It's November. Are You In On NaBloPoMo or NaNoWriMo?

I'm a veteran of National Novel Writers Month (AKA: NaNoWriMo) where I've won it 4 times over the years. This means I actually managed to write a 50,000+ word novel between November 1st and 11:59 PM on November 30.

It's not for the faint of heart, and it's a huge commitment. It's also a blast, a way to add a social element to the solitary art of writing, and the best way to duct tape the mouth of your inner critic and just get in the zone and write, write and write more. There are prizes and prompts to encourage. And cities and regions have groups that meet up in person to write together. I highly recommend it for anyone who has a great american novel bumping around in their brains and always back burners it for life, paid work, fear or family. Check it out here. There's still more than plenty of time to join up. We're busy but seriously considering giving it another go for 2015.

Alternately, we know loads of blogger friends rocking NaBloPoMo this month with BlogHer. Here at ChiIL Mama we're in on that for sure. Whether you're a newbie or a veteran blogger like me, who has been blogging since 2009, NaBloPoMo will have you jumping in the puddle with both feet and making a splash. The challenge is to blog daily November 1-30th. Follow along with us and hundreds of others via Facebook and Twitter at the hashtag #NaBloPoMo. It's also a fun, social event with prizes and prompts. See you out there. Write ON!!

Halloween 2015 Recap Chi, IL Style

Hope everyone's Halloween weekend was a blast. Despite a chilly, rainy start here in Chi, IL, things cleared up around 5pm and my Rainbow Puking Gnome from Gravity Falls and my Steampunk made the rounds with a pack of friends. Then they returned to a party filled with loads of food and new and old school friends dating back to their preschool days.

Things I learned this Halloween:

• My MIL didn't know narwals existed. "Are those actually real or is it some Star Warsie kind of thing?" 

• There IS actually a candy called Zombie Food with quote unquote "milk chocolate brains, heart & feet filled with oozie red caramel"
• Teens can make a seriously scream inducing haunted basement on a shoe string budget.

• The rejects from the Jelly Belly Factory in southern Wisconsin are repackaged and sold as "Belly Flops". Those misshapen mashups are just as tasty.
• Steampunks are not as well known among the general populace as they are in our circle of friends. Dugan got a lot of bewildered, blank stares and a few educated guesses on his costume like.... Are you: Time Traveler Dude, Watchmaker's Apprentice, Gears Guy, Steamboat Punk?
• You're never too old to dress up for Halloween!

The party full of tween & teen kids made an amazingly creepy cool haunted house in the basement then stayed down there to hang out and get some space from the parents upstairs. Meanwhile, we caught up with loads of our favorite families we never see face to face anymore, now that the playground pickup days are past. 

The kids hung till around 11:30 and my husband was right, that's the longest time we've been at anyone's house without seeing one or both kids popping up and saying "I'm bored. When are we leaving." We finally had to drag the kids home because our son was leading early school tours for perspective 7th graders and their families in the morning.

We dropped the kids off, let the pups out, and hit the final 2 hours of our usual haunts, our friends' annual party on Bernard Street. This two block stretch is a renowned Chicago trick or treat mecca, where the neighbors dress up and deck out their homes in a big way. There are hundreds if not thousands of trick or treaters and our friends always have a big bash till the wee hours of the morning. It was midnight, so we almost didn't chance it, but we called over there and things were still half way hopping.

The husband and kids were asleep already, but amazingly enough, the wife was still up and there were about 10 friends left standing, and they enthusiastically begged us to come over. Better late than never, so we swung for a few beers and rocked their strobe lit, living room with a drunken, group Rocky Horror "Sweet Transvestite" sing along. Meanwhile the wife went upstairs to wake her husband to come down and say hey to the latecomers but she fell asleep in the process, while he rallied and came back down to hang out. Around the 3rd time in 2 hours that their iPod began to loop and play Ministry's "Every Day is Halloween" and Thriller yet again, we grabbed a few cookies and Affy Tapples for the kids and hit the road.

Check back soon. We'll have a big photo and video recap of our adventures at the first teen Redmoon Skelabration party on Friday night.

More Fav Pixs:

#NaBloPoMo VS. #NaNoWriMo 1/3 Of The Way

"Mom, is there really such a thing as noblahpomo... nanoblogmo... nablomomoh?"  my son had the audacity to ask.   "I think you made it up so you can keep on writing on your blog every day instead of doing NaNoWriMo and writing another novel with us!"

photo credit BlogHer.com

I reassured him, NaBloPoMo is indeed a thing.  And I'm doin' it.   I showed him the logo and everything.   









That said, I'm quite proud my kids are now in their 5th year of NaNoWriMo Young Writers.   They've been rockin' out on their new novel collaboration and are aiming for an impressive goal of writing 13,333 words this month! 









They've got numerous cool logos for Young Writers Program, tee shirts, buttons, stickers and a rockin' support site.   They even get cool on line pep talks from sweet authors.   My son's just been reading The Candymakers, so he was extra jazzed to see a pep talk by author Wendy Mass.

NaBloPoMo

Despite a busy busy month, and a vicious bout of the flu that had my daughter throwing up TEN times last night and today....we're all making daily writing a reality.   

NaBloPoMo gives optional but pretty cool writing prompts.   Check 'em out.   I'm doing photo and video filled features on a daily basis, but  

I answered all the questions through Monday 11/5 here, too.

Here's the next round of questions and my answers:

Tuesday, November 6, 2012
If you were President of the United States, what would be your first act in office?

I'd make it mandatory for everyone who wants to serve in a political office to have to take one month of "enlightenment training" before they could start.   This would involve community service, living on the wages (or lack thereof) of the poorest of their constituents, and spending time sharing meals with families of all races, income levels, sexual orientations and demographics they would be representing. 

