Sooo ... today is officially halfway through Nanowrimo and my official word count for the month of November is ...

0.

:(

Didn't realise quite how time consuming the renovations would be. After all, I thought, we're not doing most of them ourselves, we're getting tradesmen in. Yeah, there'll be time to write.

Unfortunately, tradesmen ask questions. Often questions we've not thought of the answers for yet. Or the Other Half has thought of the answers but hasn't told me (or he has told me, but they're the sort of things I don't remember. For some reason my brain doesn't retain technical details of wiring, plumbing and dimensions. Give me a punctuation problem any day!)

And then there's my propensity for starting new study topics at inopportune times. I've decided to do my 4th Masters (teacher librarian) subject over the summer and also put my hand up for a short course at TAFE, where I'm working casually. Both are going to be really cool and useful subjects, but I must admit (and the Other Half would definitely agree) that my timing stinks. But it's not my fault that both courses start today!

The TAFE course is only short - about 20 hours - and is going to be right down my alley. "Instructional Design" is all about designing online courses. I've done some of this teaching in Queensland and some more this last term and a bit teaching at TAFE and have studied online myself the past 2 years now (novel writing last year and my Masters online this year). I also seeing it being really useful for hopefully getting more casual TAFE work next year and for getting permanent work again in schools once I've got my teacher librarian qualifications. I should be finished the Instructional Design course by the end of the month. (Oops! Isn't that when Nanowrimo finishes too?)

The other bit of new study is my elective unit for the Masters - "Social Networking for Information Professionals". How cool is that?! For this unit I have to (yes, HAVE TO) have a Facebook, Twitter, Delicious, LinkdIn, Flickr and Second Life account. I repeat, HOW COOL IS THAT??!! When my sister-in-law heard about it (via FB) she responded "Is it called Procrastination 101?" (I think the Other Half agrees wholeheartedly with her).

Seriously though, the subject outline says the unit is all about "the concept, theory and practice of social networking technologies within the context of libraries and work of information professionals, with a particular focus on Library 2.0 and participatory library service. This subject requires students to immerse themselves within a range of social networking enviroments, including the use of blogs, wikis, social bookmarking, Facebook, IM, Flickr, and Second Life, and evaluate their learning experiences throughout the session as both social networker and information professional."

A sudden thought - maybe I should scrap my idea about continuing my kangaroo novel for Nanowrimo and start a whole new novel about a person who gets lost in the world of tweats and posts and virtual worlds ... What do you think?