Teri Diaz & ChillaGirl Write!: 2011

NaNoWriMo Finish!

Well folks, I did it! I finished my 50,000 word NaNoWriMo quota- yesterday! That is about all I did yesterday- write. I started off the day 2,500 words shy of the 50k total, and the ol' adrenaline just started pumping, and I didn't stop or take a break or ANYTHING until I hit the 50k mark. Actually, I went to 50,250 for good measure. I ran it through the counter and all, but I had heard stories of people who wrote what they thought was 50k, and found out too late that their word counter didn't match up to NaNoWriMo's word counter. And I don't like to take chances like that, soooo.....I'm all set. Not officially, but unofficially. Black Friday, first thing I do is run that puppy through their counter. Wish me luck!

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NaNoWriMo and more...

Well, here I am over halfway through NaNoWriMo. Did I make every word count like I said I would? Regretfully, no. We lost power for a few days at the beginning of the month and we reverted to survival mode. Writing fell by the wayside. When power came back on, and I got caught up with my painting, housework, etc., I also tried to get caught up on my 1667 words per day total. I'm sorry to say that I had my character sing "A Hundred Bottles of Beer on the Wall" not just once, not twice, but FIVE times! Well, he lost track of exactly how many bottles of beer were on the wall, and had to start over. And then another character just had to join in, and everyone knows you can't join in at seventy-four bottles of beer on the wall. You have to start at a hundred and do it right, darn it!
I caught up to my daily quota, and I'm now on track to reach my 50,000 word grand total by Black Friday, or by Grayish Saturday. (Sorry, but I'm just weird.)
It's been an excellent tool for me, forcing me to put writing first on my list of things to do every day. I plan to continue writing an hour or two a day once the NaNoWriMo madness is all over. Sylvia's just itching to get going on more adventures...... I hear her school is planning an Art Contest, and Sylvia just loves to draw and paint.....

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NaNoWriMo Novel

I've finally decided on a NaNoWriMo subject! I've been fiddling around with a story for quite a few years now. I had about 8 chapters done when my computer crashed and all was lost. Sob! SO.....Popcorn Prairie Dogs will finally be written! Ta Da! I know, I know-another humorous story. I just can't help myself. For such a serious looking person, I surely have a lot of odd, twisted stuff down deep inside :)
I'm aware that some people just write- well, basically garbage- to get to their 50,000 words, but I intend on making every word count. Famous last words, huh? We'll see what happens once that clock gets ticking.....

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Getting There....

.....is definitely half the battle! Tweaking a scene here and there, query rewrites..... I think the query letter is a million times harder to write than the story itself! How much of yourself do you put out there? Summarizing the story in a paragraph or two? Not as easy as you'd think. I'm working towards a deadline of Nov. 1---and then out the query letters and manuscript go into cyberspace. Wish me luck!

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NaNoWriMo!

Just signed up for National Novel Writing Month! It should be a blast. I already have a few great ideas inching their way through my imagination....some YA silly stuff mainly, also-strangely enough-a horror story. Don't know where that came from, OR if it wants to go anywhere.....BWAAA HAA HAA!

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Autumn is a good time for....

Punkin Chunkin! Ha! Bet you thought I'd say jumping in leaves, or heading north to leaf peep. Nope! Punkin Chunkin it is. Now, I've never punkin chunked before. I have chunked a punkin off my two-story deck once. That was great! But this year I want to do it right. I want to chunk a punkin with a catapult (a punkinpult?). The moment when the punkin hits the ground with a Phloot! will be grand. Unbeatable! Infinitely satisfying!

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Sylvia Blogs Again

Here I am again. I just got home from Chilla School. It is so much fun! My teacher is Miss Becky. Violets and Kassie and Andee and Brandee are in my class. Vanessa goes to a special Chilla School for chillas who dance. I still see her at Chilla Scouts meetings after school.

Miss Becky says my head is in the clouds sometimes. I don’t know what that means. The clouds are really high up, and I’m really small. So how could my head be in them? I do know that Violets keeps poking me in the back during class-I guess she’s making my head come out of the clouds. I hope I don’t get poke marks in my fur!

My favorite thing in the world to do is to draw and paint. Momma says I’m a real artist! I’m the best at drawing in Miss Becky’s class, and maybe in the whole school!

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Sylvia Blogs!

Hi, everybody! I’m Sylvia Chilla, and this is my blog. I bet you’ve never read a blog written by a chinchilla before! Well, chillas like to write just as much as any other small animal. Except maybe rats…they don’t care for writing too much. And raccoons are too busy washing up to write….

