Counting the Days...

With eight days to go for NaNoWriMo, I have a good idea what story wants to be told. It lost the battle for July's Camp NaNoWriMo, but the story that wants to be told is one I started over three years ago, Return To Origin. The story is inspired by one of my favorite History Channel shows, Ancient Aliens.

I started writing this story soon after finishing the first draft of The Curse. Then I made the worst mistake involving Return To Origin. I stopped less than halfway through to begin editing The Curse. Since then, the writing process has sputtered at best. There were other issues, but they're mostly resolved now. However, that's no excuse to stop writing a novel in favor of editing another one.

In December, I have another decision to make. With four novels somewhere in the editing pipeline, should I participate in the April and July Camp NaNoWriMo? If I had to decide now, the answer would be no. However, it depends on how much time the upcoming edits and revamps take.

Speaking of, I'm currently revamping my novella, Rickshaw, New Mexico. So far, there are some minor rephrases and clarifications that were needed. The challenge will be my novel, The Curse, which is getting an overhaul. The story will remain intact. However, as my two-star reviewer said, it needed another edit. He was right and that's what's happening. After Rickshaw, The Hunted is next, followed by The Acts of 1.


Now for some sports trivia...

• Congrats to the Kansas City Royals for winning Game 1 of the World Series. This is their first World Series game they won in 10,587 days.
  
• Since we're counting days, here's another one. It has been 38,725 days since the Chicago Cubs last won the World Series (1908). The days continue.
  
• There are quite a few for football. Here are the teams who never made it to the Super Bowl, with the number of days since their last championship: Detroit Lions - 20,752 days (1957) and the Cleveland Browns - 18,197 (1964). The Houston Texans and Jacksonville Jaguars were born in the Super Bowl era, but never played in one.
  
• For one of the Super Bowl contenders, it has been 19,659 days since the Philadelphia Eagles won an NFL championship (1960).
  
• It's also been a long drought for three former AFL champions. The Buffalo Bills last won the AFL title 17,833 days ago (1965). It's been 18,554 days for the 1963 AFL Champion San Diego Chargers. Finally, the Houston Oilers (now Tennessee Titans) won their last AFL title 19,296 days ago (1961).
  
• One of the most famous Super Bowl games, Super Bowl III, it has been 16,720 days since the New York Jets won their only championship.

Counting all these days makes one thirsty. So who's drinking the beer in the cellar in the NFL? Why that would be this week's Kings of the Cellar, the 0-6 Oakland Raiders, who are on a 12 game losing streak and haven't won one since November 17 against the Houston Texans. This week's honorable mention goes to my 2-4 New Orleans Saints. This is a talent laden team who has performed like the New Orleans Saints teams of the 1970's. By no means is the season over nor have the Saints collapsed as past teams have. Unless they get their act together, they will be mentioned here again.

Here are historic scores for teams playing each other this week, October 23,

1955  Chicago Cardinals 24 - Philadelphia 24
1983 - Denver 14 - San Diego 6
1988  Minnesota 49 - Tampa Bay 20
1994  Denver 20 - San Diego 15
2011  Atlanta 23 - Detroit 16
2011  Houston 41 - Tennessee 7


Have a great day!!!

Historic Scores

In a sports trivia post, if applicable, I usually put the historic scores for that day at the end. In the last post, I forgot to do that so instead of editing the last posts, there will be two posts today.

Here are the historic scores for NFL teams playing each other this week, on October 9,

1955  Chicago Cardinals 24 - Washington 10
1965  Cleveland 24 - Pittsburgh 19
1977  Philadelphia 28 - New York Giants 10
1977  Minnesota 14 - Detroit 7
1983  Washington 38 - St. Louis Cardinals 14
1983  Philadelphia 17 - New York Giants 13
1983  Los Angeles Rams 10 - San Francisco 7

Okay, there weren't as many scores as hoped. Here are some NCAA historical scores for teams playing each other this week, on October 9,

1920  Northwestern 17 - Minnesota 0
1926  Baylor 7 - TCU 7
1943  Illinois 25 - Wisconsin 7
1948  Northwestern 19 - Minnesota 16
1954  Minnesota 26 - Northwestern 7

