Last night, in a light rain, Susanne and I traveled to the northern part of the city to attend a class on beer making. We’d originally heard about this through her subscription to Groupon. It’s the case that Susanne has gotten just a wee bit addicted to Groupon and Living Social, in part because she likes to explore new things, and living in a city for 6 months, heck, we’re all about the exploration. But truth be told she also really loves a good deal, so seeing a half-priced value really makes her take a moment and reflect on how much she’d enjoy or need the thing/event in question. She’s not as trigger happy as my mother was when QVC hit the airwaves, and our house suddenly started filling up with tacky Italian statues and music boxes. But cooking classes, creperies, and city tours? Those are appealing to her. Read More…
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Witches’ Brew
NaNoWriMo: Day 7
Admit that unless you’re one of a very few, you’re behind on your NaNoWriMo project. It’s okay. It happens. And writing isn’t about word count, even if the challenge this month seems to focus on that. Word counts are just to help us get to the real goal: a complete first draft. We’re not going to admit in the month of November that it’s okay to finish with 32,739 words, because then we’re not challenging ourselves enough. For many writers, if we stop pressuring ourselves, we stop writing. And the trick is, every day, get some writing done. Read More…
NaNoWriMo: Day 6
I’ll just put it right out there: this could be one of the toughest days of 
NaNoWriMo. For the whole month. I’ve been squeezing in my writing time, getting attached to my story and characters, and I’m just about to hit 10,000 words and now, what? Now I have a weekend day. A Saturday of amazing proportions and I could do all kinds of things like go to the market, visit with friends, anything and everything and yet, it’s still NaNoWriMo. This is the day that I could pat myself on the back for making excellent progress, and break all of my good habits. And I shouldn’t let that happen. Read More…
NaNoWriMo: Day 5
Today I’m focusing on character. I mean, I’m writing writing writing and trying to bang through as many words as I can, especially as my productivity was down a bit yesterday. I’m still ahead for the 4-day mark of NaNoWriMo, so all is well. Day 5 reminds me that this is a marathon, not a sprint, and if I’m a little above average one day, then I shouldn’t sweat it when I make less than stellar progress on another day. It will all even out by the end of the month. Read More…
The joys of apartment dwellings
Here I am, pushing my way into a new novel, and like all project beginnings it takes quite a degree of commitment to stay focused, when there is a lot of white space on the screen and not nearly enough little black letters. In my writing, there is strength in numbers, as I tend to write more than I need and then winnow it down in the rewriting process. I also didn’t like being at school when there weren’t enough people around, like in the afternoon when most folks had left, so maybe I just feel more comfortable in crowds than the average person.
And even so, I have my limits. Some things, like the persistent plucking of an errant guitar string, will get on my nerves after not too long a time. Too bad the inept musician lives right upstairs. Read More…
NaNoWriMo: Day 4
Three days of writing accomplished and I’m at 6,500 words. In a typical writing project I wouldn’t be concerned about the number, but at three days in, I would start examining what I’d written for pacing. On the 25th page, is it still interesting? Here’s the text just before I left off last night: Read More…
NaNoWriMo: Day 3
I know, I said yesterday that reviewing one’s previous day’s progress was a good thing. And I stand by that. But that was in the context of getting back in the writing groove, hanging on to the tone and set up so that transitions will come easier when November is over and the work of rewriting begins.
Other than the urge to start rewriting, there is one other clump of weeds that threatens to ensnare the intrepid writer when looking at past sections of text: the realization of plot creep. For example, there are two entire paragraphs that I didn’t intend sitting in the middle of yesterday’s words, smug and defiant, knowing they have at least another 28 days to zombify—I mean, to remain in the text. And perhaps by then I’ll have bolstered them with other related sections and then they’re as good as carved in marble. They are a crafty couple of paragraphs, and maybe they’ve started plotting my demise. Anything is possible. Read More…
Sucking the life out of a city
We’re just about at the two months to moving mark, as we’ll be heading back to 
Walla Walla in January, a bit before classes start up again. This has propelled me into renewing my original intention to check out various eateries, classes, and people in Seattle while I still have time here. I suppose I could be beginning an affair with a sense of doom, but I’m appealing to what’s positive about this whole process—I’ve gotten to know a new city pretty well, I’m learning some new things, and I can look forward to spending time with friends I miss when we relocate early next year. Hey, I made saag paneer on my own last night and it was pretty good! I will note that I need to let the aromatics cook a bit longer when I put that dish together next time. Read More…
NaNoWriMo: Day 2
Whether I feel like I’m cruising through a bit of writing or struggling against it, I’m always more soaked into the story at the end of one working block than when I sit down the next time. This is mostly okay, in that each new stint at the keyboard brings in some freshness and more opportunity for the ideas and characters in my head to steep in my subconscious a little more. And yet, though there are those positives, I still feel a pull to go back to what I wrote the day before to steep myself in the tale all over again. It’s difficult to do this without rewriting things at least a little bit. Read More…
NaNoWriMo: Day 1 Strategy
It’s All Saints Day and this was the best day to be a Catholic school kid, because it’s a holy day of obligation, so I for one enjoyed the day off from classes, especially as it meant some quality time with my candy bowl. It seems fitting, then, that I began my month-long quest with a snack-sized Almond Joy and Nestle Crunch bar. Instead of going for the standard 50,000-word mark this year, I’m shooting for 60,000 words. Fingers crossed! Read More…
Trans/plant/portation 