50,016 words. And an actual ‘The End’
It was fun learning about Folie à Plusieurs, dreams, and the adventures of a mermaid, a melusine, and a selkie.
Archive for November, 2025
Look around. Gather them up. I need every single crumb. Those words are important. Golden.
(As of this moment, I need 2,653 to get to 50,000)
Back to work!
Only three more days of NaNo. I need 1,200 words tonight to be on track. It has been such an ordeal this time. It has been a rollercoaster of emotions. I’ll be glad to see December!
I’m trying to learn a couple Christmas songs. I’ve always wanted to play Lucy and Linus and now I’m also challenged by the song in Polar Express
I pulled out all the Christmas songs to play with.
The only knitting making progress are my experimental slipper socks.
No finishing here. Just cuties.
Well, back to work. Words to go before I sleep…
To those who celebrate: Happy Thanksgiving (Happy Thursday to the rest of the world!)
Linda just published another book! Congratulations! And this is one of her prompts
Written in My Own Heart’s Blood by Diana Gabaldon
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
So a few days ago, I finished the book again. I am still in awe and in love with the whole Outlander series. I love the adventure of seeing history through the eyes of my imaginary literary friends. I love the ways Brianna and Roger attempt to solve a kidnapping of their child. A scary enough event without all of history to explore. I love the way Jamie and Claire were able to stay in touch with their daughter and her family over time. This story only seems to pull me more and more. I’ve already started re-reading 3 of the next book. Even now, I have reruns of the first season playing while writing this and my NaNoWriMo. I love the music, and I don’t have to be involved while it is on. If there were a magic wand, I would wave it and wish I could write like Diana Gabaldon and narrate like Davina Porter.
~~~
Yes, I reread it. And I still say the same things about it being my favorite Outlander so far. Do you want to know why? Okay, beyond Diana Gabaldon’s writing and research and Davina Porter’s voice acting, this character and scenes list goes beyond the first review I wrote below.
Characters: Jamie Fraser, Brianna Randall, Roger MacKenzie, Jeremiah MacKenzie, Fergus Fraser, Marsali Fraser, Germain Fraser, Ian Murray, Lord John Grey, Benedict Arnold, Claire Randall Fraser, Jonathan Randall, Dougal MacKenzie, Geillis Duncan, Jenny Murray, Young Ian Murray, William Ransom, Rachel Hunter, Denzell Hunter, William Buccleigh MacKenzie, Amanda MacKenzie, Harold, Duke of Pardloe, Henri-Christian Fraser, Brian Fraser, Jane Pocock, Frances Pocock, Dorothea Grey, Jerry MacKenzie, George Washington.
Settings: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1778 (United States)
Lallybroch, Scotland, 1980 (United Kingdom)
Lallybroch, Scotland, 1739 (United Kingdom)
Savannah, Georgia, 1779 (United States)
North Carolina, 1779 (United States)
Fraser’s Ridge, North Carolina, 1779 (United States)
***
I thought that book 7, Echo In The Bone, was my favorite of the Outlander books. Nope. Written in My Own Heart’s Blood wins. It was fantastic!
Regardless of the time the characters land in, they all grow and help us learn the rules of Gabaldon’s Time Travel.
What can I tell you that won’t spoil it for you?
As usual, there is a lot of research evident in the reading, and as one supposes, there are instances of poetic license, which Diana Gabaldon admits she has it framed on her wall.
The most exciting part of the book is when Breanna talks about Doctor Who in a chapter called “Thank You For The Fish.” (Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy). Now I really wish I had a TARDIS so that I could play in all three universes.
And I wish I could move on to book 9, but my Audible credits don’t come until the middle of the month. A quick note about why I read by Audible most often now: actual reading is impossible for my eyes. It seems to be a tracking issue. So I use Kindle Text-to-Speech a lot. Though TTS works well for most books, I want to hear words pronounced correctly when other languages are involved. Davina Porter is able to range the language barriers and character ages and sexes with apparent ease. I love listening to her.
If you get the chance, the books are as good, if not better than the shows, and the Audible versions are the best of all the worlds. Enjoy!
***
By the way, since the first reading and the need for Audible, I have had cataract surgery and hope that soon I can read paper books. But for books like this with many foreign languages I don’t know how to pronounce, I’ll stick with Audible.
There was a time when our home was full of love with our set of black-and-white dog, Kali, black cat, Rosey, and orange tabby, Teddy. They grew old and passed, leaving our home so empty for so long!
Through some wonderful magic in our lives, we have a full house of love again. Black-and-white dog Milo (formerly ‘Crunchy’), black cat, Shiloh, and our orange tabby, Sammie. It is the oddest thing, even now, that the combination of pets came just that way. We still mess up names and genders. Every parent knows how easy it is to call the wrong name of the naughty kid or when in an emergency moment hits. Most of the time, the kids don’t look the same. Autocorrecting the brain can save it. But if your kids all look alike (Italian, dark hair and eyes), it’s even harder. So I should be used to it. But this team of pets is uncanny!
I don’t want to go searching for the old team pictures (I need to write 2,000 words today–this distraction I can avoid), but here’s the latest of the ‘ILO’ team
And here’s Sammie from the other day. I like the picture so much that I need to see them again.
But this was just this morning. With temps being in the teens, I love the BTU of pets.
My life is full.
On the other hand, on November 1st, my yWriter app was empty. On November 30th, it should be full. I should be at 36,674 words. I only have 33,172. TrackBear says I should write 1,893 a day to reach the 50k by the end of November. But that is a lot. 1,667 is a lot. If I can push it today and for a few days, I might bring this project to something doable. Wish me luck! I need to bring this story to its full and proper ending. Let’s hope the brain isn’t empty!
The start of the day it was 12 degrees. The freezing fog gave us a snowy effect.
But NaNoWriMo is taking all my energy and time and still I’m behind.
Darswords 
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