Simple Words I Needed to Hear Today

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My Tuesday writing partner and I have started up our weekly meetings again. December was a tough month, with the creeping crud and both of our work obligations. Maybe we met once. I've lost track. But we promised to start up again in January.

I knew I had heavy theater requirements this month and was holding huge blocks of time available because the schedule for this theater commitment was not yet specific. I've altered my work hours and some personal commitments so I could be available for this other task I agreed to do. So we were committed to writing time but I knew I might not be able to keep it to exactly every Tuesday.

We agreed to do our best to find another time during the week if a Tuesday didn't work out.

Which it didn't this Tuesday. There was an opportunity and need to work on a scene for the play so I asked my writing partner if we could move it.

There was and we did. To Wednesday.

I showed up at our writing place and we did our check in. She asked if I'd been able to do any writing this last week and I admitted that, no, I hadn't. I didn't feel guilty about it because my week was so full of theater that I was doing my regular interpreting work and going to rehearsals for the in-depth theater project and the show I'm interpreting next week and sleeping. That was it.

But, no, I hadn't written a thing in 8 days. Since the last time we met.

"But you are here now," Rooze said - or something like that. "You showed up to write."

I felt relief from hearing those words. I wish I could remember exactly what she said, but that is close. And it was exactly what I needed to hear today.

Yes, even in this exciting and energizing and creative theatrical time, I showed up to write.

Thank you, Rooze!
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Picking up the Pace

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Have I told you that NaNoWriMo is coming?

Oh, I did? Well, it is. Let me tell you, again, in case you missed it. You will also notice that I have added my NaNoFlair in the left column - a little web button widget announcing to the world that I will be undertaking the adventure again in 2013. I also set up my favorite personal word count scoreboard, but that's a little lower in my menu bar since it will remain blank until about 2:00 A.M. on November 1st, when I will be updating to my first 1,667 words or beyond.

Yes, I will be going to the midnight write-in. Of all the NaNoAventures in which I've participated, I've only missed one. That one year was my worst novel. I never completed it. The story never went anywhere, except in circles. I had plenty of backstory but never arrived at the action. I was bored some of the time. I thought I'd go back in and clean it up, but once I hit the 50,000 words I was done. Well, I think I actually stopped somewhere around 50,065 words. I have no intention of going back to that novel. I was, technically, a "winner," but the book was not.

Lesson learned : go to the midnight write-in. It gets the month off to a great start. There is much energy and fun and we're all there to get in that first daily average of 1,667 or a few extra words in the bank. Fun. Writing and fun and commitment.

In the meantime, I'm ramping up my writing. Yes, you can expect to see me in here more often.

This week I interpreted a second performance of Fiddler on the Roof - a matinee for students. There were about 110 or so Deaf and Hard of Hearing students, adults, and signing staff in the audience. The play went really well and the three-interpreter team? We felt great about how we did. It's always nice to get a second chance at interpreting a play after all of the preparation. And it did; the entire audience was awesome and the interpreted section was huge and a lot of fun. I don't have another play to interpret until into December, which mean what? More time for writing. Yes!

Having the play done and the flyers created and posted for the theatrical interpreting workshop I'm presenting - oh, and I'm in the process of typing up the final edits of the task force's professional standard practice paper on performance interpreting - I have even more time for writing. And I will.

Tonight I also talked about potential very general NaNoPlot ideas with a writer friend. I think I have mine; which means I have a little under two weeks to do some more thinking about it and do some research. I think I've decided to go with the second book in the series of my other novel-in-progress. That one is an earlier NaNoNovel and I like it very much. It is very messy and requires much editing and rewriting. I've thought it was a good first of a series, so I think I'll go with that.

My question now is: what will it be based on? I don't want to give anything away, yet. But I do need to find a novel which is at least 70 years old and preferably one that the author died over 70 years ago. In that source novel there needs to be a character who was somehow significantly injured, neglected, or something similar. The offending character does not need to have malicious intent; it could be accidental, or stupid, or out of fear - but they basically don't get caught.

