My NaNoWriMo Story Part 1

Pre-NaNoWriMo

This year was my first experience with the super cool and awesomely exciting National Novel Writing Month or as the cool kids call it, NaNoWriMo.  I heard about it towards the beginning of the year and planned on participating at that very moment.  Even better was the fact that I was finishing my first Average Joe novel (I thought, more on that later) and planned to use the month to jump start the planned sequel.  It all sounded so crazy.  How the heck could anyone write a whole book in only a month, a mere month.  It took me at least a year with both Hell Warriors: A Hero in The Flames and Average Joe and the Extraordinaires (AJE), that’s not even including the countless revisions and tiny tweaks I’ve done with both throughout the years.  So, more than anything else, I wanted to see how I’d stack up in the contest with the odds so high and my normal production speed so low.

I created a profile on the NaNo site (nanowrimo.org) months in advance and browsed through the site.  It’s a pretty neat and easy site.  There weren’t a million and one things cluttering up the front page which was great because I didn’t feel instantly intimidated or confused.  Browsing through the site gave me a sense of what to expect from the contest.  I’d check back on the site sporadically for updates like once a month or sometimes more frequently than that.  The main tip than I gleaned from veterans and from my own common sense was that the key to success was to write without abandon, to write as if you were held at gunpoint and the minute you stopped was when the seedy gangster pulled the trigger.

You’re only supposed to care about one thing and that’s your word count.

I finished Average Joe and the Extraordinaires, aka book 1 of the Average Joe series, about two months before the contest officially started on November 1st complete with what (at the time) were my final edits.  So I hooked up with an editor for that and started my idea factory for book 2 which I knew would be called Average Joe and the Beauty (AJB) from a simple idea that popped into my head.  I noted random ideas down in my Quicknotes and References file for the plot and went back to old notes to see what I could use to get a rough idea of what the sequel would contain.  On October 5^th I started an official outline of AJB containing all the rough notes I had previously wrote and some new ones.  I got all the elements together and started working on a basic chapter by chapter outline of the book and where my plot was going.  I gave myself a headstart of about 8 plotted chapters for the next month.  This came from a bit of advice I read from the pre-NaNo emails you get from signing up.  Before NaNo even began I knew that my story would have 2 main POV’s from Joe and Liandra as well as a few villain POV’s because I liked those in AJE.  And I knew how I would begin and what ground I wanted to cover.  What I didn’t know (at the time) was how much my chapter outlines would change because of the choices I made while actually writing but more on that later.

I didn’t have internet and at the time thought you’d have to do all of your writing constantly online so I planned to use the library and my job’s free WiFi (free for me not them) to do all of my writing.  I do my best writing in notebooks so I figured I’d write into the late hours of the night in a notebook and wake up early and copy it all over into NaNo’s online writing software while at my job.  Luckily I did this for one day and saw that you only had to post your word count daily so I was greatly relieved that I didn’t have to kill myself for this but I was very proud of myself for being so prepared.

In my head I was ready for NaNo 2013.  Could I have been better prepared?  You bet!  Even at the time I knew that but I figured I had a strong start and I really did.  I was gung ho about it and felt my chances for “winning” were really good.  I knew the writing itself would be tough, it always fucking is, but I thought “this is good, even if I don’t win I’ll have a helluva start.”  That thinking prevailed throughout the month and was really what kept me from giving up throughout.  More NaNo adventures to come.  Part 2 will chronicle my actual start and the challenges that came from that.

More content to come for December.

I've been neglecting my blog for too long.  Time to add some content for the month.

Muttor And Sweet Bell Pepper Spread

Muttor And Sweet Bell Pepper Spread

Last week when i decided to make paratha, I didn't have green chili in the fridge so I decided to use the sweet bell pepper instead. When I minced it in the mixer, the idea suddenly came to me to use mutter as well and make this tasty mixture. When the parathas were done and we tasted it right away it was tasty and crispy. But when we actually sat down for lunch, that's when the parathas had cooled down a bit and they had started to get soggy and somewhere too difficult to eat without creating mess. So in the evening I used the remaining mixture on the bread along with some tomatoes and cucumber and it made perfect sandwich. The taste of spread comes out better too. So I think this one definitely works better as spread on bread, burgers or as side chutneys than paratha stuffing.

Ingredients

2 Cup Muttor

1 Sweet Bell Pepper

1 Lemon

4 Garlic Cloves

Handful of the Corriander Leaves

1 Spoon Red Chili Powder

1/4 Spoon Corriander Powder

Salt to taste

Method

• Squize lemon juice in the mixie.
• Add in chopped sweet bell pepper, garlic, salt and coriander leaves and make a smooth paste.
• Add in muttor, red chilli powder, coriander powder and make fine paste in the mixer.

