Picnik, NaNo, and Gaga

Today has been a day of great discoveries.

Firstly, I finally started uploading apartment pictures to Picasa, and in the process I discovered Picnik, Google’s very own photo editing program. Basically, I was looking for an easy way to get those cool Photoshop effects (vignette, upped contrast, etc.) and Picnik can do it all with just a couple of clicks! It even has a 1960’s effect, which I immediately started abusing at every possible opportunity, haha (see example here). So anyway, that’s how I spent most of my afternoon.

Then – I already forget how I found this…MSNBC? – I came across NaNoWriMo. Apparently November is “National Novel Writing Month”…and for 11 years now, a growing group of people have been participating in the event (how have I never known about this?). The rules are pretty simple: you have 30 days to write a 50,000-word novel. At the end of the month, you upload it to the website, which verifies the word count, and get a “handsome winner’s certificate and web badge”. No first place, no prizes, just the satisfaction of having completed an entire novel in 30 days. It’s pretty much right up my alley. A cool project and method of distraction that – in my current state – just might be possible. On top of that, there’s no real competition, just a lot of people encouraging and helping each other out in order to reach a common goal. These people even get together for weekly “write-ins” in their local libraries, etc. Cool! Anyone care to join in? Who knows if I’ll actually finish (if my “summer” list is any indication), but it’s certainly worth trying. Commence brainstorming……….now!

And finally, to top off the great discoveries of the day: