For snowman/woman fans across the world… with much aloha to one and all!      

‘ could hardly wait to tell you is that I finished my third Nano comedy in time to scoop up the 2014 dragon slayer’s certificate!  And like my first two, I never used more than two fingers at the same time. Eight more might have made things go faster, but maybe not, since it was my characters who set the speed, not my clumsy fingers.. … But I bet if I had used more fingers, there might have been lots fewer typos. Now that my 52,274 words are fast asleep in my computer, I’m going to see if a few of my new characters wouldn’t mind doing their own typing, next November. Or...

I’d give an able-bodied ghost all my index cards with those nifty colored dots and bring it cookies straight out of the oven, sprinkled with cinnamon … since I wouldn’t be glued to my seat and I’d have all that free time to tickle my savior’s taste buds. Anything to nourish its spirit, to sustain its willingness to meet my 50K deadline. Of course, I’d be there all the way.  Just not on the hot seat. My ghost would be the one almost over-powered by the brutal moments of truth when ideas that once sparkled on index cards start twitching helplessly on the computer screen.  … facing the...

When I was writing my first Nanowrimo, back in 2008, I was informed that one of my characters needed to take a fall.  It was a week before Thanksgiving and my characters were pretty much running the show.  I was about 35,000 words along, no outline, and my word count was healthy … but suddenly gusts of inspiration were wandering around too far overhead to find my screen. Oh, why had I decided to wing it? All my pals with their sturdy outlines next to their keyboards were marching ahead, pursuing their master plans. Their October prepping was paying off, while my messy inspirational index cards...

It turns out that a number of HR departments, far away, have been hard at work slandering Virgos — making it almost impossible for recent college grads to land a job, all because of their “unfortunate” birthdays. The chief complaint?  They allege that they’re just too picky.  Imagine … HR chieftains pitching Virgo-spawned resumes into handy circular files and defiantly closing doors in our faces. Because we’re too picky? So who has the upper hand now — it depends on the source. But it sounds like Aquarians, Geminis, and Librans are getting short-listed in...