Happy New Year!

There's nothing like a fresh start to the whole slate. So I dreamed about kindergarten and some wonderful activity I created to build a child's geometrical skills, and one that would be so obvious that anyone watching would know exactly where the child placed in his/her knowledge and understanding.

Do I remember what that activity was?

Don't be ridiculous.

I did get a few words in, but then had to fall back on napping. So, of course, going to sleep was difficult latter, although I really tried and tried, and the fireworks that went off at midnight at our neighbors' behind us did not help, seeing how long Harley had to bark to protect his turf from the evilest of noises.

Of course, this morning I was up early, which may necessitate another nap, unless I get some more of this coffee into me.

I was disappointed to discover the Rose Parade isn't until tomorrow. Of course, while I knew it is Sunday today, it hadn't made an impression on how it would effect my New Year's Day.

The first thing on the list for today is more writing. (Well, that's after my IMing. I need charging, and I'm certain chance will provide it, if she's available and if I just show up. If not, I'll find some other person to smack me into action. It's not as though I have to search far and wide. People seem willing to smack me quite easily.)

And after that, more of the latest game, because one can never have too many games. Period.

An hour or so of note-taking and scribbling to eke out 100 measly words. Still, it's a start.

I've returned to my antler story -- the ones I love the most I can call by one word: antlers, ashes, cages. They're all rather mystical pieces with concepts that speak a lot to me. And, I suppose, to be honest, reflect where I am in my personhood at the moment.

That's not to say I won't ever finish those I've surpassed; I actually think I was writing them too soon, and perhaps this is the case with my antlers story.

Still, I love it. I love Mairwen. I love what's happened/happening to her.

I followed it up with a nice convo with Charlie on plotting and utilizing the try/fail method of plotting. For some reason, this hit home for me. I don't relate to the cause and effect kind of plotting -- that came up at Clarion my first week, and it just never resounded within me. (So maybe I should go back and check it out, yes? Because two years later, I might be a different person. However, I really don't think in cause/effect linear organization, which is probably why it didn't work for me then.) Anyway, Charlie gave me a lot to think about. Again. Bless him. And I've saved the convo so I can study what he said in more detail and see if I can't apply it to one of my already 'completed' stories.

Yes, you've guessed it. This is the year of Finish Stuff. I need a more definitive goal than 'as much as I can', but for the moment, I'm looking at the stories I love, the witches, and the novel.

I'm starting with the short stuff, because heck, short is easier.

Not easy!

I would never claim that. Ever, ever, ever.

If anything, rereading the partial stories that mean the most to me have concretized in my head how much I enjoy reading what I've written.

I never began writing with that goal, but today it fits.

Up. Functioning, if not actually running, and waiting for the shower. Two people made it in before me. Why is that? The slug is never up this early on vacation.

I'm going to shower and leave. Today's project is finishing the classroom, which is being cleaned and dusted and reorganized. I have eight hours to accomplish the rest of that task.

I sat down last night and started writing (after practicing some of my voice drills) and found it very simple to get into flow with dialogue. A bit later, I had 500 words, setting! and interaction between my two arguing characters.

The easiest words I've had in a while, so I'm wondering about the voice first/writing after sequence and if that was a way of stimulating my subconscious into producing. (Well, that and telling myself that if all I wrote was dialogue, that would be fine. So then I segued into more.)

It's all about tricks and how to fool my brain into believing it's not being forced to write. And it works from time to time.

Mind you, I'm not necessarily keeping all these words. I'm not satisfied with the direction of the conversation; it's wandering and needs to be more pointed, but hey. A step is a step is a step.

And the end result is progress. So.

Because it was so easy last night, I'm wondering about boosting the daily required output to 200. That will give me a nice chunk of wordage over what I wrote last year, (and no, I'm not even thinking about what 500/day will give me. Oh, rats. Now I am. Never mind.)

Woo! And the slug is out! Yay!

On with the day.

Where does time go?

I know I've been running like a madwoman with little to show for the end result. So far this month I have: freaked over my dad's heart attack (minor, with no damage, except for the fact that he must give up smoking and caffeine), spent four days in the Bay Area and Fresno, made more crafts than should be humanly possible in a single month, with the simple addition of Chinese New Year to the list, hosted a photo party at the house with sixteen dressed-to-the-gills children masquerading as adults, (photos here, and been mugged by one new story, that I finally started just to shut it up. Of course that necessitated much research on my part, because what the heck do I know about truck drivers? Oh, and I placed as a semifinalist in the last quarter for Writers of the Future. This means I must finish my little girls in the asteroid mining story by March 31st.

There is no other news.

Well, except for the part I just told you, and that I have two children here (one semi-adopted) and another at a meeting and a spousling in the mountains, housework galore to accomplish before noon tomorrow, not to mention a web page for my kindergarten room, hitting Lakeshore for free laminating and to buy an easel, and (oh, lookee! something brand new!) lunch with the girls at Mimi's.

(Ooh! And a custom-made bracelet by Amber with some of these beads. I will be wearing more pink with my black once I have my bracelet. Trust me.)

So, given lunch, my new goal is to write until their movie is over. And who the heck decided that Shall We Dance needed to be recasted with known western cultural icons like Gere and JLo? What was wrong with the original Japanese version?

Eesh.

Now, I'm off to chat for prodding.

Another 500 words on the truck driver story, and the abandonment issues are already coming to the fore, while the faith ones are only hinted. The latest is a dog. Nelson isn't getting the floral offerings left at the back of the truck, either. He's got another stop before he clicks into what's on his mud flap.

It's way too draggy, but that's why it's a first draft, right? There's room for slicing and dicing.

The nice thing about this one is that I've got where I'm going sort of in my head. Including some of the middle. Not all, because we're talking about me as a writer and I rarely know what the middle is all the way through. The beginning, yes. The end, yes. Middles?

This does explain why I don't finish stories, right?

So things are proceeding apace. I do need to write today. In addition to cleaning two bathrooms putting away some clean clothes and washing a load so I have stuff to wear for the week. There's also the second mass to sing and a trip into Ventura for laminating.

With any luck, it'll all get done, too.

Everyone cross your fingers for me! (I can't cross mine, because I'm going to need them all. Especially for the typing.)

If I'm good and do everything, there'll be a reward. I haven't decided what yet.

But it's not going to be recleaning the kitchen after the slug finishes making the banana bread she decided to make.

Because, ewww.

Goal for this month and next: write daily.

That's it. I'm getting back into the habit. My mind likes to play tricks, building up the idea of writing as a huge effort. It's not like the stories ever go away, either. Or poof at the end of a deadline. No, they're there always, and rather like bathrooms or kitchens in need of a good scrub.

Yesterday, given the choice between scrubbing the bathrooms or writing, the writing won. It's not always like that, though, and I have to push myself to keep the writing up.

Well, that and I feel guilty, seeing that I wasn't productive in December, and not much more this month, honestly, and here it is almost February and time for another issue.

So guess what I'm doing this month.

(If you guessed the bathrooms, you'd be waaaaaaaaaay off.)

I did buy a replacement easel for the classroom, now that Lisa's is all packed up and gone. I have to put it together this afternoon -- well, first I have to get the box out of the back seat. I'm pretty certain that will take heroics of epic proportions seeing that it took two of us to get it in there.

Then it's all about 100 this week, and counting by tens.

And eating 100 doughnuts, drawing a picture of what they'll look like at 100 (I love the dentures in the glasses I get from a few kids every year.)

There's other stuff besides, but that'll do for the moment. I'm not late yet, but I will be. And this is without the slug to take to school. I need more relaxed mornings like this.

Argggggh. Mondays.