Some Words Sunday–Date Night

Yes, I know that’s Back to the Future there…  There’s no video for that song I know of, but it works.

I went out on a date yesterday…and not with my husband.

No guilt, no worries…  My son and I spent a day together.  First we took in a butterfly conservatory and the raptor show they were promoting.  Then we drove north, listening to a-ha on the radio/mp3 player singing at the top of our lungs to songs like “Sun Always Shines on TV”, “Blue Sky” and “Living a Boy’s Adventure Tale”.  We had a quick but yummy bagel dinner at a local Bruegger’s  (it was playtime and he wanted bagels)….

All the world’s a Stage

Then my 7-year old son and I went to listen to the Albany Symphony Orchestra playing Vivaldi‘s Four Seasons.  Yeah, that same kid who is now watching episodes of  Dude, What Would Happen not only sat through two hours of orchestral music, but he enjoyed himself and talked with people (he has Asperger’s and often doesn’t speak to strangers…or if she does, he often “performs” at them quoting shows he knows) about the music and where he recognized the sounds of different instruments.

Can you say HAPPY?

That’s me.

It’s not just a pride thing, though I confess, I’m probably prouder than I should be that my son is this awesome.  It’s the joy of sharing one’s passions with someone and feeling that reciprocation that makes me extra happy.

And the best part came when we’re driving home, having been awake for almost sixteen hours of the day already, and the Boodle says “This was the happiest day I ever had.  Can we do it again?”

I may need to buy more tickets for the symphony.

row80 check-in

The Ruined Tower, one of my favorite images at the Albany Institute

Barring that I missed most of the #teamsprinty gatherings (even my Friday one was only a quick hop in to say “Hi” then I had to head out), this has been a great writing week.

I stuck to my five sentences plan and managed about 4 full pages of handwritten fiction and four typed pages of notes for potential blog posts.  Just five sentences…  at least to start.  It never feels insurmountable, even as I’m completely tuckered out and in need of sleep, the eyes almost closing on me…

I can write a lot if I tell myself all I need to get down is just five sentences.

There was also editing, commenting, blogging…  It was a busy writer’s week…. and photographer’s week  I edited a bunch of photos, learned a bunch more about how RAWTherapee and Photoshop work (not to mention how color pixels are mixed to create the images).

And it was great for my ROWFitness.  Lots of movement, a walk with the Boodle where we met a bunny (and he collected a bunch of rocks and two big clumps of rabbit tail–different rabbit), time with handweights and crunches…

Yeah!  That’s more like it.

How was your week?

 

Interrupting the ROW and Re-immersion

Another late ROW80 check-in.  I’m okay with that.  Life has been–well,  I’m tired…. tired of teeth that break near weekly; tired of the accompanying needles, the lost time, and appointment after appointment with my dentist.

I like my dentist.  He’s a nice guy, and seeing him three or four times a year would not bother me in the least.  But it’s over an hour drive to his office from home*, and the commute can get a bit overwhelming when it’s so frequent.

So I’m all out of whack.  My check-in is late.  A bunch of bills are late too**. It’s not a money issue, but rather one concerning that other more rare and precious currency…  time.

I need a Personal Assistant. :-/

The minutiae of this check in involve word counts, projects and personal discoveries.  What have I done since my Facebook Mini-check-in on Sunday….

Words Words Words

ROW80 in depth

Words Words Words

I’m squeaking by on my daily word count.  Squeaking by because I had increased it last week when I signed up for the February Challenge at 750words.com.  My actual wordcounts look weird when I see my progress charts because I’ve typed little notes hither and thither and copying and pasting them into 750words when I finally get a chance.  It keeps me moving at least.  And napkin notes now have a better place than shredding at the bottom of my purse.

I’ve managed about 800 words a day on average since the first of the month.  It’s real progress, but now the writing needs focus.

Editing

Release has taken back seat lately.  It’s hard to concentrate on the story with so many other things demanding to be done.  I need some help too–I need a reader, as in someone to read the story out loud to me.  I tried putting some of the text into the demonstration version of  Natural Readers, but the Microsoft voices mess with my head.  The British accent works “okay” and matches the voice in my head, but I don’t feel comfortable spending that much money on the software.

Another editing project I’m involved in is copy-editing a fellow fantasy writer’s manuscript before she submits it to an editor for final review.  I’m not moving on it a fast as I would like, but I’d rather take a bit longer than miss something.

Personal Discovery–Spelling and Immersion

To me, the spelling is huge–I’m starting to spell words right that I used to spell wrong all the time.

The squiggly red line that appears as I type has been good to me.  I see the mistake, and I retype it, and more and more I am getting that retyped word right without any other help.   As someone who has never been a naturally good speller, it’s wonderful to have found a way to “see” the correct word in a way I never could see “spelling words” in school.

Perhaps the passion just wasn’t there then.  Spelling matters to me now.  I have things to say, and I want people to pay attention to what I write.  It’s pretty rude to ask this of  people without giving something in return.  I shouldn’t make it a challenge for people to read what I’ve written–not right away.  I will draw them in slowly with great characters and the harrowing situations they are caught in…

…then I can spring weird place names and story-world languages on them!

