My granddaughter was home from school with cold/flu symptoms and stayed with us for two days this week, which, before you start asking, has everything to do with skinny jeans.
Watch Citizen Kane—Done!
Last week my number finally came up and the Monroe County Public Library let me know that it was my turn to borrow their one copy of the DVD of Citizen Kane. I picked it up using the drive-up window, which I have never done before (maybe I should have had that on my bucket list!). Turns out I should have called ahead in order to have it at the window instead of on the “holds” shelf, but you live and learn and the friendly librarian at the window went and got it for me anyway.
Thoughts on a Few Long Books
I am 36 percent of the way through War and Peace, that is, I’m on page 444 of my edition of this book that is known for its length. Is it true that Tolstoy was paid by the word?
Prepare and Eat Plantains—Done!
Fun fact: the bananas we Americans normally eat are in some places called “dessert bananas.” So when we pick up a banana to eat, feeling self-righteous because we chose a fruit rather than a bag of potato chips, the choice is really (1) continue to feel self-righteous or (2) feel guilty because it’s dessert after all.
Solution: choose a plantain instead.
Expectations
I have two motivated and capable daughters who are having great success navigating through their busy lives raising kids and thriving in their careers while taking care of their personal needs as well. The daughter I see most often (because she lives in town) berates me pretty often about how slow my progress is on completing my 60th birthday bucket list items. This week, the other daughter added a curmudgeonly comment on my Facebook post: “How is ‘create bucket list for 70’ on the list when you haven’t finished 60”?
The Classics
I start with a confession. This week has lacked progress on many things that needed doing besides listening to classical music. I have bike club business to do, actual paying work to do for my Notre Dame author, bathrooms to clean, emails to write, vacation plans to work on, and so on and so on. But I’ve done very little of those in favor of listening to lots of classical music as I prepare my list of my 100 favorites. In other words, in the musical words of Joe Walsh, “…I’m lazy, but it takes all my time” (“Life’s Been Good,” 1978).
The Night Is Over
Here it is, 2016, the year I will turn 60. The sun is shining on a new start, and the darkness of 2015 is over. No, wait, the title of this blog entry isn’t a depressing metaphor! I’ll explain below.
December was busy with Christmas activities, and with November taken up with NaNoWriMo, it seems like ages since I’ve shown progress on my list of 60 things to do before the big day in September. I certainly haven’t blogged, but all that is about to change. Time to take stock and get going!
Writing with NaNoWriMo
National Novel Writing Month occurs every year in November. Since 1999, it has grown from 21 San Francisco Bay writers to more than 325,000 worldwide participants (trivia item: Water for Elephants was a NaNoWriMo writing project!). In Bloomington, 35 novelists joined the local on-line group this year, and there may have been more who worked without joining the official group.
I was one of the official writers, starting on November 1 to attempt to write 50,000 words of a novel by November 30. By about November 5, it became clear that much creativity was seeping from me–and going toward finding things to do at the computer that did not involve writing!
Growing Things
It’s been too long between blogs, again. Sorry, but I have been ‘growing’ the novel I’m writing during National Novel Writing Month! It is slow going, and I’m only up to 8,631 words, with just 19 days to go to make it to 50,000 words. Think I’ll make it?
Bucket List Update
Wow, I have been behind ever since I started this blog. Well, what else is new? I live life 15 minutes late or a day behind in general. With good reasons these past two months, however.