"Taking Chance"

Tonight was the premiere cablecast of "Taking Chance," an original HBO movie starring Kevin Bacon, that is based on the journal of USMC Lt. Col. Michael Strobl (retired) who also wrote the screenplay with director Ross Katz.

It is a revealing, short at only 77 minutes, low-key, yet incredibly powerful movie of the true story about Strobl's escorting the body of USMC Lance Corporal Chance Phelps to his home town for burial.

Although Phelps was killed in Iraq, this is not a story about war nor the politics of the war.

It is about a moving, beautiful journey across America; a journey of honor, respect, care, and love; a story that I'm about to see for the second time as I type this and hope to eventually buy.

Highly recommended.

Avian Flu Pandemic

A friend let me know about an online news article about FEMA's planning for mass graves, vaccination drills, and martial law near Chicago. Although the subsequent comments are of the conspiracy theory, survivalist, TEOTWAWKI (The End of the World As We Know It), apocalyptic nature speculating on a civil uprising against the government due to the failing economy and Obama's disappointing performance to date with his and the other politicians' pork-filled stimulus package (Since the people are hurting for money, let's give them a little back so we can make them pay a lot more over the long haul; the government's perverted version of usury.) my thoughts are that preparations are being made, among other emergency situations, for the avian flu pandemic that the CDC predicted over a year ago would hit the U.S. in three to five years if it continued at the rate it had been.

If the H5N1 strain of influenza mutates to the point where it can spread from human to human (currently, it goes from animal to human to no more than one additional human), predictions of the number of fatalities, based on the flu pandemic of 1918, are high enough to affect our infrastructure. Although some people are saying "if" it comes to the U.S., even though the American continents are protected by the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, the Asian Avian Flu has spread so far that "if it arrives" is now "when it arrives."

From the CDC's "Current H5N1 Situation" webpage:

"(WHO) has reported human cases of avian influenza A (H5N1) in Asia, Africa, the Pacific, Europe and the Near East. Indonesia and Vietnam have reported the highest number of H5N1 cases to date. Overall mortality in reported H5N1 cases is approximately 60%. The majority of cases have occurred among children and adults aged less than 40 years old. Mortality was highest in cases aged 10-19 years old."

The potential for infrastructural disruption is so severe that, for example, if you take a sick relative to a hospital, it's possible for the nursing staff to be so depleted that you should expect to have to stay there to provide nursing care for your relative yourself, under the direction of whatever medical staff remains.

Other areas of concern would be if your place of business shuts down, schools and stores close, and public transportation services are interrupted. Would you be able to work from home? What will you do for money if you can't or if banks close? Do you have enough educational and entertainment materials at home to keep your children up with their schooling and entertained during a long-term confinement at home? Will you have enough food, water, medicine, and sanitation supplies to last for at least two weeks? How will you get around if you currently rely on public transportation and don't have your own vehicle?

Being proactive might prove to be the best and simplest way of protecting yourself and your family from the flu itself. If everyone does it, we'll have a better chance of avoiding wide-spread societal repercussions from the get-go.

First, the practice of good sanitation helps prevent the spread of any disease. Wash your hands frequently and ensure that your children do the same, especially before handling food or clean laundry or touching their faces.

Second, ensure that everyone's inoculations are current. While annual flu shots won't deter avian flu - it will take several months to develop a vaccine after it mutates to a human contagion form - developing a resistance to seasonal flu will enhance overall good health and help a victim survive. Because most flu-related deaths are due to pneumonia, getting a pneumonia shot is also recommended especially for those over 65 or with diabetes or respiratory afflictions such as asthma.

Third, if you have acreage with a body of water on it, let your dog(s) help keep your livestock safe by encouraging them to chase off wild migratory fowl that want to drink and feed on your property.

Finally, when the pandemic arrives (may God forbid), we should be prepared to wear surgical face masks or N95 respirators whenever we're out in public. Considering that I've worked with people who wouldn't stay home when they were sick and contagious, and women who blew off washing their hands after using the bathroom (Pot-luck lunches at work? No, thank you! Ignoring the fact that food service workers have to wear gloves, one woman didn't believe she should have to wash her hands because restaurant employees can't be trusted to wash theirs.), wearing protective gear at work or school might be a good idea, too, and may prove effective at preventing transmission in the home as well.

