"Join the Dark Side. We have candy."

Kelly, who is probably the nicest person I know, was the RA on duty last night, Halloween. So naturally, she dressed as Darth Vader as she made her rounds. She did this with a bowl of candy, knocking on doors and greeting people with the above line. She was also accompanied by an entourage, which amongst other things, included Megan, in her Ren dress, carrying Genesis's CD player, which we were using to play the Imperial March as Kelly walked. It was hilarious.

I lived through midterms, and got away with a light mauling. I only had to take two, thank God, which means that I avoided a lot of the stress that my pre-med roommates are burdened with. The good news is that I got a 97 on my economics mid term. The bad news is that I did so poorly on my Italian mid-term that I don't even want to think about it. I have until the fourth of this month, that would be Friday I guess, to decide whether or not I will stay in the class.

On a more positive note, NaNoWriMo began today. I am ahead of my word count right now. My goal for today was 1,666 words, and I got 2,220. Let's hope I can keep my momentum up all month, I'll need it especially next week (the dreaded week two) and over Thanksgiving Break (when my entire family will conspire to disrupt my noveling attempts).

This year's project is called A Time for Peace. It is the history of the rebellion which takes place roughly 150 years before the start of Die Complex, which is my novel from last year. The problem with writing in an alternate, high-magic, world is there is so much that needs to be defined. As I've been working on DC, I've found that I have trouble explaining things. If I take the time to explain all the odd things that are particular to the Celestial Sphere, then the thing ends up like something by Victor Hugo -- with huge blocks of text that do nothing but establish a setting so that one line which actually progresses the plot can make some sort of sense. It was really giving me trouble until I finally decided that this history and setting would get their own explanation, and I gave my self permission not to explain things in DC. A Time for Peace is a little about the setting, but mostly about the historical events that overshadow everything that happens in the Sphere afterwards. After this, I hope to be able to go back to things like Die Complex: stories about live for mostly unimportant people who just happen to live in the Sphere. Or put another way, like the cozies my mom likes to read, only not on Earth, and with more explosions. ATFP is being told from the first person prospective, a first for me, by Hinoska Harmonia, one of the eight Salcenian lujan. Someday I might explain here just what that means, or I could finish this, get it published, and you all could just buy a copy.

Here's the first paragraph:

Lorimawtre and Shamroukh were the first gods, do not ask me who came before them. It would be like me asking you to describe events which took place before your parents were born, and expecting you to speak from experience. What matters is that they were the first.

I would also like to announce that earlier last month I passed two major writing milestones. The first is that I filled my first steno pad for Die Complex and that I have finally moved on to the second one. The second is that I received my first rejection letter for a novel I submitted to an open call. Since it was the first version of DC, it is probably just as well that it was rejected. In about a year or so I hope to make it presentable enough to send out. For right now, it is on the back burner (or more accurately in the hanging file under my desk) and is going to stay there until at least the end of November.