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NaNoWriMo: What is it?

Put the ice queens, princesses, witches, monsters, pirates, Doctors, and whatever other costume the kids wore away.  Halloween is almost ove...

Sunday, April 2, 2017

Skillshare: a First Foray

I've been seeing a lot of things about ways to learn about things for free.  I mentioned MOOCs back in Super Bowl and FutureLearn, but I've found other programs since then.  Recently I decided to actually look into something both recommended by various acquaintances and advertised regularly on Facebook: Skillshare.

There's a lot to know about this site and eventually, I will post a review about the overall site, but I wanted to highlight something about one of the free courses I signed up for.  The course is called Blogging Basics and I chose it hoping to learn more to make me a better blogger.  The first assignment is basically to figure out what your blog will be about, and that is where I'm having a hard time.

When I finally decided to actually start a blog, I knew I didn't have much to offer.  I don't currently have any degrees in anything except the school of life where experience is the degree.  I never truly got into any of the fandoms that I found fleeting fulfillment in.  In fact, everything about my life is more of spontaneous decisions, going with the flow, and finding ways and excuses to keep from trying too hard.  So why did I start a blog?

I was feeling unheard on topics that my husband is not a fan of.  Then I realized just how hard it is to find reviews about certain things, so I set up two blogs.  One is a review blog.  I'm not a critic or professional reviewer, but a review is basically someone's opinion.  Some of them have more merit than others for various reasons, but all a review boils down to is that it's an opinion littered with facts about the reviewed topic(i.e. specific book, movie, event, item, etc.)  Sadly, I've yet to truly start on this blog though I have a list of things to review and post.

My second blog is this one.  It's not regularly posted to and I haven't done guest blogs or interviews for it, yet.  Maybe as I figure out where my niche is, I'll get some.  For now, however, I'm still exploring my options is the best way to put this blog.  Well, that and a way to air out what I think about various things.  It basically is my way to vent when I feel unable to truly unleash my thoughts because I'll be countered or agreed with before I get a chance to explain my thoughts.  Don't get me wrong, I love hearing counterarguments and various viewpoints of the same subject.  That would be why I follow so many different subjects.  The issue is that sometimes I feel as though my particular viewpoint isn't heard.

My husband is bad about trying to argue his point without truly taking in what I've said.  I'll try to understand what he's getting at with his point, but it doesn't feel like he wants to do anything but hammer home his particular opinion and ignore any new information in regards to the subject.  We actually spent over an hour once arguing over the wording used to say basically the same thing.  I had stated it originally, then he tried to claim to disagree but kept repeating what he was saying, not even trying to figure out if there was a different way to say it to get me to understand what he had said.  I, on the other hand, had tried to figure out what he meant and how exactly it was different from what I was saying.  When he finally did change what he said, it was the same thing I'd said.  Don't get me wrong, I can dig my heels in and be stubborn as well.  It's just I never seem to be listened to and, apparently, he almost always has to be correct.

That's not to say he isn't correct about a third to half of the time.  It just means that I got tired of trying to get him to hear what I was saying and found a different place to say it.  I don't typically air out issues he and I have more because I feel it's private and not necessary to share with the world than anything else.  This is an issue that makes me wonder if I'm actually speaking clearly or not since it happens with more than just my husband.  Once upon a time, I loved trying to argue my point, but now it feels like the more I try to argue it the less I'm willing to defend it because it feels as though I'm not going to be understood anyway.

It doesn't stop me from wanting to get information about things and what I feel about them out there.  So I found another way and that's where the blogging comes in.  I doubt this is what the teacher meant by building a platform for your blog, but I've never been able to focus on a specific subject for a long period of time before changing subjects.  After a while, I'll return to a previous subject.  I have many interests and decided I didn't want to keep myself forced to follow only one thing, especially when there are so many things that I'll be looking forward to remarking about, just check out some of my past posts.  There are reactionary posts as well as a small variety of random information.

