Numfar: Do the Dance of Joy!

It's done! First Draft is Complete!

Heh. Just over a year ago I started this blog and my first post was titled 'Numfar: do the dance of shame' . (The wonderful picture is of Joss holding up a custom Numfar figure made by Sasha Powell as seen on her blog) So it seems fitting that now I can post this because I am now a writer - I have finished my first book! Now, let me enjoy this feeling for a little bit. I know there is much to do. A first draft is a long way from a finished book. But, as Joss himself says, the first rule is FINISH IT! And I have :)

What now?

Okay, I have my draft and it's going away for a little bit. Then I will do the first sweep of edits and get it out to some beta readers. Beta readers, you say? Yes. I have some people lined up who are willing to sacrifice some time to read the 140,000+ words in this mighty tome. And then...well, we'll have to see. I want this puppy published but how that might be achieved remains to be finalised.

Er, what's it about, anyway?

Good question. It's a humorous novel about...well, think Tom Sharpe meets Ben Elton during a mid-life crisis and spawns a mutant love-child with him and Grant Naylor. But now with added Internets. Yeah, that about sums it up. It's a humourous novel about a 37 yr old geeky guy, separated from his wife, who loses his job and decides to go to University to get an IT degree. He is a decent guy, hooked on nerd culture but completely set in his ways, bogged down by daily life and acceptance of less-than-best. His gaming addiction doesn't help, either. And when his separated wife becomes pregnant, his life takes on a new turn. 

And now...?

Sleep. And maybe a glass of wine. And much rejoicing. It feels good.

Also, a Thank You

Over the last few months many people on Twitter, The Guild chat, Facebook, Friendfeed and all over the internet have encouraged, cajoled and helped me. A huge thank you to all of you. I can't tell you how much it really helped. You rock!

It's a biege alert

Do fans of 'The Exorcist' have re-enactment parties?
Hubby asked this question today as we cleared the fountain of vomit one of our offspring had hurtled all over the landing. It's an interesting question and one for which we might never have the answer. As for the carrots....

Geek is the word
For light relief I found myself perusing the 'Dear Margo' pages. It always cheers me up to read about the problems of others and I do not in any way feel guilty about that. It's part of the human condition. Some of the questions are heart-felt indeed, and obviously one can hardly not be moved by some of the terrible predicaments people find themselves in, so I don't always laugh. I was happily reading away when I came across a letter entitled 'Computer nerds are people too!' (scroll down the page to find it). In it the writer complains that he knows plenty of great guys in computer-based jobs who fail to find women because once women know they are in that line of work they stop being interested. The letter ends with the writer advising single women to go to a Star Trek or comic book convention because there "are plenty of single men with great jobs who are just aching to meet a nice woman."

Is the word that you heard
Margo, in her wisdom (and I do think her answers are generally spot on), seems to think that it is not necessarily the job that puts women off because even funeral directors get dates. But she does wish the nerds well in their bid to find dates, which is encouraging. I'm going to refrain from any other opinion on the matter for fear of bias, but I'd be interested in what you have to say (and by that I mean for goodness sake someone make a comment!).

The XX factor
But what about the female geek? How do they get on with dating? Clearly having brains and possibly glasses does not always guarantee prom-queen (that's PROM) popularity but I never had a problem finding a date. Maybe because I had brothers and found it easy to talk to boys. I didn't suffer from the shyness say, Willow, in Buffy had. Most guys worth talking to are actually interested in women who have an opinion on technical stuff. This was beautifully realised in the scene in the 'Firefly' episode 'Shindig' where Kaylee (who can be thought of as a mechanics geek) starts out at a posh party (shindig) as the butt of the popular girls' jokes but ends up surrounded by men hanging on her every word as she details the pros and cons of the 80-04 (space craft?). *Sigh*. Joss knows how to tell 'em.

Call me 'yu bun duh'
Anyhoo, got to dash. Need to be ready to deploy the mop and bucket at a moment's notice.

P.S. 'Shindig' is also the episode where Kaylee calls Cap'n Mal 'Captain Tightpants'. Yes, indeed....