In 2000, I lived in Miami and worked for a dot com. I made almost as much money freelancing as I did in regular salary. I made some great friends but Miami never really took, and the excesses of the industry were starting to worry me (after growing up in West Texas I was familiar with the boom and bust cycle) so I moved back to Austin in July. Then I had a pretty ugly and (in retrospect) ridiculous break up. I also met Nate and after I relocated to Austin I realized I had moved about a block up the street from him.
In 2001 I was working for another dot com in Austin and feeling like I needed to make a career change. We were firmly in the bust part of the cycle, I knew it, and I wanted to do something different anyway. I began looking into grad school. I wrote the first 50 pages of what later became my first novel as my writing sample for my grad school application. Also I started dating my neighbor, Nate. Three months later he got transferred to Chicago. Eventually I moved up to Chicago with him.
In 2002 I began the MFA in writing program at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. I kept writing and tried to adjust to life in the frozen tundra. We got engaged.
In 2003 I wrote a bunch of pages and cut many of them. We got married in August and honeymooned in New Mexico. That December we took our “real” honeymoon, or luna de meil 2.0, to Playa del Carmen.
In 2004 I got a great job at the Mexican Fine Arts Center Museum as a grant writer. I graduated with my MFA. Then Nate got transferred to Dallas. I finished the first draft of my novel (500+ pages) and then I got the worst job I’ve ever had, masquerading as my dream job. We bought a house in East Dallas, near White Rock Lake.
In 2005 I got another job. I tried to acclimate myself to Dallas, but kind of like Miami (and for some of the same reasons, some different ones) it never quite took. I felt a little like the stinky hippie at the fancy lady garden party. I also did not like being lectured about god. I went to Catholic school so I’ve had plenty of lecturing on the subject already, thankyouverymuch.
In 2006 we began doing a lot of cosmetic work to the house (the bones were all solid). We ended up painting almost every room in the house and had a ton of yard/garden work done. We also took a trip to Mexico and Zoe was conceived (we think) in Zacatecas over Labor Day weekend. I started doing a lot of freelance work around this time and completed a few revisions on my novel.
In 2007 we had our Zoe. Almost immediately I felt the severe need to move from Dallas. I tried to talk myself out of this because we had good jobs, a nice house we had finally gotten where we wanted it, and it’s hard to start over. It’s apparently harder to ignore those persistent little voices, too. My novel was now somewhere in the 370ish range and I began submitting to agents.
In 2008 we took an Easter weekend trip to Austin and that sealed it. We decided to make the move to Austin happen somehow, someway. We began applying for jobs and getting the house ready to put on the market. The market imploded right around then. I found a daycare and made the move to Austin in June and began to work at the LAF. Immediately I relaxed. I was back, bitches! Only I was a single parent while Nate was still in Dallas. He found a job in Austin in July. We had some great friends who let us live with them during this transition. When it seemed our house wasn’t going to sell, we rented a small apartment in our old neighborhood, preparing to pay both rent and mortgage. Two weeks after we moved in we got an offer and our house was sold in October. I decided to quit freelancing because it was interfering both with my fitness goals and my personal writing.
In 2009 I continue to make progress on some important goals. We pay off debt, we find a great Montessori school for Zoe, we like our jobs. We also find a rental house in South Austin and finally get out of our small apartment and storage. I lose 14 pounds (yeah!) and have plans to walk/run the Austin half-marathon in February. After several submissions to agents and a few nice notes in response, I conclude that the publishing industry is suffering as much as any other and decide to work on my next project instead of continuing to submit the old one. Right now I’m a little more than halfway through the first draft.
I think 2010 is going to be a good year. Right now the goals are to continue to pay debt, maybe buy a house if the time seems right, finish my draft of my current work in progress and at least start the next project this year. I also have an another big goal that is private for now and a few small ones that I may mention as they come up. All in all, I am so ready for next year. 2009 has been a bear in so many ways.
Wednesday
Tuesday
Reading List 2009
This might be my last reading list update this year.
Finished Carrie. Also read:
Bag of Bones, Stephen King
Home Safe, Elizabeth Berg
Fathom, Cherie Priest
Four and Twenty Blackbirds, Cherie Priest
Tales of the City, Armistead Maupin
In progress, The Time Traveler's Wife, Audren Niffengger
Finished Carrie. Also read:
Bag of Bones, Stephen King
Home Safe, Elizabeth Berg
Fathom, Cherie Priest
Four and Twenty Blackbirds, Cherie Priest
Tales of the City, Armistead Maupin
In progress, The Time Traveler's Wife, Audren Niffengger
Friday
Word Count
I'm now where I was (approximately) before I lost 1.5 days of work. Strangely, I expanded a scene I summarized before. Now I have to rewrite the scene that made up the bulk of those lost words.
I've also made a list of the remaining chapters so I know where I'm heading.
Tomorrow may be a tough writing day. We need to clean the house, then have a school potluck followed by a date! I hope to see some writing time on Sunday.
I've also made a list of the remaining chapters so I know where I'm heading.
Tomorrow may be a tough writing day. We need to clean the house, then have a school potluck followed by a date! I hope to see some writing time on Sunday.
Method and Madness
Folks, this here is a writing entry so if you’re not interested in that sort of thing you may just want to move along.
I started working on my second novel in late March/early April earlier this year. I wrote about 30k in a month or so, using a daily word count but giving myself weekends off (for errands and family time). Things were going pretty well. Not speedy writester or anything, but decent.
Then two things happened. I kicked up my workout routine and work got really busy. We are busy all the time, but spring and summer ratchet up to insane. As in, arrive at the office, stay busy all day, often eat lunch at my desk, and do some work at home after Zoe goes to bed. During this time I was getting up early to work out, so between fitness and work I didn’t have much time or energy for the book. Summer was not a productive writing time at all.
Over the fall and early winter, I reached almost 50k in the book (before I lost a few pages yesterday—ouch), where I now find myself. I estimate this novel will end up in the 80–85k range.
When I’ve had time off, in-between jobs because of a move or job change, I tend to write a chapter a day. For me this translates somewhere between 8–12 pages, or a rough average of 2500 (plus or minus) words. I would guess that’s pretty average. There are people out there who can write a lot faster and some who write a paragraph a day. But those paragraphs, when they are finished, are perfect. I do a lot of revising.
When I’m working a full-time job, around 1400 words a day seems my average, and I finish my chapters in two writing days. With regular practice I think I could start hitting around 2,000 words/day. But that’s if I actually have time to write when I get home, instead of having to answer emails or edit for the day job after Zoe goes to bed.
Now we have entered a slower time at work. It’s still busy, but I’m not having to take work home with me. This may be the case (I think/hope) for the next two months or so. Which means that now is my time to finish this draft so I have a complete book to noodle with once we get to the insane-busy phase again.
I think I can revise even if I’m busy with work. For some reason revision and writing are very different processes for me. For writing I need a semi-dreamy state, a chunk of time to imagine the scene and then get it down. With revising, I already have the scene in my head. Either it is mostly there, and (in the best case) I just need to brighten and heighten what’s going on, or (worst case) it’s dead wrong and I need to rewrite it. But at least I know what’s happening, who’s there, what’s wrong, and how to fix it—usually. If it’s a really tough problem I might need to reenter the dreamy state to figure it all out.
My goal is to finish the draft in this lull at work (lull as in a normal 40 hours, ha!), and then try my darndest to revise what I can when it’s full-tilt crazy again. If things are really nuts, then I might have to wait until fall/early winter to revise. In any case, the book won’t finish itself. No magic elves for me.
Yesterday, due to a boring technical glitch I won’t go into, I lost a day and a half of work, or 2,000+ words. Yesterday I thought it was 1500 but then remembered I'd written another 700 or so that I'd lost as well. I am really lucky that I had just backed up my file a day before, so the loss wasn’t nearly as ugly as it could have been. But it was a wake-up call for me. It’s time to write while the writing is possible. So I’ll keep track of what’s going on here, maybe as a way to hold myself accountable.
I should note that I love my job and consider myself extremely lucky, not only to be employed during this very rough time, but also that I am paid to do something I love and believe in. However, this is also my reality. All of my coworkers struggle with work-life balance. Work eats into personal time for almost everyone at the foundation, and in most cases it’s because they are passionate about what they do. But…I still need to find a way to meet my own goals and give my dreams the space they need to grow, and hopefully so much space they get really funky and odd the way dreams are wont to do.
So… here goes.
I started working on my second novel in late March/early April earlier this year. I wrote about 30k in a month or so, using a daily word count but giving myself weekends off (for errands and family time). Things were going pretty well. Not speedy writester or anything, but decent.
Then two things happened. I kicked up my workout routine and work got really busy. We are busy all the time, but spring and summer ratchet up to insane. As in, arrive at the office, stay busy all day, often eat lunch at my desk, and do some work at home after Zoe goes to bed. During this time I was getting up early to work out, so between fitness and work I didn’t have much time or energy for the book. Summer was not a productive writing time at all.
Over the fall and early winter, I reached almost 50k in the book (before I lost a few pages yesterday—ouch), where I now find myself. I estimate this novel will end up in the 80–85k range.
