Survey

Weekend update here! :-)

In fact this time I write to you not about any literary exploits, woes or worries. Instead this time I am seeking help from all of you.

As part of my college coursework, I am conducting a survey about online shopping and the impact of the retail industry on our society. And, as you might predict, this of course requires a lot of responses from a lot of people.

If anyone could spare less than a minute to answer the survey, that would be a big help. Even if you haven't shopped online before, you can still answer the questions, that's fine. :-)
The survey is anonymous and only takes a minute.

Please click the link below to be taken to the survey:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/32Q5CSD

Picture courtesy of Chance Agrella
freerangestock.com

Happy Boxing Day!!

And Christmas and New Year all in one!

Picture courtesy of Mara Denardo
freerangestock.com

For me, Christmas is just about done. Still a good bit of holidays left but you know what? I am so ready to go back to college! Oh yes.
I know, yes, I'm one of those weird people who can only take about 3 days of holiday at a time and then can't take anymore. For some reason the less time I have the more I get done. I'm more likely to finish three novels in the midst of my studies than to finish one with a month of no work, school or anything else.

So without further ado, I am ready to call it now. Christmas is done for another year and, while it does pass surprisingly quickly, I can comfortably say that the next 364 days will take a while to go by. And I'm not bothered. :-)

On the other hand I think it's about time to get back to business. It's been a while since I posted some writing techniques so I'm going planning to do one for next week.

So far for Writing Techniques I've covered plotting and then shooting plot problems. Carrying on from that I was thinking I'd do something about writing the story and then about editing.

If anyone out there has wishes about what writing techniques or tips you'd like to hear about, then please leave a comment! :) I'd be happy to add anything from request.

But for now, I will keep this short and wish everyone a Happy Christmas and the rest of the holidays. May the new year be your most inspiring yet!

Monkey–out!

Simian City News! A Rare Species Spotted

'About time we heard
something from this Writer Monkey'

And now it's time for the latest news from your favourite...

SIMIAN CITY NEWS!

I'm your host, Fun. E. Chimp.

   Today there has been an incredibly rare sighting of the Writer Monkey said to have lived in the cave just south of our jungle broadcasting station. Eyewitnesses have confirmed from this that the Writer Monkey is in fact not dead and has neither been abducted by chocolate. Our on site news reporter Monkey Gone Wild is with professor What's His Name as we speak who has offered to comment on this event. Over to you Monkey.

   ~Well thank you Fun. Yes right now I'm here at the professor's study enjoying a cooling banana smoothie and speaking with him about what exactly can make a Writer Monkey disappear besides easily suspected chocolate abductions. Professor, what exactly is your opinion?

   >Well Monkey, as I see it the thing which young writer monkeys are easily prone to suffer from but which isn't as easily obvious to the casual observer are laziness attacks, the I-Can't-Think-Of-What-To-Say Syndrome and a very infectious disease known in layman's terms as "But The Game Is Just So Fun." Once contracted this horrible infection almost forces the potential writer to re-focus all of his or her attention onto a video game or other similar activity, denying them the time to focus on their writing. It's really quite tragic.

   ~And you believe the Writer Monkey might have contracted this illness?

   >I really can't say, but so far I've only found one cure for the condition, and let's just say it involves a pair of pliers, barbed wire, a sack of feathers, a rocking horse and super glue.

   ~I can't honestly say I want to hear you put all that together, professor.

   >That's strange. A lot of people say that...

   ~Anyway, now back to the studio.

   In related news there is evidence that Electrostatic Fantasy is in fact nearing completion. These statements, although deemed incredulous by some, bear out in the sense that nearly half of the novel now stands in a final form of editing.

   Our efforts to contact the Monkey have also *cough*finally*cough cough* succeeded and there is news of upcoming regular updates and an updating schedule.

   Please stay tuned for the next broadcast of SIMIAN CITY NEWS!!

Lyrics And Updates!

Yikes!

Alright, kudos to me for posting again with less than 3 months in between. Yay. But still, a lot has happened since I last wrote. Hmm...let see. Shall we go with bullet points? What, too short?