Notes

I used frozen peas without thawing them but fresh peas could be used too.

We had this one as one of the chutneys for burger breads when we barbequed and everyone loved it.

Personal: My random day

I was out and about doing errands in Dearborn.  I met up with an old friend for a ride then once done with my task I decided to walk back to Detroit where I could catch the bus back home.

After taking what I considered a scenic route, I ended up running out of road to walk on because the service drive turned into the freeway.  I however had already walked a mile and didn't want to walk a mile back so I pressed on.
I ended up walking through tall grass towards a place under the freeway bridge hoping it wasn't another highway as it was fenced off.  I found a path to walk down which led to an opening in the fence.  I walked through and saw tall hills far from me but directly in front was a small muddy stream.  I thought about walking back the way I came because being here seemed like a bad idea but I pressed forward anyway.

Under a bridge to the west I noticed a man and his collection of items.  The man obviously lived there and was making water in the stream.  I quickly walked east, to avoid contact and being sighted by the man.   I was headed towards what I believed to be my destination somewhere near Greenfield.

I observed the birds and insects around noting hawks, geese, ducks, butterflies, and whatever was rustling in the tall grass and in the stream.  I walked on in the hot sun and contemplated crossing the stream because I concluded that I could reach my destination quicker that way.  Behind me I noticed a group of men all on motorcycles quickly approaching on the other side of the stream.  As they got closer I noticed they're all older white men.  That made me suddenly more nervous, a natural instinct.  I watched them pass by and snapped a few photos of them.  Across the stream I noticed more men standing and talking and then noticed some sort of water release gate like in a dam.  Further ahead on that side was a golf course.

I watched the bikers as they bobbed and weaved up and down on the causeway.  I had hoped they would lead me to an exit but those dreams were dashed when I discovered I didn't want wet toes.

I walked on and grabbed a walking stick because a journey aint a journey without one.  I walked nearly a mile down noticing that my way out was barred by tall weeds and a tall fence.  In the weeds some creature stirred, rustling the bushes loudly.  I looked but couldn't find the creature and was glad to keep it that way.

I walked under a quiet little shadowy bridge where I couldn't even spot a bird or any other sign of life besides graffiti.  On the other side of the bridge I had hoped to find an exit and wasn't disappointed.

There were thick weeds all about but in the middle a path was made which made the walking path look more like a tunnel.  I smiled at my fortune and walked up the path which quickly turned into a hill.

I dropped my stick and marveled at the civilization around me.  I now saw where I was, it was some sort of flood control area.  I looked around at the street signs and saw that I ended back at the street I first started on.

"How the hell did I end up back here?  Stupid shortcut!"

Chocolate Cupcakes

Chocolate Cupcakes

This was one of my impromptu attempt to bake something that turned out quite great. It had been long time since I had the frosting in the fridge so thought about baking something to use that one and these cupcakes worked perfectly well with the frosting.

Ingredients

2 Cup Sugar

2 Spoon Vanilla Essence

1 Egg

1/2 Cup Oil

1 Cup Milk

1.75 Cup Maida

1 Cup Coco Powder

1 Spoon Baking Powder

1 Spoon Baking Soda

1/2 Spoon Salt

2 Spoon Instant Coffee

Method

• Preheat oven at 325F/160C
• Mix together egg, sugar and vanilla essence.
• Add in oil and milk and whisk the mixture over medium speed.
• Sieve maida, coco powder, baking powder and baking soda couple of times to form homogeneous mixture.
• Add the sieved contents and salt in the egg-oil-milk mixture and whisk on low speed till well combined about 2 minutes
• Warm 1 cup of water with coffee in microwave for about a minute.
• Add the coffee to the cake mixture and whisk on low speed for another 2 minutes.
• Line around the cupcake pan with around 14 cup cake liners and fill them with the cake mixture about 3/4th level in each.
• Bake in the oven for 18 minutes.
• Allow the cakes to cool off for at least an hour and then serve with frosting and optionally filling

Notes

I didn't use the filling but chocolate ganache would be great option.

I used chocolate butter cream that I have made previously to frost another cake as the frosting and it went well.

Kaju Katli

Kaju Katli

I had been wanting to try this for a while now. I made this almost two years ago for Diwali when mom dad were here. After that it just slipped out of radar so this time when Ajoy asked me to make these I was not sure if I will remember what I had done and the learning's from the last time. But thankfully I had rough notes from then that I had sent to mom. So it was pretty easy to recollect. This time it came out perfectly and I did big photo session of them :) so I cannot find any excuse to not post this. This recipe has to be easiest to make and something that will get you lot of appreciation in return.

