The torment of an artist’s soul

I read an article in our small paper Monday morning.  It was about the importance of journaling.  I used to be much better at doing that, putting thoughts, drawings, and scribbles down on paper.  It got me to thinking about the artist that lives within me.  I’ve always considered myself an artist and have been so all my life.  I’ve dabbled in about everything art related through the years.  My problem is never having enough time to pursue everything I want to do in any given day.  I don’t think I’ll live long enough to accomplish all that’s in my head

I wondered how I’ll ever manage the Nano (National Novel Writing Month) this year when I can’t even keep up with my blogging.  I’m working too much, trying to do some rewrites on my mystery book, keep up with the house chores and my blogs.  It’s tough to do.  I came to the realization that Nano may be out of the question for me this year.  It pains me to say that unless I use it for notes, or my daily journaling, if I can get into that habit again.  I’ve always wanted to write a book about my experiences as a food demonstration person, but of course I don’t want to post much about that because I’m still working doing that job.  I don’t think my remarks would go over very well if anyone from work read it. 

These birds are having the greatest time.

So I spent some time enjoying the birds today.  They flocked to the birdbath and crowded in there shoulder-to-shoulder.  I love watching them frolicking in the water.  They always tend to do this when the weather is cooler.  Today it’s only 65 here with a cool breeze blowing.  It’s chilly if I’m not standing in the sun.  I do dread the thought of winter coming, but it’ll be here before long now.  Last night we had some very strong wind that sent patio chairs and plant pots sailing around.  I do hate it when it gets like that, but the wind blows hard here in the desert and quite frequently.

More next time.  I must weed out some email now with the thirty minutes I have left before hubby gets home.

No one has to tell me…I already know I’m crazy!

It’s hard for me not to step up to the plate and accept a challenge.  Sometimes this isn’t a good thing to do, but I do it anyway…all the time.

From NaNo Website

Right now I’m talking about November and another NaNoWriMo that is upon us.  Wasn’t it just November?  Time goes by way too fast for me to keep up.  For those of you who don’t know what NaNoWriMo is, it’s the National Novel Writing Month and it happens every November.  Those of us goofy enough to enter this competition get 30 days to write a 50,000 word novel, or the beginning of a novel, or novella.  The goal is to write 50,000 words in thirty days.  That’s only 1667 words a day so quite doable.  If you can write more than that, I suggest you go for it.  That way you can take a day off here and there if you find yourself way ahead of schedule.

For any writer out there, this competition gets you in front of your computer daily and keeps you in your chair until you reach the goal of 50,000 words.  It’s okay to outline a story first and come up with your characters and do character sketches and plot points, but the actual writing doesn’t start until November 1.  We are all on the honor system for abiding by these rules.

I’m not usually an outline writer, but I do make a few notes ahead of time.  I like to write by the seat of my pants and see where the story takes me as I go.  A lot of times it’s in an unexpected direction.  Sometimes I can really run with this using my imagination and other times it’s a struggle.

The point of this whole exercise is to get in the habit of sitting down to write everyday.  During this month, you write only.  Do not second guess yourself, go back to fix type-o’s, research things for your story, or edit as you go.  All those things can wait until later.  The main thing here is to get your 50,000 words on paper by November 30.  DO NOT GIVE UP!

This is my fifth NaNo.  I’m not sure why I can’t skip one but I’m always up for a challenge.  I usually know full well from the get-go that it’s all going to be a struggle from day one because I have little time to devote to this activity.  However, this knowledge somehow doesn’t stop me.  I doubt it ever will.  I’m too much of an optimist and always think “where there’s a will, there’s a way.”  I guess this thinking was ingrained in me as a child. 

So I’m jotting notes wherever I go and will keep a pen and paper handy all month for ideas that come to me, or for writing a few lines as I have time that I can type into my manuscript later.

If anyone else is doing this, keep yourself away from social media as much as possible or you’ll get distracted and never make it to the end.  If you haven’t signed up yet and would like to, it’s not too late.  Here’s the link:  http://nanowrimo.org/

Challenges

Rising too all the challenges in our lives…or maybe not.  Sometimes days are full of one challenge after another, evident by my lack of blog posts lately.  Simply put, I have too much on my plate.

The newest, biggest challenge for me is getting to work on time and still having the time and energy to write, read and do the things I enjoy while also doing my chores of cooking, dishes, cleaning, laundry and taking care of the cats, etc.

