Blame it on The Ides of March

 

            Hi there! Sorry I haven’t been blogging a much lately. I thought for sure I’d be blogging all over the place once Moon Over Buffalo closed. But somehow, other priorities snuck in and took up a lot of my time. I know there have been Tuesdays without Thrifty Tasty Tuesday and a few Fridays without any fiction. But a few things have kept me from blogging, although not from writing.

            The first distraction has been an avalanche of projects, standardized testing, and Scouting commitments for my kids. It seems like every week there is another book report, diorama, or science project due. And I’ve been desperately trying to offer support and encouragement without taking over the project. I find stepping back to be one of the tougher (but most important) aspects of parenthood. It’s a tricky balancing act, but I think we’re getting there. Anyone else have trouble with this?

            Second has been the weather. You’d think lots of snow would make me hunker down to the keyboard. Alas, it made me want to crawl under the covers with some of the books that have piled up on my nightstand. I’ve been having a wonderful time reading some of books written by friends. In fact, I’m going to start a new feature on this blog called, “So My Friend Wrote this Book...”  Watch for the first edition next week—I’ll even be doing a give-away. If you have a book you’d like me to talk about, drop me a line.

            Another distraction is the result of all that reading. I’ve been inspired by my friends who’ve published their words—on their own, with traditional publishers, and some have even started their own imprint. A couple of weeks back, I opened up the novel I wrote for NaNoWriMo in 2011. It had been months (maybe even a year) since I had looked at it and I wondered if it had the potential to be published. I came to the conclusion that it isn’t the “great American novel”, but it’s a good story with interesting characters. So, instead of writing anything new, I spent some time making changes, did a little editing, and this week I sent it off to be read by two people I trust to be honest with me. Hopefully, they’ll remember to ply me with bourbon before they get too honest.

            Finally, the least interesting reason I haven’t been blogging is my need to get myself back in shape. It isn’t just about fitting into my favorite jeans anymore. Last summer I started having problems with my back. It’s nothing terribly serious—we all get a few aches and pains in the years after we turn thirty-nine. You know how it goes—I didn’t exercise because my back hurt and my back got worse because I wasn’t exercising. I got to the point where I was popping ibuprofen like M&M’s. My back even froze on me a couple of times. Thanks to my chiropractor, yoga, floor mats at work, and yes, exercise, I’m on the mend. I’m down to taking anti-inflammatories once or twice a week instead of four or five times a day. I even managed a four-mile jog yesterday. It’s a huge relief to be feeling better, but it has been a time-consuming process. Yet another thing to balance, but I’ll get there.

            So if you’re reading this, thanks for hanging in there. Next week, “Thirty-nine for the First Time” should be back to its old self. On second thought, next week you’ll see a new and improved blog. I have a new Thrifty-Tasty-Tuesday in the works, the first edition of “So My Friend Wrote this Book...”, and hopefully a little fiction thrown into the mix. See you then!

NaNoWriMo, Moi?

 

            Thursday night after a couple of glasses of wine some serious consideration, I signed up to participate in NaNoWriMo. I have pledged to write a 50,000-word novel during the month of November. That’s a little over 1,600 words per day. I wrote a post on Facebook questioning my sanity as I considered signing up and an old friend replied, “Not insane. Projects without deadlines never get finished. Do it.”  That sounded like wisdom to me.

I’ve had these characters tumbling around in my brain for quite some time now. I know how they meet. I know their flaws and their strengths. But I haven’t given them the time to tell their story. When signing up for NaNoWriMo, there is a section to tell a little something about the novel you’ll be writing. One of the boxes to fill in was genre. I realized I’m not sure if this book will be chick lit, romance, or literary fiction. The last one is a bit of a long shot, I’ll admit.

Between now and November first I have a lot of preparation to do. I’m thinking of this as a triathlon for my mind and I have about ten days to train. So here’s my training plan:

1.) Cleaning out this rats’ nest I call a workroom. It used to be the nursery (note the soothing blue and yellow paint). Now it’s my workroom, craft room, store room, and a place where stuff that has no home collects. It’s time to throw some stuff away!