I was talking with my partner tonight and said the offending character "gets away with it." She pointed out that the characters in my first novel didn't really get away with it, they ended up ruining their own lives. True. But they were never publicly found out nor suffer consequences at the hand of others; only their own.

So - if you have any favorite old novels or stories which might fit my needs, let me know. I have a few days to do some looking around and I'm open to suggestions. Old book, dead author, a bad deed is done and the offender not caught. Easy, right? It could be.

And I'm building back up to daily writing. I had planned to start that before now, but, oh well. Here I am. When we hit NaNovember I will be writing (nearly) every day (or every, I hope!).

NaNoOn!
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Meanderings : MFA

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picture from How to Steal Like an Artist by Austin Kleon,
one of my new favorite books, I've read it from cover to cover.
Now that I've read it, I pick it up often and open it randomly
and see what I need to know for that day.
It's not just for writers or artists.
It's about creativity.
Buy it.
You'll like it.

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This first paragraph is how I started this writing today and I'm going to leave it, as development, as an example of how meandering thoughts can lead to having something important to say. I don't have a major focus to write about at this point. Instead, some wandering thoughts - I was going to say random thoughts but they aren't random. Not really. Keep reading; I discovered a focus even though I thought I started with none. Oh, and I did come back in and add a word to the post's title to more accurately reflect the finished piece.

One piece of information is that my Bachelors Degree university is now offering an MFA in creative writing. That's really good news. I checked their website within the last year, maybe even with the last six months, and there was nothing there. One reason I checked there is that I had a really good experience, their format worked really well, and I hoped they might come up with something similar.

This is good and always makes me smile: my undergrad degree is, tada: a BS in Liberal Studies. Love that. With double minor in English:Writing and Theatre. But it was a great experience. Distance education, with some in-person of what would now be called "rigorous" 3- to 4-day classes (where there were pre-reading requirements, post-attendance assignments which were lengthy to prove that you did your homework and understood it), some online classes, even a correspondence course via regular mail, and a little bit online. It worked. My advisor was very helpful and encouraging. It was great.

Anyway - see, rambling, meandering - I checked their website and, nada. Until now. They recently were approved for the MFA in writing. And someone I would love to take a workshop with, a class with, is one of the professors.

And I was tempted.

But I've decided that right now is not the time for me to jump in. I thought I would when I saw it, even with the two week application deadline. I know I could write up two 750 word essays and find work to submit and all of that. And it would be kind of cool to be in the first cohort. And the curriculum looks good. Looks like what I want in an MFA if I do that - and I've been thinking about it for a while; I like the look of the curriculum, a lot.

Now is not the time and having the first two week residency in June - no, not a good time. I will just be at the end of a busy theater season and starting the process for scheduling the next season. I also have a summer theater workshop in the development phase and will be (hopefully) doing final preparations right at that time for the workshop. And I am on a national committee which is putting together a standard practice paper on performance interpreting - which has an early August deadline for getting the first draft written up before our national conference.

So this June - not a time to start an MFA.

I'm not ruling it out for later. Just not now.

Okay - maybe I did have a focus for this writing. The MFA.

To MFA or not to MFA, that is the question.

Short answer: not now. Long answer: maybe.

I'd like an MFA and there are factors to consider. I'll pose some of my questions and I'd love to see what others say. I know someone in an MFA program and I drool when I see her posts. And sometimes I think, whew, glad that assignment isn't mine (at least not now).

I read about the inspiration of an MFA. The community. The camraderie. The knowledge about the business of writing and publishing and, yes, networking. Confidence building (that one I really want; don't guffaw - I really could use it!). Feedback. Energy. Creative momentum. The paper which says I did it and validates that I Can Write.

I read about the negative aspects of an MFA. It's not the real world. It's sterile. It dilutes creativity and replaces it with an academic mandate or style of writing which can swallow the soul. It's too expensive. It creates a false sense of quality or expectations. It's unnecessary. It's insular and isolating (within a context of others of similar experience). It's not real world and there are other ways to write outside of academia.