Ingredients

6 Cup Cashews

1 Cup Milk Powder

2 Cup Sugar

Pinch of Cardamom Powder

Silver Leaf

Method

• Grind cashews into fine powder in the mixer
• Mix the cashew powder and milk powder together
• Heat tawa till very hot and then take off the heat
• Add the cashew and milk powder mixture into the tawa and keep stirring till the mixture is warm to touch. Keep aside in a bowl
• Heat 1.5 cup water with sugar to make 2 string syrup.
• Add in the cardamom powder and the sugar syrup in the cashew mixture and mix well. Knead to get the soft dough.
• On a baking pan or any big plate, lay out butter paper and put the dough and press it hard and spread the mixture.
• Apply the silver leaf and let the mixture cool for atleast couple of hours.
• Cut the kaju katlis and serve.

Notes

Getting the sugar syrup right and kneading well is one key for the success.

Also when spreading the mixture into a plate, pressing it hard and then smoothing it with butter paper will get you correctly set katli.

My Top 3 Ouya Games So Far

So far I'm enjoying my Ouya.  The truth of it is that they need better quality software for it.  A lot of the games are either shovelware or unplayable and are already saturating that market.  However with free downloads I don't care about that so much.  There are however some pretty solid gems in the lineup.  Anyway here's a list of my top three personal favorite Ouya games:

Shuttle Rush is a timed platformer where the goal of the stage rests in keeping yourself alive.  You play as some type of spacefarer in an oxygenized spacesuit.  At the beginning of every stage the spacefarer's oxygen supply is punctured (in a hilarious animation) which starts your mad dash for the exit.  You can temporarily refuel your oxygen in most of the levels but you must escape to survive.  The levels require tight platforming and, for most, rudimentary stage memorization for success.

+ It's fun, levels are fast but require a lot of thought, there are plenty of levels, there's progression in the form of character upgrades such as a stun gun, tight platforming.

Vector is a 2d platform game that harkens back to the first person parkour game Mirror's Edge (in style and setting) and the old school 2d Prince of Persia games.  Your character is always in constant motion as he attempts to outrun an equally nimble futuristic law enforcer.  Throughout the level you're using buttery smooth and simplistic controls to make your character jump, slide, climb, and 'trick' his way to the end of the level.  There are plenty of hazards like pits and if your platforming isn't timed tightly enough then you'll lose precious time and get caught by the enforcer and tasered which starts you over.

The art style takes a minimalist approach with simple colors combined with black and white characters and objects.  Which is fairly cool and fits the game perfectly.  The animation in the game is top notch too, especially on the special unlockable parkour "tricks" which are actual parkour moves.  I know because I dabbled with the hobby.  There were several moments in the game that had me step back and go like "oh s***!"  A lot of the jumps and obstacles really get the blood pumping.  There is some slowdown sometimes though.

My only hope is that with the sequel they give you more control over the movements and allow you to use the buttons to jump and stuff.  I guess what I want from it is to take a few more elements from traditional platformers but as it is it's definitely solid.

+ Cool minimalist art style, detailed animations, real life parkour techniques and tricks, ramping difficulty, cool high flying moments

ChronoBlade is an arena style beat-em-up with various rpg like items and spells thrown in.  The art style reminds me of League of Legends and so do the main champions.  The two playable characters that I had (not sure if there are more in the paid version) were very unique.  There's a small girl that uses some intricate martial arts in combination with this floating metal ball for some brutal combos.  The other guy is large and uses some sort of twin claw axe weapon and does heavy damage, he can also launch his claws off and pull an enemy towards him.  Both characters have long flowing combo sequences but I enjoyed the girl's play-style a lot more.

The game starts you off in a room full of loot and so you do what comes natural to your videogame influenced mind and reap those resources.  After that you walk to the arena and the combat begins.  It's deceptive because you get your punching bag enemies immediately but then comes boss after boss and enemies that can juggle you and attack through your guard.  It's definitely a hard ass game but the difficulty keeps you playing to win.  It's definitely unbalanced though.  Once I learned what all the spells were I was clearing out rooms of the difficult enemies until I ran out of it and got juggled which took my full health bar to zero.  As unbalanced as it is I still had a lot of fun.  There's also no tutorial here but if you're not afraid to experiment with buttons then it isn't difficult at all to hop right into the action.

+ Unique characters and fighting styles, tight and fun beat-em-up action, plenty of moves and magic

I'm hoping that the Deus Ex mobile game comes to the system.  I'd get that in a snap.