A Warning

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I planned to post something entirely different for today - but here it goes. Check back in tomorrow for what I was originally going to write about today: physical movement and writing.

Today's topic is part rant and part warning for my followers, those whose blogs I follow, and those who may randomly come across this post when searching for a related topic.

It happened again today when I clicked on a link in my reader to go to one of the blogs I follow. The work computer blocked access to the site. The reason? It was determined that the website belongs to the category of "Social Networking." Oh, no. Of course they don't want us on Facebook or MySpace or Twitter while we're working. I get that. But I got this same message last week two times when I tried to connect to a friend's writing blog. My friend's blog is not at all a "social networking" site. She does a weekly "Word of the Day" piece of writing, she sometimes has guest writers; that's all it is: a writer's website.

What I realized when I went to her website later from home is that it was probably blocked because of the big "Follow me on Twitter" link. But it's just a link to Twitter - it is not Twitter. It's not Facebook. It's not "let's be friends and post all kinds of stuff" here : it's a blog with good writing and resources for writers. Grrr.

One isolated incident. I was going to send my friend an FYI but forgot later. (Sorry, C!)

Today at work I clicked on the website of another writer. Not a friend, but a published writer's blog; and I do remember seeing a little Twitter link last time I was there. Which was about two weeks ago from this very same computer at work. And the name of the writer whose whose blog is now being blocked as a site in the category "social networking"? Margaret Atwood - her Year of the Flood blog. 

photo of Decorative Songbird statue,
Blue Bird
from The Carver's Bench,.

Come to think of  it, I'm not sure that it is the Twitter link that is causing the problem. Although that is still a good suspect. It may also be that Wordpress is the culprit. I think I'll see who else I can find with Wordpress and check it out. But I'm guessing it's the Twitter link. I haven't had any problems with Blogger blogs. So far.

This is even more irritating than the time - on my break - that I tried to get to the website of my new favorite bra, to see what other styles they have. It was blocked as belonging to the category of "Offensive Material and Porn."

Big Brother Is Watching.

We have to be careful of the writers and bra manufacturers.

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Razor's Edge 6/18/10

This is the day for the Razor's Edge. Instead of prompts, I'm going to share a story. A true story - but a story, still. The theme of this post is, Contradictions. How sometimes we have to take what is and look ahead and move on, even though it seems like we might want to pause. Or, at least I do.

This is another example of what Pamela calls, Resiliency.

I'm working on it.


Behind me here in the cafe, at the tall faux marble table along the inside wall, are two students studying their Chinese medicine. At first I wasn't sure what they were doing - talking about swollen lips and, by their description, it may have been a human specimen or a car or some unknown piece of machinery. But now they have moved on to talking about stagnant Chi and I know. It's Chinese medicine - and they are probably acupuncture students from the school out a couple miles, just past where I live. They've come here, a little further in toward downtown, to escape the other students that are crammed in the cafe just up the street from my house.

Stagnant Chi. That's what I'm trying to avoid by moving forward with this Oregon Literary Fellowship application.

See, today I found out that another submitted story was rejected. This is the life of the writer. Keep the stories going out and wait to see what happens, which is very often rejection. I'm not sure right now when the balance starts to tip so that there might be more acceptances than rejections, but, like visual artists, writers have to be able to take the rejections, which are numerous. For most of us. And victories are to be cherished and worn as badges of honor - such as honorable mentions, like my writing friend Christi just received from Glimmer Train. A big congratulations to her and I hope she holds that Honorable Mention high, like the Olympic torch, and lets it light her days and nights.

So another of my stories was rejected. And I have to have the Oregon Literary Fellowships (OLF) application in by next Friday, if I'm going to do it. I've wondered whether to try or not. One friend told me it was very difficult to get and very few are selected and it was way too much work. He applied once, years ago, and it was not worth the effort, he thought. Another friend who has read a lot of my work encouraged me to do it. And I first heard about it from a published writer who thought I might want to give it a shot (my words, not hers). And I asked another published writer-friend-mentor for advice and, while she doesn't know anyone who has ever won one so she doesn't have any specific advice, she said it would be good to try and gave me some advice about the submission from an editor/judge-of-a-different-residency experience standpoint.

And here I am in the cafe with the women studying about Chi and sad about my piece not being published and looking at the two sets of poems and two personal essays and one more short story that are out there being considered. And I just finished pasting and editing my writing sample submission for the OLF into a new document. I will read it aloud later to find places where more tightening or other editing is required. I made more notes for the questions I have to answer.

And I will submit. I will give it a try even though part of me is in that post-rejection what's-it-all-for-anyway-no-one-will-pick-me mood. I am resilient and I will keep on trying.

As my writer-friend-mentor who moved away to Santa Fe said, "I don't think there is any harm in applying. It is a lot of work, but I think sometimes the process helps clarify a project and gives us a deadline for the story rewrites. I think you have as good a chance as anyone." She's right. So far this has helped me come up with an intent for my writing, something I've been unable to put into words. Until now.

Reject. Reflect. Rewrite.

Submit.

Ah, the life of a writer!

What are two or three of your contradictions right now? Go: write!

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Christi's Distraction

At Writing Under Pressure, Christi wrote about responding to another writer friend's list of questions as a distraction from thinking about her Dermacentor variabilis phobia. You have to click to her site to check out what that is! Anyway, she was tagged with these questions and she answered them from the North Woods. As a distraction.

Since I just wrote about wondering if I was distracting myself (from the Needs a New Name (NaNN) Novel) with research and notetaking, her post caught my eye. Well, her posts always catch my eye - she's a great writer with plenty of insights. I saw the word "distraction" and I was distracted from why I'd logged on to the computer in the first place.

