NaNoWriMo Day 5: 13,327 words and counting

I feel giddy today because of the outcome of the election, and I HAVE to mention that because I can't stop thinking how wonderful the world is. But enough about that: on to ME.

I am ahead today, thanks to spending more time today on Selah than on anyone else. I did have a workshop on campus, and I took a nap this morning because for some reason I was really sleepy (I think it was because I was afraid to work on NaNo, actually), but then I made up for it by getting to another good stopping point.

Now I'm concerned because I still have SO MUCH Selah material that I don't know how to proceed with it. Do I include lots more of it, or do I stop around 18,000 words and go on to work on George as originally planned? I'll have to think about that, since I only have about 5,000 more words in which to get Selah from 1843 to 1849, and it took me till now to get from 1840 to 1843. Hm. Decisions, decisions.

But what I REALLY wanted to talk about today was: being in the moment. One of the things I've noticed that happens when I force myself to write for speed and quantity and not worry about quality is that I do everything, all day "in the moment" much more successfully than I ever have before.

When I am working on the novel, of course, it's easy to be in the moment (that is, only thinking about the novel) because I pretty much have to be in order to write that fast - otherwise, forget it. So I don't let anything else intrude.

And coffee helps with this. (Guilty little secret.)

But when I'm doing other things, especially when I have already done my writing for the day and met my quota, I find it easier to concentrate on what I am doing and not let other things intrude then, either, because I've had the supreme satisfaction of having completed a chunk of something, so I can now move on to something else with a clear conscience. Or, if I haven't done my writing yet, I have promised myself that chunk of time, and I know it will happen NO MATTER WHAT because I'm not going to let anything short of fire or (copious amount of a family member's) blood interfere, so I can relax and do whatever it is that needs doing and enjoy it with a clear conscience.

You noticed that bit about the conscience, didn't you. Ah, I thought you might.

'nuff said. We all know what that's about. If abusing myself by writing 2500+ words of blather per day will banish the Guilt Goblins, then that in itself makes the whole endeavor worthwhile, doesn't it? ;-)

~Cheers

NaNoWriMo Day 4: 10,132 words!!!

Which means I am officially 1/5 of the way through. That's the good news.

The bad news is that I feel like my book's not really going anywhere, it's just sort of narrating. Blah. It's blah. It started off well enough, but now it's blah and boring.

Well, I will keep on going and hope that once I finish with Selah and start in on George it will get exciting again. Actually, I'm about to throw Selah a curve ball tomorrow, so maybe that will get things moving again.

I still believe in it - maybe my problem is that the election is today and that is such a high-anxiety thing that everything else pales by comparison?

What I really wanted to write about today, though, was my writing cape. Last week I was at Penney's picking up my new prescription sunglasses, and I had a coupon, and saw this lovely, fuzzy beige cape. On sale. Even cheaper with a coupon! I got it, and it has become my "writing cape." I wear it when I'm in my writing persona, and it really does help me get into that mode. I'll have to get a picture of myself in it and you can tell me if I look "writerly." ;-)

Tomorrow I shall blog about being in the moment.

For now: I gotta go vote.

~Cheers

NaNoWriMo Day 3

And I'm up to 7349 words! My goal is to write around 2500 words a day, so I feel I'm pretty much on track. Hoping to hit 10K tomorrow, but it may be tight given that I'm going to work the phones for the Obama campaign from 9-12 and then stand in line to vote for however long it takes. And I have to write before N gets home!

Today I didn't write till after class ended at 12:30. I told the whole class about Nanowrimo, and that they were to bug me if I didn't keep up. I am telling as many people as possible so there is no backing out of the project. I should try that with losing weight some time - IF the novel works out.

Nah, losing weight's already too damn embarrassing.

Anyway, I took my laptop with me to school and before class I read through the history papers I have on the NY school for the deaf and decided on some things I wanted to put in the next part of the book. Then after class I went straight over to the library's faculty IT center. No one was there for the first hour, so I wrote like a fiend. I stopped when I'd written 1000 words and went upstairs to stretch and to get some coffee (this book seems to require regular infusions of coffee, though I'm not drinking more than a couple of cups per session - that's still a lot more than I usually drink, and probably bad for me, but it is good for the writing!). When I came back down, there were two people in the IT center, one of whom is a buddy who proceeded to chat with me for 25 mins., even after I told him what I was doing.

So I don't think that will be a regular writing venue from now on.