Psalms 91:
1. He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.
2. I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust.
3. Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence.
4. He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler.
5. Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day;
6. Nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday.
7. A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee.
8. Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked.
9. Because thou hast made the Lord, which is my refuge, even the most High, thy habitation;
10. There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling.
11. For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.
12. They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone.
13. Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder: the young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under feet.
14. Because he hath set his love upon me, therefore will I deliver him: I will set him on high, because he hath known my name.
15. He shall call upon me, and I will answer him: I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him, and honour him.
16. With long life will I satisfy him, and shew him my salvation.

Evangeline

With all the beautiful dogs appearing at the 133rd Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show on Monday and Tuesday, it was easy for me to anticipate my blogging about dogs this week. However, in the midst of my remembering the dogs I've known, I learned that my favorite aunt, my mother's older sister, passed away this past Sunday night.

Our relationship wasn't typical, being stunted by the thousands of miles that usually separated us and by the sometimes intense feelings of rivalry expressed by my mother that I came to believe were the result of their father asking Mom, why couldn't she be more like Evangeline? Eventually, Mom couldn't overcome her personal demons that persuaded her to refuse all contact with her sister despite Evangeline's many attempts to reconcile.

Fortunately, before Mom got to her last straw, Auntie and I already had a relationship that Mom didn't later discourage. Mom was smart and knew that whatever resentment she held was not to be borne by me as well. Because of this, Auntie has the honor of being the pivot point for three key aspects of my life: photography, travel, and my relationship with the Lord.

Her influence on my photography was possibly inadvertent. Before her husband was transferred from wherever he was stationed in Germany, Auntie sent a Konica 35mm rangefinder camera to Mom who, after using it for a while, decided it was too complicated for her and passed it along to me. Being an avid shutterbug since before I received my first camera at age 12, receiving a 35mm camera when I was 16 was a happy event for me. I wore out the camera over the next five years and the practice proved invaluable. When I was 21, I was asked to do the publicity shots for a stage play that were published in the local newspaper.

Auntie's influence on my traveling came from a brief conversation at the Honolulu International Airport's baggage claim area. Instructed by Mom to help Evan with her luggage, I was surprised when she pulled a small suitcase from the carousel and began to walk toward the exit with it.

"What about your other suitcase?" I asked.

"I don't have another suitcase. This is it," Auntie replied.

My jaw dropped. Mom always had Dad call the airline to ask the limits for the free luggage allowance so she could pack to the max, taking advantage of Dad's taking only one suitcase for himself to add to her travel wardrobe and mine. From Mom's example, I thought women were supposed to have a four-piece matched set of luggage because they needed it for all the toiletries and clothing they had to take.

"Only one suitcase?" I was amazed. Evan didn't even have a carry-on bag, only her purse.

"I travel with other women from the office and need to be able to carry my own luggage," she said. "I have two pairs of slacks, four blouses, and a couple of changes of underwear. That's all I need."

That eye-opener enabled me to spend five days on Puerto Rico and St. Croix with only my purse, camera, and carry-on bag, and two weeks in Hawai`i with a garment bag instead of the carry-on. For a two-week road trip to the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore in Wisconsin, Voyageurs National Park in Minnesota, the Royal Canadian Mint in Winnipeg, Manitoba; the Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum in Abilene, Kansas and seeing a few friends along the way, I took my camera, laptop, and carry-on bag.

Aunt Evan also helped me learn that, although you can't always trust people, you can always trust God, by serving as His oracle during one visit we enjoyed after she retired and went to live with her son on the Big Island of Hawai`i. She said that she doesn't get the things that people ask her to bring back for them from her trips. I knew I was hearing significant advice although I was choosing not to heed it. After all, it was a good friend from college who had asked me to bring back a T-shirt and we had continued the relationship for over ten years. I trusted my friend to repay me.

When I returned home, I called the now-former-friend who said she had changed her mind. She refused to pay me for the T-shirt as she had promised, telling me to send it back to Honolulu to get my money back. (I kept it for a while, so I wouldn't forget the valuable lesson. And, although that single incident didn't break up our friendship at that time, it was a definite cooler, a wake-up call to the type of person she is.)

Auntie was sociable, vivacious, and petite like a little bird with sparkling eyes. Being with her wasn't always sunshine and roses, however. There were times we disagreed, our voices rising as the current argument heated. As we approached impasse, she had the wisdom to pause and ask, "But, we agree that Jesus Christ is Lord?" I'd say, "Yes," and we'd laugh, the tension broken and melted away.

