Extra Life - Gaming to Support MUSC

Gamers will play all different types of games for 24 hours straight to support Children's Miracle Network Hospitals. Extra Life is a fundraiser, which began ten years ago to play games and heal kids. Since it's foundation in 2008, Extra Life has raised more than $40 million for sick and injured kids.

The fundraising stays local to support any Children's Hospital you choose to help fund critical treatments and healthcare services, pediatric medical equipment and charitable child care. Each gamer can pick between over 170 hospitals throughout U.S. and Canada.

Stephen and Zoey chose to support MUSC Children's Hospital in Charleston, SC. Stephen volunteered at this hospital for quite a while back when we lived in South Carolina. He would wake up every Sunday morning and go play video games with the kids stuck in hospital rooms. It seems fitting that he plays games now to help them as well. 

When Stephen asked Zoey about doing this game-a-thon challenge, she was fascinated. She got to stay up all night and play videos for an entire day straight!?! She was definitely in. She even spent the week leading up to it prepping, in her mind at least, by thinking of the games she would play and how she would stay up all night.

Though only nine, Zoey is a night owl. She naturally would rather stay up later and then start her day later. Stephen and I are both the same way, so it works out well for us. Especially when it means staying up to play video games for charity.

In preparation, we got lots of snacks and some Coke to keep them going. I made muffins for breakfast and then a huge Nachos spread for lunch.

The day started strong. Stephen and Zoey were both in their happy place. They played Stardew Valley for almost five hours. At this point, it was just another Saturday morning. We are gamers, so this sight is not a rare one for a lazy Saturday afternoon.

I supported them along the way with Solitare, Ticket to Ride and Mini Metro. Mostly I cooked food and wrote. I'm working on Nanowrimo (a 50k word writing challenge during the month of November), so I spent a good bit of the day working on that.

See here's my contribution, lol.

I took several pictures through out the day, but most of them look the same. Here they are still playing Stardew Valley while eating lunch.

It was a perfect day outside for a game-a-thon. The cool, blustery day made me very glad we were cozy and warm inside.

We did come together for a round of Super Mario Party on the Switch. Here Zoey is showing us the secrets of the map since we had never played it before, but she had.

Seeing these two do what they love and have it help out others was really exciting. They had so much fun playing all kinds of games on their own and together. It will be a well remembered experience.

I went to bed about 2 am and they were still up, each playing their own game. Zoey said she wasn't even feeling tired yet, so she was still going strong. She's a night owl anyway, so this kind of challenge is right up her alley.

The next morning I woke up about 8 am, an hour left in their challenge. It wasn't until then that I realized it had been Daylight Savings through the night, so that last hour came from the time change. Stephen was still going, playing one last round of Dead Cells. He even defeated the final boss for the first time on his last play through of the entire game-a-thon.

Zoey, however, was passed out on the couch. Stephen said she made it until a little after 5 am. I thought that was fantastic. She did a great job and really understood how this was raising money for charity and could help kids her own age.

At some point in the evening, they also built legos.
Late night Lego builds...It might just catch on :)

Together, Stephen and Zoey raised $100 dollars to support MUSC. Extra Life raised $8.8 million #forthekids in just the first night of their game-a-thon. The fundraiser is open until December 31.

You can read more about their adventures by visiting their fundraising page Temmie Making a Ruckus where Stephen updated their progress and the games they played throughout the night.

Nanowrimo 2017 - Halfway There!

Photo by Green Chameleon on Unsplash

This year me and Nanowrimo have been getting along just fine.

I participate in this writing challenge along with hundreds of thousands of others every year. Our collective goal is to write 50,000 words in 30 days. Yes, it seems crazy to some, but to me it is just pure fun.

So far, I only have a one in four completion rate, but that is all going to change this year. Today marks the halfway point on day, but I am well over half way on my word count. I have already exceeded 30,000 words and I'm still writing over two thousand a day (well, on average at least).

However, with the holidays just around the corner, I have to keep my foot on the petal and keep my momentum going. I am very excited to see some friends and family to celebrate Thanksgiving this year, but it always poses a challenge for completing this project. Thankfully, I have some awesome family that understands my life as a writer and hopefully won't mind much when I slip away for an hour or so and enter in my word count.

