If you’re in the US and scrambling for last-minute Thanksgiving ideas, try this one: a deboned chicken stuffed inside a deboned duck stuffed inside a deboned turkey, in between layers of andouille sausage, corn bread, and regular stuffing.

That’s the turducken, folks.

Yes, I didn’t believe it either when a co-worker described it to me yesterday.  Despite my apprehension, I agreed to stop by next time he makes a turducken so I can personally witness–and taste–this culinary wonder in exchange for some mashed sweet potatoes.

Oh, and happy Turkey Day to the folks south of the 49th!

Thought I’d address some of the questions in my inbox on the blog so I don’t have to do repeated cut-and-paste’s.

The WIP page lists some of my current WIPs, but that doesn’t mean I’m working on all of those manuscripts at the same time.  I usually concentrate on one WIP and fiddle around with two others.  (Short attention span; what can I say?)  However, sometimes I’ll have a passage that I SIMPLY MUST WRITE for another story and I will do so instead of letting it fester in the back of my mind.  (Letting words fester is not fun, let me assure you.)

Secondly, the list is not all encompassing.  I have plenty of other WIPs sitting on my computer hard disks that are not listed because (1) I’ve moved past the story and no longer want to write it or (2) it’s not something I want to be made public until I have a signed contract for that manuscript.

Finally, I do work on manuscripts that are not listed [see (2) from previous paragraph].  In fact, a good portion of my NaNoWriMo word count is going towards a manuscript that isn’t on the WIP page.

Writers and their fragile egos neuroses, eh?

Stranger 1:  Is it your birthday?

Me (look down at big slice of black forest cake and hot chocolate from Sunterra): No.

Stranger 1 (snickers):  That’s a healthy lunch.

Me:  It’s not my lunch.  I already ate lunch and am still hungry.  It’s a snack.

Stranger 1:  That’s more than I had for lunch!

Me:  I’m trying to put on weight.  Doctor’s orders.

Stranger 1 (looks me up and down):  My God.  That’s not fair.

Stranger 2:  You can have some of my weight.

Stranger 3:  She just has a high metabolism.

Me:  No, there’s a recessive fat gene in my family, but I exercise to make sure it stays recessive.

(Yes, I know biology doesn’t quite work that way, but those people were annoying me.)

Why People Don’t Watch Movies with Me The following are comments people who’ve sat next to me in movie theatres have had to listen to.  For the record, I actually like and own eight of the movies below (guns, explosions, wisecracks…I’m pretty easy), but that doesn’t make me blind to their flaws.  Imagine the claws that come out for movies in genres I hate. Number 1 Considering the size and proximity of those three suns, the gravitational forces would tear that planet apart. (Pitch Black) Number 2 Why can’t people get it right? Qatar is pronounced “Qutter”! (Transformers) Number 3 If the asteroid’s the size of Texas, those pipes should’ve floated away into space instead of bouncing repeatedly because of the weaker gravitational force. (Armageddon) Number 4 He should be dead. You see that black stuff seeping out? The bullet hit the liver or spleen. EMS wouldn’t have gotten to him in time to save him. (The Sixth Sense) Number 5 How does she know who’s coming up behind her to put a bullet in her head if she’s listening to her iPod? (Blade Trinity) Number 6 Unless those leather pants are faux stretch leather, the seams should’ve split. (Charlie’s Angels) Number 7 An alcoholic is not going to master bushido in three months. And’s he not going to become skilled enough to beat men who have been studying it since they learned to walk. (The Last Samurai) Number 8 They’re a technologically advanced alien race. How did they not know the spaceship entering the mother ship was one that went missing over 50 years ago? Wouldn’t it look obvious? Haven’t the spaceships advanced over time?  Don’t they have some sort of electronic identification system? (Independence Day) Number 9 The ultimate weapon of mass destruction–and its one vulnerability is exposed. Probably designed by the same engineers who thought filling a balloon with hydrogen would be a brilliant idea. (Star Wars) Number 10 How do you build an evil overlord’s lair that’s the size of the Empire State Building without anyone taking notice? The massive amounts of materials required, the workers…and no one noticed?!? (Any James Bond movie.) Number 11 Why would an undercover government agent leave the door open while taking off her clothes and exposing the wires strapped to her body? (Swordfish) Number 12 You know, they could just pull the power cord instead of standing there like idiots. You can’t steal data from a server that’s not powered on. (Any hacker movie written by wannabe-geeks.) Number 13 It could be cocaine, or it could be rat poison. Wouldn’t it be safer to test the product with a reagent instead of putting it in your mouth? (Lethal Weapon, Beverly Hills Cop, etc.)

