Well there, I haven't been doing a good job of keeping up with this blog.
Like the stick of bamboo in a dish next to my window, a blog needs attention or it will wither and die. I'm not going to water my laptop, however...
I finished my Nanowrimo project, and made it above 50k words. (50,433 to be exact.) I'm glad that I made the effort and hammered out that many words, but I know my story is missing key elements. What elements? It's missing a conflict to make it interesting, ie. Man VS Nature, Man VS Self, etc. So upon reading it, the novel is like a bunch of interplanetary freighters hanging out and weighing the pros and cons of doing illegal salvages or smuggling or legitimate jobs. I made an effort to give each character a back-story, but in doing so I made a monster out of one minor character's back-story. But the characters were poorly written and the plot is convoluted.
Perhaps next month after I've settled back into the run of things at work I will engage my free-time into editing and streamlining my nanowrimo into a coherent story.
But wait, Blogger, wasn't that over at the end of November? What the hell have you been up to for nearly one month after the Nanowrimo?
Well, if you look at this blog, you will see that I spent Christmas through New Years in Bali.
Ok, but that only covers the last few weeks. What about December? What were you doing with your time? Why weren't you making rocking posts about your Dwarf Fortress?
My inner dialog/readers sure can be hard to please!
In December, I did the following: a) prepared things at work so when I took a week off to vacation in Bali, things would run smoothly for my substitutes. b) In basking in the creative glory of finishing the Nanowrimo, I found another gaming addiction: Minecraft.
If you haven't clicked on the link, I'll give you the rundown.
Minecraft is a block-survival game. Everything in the world is a block, players, monsters and animals. During the daytime you get to build your shelter, but at night the world is swarming with monsters out to get you. There are two things you do in the game: mine into the earth for supplies to build awesome constructions and craft items and tools with aforementioned supplies.
I truly enjoy Dwarf Fortress, which is free to play by the way, but Minecraft is in 3D and far more visually appealing. Here is a set of photos of my first castle to demonstrate that point. Minecraft does have a price, roughly 14$US when I bought it before it went into Beta, and has frequent updates which I get for free since I bought it in its' alpha phase.
'Nuff about games. Onto my other subject, books!
I broke my ankle in late July. In the hospital, I had been reading a paperback version of "The Pillars Of The Earth" by Ken Follet. I was later gifted a Kindle, which I have been reading numerous books on. It took a long time to read "World Without End," also by Ken Follet. I enjoy his writing prose and ability to give life to his characters.
During my stay in Bali, I had time to read some other books, like "The Game" by Jack London, and "The Road" by Cormac Mccarthy. I've also started reading "SuperFreakonomics" which is the sequel to a book I read for a class in college.
At my home in the US, I've got a full bookshelf, chock full of books I want to read and have read.
As an ESL teacher in South Korea, I've got few affordable options for English books; especially non-NY Times Bestsellers. There are a few decent bookshops in Seoul, but the mark-up on new books is considerable. The Kindle is a godsend, as I can get many books that I want to read on demand through a free 3G wireless network, (you of course pay Amazon.com for the books). Many older books are public domain and I can get for free, so awesome news for me as I want to read some of the Classics.
That's what's what. Until next time, keep on keeping on.
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