Arrangements

Since this is Sunday, that means ROW80 check-in time (at the bottom of the post, as usual).  It’s also Day 4 of StoryADay September.  So, yes…  another combination post.

First my StoryADay piece from yesterday (I was just not in the mood to post it yesterday evening).  This will be the last piece posted on its own.  From then on, I will be posting a PDF of the stories on Sundays only for people to see the weekly piece.  Daily check-ins are just not my thing.

Because I needed more insanity in my life

Today, however, I am posting Day 3’s Drabble (a story in 100 words). A little piece involving one of my favorite characters:

Edge slight right—not the shadow, just beyond. They watch shadows.

Wait.

One, two… a moment more, the last looks away, off in different directions… severing their connection. Gazing elsewhere, favoring the darkness. He’d already moved beyond the shadows separating them. In… close… nearer than any lover..

A fleeting caress against the neck, heat gushing, blood pounding. “Don’t cry.” He leaves for the next too soon. Swift turning to a last dance of souls, beauty in each others’ movements, matched power, stepping in, closer… a gasp cut short with a kiss, sweet, wet.

No tears.

Those were for the graves.

Row80 Check-in & Assessment

Since Wednesday, I’ve been…  getting my act together after not doing much of anything over our vacation week on Saranac Lake.  It’s not easy to start up writing when one has not done so for a week or so (especially when one was feeling somewhat blocked and over-stressed before taking that week off).  And in coming back there are all the daily tasks to catch up on…

It’s taken me a while to build back up to a pattern again.  I am getting there.

• CRAFT
  • Goal: spend ~three hours a week delving into writing craft related learning
  • Progress: if I managed an hour, I’d be surprised
  • Goal: Hand-write new words daily! (the Five Sentences thingie)
  • Progress: Success!
  • Goal: typing two pages a day of old notebooks into the computer
  • Progress: nada
• SOCIAL
  • Goal: maintain local critique group submission of excerpts and critiques during non-NaNoWriMo months
  • Progress: I owe some work, and a submission
  • Goal: return to regular posting in the WIPpet and WeWriWa blog hops
  • Progress: I managed a WIPpet, but since I jumped into the StoryADay challenge, I am going to (once again) postpone my rejoining the WeWriWa crew
  • Goal: sponsor duties for the ROW80 twice a week
  • Progress: I’m on track for this week.  I need to catch up with the week I missed for vacation
• PERSONAL
  • Goal: Explore my creative side daily
  • Progress: not really…  more I’ve been practicing avoidance
  • Goal: Daily languages (except Sundays)
  • Progress: I didn’t do much while camping, but I’m back on track now
  • Goal: daily exercise amounting to a minimum of 30 minutes a day
  • Progress: even though I’ve been channeling my inner couch potato more than not, I reached my minimum; I’m content
• Temporary! Goal: StoryADay September
• Progress: On track, even if I haven’t posted everything; the goal is to write the story, not necessarily post one, daily

And…  lastly a cheer for a wonderful husband:

This wonderful man does this…

So I can get shots like this…

And this

Nothing to See Here

Literally…

I’m posting today to do my final check-in for the ROWnd, but I have very little to say of show beyond that.  There are a lot of pictures on the camera(s—I used the iPhone as much or more than the Canon this week), but they need processing (pictures on the Canon are all in RAW form and need to be converted to something the web can use; the iPhone pictures are… questionable).

Forward through the Narrows

Remember way back when we were just happy to capture a picture that showed the moment?  It didn’t always have to be framed right.  Who cared if the colors were a bit off, over-exposed, etc?

I kind of miss those days.

Of course, when one considers some of my iPhone shots, that’s what one would think was the case.

So since this is about my ROW80 progress and assessment,

let’s do this:

