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!