A stormy desert

Today was a dreary, rainy day here and colder than I’d like.  I’m already counting the days until we see 80 again.  I don’t do well with cooler temperatures at all and am grateful that we don’t have long winters here.  So, as I always say, things could be a lot worse in so many ways.  Yet in winter, I really need to remind myself of this all the time.

Naturally, the day got off on the wrong track again and I never accomplished what I had intended when I got out of bed today.  There’s always tomorrow.  I’m off work so maybe I can get a few things done.

Inside the Mad Pita restaurant

 Hubby wanted to make a few stops today so, instead of staying home to do chores, I went along.  We decided to stop at the Mad Pita to enjoy gyros sandwiches as a late lunch about 3 PM.  We love that place and haven’t been there in quite a while.  While waiting for our sandwiches, we watched a poor man with tremors trying to eat his lunch.  It brought to my mind a couple of my friends with Parkinsons.  I was thankful I’m not in that situation and made a mental note to send a short message to them to let them know they’re in my thoughts.

That lunch ended up being our dinner when another friend, who is computer illiterate, stopped by.  She needed help filling out some forms for a job I helped her apply for a while back.  I’m so glad she’ll be working and hope she’ll stick with it because she really needs to get her act together and get on with her life (she’s going through an ugly divorce).  I was happy to help and again I felt fortunate that I could understand things like computers because I know not everyone can wrap their minds around that.  Don’t get me wrong, they still frustrate me at times but I don’t let them win, not if I can help it anyway.  Attitude is so important in everything you do in life.

I’m way too busy with my job, but it’s fun, the day flies by and I enjoy the extra income.  No one’s going to hand you a stack of money on a silver platter.  Wouldn’t that be nice?

I’m way behind on my NaNo word count this year, so far.  I don’t think I’ll finish by Thanksgiving this time, as I usually do.  I’m going to have to kick myself in the rear to finish at all.  I seem to be lacking in the motivation department.  I’ve been too tired to think clearly enough about my novel.  It’s pretty bad to fall asleep when you sit down too long at one time.  I’m either getting old, not used to working on my feet and talking all day long, not sleeping well or enough, or maybe a combo of all those.  My dear sister, Tedo, I know how you feel.  She’s always falling asleep when she sits down.

Koki

Of course, I have to mention my cats.  My furry friends are my constant companions, but sometimes I wish Koki wouldn’t sleep on my legs all night.  She gives me cramps in my legs and feet, and a backache from lying in one spot all night.  This cat knows I’ll never kick her out of bed though, as well as Raven who chews on my head.  When it’s cold, they want in the covers with me.  Tootie will be back in the bed soon too because she’s doing so much better on her arthritis meds that she can jump up on the couch again by herself.  Maybe we won’t even need blankets with three cats in the bed.

Tootie

Raven

Until next time…

My Birthday Boy

Raven - two years old

Okay, this a few days late.  I don’t know where the time goes and can’t believe he’s two already!  Raven’s birthday was the first, but I didn’t get my camera card downloaded until last night and then had 167 pics on it.  That took a while, especially when I need a new computer.  But that will have to wait for now.  There’s a few things wrong with this one, but so far, I’m managing as is.  I have to because my car needs a few repairs too, unfortunately.

Also hubby is back so it’s harder to get an hour or two to get on the computer.  That’s destroying my NaNo project, but it’s coming along.  I’m not too far behind yet.

We had to move the tropical plants into the garage tonight because were expecting the first cold front of the year tomorrow.  After work, it will be too cold and dark to mess with that.  I’m so NOT looking forward to winter.  Ugh! 

But I spent all day Monday in the garage rearranging things out there and throwing stuff out and generally cleaning it up.  What a mess!  Now I have cracks on my feet and fingers because it’s so dry here.  I guess I shouldn’t have done the job in flip-flops though, so that was my fault.  It was just so nice.  I couldn’t help it, knowing it would be one of the last days for a while. 

 Raven birthday dinner

 

Raven had a great time on his birthday.  But I think this cat is never unhappy about anything.  Enjoy the pics.

Playtime

What can I say?

My cats are my life and they make things so worthwhile.  I really don’t know what I’d do without them in my life.  If you’re a cat and end up in my house, you have it made.