• Goal (#1): working through three chapters weekly of James Scott Bell’s Plot & Structure (including exercises)
• Progress: not much; this past week was our anniversary week and I took some time off from goals; read some at the Writers in the Storm and Jami Gold’s neat set of posts on Unlikable Characters
• EoROWnd Thoughts: a “failure” but also a success— it encouraged regular exploration of writing-related things.  Next ROWnd, will rewrite and adjust accordingly
• Goal: catching up in my local critique group (including submitting something this week)
• Progress:  no change—I’ve done first reads on the two pieces I have to review and have a piece waiting for commentary in the queue
• EoROWnd Thoughts: the group pretty much dies down to a dull crawl during WriMo’s; will rewrite goal to reflect this
• Goal: typing two pages a day of old notebooks in
• Progress: so-so progress for this past week
• EoROWnd Thoughts: this goal has been wonderful for me—instead of filling notebook after notebook of pages that just sit in a stack beside my desk (or worse, scattered about the house), I am now making a second, electronic copy that can sit about the various computers in the house 😉 ; seriously though, just the act of typing these old thoughts and pieces in has provided so many story insights and new perspectives on old ideas.  Definitely keeping this!
• Goal: (VIG) Write new words daily! (the Five Sentences thingie)
• Progress:  a pretty dead week so far, but then I’d planned for this week to be off; I think it bothers me more because this slow week followed right on the heels of last week’s grim progress and emotional backlash.
• EoROWnd Thoughts: even though I know it’s good for my writer’s soul to write everyday, I still struggle with setting aside that emotional space to do some handwritten words; thing is, I also KNOW how much better I feel after doing it.  Keeping this goal and amending it to note it as a handwriting piece as well.
• Added Goal: something creative every day
• Progress: not so good—have been feeling creatively drained
• EoROWnd Thoughts: I need to work on this; I feel better when I play with creative projects, but the key thing is to play.  So having it as goal seems counter-intuitive, but if I don’t, I find myself falling into a slump of weeks and months of just ‘bleh!’ I don’t want that either; keeping this goal, but seeking a better balance
• Not a Goal but Progress Anyway: continued progress  my languages (except Spanish and Russian… dropped the ball on these again)
• EoROWnd Thoughts: will be adding this as a goal next ROWnd, though without any Russian or Spanish; the language of the moment is Latin, which the Boodle and I are working on together in 5min bits daily.  Just pronouncing the language has been fun for us

So here is my post, a bit late.  Just wasn’t here on Wednesday.  But Wednesday came with hibachi and an onion volcano, Thursday came with a cruise on Lake George, Friday was just us as a family time…so I’m totally unapologetic.

On our way out

We won’t talk about Saturday.

Among and Of Art

Today’s Temporary Office Space

Today I decided to step out of my comfort zone and step into a café I normally don’t go to (mostly because it’s about an hour from home–I just had come this way for a dentist appointment* and a visit with Mom).  With a few free hours before my next thing and with heading home a stupid proposition since I had be back this way for it, I felt this was the time to give this place another try.

I confess…  this place doesn’t work for me most of the time.  And today was no exception.  If I hadn’t needed something more doughy than flaky (and definitely not crunchy once the Novocaine started wearing off), I would have been highly disappointed in my ordered nibble (a buttered croissant that tasted frightfully like a Pillsbury Crescent Roll from a tube that had been “baked” in a microwave oven–under-baked at that).  The tea was good, but then as long as the water is clear and heated right, I usually can monitor the steeping to my taste just fine.

Still, I’m so very glad I came.  OMG, the paintings!  A local artist, named Tim Dobert, had several works displayed about the backrooms.  Incredible stuff.  His work with water effects is just…  Wow!

Even in this iPhone4 pic you can see how good the water looks (I posted this to my Facebook to gloat a bit about my happy “office away from home”)

I  so wish I had the money to buy a painting.

Maybe after I find out what the oral surgeon I need to hire for the next tooth is going to do our bank accounts…  Just kidding.  Then the money will go to the oil bill, the car and house insurance… trivial stuff.

Guess I need to learn how to paint.

Not now though.  In lieu of a career as a talented painter**, let me update you on my progress as another kind of starving artist…

ROW80 Check-in

After yesterday, I bet I’m ready to take up a PT job as a proofreader.  The last few days have all been spent editing and beta-ing.   Sometimes it hurt to snip and trim…  I loved the work so much as it was, even when I knew it didn’t fit the guidelines.  Some pieces…  I’ll be honest, annoyed me because the creators took the suggestion that this was a place to promote their work very seriously.  I’m not big into ‘market speak” and “You too can…” genre of sales-speak just gives me the willies.  I understand where it comes from; these days, everyone feels almost forced to sell themselves to someone… audience, employers, even stores!  The urge to be the next Best Thing can seem overpowering in our society.

I never wanted “IN” on that.  I so very much never wanted IN, that seeing this post by KM Weiland just made the world feel sane and happy again.  Or at least a place where I can stay sane, which is good enough for me.

But what all that meant for my goals is…  I’m squeaking by.  Almost.  Sort of…

Not really.

If you don’t mind, I’d rather not go through the list and explore my failures in fine detail.  Accept they are there and that I have a bunch of work to catch up on before Sunday, and then go visit some other ROWers here for hopefully more happy news.

Me?  I’m off to enjoy a song or two and get my 750words for the day done.  Here are two of my favorite car ride and contemplate tunes if you’d like to enjoy with me, both from the Avalanches album Since I Left You:

*I’ve had the same dentist since high school, and I don’t deal with change well…  don’t judge.  😉

** As I noted in this post, my brushwork could use some brushing up.