The babies are asleep (as is the husband), Lucas has celebrated his first Halloween, Patrick has gone trick-or-treating for the first time, I’m still up doing some work and uploading Halloween pictures to Facebook, October is being washed away by the rainstorm outside and November is mere minutes away.

It’s been a busy year so far, but it’s about to pick up speed for the next two months. What does November hold?  Lucas’s two month birthday, Sheri’s annual Thanksgiving visit, National Novel Writing Month (I’m in… I think), Patrick’s 2 year birthday party (his birthday is December 4, but I think we’ll celebrate while Sheri is still here) and lots of writing and editing and coffee and autumn fun. I’m also in for a lot of medical tests for a blood pressure issue that have been plaguing me since Lucas’s birth. Fun. I’m going for a lot of blood work in the morning-- fasting blood work, which means no Halloween candy for breakfast. Not that I’d eat candy for breakfast. Or let my child eat candy for breakfast. No…

I haven’t participated in NaNoWriMo in six years (I think) and I don’t even know what’s possessing me to think about doing it this year. But… maybe. We’ll see. I’ve started strong a couple of years and quit at mid-month, so I imagine that might happen again this time. There is something exciting about the challenge, though. The thrill of contemplating writing an entire novel in a month. The push to get those word counts up from day to day. It’s fun, in it’s own way. It’s also madness, but I’m already crazy.

I have been tossing around a couple of ideas for the book I will work on and hopefully finish. NaNoWriMo requires a fast-paced plot that can hold my interest for 30 solid days. I think I know what I’m going to write. I’ll sleep on it and see where I end up tomorrow. The plan is to write as much as I can as many days as I can and try to squeak out the 50,000 words. One year, I hit the word count around 3 weeks into the month. I sincerely doubt I’ll be able to do that this year. Because in addition to two babies, I also have other writing and editing to keep me busy.

I’m holiday shopping already, in hopes of finishing early this year. In truth, I’ve been buying gifts since about June, but I have a long way to go. Christmas and Hanukkah will be here before I can blink, so online shopping is going to be my best friend this year. I’m so looking forward to the holidays and I’m hoping I have time to do the baking I want to do. But I know the days ahead are going to be exhausting and hectic and I want to remember to slow down and savor the moments. Which means minimizing stress and letting go of anything that doesn’t make me happy. (Which might be my NaNoWriMo book...)

I’m ready for 2012, ready for Lucas to be sleeping through the night so I can get some more rest (relatively speaking), ready for some new goals, memories and adventures-- including a trip to the UK. I’m ready! But I’m also excited about the next two months and all it holds.

Goodbye, October! Hello, November!

Posted by Kristina in Life at 11:21 PM Permalink

The topic past week at Oh Get A Grip! was “an acre of barren land.” The explanation was thus:

Mark Twain once wrote a funny story about a dispute over an acre of barren farmland that never produced a profit. Later, he bragged that he made more money from the story than anyone ever did from the land itself. What is your barren acre (bad relationship, dead-end job, disappointment of any kind) that inspired a successful story, novel, poem or play?

Intriguing topic, isn’t it? I thought so, and yet I struggled to find something to write about. Finally, I realized my barren acre was someone I’d been carrying around for a long time:

I didn’t think I had a barren acre. I mean, I’ve had bad relationships and huge disappointments like everyone else, but nothing I’ve written about. At least, nothing I thought I’d written about. Earlier this week while I lay wide awake listening for the baby to cry, I realized my barren acre: a girl I once loved. The first girl I really fell in love with. Only I didn’t know it was love.

I’ve written about this girl so many times I’ve lost count. I think there are only two stories that are specifically about her, that hold enough details of real experiences to be considered about her. But there are at least a dozen other stories that are haunted by her. Memories pulled out in the middle of the night, turned over and over like worry stones, then tucked away for safe keeping.

You can read the rest here: The Girl I Once Loved

It’s an interesting topic and inspired some fascinating columns. Do you have a barren acre?

Posted by Kristina in Writing at 02:11 PM Permalink

This week’s theme at Oh Get a Grip! is forgiveness:

Where does forgiveness fit into the above quote? Does it fit at all? Can you have bad things happen to you, be strengthened by them and yet never forgive those who inflicted the bad things upon you? That would seem to be contrary to religious teachings-- or at least Christian teachings. In order to be good and healthy and full of sunshine, you have to forgive, right? Otherwise, your soul is just a black, rotting smudge in the universe and you’re just a miserable, hateful person. Or something like that.

Personally, I call bullshit.

That wasn’t at all how I expected my piece to go, but I think once I started contemplating the nature of forgiveness I realized my true feelings on the subject are in contradiction to what I’ve been told/taught most of my life. There goes my Good Person award, I guess. Read the rest here (and feel free to leave a comment whether you agree or disagree): Letting Go Without Forgiving

Posted by Kristina in Writing at 04:53 PM Permalink

My post this week at Oh Get A Grip! is about works in progress, the apocalypse and NaNoWriMo. Or something like that…

Confession: I chose this week’s theme “Work in Progress” because I’m lazy. I thought it would be easy enough to open up one of my files, copy and paste some text, write, “This is what I’m working on” and my OGGbligation for the week would be met. I’m a slacker. I suck.

Confession: I am contemplating participating in National Novel Writing Month this year. Insane, I know. I don’t even have the time to write my weekly OGG posts and I’m thinking about writing a novel in a month.

What does the apocalypse have to do with my slackerdom and NaNoWriMo? Here’s the rest, if you want to find out: The Apocalypse is Nigh, Or: Confessions of a Slacker.

Posted by Kristina in Writing at 01:22 PM Permalink