Wednesday, November 7, 2012
Talk about the last compliment you received.

"You're the best mom ever." my daughter said this afternoon while she lay in my lap after throwing up all night and most of the day.  I would have given anything to spare her the pain, but it was so sweet and gratifying to be able to just slow down and hold her for so many hours....without a schedule or agenda.    We built a fire in the wood stove, watched movies and cuddled.   

Sure, missing a night's sleep, dumping bowls of puke and washing load after load of sheets from where she overshot the "pukey bowl" is one of the less glamourous, least fun sides of motherhood....but I'll treasure and remember those sweet words in a few short years, when she's a snarky teenager.

Thursday, November 8, 2012
If you could have any job (and instantly have the training and qualifications to do it), which job would you want?

I'd love to be a well paid photographer/ videographer.   As much as I love writing, I reeeeally dig shooting shows and interviewing people.   The visual aspects appeal to me and sometimes, cliche as it is....a picture IS worth a thousand words. 

Friday, November 9, 2012
If you could change one thing about your life right now, what would it be?

I'd like to master the art of cloning so I could be with my kids and husband, cover all the simultaneous events in Chicago I'd love to be at, blog/write/edit more hours in the day and still get plenty of sleep/yoga/massage & hot tub time!!

Want to plan ahead or play along?   Here are the rest of November's prompts:

Monday, November 12, 2012

Where is your favourite place to blog?

Tuesday, November 13, 2012
What is the bravest thing you've ever done?

Wednesday, November 14, 2012
Tell us about the best meal you ever cooked.

Thursday, November 15, 2012
Tell us about your favourite pet.

Friday, November 16, 2012
Would you buy your dream house if the price was right BUT you also were told it was inhabited by ghosts?

Monday, November 19, 2012
If you had to get locked in some place (book store, amusement park, etc) overnight alone, where would you choose to be locked in?

Tuesday, November 20, 2012
Talk about the opening of your favourite book.

Wednesday, November 21, 2012
Where is your favourite place to read?

Thursday, November 22, 2012
When was the last time that you cried?  Why?

Friday, November 23, 2012
What is the hardest word for you to say?

Monday, November 26, 2012
Do you speak more than one language?  How did you learn the additional languages?

Tuesday, November 27, 2012
If you could instantly know any language in the world, which one would it be?

Wednesday, November 28, 2012
Tell us about the worst trip you ever took.

Thursday, November 29, 2012
Tell us about three new blogs you found this year.

Friday, November 30, 2012
What has been the hardest part about blogging daily?

NaNoWriMo or NaBloPoMo That Is The Question

Hello--It's NaBloPoMo number #1103 here, AKA:   ChiIL Mama.   I'm still on a quest to find as many worthy reasons to get outta laundry and dishes duty as possible!   Blog much?   Are there chirping crickets in your corner of the blogosphere?  Get in the soup.   November's a great month to jump start your writing and make it a habit to write a least something daily.

After a little bit of waffling, I'm in. I've done NaNoWriMo --National Novel Writers month, in November for 4 years and managed to successfully write a 50,000+ novel from start to finish during the 30 days of November!!! 

That said, it's crazy HARD to do with a family, freelance career and loads of blog work. This year I'm still toying with the idea of doing it again, but my blogging has become a full time job and 50,000 word in 30 days is a crazy lotta writing.

My 9 & 11 year old kids are still teaming up to do the youth version of NaNoWriMo--Young Writers Program again this year.  This will be Sagezilla's 3rd year and Du-Jay's 4th.  It's not too late to catch that train.   If you or your kids are up for a creative, crazy fun challenge this month, check it out here.  They don't have to climb that 50,000 word mountain to win.   There's an age appropriate word count guide range right on the site.   As a mom, I LOVE to see my kids excited about writing and the stories they've collaborated on have been hilarious and super creative.

Sooooo, for now I'm going for BlogHer's NaBloPoMo, so I don't have to quit cold turkey. I pretty muchly blog daily as it is, between my main blogs at ChiIL Mama and ChiIL Live Shows and my other two at Dugsound.com and ChiIL Travel Kids. I'll commit to post every day at ChiIL Mama. So check in like we vote in Chi, IL...early and often. Soups on!!

NaBloPoMo BlogHer Prompts

If you're participating in NaBloPoMo in November -- or even if you're not! -- here are some prompts to get you going. Writing prompts are posted at the beginning of the month so you can plan ahead, Monday to Friday (weekends are for free-writing!)

Thursday, November 1, 2012
Tell us your favourite quotation and why.

I have a ton of favorite quotations from theatre greats, women, feminists, and humor writers.   Still, here's my fav if I had to pick just one.   

"Prevent perfection, prefer a perceptive perspective."   

I hope it doesn't sound too arrogant that it's one I wrote, but it sums up my parenting and life philosophy, it's catchy, and really sinks in the more you think about it.    So much stress, anger and craziness result from people trying to be perfect, expecting perfection from others, and beating themselves up for falling short.   Human beings are messy, complex, creative beings who learn more from our mistakes than our successes.   If you live life from a perceptive perspective, considering intent along with action, factoring in compassion, and using your mind, heart and intuition versus rigid rules set in stone, you'll be healthier and happier.

Friday, November 2, 2012
If you could live anywhere, where would it be?

Chicago is my kind of town, without a shadow of a doubt.

Monday, November 5, 2012
What are your thoughts about tomorrow's election in the United States?

Frankly, I'm a bit freaked out at the racist, misogynistic, backward, hateful,  right wing talk that seems to be completely socially acceptable.   I always expect more intelligence and compassion from Americans and am surprised and disappointed at the selfishness and hypocrisy.  This has been the nastiest presidential race I can remember, with the candidates radically different on so many levels.