Quick Post
Just to say, whoa. I am busy. In a weird series of coincidences, I am having one of the busiest times of the year at work, Nate and I have both been sick, I start school this week, and we are moving this weekend. Moving. Ugh. Needlesss to say, I don't think I will get much writing done this week, either here or in the novel. I will be back after this craziness dies down.
Monday
Thursday
Three Things
1. It is -20 in Chicago today, with the wind chill. That's cold. But for some reason, it isn't making my Texan soul angry, the way it would have a year ago, or scaring me, as it would have two years ago. It does make me worry, however, that I'll never be acclimated to a cold climate, but I may lose my love of the heat and then I won't be able to live anywhere but California.
2. This is a big-ass fish. (If you don't want to register, I'll give you a synopsis. Guy catches a 121-1/2- pound blue catfish in Lake Texoma. New world record. Hey, hadn't you heard? Everything's bigger in Texas.)
3. I have taken a couple of days off writing to finish a residency application. I'm applying to a few, hoping that a couple of weeks or a month of solid writing will help me get a big jump on the novel. Wish me luck.
4. So I lied about the three things. The fourth thing is that writing a novel is hard. Damn hard. I've written short stories and articles and what-have-you, and not to say those are easy, but I've been able to hold all of the threads of those stories in my mind at the same time. Can't do it with the novel. There's just too much going on with too many people in too many places. If writing a short story or an article is a sinner praying for God to forgive him, writing a novel is saying some words that might have been a prayer at some point to a deity that may or may not be a God in a language that isn't your native tongue. Got all that? I think what I'm trying to say is that writing a novel requires a lot of faith that all of these strings and threads will eventually join together. And sometimes my can of faith is almost empty. Just like my beer.
1. It is -20 in Chicago today, with the wind chill. That's cold. But for some reason, it isn't making my Texan soul angry, the way it would have a year ago, or scaring me, as it would have two years ago. It does make me worry, however, that I'll never be acclimated to a cold climate, but I may lose my love of the heat and then I won't be able to live anywhere but California.
2. This is a big-ass fish. (If you don't want to register, I'll give you a synopsis. Guy catches a 121-1/2- pound blue catfish in Lake Texoma. New world record. Hey, hadn't you heard? Everything's bigger in Texas.)
3. I have taken a couple of days off writing to finish a residency application. I'm applying to a few, hoping that a couple of weeks or a month of solid writing will help me get a big jump on the novel. Wish me luck.
4. So I lied about the three things. The fourth thing is that writing a novel is hard. Damn hard. I've written short stories and articles and what-have-you, and not to say those are easy, but I've been able to hold all of the threads of those stories in my mind at the same time. Can't do it with the novel. There's just too much going on with too many people in too many places. If writing a short story or an article is a sinner praying for God to forgive him, writing a novel is saying some words that might have been a prayer at some point to a deity that may or may not be a God in a language that isn't your native tongue. Got all that? I think what I'm trying to say is that writing a novel requires a lot of faith that all of these strings and threads will eventually join together. And sometimes my can of faith is almost empty. Just like my beer.
Tuesday
Writing Update
I "finished" Chapter 6 and by that I mean I have a working draft. It's not perfect, it will need to be rewritten, but it's done enough to move onto the next chapter. The first section of the book is chapters 1-6. Each chapter is in the perspective of a different character. When I rewrite, I expect there will be a lot of cutting (the first six chapters are 141 pages, with a lot of exposition and backstory) and moving stuff around. Some of the writing will need to come in later chapters, I can already tell. I expect to have three-four sections total of these rotating perspectives (depending on how much story I can get into each person's chapter; I'll see how that goes).
One of the tough things about writing while in an MFA program is pretty obvious and I think others have commented on it. It's hard to be in the creative process (writing), and at the same time, have to talk about your work as though it's finished. I've found that criticisms and critiques have really slowed me down at times, until I remember: I'm not done. I can fix some of those problems. Just keep going. So that's what I'm trying to do. Chapter 6 and the first part of the novel are too long, they need work, but for now I need to leave them alone and move on to the next chapter.
