The Anticipation Is More Than I can Stand

Sunday is when NaNoWriMo starts and I can hardly wait. This year I have a new novel idea and I have been scribbling copious notes but I can't start writing until Sunday. I know a lot of Nanowrimos will start at Midnight but I have church Sunday and I don't do well unless I am fully rested. If I start writing in the wee hours I know I will pull an all nighter and be worthless in the morning. Not a good thing when driving a church van full of screaming kids. So I will start Sunday afternoon at the earliest but most likely after Sunday evening services. Then If I pull an all nighter I'll just fall asleep at my desk on Monday. But I have to go to work with some kind of word count (hopefully at least 1667) because the co-worker that occupies the seat next to mine is also in NaNoWriMo this year and if I have less of a word count than she does she will openly ridicule me.

Thursday Thirteen #3

13 Things About Dane Bramage

13 Facebook Apps to Waste Your Precious Time On

As you may know, NaNoWriMo begins this Sunday. I usually have no problem on the weekends cranking out my word count. During the week is another matter. I get easily distracted by computer things. This year I have two new additions. World of Warcraft and Facebook. WoW will be easy enough to deal with. When my time expires, I just won't renew until after November 30th. Facebook on the other had has a bunch of free applications (apps) that usually require dailly maintenance. Here are 13 Facebook appa that are likely to waste my precious time.

1. Mafia Wars Do jobs to earn money and experience. Recruit Facebook Friends to be in your Mafia family. Fight other players.


2. Vampire Wars Do jobs to earn money and experience. Recruit Facebook Friends to be in your Vampire clan. Fight other players.


3. Space Wars Do jobs to earn money and experience. Recruit Facebook Friends to be in your Space fleet. Fight other players.


4. Dragon Wars Do jobs to earn money and experience. Recruit Facebook Friends to be in your Dragon Alliance. Fight other players.


5. Pirates! Do jobs to earn money and experience. Recruit Facebook Friends to be in your Pirate crew. Fight other players.

Okay This should have been called Pirate Wars but I think someone had already taken the name. These games are remarkably similar so learning one teaches you the rest. Some are more popular than others and the "wars" list goes on.

6. Battle Stations This spaceship building game is more graphically appealing than your standard app. But basically its the same premise as the others.


7. Farm Town Big Facebook hit. You plant crops. You wait. You harvest crops. You expand. Lots of fun.


8. Farmville Zynga the "wars" company created a knock off of Farm Town. Sufficiently different to try though.


9. Dungeons and Dragons Tiny Adventures Completely different but not necessarily in a good way. You make a character. You pick missions. Time elapses and your mission will consist of 6 to 18 die rolls. You pass or fail each roll. If you fail the last roll of the mission you fail the mission. You earn experience and cash to buy gear.


10. Cafe World My new best diversion. You run a cafe by cooking meals hiring waiters, serving dishes and expanding your building. Big fun! I NEED NEIGHBORS!


11. Superhero City Do missions to earn money and experience. Flash animation for the fights is a very nice bonus but otherwise same as the rest.


12. Castle Age Higher quality artwork, more variations on gear but same type of app.


13. Starfleet Commander This app is quite different from the others. It appeals to the classic 4X strategy gamer in me.

Now the main purpose of these apps is to make money. You can play for free forever but you can enhance your game play by exchanging real money for virtual money to buy virtual goodies and boons for your squad/clan/tribe/crew/family/team etc. And of course they make it almost imperative for you to sign up your Facebook friends as "teammates", a reciprocal arrangement which allows you to be a member of their "team" at the same time. So if you are on Facebook and play any of these apps, send a friend request to Dane Bramage (Akron Ohio) and tell me what game you are in and I will be your neighbor!

---

---

---

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!
The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. Its easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

Bent Objects

There is a book out by Terry Border. Check it out.

Thursday Thirteen #2

13 Things About Dane Bramage

13 Reasons Why I Am Going to Have Bariatric Surgery

Five years ago I contemplated the idea of Bariatric surgery. Well more than contemplated it. I actually joined the program and saw the doctors and dietitians, the whole nine yards. What kept me from going through with it was insurance. My plan would not cover it. Well that has changed and I am in the program again. This time it looks very likely my insurance will cover it this time. In honor of that I am listing 13 reasons why I chose/need to have Bariatric surgery.