I could write more, how her name came from the poem, "Evangeline: A Tale of Acadie" by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow or how she was a street preacher when she was only ten. I recall that she had cars that were "different." Hers were the first Volkswagen Beetle and Opel in which I ever rode.

I'll miss her. I'm not in mourning or sad because there are no unresolved issues between us. The last words we said to one another were, "I love you." I don't need to say, "Good-bye," to her because I know in my heart, in my gut, in the very core of my being, that I'll see her again some day.

In the meantime, I hope her spirit has a nice nap. After 96 years on this earth, I expect she probably needs the rest.

1 Thessalonians 4:
13. But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.
14. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.
15. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.
16. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:
17. Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

Entering Politics

There are currently a whopping 78 tabs open in my Firefox browser. This is because I was researching a couple of things and got sidetracked by the McCollum Memo that supposedly proves that President Franklin D. Roosevelt instigated Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor to give the United States a reason to enter World War II.

I say "supposedly" because I didn't read the memo. I went off on another sidetrack about how and why the several presidents since FDR lied to us to get the U.S. into wars including the former President Bush with the events of 9-11.

From there, I read about how the U.S. meets all of the 14 points of fascism (you may look it up for yourself as well as the McCollum Memo), ending up at a prediction that we'd be under a soft dictatorship by the end of Bush's second term.

Well, we're past that point and everyone can decide for themselves where we stand. What concerns me is the assertion that both the Democratic and Republican parties want the same thing, a fascist state instead of a republic, and that they use the same tactics to move the U.S. closer to that goal. The only thing they're in discord about is which party is in power.

I don't agree with all of the "evidence" the websites present to support that we're turning toward fascism because some are subject to interpretation. However, limiting the First Amendment in regards to free speech, chopping away at the Second Amendment by making it difficult for law-abiding citizens to bear arms, and dispatching with due process as stated in the Fifth Amendment are definite departures from our Bill of Rights and as such are unconstitutional.

Now that Barack Obama is our president, winning the election with his promise for change, what will we see? Will it be more of the same slide away from the ideals that made the United States of America one of the nations to which people most want to emigrate or will we see a return to the foundation that made us a great nation?

You see, no president has ever needed a contract with the people because the Constitution is that contract and the President accepts it when he swears to "...preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States" upon taking office.

I also can't help wondering if people allow bad laws to pass because they're not paying attention to what their lawmakers are doing or if it's because they don't accept responsibility for the consequences of their personal choices, including the decision to follow God or not.

The other question I have is what actor looks enough like President Obama to portray him in the movies?

Happy Anniversary!

Today, February 1, marks the first anniversary of "Sound Off!"

It's been quite an accomplishment for me because I didn't know what I'd be writing about and didn't know if I could sustain it. At a total of 57 posts, it averages to slightly over a post each week although there were times that I didn't have something ready for you to read each weekend. The only negative aspect came from spammers who had me hopping to remove their junk before you could read them. I finally got to the point that I turned on comment moderation.

To my returning readers: Thank you very much for reading my raves, rants, and ramblings. As a writer, I need an outlet and it's gratifying to know that my words are reaching people all over the world.

To those who are referred from search engines and links on other sites: Thank you for stopping by. I hope you found helpful information and that your thinking was stimulated.

Special thanks go to my friend, Roxie Beishline, who supports my writing and remembers my birthday as the great friend she is overall.

My biggest "Thank you" goes to my Lord God who used Roxie to inspire me to start blogging in the first place. All the glory belongs to Him simply because He is the great Creator.

Happy Anniversary!

Preparedness: Introducing the Fifteen Essential Systems

As mentioned in my last post, issues were raised as I contemplated my 10-day car survival kit.

One issue was whether the Mountaineers Club's list of Ten Essential Systems can serve as a blueprint for preparedness whether for the home, car, workplace, or while traveling by air or on a road trip. I think it can. After all, it's a preparedness list for climbers, hikers, backpackers, and other people who enjoy the great outdoors who sometime find themselves in adverse conditions. It only needs to be adapted to suit other people and situations.