I "finished" Chapter 6 and by that I mean I have a working draft. It's not perfect, it will need to be rewritten, but it's done enough to move onto the next chapter. The first section of the book is chapters 1-6. Each chapter is in the perspective of a different character. When I rewrite, I expect there will be a lot of cutting (the first six chapters are 141 pages, with a lot of exposition and backstory) and moving stuff around. Some of the writing will need to come in later chapters, I can already tell. I expect to have three-four sections total of these rotating perspectives (depending on how much story I can get into each person's chapter; I'll see how that goes).
One of the tough things about writing while in an MFA program is pretty obvious and I think others have commented on it. It's hard to be in the creative process (writing), and at the same time, have to talk about your work as though it's finished. I've found that criticisms and critiques have really slowed me down at times, until I remember: I'm not done. I can fix some of those problems. Just keep going. So that's what I'm trying to do. Chapter 6 and the first part of the novel are too long, they need work, but for now I need to leave them alone and move on to the next chapter.
Saturday
Funny Finds
As I go about my day in Chitown, I often run across funny things (they're funny to me at any rate). Here are a couple of them.
I don't know whether they do this nationally, but at several local coffee shops when they give you coffee to go, the sleeves are different. Instead of the plain brown, recycled paper or the shop's logo, you now get an advertisment for another product. A recent sleeve I got with my coffee was pink with a red band at the top and bottom. It says:
Eat.
Drink.
And Still Be Merry.
Happy Holidays.
And then there's the Pepto Bismol logo and: Think Pink. It made me start thinking about effective advertising. Pepto should come out with ads printed directly on toilet paper. I think that would be much more appropriate, don't you?
Then there are the Missed Connections. I love reading the ads in the alt-weekly where people try to find that guy they smiled at on the train, or the girl they saw jogging at the park. Here is one I found recently:
You: Hispanic male in red Astrovan with open passenger window, drove by bus stop twice, exposed yourself on second round to two young women waiting for bus. I was the one who didn't report you to the police. I thought we had something.
My first guess is that this ad is fake or, if it's real, that they're trying to nail the guy in any way they can. But man, what if it were real? This is why I get so distracted living in this city. So many words and stories surround me.
As I go about my day in Chitown, I often run across funny things (they're funny to me at any rate). Here are a couple of them.
I don't know whether they do this nationally, but at several local coffee shops when they give you coffee to go, the sleeves are different. Instead of the plain brown, recycled paper or the shop's logo, you now get an advertisment for another product. A recent sleeve I got with my coffee was pink with a red band at the top and bottom. It says:
Eat.
Drink.
And Still Be Merry.
Happy Holidays.
And then there's the Pepto Bismol logo and: Think Pink. It made me start thinking about effective advertising. Pepto should come out with ads printed directly on toilet paper. I think that would be much more appropriate, don't you?
Then there are the Missed Connections. I love reading the ads in the alt-weekly where people try to find that guy they smiled at on the train, or the girl they saw jogging at the park. Here is one I found recently:
You: Hispanic male in red Astrovan with open passenger window, drove by bus stop twice, exposed yourself on second round to two young women waiting for bus. I was the one who didn't report you to the police. I thought we had something.
My first guess is that this ad is fake or, if it's real, that they're trying to nail the guy in any way they can. But man, what if it were real? This is why I get so distracted living in this city. So many words and stories surround me.
Monday
Novel Updates
If you're interested in keeping up with the progress on the novel, go to the About section and follow the link in the last graf on that page. I'm just keeping track of pages and chapters at this point. Maybe I'll write more about the process itself later, but I'm trying not to go on and on about the prah-cess, dahling, of being a tortured writer.
If you're interested in keeping up with the progress on the novel, go to the About section and follow the link in the last graf on that page. I'm just keeping track of pages and chapters at this point. Maybe I'll write more about the process itself later, but I'm trying not to go on and on about the prah-cess, dahling, of being a tortured writer.