Oh - and an MFA gives your permission and time To Write. For me the time is not an issue; an MFA wouldn't give me time. It would give me a Timeline and it would be one more thing in the list of things I'm doing. And that's one key for me right now : not wanting to add anything in because I feel like I've just reached a point of some relative balance and sanity in my schedule. Balance like a teeter-totter with evenly weighted ends, not flatlined.

So I did have something to say, after all.

What do you think about an MFA in writing? Is it worth the time and money? Why or why not? What is on your list of pros and cons?

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The Power of a Personal Note

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Yesterday I wrote about some changes I'm making in my writing, in my life, in being true to myself and my goals.

And that is good.

Today I received a note from a writer I had the pleasure of sharing some time with in the Literary Kitchen.

Recently she'd posted a note in our secret Facebook writing group asking for addresses of other writers from the online classes/groups. I was curious and sent her my address.

Today a card and a personal note arrived. It's lovely and perfect and it's made and written by hand.

A simple and perfect message.

Congruent with my post and my being.

Just what I needed.

Thank you, Sailor, and thank you, universe, for helping keep me in alignment.
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Mixing it up

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I decided to take a break from my regular online writing group this time around. The facilitator is awesome and her prompts are excellent story starters, and her feedback is great. I've been doing it for a number of years and I have done several in-person writing workshops with her, as well. So it has nothing to do with her or with the other writers - many of whom are also frequent flyers in the Literary Kitchen.

It has to do with me.

My last time in there, my writing was slow and it became a chore. I wanted to give more feedback than just the minimum requirement, but that was all I had time to do. Most of my writing was for the assignments and I wasn't working on revisions of the two books in progress, I wasn't sending out much work. And I was feeling frustrated that I wasn't doing more.

So I decided to step back from the Kitchen and shake out my writing self and see what else I needed to do.

I joined a writing group, which made immediate changes the week I attended. I wasn't sure the group was for me with the new changes, but was willing to give it a try. I missed the second meeting because I was sick. And there were more changes to the group, including two of the originators dropping out.

Yesterday this group met and I went. This is a small group, now three of us, but I think we've got a nice plan which we're testing out. And it is what I need, I hope, although it's a little different than what I had envisioned. Again, I'm willing to try it and we'll reassess the plan over the next few months.

I can feel it working already. Just today I made more progress on one of the books than I have in the last two months. Having a deadline to submit a certain number of pages/words to others may work. We're starting with just our small group to see how this goes. We may add another person later, but we're being careful to not overwhelm ourselves; we all have other interests and responsbilities, too. We're trying a hybrid of online and in-person gatherings.

I also registered for a one-day writing mini-conference on Saturday, January 26th. I'm very excited about that, as well. (You can check back in my post archives for that information or search online. It's "Making it in Changing Times" put on my Jessica Page Morrell.) That looks like a nice boost and another change of pace for my writing self.

I've also stepped up sending out submissions. I've stepped up exercise - by buying a Wii for home, including Wii Fit which is so much fun! I bought Zumba dance, as well - but that one is hard and I need to take more time with it; the first time I tried I tweaked my back a little so it was back to the easy yoga, stretching, aerobics and balance games and exercises of Wii Fit. Tomorrow I'm also returning to swimming, from which I had to take a break because of an ear infection and then three rounds of the nasty cold/sinus illness which was circulating.

So, all in all, things are looking good. I have a new writing plan and it feels good. I've found some fun ways to exercise which can fit with my schedule. And the performance interpreting preparation workshop series is going really well.

Sometimes I need to change things up a bit to get a different result. I'm going to be exploring that a little bit. I know that sometimes having a routine, something familiar can help with productivity, but for me I needed something new. Like that saying which goes something like, "if you want to keep getting the same results, keep on doing what you're doing."

Maybe that's it - I wasn't happy with my results so I knew I needed to change what I was doing.

How do you know it's time for a change? Or know that it's a rough patch and you need to just keep at it?