2.) I’ll be scaling back on my blogging. I’ve been in a rut lately and the posts I’ve written haven’t been on par with some of my earlier entries like Mankie and this Sleepy Time. I’m not giving up blogging entirely. I’ll be publishing NaNoWriMo updates and occasional blog posts. Blogging has motivated me to write down some wonderful moments about boys as well as some of my own childhood memories. So I won’t stop entirely, but I won’t feel compelled to post something just because I haven’t done it in a while. If I don’t have anything to say, I won’t scrounge for something.

3.) NaNoWriMo has published Thirty Question Character Survey. I’ll be filling these in over the coming days to help flesh out my characters.

4.) This novel-writing thing is going to require me to spend a lot of time sitting on my butt. If I’m not careful, I’m going to pack on a ton while pounding away on my laptop. If I’m going to do this, I want to look triumphant not mountainous when I’m finished. Besides, my best ideas usually come when I’m running or doing yoga. I intend to keep get back to exercising regularly.

5.) I’m stocking up on coffee and coffee filters. I can’t risk skipping a day of writing simply because there is no java in the house.

6.) Finally, I’m going to set up a system for backing up my writing regularly. Losing thousands of words to a computer crash would definitely send me over the edge.

            So that’s my plan. How about you? Have you ever considered NaNoWriMo? Are you doing it this year? Any preparations? If you’ve participated, do you have any advice?

Family, Freebies, and my Fiftieth Blog Post

            Last week was February vacation here in New England. Unfortunately all the fun things we had planned for the week were cancelled thanks to a nasty cold virus that invaded our home. James and I got hit early in the week so we were feeling pretty close to normal by Saturday. That was right around the time his accomplice big brother became pale and feverish and wasn’t up for anything more challenging than sleeping through Saturday morning cartoons. So James and I went to Target Saturday on a mission for supplies to sustain the family through another day or so of quarantine.

            We picked up juice, crackers, ibuprofen, a tub of modeling clay, a jigsaw puzzle and a couple of movies from the $5.00 bin. It had been a long time since James had been out of the house and he was spastic bouncing of the walls enthusiastic at Target. The cashier remarked that there was only another day left of February vacation left. She was looking forward to sending her kids back to school on Monday. I could relate! James had been home most of the week before vacation with a stomach bug. I have been sorely missing my time alone for the better part of two weeks. I can’t tell you how blissful it feels today to go a couple of hours with no one asking me for juice, complaining about their stomach, head, or throat, ask to borrow my computer, or describe in detail the difference between a Storm Trooper and a Clone Trooper.

            But then the cashier said something I couldn’t relate to. She said, “If I had it to do it over again, I would have only one child not two.” I didn’t quite know what to say so I laughed it off and said something like, “I have two boys. They can be a handful, but they mean so much to each other.” She shook her head and replied, “It’s too much. I would only have one.” I try in this world of parenting to not judge other parents. There are so many choices to make and so may different ways to raise children. And none of us knows for sure what is going to work until our children are grown. But she said it twice. She said it casually to someone she doesn’t know at all. I couldn’t help but wonder if she says thing like that in front of her kids.

            Of all the things I’ve done in my life, the two things I absolutely wouldn’t change are having my boys and marrying my husband. I’ve been a parent for almost nine years and I have no romantic illusions of perfect children (or being a perfect parent). I’ve held my baby while he was getting stitches, been thrown up on, cleaned up all manner of icky things, been so tired I could barely stand, second guessed my decisions and had days of frustration and anger. I have wished my children would be quiet, wished I had more patience with them, wished they would listen, wished they wouldn’t wake up so early, wished they were self cleaning, even wished it were acceptable to duct tape them on occasion. But never have I wished I hadn’t had one of them. They are my greatest blessings.

            Another decision I am glad I made was starting this blog back in September. This is my fiftieth blog post! I am so grateful to the folks who stop by to read what I have to say. I am overwhelmed by the support and feedback I’ve received from readers—some of them aren’t even related to me! In honor of my fiftieth post, I’m offering my very first give-away this week. Leave a comment below before midnight Eastern Time on Thursday March 3rd and you’ll be entered into a drawing to receive a $20 gift code for CSN Stores. They sell everything from pendant lighting to popcorn poppers. I’ll announce the winner on Friday. Good luck!