2013 - The Wabi-Sabi Writer
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Saturday, November 30, 2013

NaNo13 • Prose

...You are a Novelist.....!

...You are a Novelist.....!
November 30, 20131 Comments


I near panicked when I opened Evernote today and saw I had 5000 words to reach the goal.  Yes, I procrastinated today.  After my Night Write In, I could not face the bright screen of my laptop. But to my surprise, as soon as I sat down the words began to flow.  1000 in the first hour and I kept up the pace without any signs of slowing.
I crossed the 50K mark just after 11 pm.  Checked in my novel and was awarded a video cheer from the NaNoWriMo org crew. 
It was a good Saturday night.

Fences is not finished, not yet - the story continues, I suspect for another 20-30K or so.  Just when I thought I knew the direction it would take, the character's story would surprise me. I am looking forward to seeing where we all end up.



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Friday, November 29, 2013

NaNo13 • Prose

drôle d'endroit pour une rencontre de l'écriture

drôle d'endroit pour une rencontre de l'écriture
November 29, 20130 Comments


I am officially joining the "PARIS vendredi 29 Write-in toute la nuit" - 
all night write in --- remotely from San Francisco. 
  
Granted, the freezing and windy conditions in Paris would have ensured the ease at which someone stays indoors with the laptop.  San Franciso has been unseasonably balmy with radiant mid autumn sunshine and calm winds. 
  

Alas, tonight I evoke the bohemian spirit and write...

Vive <<Clôtures>>!!!

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Tuesday, November 26, 2013

NaNo13 • Prose

The last miles

The last miles
November 26, 20131 Comments


I am in the last week of the NaNoWriMo with 8000 words left to reach my goal.  This is not entirely unlike a triathlon, where you have however many miles to run before the entire day's effort is complete - and you start negotiating with yourself as to just how far you have left... Half Marathon to go! I got this!  Then, just a 10K - its like a run to the bridge and back! Slowly devolving into the "three miles, then walk the aid station..." "Run to the next lamp post, then you can think of stopping" - all the while moving forward, however slowly to the ultimate goal - FINISH LINE.  

 Oh yes, truth be told there are cramps, porta-potty emergency breaks, muscles that feel more like damp dishclothes than the mitrochondria filled powerhouses they were at the start cannon.  But you keep going.


So I am continuing - plot pot holes, character amnesia (my forgetting, not the characters.  They are having a grand time between where I left them off and the sordid corners of my imagination) and the deafening call of a spice rack that needs organizing (as well as that re-run of Law and Order, Criminal Intent.) aside.  

 Come Saturday - Fences will cross the threshold and I will break the winner tape; announcer loudly proclaiming...
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Sunday, November 10, 2013

NaNo13 • Prose

Word Hangover

Word Hangover
November 10, 20131 Comments
Muse is like a lover - don't keep her waiting.  Show up.  
She is also very demanding and has way more energy than you - so pray you have creative viagra, taken your vitamins and hope for the best when you finally "get in the sheets" (or laptop). 

I set up a lair in my living room with candles, tea, music, my iPhone streaming Evernote onto my plasma tv while I sat on my chaise lounge with my wireless keyboard on my lap.  My fingers began to evoke the story, the font 4 inches in height filling my tv with words.  This was good foreplay but soon I wanted to know my word count (a little confirmation that I was making acceptable progress).

So I switched to my laptop and made another pot of tea.  By the time the witching hour came, I found my plot had taken a different direction, a character doing things I would have considered unthinkable before tonight.  But you have to go with it, else you ruin the mood.  

The story reached a satisfactory stopping point for which I was grateful.  I blew out the candles, turned off the computer and crawled into bed just as the bars closed.  The street below was filled with drunken fools hoping to hook up, their garbled yells echoing up to my windows. 

As I rolled over, my face cradled in the crook of my arm, I laughed softly.  My mind snuck away satisfied that the muse was totally spent.
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Monday, November 4, 2013

NaNo13 • Prose

Stealing Time for Words

Stealing Time for Words
November 04, 20131 Comments
It is officially day 4 of the NaNoWriMo and I am already three days behind in my word count.  Perhaps I should attribute this early negligence on my half marathon race (and the pre-race preparations).  But how can I when it was the sound of my consistent foot fall and breath that gave me the mindspace to work through the twists and gaps in the current story (along with the cramping hamstrings and bruised toes).

 I didn't beat my prior race time.  Just kept a consistent pace and felt as though I had the energy to keep going beyond the 13.1 miles. What this says is I seem to suffer the need for a bit of structure and dedicated time in the schedule.  (The muse wants a "standing date" - this playing it by ear bull$i# is only giving me cafe poetry and those regretful Facebook posts).

 So I am going to steal time.  I mean - that is what Alt-Tab is for, right?

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Friday, November 1, 2013

NaNo13 • Prose

Dexter would be A Muzed

Dexter would be A Muzed
November 01, 20131 Comments
Today is the day.  And it's going to happen again and again.  Has to happen.

 At least until I reach the 50,000 word limit.  But I expect this will go far beyond that.  NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) provides the structure, motivation and forum to focus on my work.  It justifies my compulsion, soon to be addiction (if it all goes well).  

 I have decided to be a Rebel  - one who does not adhere strictly to the rules of the game, but who still writes, and reaches the 50,000 word goal for the month.  I will take two partial works to the designated threshold during November requiring me to still write a minimum of 50K words.  This is a different approach than last year where I started two new works simultaneously in hopes that one would rouse the muze from her slumber and send the cursor scampering across the screen at 110 words per minute.  I did get promising starts on both but soon found myself caught up in whatever lifecrap was going on.  At the eleventh hour I donned my hero's cape and attempted to write one in less than a week.  Evernote word count was at 10K as I watched the clock on my phone go from 11:59 to midnight on Nov 30.  I turned off the iPad, accepting my defeat and falling into a dreamless sleep.

 A year later, I have returned.  

 Let's see what my dark passenger (a new nickname for my MuZe?) makes me do...
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Tuesday, April 2, 2013

Muzings •

Returning to the Path

Returning to the Path
April 02, 20131 Comments





“Wherever a man may happen to turn, whatever a man may undertake, he will always end up by returning to the path which nature has marked out for him.” -Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe 


It seems like it has been forever since I was on my Artist's Way; with its daily morning pages scribbled in pencil on college ruled composition books that became tea and tear stained over the course of many months, seasons.

It seems like even longer since I sat at the keyboard, with the light from the screen illuminating an otherwise dark apartment with the flickering shadow dance of the muse.  My tea on the window sill growing cold as the tales wove through my fingers (and the tail swished as Lionel walked by the keyboard).

And yet I am here again.  On the edge of an intention.  To write – a poem a day in April.  To resume my writing that I abandoned in the ruff as I wandered and tripped my way into other things; training, ‘day jobs’, unrequited love…

I fear I will be rejected, that too much time has passed, that no explanation would repair or bridge the gaping hole my absence has caused.

But then I remembered the words offered to me when I confessed these fears to a chosen mother as she welcomed me back into the fold. 

“All you have to do is say – ‘hello’”

And just like that,  I have returned to the path.
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