Nanowrimo 2019

Everything is well here.  I have been focusing on uncoupling food from my mood and it's going well. Maintaining my weight loss. Sometimes it seems slow but still it's happening.

Now that every single bit of graduate school is completely behind me I have been slowly bringing back fun stuff that I love.  One of those things is Nanowrimo. 

I am so excited to be able to really commit to it this year. I can't wait to visit the characters and world I have been building over the past 10 years.  I am at 1700 words so I am off to a slow start. I am not sure of my plot or anything else.  But I am writing and it is wonderful .

not the year for a birthday

Sometimes a birthday is about getting through the day and this has been one of those birthdays. I can't remember the last time my birthday was so .... dreary.  So that means I have been having great ones.  Ones where my poor wife was not sick and my dog did not have cancer. *sniff*

A large part of the dreariness is missing Nanowrimo. I am working on my project but it doesn't feel the same at all. I miss Nanowrimo so much. Part of me keeps thinking 'maybe I could' and part of me wants to concentrate on my other deadlines.

Being an adult equals no fun sometimes. Hopefully a nice evening will bring some balance back.

Nanowrimo and Samhain 2013

There is a lot to be sad about today.

The worst thing is the news from my dog's vet. The x-rays showed a huge tumor in the hip/pelvis area -- my dog has cancer.  So hard.

A smaller woe, I cannot do nanowrimo this year. I have 2 high priority writing projects due the the first of 2014 and that's where I need to put my focus/writing.

I wondered about doing a smaller challenge but that doesn't seem workable or wise. Still I will miss doing nano so much... although not as much as I will miss my dog.

I know there are those out there who had a delightful day and I rejoice in that. I keep thinking that's the way Samhain should be but that's not reality.

samhain mhaith

Kissing November

So many kisses to dear November. 

Kisses to my birthday [25 hours!], the fun times with friends, the work challenges, vacation, the mild weather, Thanksgiving, wonderful turkey, knitting oddness, hats for the homeless, retreating with Tara Brach, sitting out on the terrace and of course Nanowrimo which colors everything in November for me. Word count=50044

Once again I am so grateful to my family and friends for their support during my almost complete writing distraction this month. Kisses for everyone! 
And special kisses to the election results and the winner -Math. 

writing and writing

Still in the writing zone it's all I do -- 

Word count = 42,753.  This may be the first year I do not finish early one.

That's ok though. I am learning to push through tired brain fog and still write. It's a good skill to have. I feel a bit sad about that stuff I can't do this week though.

This year it has been so much easier for me to write in the morning. I wonder why that has changed. Oh well too tired to figure it out now.

Write like the wind!

In the Zone

Word count = 36,009

A quick check in to rejoice over my word count. I am still behind at this moment [by 4K] but it seems all very doable at this point. I am in the writing zone and having so much fun!

Nanowrimo is so different every year for me. Although this year is not yet over I am already noticing the lessons and quirks of 2012.

in past years I have missed many days of writing during the month. This year I have written 22 of the 24 days thus far. Some days had tiny totals but I did write. This rhythm feels very odd to me. I am not sure if I like it or not. It certainly gave me more of the 'I am writing horrible stuff' feeling, stretched it out. In fact for awhile I was moving so slowly I wondered if I would simply run out of time even though the will was there.

Much like working a program I kept bringing my focus back down to that day, that hour, that paragraph and let go of the word count. Over and over again. It was challenging.

But if I do win Nano this year, and barring a catastrophe I will, I will have learned a new type of progress. In fact if for some reason I don't win I still have learned something. Now I feel humbled and rather choked up.

None Nano content --> Thanksgiving was wonderful around here, I was grateful to not host and for all the love and fabulous food. I hope that you all had the kind of Thanksgiving that suited you best. xo

behind but it's been worse

Word Count = 21,257

I am rather shocked at how much I am behind. That is until I look at 2010 and I see how much worse it was that year.

There is writing happening along with a huge needed break from the day job. There is even tiny bits of knitting getting done.

I do feel scattered and lacking in focus though. Can nano be won this year? Probably but I could use a little more space and time for myself. Not sure how to make that happen.

On the plus side I am seeing friends and family and they are all wonderful, I only wish I had time to chat about all the current good stuff.

To bed and then more writing, that's the plan. Love to everyone's November efforts!

The 25 hour birthday

The thing about the 25 hour birthday is that it's awesome but.. well there is no but, it's fabulous all the way around. 

Time changes can be problematic for us all, but it always fun to feel like you are getting an hour 'back' and the timing this year was such fun for me.

I could get up 'early' on my birthday but it wasn't really early. It felt like a spacious, magical, wonderful time all day long. True the weather was not as stellar as it has been the past few years on my bday. I don't think it got above 50 F but that didn't seem to matter on the 25 hour birthday. 

