Pleasure Writing -- The World of Fiction

Today is day 3 in the somewhat famous NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) experience. The goal of each participant is to write a minimum of 50,000 words (a novella) in the 30 days of November. This is my fifth year of participating and the second year that I've gotten a very late start (I haven't written a single word of fiction yet this month...). I do, however, intend to finish a rough manuscript before the end of the month.

Concerned how this can work? Check out Chris Baty's (the founder of NaNoWriMo) book: No Plot? No Problem!: A Low-Stress, High-Velocity Guide to Writing a Novel in 30 Days.

I spent the day at a writer's workshop, sponsored by RWA-Tucson, called "Discovering Story Magic". While the group was large (and the dynamic of the group discussion period would have been a lot more fun with less people), there was a lot of fantastic information passed along. If you have the opportunity to attend this workshop, I do recommend it. Our wonderfully special RWA chapter apparently came to a unique conclusion that none of the other "Discovering Story Magic" workshops have ever come to before. No spoilers from me. :)

If you have any desire to become a fiction writer, events such as NaNoWriMo are a fantastic way to get the momentum started. You might not come away with a best-seller at the end of the month, but you'll certainly be one step closer. Try participating in NaNoEdMo in March to edit your November masterpiece in a one month time period. A mere 50 hours counts as completion in this event, although most writers need significantly more to completely edit a novel.

Prefer writing a screenplay in a month? Check out Script Frenzy next June. This event has participants writing a 20,000 word screenplay in the one month time period. I've yet to participate in this, but I plan to at some point.

Think these are doable events? Feeling inspired? If you think you have it in you, you do. Have fun writing.

Have a Vision: Vision Boards and Vision Boxes

Vision Boards and Vision Boxes are becoming very popular! They are similar to Wish Lists, yet significantly deeper. Vision Boards can encompass not only our material desires, but also our deepest and innermost wishes and dreams such as "more peace" or "a magical existence". With The Law of Attraction and "The Secret" so popular, we're learning that our thoughts and dreams really can come true! We just have to really want them.

My daughters and I have vision boards. We made ours out of cut peg board. We glued cork on different areas of the boards (different for each of us), strung wire on the back, and stained little wooden boxes that we later glued on the boards. We use the cork area for the material things and/or short term events we want (ours are evolving with us). The other area we've mod-podged things that make us feel good -- pictures of things, words, etc. that reflect who we are and who we want to be (I've put lots of calm, zen images on my board; my oldest daughter has lots of magical images; my youngest daughter has gemstones and ballet photos). Basically, we put things on our boards that we want to manifest into our lives. My youngest daughter cleverly hooked a cup onto her board that she fills with little homemade clay items.

Some people choose to make Vision Binders or Boxes where they put photos and magazine words/pictures/items into. We prefer our Boards that hang on the wall, so we can look at them throughout the day. The boards definitely lack the portability of a binder though. I've seen a variety of Vision Boards made out of cardboard, foam board, and other materials. The great thing about these is that there is no set way of making them. It is entirely up to you! Christine Kane wrote a really great "How to Make a Vision Board" blog entry for those interested. Some people even make computer wallpaper Vision Boards for their screen's background. This is a very neat concept!

We enjoy our Vision Boards so much that we held a "Vision Board Day" with our Girl Scout Troop (I'm a Girl Scout Leader for both of my daughters' troops). I've been amazed at the wonderful and creative ideas the girls have had! This also gave us a chance to share our collection of catalogs and magazines. Some of the girls put only words all over their boards, others chose only pictures. One thing is for certain: our boards have to evolve since we keep getting everything we hope and dream for! It is amazing how these things keep appearing in our lives.

With the Holiday Season just around the corner, I'm excited to see the items that are popping up on my daughters' Vision Boards. I know what they'll love to receive and I don't have to ask them.

Don't forget to periodically take photos of your Vision Boards. It is fun to look back over time and see how your dreams have come true!

Fly like a SUPER HERO with Indoor Skydiving

We had a wild adventure yesterday with close friends and family (thirteen participants and one observer in all). My youngest daughter is about to turn 7. Her greatest passions are space, space travel, the sky, and dreams of flying or levitating. We are always trying to help our daughters have their dreams come true, but flying like a super hero isn't an easy feat to accomplish.

Enter Eloy's Sky Venture Arizona to the rescue to help us celebrate her birthday in style. Sky Venture offers the "ultimate indoor skydiving experience." We needed no parachutes and no experience. Since only one in our group had any skydiving experience at all, most of us didn't know what to expect (and there were surprises).

We showed up for our adventure with no special gear. Sky Venture provided everything we needed, including shoes if we didn't have tennis shoes. With a brief training session and special clothing, we were ready to go in short order. We each got the opportunity to fly for two individual 2 minute sessions. The instructors were excellent (and superb with flying tricks) and stayed right with each of us for our sessions. It was safe, simple, and we highly recommend it. In fact, we are trying to figure out when we can possibly go again. If you ever have the opportunity, don't pass it up. We even got a DVD of the whole experience. It has been fun to watch (we think we are going to add a Star Wars soundtrack).

Party favors were cool t-shirts from Sky Venture for everyone and special Webkinz for the kids. We also had an excellent vegan chocolate cake with lemon frosting from Friendly Feast.

Creating the Perfect "Harry Potter" Magic School Party

My oldest daughter turns eleven on Sunday. If we lived in England, she'd be getting her letter to Hogwart's about now. But, alas, we live in Arizona, USA. Then, of course, there is the fact that we have chosen homeschooling, Radical Unschooling to be precise, as the form of education in our household... Still, the magic siren has been calling to us. Our solution? A "Welcome to Magic School" party.

Ingredients for this MAGIC SCHOOL party:

• Money from Gringott's (this site has lots of high quality Harry Potter merchandise)
• Yummy candy to sell to the arriving students -- most purchased from Vegan Essentials
• Plenty of new wizards and witches to invite
• Parent/Grandparent/Older Sibling Professors (we couldn't do this without them!)
• Magic Wands and a couple of Alivan's magic wands
  
• One good sorting hat (these say suede, but it is a polyester faux vegan suede)
• Spells for all the magic we are planning
  
• Enough materials for at least seven classes
• Good imaginations

Directions: Mix together and have fun.

A few of our specific classes (with notes on the magic behind the magic):
Care of Magical Creatures -- Glow in the Dark Squidies
Transfigurations -- three forms of magical paper 1, 2, 3
Charms -- buzz magnets, water suspension magic, and static lights
Potions -- Making slime and worms
Herbology -- Planting magical plants
Divination -- tea leaf reading, crystal ball reading, magic fish
Defense Against the Dark Arts -- Making air blasters to defend against dark creatures

Our Vegan Feast includes:
NOTE: Cynthia from Friendly Feast created the menu and all recipes are hers (thus we can't share them).

• Hagrid's Special Birthday Cake
• Three Broomsticks Inn Butterbeer
• Hogwart's Express Iced Pumpkin Juice
• Quidditch Player Shepherd's Pie
• Mrs. Weasley's Home-Baked Mini Pumpkin Pies
• Kreacher's Treacle Tartlets
• Cauldron Cakes
• Canary Creams
• Honeydukes Sweet Shop Chocolate Fudge

And, of course, we have a few more magical surprises up our sleeves...
We can't tell you everything, or the magic would be gone.