Still, if you don't count the chat time, I managed to write at about 1000 words per hour, and got home about 3:20. This despite a few more people coming in and talking, sometimes to him & sometimes to me, and someone switching on the big tv. So I've learned that when I'm in the right frame of mind, having other things going on around me (including conversations in Panera) does not impede my writing. That's a big revelation - I always thought I needed peace and quiet in order to write. Turns out that Chris Baty is right when he says in his book that what is really important is a deadline!

[AND not being home. At least, not when there's an imminent election. The phone has been ringing steadily while I've been gone, according to the answering machine: 10 calls, all from people wanting me to vote for them, and has already rung twice in the 15 mins. since I got home! I guess I should go to Panera tomorrow to write. Once the election's over it should be safe to write at home, if no one else is here.]

~Cheers

NaNoWriMo Day 2

Day two was a little slower, but not too much. I started off thinking I'd be a cheater (according to the rules, it wasn't cheating - it was a suggestion in Baty's book, as a matter of fact, but to me it seemed like cheating) and rewrite a section I'd rethunk, but keep the old section in still. But when I rewrote, I ended up finding a way to keep the old section in legitimately, HAH! So there. No cheating, plus I increased the word count easily.

I kept wanting yesterday to come back to the book and add more, but didn't let myself. That way 1) lies madness, adding little dribs & drabs all day 2) makes my fambly annoyed, never being completely THERE for them (though I thought about the book all day & evening anyway, by not acting on it they couldn't tell - maybe) 3) keeps me from losing momentum, because when I sat down to write this morning it BURST out of me, being all pent-up and such.

Selah is now to the point of having figured out finger spelling, and let me tell you, it warn't easy to get him there. It's tough conceptually, and since I don't know how it's taught, I had to figure out how *I* would teach it if I had to. I worried a bit about being pilloried by deaf persons and teachers of the deaf, but since I'm writing it for myself and for my family (and for George), I made myself not worry about it.

And I can always change it later if I ever find out.

So now I have 5049 words, only the NaNo site is still down, so I can't record it. If it isn't up by the 25th I will be really annoyed. I plan to win this by finishing, and I want it verified and documented!!!

Anyway, I am 1/10 of the way through, by word count at least.

~Cheers

NaNoWriMo Day 1

I am doing NaNoWriMo - in case there's anyone in the known universe I haven't yet told - and I am going to try to blog every so often about it.

Today was day 1, and I've been looking forward to it SO MUCH! Also been scared about it, but I started off well. It helped a lot that it was Saturday. I went to Panera (favorite shop in the world) and got some coffee (half-caf with half-and-half) and started writing. And the story took over. I'm writing historical fiction, and already the fiction has taken over the history, not only in the story but in my mind! I hope no one in the extended family gets mad about the things I'm inventing about Selah, but hey, it's FICTION, right? ;-)

I could not believe how fast it went, despite all my fears, especially once I stopped worrying about word choices and just plowed ahead. 2351 words in under 2 hours, I can't get over it! I thought it would take more like 3 hours. And I'd only planned a little bit of it ahead of time. And I had a couple of other ideas along the way, too, though I've already forgotten them, so I need to start writing things down, darn it.

Anyway, I hope it continues to go this well at least for a few days. If I can get 10K words I will feel I am on my way and too far along to stop.

Good luck to everyone else doing this!!!

~Cheers

Books, Books, Books

Zora Neale Hurston's Tell My Horse: Voodoo and Life in Haiti and Jamaica is an amazing book. I read it on my 2500-mile journey at the end of the summer, and while it gave me one bad moment (I was up reading about zombies in the wee hours, in Savannah, and S came creeping into the room to see if I'd fallen asleep with the light on - scared me silly!), the book had me enthralled from the first page to the last. Despite having been published in 1934, the book is still remarkably up to date, according to a Haitian student of mine whose grandmother practices Vodou.

Vodou aside, Tell My Horse is a fascinating glimpse into the lives of people in 1930s Jamaica and Haiti. Hurston was many things, but most of all she was a phenomenal storyteller with a terrific sense of humor. In a sense, Jamaica, Haiti and Vodou are only ancillary to the book - the real interest lies in the individual people and the way their lives were shaped by their beliefs. I learned a great deal from Hurston's book, and I enjoyed it tremendously.

The next book I read was Ann Patchett's The Magician's Assistant. This is my first Patchett - I ordered several of her novels from paperbackswap after hearing her interviewed about her most recent novel, Run, on NPR. (I am rich with pbs credits right now, having not ordered much in a while.) The Magician's Assistant opens with the death of the magician, and it unfolds like one of those magic boxes that turns out to have more hidden chambers than seem physically possible. I did anticipate the very end, but was surprised by every single plot twist before it; by the time I finished the book, I was emotionally exhausted and felt I'd been on a long journey with the protagonist. It is, as the title suggests, a magical book, and particularly well suited for anyone who likes stage magic or magicians.

