Sassistas! Our dish on the social soup.

NaNoWriMo Anyone?

The Sassistas! would like to acknowledge and thank half-a-sista who dished today's sass.

Have you ever wanted to write a novel but lacked a reason or the encouragement to do it? I have a solution:  NaNoWriMo.

National Novel Writing Month began in 1999 with 21 participants. The goal was to complete a novel of at least 50,000 words during the month of November. The idea proved very popular.  By 2008, 119,031 adults from all over the world participated. 21,683 of them “won” a certificate for writing 50,000 words or more during the month of November. And the best thing? It’s free.

The organization collects tax-deductible contributions to cover costs and to fund specific programs like NaNoWriMo, the Young Writers Program (YWP) and Script Frenzy. YWP offers young writers (17 and under) a place to set reasonable goals for writing during the month and to receive support and advice on writing which has been tailored to their needs. Participants from ages 13-17 can also sign up for NaNoWriMo and the goal of 50,000 words. Script Frenzy is about writing a script in the month of April. To date 4.8% of the Wrimos (event participants) have contributed $418,010. With 6 days left (a countdown clock on the web site ticks away the seconds), the collective word count is over 1.6 billion words.

For the third year I joined. I have written 73,147 words and will reach 100,000 by today, November 30.

The first year I wrote a novel about compassion and reconciliation, a modern day story of Job. Year Two I wrote a novel about a drag queen who becomes the earthly incarnation of the Blessed Virgin. I’m working on revisions and edits and hope to have it to an agent by the end of March 2010, or sooner.

This year I worked on four pieces:  the vampire novel (24,962 words), a story of revenge (12,879 words), a novel about a woman who decides the only way out of her marriage is to die a natural death (10,156 words), and the memoir of the last five years of my mother’s life (16,461 words). I write on one story until I get bored or can’t think of what to write next and then work on another piece. I’ll have over 50,000 on vampires by the end of the month and maybe over 50,000 on the memoir.

Maybe you’d like to join next year? For more information on the organization, check out the website (linked above) and take a look at what it offers.  Have you ever participated in NaNoWriMo?  Have you ever wanted to write a novel, a memoir, or anything else?  Please share!  Write on!

Before and After

So what's the story here?

November 2009 Open Mic

The sassosphere microphone is open, sistas and mistas.

Please step up and dish whatever you like.  We're listening.

The Sassistas! sponsor Open Mic the last Friday of every month.

Say Thanks

In her memoir, Lit, Mary Karr writes that to maintain her sobriety, her AA sponsor suggested that she get down on her knees and "dredge up a list of stuff to be grateful for, though not on my knees -- no way I gonna grovel like a reptile."  Karr continues, "The exercise seems so self-helpy and puerile, but a few things come to mind inadvertently."  Karr gives thanks for them.  She then writes:

Enumerating these small things actually pierces me with a sliver of feeling fortunate . . . . It takes me a full five minutes to shut up begging, and it sounds crazy to say it, but for the first time in about a week, I don't want a drink at all.  It's an odd sensation, since the craving's shadowed my every waking instant for the past few years.  But I abruptly stop feeling my skin like a too-tight sausage casing.

(This an unbeliever might call self-hypnosis; a believer might say it's the presence of God.  Let's call it a draw and concede that the process of listing my good fortune stopped my scrambling fear, and in relinquishing that, some solid platform slid  under me.)

The Sassistas! want to thank all the sistas and mistas for building and maintaining the solid platform that is the sassosphere.  Please use it to express your own thanks.  Peace and love to all.

T for Turkey

Pictured above is Minho with the t-shirt Carolyn donated for Flannista's Thanksgiving turkey.  If you remember from last year, Flann bastes her turkey with red wine doused over a t-shirt on the turkey.  This year, Flann's turkey t-shirt has been around the world!  It has been to the:

• Piggly Wiggly in Tylertown, Mississippi for some pork rinds and some fat back.
• Breast Cancer Walk in Clearwater, FL in August 2009.
• Obama inauguration in January 2009.
• Moon landing on July 20, 1969
• BP gas station in Clearwater, Fl where Carolyn also purchased beef jerky.
• Fall of the Berlin Wall 20 years ago.
• YMCA in Clearwater to sweat with the oldies.
• Susan Boyle debut at Britain's version of "American Idol."
• Hartford transplant center so Carolyn could donate a kidney to a complete stranger.

This t-shirt is gracing the Sassistas! turkey!  What is gracing your turkey?  Can you guess where else Carolyn's t-shirt has been? 

 

Also, please share your favorite Thanksgiving recipes!

Bloodsuckers

It's the next big fang!

Over the weekend, the vampire  romance, "The Twilight Saga: New Moon" sucked up $140.7 million in its first three days and pulled in a total of $258.8 million worldwide.  That's more than twice the $69.6 million haul over the same weekend last year for "Twilight," the first in the franchise based on Stephanie Meyer's novels.  To read the Washington Post review of the film, click here (there's also a link to a trailer of the movie, the ending of which made Flannista LOL).