Camp NaNoWriMo, April 2017: The Start

So, two weeks ago, I could have sworn I had typed up about five or six posts, only to realize on Monday morning that I hadn't completed and posted or even scheduled to post even one of them.  Then last week, I swear I had meant to type up a post, but I got seriously side-tracked by the Pokemon Go water event and work, again.

Now, I know yesterday was April 1st, and you are likely expecting some kind of prank or joke, but I don't want to do that when there are so many other pranks being performed out there (Collinsville ketchup bottle, anyone?) so I've decided to start on my Camp NaNoWriMo, April 2017 posts with this one.  The title indicates that there will only be 5 posts, and that is because there are five Sundays this month, but the fifth also happens to be the final day of April.  I'll be focusing this month on two main works of fanfiction, but I've chosen one for my Camp main project, but everything typed is accepted.  My goal is 25,000 words for the month.  Since there are discussion boards for a couple of my courses and there are these blogs that'll likely be used at the last minute to up my count, I might actually win!

So, to give you a bit of information on the two projects that I plan to work on.  The first is a crossover between Sherrilyn Kenyon's Dark-Hunter and League stories.  I can't help but think about Styxx being taken in by Thraix and Dagger before Artemis sends him to live through Acheron's memories.  There's also the reaction to the Andarion fangs by both Daimons and Hunters.  Even the fact that they don't rely on the same deities.  I know the first meeting would be when Fang and Vane are trying to protect their sister's pups, and that they would be meeting Styxx when he's been coerced by Dionysus.  There are some other things I'm aware of including a major slash element and some instances of male pregnancy, but not completely sure yet of an end game which is slightly annoying to me.  There are some changes to the source materials for my fic and it will definitely not be everyone's cup of tea, but then, what is, right?

The second project is a multiverse crossover based on the Assassination Classroom anime.  The first one that I'll be focusing on in what will be a series, is Nagisa attending the boarding school in Princess Princess.  So far I seem to be focusing on crossovers with other animes, but that's because the Assassination Classroom is set in Japan and it's kind of hard to find things that use Japanese schools that aren't based in either anime or manga.  I plan on crossovers with Bleach, Ouran High School Host Club(OHSHC), Fruits Basket, and Eyeshield, though more are planned.  It's definitely starting with their high school years, but it's likely to follow them until a future reunion, Not the one used in the anime, but one even later.  Some years after Nagisa has been teaching [and likely gets hired in future years at Namimori of Katekyo Hitman Reborn!(KHR!)] to get the most from my ideas in one series.  There is one pairing in KHR! that I really can't see splitting, even if they aren't cannon.  That pair is Karma and Nagisa.  I don't know why I see them together, but I do.  Can I read others where they aren't a pair? Yes, however, I doubt I could ever write one.  After the high school years, I do want to go into various after school stories.  If Nagisa isn't hired in Namimori, then either he or another of the Assassination Classroom would have been drafted into the mafia and called in to aid Reborn.  Obviously, there are going to be timeline alterations throughout the series just because of the combinations that I want to explore.  I've got a few of the high schools chosen, such as Karma remaining at Kunugigaoka and Itona and the human version of Ritsu attending Ouran.  The Ouran line will be fun, but currently, only Nagisa is willing to inform me of their antics, though some of them include some of the others...Oh, and Karma is grinning evilly about the Namimori part, so there's that.

As of this posting, I have 200 words towards my goal.

How about you?  Will you be participating in Camp NaNoWriMo April 2017 and if so, what are your goals and projects?  Have suggestions for either project I'm working on?  Leave a comment, I promise you won't be bitten...unless you have Hibari nearby, then who knows, lol!

1May 2017 Edit: Instead of doing a post every Sunday, I'll do this one and one about the month's journey after the month is over (this upcoming Sunday.)  Apparently, I had an exceedingly busy month outside of writing, but more on that in the end of the Camp post!