There have been several books in between that weren't all that notable, but I have to talk about The Graveyard Book, the latest from my favorite living author, Neil Gaiman. For a couple of years now, Gaiman has been blogging about writing it, and those of us who have followed his blog have been waiting anxiously to hold the finished product in our hands. (I am asking for the audio version for the holidays, as there is nothing to compare with Gaiman reading his own work.) I started out reading it together with R and N, but then I sneaked ahead and read the rest on my own - though I am still reading it aloud with them - and the best word I can think of to describe it is: "beautiful."

The Graveyard Book is about Bod, a living boy raised by the inhabitants of a graveyard - I won't ruin it by telling you how this comes about, as that is part of the story. The border between living and dead; those who are not quite either; the question of just what earns the label "monster" - these are themes Gaiman has dealt with before, and masterfully. What makes this book different, more wonderful than his other wonderful books, is that it really is for almost all ages. I don't think it would hold the attention of most 3-year-olds; but my 8-year-old loves it, and finds it creepy and scary and yet just right for her age; I've sent it to my 14-year-old niece, who I am sure will find it perfectly suited to her age; I know my 18-year-old daughter will want to read it when she gets home from college in December; and I think my mother will enjoy it thoroughly as well.

Not too many books you can say that about - not truthfully.

~Cheers

Beginning of Fall

I've changed my profile back to myself - N is back in school and too busy to blog, and after 2500 miles of driving in three weeks, I am finally into a routine that allows me to blog again. First, the only mandala I managed all summer:
It is canvas, 24x24. It gave me great pleasure in the creation, and now both this and my original painted mandala are hanging in the front hall. I'd hoped for many more this summer, obviously, but only made this one, plus a couple of small paper ones that I did manage to mail out to people I hadn't contacted in a couple of years. I broke a lot of conventions I had felt constrained by when I made this particular mandala, so I was rather pleased with myself - it is freer and more open than most of my mandalas have been in the past. Happy days!

I also have some of C's lovely artwork to show this morning, from his theater classes. Here are some character sketches he did in marker. I'm sorry most of them are sideways, but I can't find a way to turn them. The first is, of course, loosely N, while the rest are fictional characters:

And then we have another of N's wonderful square mandalas:
And a beautiful mandala done first in pencil on paper by my niece S, and then stunningly in paint on an 18" round canvas:

Nice, eh? I know they LOOK like they're the same size, but the canvas is much larger than the paper. Know that she is a 13-yr-old Goth, and that the outer portion is waves of blood, and you will have a clearer idea of the design elements.

It was a tough summer, and not nearly long enough. I spent the first six weeks or so of it sick, and the rest of it trying to catch up on everything I'd fallen behind on. We had some good visits with and from friends/family, but there was always something else going on at the same time, and let me tell you, I am tired of multiplexing.

At the end of the summer was a positive storm of activity: driving Z to Chatham in Pittsburgh (very emotional), then returning for N's synchronized swimming show, which was wonderful. Driving down to Newport News, VA with N & C for W's wedding (great fun and also very emotional), then returning for two and a half days of teaching and frantic packing. And finally, driving to Savannah, GA to take C to SCAD (again with the emotion!)

I felt all wrung out last week, but am finally settling down to peace and quiet now and an easy-going routine of having just three schedules in the house. N is thriving in her only-child status, and while I miss C & Z tremendously and cannot wait for Thanksgiving when I will see them again, I am enjoying the one-on-one time with N. She loves to sing, and has a lovely voice. She's already able to sing rounds and is learning to sing harmonies, which is highly gratifying! Her favorite songs are "American songs" (i.e. rousing patriotic anthems she can sing at the top of her lungs or slowly and lugubriously) and "Jewish songs" (i.e. sung in Yiddish or Hebrew so she can roll her r's lavishly). She learns them so fast that the other day she said, "Even though I wasn't born Jewish, I think I was meant to be, because I learn these so fast," and her comment gave me goosebumps because it was what I had just that moment been thinking: these songs come so naturally to her . . . .

R's back is in terrible shape from one end to the other. He goes for another MRI, this time of the top of the spine, later this week. He had another three injections of cortisone last week and while they helped almost immediately, they've already worn off. Not A Good Sign. We're not mentioning the S(urgery) word yet, but I do suspect it will come to that eventually. Later rather than sooner, I hope.

And that's the news for now. More artwork soon, I hope!

~Cheers