Anyway, here goes….

The other day I had ever so much fun! I went to my very first Chilla Scouts Day. I went just knowing my cousins Willow and Meadow, but by the time I left, I made so many great new friends! Violets is now my very best chilla friend, and she lives sort of near Willow and Meadow in Chilla Hills. So when I go to visit them, I can visit Violets too. She’s quiet but super smart (she likes to read, like all the time).

I also made friends with Kassie, who is really really good at sports, and the best jumper ever! She jumped halfway up a tree to get a yucky big mushroom. But you’ll have to read my story to find out about THAT!

Andee and Brandee are twins, and they are brown, not silver like me and Violets and Willow and Meadow. They are so funny and so nice. I like them a lot.

Vanessa is the most fantastic dancer ever! She is so pretty and wears shiny bows on her ears. She helped me jump off the really really really REALLY high dive. She’s the best!

We all went on a scavenger hunt with Phoebe, who was our Chilla Scouts Leader. She’s super nice too.

Well, that’s it for today. The sun’s starting to come up, and my fingers are getting tired. Momma says I shouldn’t write too much or my fingers will get all crampy and I won’t be able to draw. And I LOOOOVE to draw LOL.

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The "Real" Sylvia

Sylvia is a beautiful seven year old silver chinchilla. She’s very smart and somewhat tame. She’ll hold paws with you, and let you rub her between her ears or under her chin. And when she’s out hopping about the room, she’ll hop onto your leg and sit awhile.

I just became so intrigued with her. Chinchillas are extremely interesting animals. That’s probably why they’re classified as “exotic” pets. They’re partially nocturnal, they can’t get wet (they take “baths” in volcanic dust), their teeth continually grow, and they have no scent or sweat glands.

My demented self would imagine Sylvia dressed up in a little Scouts uniform, selling Chilla Cookies door to door. Or in a little Chilla Suit, cannonballing into a dust bath. My imagination just rocks this way!

One day, I sat down and just started writing. I can picture it all in my head, and I try to write so the reader can too. Check back for Sylvia's blog entries!

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Little Known Facts about Me:

I was a world-class swimmer.

I am terrified of spiders, and can’t sleep if one is “at large”.

I lurve coffee. Coffee coffee coffee...

I once dropped a steak knife which poked right into my foot and necessitated a trip to the emergency room.

I love birds and cats. But I can’t have both, for obvious reasons.

I hate liver, and have been known to both toss it under radiators and stuff it into an envelope to send to the poor starving children in China.

When I was little, I would sit inside a bush and sing “I’m a lonely little petunia in an onion patch”.

I hate monkeys wearing clothes, and monkeys that talk. I especially hate monkeys that do both.

I have claustrophobia. And motion sickness. Blech!

I thought the expression “Dog eat dog” was “doggie dog” and “guerillas” were “gorillas”. Oh, and “Euthanasia” was “Youth in Asia”.

I am both naïve and a klutz.

I make up weird names for things such as: a big tub of popcorn is a Popcorn Prairie Dog.

I am the middle child in a family of eight children.

I love SEEING things! I can see the same thing a million times, and can always see the wonder in it as if it were the first time. I call it “making my eyes happy”

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How Sylvia Chilla Came to be...

I guess my Sylvia Chilla stories come from two sources. First off, our family had a Maine Coon kitten. Like a doting grandma, I wanted to dress her up in cute clothes. It started off innocently enough: a little jack o’lantern cap and matching ruff. Boy, did she look disgruntled! Next was a little Santa hat and beard. Cute cute cute.

After that, my husband Mark had to steer me away from pet clothes, teddy bear clothes, doll clothes, baby clothes. . Question: do they make bikinis for cats? If so, I want one. Now.

My second source was Sylvia herself. Yes, Sylvia is a real chinchilla, our pet. She is so unusual, super-smart and loving, and I found myself imagining her dressed in a little Scouts uniform, in a bathing suit, wearing a cloche hat, a jeans skirt, pj’s. . . going to school, on trips, having adventures. . .

And so Sylvia’s Chinchilla-rific Adventures were born. I hope you enjoy reading them as much as I enjoy creating them.

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This blog is all about my writing journey….

Today I’m working on organization—getting the blog moving forward, mainly… This is sure a lot more fun than my business website. This is ME, you know? This is me, being me.

I guess it’s also a lot scarier too. It’s so personal, so close to who I am. What if you don’t like me or like my work? What then? Do I just pick myself up, dust myself off, and continue on?

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