Firstly, I would like to draw your attention to the top line of links. Yes that one up there. Yes...up a little further. A little further...okay, come back down you missed it. No, not that far! (Let us take a moment to honour the brave souls who dare ask me for driving directions! :D )

YES! You got it. I've added a new Poetry page to the site. :3

I don't like to call myself a poet, because unlike some who can scratch up a poem very easily, I can only do it when the mood is right. That mood often comes very seldom. If I force it I feel like it sounds...well...quite forced. Haha. Funny. I made a joke. Laugh. I command you. -.-

But anyway, please feel free to wander in and have a look about! ;)

On another note I've done a general maintenance on the site. By maintenance I mean I've gone through most of the links and just made sure they all work, deleted any that don't. :)

If you guys do spy a link that's broken, please contact me by e-mail (nanakafka@aim.com) or comment on any of the posts on the main page! Thank you! :)

And one more thing:

I won NaNoWriMo! :D

That's right! The Monkey of the Cave has crossed the threshold of 50,000 words once more and is now dragging herself to the end of her plot! :D

A huge thanks to all the staff at NaNoWriMo for keeping the awesome event there and doing everything you guys do each year! And to my Number 1 rival in the competition Jay! It was thanks to our wild word wars that I was able to push a win out so quickly.

Yesterday I literally wrote 11,604 words.

Yeah...it was quite a lot to do. -.-

Monkey Dance Time!

*does a little monkey jig*

Simian City News -- Full Update

A good afternoon to all our viewers from Simian City News, your favourite update crew of crazy apes right here on the Monkey's Fanta World Blogspot channel!

Since our host, Monkey with Fanta, has been absent from the site for some time we are happy to announce that Simian News will be fulfilling necessary updates while the Monkey is away.

Today's broadcast will cover a full update with the Monkey's novels as well as what's scheduled for the future!

Tune in for exciting announcements about rising stars, salvaged survivors and new arrivals...as well as some sad news about a death in the Monkey's family of stories.

Let's begin!

Electrostatic Fantasy

The little first-born darling is darting fast through edits and is halfway to beta-reader stage. Nine out of the fourteen chapters have been edited to near-completion and the Monkey has recently been sighted randomly disturbing customers frequenting cafés, keeping the underwater adventure rolling! The target for completed edits on E.F. remains end of May, but our ape analysts remain sceptical as a previous estimate said the story would be completed in March. Stay tuned human friends, this promises to be a thrilling race to the finish.

Arkanos (Book One) Memorycatcher

...Has seen no progress whatsoever. However, a good few months of separation have definitely improved the relationship between this pesky story and our novice novelist and I am happy to announce that they are on speaking terms again. Our sources tell us that the Monkey won't undertake Arkanos while she's still working with E.F. (as this baby is 'quite a handful'), but once E.F. is complete the Arkanos project shall resume!

Through Glass

This particular story had to be rushed to the ER after a bout of high fever and a severe limp. We've been informed that the plot doctors are doing their very best to locate the source of the problem, but they are not expecting a rapid recovery. Our on-site reporter Craz E. Gibbon did his best to get an explanation out of them, but the only statement they gave was that it was something to do with lack of tension and the absence of an antagonist. Rest assured that the good monkeys at Simian City News will keep you updated on the situation as it develops.

The skAI Butterfly

We are sad to bring you the news that there has been a death in our literary family. It seems that this butterfly flew too close to the planet PANTS and had it's pretty little wings burned. We contacted the Monkey for a statement and she said,

"The pantser approach for me is more about beating writer's block and instilling inspiration that it is about creating a masterpiece. The day that a pantsied novel does not make the bin-and-rewrite list will likely never rise. The plot-problem monster attacked my house and swallowed my laptop whole. Now where's my latte?!"

Being the youngest addition to the team, The skAI Butterfly will have to wait a while to be addressed and as such will not be returning into our ranks soon. However, the funeral has not been arranged yet and the Monkey is reportedly working on an evil spell to rise it from the dead. This to be continued.

Tick Tock WonderWood

And just a week ago a story which was thought lost overseas was rescued and returned to its place in the random pile of budding novels. It's rumoured that this new story is centred around elves from the distant past, rebellion and the dangers surrounding revenge. The WonderWood won't be added to the site just yet. But the loyal Simian News gang will keep their eyes peeled and ensure you are right at the edge of the action.

There have been rumours floating about that the Monkey is thinking of adding another snippet from Electrostatic Fantasy to the Excerpts page in the near future, as well as E.F. art.

Thanks for watching and tune in again for more excitement from your favourite show...

Simian City News!