No Job For You!

November 12th was my one-month "anniversary" of my new job. The board members controlling the company decided that it would be a good time for a 50% "reduction in workforce." Extreme suxor. They reduced staff from ~20 to 11. There is no more HR, and all other positions lost any "redundant" folk. As the second developer, I was obviously the one let go.

They let us know Thursday that our last day would be... Thursday. Ouch. At least they're extending my medical benefits through the end of the year rather than the end of the month...

So yeah. This is officially ridiculous. I'm looking for a new job after just one month. *sigh*.

Name My Island Nation

I need some naming help now. In my setting, I have a collection of extremely isolated islands, subdivided into clusters. Each cluster is owned/ruled by one family and has been such for generations. Each cluster has one large island, where the capital city is, and a varying number of smaller islands, where the agriculture and other supporting industries happen.

Each cluster of islands, being ruled by one family, is named for that family. Right now, I have named the island cluster where my main character lives: Moreinya. (I'm intending that to be pronounced [moˈɹeinjə], for you folk who can read IPA.)

What I'd like is suggestions for the other island names. (And maybe a suggestion for a better term than "cluster," too. ;)) I'm thinking there are between 4 and 11 clusters, so the more name suggestions, the better.

I'm going with a vaguely Victorian flavor, so here are the first and last names I've used so far in the story: Miley, Claire, Annabel, Irene, Edith, Abigale, Lenore, Sarah; Miles, Isaac, Robert, Nicholas, Simon, Henry; Moreinya, Wessin, Feingeld.

Also cross-posted to the NaNoWriMo forums.

Kingly Rewards

A snippet of a scene near the end wanted itself written. It appears that Miley attracts the attention of the king, who grants her independent "personhood" after having lived years as property. But Miley is going to have a separate, much lower-ranking love interest. So the king is rewarding Miley for some service she did, rather than because he wants her.

The question is, what did Miley do to be A) noticed by the king and B) rewarded with the rare honor of personhood to an "unfamilied" individual, which is done through adoption into the king's own family?

Perhaps the man she was sold to, a lesser noble, was plotting something against the king and Miley was able to disrupt the plot? (How was she able to "defeat" a noble with far more resources than she?) Perhaps she saved the life of someone dear to the king? (How would she be in a position to do that? Was it the abused girl that she rescues? Why could Miley save this person but the king could not?) Any other ideas out there?

Update, 1 AM: I'm going with the "foils a plot against the king" route after talking it through with Jerry.

DIY Rubber Ducky... Sorta

Ducky Post-Its

The NaNoWriMo Seattle region's mascot is the duck. We identify each other in random cafés by rubby duckies on the tables. I brought mine with me to a write-in last night, but in my rush to catch my ride when I left, I forgot to put my ducky back in my bag!

I've sent a message to the guy who organized the write-in, hoping that he has my ducky. In the meantime, I've made myself some rubber ducky Post-It Notes (sticky side is the base of the ducky) so I can still be known to my fellow WriMos. :)

Momentum at Last

The Gauntlet. Down With Which I Have Thrown.

Gauntlet-Throwing

My word-count-behind-ness will not keep me down! I've written 800 words today, and that's on a lunch break. I have not even begun to write today! I'm going to a café after work, where I shall lay the smack-down on my word count. (Not catch up completely yet, though; I'm determined, not crazy.)

You heard me, sporadically-working progress bar! I'm throwing down the gauntlet!

This is like Week 1 for me, with a new story itching to get written. I'll probably lag behind in the typical Week 2 doldrums that have started afflicting my fellow WriMos. But if I can ride this momentum and hit, say, 3000 words for the next few days, I can be back on target by the Night of Writing Dangerously (aka the halfway point of NaNo).

Sanctuary Synopsis

For the first week of NaNo, I was coming up with some new angle, some new story, pretty much every day. I changed the title of my document more than once a day. When I finally came up with my current story idea, a title just came to me: Sanctuary. My document has kept this title since acquiring it on Sunday. It's clearly Meant To Be™.

So my main character is Miley, named such because her father wanted her to be a boy. When her baby brother Miles is born, her world is turned upside down. In a world where only 2 children are permitted per family, any "extra" children become property rather than people. Miley is "unfamilied" and sold to a brothel to repay a debt her father owes. She is strong-willed and disobedient, and will spend the rest of the story fighting back against those who believe that owning her means controlling her. She will carve out her own place in the world and find a way to become her own person again.

At least that's the planned story. Stay tuned; characters have a way of determining their own destiny if you let them get away with it. ;)

I Had a Dream

So what I'd written about NaNo so far? Throw it all out. I have a dream.