Where is your line between the familiar or the new?
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Let The Countdown Begin

No, it's not too early to start talking about NaNoWriMo.

Two months from today, at this time, I will have already written at least 2,000 words of my 2011 NaNoWriMo novel.

Yes, I am that confident.

No, I don't have a plot. Nor a title. Nor even a setting or a character. Will I? I don't know.

What I do know is that I will have my laptop open and a new word document open, waiting for our lovely ML (Municipal Liason, in NaNoWriMo world) to count us down from Halloween to ...5, 4, 3, 2, 1 - GO! And my fingers will begin typing, whether or not I have even a glimmer of an idea. I will type and something will appear.

And for the next 30 days I will follow my characters where they lead me, to that magical 50,000 words in 30 days, signalling that I am, again, a Winner. See, I've learned to not force my characters to take me somewhere in particular during NaNoWriMo. That is the duty of my inner editor, of revision. But NaNoWriMo is to get it out and see what they have to say. I can't control them - really I can't. It failed dismally the one year I tried. Yes, I still passed the finish line with about 51k words. But I never did finish that novel and I didn't like it.

So. Why now?

Because I have been officially accepted as one of the 250 writers who will be participating in the 2011 Night of Writing Dangerously in San Francisco on November 20th. I will be heading down with my writing buddy to be there in time for the Saturday night special activity, too - the founder, Chris Baty, announced that he will be leaving after this NaNoWriMo to become a full-time writer, so there is something special planned for the night before NOWD, as we in the know call it.

NOWD is fun and crazy and a seven-hour writing marathon. It is also a significant fundrasier for the Office of Letters and Light (OLL), the organization which runs NaNoWriMo, Script Frenzy, and the Young Writers Program. Second only to Write Around Portland, OLL is one of my favorite non-profits to support.

So - I'm asking you to help me meet my fundraising goal of $350 for NOWD - OLL. Again, I am already a confirmed participant. And I want to raise more funds for OLL. This year I have a trusty Toyota, which I will adorn with inclement weather apparel just in case, which will carry me and my friend to San Francisco.

Consider donating even just $5. Every bit counts and every bit helps them provides lessons and incentives and programs for writers of all ages.

Movement Creates Momentum

The good news [and there is no bad news to follow it!] is that I seem to have picked up some momentum on my memoir. It seems that my decision to focus on completing one book at a time was the correct one. And trying to zoom in on a completion date for the one was a good idea (thank you, Bonnie Hearn Hill!). And printing out the drafts at various stages of completion so I have the whole thing in my hands.

All good ideas.

Oh, and joining this spring round of the Wayward Writers in Ariel Gore's Literary Kitchen - with the intent to focus my writing on missing pieces of the memoir.

Yes.

All of that.

Good ideas.

Because the ideas are flowing, the pieces are coming together, the editing of some of it is going awesomely (I know that's not a word).

Yes. I have found (created?) a momentum.
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Reminder

Today I had jury duty. Here in Multnomah county that means that you call in the night before the day of your service to see if you're still needed. Which I did and I was. (Note that this was a rescheduled jury duty day; the original date had a conflict so I picked this one.) We only have to go for one day every two or so years. Not even one trial; just one day. Unless we're selected for the Grand Jury, which is a month of service (and I would hope I could be excused since I don't have an employer that pays me while I'm off!); or, like one trial I was sent up to as a potential juror, where it was expected to go three days.

But I went with script in hand for the play I'm interpreting Friday night, and the file for the Cascade Lakes Relay team, and The Novel in its handy zipper folder complete with file pockets and notecards and scratch paper.

But I was called early in the day to go up for the trial. The voir dire was unusually long and there were 30 of us potential jurors (they picked twelve). But, alas, I was not selected. And I was not surprised and not disappointed (I've done jury duty several times; I never get selected on car accident cases - perhaps it's previous work as an office administrator for an alternative health care clinic that was run by a couple of chiropractors... hmm).