View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

Tami Hoag’s Deeper Than the Dead, originally scheduled for December 2008, is now postponed until February 2010.  I hope my source is wrong but if she isn’t, I’m going to need a lot of chocolate.

NaNoWriMo is all about quantity over quality. You must meet the word count come hell or high water. You’re not supposed to edit. Just type 1667 words each and every day for thirty days.

It’s day 18 and I’m nowhere near 30k words. Now, mind you, I have been writing more in the last two weeks than I have in the last few months and I’m so close to finishing a WIP that I can almost taste it. (Yay for me!) Anyway, my issue is I edit as I write. I cannot not edit. It’s a compulsion that cannot be switched off like a lamp. For instance, every time I open up a WIP, I skim-edit as I scroll to the bottom of the document and make changes that jump out at me.  I don’t even think about it; I just do it.  Yesterday, I hammered out 1500 words…and discarded 500. So only 67% of my words are deemed acceptable…at this stage.

(The “at this stage” is because I do at least two rounds of edits when the manuscript is complete and a lot more words get slashed at those stages. Also, did I mention I have a WIP that, so far, has a discarded file of 127k words? Nope, I’m so not an efficient writer.)

So, can I meet the NaNoWriMo goal? If I stop deleting words between now and November 30, probably. But I have to consider the extra time I will have to spend editing later on if I don’t do my light editing now. *sigh* Decisions, decisions.

On the bright side, have you looked at the progress metres on my WIP page?  

One final thing before my week-long hiatus:

I have a friend completed book that’s ready for publication, but it’s a little out of character for me.  If I submit it to my current editor, she’ll probably accept it for publication and I’ll make a nice little (stress the “little”) chunk of change.  However, I’m iffy about attaching my name to a manuscript with (1) a Big Mis, (2) a not-quite-over-the-top alpha hero, and (3) a minor suspense plot anyone with a double digit IQ can solve.

My advance readers (all two of ‘em who managed to pry the manuscript from my clutches) really enjoyed it, but they agreed it isn’t something they expected from me.

I must ponder this some more while I’m wining and dining people on the company’s tab.

ETA: I wrote the above 50+k story in six months…and the current 25k novella has been a WIP for over ONE YEAR!!!  Maybe I’m trying too hard with the novella.

There are out-to-town visitors at the Clark Kent job whom I need to wine and dine this week.  See y’all in seven days!

If there wasn’t such an age gap, I’d guess former Miss Runner-Up Alaska and Miss Teen USA South Carolina were separated at birth. What does it say about the current incarnation of the GOP’s respect for the American people when they were willing to put this woman a ker-thump away from the presidency?

Senator Ted Stevens was convicted on seven counts of violating federal ethics laws…and it looks like Alaska still re-elected him yesterday. The words on the tip of my tongue are simply not printable.  If Palin appoints herself to his Senate seat, Alaskans will get what they deserve. (Just realized Alaska is one of the few states where ousted senators are replaced with special elections and not gubernatorial appointments.) If Palin decides to run for the Senate seat to remain in US national politics and the Alaskans vote her in, which they very well could since they had no problem supporting Stevens despite his conviction, they will deserve what they get. The rest of the US, however, will not.