Friday
Moving News, Writing News
We are definitely moving. We found an apartment in a two flat just north of the Lincoln Square neighborhood. We’re excited for several reasons. We will have more room (we are bursting at the seams in our current apartment), there is a great park nearby for the Sohpie dog, it’s quiet enough in terms of traffic for Roscoe the cat to still go out, and we will have a few amenities we’ve done without for the past two years.
Our new apartment has two bedrooms and an office. We will share the bigger bedroom, Nate will get the smaller bedroom to do with as he wishes, and I will use the office. I’m very excited about having my own room with a door. Right now, my “office” is part of our bedroom. This is problematic when I get up early or want to stay up late working. I can’t keep the lights on, or I’ll keep Nate awake. So I have to move around all the time. I have a laptop, which makes this easy, but I can’t ever set up and stay set up. Sometimes I’m in the kitchen, sometimes I’m in the living room. It will be really nice to have a room I can walk to and close the door when I need to get some work done.
For Nate, having his own room will let him have his friends over more frequently. Nate is about twice as social as I am. He often wants to invite a friend over for a movie or whatever, and I often don’t. It doesn’t seem fair for either of us to determine what the other does, so our new apartment should help in that department, too. If he wants to play video games or watch a movie with a friend, they can hang out in his room and I won’t feel obligated to participate. OR I can go to my room and do my own thing and they won’t worry that they’re being too loud or interrupting my reading or writing or whatever. Happiness all around.
As for amenities, we will have laundry and a dishwasher! After two years of trucking our clothes to a laundromat, the washer and dryer will save us ungodly amounts of time and aggravation. We are happy, our current landlord is happy (he lives on the property and is taking our apartment, which is bigger than the one he currently lives in, and renting out his unit), and the only thing we have to worry about now is moving during February, the most balmy month in Chicago weather.
Writing News
As for writing news, I think I’m going to start keeping track of my progress on this site. To keep me honest, in a sense. I hope that writing down my progress for others to see will help my motivation. I’m going to start next week, with weekly updates.
We are definitely moving. We found an apartment in a two flat just north of the Lincoln Square neighborhood. We’re excited for several reasons. We will have more room (we are bursting at the seams in our current apartment), there is a great park nearby for the Sohpie dog, it’s quiet enough in terms of traffic for Roscoe the cat to still go out, and we will have a few amenities we’ve done without for the past two years.
Our new apartment has two bedrooms and an office. We will share the bigger bedroom, Nate will get the smaller bedroom to do with as he wishes, and I will use the office. I’m very excited about having my own room with a door. Right now, my “office” is part of our bedroom. This is problematic when I get up early or want to stay up late working. I can’t keep the lights on, or I’ll keep Nate awake. So I have to move around all the time. I have a laptop, which makes this easy, but I can’t ever set up and stay set up. Sometimes I’m in the kitchen, sometimes I’m in the living room. It will be really nice to have a room I can walk to and close the door when I need to get some work done.
For Nate, having his own room will let him have his friends over more frequently. Nate is about twice as social as I am. He often wants to invite a friend over for a movie or whatever, and I often don’t. It doesn’t seem fair for either of us to determine what the other does, so our new apartment should help in that department, too. If he wants to play video games or watch a movie with a friend, they can hang out in his room and I won’t feel obligated to participate. OR I can go to my room and do my own thing and they won’t worry that they’re being too loud or interrupting my reading or writing or whatever. Happiness all around.
As for amenities, we will have laundry and a dishwasher! After two years of trucking our clothes to a laundromat, the washer and dryer will save us ungodly amounts of time and aggravation. We are happy, our current landlord is happy (he lives on the property and is taking our apartment, which is bigger than the one he currently lives in, and renting out his unit), and the only thing we have to worry about now is moving during February, the most balmy month in Chicago weather.
