Happy Thanksgiving!

May you and your loved ones have a peaceful and joyous Thanksgiving Day! See you in December.

What's Your Belief-O-Matic?

Have you heard of the Belief-O-Matic? It's a fun, interesting link where you can answer a series of questions to find out what spiritual belief system you belong to. Then you can learn the basic tenets of each system by clicking on them. It seems pretty accurate, at least from my results.
Here's mine:

1. Secular Humanism (100%)
2. Unitarian Universalism (95%)
3. Liberal Quakers (91%)
4. Theravada Buddhism (81%)
5. Neo-Pagan (76%)
6. Mainline to Liberal Christian Protestants (72%)
7. Taoism (71%)
8. New Age (68%)
9. Nontheist (67%)
10. Mahayana Buddhism (63%)
11. Orthodox Quaker (63%)
12. Reform Judaism (55%)
13. Jainism (53%)
14. Baha'i Faith (49%)
15. Scientology (49%)
16. New Thought (45%)
17. Christian Science (Church of Christ, Scientist) (41%)
18. Sikhism (36%)
19. Hinduism (29%)
20. Seventh Day Adventist (29%)
21. Islam (25%)
22. Mainline to Conservative Christian/Protestant (25%)
23. Orthodox Judaism (25%)
24. Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons) (23%)
25. Eastern Orthodox (14%)
26. Roman Catholic (14%)
27. Jehovah's Witness (12%)


Now, how about a Personal-Trivia-O-Matic? You can fill it in any way you like.
Here's mine:
1. Popcorn lover. (100%)
2. Enjoys her children. (97%)
3. Board game afficianado. (96%)
4. Enjoys the sounds of nature. (95%)
5. Combo of shy and ass-kicking. (87%)
6. Thinks everyone should volunteer. (87%)
7. Loves to write and sew, can't paint art worth shit. (85%)
8. Would sleep with the windows open and lots of blankets in the dead of winter if her husband could stand it. (83%)
9. No patience for tailgaters. (79%)
10. Anti-violent, although sometimes she does enjoy fantasizing about it. (77%)
11. Is fascinated by conjoint twins and serial killers. (75%)
12. Loves her some Bravo! TV. (71%)
13. Finds the current economy alarming. (65%)
14. Hates scary clowns. In fact, hates all clowns. (35%)
15. Enjoys spinach, liver and asparagas. (0%)

What's yours?

No NaNo, No RoPo, Just a Little PoLe

NaNo just didn't work out for me this year. My writing buddy Robin, who is a brilliant child shrink and has the most hilarious blog on the web, had to poop out, because NaNoing made her nutsy, and I can't blame her because I was headed that way myself. I got way behind on my own NaNoing thanks to the killer sinus infection I got this week, and due to, well, life. So much for RoPoing. This week is completely shot for me. On Wednesday I even missed a professional workshop for therapists that I was really looking forward to. Instead, I've been on my back since Tuesday night. However, my writing friend Leah and I will be checking in with each other regularly this month to share our progress and gain support from each other in any way we may need. So we're not NaNoing, we're PoLeing instead.

A couple of weeks ago I received some very helpful feedback from a top-notch agent who graciously took the time to read my book. Although he declined to represent me, his feedback is invaluable, and I plan to edit my manuscript with his suggestions in mind. Meanwhile, an incredibly generous published-several-times memoir and fiction author asked to read my book, and she is making some editorial comments which will help me make it even better. Therefore, my self-assigned PoLe task this month is to incorporate their ideas into my book before I continue querying more agents for representation. I am thrilled to have their feedback, and focusing on this right now will serve me better in the long run than working on an entirely different project.

Are you NaNoing and if so, how's it going? Are you the kind of writer who can work on a regular schedule, or does trying to do so make you crazy? I'd love to hear all about it.

NaNo Neener Neener

Well, so far NaNo is a big bust. I registered but haven't been able to navigate the site because it's overloaded with users. I see on some writers' discussion boards that this has happened in years past, so I'm going to wait a couple of days and then try again. Meanwhile I have invited my friend Robin in having our very own RobinPollyWritersMonth. Let me know if you want to RoPo with us.

I'm not sure there really IS a NaNo. I think someone just stole the name from that old Mork and Mindy show. Isn't that what Mork used to say to Mindy, before he sat on his head on the chair? NaNoNaNo.