Those of us not selected were sent back to the jury room and it was 10 minutes until the lunch break so they dismissed us for lunch.

After lunch I went back, we had the afternoon announcements. And we sat. I read through my script more (we're interpreting Friday night, so it has priority). Then they announced that we were being dismissed early. Two hours. Yay.

Walked to the car and up all five flights to my car at the parking garage. Yay! I could still breathe when I got to my car although I'm not at the level I was before getting sick; but three weeks ago I wouldn't have made it up one flight, let alone five.

Drove home through traffic.

Typed up the notes for the relay team meeting tonight and printed out the leg division to distribute.

Thought I'd take a nap. But, no. Only 30 minutes until I had to be on the road to the meeting.

Now it's hours later. The meeting is done. I'm at my part-time job.

And tired.

And nothing done on The Novel today.

Priorities. And a change in plans. I thought I'd have a couple hours at jury duty - but not to happen today. And no nap.

Tomorrow I nap. After I work and before dragon boat practice.

The Novel will have to wait until Friday. I have a writing date in the morning and it will be focused on The Novel.

My reminder that I can't always count on overlapping projects happening as I plan. No worries and no stress. And I am definitely planning The Novel time for Friday the 21st. Yay.

And a reminder that I need to keep The Novel time sacred (except for jobs I scheduled last fall - such as the play on Friday night).

Returning to the Self via Community

Today I returned to the dragon boat. I've been training with my team since January and this has been great. We've been doing circuit training and core work and strength training. I love the team; we have a few new paddlers who are awesome - and most of last year's team is back. We are a cohesive team and we get along well; it is a great season so far and this coming Tuesday we take it to the water.

Today, though, I attended the Awakening of the Dragons ceremony. This is done by monks, with chanting, blessings, traditional string of firecrackers and, the big moment: a red dot is painted in the center of each dragon's eye ......this is for good luck and successful paddling and so on. Following the ceremony, there was a paddler's on the water clinic and a tiller's on the water clinic. I went. I have not been on a dragon boat since the Rose Festival Races last June.

And I will admit that I was a little nervous. For those who don't remember (and why would you remember all the little details I posted last year?) or those who weren't following me - statistics are that, if or when a person from the dragon boat goes into the water, it is generally the tiller (the person standing up at the back of the boat) or the caller (the person standing at the front of the boat between the dragon's mane), or during a race, the flag catcher hanging over the nose of the boat is also a likely candidate. So, I was a little nervous. My goal for today was to not get wet; meaning that it wasn't raining (it didn't) and that I didn't fall in (I didn't).

A good day.

And I am now re-certified as the tiller for MissFit Dragons and re-freshed in being a tiller. I will also admit that it came back to me just like they say riding a bicycle comes back to you. I was glad I went out today, as the expert tiller did notice that I had my feet placed backwards, which would increase the likelihood of being knocked into the water by the till. But once I got my feet planted correctly and told the paddlers to push off, paddles up, take her away -- it came back to me. I remembered where to start my turn to get us out of the harbor, I remembered what to do when there was a tiny burst of wind and I felt my control slip a little (get the till out of the water, reposition myself and start again). I remembered where to say Paddlers Let it Run, hold the boat, ready to take her back. I parked almost flawlessly, although Clyde and I have a slightly different approach of whether to go a little behind where we're parking or a little ahead.

It was beautiful. A beautiful day. A beautiful first return to being on the dragon boat.

And I was on the boat with people I didn't know, other than Clyde and Carol Lee. So I met new paddlers and tillers. I met someone who knows someone on my team and saw us doing our workout on the Esplanade last Tuesday.

