Happy Thanksgiving!

Thinking Of You, My Passat

It was December of 1999. She was fresh from the factory. I fell in love right away.

We were so connected - I asked her to speed up and she did. So responsive and her timing was second to none. Whatever I asked, she made my wish come true.

She gave me over 100,000 miles of pure driving bliss. It has been a year since I let her go, and I still miss her.

Thinking of you, My Passat.

2000+ Words

Ran across a great quote this morning that gave me a whole new appreciation for my NaNoWriMo experience. Unfortunately I cannot find the quote but I remember it was something about "as a professional writer" and writing 1000 words a day. A quick Google search comes back with many results for 1000 words in a day. Many pinning it as a respectable number for any professional writer.

I have been writing about 2000 words a day since November 1 - give or take a day. I am far from professional writer but since November 1st I will refer to myself as a writer because, well, I am. What have I learned from writing 2000+ words in a day?

1. As I write my novel, the words fly out of my head and out through my fingers to the keyboard more rapidly than before I was writing 2000+ words each day. If you write every day it is easier for your Muse to do her magic.
2. Editing ANYTHING is a breeze.
3. Can I write my blog post now? Please? Please! Something I felt a bit of dread about in the past I cannot wait to do now. It entices me to write even more!
4. It seems that the creativity muscle has been flexed. I have ideas for and about everything, not just writing stories.
5. I love words.

As of right now, my word count is 34,031 and I have yet to add anything to the 41 pages. By the end of today I will have over 36,000 words. And today's 2000+ words will fly off my fingers and onto this computer screen I call a book like nobody's business. I cannot wait to see what happens next in this story in my head.

Ahead of the season

It is true. The ideas are flowing and many a decision has been made. This is a new record for me as it is only the sixteenth of November. I know there are lots of people out there who have their Thanksgiving menus planned, know what they are giving for holiday hostess gifts, and have already purchased and wrapped gifts for all their friends and family. While I have no gifts wrapped or even purchased for that matter, I am ahead of the season with a plethora of ideas and it feels great. Here are a few highlights:

Holiday Sanity List (short list)
1. Holiday cards purchased (see photo)
2. Gifts for far away friends, known
3. Thanksgiving baking, known
4. Menu for December get together, complete
5. Birthday gift for husband, researched and soon to be purchased
6. Reading goal for new year, intended
7. Gifts for the kids who already have everything, researched and some known
8. December family birthday gifts, known
9. House decorations, planned
10. Peaceful sleep in the month of December FOR SURE!

What is on your Holiday Sanity List?

The Finer Things

Embossed stationery IS one of the finer things in life. I love to receive it. Nothing sets my heart a flutter more than beautiful paper with beveled edges and letters and words that jump off the page. Receiving them is my inspiration for sending just these kinds of notes, accompanied with handwriting and plenty of thought. Someone wrote with a pen, a special note, just for me. It then shows up in my mailbox with a stamp. It may have been written days ago. When I hold this in my hand I see the writer sitting at a desk on a cool fall afternoon, wearing a sweater and drinking tea, gazing out the window between sentences, thinking. The pen moves easily as the words flow from its point. Priceless are these notes.

In this photo,
the last few pieces of this fine stationery,
I have had for years.
It is time to purchase new,
so I am able to write that special note,
just for you.

The Flying Pig

"Oh my, the pig is flying. Time to knit," I said as I looked up to the sky on Thursday night. So with my husband on the sofa next to me and Survivor on the television, this is what I created. Forget about a 2000 word daily goal for NaNoWriMo or anything else for that matter. The pig was in the air, the needles were in my hands. There is nothing like wooden needles and soft yarn to take the mind off everything. Counting and stitching is one of the best forms of meditation for me. I hope the pig stays in the air for a while - I'm just starting to get my knitting mojo back. I like it.

Thick Reading

I am behind on my reading. There are 5 library books piled on my nightstand. Some of them I waited months to receive. Others were ready for me to pick up 2 days after the request was made on the library website. Fiction is my genre of choice and being the open minded reader that I am, a couple of grammar books have risen to the ranks of "on the nightstand" fame. Fiction takes me away to another world. Finding myself lost in a story is the best place to be. Finding something to love about the characters is typically a joy and at times a challenge.

After starting The Children's Book by A.S. Byatt (a shortlisted Man Booker Prize book - love those!) I decided that there is no way I could read this book and continue writing my book for NaNoWriMo. The Children's Book is thick with pages (675 to be exact) and thick with detail and thick with deep characters and even the words are thick. A great book to sink your literary mind and heart into in the wonderfully cold month of December when the sun sets early leaving lots of time to sit next to the fireplace with this book in your warm hands. I think for the rest of November I'll stick with writing and grammar books.

Blog Post Writer's Block

I decided that today is a great day to write a blog post. No problem I thought. I don't seem to have any problem pouring out thousands of words each day into my NaNoWriMo project. A blog post will be a piece of cake.

That is all I could come up with. Tune in tomorrow as I attempt to write another post.