The NaNo novel is currently at 15,662 words, 12,862 of which were written during November. The plot is still in the percolation stage. A few weird things have happened, but nothing major (aside by a character getting temporarily eaten for a while).

If you need some NaNo cheerleading, check out this post on Merlin Mann’s blog. I really agree with the part that you shouldn’t overthink your novel too much. Thinking too much always gets my stories in trouble. You can think during your revisions. Right now, all you need to do is write. Get it on paper. Suck proudly—you can make it good when you re-write.

Talented friend Alex has a story up at Every Day Fiction called “With the Band”. Check it out!

Good gravy, November has been insane. We’ve been on crazy overtime at the day job (I’m sure Alex feels my pain), I’ve been trying to pack, and oh yeah, it’s NaNoWriMo! My word counts have been average. So far I’ve written 8,439 words this month. Not bad, I suppose, though I was hoping to build up a word count surplus this week before things get really crazy this month (because they will, trust me).

“8-Bit Procrastination” made the Top 10 stories of the last 30 days list at Every Day Fiction this week. So that’s exciting.

Also . . .

House of Horror’s Creature Features anthology is for sale. My story “Breaking and Entering” is in there. If you’re into stories with big, scary monsters, check it out, or give it as a gift to a monster-loving friend or relative.

That’s all there is to report for now. Blogging will probably be light this month (or maybe not?) due to NaNo, moving and work craziness. Good luck to all you NaNo-ers out there. May your word counts be bountiful!

“8-Bit Procrastination” is up at Every Day Fiction. Stop by and rate it and leave a comment if you feel so inclined!

Autumn O’ Rejections can take a hike, because my story “8-Bit Procrastination” just got accepted by Every Day Fiction. This was one of my April Fool Challenge stories, and I think it’s the first one I’ve sold. So yay!

Just got word that my story “Why Pews Don’t Come With Pistols” will appear in the 2009 Every Day Fiction anthology. Yay! Writing friends Alex, Erin and Jens will also have stories in there! The four of us (and many others!) were also in last year’s anthology. Exciting!

I cheated. Last night I started my NaNo novel. Go ahead and slap me on the wrist–I don’t care–the oppresive shackles of NaNo rules can’t hold back my muse!

Seriously, though. Zombie Town is driving me nuts right now, and I don’t have any short stories I want to work on (though I do have some I probably should work on), so why the hell not? I’ll only count what I write in November toward my official NaNo wordcount. November’s going to be an insane month for me anyway, so anything I can do now to make progress on this novel is money in the (word) bank.

I’ve been on a novel kick ever since the 3-Day Novel Contest. I don’t know if it’s because now I have bigger, longer story ideas or if it’s because my summer/autumn of rejections has got me down or if I’m just making some natural, writerly progression, but I’ve been itching to start this novel since September. So last night I gave in and scratched. And no, I’m not sorry.

How about the rest of you? Are you totally itching to start that NaNo novel, or are you already thinking of ways to procrastinate?

I received proofs for two different anthologies this week. The first was from House of Horror’s Creature Features anthology, which contians my story “Breaking and Entering.” The second is the Sand: A Journal of Strange Tales Year Two Anthology, which contains “Love = Building on Fire.” To me getting published in an anthology is extra exciting, though I’m not sure why. Maybe because it’s in an actual book. Maybe because often you get an awesome contributor’s copy. Whatever the reason, it’s exciting, so yay!

Made a little progress on Zombie Town revisions, but other than that, there’s not much to report. Between packing and overtime at ye olde day job, my muse has been feeling pretty dang blah. I did start a flash piece the other day, though, so we’ll see how that goes.

So, here are some shiny things to click on.

Need a cliched 3rd act twist in your short story or novel? Dresden Codak has 42 for you to choose from.

I waste a lot of time looking at stuff on Etsy (I mean, *cough* maintaining my Etsy shop), but I’d never run across any of the freaky crap that makes it onto Regretsy. I was laughing and crying as I perused all the frightening handmade terrors. Note, some images aren’t safe for work, or for anyone really.

On a similar note, Cake Wrecks is a collection of real, live, horrific cakes. Being a certified (seriously, I have a certificate) cake decorator and former bakery employees, I find these especially funny.

Achewood is my favorite web comic. The current plot line involves North Korean magical realism. The plot arc starts here.

That’s all for now. I should really be writing or packing or doing some overtime or something.

Before I started writing fiction seriously a few years ago, I ran a zine distro and button-making biz (Whammy! Industries). In August 2007, I closed Whammy! to focus more on writing, but I do still make stuff with my button machines on a much smaller scale. If you’re into round things and looking for some fun stocking stuffers (or NaNo swag!), you might want to check out Pantherkraft, my little Etsy shop. I update it fairly regularly, and since I’ll be moving soon and need to shed some stock, I’ll be posting more stuff soon, as fast as I can take pictures of it all and write descriptions.

Anyhoo, that’s what I do when I’m not writing. Enjoy!