I was up early enough to see the sun, I had presents and cards from my family. My clever wife replaced the watch in my battery as one of my gifts which was so great. It gave me my watch back and saved me an errand. We had a decadent tea party and ruined everyone's dinners. I got tons of birthday wishes and flowers and presents... and I enjoyed being able to remember how much I love people and how much love there is in my life.

What can I say, apparently that 25th hour contains extra mush.

[Oh and there was writing! Word count ==> 7813]

On the second day of Nano

Nanowrimo the fourth [for me] started yesterday and I am having a blast. 

Word count update -- 4146

So far there has been a train, intimate relationships in the tiny train bathroom, some pill popping and now there is some passing out going on... it's brilliant fun.

It may be November 2nd but it not to late for anyone. Why not write this year?

Shout out to one of my oldest friends on this her birthday. Many happy returns my dear!

beautiful blue

Well here it is the last day of November and I won

word count= 58175

but I didn't make my personal goal of complete first draft finished in a month. I am in the middle of the climax scene, so I am close, but not done. I did notice this new goal helped with my focus.

So victory? Not too sure what to call it. Smells a bit like victory.

I do claim victory with the waterfall decorations. We are snow free right now and we decorated the waterfall with a a stream of blue lights and it looks so awesome.

My wife and I just look out the window at it and sigh with delight. It's amazing to be enjoying the waterfall in almost December.

Lots of stuff coming up next month. Shopping trip, hosting a wedding, much baking, mailing, lots of fun cards to send, food shelf concerts, tree buying, holidays. It's all coming soon.

A big grateful sloppy kiss to November and to you all. X

Thanksgiving Report 2011

It was an awesome Thanksgiving. I enjoyed it immensely. We hosted a dear group of friends for dinner and then did the family thing for games that evening at my sil's house. The mashed potatoes and collard greens were outstanding. My persimmon pudding very good. Really the main deadbeat was my stuffing. The brand of seasoned bread was Canterbury organics and it made the most dry stuffing ever. Luckily gravy fixes most things like that on one's plate.

The turkey had a good flavor but also seemed on the dry side. Did the stuffing dry the turkey out? Was the turkey already dry and that contributed to the dry stuffing? I don't know that I will ever ever know the answer but that did not seem to dampen anyone's enjoyment of each other which I think is more important than the food. [did my italian ancestors just roll over in their graves?]

No writing was done Thursday but still my word count is doing well: 49, 897

Since it is November 26th and I have a fiendishly busy week ahead I don't think I'll make my goal of 'complete first draft' done by Wednesday. So I am going to shoot for at least 60K. That seems attainable but still a stretch with the long days I need to put in Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Time to write like the wind.

I hope everyone who celebrated enjoyed the holiday and happy weekend to all!

prepping for thanksgiving

So much has been happening in this great week so far. But at the moment I have 2 things on my mind, getting ready for Thanksgiving and writing.

word count= 45,079

I am feeling odd about that word count, winning nanawrimo is more than on track for the month. But finishing an entire first draft is seeming more dreamlike than ever for this year. However after I told my wife about my latest plot the idea for the final climatic scene came to me, whereas before I had no idea how this story was going to end. I knew stuff that would happen in the end but now I have a drama to build up to....

A much easier task is getting ready for Thanksgiving. We are gong to be a smaller group this year which sounds lovely to me. I love the changes from year to year. My wife is picking up our fresh turkey this morning, the celery and onion are minced for the stuffing, which I will put together tonight. I baked my rustic apple tart this morning. I wonder how the crust will turn out, has my crust luck finally changed? It did seem a bit dry to me. When I get home from my lunch with a friend I will make the persimmon pudding, finish setting the table and check things off my list. Hopefully I will end up with time to write as well.

A big thanks to all of you who are reading, seems appropriate to mention that this week. xo

roller derby relaxation

word count = 39763

This past weekend I finally made it to the roller derby and had a blast. It took some effort to get there. We had the first snow of the season that day, a good 2-3 sloppy inches, so that slowed traffic down quite a bit. There was also a hockey game that night right next door which made for crowded conditions everywhere [parking, roads etc]

Still it was great to watch 4 teams battle it out and enjoy all the clever names the women give themselves. There aren't too many bouts in a season but we're hoping we'll be able to go again soonish. Then Sunday morning was full of shopping and later it was all calm with lots of writing. I did manage to find bread stuffing without sugar in it once again.

I didn't write at all Saturday, I just couldn't figure out where to go next, but the story opened up again and I have been clicking away. Since I have the week off from work getting the entire first draft seems possible.

Dinner out with the Bachelor Farmer

But before my restaurant review the updated word count = 35,212

I was a bit surprised when a friend suggested we eat at the Bachelor Farmer last night. It felt a bit out of left field for her but isn't that a great things about friends, they can still surprise you?