Enjoying my local coffee shop to add to my word count!
#Nanowrimo #theworldneedsyournovel

I really do love this project and find a joy in creating new content. Especially when I write this intensely for this long, the characters seem to come alive and build a story all of their own. It is one of the most interesting things about writing fiction. I enjoy just stepping back to let the story unfold.

This magic of writing has incited me my entire life. I am never as happy as when I can sit down and just let my thoughts flow onto a page. Some words are for others to read and some are simply for myself.

There is this quote by Angela Carter: "Reading a book is like re-writing it for yourself. you bring to a novel, anything you read, all your experience of the world. You bring your history and you read it in your own terms."

To me, writing is kind of like that too, especially when I can get "in the zone" of a new project. The characters just flow onto the page without me ever really having a clear understanding of how they get there. I bring the parts of myself and mix them with this magical property that we humans use to create. Somewhere along the way a novel is born.

Now I just have to figure out how to edit a document with a length greater than a blog post so others can actually read these creations that has made their way from my head to the page. That is the next step.

Right now, I am focused on Nanowrimo and my goal of 50,000 words before December 1st. I can do it, I know I can.

If you are participating in Nanowrimo as well, then you can do it too! I believe in you, now comes the hard part...believe in yourself.

Happy Writing!

Today's the Day - Nanowrimo 2017 Begins!

I am so excited to begin National November Writing Month (Nanowrimo) today. I've had my novel ideas circulating in my head for weeks now, and it is finally time to start putting pen to paper - or fingers to keyboard as the case may be.

This will be my fifth consecutive year participating in Nanowrimo. I won it once, two years ago. There are all of these tips and tricks out there to help you complete the seemingly overwhelming 50,000 words. But honestly, it all comes down to one question. Do you want it?

I'm serious. Of all the years I have done Nanowrimo, the only year I won was the year I really wanted it. The first year, I had no idea what I was doing, so I didn't really write much. The second and fourth year, I was distracted by activities and social commitments. The third year, the year I won, I really wanted it and wrote constantly, making my writing a priority, until I made it to the end.

From my experience, if you want it, you will do it.

And that's it. Just do it. Write everyday. Write as often as you can. Write as much as you can.

When you hit writer's block, keep writing. Write the descriptions of your characters. Write descriptions of the setting. Write about why you can't figure out what happens next.

I entered in my first Nanowrimo update today. I'm so excited to begin.
Cheers to all who are participating with me! #Nanowrimo2017

One reason I love Nanowrimo is because it creates habit. The trick with writing, as well as other creative aspiration, is the more you do it, the easier it is to keep up the momentum. When life gets in the way, like during summer for example, it takes me a while to get started again. Nanowrimo is a jump start for me to get into the writing mode just in time for those cold winter months. I always want to hibernate during this time of year, so it works out well to be able to spend more time writing and editing my work.

Developing new ideas for novels is one of the easiest and hardest things for me. Usually, a small idea comes from something I read or experience. Then I build on it, continuously adding more details as I go.

I really like creating new content, but tend to have a really hard time editing. Thus, Nanowrimo is one of my favorite times a year.

This year, a series of events led up to my novel's subject matter. I recently helped a friend's grandmother write down her life's story to pass down to future generations. Her family was very comfortable in the outdoors and spent lots of time in the mountains hunting and fishing. In addition, I participated in a benefit run with another friend for pancreatic cancer awareness. These two influences blended together in my mind to come up with my Nanowrimo project.

I wanted to do a story beginning at the trail head of a backpacking journey. I decided to make the protagonist a female because that perspective is what I know. Write what you know, right? I tried to figure out why she would be going on this journey and decided it would be to overcome a loss. I wanted to use the stages of grief and the healing power of nature to lead her into self-discovery. Due to my recent interaction with pancreatic cancer awareness, I decided the trigger would be her mother dying of this deadly disease. It sort of all builds from there. Who she is, where her relationship stands with her family and so on and so forth.

The beauty is that a lot of the little decisions come out during the writing process. As I have discovered when writing previous novel ventures, the characters have a story of their own and they will let you know as you go if you just keep writing.

Today is only the beginning and I'm excited for this year's adventure. This year I really want it again, so I think I will win. I know I will win.

I'd love to hear from other who are participating in Nanowrimo this year! See you in the winner's circle!