And I met someone who invited me to be on her team after the Rose Festival races; her team is year 'round. I may do it in my team's off time; or may not. Now, at the beginning of the water part of the season, that sounds appealing. Sometimes I missed being on the boat - about a month after the Rose Festival Races were done; sometimes I was very grateful to get that time back and be able to do other things. But, no matter what decision I make, it was nice to be asked. I was told that I have a nice reach. I was asked to sit in the front, the lead paddler position (I know I have good timing - partly a result of early music training, I think - and that is important to being the lead). I also do really well at keeping in timing with other paddlers. Striking up the conversation with the tiller from another team is yet another example of the cameraderie of dragon boat people. Overall, we're a good lot - friendly, and willing to help each other out, and talk to people we don't know from other teams. I know there are some who keep to themselves and are highly competitive. But there are others of us who are all a part of this giant community and we get along - despite being on different teams. Don't get me wrong, we have our competitive sides, too, and want our individual teams to do well - and maybe I'm only drawn to the more community-oriented paddlers and tillers and callers. But it felt great.

I must also say that I'm proud to be a part of the team I am. Our coach is great and she does a wonderful job getting us to be a team and to do our best, whatever that is. If we were to win, she wouldn't complain and we wouldn't complain. But she has us oriented toward doing our best and being fit. Winning is a bonus if it happens and we'd all smile and shout.

But this is a great community and I sure felt at home on the water.

Ah.

Prolific Blogger Award

Today Christi Craig, at Writing Under Pressure, gave me the Prolific Blogger Award. Christi is an enthusiastic blogger and a talented writer - thank you!

It's hard to believe that I am entering the third year of this blog; and that I still don't have my website up to where I had originally envisioned it. But it's all good. I have been able to maintain my blog and it has been a wonderful experience and given me a reason to keep writing.

Sometimes when I feel like my creativity is tapped out and I could never string two sentences together to send out into the world, I remember this blog. I've had to lighten up on myself a bit - to not feel bad when I don't post daily as I originally thought I would.

My stated goal when I started was three times a week. And I secretly hoped I would be able to do it daily. But I'm not there yet. And I have kept up with the three times a week minimum. I'm still evolving what I'm doing with it - and still dream of getting my website up in full working order - and I am keeping it going.

Thank you, again, Christi. For your website and this award.

Click on over to Advance Booking, to see the rules of this award, which includes

Every winner of the Prolific Blogger Award has to pass on this award to at least seven other deserving prolific bloggers. Spread some love!

So - here is my list of seven prolific bloggers! (A girl's gotta be conventional and follow the rules sometimes!)

1. Serena Barton / Art of Your Life
An artist, counselor, educator. She posts news of upcoming workshops and classes, found objects to inspire, helpful hints, updates - including pictures - of beautiful artwork from her new studio and from her students.

2. Sven Bonnichsen / the Scarlet Letters
This one should be for both Gretchin and Sven of Scarlet Star Studios; but I listed Sven since most of the posts have been his recently. But they both have earned the award for prolific blogger and prolific creative artists and writers and arts advocates.

3. Mead Hunter / BLOGORRHEA

Writing, theater, creativity, editing. Life! In his own words: "[blaw-guh-ree-uh] –noun: 1. pathologically incoherent, repetitious blogging. 2. incessant or compulsive holding forth on-line. 3. wearisome volubility aimed at an unsuspecting virtual readership."

4. Shell / A Cabin in the Woods: One Mama and Her Pursuit of a Writing Life
A brave woman, admirable writer, awesome mother, whom I met at a writing workshop in beautiful Oaxaca, Mexico. One helluva human being who is writing about "Creating the Life I Dream About."

5. Lois Leveen / macaronimaniac
Writer, performer, creative human whom I had the pleasure of sharing a writing workshop with a couple of summers ago.

6. Kelly Johnson / Run Oregon
There are a few other contributors to this blog; but most of it is from Kelly. No, I am not a runner (as readers of my blog know); but I am a walker and many of the events she writes about include walking portions. She provides tips and tricks and shares stories of events. It is inspirational and funny and she does an excellent job of keeping us up on what's happening with running/walking events.

7. Ariel Gore / Ariel Gore
Ariel is, well, Ariel. She was my inspiration (teacher) to jump back into writing and a force (mentor, workshop facilitator) that keeps me going, even when I wonder why I'm writing again. She is insightful, witty, open, and one of the most excellent editors I've ever had give feedback and suggestions on my writing. She is an excellent teacher/facilitator and a presence this world needs. Her writing is honest and real and complex, whether it's fiction, memoir, journalism, or psychology (like her just released book on women and Happiness).