I was also a bit skeptical, I had read mixed food reviews and had also read how it was the new 'trendy' spot. That it would be impossible to get in and it's true that when I tried to make reservations at open table there were none free until next Monday. However, Heidi's is booked up even more than that. Since we were planning on eating early we decided to wing it, we could always eat in the bar or even someplace else. The warehouse district is not short on restaurants after all.

We got there early at 5:45, found an inexpensive meter parking right in front and were seated immediately. Although the restaurant was quite full, even at 8pm there were 2 other tables and a booth free so don't let the crowds deter you but go for it if you are interested. The decor was a lot of soft wood, blues and grey with a few bright touches of primary colors. The banquette was comfortable.

None of the entree descriptions grabbed my taste buds, perhaps because that is one part of the menu that has been poorly reviewed quite a few times. We were in a mood for sharing so we ordered one starter and 3 of the 'toast' selections along with a half bottle of wine and that was more than enough food.

We had the scallop starter, which was delicious both the scallops and the potato pancake were perfectly done. The toasts we chose were the roasted beets with farmers's cheese, the duck pate and the baked camembert. The toasts got better as we worked our way down the line. The pate once it reached room temperature very good. The camembert with the autumn vegetables was very, very good and went so perfectly with the wine.

Luckily both my friend and I like dry wine so after we picked out the food is was fairly easy to order the Savignon Blanc '10, Regis Minet, Pouilly Fume which was wonderful. I was sorry to not get to try the Barolo, but maybe next time.

The truth is that being out with good friends is a big part of what makes eating out lovely and that just added to my evening. It was so enjoyable but I don't know that I am dying to go here again just for the food.

I have been enjoying a lot of outings this week, I just realized I haven't blogged yet about Sun Streets new dinner service. Maybe next time. I have to crack down to writing, the fun is great but certainly takes up writing time.

up a wall

word count = 34034

Nanowrimo is going great, I am certainly on pace for the 50K. But I am only averaging 2K words a day and I need to do more if that first draft is going to get done.

Part of writing is sitting or standing still a lot. Too much for my body and I have been getting a lot of leg cramps from it. I thought that I had been vigilant about exercising but no enough to counteract the increased sitting, I'm still having pain.

So the past couple days I have been trying to do my meditation with my feet up the wall, it's helping but it is hard sometimes to stop writing.

Can moderation and a first draft in a month co-exist together?

back to weddings

A bit of exciting news. My wife and I are going to be hosting a wedding in less than 3 weeks.

Not only am I helping out a bit by hosting my old writing partner's whirlwind nuptials but I also ordered their cake for them to today. One of my favorite bakers is fitting in the last minute cake into her packed schedule. She is an artist so I merely relayed the couple's request for mocha and now we'll see what happens. I know it will be fabulous.

Other news, my word count...30,272. Could it be I'll finish a first draft in a month? stay tuned!

weekend writing report 2

Well the weekend is almost over and my word count isn't quite where I would like it to be.

word count = 24,191

I am on pace for Nanowrimo, but I am starting to wonder if I can meet my secret goal of a complete first draft in a month. The month is almost half over and it's filling up with non writing stuff.

Today I made some venison stew with dumplings, I think it's a good one, although I'm not sure if/when I'll have time to write it up.

There is Thanksgiving to plan-- although that's a happy event. There are the other holidays to start planning. And perhaps even a wedding to host?!

Lots of stuff to think about when I am not writing, but when I am writing I plan to

write like the wind! Happy week to all.

get write to it

Word count = 18,618

I actually took yesterday off from writing. it was strange after 7 days of hard slog, but training [at work] has given me nasty migraines and I realized I just needed to turn off everything.

So I did and it helped some.

Hopefully today will be another stellar writing day, the start of a good weekend. Hoping the same for you all.

write on!

My word count is looking pretty good right now, which is great because not much writing got done today. So far less than 500 words and I really need to go to bed soon!

word count=15,929

What a week it has been. My mind is sore from training and writing. And could it be that I had my last bike ride of the season today? I hope not. Saturday may be back in the 50s. It was weird though to have 6:30 pm seem so dark and quiet. It seemed more like 11 pm.

Well I have a 'write' date planned for tomorrow night so I hope to crank up those numbers. I would still love to make that private goal of a whole first draft in a month.

writing it out

I wrote over fifty-five hundred words yesterday. Word count = 12,874

I even got a little writing done at breakfast before training this morning, and I think I'll be able to eek out some more this evening.

Currently I am enjoying my story. It's in the same world I started building a couple of years ago, and I love fleshing it out even more. Some characters I enjoy are in the background. And my new young heroine, Althea, has been a delight. Pretty impressive for a 17 year old, but then I'm not her mother.

I am hiding in my story right now for good reasons. A friend got diagnosed with cancer last week and now we are waiting to hear what stage it is at--it's a frightening time. Enough to make an author retreat far away to a world where sudden illnesses are never sudden if you are the one writing them.

Seriously go hug someone you love, a pet, a tree. Because it's really all too short sometimes. xo