Consider the trigger pulled ...

It's official. I've registered. I'm NaNo'ing. I'm also crazy, but that's not news. Here's the thing, I want to write. I've been told I should write - by three teachers, assorted family & friends, a psychic and now a tarot reader. I'm thinking maybe it's something I should pursue. On the other hand, I'm big on procrastination, self-doubt etc. so NaNoWriMo is going to be my proverbial kick in the pants. That being said, I'm now feeling somewhat naseous and quite a bit like I did before I started training for my first duathlon ... scared crapless, not really believing that I could/would really do it. But, since I had publicly declared my intentions I felt compelled to press on. I didn't want to feel like a quitter, nor did I want others to see me as one (peer pressure is a powerful thing, even if it's just imagined). I sucked up the fear and did it. Then I did it again. I'm hoping NaNo has the same affect on my writing.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with NaNoWriMo here's the rundown - copied directly from their site ('cause I'm too worried about my own word count right now to be bothered rewriting someone else's stuff):

National Novel Writing Month is a fun, seat-of-your-pants approach to novel writing. Participants begin writing November 1. The goal is to write a 175-page (50,000-word) novel by midnight, November 30.

Valuing enthusiasm and perseverance over painstaking craft, NaNoWriMo is a novel-writing program for everyone who has thought fleetingly about writing a novel but has been scared away by the time and effort involved.

Because of the limited writing window, the ONLY thing that matters in NaNoWriMo is output. It's all about quantity, not quality. The kamikaze approach forces you to lower your expectations, take risks, and write on the fly.

Make no mistake: You will be writing a lot of crap. And that's a good thing. By forcing yourself to write so intensely, you are giving yourself permission to make mistakes. To forgo the endless tweaking and editing and just create. To build without tearing down.

As you spend November writing, you can draw comfort from the fact that, all around the world, other National Novel Writing Month participants are going through the same joys and sorrows of producing the Great Frantic Novel. Wrimos meet throughout the month to offer encouragement, commiseration, and—when the thing is done—the kind of raucous celebrations that tend to frighten animals and small children.

In 2007, we had over 100,000 participants. More than 15,000 of them crossed the 50k finish line by the midnight deadline, entering into the annals of NaNoWriMo superstardom forever. They started the month as auto mechanics, out-of-work actors, and middle school English teachers. They walked away novelists.

Wish me luck! If you're NaNo'ing too and want to be my buddy here's my link.

Lots going on. Haven't been writing, but actually part of what I've been up to has to do with writing.
First, was my awesome hubby's birthday. That was Friday. We had a quiet dinner at a local favorite restaurant with the girls and then dessert at home. The festivities continued Sunday night with my family at yet another restaurant (no complaints here with all that cooking-free dining!)

On Saturday night, at the invitation of my friend Kellie, I attended "Ghoul's Night Out" with my sister and twelve other witches. Yes, that's witches, not bitches. It was a fund raiser for our county museum. The event was a ladies only costume party (come in your witchiest attire) complete with dancing, appetizers, funky cocktails (too bad I was a dd!), karaoke and tarot card readings. Lots of girlie fun! The party was also sponsored by a local spa, so every ghoul got a nice goodie bag full of pamper-yourself samples to take home.

Thrown in with all of the festivities I managed to completely reorganize our bomb-site of a yet-to-be-finished basement. This will be ever so helpful when it comes time to haul the Christmas decorations out in about five (?!!) weeks. It also allowed us to move our desk downstairs to it's future home in our future office. In the mean time our familyroom has become much more spacious. My computer has also now moved upstairs to my stepdaughter's bedroom. OJ is rarely here anymore due to those teengerish things like work and socializing, so we didn't think she would mind. Plus we didn't think she would object to having the computer in her room when she is here (I'll just hang out on my hubby's laptop on those occasions).

So what does all of this have to do with writing?
My husband's birthday? Nothing.
Ghoul's Night Out? My tarot reading was very favourable to me pursuing my writing. I was told I should start working on this "artistic" thing in question now and that I need to get over my guilt and just do it. It is part of who I am and others will benefit from it. The only catch - the tarot lady suggested I start getting up at 5:00 am to make time to write (the thoughts of 5:00 am are extrutiatingly painful to me and is something I will definitely have to ease into)
Moving the computer? I now have a much brighter, less cluttered, quiet place to work.