Below are my responses to the questions. Feel free to post to your blog with a link here, or put your answers in the comments section below!

1. Where were you five years ago?

I was working with a group of interpreters to establish a new agency in town after one agency walked all over the community and walked off with money owed for services rendered. After a few months and some stressful meetings and someone pulling a power play built on lies, I left the new agency I helped create. I was starting to do a little art, again, and starting to write creatively, again. I lived in the same house as now with the same partner, but with a boomerang step-child living with us, who is now engaged to a wonderful person and doing quite well on his own.

2. Where would you like to be five years from now?

In five years we will be paying off the house. I want to be writing more regularly and having the rest of my life fitting in around the time left over from that. I want to be giving workshops and attending conferences and going on writing retreats and a residency would be nice. I'm contemplating being done with an MFA by then -- but haven't decided for sure if it's worth the time and expense. I want the Needs a New Name Novel to be published, and a book contract for more. I want to have breathing space and an abundance of income and have plenty of time for sleep and walking and traveling and writing/creating and be comfortable in my skin.

3. What was on your to-do list today?

• 
  Shower.
• Dragon boat practice.
• Brunch with some teammates after practice.
• Take arnica and homeopathic tincture.
• Walk up and down the hill a couple times or so to see how my lungs are doing, with additional walking time.
• Take arnica.
• Shower.
• Pick up a latte or chai on the way to work.
• Type up three student intern observation reports.
  
• Look at REI website to see if they have what I need for the Grand Canyon trip so I can plan what to pick up when I get my shipment tomorrow morning (to avoid those impromptu purchases).
• If I have time, reorder the chapters and sections I've relocated in the NaNN Novel in Google Docs.
• Drink less coffee.
• Eat more vegetables.

4. What five snacks do you enjoy?

• 
  Popcorn.
• Early season Honey Crisp or Jazz or Ambrosia apples.
• Fresh blueberries - especially right off the bush (okay, so they should be rinsed first)!
• Juanita's tortilla chips with a little bit of grated cheese melted on them under the broiler, with double roasted red pepper or mango salsa and mashed black beans.
• Erin Baker's peanut butter granola with Nancy's plain honey yogurt. Or plain Cheerios with soy milk. Vastly different and yet, similar in an odd way.
  

5. What five things would you do if you were a billionaire?

• 
  Write more often and work at non-writing less.
• Travel more: !road trip!; take a month-long vacation and at least a week every three months or so; buy a home in Taos that would also be a group writing retreat, and a condo to share on the Oregon coast.
• Send some money anonymously to some people - some maybe not so anonymously.
• Get an MFA.
• Get all needed repairs on the house; get the yard fixed up properly; replace my 181k+ miles, 11-year-old car with a hybrid.

That's my distraction list. What's yours?
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Finisher Shirts - for writers!

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Sparked by a conversation during Bonnie's recent tour stop here, I decided that writers deserve finisher shirts, too.

As I told Christi, who first commented on thinking in "finisher mode," runners and walkers of marathons get finisher shirts. Many participants in 10k's get finisher shirts. I haven't yet done a triathlon or biathlon - but I'm sure they get finisher shirts.

Writing a novel is at least as hard as running/walking a marathon. And takes just as much preparation. No, I take that back - more preparation. For many of us. And, we're not done when we cross that finish line of the last page.

So - today I set up a small shop over at CafePress dedicated to the novel finisher. When I saw some of the other products they had I noticed other things the writer who has finished a novel might need as they head into revisions: like a coffee mug, a mousepad, a wall clock.

Have I told you that titles are not my strong point? They're not. So, in a somewhat uncreative moment of non-inspiration, the CafePress shop is called - tada - Writing Vein Novel Finisher. Just click on that obvious title and you can see what's there. To the right is a picture of the Ringer T-shirt to whet your appetite.
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Quick Write Tomorrow

Tomorrow I will be taking on the challenge of writing from a word prompt that is still unknown to me for Writing Under Pressure's "Wednesday's Word." I will write it from whatever Wordsmith.org emails out after midnight - having been well trained in the quick write style at Ariel Gore's Lit Star Training course.

Christi, the site's owner and author, wrote a wonderful introduction, which you can read here. She talks about our meeting and some writing work we did together. Then was kind enough to insert a short bio I wrote.

Make sure you visit Writing Under Pressure later in the day tomorrow to see what the word is and how I used it in a piece of writing.

It's exciting!

NaNoWriMo: day 17

Oh, boy. Definitely at the slo-mo time in the process. I left in the early morning for a personal appointment, then work and work and work; arrived home at 10 pm (the last gig went late tonight - of course). I hadn't eaten dinner yet - thank goodness for boxed Imagine soups! Yummy Latin black bean soup.

Then, finally, I sat down to write. Not many words today, but more than it was looking like at 11:10 pm -- which was a big, round -0-.

Final word count today is 35,035. Not stellar and I think what I wrote is pretty boring. But the story is moving. I'm not quite sure what will happen next, because they're not quite ready to get to the big event. Although I could write that and then go back and fill in later.

As Christi pointed out on Writing Under Pressure, this novel does not necessarily have to be written in the order in which it will appear or even chronologically. So I could decide to skip ahead in the time line.

Or I can just continue to follow the characters and see what they want to do next. Although I do feel like they are avoiding something. We'll see. There's only been one death, so far. Maybe two, I'm not sure if the disembodied foot came from a dead body or is part of a med students exam or what. But - there is something the characters don't want to do.