Tootie  

Koki teaching the boy bad habits 

 Raven snuggled up in the clean clothes -a favorite for the cats

 Things are turning colder and we live in the desert where we see temp extremes.  We did have a few flakes of snow that didn’t stick during Xmas dinner.  It’s taking a turn to that time of year I simply despise.  I can’t help myself.  I’m a warm weather gal, what can I say?  I know it is what it is.  But thank God we only have a little more than a month of winter left. 

English Trifle - what a great desert!

I’m trying to keep up on the house and also write as these dark winter days go by. 

I'm proud to finish the NaNo and write 50,000 words in Nov.  Here's my amazing T-shirt

We had to buy a new microwave because, as luck would have it, the old one decided to go out and we have to have things working when we sell the house.  I guess a microwave lasts about ten years for any of you wondering about this.

 Bird of Prey looking for food

Roadrunner trying to make itself look smaller

 

We have the usual animals coming by looking for winter food and birds on the suet we put out.  I only hope the new owners will fill the water pans and put out food for the critters.  I would hope they’re nature lovers like us.

Until next time.  Grasp the moment everyone because you never know when it will be your last.

Plugging away at life

Look at the fabulous desert sunset

I’m busy working on my NaNo project and not much else.  Nanowrimo (National Novel Writing Month) holds this competition every November.  We have a week to go and I still need 6,345 words.  Of course winning is only for my own satisfaction and I get a neat badge to display on my blog and website.  But I also get a sense of satisfaction that I did it and that’s important to me, even though I know I can do it because this is my third competition.

Some days the words are stuck and some days they flow easily and my imagination is in overdrive.  I cranked out 5,000 words yesterday.  Maybe that’s why I had a headache when I went to bed.  I overworked my brain.  That helped a lot on my word count though, so it was worth it.

 Raven sleeping in my chair

The cats (Koki and Raven) keep me company and are always up here (my office is upstairs) napping on my reading chair if they aren’t running like crazy little fur babies chasing each other from one end of the house to the other.  The old gal, Tootie, stays downstairs and sleeps all day so she can wander the halls at night.  I don’t know what’s gotten into her the last month, but she meows a lot during the night and wakes us up.  The vet said it’s an attitude problem.  Oh great, so now we have an old cat with an attitude.

Speaking of vets, I was shocked to open the paper late last week and find my vets obituary staring back at me.  “Wow!  How can this be,” I asked myself.  The guy was younger than me.  He helped a lot of animals at PAWS and various other animal sanctuaries where abandoned animals wait to be adopted.  So I contacted the gal I got Raven from and found out he choked to death on something stuck in his throat that his wife couldn’t dislodge.  That’s just awful to die by choking.  The paramedics arrived too late.  So now I’m waiting to see if the wife will close his practice or give it to another vet who helped him out part-time.

My husband made a cherry pie.  check this out:

On the weather front, it’s been livable so far.  We’ve had some cold mornings and, while it never really gets warm, it does warm up to the 50’s during the day.  It’s supposed to be in the 60’s on Thanksgiving, so we’ll see if that really happens.  I’m not holding my breath.

 Tootie and Raven on the bed

 

The bed’s getting pretty crowded at night because the cats snuggle into the covers to get warm.  They don’t like the cold anymore than I do.  Maybe I was a cat in a former life.  Hee-hee.  Raven’s still getting cat slobber in my hair when he wakes me up every morning.  But I love him so much and just want to mish his little face.  He purrs loudly all the time.  Even my old ears can hear it.

The Leaping Game

Raven - my little darlin'

Raven has come to the “flying squirrel” part of his life.  He thinks it’s great sport to leap as far as he can at any given time.  I wish I had some pictures of this, but it happens so quickly and he’s from point A to point B in a flash.

He gets a running start from one side of the room and it’s up over the couch, table, and chairs and into the top of the cat tree and then he reverses his actions coming back down so fast that it makes the chair rock, which makes my husband yell at him, which he thinks is great sport.

What happened to the kitten that used bump his chin on the kitchen counter when trying to jump up there not so long ago?  Raven now jumps from counter to counter all the time and is even thinking about attempting a feat from the ledge on the cat tree to the kitchen counter, which is probably about eight feet away.  I can see the wheels in his head turning.

 Koki on my desk is usually my shadow

 

Meanwhile, I’m not getting much sleep at night anyway because I’m participating in the NaNo this year and once I do make it to bed, Koki sleeps on my legs most of the night and just before dawn Raven crawls on my head and starts biting and licking my hair.  My guess is he’s trying to wake me up.  I don’t know which is better, cat slobber in my hair or him biting my toes like he did in the old days.

