Very, very not related to writing. . . somewhat, anyway

Hi.
This is a totally random spur of the moment post where I talk about what's going on in my life because I know that you are all so interested. /sarcasm
I ran for elections in my honor society a couple days ago, technically I ran twice. First for Secretary, which I lost, and then Ezra talked me into running with him last minute for Social chair, we totally killed the very nice speech he had written in advance [granted, it was written for one person only so we kinda had to kill it], ad libbed quite a bit, oh, and we lost. But [and I shall have to remember this for next year] it's a lot more fun running with someone else, especially when that person is a better speaker. [I am not a speech person, at all]
Halloween is coming up and I'm working on my costume. I decided after much debate to go with Donna Noble, rather than Amy Pond. So I need to find some non permanent/7-10 day lasting red hair dye, oh, and I need to practice speaking like Donna. . . Oi!
Waiting impatiently for NaNoWriMo to start, I have all these characters banging on the walls of their cells begging to be released to that they can rein havoc on my non existent plot. I need to figure out what Arith will feel when he confronts Rinn about where she spent the last two years, and the answers to all these other problems the characters have thrown at me. . .

Sorry, this have been one great big rambling post that you probably don't even care about.
Have a good day. . . or is it goodnight?

The travelling shovel of Death

[DISCLAIMER: I stole this from here: http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/node/3702235, I did not come up with this brilliant idea.}

For a while now there's been a tradition amongst the NaNo crowd what likes to kill things. We call it the Travelling Shovel of Death.

The rules are simple. In your NaNo, you kill somone. With a shovel.

It is named the "Travelling" Shovel of Death because, well, it seems to be everywhere. Characters are killed by shovels in droves as soon as their authors find out about this mystical shovel- whether their world has shovels or not. It seems to be infectious. I know a number of characters have died at unfair hands wielding a shovel in my novels, granting me many words to add to my wordcount.

Desperate for a few thousand words? Got a character you don't really like any more? The Travelling Shovel of Death is the solution for you!

Travelling Shovel of Death FAQs (stolen from yangnome, 2009)

What can I do with the shovel?
Use it as a murder weapon. Kill a main character, a supporting character, or even a background character.

What if I don’t like violent scenes?
Have the shovel show up bloody on the ground, or maybe just a body that has been beaten. You don’t need to describe the murder to use the shovel, though I’m sure it wouldn’t stop you.

Why use the shovel to murder someone?
Easy, it provides conflict. Conflict drives stories.

Couldn't I just use a gun or a knife, maybe a sword?
I’m sure you could. Personally, I haven’t seen any guns knives or swords traveling around from novel to novel wreaking destruction though. The shovel is something bigger than you or I. It is bigger than our novels. It is a weapon of mass destruction if you wil- l.

What if I don’t want to use the shovel?
No one is forcing you. Don’t be surprised though if it pops into your novel. It popped into mine. Others who heard of the shovel couldn’t resist. Can you?

Does it have to be used as a murder weapon?
I suppose not, but the shovel has developed a taste for blood.

What do I do with the shovel when I am done?
Return it. Set it free so it can travel to another place, another land, maybe even another world.

I’m still not convinced.
Well, use of the shovel will provide you with words. Anyone could easily milk a small 1,000-word scene from the shovel. Those more talented could get more. Heck, I’d bet someone could even get a whole novel out of the shovel’s exploits.

Are there any rules regarding the use of the shovel?
No, but we would like to hear about its use. Post the fact that you send it here, and maybe the excerpt from its use.

This sounds silly. It couldn’t possibly fit in my novel.
Maybe you are correct. I don’t know what you are writing about. The first year the shovel visited me, I wasn't writing a silly novel and it fit in mine with little problem. TSoD does not discriminate based on genre.

Anything else I need to know about the shovel?
No. Well, don't turn your back on it.

Quote

Fill your paper with the breathings of your heart. ~William Wordsworth

Useful link

I found this site while surfing the NaNoWriMo forums.
LitLift

LitLift is a free online novel writing application built to help us writers research, store and organize all the information we use to write our novels/short stories/etc.

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There are a hundred and one things I should probably be doing right now. So naturally, I'm talking to you instead.
Rise Against is a band I have been listening to as I write for the past several weeks, and I have decided to share a music video of theirs.


In other news. . .
I have to write a speech by the second Thursday of October.
I have a war to plan, a rebellion to plot out, and characters to mess with.
Halloween is coming up, tempted to dress up in something Doctor Who inspired.
And NaNoWriMo is less than two months away.

Note:

I have moved the [RANT] post to its own page, you can view it there.
Thank you for commenting with your opinions, I value all of them.
Olivia, they thought that the Irish were savages (seems to be a very popular reason for killing other people).

Quote of the day

"I love talking about nothing. It is the only thing I know anything about."
- Oscar Wilde