1. At the dinner table I sit next to everybody. Same thing at the theater.


2. My belt size is "Equator" I have to put it on with a boomerang.


3. My cereal bowl comes with a lifeguard. Sometimes I just eat from a satellite dish.


4. My driver's license picture says "continued on other side". And it is an aerial shot to boot!


5. When I jump into the air I get stuck. I can't even jump to a conclusion.


6. I caught a flesh-eating virus and the doctor gave me 10 years to live.


7. I have to iron my pants in the driveway


8. At the zoo, elephants throw me peanuts. Still not as bad as having Greenpeace try to roll me back into the ocean when I sunbath.


9. I have smaller fat men orbiting me.


10. Once I went missing and they used all four sides of the milk carton.


11. I have my own zip code. And my butt has its own congressman!


12. My belly button doesn't have lint, it has sweaters.


13. At restaurants I don't get a menu, I get an estimate.

---

---

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!
The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

Thursday Thirteen

13 Things about My NaNoWriMo Novel

November 1st begins NaNoWriMo. That's National Novel Writing Month. It is an annual excercize for budding writers to crank out 50,000 words in 30 days. This will be my 4th attempt and hopefully my second successful one. I am not allowed to start writing yet but I can have an outline and some notes prepared so I thought I would share 13 things about this years novel.

1. The genre is science ficiton/fantasy. While the hero starts on modern day Earth he travels to a myriad of different worlds and eras.


2. The Character's name might be Zach. Short for Zachariah. But the character I am using as my inspiration was actually Zephaniah so he could easily be Zeph. I haven't decided.


3. Zach has gifts. Special abilities far beyond normal mortals.


4. Zach is a Prime In a universe with infinite worlds and infinite variations, there are infinites numbers of you and me. There is only 1 Zach and 1 of each of the other primes.


5. Primes can pass through shunts. Shunts are invisible dimensional portals that come and go. Only Primes can see them or pass through them.


6. When Primes are not on the world of their birth, they do not age. So if they start adventuring young, a Prime can retain their youth indefinately. But they age normally on their world of birth.


7. All Primes instantly recognize other Primes as Primes. a "feeling" that is impossible to duplicate.


8. All Primes instantly know when they are on the world of their birth. Again a feeling.


9. Shunts never appear in the same place twice. But with practice a Prime can take a shunt to any world.


10. Primes can sense shunts. Some can sense when they will appear but not where. Others know where but not when. So communication is vital.


11. Primes have established a secret organization. They have a base in the form of a "members only" club on many worlds. A Prime doorman insures only Prime enter the premises. The goal is education and adventure reporting. Some think it should be more.


12. Physical laws vary from world to world Some places magic is very powerful while othere, magic barely exists


13. Zach wants to be a superhero With his new found abilities he can make his wish come true if he survives.

The basic idea came from a Champions campaign I ran where the heroes were Primes but there were only two worlds, Earth and Terra. Identical physically in everyway, the differences were often subtle and the heroes bounced back and forth between the two. I decided for NANoWriMo I would expand on the concept.

Too Bad It's Friday

I just discovered that Thursday Thirteen is still alive and well sort of. Many of the participants of the weekly meme continue to post weekly so starting next week I will jump back on the bandwagon.

Coming Soon! NaNoWriMo 2009!

It is that time of year again and I am planning to participate in National Novel Writing Month or NaNoWriMo for short. I am under pressure this year to complete a novel (or novella for some of you purists) of at least 50,000 words. But I have to start it November 1st and complete it by midnight November 30th. The reason for the pressure is I completed the challenge last year so I am hopeful I can do it this year. The finished work needn't be ready for publishing and in most cases the end result requires numerous rewrites. But the object is to get the ideas out of your head and down on paper (or electronic media).

The biggest hurdles I will face this year will be depression over my economic situation, and World of Warcraft. To my credit I have gotten my toon in WoW to level 80 so as long as Cataclysm isn't released in Novemember I should be fine. Of course Blizzard could tempt me by releasing Starcraft II instead.

Last year my novel focused on a starship Captain, his android first mate and his strange collection of crew. Instead of furthering the adventures of my ensemble I have decided to change directions slightly. this year I have a new main character who has the ability to move through dimensions to different worlds. These worlds can be like modern day Earth or like Camelot or like Naboo. So it will be a blending of Sci-fi and fantasy backdrops.

I am hoping to get some support by encouraging my friends to participate this year. Wish me luck.