Raven is into anything that comes in the house

Such is life at my house where Koki and Raven are finally getting along.  Another piece of good news is that so far the weather is holding in the low 70’s and we’re able to open the windows daily for a while.  I know this won’t last long, but the leaves have hardly started to turn yet so one can hope.

I Did It!!!

Somehow, I managed to finish NaNo two years in a row.  This undertaking definitely takes stamina, courage, and determination.  It’s not easy to make this happen, especially during the month of November when we have a holiday and perhaps family visiting.  There’s always lots of prep work when you’re entertaining guests, cooking, cleaning, and shopping, etc.  That extra added onto daily life events doesn’t leave a lot of room left over for creative endeavors.  Then, when you really think about it, is any month any better?  In today’s world, we have a lot going on in our lives all the time.

I received a note from NaNo that said over 300,000 people signed up this year.  Out of that amount, 41,940 writers made it to the end.  You reach the end by writing 50,000 or more words by November 30.

The thing about NaNo is that there is a whole community of support should you need it at any time during the process.  The writing community there gives you pep talks and if you’re stumbling over something, you can go to their blog and get the answers you seek.  They’ve got all the categories covered when it comes to helping you reach your goal.  There’s even tracking so you can see how far away you are from the finish line.

 Free Clipart

I don’t partake in any of these forums because I don’t want to use my writing time conversing with other writers if I don’t have a particular problem to discuss.  I sure don’t mind helping others out with their problems, but I usually try to use the little writing time I have strictly for writing.  It’s a different story once I reach my 50,000.

For those of you who would like to enter but shy away because you think its undoable, please think again next year.  I know they recommend that you write everyday, but this isn’t necessary as long as you can make all your writing time count.  I was thinking about my NaNo project even when I was doing other things.  I made notes for my WIP in my head, or on scraps of paper that I had in my pocket. 

There is one thing to stress and keep in mind.  When you right you need to be in create mode only – DO NOT, under any circumstances, edit as you go.  I always hit the keyboard running and would crank out between 3,000 and 5,000 words at a time.  Tell yourself you can do it because you can.  Another thing to keep in mind is the fact that you’re writing a first draft.  Believe me; you will need to fix many things later.  That’s okay.  The purpose is to write, letting creativity take over while avoiding distractions – not an easy thing to do.

I salute all of us who took on this creative endeavor.  Even if you didn’t finish, you’re still a winner because you tried, so you didn’t procrastinate and say “maybe next year”.  On top of that, you also started a novel and that has to feel good because at least you’re making it happen.  You’re writing.

Now we can all breathe again and say, “thank God that’s over,” but I hope all of you will finish what you started and not just put it away in a drawer.  Now’s the time to tie up loose ends, polish it, do rewrites, have it edited, and eventually published.

On another note, I’m still taking care of a sick cat and organizing things to move in the spring, depending on how fast the house sells.

Comet is now getting children’s Benadryl along with her heart and water pills.  We have a humidifier running day and night and hoping she gets over this soon.  So far, she’s been a little trooper about taking all this medicine, but she isn’t crazy about us cleaning up her nose all day long.

Comet

We did go out very early the day after Thanksgiving for the first time since we’ve lived here.  It was still dark outside with tons of stars twinkling away in the sky.  The thermometer on the patio said 34 degrees, but on the north side of the house, there was ice on the windshield we had to scrape off before we could even get in the car.  What was going through my mind?  We had to scrape ice every morning in Alaska.  Someday, I’ll write more about those years.

Alaska Sky in Winter

We covered the rest of the plants today because by Wednesday, we’ll be in the deep freeze for a while.  The last forecast is for fourteen degrees at night with low thirties for a daytime high.  Ugh!  Drag out the sweatpants, thermals and fleece.  I definitely won’t be a happy person to live with.  I swore when I left Alaska that I was done with that, but this time I really mean it.  This is fine for all you snow and ice lovers, but this is not me.  At least by February the worst of it will be over with for this year.  I’m counting the days.  As I'm writing this tonight for posting in the morning, it's started to snow.

Giving Thanks

Thanksgiving is this week and I hope we all take a few moments out of our busy day to give thanks for all of our blessings.  We could start out with the roof over our heads and all this food before us that we have to eat today and enjoy with family and friends.