When I’ve had time off, in-between jobs because of a move or job change, I tend to write a chapter a day. For me this translates somewhere between 8–12 pages, or a rough average of 2500 (plus or minus) words. I would guess that’s pretty average. There are people out there who can write a lot faster and some who write a paragraph a day. But those paragraphs, when they are finished, are perfect. I do a lot of revising.
When I’m working a full-time job, around 1400 words a day seems my average, and I finish my chapters in two writing days. With regular practice I think I could start hitting around 2,000 words/day. But that’s if I actually have time to write when I get home, instead of having to answer emails or edit for the day job after Zoe goes to bed.
Now we have entered a slower time at work. It’s still busy, but I’m not having to take work home with me. This may be the case (I think/hope) for the next two months or so. Which means that now is my time to finish this draft so I have a complete book to noodle with once we get to the insane-busy phase again.
I think I can revise even if I’m busy with work. For some reason revision and writing are very different processes for me. For writing I need a semi-dreamy state, a chunk of time to imagine the scene and then get it down. With revising, I already have the scene in my head. Either it is mostly there, and (in the best case) I just need to brighten and heighten what’s going on, or (worst case) it’s dead wrong and I need to rewrite it. But at least I know what’s happening, who’s there, what’s wrong, and how to fix it—usually. If it’s a really tough problem I might need to reenter the dreamy state to figure it all out.
My goal is to finish the draft in this lull at work (lull as in a normal 40 hours, ha!), and then try my darndest to revise what I can when it’s full-tilt crazy again. If things are really nuts, then I might have to wait until fall/early winter to revise. In any case, the book won’t finish itself. No magic elves for me.
Yesterday, due to a boring technical glitch I won’t go into, I lost a day and a half of work, or 2,000+ words. Yesterday I thought it was 1500 but then remembered I'd written another 700 or so that I'd lost as well. I am really lucky that I had just backed up my file a day before, so the loss wasn’t nearly as ugly as it could have been. But it was a wake-up call for me. It’s time to write while the writing is possible. So I’ll keep track of what’s going on here, maybe as a way to hold myself accountable.
I should note that I love my job and consider myself extremely lucky, not only to be employed during this very rough time, but also that I am paid to do something I love and believe in. However, this is also my reality. All of my coworkers struggle with work-life balance. Work eats into personal time for almost everyone at the foundation, and in most cases it’s because they are passionate about what they do. But…I still need to find a way to meet my own goals and give my dreams the space they need to grow, and hopefully so much space they get really funky and odd the way dreams are wont to do.
So… here goes.
New Year's Resolutions
Last year one of my resolutions was to work out more regularly. I have been more diligent at some times than others over the past few months but overall I held to this goal and I have seen the results. Since last year I've lost 14 pounds and two dress sizes, and am one size away from my goal. But these are the benefits I appreciate even more than the weight loss itself:
Fitting into more of my outfits and feeling comfortable in clothes in general.
More energy.
Feeling stronger.
Being able to do some "real" (not on my knees) push ups.
Thighs don't rub together when I wear skirts.
Most importantly: the lower back and shoulder pain I used to have are gone.
Having a baby really does a number on your core, and the result for me was pain in my lower back. I reallyreally appreciate that I've been able to deal with this through exercise rather than some other form of treatment.
I have not changed my diet too much. Mainly just trying to eat more fruit, veggies, and whole grains. When I'm at the store I look for the items with the fewest and simplest ingredients. For instance, last night we bought hot cocoa and I opted for the brand whose ingredient was chocolate instead of brands with a list of things I couldn't pronounce.
My goal for next year is to eat more healthful things and to do it in a way that is sustainable. I don't like the idea of "bad" food because I love food. I don't want to get a complex about it. I prefer the idea of balancing higher-calorie choices with exercise or lower-calorie ones. So, for instance, if I have cake or pie with dinner, maybe I throw in an extra workout or eat lighter foods the next day to balance. And when I do indulge in some sweets or (my favorite) fried food, I make sure it's something I really want and enjoy instead of some crap that I regret afterward because it didn't even taste that good.
A friend of mine who is a nutritionist recommended the dividing your plate method: half of your plate should be veggies, 1/4 starch, and 1/4 protein. I like that method because it's something I can maintain over the longterm instead of a diet that I go on and off of because it's so strict I can't adhere to it.
Next year I hope to improve my diet in the sense of getting more nutrients and vitamins from food rather than supplements. And of course continue to work out. I spent most of my younger life on one team or another and having regular exercise really improves my mood.
An unexpected but adorable benefit: watching Zoe do "push ups" and downward dog.
