Cameron's Ideas

10 activities that make you feel more grounded

50 specific things your heart loves

If it weren't so selfish, I'd love to try . . . (5)
If it weren't so expensive, I'd love to try . . . (5)
If it weren't so frivolous, I'd love to own . . . (5)
If it weren't so scary, I'd love to tell . . . (5)
If I had five other lives, I'd love to be . . . (5)

List 50 angering grievances from the historical to the hysterical. I'm angry . . . (50)

If it weren't so foolish, I'd love to try _______
If it weren't so expensive, I'd love to own a ________
If I were twenty-one again, I would let myself study __________
If I could take the next five years off, all expenses paid, I'd study _______
If it weren't so nuts, I'd love to try _________
If I gave in to my secret dream, I would let myself _____________
If I'd had ideal parents and a perfect childhood, I'd be a _______________
The dream I've never told anyone is _____________
The artist I admire and think I am a lot alike is _____________
The artist I secretly look down on because I have talent is _______________

This is a synopsis / summary of my upcoming Na No Wri Mo novel . . . only 44 days away!

Nowhere Man
Kenny Risinger is working with a counselor to get his life together. The counselor is paid partly by Kenny's university, where he is in his 6th year, and "almost graduated." Aside from lifelong friend Melissa Allgood, the only person he trusts is his counselor, Cameron Cardoza.

Kenny works on a computer help desk, and is great at it, although he can be condescending to those who need his help. The rest of his time is filled by classes (a few) and hanging with old friends at gaming/computers and the comic shop where Melissa works, although her hours have declined over time. Kenny lives with Melissa (platonically), and is worried that she is pulling away from him by getting a good job and "growing up." He is proud of his old friend, but conflicted about what her growth means to and implies about him. He is afraid of losing her and feels powerless to control her life/growth, knowing that he's not at the same place as her anymore.

At this point in his life, Kenny has an encounter with a strange being, "something out of Gaiman's imagination as interpreted by McFarlane." The being gives him an odd choice: he can have one power, flight or invisibility. Oddly, it is something he has fantasized about, and he chooses quickly: invisibility.

He experiments with his new power over the next few days, in secret. Typical voyeuristic stuff, and other juvenille male-fantasy things. He worries about telling Melissa, and so instead first tells Cameron. He doesn't have to worry about trust -- she legally can't tell anyone. Eventually, Cameron encourages Kenny to tell Melissa. He has to learn to trust someone, and she has never let him down in the past.

Melissa reacts positively, once convinced that his claim is true. The two have a blast exploring his powers, including a trip to Atlantic City where they cheat their way to profits. They experiment about the things he can and can not do: Touch? Clothes? Tape? Voice? Photos? Digital? Fingerprints?

Eventually, this secret forges the friendship ever closer, and Melissa is surprised to find herself falling for the new and improved Kenny. They search for info/thoughts about power, and try to figure out what to do with the power. Hero? Costume?

They spend lots of time together, and she tries to flirt. He either does not notice or rebuffs her. She is very upset. Melissa goes out by herself that night drinking, and makes the mistake of babbling to an acquaitance about Kenny's newfound powers. The man to whom she speaks of course does not believe her, but he does make fun of Kenny and needle him about this fantasy of his. Kenny is outraged at her lapse of judgment and loses her ability to trust her. He "disappears" from her life completely and eventually she moves out of their apartment. Both are heartbroken over the turn of events, and both hurt.

Kenny descends into petty thievery and all sorts of minor and intermediate trouble, begins to skip sessions with Cameron. He dates the first woman he can, but is not fulfilled. He strays from this new person or in some other way lets her down / disappoints her . . . and this new person breaks up with him over his lack of trustworthiness. He realizes that he over-reacted to Melissa's mistake, and should have forgiven her when he had the chance.

Kenny finds out where Melissa has moved to and checks in her, w/o her knowing. He does nice things for her in a "guardian angel" sort of way. He sees her in her unguarded moments, and realizes what a treasure she has always been and still is. In a scene that parallels his "disappearance" from her life earlier, he "reappears" and they are reconciled and reunited. They realize that they are both better people with each other than without.

I am a little more upbeat about my Na No Wri mo writers group than I was a month or so ago. We took August off officially (after taking it off unofficially for July and June, as it sort of turned out), but it looks like there will be good attendance at tomorrow night's meeting. November is right around the corner, and so Na No Wri Mo is once again on our minds, so our raison d'etre is on our minds again. I hope that we can meet twice in Sept and twice in Oct . . . my hope is that we get together at these meetings to get our ideas together and planning and outlining and chracter traits, etc . . . in order to get ready for November. My hope is that this group can help me do my Na No Wri Mo goals, and that maybe more people can join in order to make it an ongoing group. I look forward to it.