Chet's Chatter v2's Blurty

Subject:	NaNoWriMo 2004
Time:	1:15 pm.
Mood:	cold.
Music:	Summer Wine (Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazelwood).

Registration's two months away, but already I'm thinking - have been thinking - about signing up for another round of this write-50,000-words-in-30-days challenge.

I first joined in 2002 but never got past the first 1,000 words. Last year, I fared better, completing the 50,000 words with a couple of hours to spare to the deadline.

Completing NaNoWriMo 2003 was the only writing I did last year, apart from what I do at work. It's not so hard, really.

The purpose of the challenge is not to edit, or look back on what you've written, but simply to WRITE. All one needs to do is sit down and start. The 1,666.6667 words needed per day will (or should) flow very easily from the fingertips. Believe me, I've done it, and it works. And once you get into the flow of it, you can actually churn out more than 1,666.6667 words per session.

Of course, it helps that I use this wonderful battery-operated laptop alternative to help me write anywhere I want (well, except for in the shower). It's called AlphaSmart Dana.

But I digress ...

The only problem is the effort required to sit down and get started. This really requires butt-will - the willpower to put butt to chair and write.

Since registration is a good two months away, and the start of the challenge another month after that, now's a good time to start thinking what I want to write those 50,000 words on.

/me going through collection of old plot lines, story outlines, character sketches ...

NaNoWriMo*

*National November Writing Month

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Subject:	Journal to Blog ... NOT!
Time:	9:41 pm.
Mood:	contemplative.
Music:	"If I thought you'd ever change your mind" (Cilla Black).

One of my young friends, YP, has written a thought-provoking entry in her blog (YP's Rantings) about blog addiction, as a follow-up to being interviewed and featured in an article about this subject in the Youth section of The Star (Malaysian daily newspaper).

I was going to write a response to her blog entry in my Chatter v1 journal, and even started drafting it (yes, it was going to be that serious and clever). But it didn’t turn out to be clever at all, but more of a “me, too” write-up. I don’t need another one, I’ve already done it as a comment to the article at her site.

However, while writing the draft, I went to the Your Dictionary site to see if the two words “weblog” and “blog” have been added to the online dictionary. And what do you know - they have!

I’d last done a search for the word “blog” at the same site a year ago, and the search didn’t turn up any definitions then. Now, it’s listed, which means it has been accepted as a regular word, well, at least at an online dictionary site.

I’ve never liked the word “blog”, especially as a verb. I didn’t like saying “I blog”. But now that it’s officially listed in a dictionary (never mind an online dictionary; I need to go to the bookstore and check out the latest Oxford Dictionary), I guess I no longer have any reason not to say "I blog" instead of "I keep a diary" or "I'm updating my journal".

Surprisingly, I don’t have the same dislike for “weblog”. But I digress ...

Does this mean I’ll start calling my two online journals “blogs” from now on? I don’t think so. I still prefer the word “journal”, and it looks like I’m not the only one. One of my favourite online journals is Journal of a Writing Man, subtitled “The daily journal and other web works of an English poet and writer”.

English poet and writer - maybe that explains why he uses the word “journal” instead of “blog”.

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