Writing News
As for writing news, I think I’m going to start keeping track of my progress on this site. To keep me honest, in a sense. I hope that writing down my progress for others to see will help my motivation. I’m going to start next week, with weekly updates.
Complacency
I wrote a couple of days ago about feeling restless. Usually, I get that feeling when I need to change something in my life. To be clear, these are not Big Things. I don’t need to quit my job or get divorced or buy a sports car. When I’ve had these feelings before, I’ve done something like gone back to school, moved, or started training for a marathon.
Lately I feel restless because I have become so complacent. Last night I was explaining to Nate that I feel like I’m asleep in my life. I’m just going through the motions. From the outside my life looks fine, and mostly it is fine. This is something internal.
I imagine this has something to do with the fact that my work on the novel has slowed to a trickle. I can’t say for sure why this is, but it’s affecting my mood. Added to that, Nate pointed out that he hasn’t seen me reading lately. Since I learned to read, I have had devoured one book after another. I don’t think I’ve ever gone a week without reading a book as I have done. It might even be two weeks. There’s something going on with me. There was a phrase John used to like, “the weather is about to change.” That’s what this feels like but I don’t know exactly what the change needs to be, only that it needs to happen. I need to make an adjustment. There is a technical term for this condition I have. It’s called navel gazing.
I don’t usually make New Year’s resolutions. I do, however, make a list of goals each year on my birthday. Things I’d like to learn, or try, or accomplish before my next birthday. Here’s a list of some of those things.
Learn how to knit.
Take yoga regularly again.
Take a bookmaking class.
Finish my MFA.
Finish a draft of the novel.
Here are the things I have done:
Gotten married.
Published a ton of articles at my former job (F News).
Quit that job and quit taking freelance work to focus on the novel.
Written approximately half of the novel.
Got hired at the Museum where I wanted to work even before I moved to Chicago.
So that leaves the fun stuff. After we move, I am going to look into yoga and knitting classes. In moving news, I think we have made a decision. We have to sign the lease on Saturday, but I think we have found a new home. If it all works out, I'll tell you about it after the weekend.
I wrote a couple of days ago about feeling restless. Usually, I get that feeling when I need to change something in my life. To be clear, these are not Big Things. I don’t need to quit my job or get divorced or buy a sports car. When I’ve had these feelings before, I’ve done something like gone back to school, moved, or started training for a marathon.
Lately I feel restless because I have become so complacent. Last night I was explaining to Nate that I feel like I’m asleep in my life. I’m just going through the motions. From the outside my life looks fine, and mostly it is fine. This is something internal.
I imagine this has something to do with the fact that my work on the novel has slowed to a trickle. I can’t say for sure why this is, but it’s affecting my mood. Added to that, Nate pointed out that he hasn’t seen me reading lately. Since I learned to read, I have had devoured one book after another. I don’t think I’ve ever gone a week without reading a book as I have done. It might even be two weeks. There’s something going on with me. There was a phrase John used to like, “the weather is about to change.” That’s what this feels like but I don’t know exactly what the change needs to be, only that it needs to happen. I need to make an adjustment. There is a technical term for this condition I have. It’s called navel gazing.
I don’t usually make New Year’s resolutions. I do, however, make a list of goals each year on my birthday. Things I’d like to learn, or try, or accomplish before my next birthday. Here’s a list of some of those things.
Learn how to knit.
Take yoga regularly again.
Take a bookmaking class.
Finish my MFA.
Finish a draft of the novel.
Here are the things I have done:
Gotten married.
Published a ton of articles at my former job (F News).
Quit that job and quit taking freelance work to focus on the novel.
Written approximately half of the novel.
Got hired at the Museum where I wanted to work even before I moved to Chicago.
So that leaves the fun stuff. After we move, I am going to look into yoga and knitting classes. In moving news, I think we have made a decision. We have to sign the lease on Saturday, but I think we have found a new home. If it all works out, I'll tell you about it after the weekend.