Let’s see, the last time I put up an entry was… November 7th. Hm. Almost a month ago from now (that seems like the new trend for me: post up an entry every month to keep this blog barely afloat). But anyway, this time last month I was optimistic about embarking on my NaNoWriMo adventure, not to mention spiritually convicted after coming back from an enlightening retreat. In other words, my level of excitement was right up there, topping the bar. But then a month passed…and in a month a lot of things can happen (or in my case, not happen). My NaNoWriMo rush petered to a pathetic standstill, but I’m just glad the same didn’t happen to my spiritual growth (praise God).

If you take a look at my NaNoWriMo author’s page, my journey ended at 10, 193 words on November 16th. I remembered being cripplingly discouraged, because I’m supposed to be at 26,672 words at that point to be in good form. And there I was, my muse crushed relentlessly by a frightening avalanche of a workload (that came out of nowhere, by the way), unable to even glance at my NaNo calendar desktop background without grimacing.

So I raised the white flag. I know, shame on me.

The good news is that even though I decided to put that NaNo novel on the back burner (the plot will get a chance to marinate in the meantime), I’ve started another story that is a lot more lighthearted, far less philosophical, and just overall more enjoyable to write when I’m up to my neck in schoolwork. It takes place in our contemporary day and age (no fantastical worlds that need lengthy descriptions pulled out of my butt) and characters that are much more relatable–or at least I think so.

Conclusion: thank you, NaNoWrimo 2008, for defibrillating my storywriting muse. Yeah, the one that’s been in a coma since–oh, I don’t know–2004? 2005? Who knows how long my muse will last this time, but hopefully, until I can produce something I can be remotely proud of.

In the meantime, I’ll be starting a new challenge: reading different genres of books to season my poor muse. I’m currently reading Kazuo Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go, which I got from the public library and is so remarkably dingy and worn for a book that the library procured in 2006 that I’m afraid I’ll contract something from it. But seriously, it’s too good to put down. Granted, I need to slather antibacterial gel on my hands every time I finish reading a portion, but I don’t care. It is just that good. In Ishiguro’s author profile by The Guardian (yes, my stalker instinct kicked in), it even mentions that Haruki Murakami “agrees that Ishiguro is admired and widely read in Japan” (source, contains novel spoilers).

I’m also looking into screenwriting/playwriting. Oh boy, just typing ’screenwriting/playwriting’ scare the living daylights out of me. But it’s exciting, isn’t it, to venture into unknown territory? NaNoWriMo’s got a sister challenge called Script Frenzy coming in April (100-page script in 30 days). I’ve been learning loads (about script formatting and so forth) just by browsing the Script Frenzy site, but if I do decide to do it in April, I’ll probably do an adaptation of an existing novel; definitely not ready to come up with something fresh on such an unfamiliar ground.

Anyway, enough about me, how are you doing? I see the lurker(s?) visiting this sad, sad blog even during the barren periods of time when I don’t update (ehe, my apologies). I wish everyone the best of luck on their finals, then who knows? I saw so many people I haven’t seen in ages during Thanksgiving break that maybe I’ll see a lot more of other people during the month-long winter break!

‘Til next time!