So for Preptober, I made a pretty ambitious descison, to take a chance and let the dice pick my NaNoWriMo project. See video below.
This year for NaNo 2022 because I planned to roll a D-8 (eight sided dice) to pick my project, numbers 1-6 were assigned to story seed flash fictions.
#1 Ink and Cacao - from July NaNo Camp PrepMo - Chocolatier
Becky chooses getting Ink over self-harm while rebuilding her life after her
abusive boyfriend kills her brother and commits suicide by cop, leaving her
scarred on more than her skin.
#2 Tears on Canvas or It Always Rains (haven't settled on a
title) from the short story - Penny and Prue. Amatuer MMA fighter Penny used
her skills to avenge her overly civilized, pregnant sister Prudence when she is
in a car accident following discovering her husband Shane cheating on their
anniversary.
#3 Stained Glass and Sand - Meek middle child, now adult,
Cecilia's heart is broken literally due to a failing heart valve aggravated by
a car accident and her parents' neglect. It is broken figuratively by her
pageant monster younger sister's death in the same accident. CeCi takes the
blame from her parents and her fiancé who was cheating with Starla, so she
gives up on life. Her older brother Louis tries to save her while Louis' best
friend Theo falls in love with her and tries to convince CeCi to live and love
again.
#4 How I became a Crazy Cat Lady To Survive the Zombpocalypse.
(see below because it won.)
#5 Heirless - Shifter Dystopia meets The Handmaiden's Tale and V for Vendetta. Harley Morningside and her extended family of werewolves lives with the Silver River Mining pack. When a criminal Alpha’s son slaughters her pack, she realizes he is her mate. Determined not to be bound to such an evil person she goes underground with her cousin Benj where they expose the mistreatment of females and nonranked shifters after the great shifter plague. Since a side effect of the plague is only destined ones can bear children or females are infertile, Harley vows to herself and the whole world, “Let them be heirless.”
#6 Cowboy Alá Cart – Sister Char and Meri, and Cousin Trina can’t
wait to get out of their overconservative, elitist town after Trina’s mother’s
murder is covered up by Char and Meri’s father to protect the town image. Years
later they are dragged back when the sisters’ parents are murdered in order to inherit.
After they discover a diary, they realize there might be four murders, and must
solve the mystery with Meri’s cowboy husband or they might not survive the five
years they are required to live in their parent’s house before they can sell
it.
#7 was my oldest unfinished WIP E.L.M., Revelation Night 3 - I
know and my apologies to those who are still waiting, I have completely lost
the thought thread on this story.
OR
#8 - an old fashioned No Prep NaNo.
Nov. 1 #5amWritersClub stream was planned to the be roll and start but the gremlins decided, no power or internet for me this morning. I Vlogged instead and #4 won.
Blurb from Cat Lady -The tragic and cautionary tale of a PhD
Librarian with allergies, a Clowder of Cats, Ancient Egypt tombs, and how the
food industry turned everyone into zombies with an ‘organic’ food preservative
made from an ancient fungus. Now Ouisa Babbette Bland must choose; Cats, which the
zombies fear, or Zombies, which she is less allergic to.
Excerpt: One week later, the news seemed to be on repeat. Same
warning about staying inside and having no contact with people. Beware of the
blue cards… blah blah blah, I thought grumpily. I only watched for half an hour
on the day I left the apartment for the weather. My therapist said I should
avoid the news and social media at all costs because it triggered my anxiety. I
wouldn’t go to the pharmacy again, and the park was out, but I was determined
to pick up my groceries.
Going out, it felt much colder than the weather segment said.
Again, I saw no one, but oddly, I also heard no traffic, no planes, no dogs, or
anything. I was looking up at the leaves when I bumped something with the cart
I was taking back to the Market. I saw it, or rather him. A man… a dead man
with his skin turned mottled. Black tears had leaked from his eyes and dried
like cheap makeup. His leg sticking out from the pile of trash bags on which he
fell. His teeth clenched and bared by black-purple lips pulled back in a grimace.
A hole in his forehead. I had never seen a dead body before.
Jumping back, I sprinted to the Asian Market as I dialed 9-1-1
on my cell phone. No one answered, just a recording. “Help me,” I yelped as I
stumbled in the door. “Mrs. Tran… Mr. Tran? Anyone?!” The Market looked exactly
as I had left it. It was so eerie. No one was here either. Panicked, I ran from
door to door, begging for help while listening to the 9-1-1 recording telling
me, due to heavy call volume, response would be delayed. No one answered the
doors. I was completely alone. My mind shut down and I went on auto-pilot.
Going to the back to the market, I noticed for the first time
the power was out. I could smell the rotting fresh food in the delivery bags.
The only ones missing were the ones I had taken. I vomited in the bin by the
desk. I knew something was very wrong. I hurried home with my stolen supplies.
Looking up at the sky, I remembered the solar panels in the library roof that
powered the block as I wondered how long the power had been out.
That was when I noticed a blue card on the barred security door
of Mrs. Platt’s building. I looked at it carefully. “By FQD orders, all
residents are to shelter in place due to exposure. If a member of your family
experiences sudden death, remove the body immediately and place it in a locked room
or secured basement until it can be removed by authorities.” The instructions
for decontaminating oneself followed along with bizarre instructions to
decapitate or burn corpses to ash.
Inside, I followed the decontamination instructions on the blue
FQD card, then I turned on the tv again. Every four hours, the same news
broadcast repeated. I went upstairs to the computer area. On the internet, I
read horrific stories of mass deaths. The fact that the library was off the grid
to save money had staved off the realization that the city power shut down
weeks earlier.
Sequestered in my anti-media bubble, the one my therapist
suggested I created to keep my pandemic anxiety at bay after Pandemic 4, I had
not known the world ended with Pandemic 5.
Here is the Vlog NaNo In The Dark?! #HML2022 Vlog
#5amwritersclub, #authortube, #amwriting, #productivity ,
#holdmylatte2022, #NaNoWriMo2022
