Nanowrimo 2010 - here it comes again!

I am very excited about this year's National Novel Writing Month (Nanowrimo) and another chance to write a first draft.

I can't believe that I have never thought of this before, but this year is a superhero novel. This will be my ninth first draft and I am determined to finish the 50,000 words even if I nearly missed my first four days at a management training course in Sydney and I'm behind by 6-7000 words.

I have been reading superhero novels running in the months leading up to November, and really liked "Soon, I will be Invincible" by Austin Grossman and "Karma Girl" by Jennifer Estep, but didn't like "Leaper" by Geoffrey Wood or "Hot Mama" also by Jennifer Estep.

I have also bought two other superhero novels from the Whitcoulls on-line e-book store to put on my Kobo e-book reader. I just bought "From the Notebooks of Dr. Brain" by Minister Faust about a psychologist to the world's best superhero team, and "Masked" by Lou Anders (Editor), an anthology of superhero fiction.

My novel features The Wingman, a superhero whose powers allow him to be second best at everything. He has a mimicking power that allows him to copy abilities, including super abilities from those around him. However, he let his team down years ago and they were slaughtered by a team of villains. Now, he's a pariah to the world, including other superheroes. Worse, this has spilled into his own mind and he doubts his own value.

At the beginning of the novel, the Wingman finds evidence for a serial killer who is killing aliens who live on earth. With his only remaining superhero friend, Raymond Taylor, aka "the General", leader of The Famous Five, they begin tracking down who is responsible.

New Year's resolutions - ha!

Hello all and Merry Christmas. I wasn't expecting to blog on Christmas day, but what the hey - I'm waiting for my family back home to skype me for a warm, fuzzy Christmas conversation.

Anyway - New Year's resolutions - I almost never make them, or if I do, it's just somewhere near New Year's, and not in the new year. This one is no exception.

When I watched the movie "The Secret", which you can find in my review blog, I learned about the law of attraction, which is a pretty good rule to know. After that, I realized that one of the things I attract is books. I have books on my mind a lot, and I really, really do love books and think about them a lot, so naturally, I attract them. If someone was ever going to ask me what super power I'd like to have, I could say, "I already have one - I attract books!", it is so true.

After watching the movie, the next day I walked into work and there was this gorgeous book sitting on my desk just waiting. "World Changing, a User's guide for the 21st Century", it had a book sleeve and everything - absolutely stunning. After that, I took notice of the books that I attract - someone hands me books on the street (Hari Krishna sure, but still - I had never seen them there before or since), every time I am at someone's house, we discuss books and I get another loaner... I just moved to New Zealand five years ago and I probably already have fifty books that I haven't read yet.

Once I realized that, I made my New Year's resolution (in November - of course), that I would finish the books that I have before I borrow or buy any more. I have failed so far, because my ability to materialize books is stronger than I thought, but I have started staying away from the library and bookstores, and now, it's only people passing me books, so I am sure I can keep up with it.

My next step, get a full inventory of the books I haven't read yet, prioritize them, and start reading through them - there are enough for a year if I read every single day, so I better get started.

If you read this and want to drop your own book related stories, or your own new year's resolutions, or better yet, your own book related new year's resolutions, please feel free.

Merry Christmas everyone.