What?  “No” you say?  NO?  Oh, ye of little faith…  It’ll be fun!  I promise.

It can be fun–can’t it?  Doesn’t everyone love the way Tolkien created several languages for his stories, how the appendices in the Return of the King took almost half the book?

No?

Oh….

Deep under

The geek in me loved those.  All of those little pieces and parts of the world that he didn’t place in the Silmarillion (which, imho, was just a bigger appendix for the Lord of the Rings, as was The Adventures of Tom Bombadil)…  well, I felt immersed.

And immersion as a personal necessity is something I’ve long suspected.  I love to be immersed.

Not just immersion in the mental sense, although that is sublime.  I love things that squeeze me, hold me in, surround me, swallow me…  Swimming deep under water with its weightless pressure…  Being held close or curled up with blankets mummy-wrapped about me…  Mmm!

I could probably give a psychiatrist a field day analyzing the reasons behind this, but I have done this from Day One.

Funny story as long as you aren’t my mother…

I was born nearly a month late (due on Thanksgiving, was born on Christmas), and Mom says she became a master at swaddling.  As a toddler, I loved being hugged so much that I would walk away with any adult that gave me one…  It didn’t matter who, or how many gray hairs it gave my mom.

Being a mother now myself, I can certainly see her concern.

I’m not writing this to say I’m special.  I’m just me, and this is part of who I am.  I’m starting to see and understand that person more.  And as part of last week’s post on revealing myself, I’m sharing this self-discovery with you.  Maybe it will help someone, maybe it’ll amuse if nothing more…  But it’s here, it’s me, and I think it’s pretty neat.

So, new week, similar directions…  and deeper discoveries.

Please visit some fellow ROWers and share some love…  Valentine’s Day is coming!

*he’s the dentist I had since high school, and though I’ve tried a few other dentists, I’ve had questionable experiences with most others

**though fortunately only by a few days

Photo credits:

•  Words Words Words (36/365) (Photo credit: Photosynthesised)
• Deep under (Photo credit: krystian_o)

Reallife interventions…

It recently occurred to me that I have a real life.

Well, okay…  the discover didn’t have recently; I just didn’t really pay much attention when Life’s Clue-By-Fours would give me a womp on the side of the skull (usually virtually) in hopes that I would start to pay better attention.  And, as always happens in disciplinary situations, I would scramble to deal with any paperwork, affairs, events, etc. that awaited me so that I might quickly escape back to my books, art and stories.

It’s only recently that I’ve discovered how to merge my lives (online, offline and story-based) into something cohesive.   Some of it has come from not having to make so many of these changes in mode on the schedules of others as much as I used to.  It’s incredibly difficult for people on the Autism Spectrum (even those with milder versions of Asperger’s) to move from one frame of thought to another, something I understood intuitively for years but never understood why.

Over the years I used something akin to multitasking where I would only half focus on any one thing at a time so that I could “deal” with those things that jumped in at inconvenient time.  The problem with this technique is of course that everything jumps in at an inconvenient time and that I never got the chance to truly become engrossed in anything that appealed to me.  Oh…  and almost nothing ever got finished.

In comes being a mom and trying to finish up some of the hundreds of half-finished projects that I’ve started over the years*…  I learned early on that I could not be half-focused on my son.  I also could not, for my sanity, be completely separated from my writing.  Everyone needs an outlet for their creative passions, and I tried to force all of my passion into writing at carefully allotted times such as when the Boodle would be napping or later when he was in school.  And that was…

Now, thanks to my amazing husband, who works from home most of the time, and homeschooling (no more 2 hours of commute each day or administration-based “extras” to deal with), changing mental modes has become easier, not just for me, but for all of us.   We allow ourselves time to flow from task to task more than before.  We permit ourselves the occasional absences, even when in the same room.  And we have spaces to work on things where we’re able to shift gear more smoothly…  memo board, post-it notes, email reminders.

What does this have to do with a ROW80 check-in or anything else?  Not much really–I just realized this after I’d come into a bit of a goal slump that this week also had been one filled with a lot of external changes of focus.  Yes, many of these changes are things I need to deal with or are things I initiated (such as acquiring beta readers for Release), but they are changes nonetheless, and I haven’t fully internalized the processes I need to deal with them.

So I’m behind for this check-in.  There , I said it.  I am behind.  I did not get more than a few hundred words done on my 1,500 a week goal.  I did not visit as many blogs as I wanted (though I did at least reach my minimum).  Exercise and reading were both minimal but there.

I did spend a fair amount of time comparing versions of files from one computer to another and editing photos.

No complaints here–the week was what it was, and it held a nice mix of ups and downs.  It just wasn’t a good week for me to get things done.  I’m okay with that.  I’m also beginning to understand why things happen this way.

So now, let’s go visit some other ROWers, many of whom I’m sure have great news, some of whom are in the same fix as me and others who need some boosting up after real set-backs.

*These projects I do not wish to let slide, because I enjoy them.  I just never seem to have the time to delve into them the way my brain demands.  Some I’ve discussed here such as my drawing and my various stories.  I also have a blanket I’m crocheting, I used to do beadwork and make jewelry, and I’d love to learn painting, sewing and how to cook better.