now-extinct letter used to be No. 27 | The Hot Word | Hot & Trending Words Daily Blog at Dictionary.com.

Through the evil gaze
of his soul-searching eyes
he peers into the deepest, darkest
reaches of my mind.
He tells me things about myself
the no one knows
and revels in the knowledge.
He laughs manically
and uses his sinister smile
to make me feel like the small person
I know I am.

~Kryson

Chained to a wall of emotion
I cry a cry that no one hears
The chains grow tighter
Unseen are the tears

Locked in a world of pain
Scars decorate my wrist
My life – inane
This world – amiss

The kiss of death
Has fallen upon me
The dragon’s breath
Set me free

Confusion, confusion
Life, love, and dreams
It’s all an illusion
Or so it seems

Shackled, bound to this horrid place
Pain, a scream in the night
Leather yet lace
Scared of love’s bite

~Kryson

Very, very, very OLD one.

Kiss Me My Dear

As I sit in this desolate place,
Chained to the walls of my fear,
No smile shines upon my face,
Only, a tear.

Emotions change rapidly on the outside,
Feeling I can no longer control.
In this desolate place I hide,
No longer taking the role.

The pain I can no longer explain.
Times were happy for you and I
Til your death brought the pain,
Now to forget you I can only try.

For you were very dear to me
A friend to confide in
A friend, for whom as it may be
I commit my final sin.

Kiss me my dear, for now I take my life.
Don’t object, it’s too late, I’ve already raised the knife.

~Kryson

“I opened my eyes this morning and I saw you laying next to me. I smiled as you opened your eyes and you smiled back at me… your hair shimmering in the morning sun. As I reached over to touch your face, the image of you began to fade. I was alone,” she starred down at the rose in her hand, gently playing with the petals.

“It was like reliving a memory of happier times. Back when we were together, when everything felt so right, so perfect. I wanted nothing more than to close my eyes and fall back to sleep. I wanted to dream about us and how good it used to be, but instead I cried. Heaving sobs that made me feel like a lost child in a world of torment,” she sighed, wiping back the tears that began to form in her eyes.

“I miss you, but I know we can never be together again. The dreams we once had are long lost… as lost as I am, but I still remember. I’ll always remember.”

“Remember the time we went to the park for a picnic?” she stood and began to pace back and forth. A smile of remembrance crossing her face. ” I never saw you smile so often or look so happy. I glanced over at you and became lost in your eyes for a moment. When you asked me what was wrong, I told you I loved you for the first time. I was so scared, but I thought my heart was going to burst when you told me that you loved me, too.”

“We walked hand in hand that day, talking long into the night. We planned out everything, our lives together, how many children we were going to have, how happy and long our lives would be. I was never so happy in my life. And that night… you showed me your love in so many ways. All I wanted to do was stay in your arms forever,” she blushed and stared down at her feet.

“When I woke up that morning, your face was right next to mine. You were sleeping so peacefully and you looked so beautiful to me. I reached over and stroked your hair, ran my fingers lightly down your face.” She imitated the action in the air, pretending to run her fingers down his face like they ached to. “You stirred and slowly opened your eyes and smiled. I always melted when you smiled. Such a little thing, but your smile could brighten the darkest days.”

“Oh, how I miss you. I wanted that perfect life. I wanted to be with you now and always.”

Crying, she walked away. Tossing the rose she carried in her hand onto his grave.

“I love you. I always will.”

Darkness abounds
No sound
The heat of love
As peaceful as a dove
The beginning or the end…

~Kryson

Heat

She can feel the rhythmic movement
and the heat
unbearable heat

Her senses dulled
she knows what is happening
But is powerless to stop it
“No!” she screams at him
But he doesn’t stop
He’ll never stop
Until she’s dead

He kills her slowly
And laughs manically at what he’s done
Every day a piece of her slips away
She grabs at the pieces
like torn paper on the wind
Lost for all eternity

~Kryson