I've taken the liberty of rearranging the Ten Essential Systems, combining and adding to them to suit general preparedness issues. The result is the Fifteen Essential Systems as follows:

1. NAVIGATION - Being disoriented or not being able to figure out how to get to your desired destination is, at best, a momentarily uncomfortable experience. At worst, being lost forces us into survival mode and requires the rest of these Essential Systems. It's best to stay found and know where you're going.

2. PERSONAL ATTIRE - Since the leading cause of death in situations requiring Search and Rescue (SAR) efforts is from exposure, everything you can wear to avoid either hypothermia or hyperthermia, from long johns to sun hat, is in this system.

3. HYDRATION - The second leading cause of death in situations requiring a SAR effort is dehydration. Not only do you need water, you need to know how to make water safe for drinking.

4. SHELTER - In most cases, this is your home, vehicle, motel, boat, or tent; but may be a garbage bag, bivy sack, lean-to, or snow cave.

5. COMMUNICATION - Not only will you want to contact other people and signal for help, you need to know what's going on in the world especially in regards to the weather.

6. FIRE - Although a system of its own, by providing heat and light, fire supplements the Personal Attire, Hydration, Communication, Illumination, Nutrition, Entertainment, and Security systems. Because fire is required to light them, stoves are included in this category.

7. ILLUMINATION - You want to be able to see in the dark, don't you? Since light can be used for signaling, this category also supplements the Communication system. If you have incandescent flashlights, except for children's flashlights, I recommend you upgrade them to LEDs or replace them simply because LEDs will make your batteries last longer for all but the brightest tactical flashlights.

8. NUTRITION - People can survive for several days, even weeks, without food, but appropriate nutrition will stave off hypothermia and help structure your day as you wait for something to change your circumstances. Too many people give up on being prepared because they don't like the waste of money when they set food aside then forget about it, instead of rotating it into their kitchen pantry and replacing it. Yes, checking expiration dates is inconvenient, but that is simply part of being prepared.

9. FIRST AID KIT - This includes personal hygiene and laundry.

10. REPAIR AND TOOLS - Stuff happens and you can& we need to do to be prepared for the contingencies most likely to interrupt us at home, work, and during our travels whether on a road trip or by air.

[The next article in this series is, "The Essential Systems: Navigation."]

[Update - as of Jan. 7, 2012, I've posted the following kits:

1. My Micro Survival Kit carried in my wallet-on-a-string.

2. My Mini Survival Kit carried in my medium-sized purse.

3. My Mobile Survival Kit carried in a pouch that can be carried as a shoulder bag or a waist pack.

4. My Car Survival Kit.]

Whistles and Car Escape Tools

While Christmas shopping at amazon.com, I spent a few dollars on myself to buy a "Glow" (in the dark) Fox 40 Mini whistle and a yellow ResQMe tool for my key ring.

I debated whether to get the Mini whistle or a Micro which is slimmer and better suited for a key ring, but the Glow was impossible for me to resist. To reduce the Mini's traditional profile, I clipped down the rounded sides and filed them smooth with my Leatherman multitool while watching TV.

I decided a ResQMe is better for me than the considerably larger and much heavier LifeHammer because my travels include flying to destinations and renting a car as well as riding with friends who drive their own. With the ResQMe on my key ring, I'll always have an escape tool, in whichever vehicle I happen to be.

I considered getting the Victorinox Swiss Army Knife RescueTool because it has tools for breaking windshields as well as side windows, but decided against it because of the price and the greater weight although the price is down from $90 to $50 at a couple of websites where I saw it.

When my ResQMe arrived, I was pleasantly surprised at how lightweight it is. It doesn't weigh down my key ring as much as I thought it would.

The picture instructions on the back of the blister pack card are simple:

A. Pull the ResQMe tool to separate it from your key ring. This also removes the protective sheath from the blade.

B. Cut your seat belt with the blade.

C. Position the spike end of the tool against the side window and press the tool against the window using about 12 lbs. of pressure. Repeat as needed until enough glass is broken for you to escape safely. The tool recocks automatically so all you have to do is position the spike end against the glass and press.

In addition to buying the whistle and the ResQMe, a half-day of ice from freezing rain occurring the week before Christmas motivated me to make up my 10-day survival kit for my car as previously referenced in my blog post, "Are You Prepared?" because the last week of December through the first half of February is the most-likely time in my region for ice storms that knock out power and impede traffic.

In the process of doing so, several issues were raised which I've been thinking about and researching for another blog post that I thought I'd have done by now. Please be on the watch for it, hopefully in the not-too-distant future.