Why are so many caught up in the bloody phenomenon of vampires?  What's behind the current vamp vogue?  In addition to the Twilight series, there are also the Blue Bloods series by Melissa de la Cruz, the Sookie Stackhouse series by Charlaine Harris (the inspiration for HBO's True Blood) and the Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter series by Laurell K. Hamilton.

Then there are the vampire movies.  Last night, the Sassistas! and Momista (here for Thanksgiving) watched "Twilight."  A lot of alabaster skin, pouting lips, tortured gazes and teens flying around here and there.  Seemed to break a lot of vampire etiquette, too -- for example, you could see the reflection of the vampires in mirrors.  We gave it two stars out of four. 

Who is your favorite vampire and/or vampire movie and why? 

PREPARE TO TUNE IN TOMORROW WHEN WE OPEN THE SASSOSPHERE FOR MORE FAVORITE THANKSGIVING RECIPES!

Vegas On Water

She is one big mother.

Pictured above is Oasis of the Seas, a passenger ship that arrived in a new terminal in Port Everglades last week while Flannista was in Florida.  Flann could see it from her Orlando hotel room a hundred miles away.  Just kidding, but Oasis of the Seas is longer, taller, wider, heavier and more expensive than any other passenger ship ever built.  It's five times the size of the Titanic and more than half again as large as the mammoth Queen Mary.  A piece of it had to be retracted just so it could squeeze under a bridge and make it out to the Atlantic.  On its 18 decks, a crew of 2,165 will tend to as many as 6,296 paying customers, nearly 45 percent more than the largest cruise ships now operating.  Oasis of the Seas also boasts:

• 15 decks with four main swimming pools, a park promenade, surf simulators, rock climbing and miniature golf.
• A 1,300-seat theater (larger than some on Broadway) and an ice rink.
• The Boardwalk designed to be a cutting-edge Coney Island with a hand-crafted carousel in the middle.
• A zip line where guests can ride down while suspended nine decks above The Boardwalk.
• Central Park (pictured right) which has 12,175 plants, 62 vine plants, 56 trees and bamboo plants, some 24 feet high.
• Several casinos, of course.
• The Rising Tide, the first moving bar at sea that descends three decks from Central Park to the Royal Promenade (where guests enter the ship).
• The first cupcake shop at sea.

The Sassistas! could go on an on, of course.  We've never been on a cruise and don't know if this one is worth it.  Rates start a $729 per person double occupancy for a seven-night cruise.  For high-rollers, the two-level, four-person Royal Loft suite starts at $19,276 (total price for four guests) and maxes out at $34,376.  We assume this includes cupcakes.

Any of you ever go on a cruise?  What did you like about it?  What didn't you like about it?  Would you book a cruise on Oasis of the Seas?  Why or why not?

Peacemaking

Dear Beloveds,

As some of you know, Flannista recently decided to declare her independence from her parents.  To mark this freedom from my parents, I am drafting, with the assistance of my rector, a special liturgy, based on the "Order for Recognition of the End of a Marriage" used in the United Church of Christ. 

The key word of the liturgy I am creating is peace. The key scripture will be Matthew 5:9 -- Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. I would like the liturgy to incorporate the heart of my chosen family, so I am extending an invitation to each of you to post your favorite poems, quotes, thoughts, etc. about peace that I can weave into the liturgy.  The only requirements are that your contributions be true to who you are and what you believe, and that they focus on peace and reconciliation and not blame and retribution.

Once I have drafted the liturgy, I plan to post it in its entirety for further comments and edits.  The 'sphere will be open all weekend for your contributions, so feel free to ponder and then come back to post as many times as you wish.  Thank you for continuing to stand with me.

Love to all.

Trail of Genius

Remember that weird "Do Not Disturb" sign on Flannista's hotel door knob that said, "In the Zone"?  Remember how the Sassistas! asked you for sassgestions for other three-word directives for hotel door knobs?  Click here if you don't remember.

Anyhoo, to the left is a scan of a page (sorry it came out so faded) from the desk memo pad at the Marriott where Flann stayed this week.  Note the inspirational five-word message at the top:  Leave a trail of genius. 

At the end of a hard day of work, I don't want to be told to leave a trail of genius.  I'm "In the Zone,"  remember?  I'd rather the memo pad say, Leave me the f*ck alone or Buy yourself a drink. Now.

What other five-word messages would you sassgest for Marriott desk memo pads?  

Whisky Business

How quickly time flies.  A year ago today, the Sassistas! were inviting the sistas and mistas to become members in a dish towel club (click here to read that post) as a way to mark Carolyn's birthday.  How do we top that?  Thanks to Jersey, we've found perhaps an even better way. 

As you know, Jerseysista has many whisks in her house, as the images below will attest.  To make her feel more at home when she moved to our neck of the woods, Flannista gifted Jersey with a special whisk from Disney World.  Can you guess which one it is?  Anyhoo, the Sassistas! love how Jersey found new places and uses for her whisks.  So to help celebrate Carolyn's birthday today, we'd love the sistas and mistas to sassgest NEW uses for a typical kitchen whisk.  If you don't like whisks, how would you repurpose, say, a common spatula?  Or fork?  Really, there has to be more than one use for a fork.  So let's help Carolyn mark her special day with some inspired sassgestions for repurposing common kitchen gadgets.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, CAROLYN!