Or rather, I had a dream. Last night. Usually my dreams jump around in illogical ways and are rather odd. Last night, I dreamed consecutive scenes with plot, characters, conflict, the works. No ending, but that gives me room to explore. It feels almost like cheating, but I'm only stealing from myself.

I'm days behind from all the floundering and lost momentum. But I finally feel like I have something to write. Yay! :)

Maybe Like Groundhog Day

I still don't know what my NaNo story is about, 4000 words in. It currently wants to do a Groundhog Day thing, but without the narrator being consciously aware of the repeats and with there being some (sometimes significant) variation between the repeats. Again, I don't know if that's what this story really wants to be, but I'm trying to go with the flow here.

The narrator was going to be boring and just get out of bed, get ready for work, and head out. I was even about to type those words. Instead, the cat jumped underfoot as she was walking to the bathroom. She falls and breaks a wrist trying to catch herself. Now her whole day will be different. That's what she gets for planning a boring day in my story. ;)

NaNoWriMo Without a Plan

No plot no problem indeed. I had been intending on writing the sequel to last year's (as yet unrevised) NaNo fantasy story. But 3 days before NaNo, I threw that idea out the window in favor of following a crazy gimmick of an idea that has no characters, plot, or purpose yet. Such is the spirit of NaNo. :)

I want to try writing in second person. Well, it's really narrated in first person, but the narrator is addressing the story to the second person. So the two main characters' names are "I" and "you." But it's not like a Choose Your Own Adventure story. It's more like if you were reading someone's journal entries, but in present tense, as the events are happening. I may decide to abandon this unconventional format in a few days, but I'm curious enough that I want to see how it looks.

As I said, I have no characters, plot, goals, antagonists, obstacles, or anything. November 1st, I had this image in my head that "you and I" had just been left alone with an isolated mountain cabin, going on an off-grid vacation of sorts. "We" spent the day's word count unpacking, mostly.

On November 2nd (aka today), "we" jumped settings entirely and are disembarking from a plane in Mexico City. Maybe that cabin from yesterday is in the mountains of Mexico, not California? "We" could take the train there, perhaps.

But for now, I'm just letting "us" wander around and see where "we" end up. That's actually how last year's NaNo story wrote itself, and I was fairly happy with it. So it's not a guaranteed disaster, in any case. :P

Can I apply this post's 295 words toward today's word count? Pretty please?

New Job!

So I am very belatedly (and back-dated-ly) writing about my new job. No more unemployment! Yay! :)

Two weeks ago, I started my new job at Recruiting.com (formerly known as Jobster). We work on making software to help recruiters find and track candidates, with a focus on easy-of-use, which I particularly like. The company is like 20 people total, and the dev department consists of the product manager, the QA lead (who manages the remote QA team), the graphic designer / basic front-end programmer, the lead dev, and me. That's the entire dev team. It's pretty awesome to have the potential for really mattering to the team and the product.

No one's griping off to the side about how things suck around here. My manager is very much a peer that I feel comfortable with, not some parental-acting figure that hasn't kept up with the latest technologies.

The Office

So far as I can tell, the people are pretty fun, too. Lots of joking around and generally being relaxed.

Not to mention I got a raise compared with my old job at Microsoft (although probably not if you factor in differences in benefits, but still...). I also have a "window office," or rather a view of Puget Sound from my desk. We have "professional development" every Thursday at noon, by which I mean we all eat pizza while watching The Office. ;) We have wine and Rock Band on Fridays. When the weather's nice, we grill out on our balcony overlooking the Sound. It's pretty awesome, really. :P

So I think I made the right decision for myself. I definitely feel less stressed and more happy. All in all, good times. :)

Chicken Salad

Chicken Salad

I made myself some chicken salad from scratch today. I didn't even follow a recipe! (This is a noteworthy accomplishment for me, since I'm normally one of those by-the-letter recipe-following non-cooks.) Forrest will even vouch for the tastiness of my chicken salad.

I didn't have walnuts, but I think they would have been a nice addition. So in the recipe below, I'm adding 'em. I'm recording the "recipe" below, in case I forget what I put in it. :)

Chicken Salad

• rotisserie chicken thigh & drumstick, shredded
• 1 celery stalk, chopped
• 3 inches of cucumber, chopped
• 1 or 2 slices of red onion, chopped
• dried cranberries, about ¼ cup or so
• handful of walnuts, chopped

• two big teaspoon glops of mayonnaise
• sprinkle of lemon juice (equivalent to squeezing a slice)
• salt & pepper, to taste

Combine chicken, celery, cucumber, onion, cranberries, and walnuts in a bowl.

Add mayonnaise. Stir until evenly distributed.

Add lemon juice and salt & pepper.

Yields: 1 main course serving, or 2 side servings