My Son - The Marine?

Wow. My son has been talking about joining the Marines for several months now. He graduated in 2008 and is 19-years old. I knew he was serious, but somehow I needed a bit more time to process this. But, like it or not, today's the day! He is making the three-hour drive with his recruiter to sign the papers. I'm not sure what I feel, or what I'm supposed to feel...pride? fear? uncertainty? wonder? I just don't know.

How do you measure success?

I have read that Stephen King writes five pages a day. Supposedly, in a year it amounts to something like a 90,000 word novel. Pretty impressive. And five pages sounds totally attainable to me. But today, as I was searching this, I learned about R.L. Stein. Remember him? I do. His GOOSEBUMPS series made him a best selling author. But it did something even more important. It got my little reluctant reader to read obsessively. So there's a special place in my heart for R.L. Stein.

So anyway, I was reading about Mr. Stein here; http://www.hauntedcomputer.com/scottst52.htm and learned that he is now in retirement but can't seem to stop writing. He writes five pages a day but says, "Five pages a day isn't a writing career." Hmmmm...he just might be wrong.

Do you have a daily, monthly, or yearly goals? How do you measure them?

Ch-ch-ch-ch changes

We hear a lot about the "empty nest syndrome." I wonder what the stats are on an empty nest that takes like 12 years to empty? It is easier on Mama and Papa bird? Or does it just drag out the inevitable? When my last son was born, my older son was 4 and his sister was 14, so yeah...our nest is slowly dribbling out the bottom. Or maybe they're jumping out of the nest. Anyway---I'm belaboring this. Suffice to say, my oldest son moved out last weekend. Boohoo! He pretty much kept to himself and his own life for the last few years, so I was sure I wouldn't miss him that much (I barely saw him afterall). Wrong! I miss him like a crazy Mama Bird! But it is fun and good to see him come into himself, even if it is in a tiny little basement apartment less than a half mile away.

But here's the good part. My tiny little writing room that is nestled at the end of the upstairs with no door and heat that doesn't seem to want to join me at the writing desk, will soon be empty. As my youngest son moves into his big brothers room, that will empty one very nice room with windows across an entire side of it. It took me a week to realize a new room would be empty. Yahoo! I'm so excited. But there is a lot of work to be done.

I haven't been terribly productive, so it's time to get back to it.

Parallel Writing

A write-in is something that is encouraged for people who participate in National Novel Writing Month (nanowrimo). You get together with other writers at a specified location for a specified amount of time and write. You're each working on your own novel of course. If you have had children, you probably know the term, "parallel play." Parallel play is when two kids may sit close to each other, and look as if they're playing together, but they're really playing different things, and all by themselves. They just happen to be in close proximity. Well, the grown-up version of that is called a nanowrimo write-in...LOL.

Our write-ins were small...OK very small. The most that ever showed up were three writers, me included. Usually it was just two of us. But an amazing thing happened during that time at the coffee house. I learned something about myself, about my writing. Though the coffee house is full of live, laughter, and whirring espresson machines, it's not nearly as distracting as a sink full of dishes and seven piles of laundry. I got more continuous writing done at that coffee shop than I'd ever get at home. So I'm continuing my write-ins, though now I don't have any other writers to parallel write with....LOL

If you're stuck in a rut, give it a try. I highly recommend mixing it up once in a while, or as in my case, on a regular basis. How 'bout every Tuesday at 6pm?

PS What does the photo have to do with all of this? Keep coming back and I bet you'll figure it out. More to come.

NaNoWriMo-The End...well, sort of

Well National Novel Writing Month ended at midnight. Once again it has been an adventure. I started off full-steam ahead with a novel I'd been thinking about for a while. Then, mid-stream something odd happened-something that doesn't happen to me!

I had a dream. My dream was so vivid and so interesting. It was one of those dreams that you feel compelled to tell people about, hoping they'll decifer it and give you some sage advice. But the people I told said the same thing, "You should write that into a book." I had been thinking the same thing, but I was half way through nano with another story. So after a few hours of soul-searching, I made a decision. I stopped writing my initial novel altogether and started on the new one. I took off like you can't believe, but it was really too late to make the 50,000 words by November 30th.

I know that the point of nano is to write a novel fast and furious in a months time. But what about those of us who don't make it? I mean, I wrote 18,000 between both novels. I've read a few people on writers forums say things like, "Well, maybe next year." What? I can't wait a whole year to write this thing. It's burning in me; it must be written and written now.

I'm hoping that Chris Baty would understand, but he's just a human being, who set an arbitrary date for completing the novel. Surely he'd be happy for me even if I didn't fit in his box. Would I have started this novel if I hadn't had the dream during nanowrimo? I'm not sure. What I am sure of is that I'll keep writing "until." Until I'm finished; until I'm satisfied it's the best it can be; until...get this...it's published! Hey, it could happen.

Isn't that what Write Now is all about? Yes it is. Time to get back to writing. May your writing days be long! ~Karen

Nightly News Report

Time in a Film Canister

The grandchildren of recently deceased Englewood,Colorado man found "time in a bottle" after his passing. But in this case it was time in three old film canisters. As Brian Williams reports here; http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032619/#27650485 they had the film developed and on it were black and white scenes of dogfights over the French and German countryside. The film is of very good quality and gives a never before seen glimpse of this part of the war.

But there's something missing (as far as I'm concerned anyway. What was the film makers story? Why didn't he share the footage with his children and grandchildren while he was still alive? Where was it stored? What was the story?

So many WWII veterans pass away before telling their story. This story really brings home what seems to be happening more and more. If you know a veteran of WWII, please, please...take the time to hear their story. And then go one step further; write it down. It saddens me to think that this man, who I hope led a wonderful and fulfilled life, didn't share what was behind the lens of the camera before the story was gone forever. So please-take time today, won't you?