Ten down three to go

[altivo]

Entries packaged up and submitted this afternoon for the spinners' portion of the show next month. I have ten days until the due date for the weavers' portion, but only three to finish up for that. One is ready now, the second needs minor finishing touches, and the third is a rug still on the loom but it goes fast.

And what comes after? Spend the month of October eating apples and worrying about whether or not to do the Nanowrimo yet another time.

Heavy storms headed in, so over and out here.

Comments

[avon-deer.livejournal.com]

We did not have a storm last night, so much as very heavy rain. It's highlighted a major problem with my gutters. I think they are full of crud that needs taking out. But I had a waterfall down the outside of my wall.

[altivo]

Ah yes, gutter crud. The domesticated version of con crud. We sort of solved ours by taking all the gutters off. (Probably not so practical in your case, though.)

[avon-deer.livejournal.com]

No gutters?! Do you not have damp problems?

[altivo]

Our roofs have broad overhangs, extending two feet or more beyond the external walls. The shingles extend a bit beyond even that. Runoff from the roof pours down off the edge in a sheet and falls to the ground. The house is only one story, so even when it's windy, the water rarely touches the house walls. Since we're quite rural here, there is no paving or anything of the sort to cause problems at ground level. The rain just ends up in the grass.

[shadow_stallion]

Gutters are not as common as you think. A lot of houses here in Texas don't have them either. Ours only has two short runs, one in the front and one in the back with both being near entry locations. I was a bit surprised when I first noticed it since I was accustomed to TN where it seemed all the houses had gutters and they covered most of the overhangs.

[altivo]

Houses in Arizona rarely have gutters. ;p

Some folks (especially some furries) need gutters for their heads, though.

And then there was that Terry Pratchett story where he mentioned a chocolate shop that was so famous and high-priced that they put a gutter under their show window to "discreetly drain away" the drool of the window shoppers.

[shadow_stallion]

Yeah well it's Arizona. Does it even rain there? :P

[altivo]

Once a year, all at once, they get their 7 inches or whatever. Hence the term "flash flood" that appears on warning signs all over the state.

[shadow_stallion]

*laughs* Pretty accurate I would say. We got something on the order of 12" in about 36 hours when the remnants of Hurricane Hermine blew through a few weeks back.

[cabcat.livejournal.com]

*watches the loom fly* Wow, you can certainly weave like a...like a....what sort of thing weaves fast?

More storms? Are you getting dry anywhere in between?

[altivo]

...like a spider?

Actually we aren't getting that much real rain, just enough to wet down the dust. There has been a lot of thunder, lightning, and wind, though.

[cabcat.livejournal.com]

Hmm could spiders be considered weavers? Because is a web something that could technically be called someting that is woven? *sits down to ponder this*

Ahh I know those type of storms, political storms I call them. You know all that noise and then nothing.

[altivo]

Well, spiders are traditionally called weavers, though when you get technical, no, they don't weave. Nor do they spin, exactly. More like extrude and glue. Nonetheless, Arachne was the greatest of weavers until the jealous gods turned her into a spider, or so we are told.

"Political storms" is right. All bark, but no bite.

[shadow_stallion]

Worrying about Nanowrimo? I'm not sure I get why you would worry about whether to write or not.

To be quite blunt I have never gotten the point of it to begin with. Even reading over their 'About' section leaves me clueless. I guess I just don't see the point to spewing forth 50,000 words or whatever it is. Even their own page says it's not about quality but quantity.

[altivo]

Different people work it at different levels. I have a list here at the library of 40 or 50 published novels that were actually first written during the Nano. A few of them have become best sellers. One or two now have movie contracts in progress.

I've gone through it five times now and passed the 50K word mark three times. One of those is now a manuscript ready for publishing. Another is almost there. The third needs about another 50K words I think in order to be complete.

The forced discipline of knowing you have to write 1700 words every day in order to keep up is actually good. Of course some do it simply as a competition or as an excuse for parties, of which there are innumerable ones. It also raises money for literacy related charities, which is a good thing in my opinion.

[shadow_stallion]

I suspected it was in part a charity event but they failed to mention that on their 'About' section. It's probably somewhere else on the site.

I would suspect that if I were a writer or aspiring writer then I would be able to get the point of it more than I do but your explanation does help.

Unless I missed it though you never answered why you would worry about whether to write or not for the one that is coming up.

[altivo]

Well, I like doing it because it's good discipline and makes me productive. On the other hand, it does produce more stress than I like if I take it seriously, since I still have to work full time and do all the other stuff I do. Plus it hits at the beginning of the holidays and causes endless scheduling conflicts.

There's also the fact that I've participated for five years in a row, and if I don't do it, I'll be breaking the streak. That makes it easier to say "no" again next year, which may not be good. Sort of like I said no to MFF last year and it's been much easier since then to just avoid all cons entirely. Could be good, or could be bad.

[shadow_stallion]

See, you thought that by leaving LJ land you could get away from all my stupid questions. LOL

[altivo]

Hey, your questions at least make sense. I've been dealing with many of late that are quite nonsensical.