[Update 1/29/09 - I decided to do a series on preparedness. My next post introduces the Fifteen Essential Systems].

Happy Holidays!

Overcome by Christmas cards and gift-wrapping, there wasn't anything for me to write about since my last post.

I hope your holidays were joyful and that the New Year is safe.

Happy Holidays!

Dallas Opera: "Die Fledermaus"

There was only one skunk on the road to Dallas this past Sunday and the portent held true. There were no ringing or vibrating cell phones, no watch alarms, and no out-of-place applause. The only skunk in the audience was the woman next to me wearing perfume.

Fortunately, there were large blocks of empty seats in the upper balcony making it easy for me to move up and avoid having another allergic reaction to her otherwise pleasant fragrance.

I moved to an empty lower row of only three seats and settled in to having a good time with this comic operetta by Johann Strauss II.

Although the first act is filled with chuckles from the interplay of the characters which was easy to follow because the performance was in English, I was nearly overcome by yawns and general boredom. The only bright spots were the voices of Chad Shelton, playing Alfred, and Ava Pine, playing Adele, who turned out to be the star of the show both in voice and in acting.

To be fair, Ana Maria Martinez, playing the part of Rosalinde, was recovering from the flu. Knowing this only makes me wonder how much better she might have been if she had been in full health. On the other hand, Miss Pine was recovering from a sinus condition.

Since many of the singers, excluding Pine, Shelton, and later Grant Neale, weren't easily projecting their voices over the orchestra or filling the hall with their voices, it made me consider that the smaller capacity of the new Winspear Opera House with its 2200 - 2300 seats, compared to the 3400 seats of the Fair Park Music Hall, would aid weaker voices. In any case, a voice like Pine's will be sure to knock our socks off in the smaller venue.

Happily, the pace picked up in the second act and the production improved through to the end of Act III. Neale, as Frosch, the jailer, was in fine voice and left me in stitches with his pratfalls and complaints about opera and Alfred's singing. Indeed, I'd be lying if I didn't admit how well Shelton sang and portrayed Alfred despite Frosch's complaints.

The only character I found disconcerting was Prince Orlofsky, played by Marianna Kulikova. I don't know if it was her somewhat erratic voice which got stronger as she went on or her makeup or the sight of the side of her right breast bulging through the side of her uniform. There were too many lopsided features for me to ignore in order to catch the laughs. Was she a woman playing a man as a trouser role suggests? Or was she a woman playing a man playing a woman in drag as a man?

Overall, it turned out to be a gentle and pleasant way to spend a Sunday afternoon, not an expensive nap as I feared it would become during Act I, although it wasn't worth the 4-1/2 hour drive except for Ava Pine's performance.

If this production is any indication, we need to keep an eye on Ava Pine because she might be going places.

NaNoWriMo 2008

There it is. I participated. I met the challenge head on and won. I can't say that I'm proud of it, though, because it was a lot of painful work for a negligible reward. It feels like a hollow victory.

I'm not talking about the web badge or PDF certificate I was awarded. They're kewl and I'm glad to have them.

What I mean is that NaNoWriMo isn't for everyone.

The intent of NaNo is to enable a writer to produce a novel's first draft in only 30 days instead of the six months or longer that it usually takes. It is particularly effective for writers who can't quell their inner editors long enough to finish a first draft.

Unfortunately, as in other aspects of life, one size does not fit all. NaNo isn't suitable for every writer; I suspect especially those who don't tend to do a lot of rewriting. In case you're wondering, writers fall somewhere along a line that ranges across three basic categories: from writers to editors to revisionists.

For example, Lee Child writes a first draft and that's the only draft he does.

In "James A. Michener's Writer's Handbook: Explorations in Writing and Publishing," Michener described himself as being not a good writer, but a great editor.

At the opposite end of the range from Lee Child are writers like Louise Ure who describes herself as a revisionist who changes everything that's in her first draft. Everything!

Because I tend more to Lee Child's end than I do to Louise Ure's end of the range, being a polisher and tweaker instead of a rewriter or revisionist, I am still dismayed at the huge amount of untenable crap that was the result of my participation in NaNo. Sure, I won, but what I got from it was merely the length of a novel. It wasn't a first draft as far as I'm concerned. From the 344 manuscript pages that resulted from my NaNo efforts, I've been deleting everything I have to rewrite from scratch. As of this posting, only 55 pages remain.