Don’t forget to say thanks for all of our furry friends who are faithful and love us unconditionally.  My baby, Koki, is a constant companion and lies on my lap keeping me warm if I’m on the computer, reading, or watching TV.  She always has the sense to know when she isn’t supposed to disturb me.  I would have never found and rescued her if I hadn’t moved here, so even though it’s not the best place to live, I’m thankful for that part of it.

 Koki in my lap

 Comet

Tootie

My other two cats are older and don’t come upstairs as often.  Although Comet has come up here the last couple of days, which tells me that she must be feeling better.  I’m glad all the meds are keeping her condition at bay.  Tootie usually stays downstairs unless she wants something from me, like her treats at night.  Bless the little rascal.

We are celebrating Thanksgiving by going out this year.  The bad thing about that is that there are no leftovers, but the good thing is I won’t have to spend all day cooking and then cleaning up everything in the kitchen.  This is especially nice when I have NaNo to consider.  We’ll be eating with Aussie friends who normally don’t celebrate Thanksgiving.  That should be fun.  We’re taking a pie to their house later for dessert.

From NaNo Website

On another note, my NaNo project is coming along.  I have 46,500 words now, so it looks like I may make it to my 50,000 barring any emergencies.

The grass is behind this chair and our visitor - this is it in spring

This is the same grass the middle of October

This is the same grass taken in late November

I’m also including some pics of some grass I’ve been watching change colors as the weeks have gone by.  I can see this in the back garden from the kitchen window.  My husband planted it in the spring.  Now I wonder if it will come back next year, or if it’s an annual plant.  I guess time will tell.

Pine Valley Mountain from our backyard

This is the mountain range in front of our house.  I don't know the name.

We’ve had our first snowfall in the mountains surrounding the house, but luckily only rain here.  Even though that lasted four days and it was dreary and cold, I’m still thankful the white stuff didn’t find us this early.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone

I have my hands full

Sewing Room disaster - Sunni's Photo's

Hello everybody.  I’ve got to be crazy to take on all this stuff.  I’ve spent the last four afternoons going through my sewing room.  First, I had to clean in there because somehow the red sand gets in the house, even with everything closed up tight.  That’s a good reason right there to move away from the desert.

Sewing Room Mess - Sunni's Photo's

I had everything really looking nice and orderly until I started dragging things out to go through them.  Now it looks like a hurricane hit the place.  I’m not kidding.  Of course, my cat, Koki, thinks this is the neatest thing that has happened in a while.  She loves diving through everything and getting into things as she sits nearby and watches me intently.  The next thing I know, she’s off with a piece of elastic or other trinket she’s snatched.  She runs though the house sounding like an elephant has taken up residence.

Koki playing in my mess - Sunni's Photo's

I really don’t know how I’m going to accomplish this task because the more I work on it the worse it seems to get in that room.  This is only one room in my two-story house too, so I’m not looking forward to the joys of moving.

Sewing Room disaster - Sunni's Photo's

My other passion besides writing is sewing so naturally over the years I’ve accumulated a lot of stuff.  I didn’t realize I have almost enough to open my own small store.  This is forty years worth of accumulation though.  The good news is I’m making slow progress “playing with my toys” and the windows are open up here in November.  Yeah!  The bad news is it’s supposed to be 28 by Sunday night.  Boo!

Sewing Room disaster - Sunni's Photo's

More good news is that Comet is slowly getting over her bronchitis.  Yes, these cats are my kids.  She is finally eating more and sleeping better, but she still has a stuffy nose.  I can hear it in her breathing.  We’ve been giving her pills twice a day.  That’s why I’m full of cat scratches.  Oh well, I’m used to that.

Comet snuggled in bed - Sunni's Photo's

In the evenings, I try to find the time to write on my NaNo WIP.  I’m not sure why I took that on, under the circumstances, except I always like a good challenge and work good under pressure.  So far, I have 15,380 words in, so not bad considering.  I’m a little behind but not too mach to catch up.

I’ve still found the time to watch the wildlife that visit daily.  Here are some photos of that.  We have a few lakes here so the cranes go back and forth.  We have various hawks coming by everyday looking for a meal in our backyard because we have many birds visiting the “pool” and eating the food we put out.

Visiting Hawk - Sunni's Photo's

 Crane on the bluff outback - Sunni's Photo's

This brings all of you up to date so far.  I’ll be posting once a week during the month of November.  I have to spend all my computer time working on my NaNo entry.

Until next time, stay happy.