NaNoWriMo: day 9 midday update

I was curious about the total authors this year (or authors so far - people can still join in; but most of the participants are already involved) - so I popped on over to the Twitter site during a nanomaintenance site down -- and here's what I found

2009 Tally: 157,425 authors signed up with 676,900,348 combined words (from the Office of Letters and Light, the NaNoWriMo headquarters).

As for me, I passed the 20,000 mark just a few minutes ago. Which is why I'm taking a short procrastination break from my novel. Which is still plodding along, although I feel there is a little movement in there now. We'll see. One of my main characters is taking a little diversion down memory lane, which had me a little irritated because I felt like we were finally starting to head towards the actual plot. But no, she had to go back to a recent event, a recent personal discovery.

So, I followed. Then I hit 20,031 and she said I could rest a bit, to check in with the rest of my life.

I have a little bit of time left to write, then I get to go facilitate the Write Around Portland workshop I'm doing this session. Only two more of those left. I will miss them - they have been a great group and awesome writers, spectacularly strong and brave human beings, and so supportive of each other. And I will be glad to have those three hours on Monday afternoons back for the rest of November. I have set them aside for writing.

Okay, my main character says, time's up. If I need to go to the bathroom, now is the time because there is only 30 minutes left and I have more to tell you.

Gotta go - my novel is calling!
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the countdown is official

Chris Baty, the founder of NaNoWriMo, sent out a message today that there are 11 days and counting until the fun begins. The fun. The sweat. The caffeine. The spontaneous competitions. The write-ins. The hair pulling. The sleep minimizing writerly pursuit of 50,000 words in 30 days.

Yes, we can.

Yes, we will.

da da da dum. Here come the wrimos. In the mid-eighties in Salem we sang, "here come the leaping lesbians" (yes, that was actually a song; now I have to go look up who it was because I forgot). But now I'm humming, "here come the wrimos, the furiously typing wrimos". Okay, I made that one up.

NaNo-ers to date

Okay, so I'm not going to wait until November to start the NaNoWriMo posting. I thought I would. But I've already started here and there, so let the real NaNo blogging begin - shamelessly and boldly and unapologetically.

The once annoying number of forum posts to which I subscribe (three) kept growing beginning October 1st (there were a few before - but very few). Now that the boards were wiped clean on October 1st and the new threads begun, I have many arriving everyday. Mostly I get them from the Portland region - my choice; I get a smattering of posts from Vancouver and Newport (I only have limited permission granted for those regions).

But now - the posts are helping spurn me on towards the start of the actual event. Instead of annoying, they are inspiring! Part of me says this is a stupid endeavor; I'm already stretched beyond the max - what do I think I'm doing. For example, today I had to make a decision between lunch and a nap. Really, it wasn't a choice. I had less than minimal sleep last night, then an out of town job this morning which necessitated leaving pretty early, a short 2 hour break after getting back to town before the writing group during which I had to get the snacks for today's group and could either (a) sleep or (b) eat because after the group, I would meet with my organizational liason, and then off to work until 1 am ... So it was a no brainer even though I considered it. So a nap (and I actually DID sleep - miracle - and it helped)! Then an apple and a protein bar on the drive to the group.

So, why am I taking on NaNoWriMo again?

Because.

It's a challenge, fun, exciting, and I want to. I'm a writer and this stretches me and I have some really good stuff to work with when I'm done. And a bunch of stuff to just toss - but it's fun. And when I'm done - what an accomplishment!

So, in the nanoworld news: Today from the OLL (Office of Letters and Light) - here is the number of NaNo-ers signed up to go across that start line at 12:01 AM on 11/01/09:

After four days of sign-ups, we have 15,363 brave and crazy souls dedicating their Novembers to the high-velocity noveling arts.