1971  LSU 48 - Florida 7
1976  Oklahoma State 21 - Kansas 14
1982  Washington 50 - California 7
1982  Kansas 24 - Oklahoma State 24
1982  Northwestern 31 - Minnesota 21

1991  Auburn 31 - Mississippi State 17
1993  Florida 58 - LSU 3
1993  Washington 24 - California 23
1999  Arizona 31 - USC 24
1999  UCLA 34 - Oregon 29
1999  Florida 31 - LSU 10
1999  Mississippi State 18 - Auburn 16

2004  LSU 24 - Florida 21
2004  Florida State 17 - Syracuse 13
2010  LSU 33 - Florida 29

That's more like it! Until next time...

Have a great day!!!

Almost That Time of Year & A Pair of Kings

It's almost that time of year again. No, it's not Halloween, Thanksgiving, or even Christmas. In a few weeks, NaNoWriMo begins. For those of you who don't know, NaNoWriMo is National Novel Writing Month, which occurs each November. Last year, I wrote Second Chance, which is in (I hope) the final editing stages. April and July are Camp NaNoWriMo months and I participated in each, writng Justice in April and Timewatch in July. Both novels are only completed first drafts.

Back in June, I struggled with what I wanted to write versus what wanted to be written. However, this time is much easier. Although I do have a couple of story ideas, such as the sequel to Justice and a story I've been mulling over for some time, there are short stories and two unfinished novels I could complete or transcribe. If I had to decide now, the choice would be to finish and transcribe handwritten stories. I have enough short stories for another book, plus a couple of others I'm thinking about writing. This was the other choice for July's Camp NaNoWriMo.

And then there's the third choice: Don't participate. As previously stated, I have two novels in first draft form that need editing. I'm also revamping or overhauling the books I already published. There's a LOT of editing to do and it may be a better idea to focus on that. There's still time to think about it and I may write one story and edit another.

Let's get to some sports.

Alas, there will be no three-peat. Congratulations to the 64-98 Arizona Diamondbacks. They are the 2014 Kings of the Cellar and all the beer goes to them. The 66-96 Colorado Rockies lost by two games. The 2012 and 2013 champion Houston Astros won enough games to end the season at 70-92.

And now for some football. The 0-5 Jacksonville Jaguars are this week's Kings of the Cellar. They are searching for their first win since December 5. The 0-4 Oakland Raiders are on Jacksonville's tail, going after their first win since November 17. Neither team is expected to win on Sunday. This week's honorable mention goes to the 1-4 Tennessee Titans, who the Jaguars play this week. This should be a fun game to watch. After winning the first game of the season, Tennessee hasn't won since.

The 3-2 Green Bay Packers travel to Miami to take on the 2-2 Dolphins. Miami leads the series 10-3. They last met in 2010, when the Dolphins won in the only overtime game in the series, 23-20. Green Bay last played in Miami in 2006, when Brett Favre led the Packers to its last victory over Joey Harrington and the Dolphins, 34-24. They first met in 1971, when the Dolphins trounced the Packers 27-6. Neither team has ever shut out the other nor have they met in the postseason.

The 2-2 Cleveland Browns, fresh off their record setting comeback win, host the 3-2 Pittsburgh Steelers. The Steelers lead the series 68-57 and barely survived last month's game in Pittsburgh, 30-27. The Browns last beat Pittsburgh in 2012, 20-14. They first met in 1950, when Cleveland won 30-17. They also faced each other in the playoffs twice. The Steelers won the 1995 AFC Divisional Round game 29-9 and the 2003 Wild Card round 36-33. Pittsburgh is 4-1 against the Browns in overtime. They first went to OT in 1978, when the Steelers won 15-9. Their last overtime game was in 2002, when the Steelers won 16-13. Cleveland's only OT victory was in 1986, 37-31. The last time Pittsburgh shut out Cleveland was 31-0 in 2008. The last time Cleveland shut out Pittsburgh was 51-0 in 1989.

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Until next time...have a great day!!!