Life before 2008 27 Nov 2006 08:20 am
Back to life, back to reality…
The Monday After. Can it be anything other than a sort of tired sigh, a hot cup of coffee, and a return to a comforting-yet-transitory routine (since christmas is coming after all)?
It’s early yet. David had to be in early for the beginning of some kind of audit for an International somethingorother so we were up before the sunrise, but not before Hercules. He always beats the sun by about 30 minutes.
My brother in law was here this weekend, and I suspect one of the things he did to my computer is why I suddenly have spellcheck everywhere I go. So when I type “somethingorother” I get a ziggy red line. Oh, I got one on “ziggy” too. This means good stuff for those readers who get a little tingle up their back when my posts are fraught with “creative” spelling (read: I wrote it in a hurry; life’s busy.). For only on my most frantic of mornings can I let myself type past a ziggy line….
Father Stephen has good stuff this morning on icons and christians. And for those of you who like to think your beige church doesn’t use icons, take a look.
I’ve got 15k words to go before the end of the month with nanowrimo. I have serious doubts that I can finish but this will be a superior test of my ability to prioritize. I’m tempted to think Christmas, to think Spring Garden, to think Goat Pen, and I need to think NOVEL. My main characters are both dead, my side characters have undergone major development, and a surprising protagonist has surfaced. I’ve got to go back and “pad” everything to get my word count. We’ll see.
No one sent me any stories of deliberate choices they’ve made so I’ve decided on a new idea heeee heeee ;-). I’ve got a little running list of people I know who’ve inspired me with their choices so I’m going to highlight one a week. If you are one of them, I’ll contact you first with permission to use your story.
G’Day Mates. (Did you know G’day isn’t a word according to spell check?!?)
on 27 Nov 2006 at 9:49 am 1.Andy N said …
It isn’t official (as in I didn’t enter), and it was just a spur of the moment whimsy starting mid month that only lasted a few days (until I ran out of time to ‘borrow’ from other things, like sleep), but I got about 9k words toward what could have been a NaNoWriMo submission, leaving 40k+ to go (if I even half thought I could have made a solid effort at it)… I amazed myself in even doing that much, as it is soooo hard to turn off the ‘internal editor’, which eats time that could have been put into words - and as the successful NaNo’s say: ‘get it written first, then edit it’. It was an interesting experiment.
I wish you well in your effort, and tip my hat in your direction in being able to manage your time so well as to have time to be a mom, wife, teacher, housekeeper, house renovator, cook, laundress, blogger, and novel writer. Wow.
Re: spell check - it’s far from perfect, at least for those with an above average vocabulary. You have to consider that spell checks were designed for the ‘average’ writer.
I still remember going to the dictionary (Websters 20th Century Collegiate - the 5″ thick volume) twice to check the spelling of words I knew the meaning of, and not finding them (back before I had internet access). This isn’t to say that I know more words than the dictionary does, only that I probably know a few odd ones that the printed one doesn’t have, and not surprisingly, some online dictionaries have them, when spell check fails, as it seems to quite regularly, even that from Word Perfect (verson 9 - this is an antique system).
PS: and yes, I build, amongst other things. Thanks for the welcome, even if I don’t get to check in regularly.
G’day t’y'all as well.
on 27 Nov 2006 at 11:05 am 2.Fatherstephen said …
Tia,
Thanks for the pingback and the kind words. I made a few changes to the text this morning that seemed like improvements to me. I think it reads a little more clearly now. Thank you. I trust Thanksgiving went well - ours was good - though a major portion of our time with family right now is caring for parents whose health is failing, and helping them make good decisions. But the thanksgiving is all that much better because we are so truly grateful to still have them.
on 27 Nov 2006 at 11:19 am 3.Tia said …
Andy, 9K is great! Before nano it had been years since I sat and wrote anything longer than a blog post, and even posts are an improvement on how much writing I did in the early years of marriage/motherhood. I humbly suggest you keep next November in mind and do it then! I have friends who do their nano in other, less busy, months of the year, but the comraderie of several working at the same time sort of fuels the writing fire.
How’s that yurt project going? I really feel for a momma trying to homestead with a toddler and a physical ailment.
Father Stephen, I like the post both ways
and the verse is a wonderful choice. Blessed me today most assuredly and when I’m blessed, I like to share loudly ;-).