When I was in second grade, my teacher, Mrs. Godfrey, gave us a test. The very first instruction says read all the instructions and do as they say. Then there was a list of questions, tasks, what-have you. At the very end was a very special instruction, saying for you to not do anything except sign your name on the page and take it back up to the teacher.
Needless to say, I was caught. Did pretty much the entire page. But I vowed NEVER TO BE FOOLED AGAIN.
(Children make vows in all caps. I remember that much.)
So comes my glory days at Marian Catholic High School. Freshman year. Mouth full of braces. I take a course on study techniques that will help me in no way whatsoever in the years ahead. And the teacher running the course gave us a similar test.
"Aha!", I said. I scanned the page, do this, do that, there it is, final clause! I do as I was bid and was, if not the first kid up there, then damn near.
Success! Brilliance!
Now that we've got that out of the way, lets add another wrinkle. I taught myself to speed read as a kid. Don't know how. As far as I was concerned, I read at normal speed and everyone else reads slow.
I have good comprehension, can tell you various bits and pieces, the works. Sometimes I miss things, but rule of thumb I catch everything.
So why is it that in a straight forward, easy piece of work, I can screw up important, key information? I went back to NaNoWriMo's FAQ and saw, big as shoes, that it's 50,000 words that needs done, and not 500,000 words.
I've been thinking 500 thou since I learned about the contest last November! I've been telling family members that is 500 thou! I plotted out an entire year of this with that number in mind! I DID THE MATH FOR EVERY MONTH, INCLUDING FEBRUARY, BASED ON THAT FREAKING NUMBER!
I am a complete idiot. A moron. A dweeb.
But it's also a weight off my mind. 50, 000 is such a smaller number. A happier number. I can do this. I will do this. It's only 1,667-ish words a day. I'm shooting for 25,000 words. I will not think about how long this post has taken and not reached 500 words...
I will also REREAD EVERYTHING BEFORE TALKING ABOUT A SUBJECT. I mean, geeze!
Oh, and I will make sure the next check I write (assuming there ever is one) HAS THE PROPER NUMBER OF ZEROES. Just to be safe.
Needless to say, I was caught. Did pretty much the entire page. But I vowed NEVER TO BE FOOLED AGAIN.
(Children make vows in all caps. I remember that much.)
So comes my glory days at Marian Catholic High School. Freshman year. Mouth full of braces. I take a course on study techniques that will help me in no way whatsoever in the years ahead. And the teacher running the course gave us a similar test.
"Aha!", I said. I scanned the page, do this, do that, there it is, final clause! I do as I was bid and was, if not the first kid up there, then damn near.
Success! Brilliance!
Now that we've got that out of the way, lets add another wrinkle. I taught myself to speed read as a kid. Don't know how. As far as I was concerned, I read at normal speed and everyone else reads slow.
I have good comprehension, can tell you various bits and pieces, the works. Sometimes I miss things, but rule of thumb I catch everything.
So why is it that in a straight forward, easy piece of work, I can screw up important, key information? I went back to NaNoWriMo's FAQ and saw, big as shoes, that it's 50,000 words that needs done, and not 500,000 words.
I've been thinking 500 thou since I learned about the contest last November! I've been telling family members that is 500 thou! I plotted out an entire year of this with that number in mind! I DID THE MATH FOR EVERY MONTH, INCLUDING FEBRUARY, BASED ON THAT FREAKING NUMBER!
I am a complete idiot. A moron. A dweeb.
But it's also a weight off my mind. 50, 000 is such a smaller number. A happier number. I can do this. I will do this. It's only 1,667-ish words a day. I'm shooting for 25,000 words. I will not think about how long this post has taken and not reached 500 words...
I will also REREAD EVERYTHING BEFORE TALKING ABOUT A SUBJECT. I mean, geeze!
Oh, and I will make sure the next check I write (assuming there ever is one) HAS THE PROPER NUMBER OF ZEROES. Just to be safe.
3 comments:
Hey, feel free to write me a check - just to be on the safe side. I promise to report the exact number of zeros (up to 6 is fine). Trust me - I'm just looking out for you...
By the way - curse you for introducing me to NaNoWriMo. Now I'm in a quandry. You'll answer for this, by cracky...
heh heh heh.
The concept behind NaNoWriMo has interested me since I heard about it last year. It was just the word count was so daunting. Now that that's been cleared up...
Post a Comment