That's a serious load of crap, isn't it? I'm not concerned about the actual rewriting because I have all my preparatory material. I'm annoyed only about the waste of time.

The reason for this is because the pressure of the short deadline and the advice given by Chris Baty and other experienced NaNo writers influenced me to cast everything I learned from Mary McClure to the wind. In addition to being a mentor to journalists, Mary encourages all writers and has an excellent sense for what works. It's not that Baty et al give bad advice, either, only that it doesn't always work for everyone.

So there I was, halfway through November, suddenly aware that extremely little of what I was writing could remain. It's not that the story is bad. It's because the writing was truly awful; I haven't seen my writing that bad before - ever. Not even in junior high school. By striving for the quantity that NaNo demands, I wasted nearly a month's worth of writing time that would have been put to better use producing pages that I wouldn't have to delete at the end of the challenge so I can rewrite them.

I would have given up and quit at that point of unhappy discovery, but I decided to see it through. After all, I had dedicated November to NaNoWriMo and I didn't have anything else to do on the spur of the moment. I did, however, quit as soon as I came to a natural stopping point after passing the 50K word goal even though there were more days left that I could have used to write more. I just didn't want to have to rewrite any more than I did already and I'm not enough of an adrenalin junkie to want the intensity of NaNo writing to last longer than necessary.

It really is an accomplishment to come out of NaNo as a winner. I only wish that what I got out of it was more like other first drafts I've done.

The bottom line is that while I have a winner's badge, the real prize for me is a workable draft. That is, a draft that I can actually work on, not one that I have to delete and rewrite.

Maybe if I was a revisionist, I'd be a happy camper. Instead, I suffered the insanity of NaNoWriMo and have only 12,000 words to show for it despite being a winner. I could have had that anyway if I hadn't been honor-bound to not start writing before November 1. NaNoWriMo simply isn't my cup of tea.

Will it work for you? Here are some things to consider. If you:

1. Are a procrastinator

2. Can't stifle your internal editor long enough to finish a first draft

3. Typically do heavy editing, rewriting, or revising

NaNoWriMo is likely to work out very well for you.

If you're a procrastinator who doesn't like to rewrite, all I can suggest is that you either set your butt down and write on your own volition, or bite the bullet, do NaNo, and rewrite whatever results.

To be a NaNo winner, I offer the following tips:

1. Dedicate enough time to churn out an average of 1,667 words per day for 30 days in a row. Get a haircut, do all the laundry, buy groceries, warn your family and friends that you won't be available, get an answering machine or turn off your phone, put a "Do Not Disturb" sign on your door, have your spouse pay all the bills or pay all you can afford on October 31 and delay as many as you can until December 1.

2. Persuade someone to prepare your meals or stock up on sandwich fixings, cereal, Ramen, and other quick foods like Knorr Rice Sides and Sides Plus to which you can add a drained 8 oz. can of vegetables and a drained, two-serving can of meat like chicken, ham, or sliced Vienna sausages after preparation according to package directions. That will give you a one-pot meal that serves two. If you're single, refrigerate the second serving and reheat it later for another meal. (For easy cleaning, fill the pot with hot water and a few drops of detergent as soon as it's empty, and let it soak while you go back to writing. It'll be easy to clean after a few hours.) During NaNo, I had an unusual craving for milk and grapes. Since protein and fruit are synergistic, I wasn't concerned, only noticed that the combination and quantities were unusual for me.

3. Plan your story as much as possible. The more you know about your characters and plot, the less you'll get stuck. Free-flow writing works, but if you get writer's block, having an outline or a stack of notes at hand will help you get back to writing. If it isn't cohesive, don't worry about it. Write on. Fix later.

4. If you don't have names for your characters before Nov. 1, don't get hung up on inventing them during NaNo. Simply call them something, anything, consistently all the way through. That way, you can go back after you determine a name and do a Find and Replace All if you're using Word or the equivalent in other word processors. Then, you can tweak the names according to how other characters address them during a regular editing pass. I used occupations such as POLICE CAPTAIN, WAITRESS, character types such as VILLAIN and VICTIM, and physical characteristics such as BLONDE when I didn't want to waste time thinking up a name.

That's all I can think of at this time. If you have other tips that helped you become a NaNo winner, please post them in Comments.

Happy Writing!