In the week since I posted last I have also been trying to work on an outline. I am this close to signing up for NaNoWriMo. For those unfamiliar I will post about it once I pull the trigger. My husband has actually been very supportive of this crazy idea. I just need to work on the 5:00 am thing ...

Hippy Dippy Joy Joy ...

We spent the afternoon at my father's house today. As my hubby helped my dad with some outside work I felt myself at loose ends. I started poking around and discovered a treasure tucked away in my old bedroom closet. Years ago I packed and stashed one of my childhood favorites ... the Sunshine Family Craft Store. My intent was to save it for my future kids. Well, the future kids were happily playing downstairs, so why not break it out, set it up and let them enjoy a blast from the past.

As the store took shape I had to laugh. It is truly a relic of the 70's (totally dating myself here!). The faux bookshelves are stacked with such titles as Beginner Weaving and Pottery For Fun And Profit. There is a large macrame wall hanging adorning the shop. While there actually aren't any potted "herbs" to speak of you can almost smell some questionable aromas lingering on the premises. But what else would you expect from a family of dolls where the mother wears peasant skirts and sandals and the father sports a turle neck and dabbles in pottery?

Being schooled by my three year old ...

So yesterday we were at my inlaws. I busted my three year old for enhancing her grandmother's dining table decor by emptying and arranging a tray of ice cubes amongst the dishes. In her typical manner she wailed like I had just murdered her best friend and ran to my hubby to rat me out for being a mean mommy. When she found no sympathy there she headed upstairs. I followed her up and and found her standing quietly in one of the bedrooms. When I asked her what she was doing she said "I'm madding!" I tried not to laugh. How cute, I thought.
Everyone else oohed and awwwed at my pumpkin's cuteness when I told my story.
Well she's got the last laugh now. Out of curiosity I looked it up and guess what? Mad can be used as a verb! Who knew?! Other than my three year old, that is.

verb (used without object)
Archaic. to be, become, or act mad
Inflected form(s); mad.ded; mad.ding

Happy Thanksgiving, eh

As we embark on our Canadian Thanksgiving weekend I could post about the usual "this is what I'm thankful for." However, anyone who knows me knows what I'm thankful for and it's probably quite similar to what they themselves are thankful for. So, for a different spin on things here's what I am not thankful for:

1. A federal election here being held simultaneously with a federal election south of the border, both of which seem based more on mud-slinging than dealing with the serious issues that should be addressed.

2. The inevitability of a second term with Stephen Harper as the hapless leader of our country.

3. The fact that a serving of Pepsi counts as 3 w.w. points (particularly brutal when I'm only allowed 18 pts/day!)

4. That my computer seems to be dying a slow, painful death (but I will be VERY thankful for the laptop that my hubby has promised as its replacement when it finally meets its ultimate demise ... )

5. That my youngest has declared all out war with me on the potty-training front. The little wench is one obstinate chiquita, but I.will.have.victory.

I hope everyone has an enjoyable weekend with their loved ones. And to my American friends, while we may get to eat our turkey one month earlier, you get the Macy's parade and a four day weekend (as aforementioned obstinate preschooler would say "no fair!")

ARMY OF WOMEN ...

If you are a woman or have a wife, mother, daughter ... this is a revolutionary project that needs your help. The Dr. Susan Love Research Foundation and the Avon Foundation have joined forces to create the Army Of Women initiative. This project has two goals :

"1. To recruit one million healthy women of every age and ethnicity, including breast cancer survivors and women at high-risk for the disease, to partner with breast cancer researchers and directly participate in the research that will eradicate breast cancer once and for all.

2. To challenge the scientific community to expand its current focus to include breast cancer prevention research conducted on healthy women. "

Unfortunately, this project is currently only open to women residing in the U.S. because, at this time, it only involves American researchers. However, I know there are American gals/guys who read this blog and my Canadian readers all probably know at least one American woman that they can share this information with. This is an important, fresh approach to finding a cause and preventative measures for breast cancer that will benefit all women.
The link for the project is here. Pass it on!!!

Root and Sprout, again!

While I haven't had a chance to do much in the way of writing lately I did manage to get another piece done for Root and Sprout. It appears in the October issue. Here is the link (scroll down the page to the article titled Taking A Leap Of Faith). Thanks again to Lis for giving me a place to present my work!