If you're ever curious about the current population of NaNoLand, you can just sign in to the site, and head to the Authors Search page. Leave all those fields blank, and click on the "Search" button. Presto! You'll see a list of everyone who has signed up.
Hanging out on the Author Search page is sadly one of my greatest hobbies in October and November. I just searched again, and we're now up to 15,421 participants.

Thanks to some search magic implemented by Dan this year, you can also get a list of people writing in your genre who also live in your home region, find all the Wrimos in your age group writing this year, and discover exactly how many people joined JediDiplomat in listing James and the Giant Peach as one of their favorite novels. (Answer: 334.)

The Author Search will get even cooler on November 1, when we add word count!

Now at 15,709 participants ....

tomorrow I walk

This morning I picked up my bib and goodies bag, information for other events, some new socks (same kind of socks, just new ones! which I will not wear tomorrow but will get them broken in for Seattle in November), and other stuff.

I ate breakfast.

I ate lunch.

I wrote some feedback to a writer in the online class I'm doing with Ariel Gore.

I took a nap. Woke up and stretched.

I drank some electrolytes.

I'm going to eat dinner soon.

And the plan is to be in bed by 8:00 pm. Notice I didn't say *asleep* - just in bed. We'll see how that goes. My night is usually just getting started at 8 pm - but tomorrow I have the Mayor's Walk. Yesterday I said, "but it's only 10k" to a couple of people - who looked at me with that are-you-kidding-me face or in the tone of their voice. A year ago the 10k was a really big deal and walking 6.2 miles is not "nothing."

I am planning on walking it fast (for me). It'll be my pace day for the week. My Achilles is taped up by my chiropractor and all will be well. I realized about an hour ago the one thing I didn't plan for was cold hands. I'm heading off to look for gloves now - I have some somewhere in the house. It's time to dig them out, anyway - I just need them a little earlier this year and for a different reason.

Being downtown by 7:00 am to get a parking place and hop the shuttle to go to the start of the walk. It's predicted to be only 45 degrees at 8:00 AM when I plan to step off and head back downtown. Brrr. So - gloves needed. My attire is otherwise laid out and ready to go, my breakfast planned, electrolytes for during the walk ready to be put into water when I get up, and carbs in the Camelbak.

It's only 10k, I think, again. But I'm not going for a stroll, I remind myself. It IS 10k and that's good.

Then tomorrow afternoon and night it's back to work. And back to writing and feedback and making final preparations for my Write Around Portland group on Monday.

Which reminds me: thank you to everyone who has donated to this awesome organization. And you can still give a little if you want; I'll leave the link up for a while - the FirstGiving website will be active for a month after the event. Thank you!

ponderings of the day

Time. Money. Priorities. Desire. Time.

Commitments.

Responsibilities.

Desire.

A time of reflection on what I'm doing and what I want to do and what I need to do. What I have done and have been passionate about. And if it is all still true or if. If. Maybe things have changed. Maybe I have change - no, I know I have changed.

I should erase all of this and think these things through and then write up a neatly crafted essay on time and change and desire and finding right mind and right action. And acceptance.

Or I can leave this as a marker that life happens and sometimes desires and needs don't fit neatly into the space we're allowed. And decisions need to be made.

And in this land of "you can have it all" that maybe, just maybe, sometimes it's okay to say, "no, I can't" or "no, I don't want to pay that price and so I will choose." Then choose. At least for now. To acknowledge that people change and opportunities change and life sometimes gives us something new which doesn't fit. And we do have a choice. Not necessarily an easy choice.

This post feels like it is going down the rabbit hole of "but what about X?" (there are so many Xs and look at it, maybe your X and my X intersect and collide so who's half of the X has dominance?), or "do you mean to say that we all can control everything which happens to us no matter what?" (which I don't, but I don't have an answer about when and why and how we may or may not), or what about the other beings with which we regularly interact and impact and am impacted by. Questions. No answers. Thoughts.

Time.
Desire.
Priorities.

photograph from GTD Times