Secured Transactions and Writing for Fun

Hello everyone - Happy Saturday.

I am currently in a bit of a bind. I have an optional secured transactions essay I want to finsih before Monday, but reading sentences like this:

"Except with respect to rights to proceeds, where a financing statement or financing change statement sets out a classification of collateral and also contains words that appear to limit the scope of the classification..."

and writing sentences like

"there are two problems posed with intellectual property as a security device, as defined in Canada, both in the Ontario PPSA and the various acts concerning regulation and formation of intellectual property:"

I find myself being distracted and writing sentences more like this:
"

Luna looked into his eyes, reached his soul, she didn’t pull back, but suddenly found herself reaching for him, pulling him into her, pushing her mouth onto his with the intensity of everything that simmered between them. Her hands fisted in his jacket and she insistently tugged him closer, though there was nowhere for him to go. He braced both his hands on the island on either side of her body, allowing her to consume him, she knew, at her own pace"

....

So the ultimate question this weekend: What will win? Secured Transactions or Writing for Fun?

I conquered NanoWrimo!

Boo yeah! Yes I did! 50k words in one month - OWNED!

hahahahahaha

Okay ,,, this study break is brought to you by Pwnage! And now I'm done ... I think ... The point of this post (asides from the jubilant glee that is my cheering myself on!) is to assess NANOWRIMO as a concept and a reality - and see what I have taken out of it this year.

But first! For all those still writing, a little bit of love from Toronto Nanos!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yLONlaI1k1k&feature=sub

(I really need to learn how to upload vids ...)

Yeah, that made my day, too.

Anyways, for those not in the know, Nanowrimo was established in 1999 as a month-long venture, where aspiring authors would strive to finish an entire novel length piece (that's 50,000 words more or less). Ensure chaos, right? Right. And sort of, wrong. Or maybe all right? The point is this: I have participated now twice running, and finished .... three novels and a short story between the two Novembers.

I kind of got ahead of myself, but what I want to express is that Nanowrimo is a great idea, and a great reality - even if it doesn't turn out my best work. There are many reasons for this: first off, a month is a lot of pressure. For those of us who do well under pressure (thank Goddess, or I would be funked out in law school right now), this may suck - I mean, the BF for all the good he can do, sucks with deadlines. He gets all anxious and OMG-OMFG! like, and then is useless. I, on the otherhand, buckle down, with coffee and lemon pastry to do what needs to be done! (And avoid studying ...)

So for those like me, Nanowrimo is ideal - it's better then a self-imposed deadline (I hate those, I always try to trick myself, it never works). For those like the BF, maybe not so much ....

Or maybe ...

See, here's #2: It forces you to do more then think about a book you want to read. It makes you actually, you know, write it. And there is something to that - even if it is the most craptastic book in the world - there is something about getting it all down that makes sense. And I think that, more then anything is the dealio with this.

Finally, #3 - it's a helluva lot of fun! I mean, you get into competitions with friends and there are videos like the one above from your community - it's just fun! And fun means more work gets done in an enjoyable way!

Now, there are critics of it - namely I have read anti-Nanowrimo from Maggie Stiefvater and Eric Rosenfield - and I encourage you to read and get their POV. I just don't agree with them. In fact, as much as I liked Shiver and Linger, I think as a novelist, Ms. Stiefvater is kind of ... well ... a tad narrow minded / short sighted. Great writer (though a tad too introspective for my tastes) but not such a great ... um ... visionary?

(Please don't pitchfork me ...)

I did like this article here, and I think everyone considering the anti-nanowrimo camp should think more about it, then not.

Besides, who wouldn't want one these beauties?



I know you're interested ...

Well you have 11 months to prepare for the next one! :)

I am writing ...

It's just not very fun.

Instead, I am writing papers - lots of them. One for secured transactions asking the hypothetical argumentative person on my shoulder: What does it mean, in a legal sense, to use intellectual property as collateral? (So far, nothing good). A Copyright paper on the new bill being pushed through the Canadian House of Commons (I will post about that soon - with links!). An essay on international law and the Basque Country (Yeah, my professor didn't know where the Basque Country was either ... sigh), and some other things that include hyptotheticals where Mary Jane and Peter Parker have legal issues pertaining to the purchase of the Wayne Mansion, etc.

Anyways, this is all to say that: I have no abandoned writing!

It's just the not-fun bit of it right now.

Though I am NANOWRIMOing it up! And nearly at the finish line - the problem is, how to get inspired when all your brain thinks about are things like liens and lines of credit and the CISG?

So, yours until Dec!

Ammy