Fitting into more of my outfits and feeling comfortable in clothes in general.
More energy.
Feeling stronger.
Being able to do some "real" (not on my knees) push ups.
Thighs don't rub together when I wear skirts.
Most importantly: the lower back and shoulder pain I used to have are gone.
Having a baby really does a number on your core, and the result for me was pain in my lower back. I reallyreally appreciate that I've been able to deal with this through exercise rather than some other form of treatment.
I have not changed my diet too much. Mainly just trying to eat more fruit, veggies, and whole grains. When I'm at the store I look for the items with the fewest and simplest ingredients. For instance, last night we bought hot cocoa and I opted for the brand whose ingredient was chocolate instead of brands with a list of things I couldn't pronounce.
My goal for next year is to eat more healthful things and to do it in a way that is sustainable. I don't like the idea of "bad" food because I love food. I don't want to get a complex about it. I prefer the idea of balancing higher-calorie choices with exercise or lower-calorie ones. So, for instance, if I have cake or pie with dinner, maybe I throw in an extra workout or eat lighter foods the next day to balance. And when I do indulge in some sweets or (my favorite) fried food, I make sure it's something I really want and enjoy instead of some crap that I regret afterward because it didn't even taste that good.
A friend of mine who is a nutritionist recommended the dividing your plate method: half of your plate should be veggies, 1/4 starch, and 1/4 protein. I like that method because it's something I can maintain over the longterm instead of a diet that I go on and off of because it's so strict I can't adhere to it.
Next year I hope to improve my diet in the sense of getting more nutrients and vitamins from food rather than supplements. And of course continue to work out. I spent most of my younger life on one team or another and having regular exercise really improves my mood.
An unexpected but adorable benefit: watching Zoe do "push ups" and downward dog.
Tuesday
Reading List 2009
Finished Autobiography of a Yogi.
Also read: Escaping into the Open, by Elizabeth Berg (inspiration)
On Writing, by Stephen King (same)
Crazy for the Storm: A Memoir of Survival, by Norman Ollestad (book club). I really liked this book but I wanted to kill the writer's father at least a dozen times, especially when I saw picture of the dude carrying a less-than-one-year-old in a makeshift backpack on a surf board in the Pacific Ocean. Nowadays that would probably get you arrested and in my house that would get you dead.
I'm now reading Carrie by SK because it was the first book of his I ever picked up and he mentioned it in his writing how-to.
I've been really busy lately, too busy to write much or update my blog but I'm going to make it a bigger priority. For one thing I get cranky when I don't write, then I relieve that mental itch and feel so much better. Then I think: why am I not making the time to do this more regularly so I don't get all mentally constipated? (To mix some very unappealing metaphors.) So I'm going to work on that. We'll see how it goes.
Also read: Escaping into the Open, by Elizabeth Berg (inspiration)
On Writing, by Stephen King (same)
Crazy for the Storm: A Memoir of Survival, by Norman Ollestad (book club). I really liked this book but I wanted to kill the writer's father at least a dozen times, especially when I saw picture of the dude carrying a less-than-one-year-old in a makeshift backpack on a surf board in the Pacific Ocean. Nowadays that would probably get you arrested and in my house that would get you dead.
I'm now reading Carrie by SK because it was the first book of his I ever picked up and he mentioned it in his writing how-to.
I've been really busy lately, too busy to write much or update my blog but I'm going to make it a bigger priority. For one thing I get cranky when I don't write, then I relieve that mental itch and feel so much better. Then I think: why am I not making the time to do this more regularly so I don't get all mentally constipated? (To mix some very unappealing metaphors.) So I'm going to work on that. We'll see how it goes.
Reading List 2009
Finished Olive Kitteridge. I highly recommend it.
Also read Lance: The Making of the World's Greatest Champion by John Wilcockson (work) and Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert (fun).
In progress: Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramhansa Yogananda. It's interesting; I've had this book for more than a decade and this is the first time I've gotten really into it. Before I'd always start it, get distracted, and put it away. This time I'm finding it fascinating.
Also read Lance: The Making of the World's Greatest Champion by John Wilcockson (work) and Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert (fun).
In progress: Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramhansa Yogananda. It's interesting; I've had this book for more than a decade and this is the first time I've gotten really into it. Before I'd always start it, get distracted, and put it away. This time I'm finding it fascinating.
Thursday
Reading List 2009
Love Stories in This Town by Amanda Eyre Ward (book club)
Every Second Counts, by Lance Armstrong with Sally Jenkins (work)
Crazy Aunt Purl's Drunk, Divorced, and Covered in Cat Hair: The True-Life Misadventures of a 30-Something Who Learned to Knit After He Split by Laurie Perry. I read her blog so I wanted to check out her book.
Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout (book club). In progress. Really like the writing so far.
Every Second Counts, by Lance Armstrong with Sally Jenkins (work)
Crazy Aunt Purl's Drunk, Divorced, and Covered in Cat Hair: The True-Life Misadventures of a 30-Something Who Learned to Knit After He Split by Laurie Perry. I read her blog so I wanted to check out her book.
Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout (book club). In progress. Really like the writing so far.
Friday
I Saw the Signs (or Thought I Did)
This is going to be a hippy-dippy entry so if that sort of thing bothers you, you may just want to move along. I'm not sure if it's a combination of Catholicism, Mexicanness, Austin living, patchouli wearing, superstitious parents, whatever, I look for signs. And by that I mean, if bad things keep happening around something (a job, a living situation, a friend) I will analyze that situation to see if I'm doing something wrong or if it is just a wrong thing for me because I like love, happiness, unicorns and rainbows. Actually, into every life a little rain must fall (and apparently cliches) but I try to avoid pain and difficulty when possible because you know what? life throws plenty of that at you already.
I am one of those people who believes that when you start getting "signs" from "the universe/God/deity or belief system of choice including coincidence" if you heed them, then things will work out much better and easier than if you ignore them, because then the universe will have to really knock you upside the head to get you to pay attention. "Hey dummy, I'm talking to YOU. Sincerely, the universe."
Look, I'm not a philosopher but this approach to life has mostly worked for me. Until now.
In the past few years Nate and I have made some rash-ish decisions relating to our living situations and that has sometimes not worked out so well for us. Sometimes life/circumstance got in the way and unless we could have seen the future there wasn't much we could have done about it. (See: moving into a kickass apartment in Chicago, signing an 18-month lease, and Nate getting transferred to Dallas four months later. Doh.)
Our most recent crazy move took place back in spring 2008. After an interesting and great trip to Austin over Easter weekend, Nate and I decided to take the plunge and move back to Austin from Dallas. There were signs, let's say. I heeded them. We made this decision in March/April. By June I had a job and had moved to Austin and I found a space in a daycare near work for Zoe (doors opening). Nate joined us six weeks later. We stayed with generous friends. At a certain point, our house still hadn't sold and we realized we couldn't stay with generous friends forever so we found a cheap apartment in a good part of town for us (good as in we liked it and it was convenient to both of our jobs). Two weeks after moving in we got an offer on our house. At the time I was irritated because we could have bought a house if we hadn't signed a lease! But now looking back, I'm more or less glad what happened happened because it has forced us to live simply, not accumulate more crap, and we have almost halved our debt in a year (sweet!). In these crazy economic times I'm amazed we sold a house right around the time real estate was imploding, we are both still (knock wood) employed, we have paid off a nice amount of debt (but still have a ways to go), and now we have much better financial habits, which will be good in the long run.
But you know, one bedroom apartment with a toddler. Not much room. No yard. Not so great for the romance. Our dog is living with our bro and sis-in-law. And we were ready for more space and more than one bathroom and maybe the child having her own room. And we started looking way early, like two months before we needed a place, which in the rental world is about four weeks too early because most people are giving notice 30 days before they are getting the move on. But we found a place! And the place was in a hood convenient for both our jobs (not so easy when one of you works east and one of you works west); within walking distance to groceries, yoga, a park, and other goodness; and it was large! we would have space for bedrooms and guest room and workout room and an office! and it seemed perfect. Heeding signs, right? All going to work out.
And then...our landlord asked us to move in on 8/24 (we'd asked for 9/1). But he said he didn't want the house sitting empty. So fine, 8/24. We booked movers, made arrangements with the utility companies, etc. A few days before our scheduled move the landlord called to tell us that the tenants, who were buying a house, had some delays with their closing so they would be staying longer. And since he was putting in new kitchen cabinets and countertops, could we move in on 9/1? Kind of a pain having to reschedule all those things we'd recently set up but we'd wanted 9/1 anyway, so...once again, schedules are arranged.
On either the Friday or Monday before we were supposed to move (can't remember exactly because the boiling of my brain fried some details), landlord emails and says they are thinking of expanding the renovation. For the house's size the kitchen is quite small (probably the size of our current apartment kitchen and did I mention it's a one bedroom? not large) and he was considering knocking down some walls, losing a pantry and a coat closet to get more square footage in that room, and did he mention they had decided to order granite for the countertops? So...he writes that we can 1. move in as planned without any work; 2. move in while the reno is being done (no working kitchen with a toddler? sounds fun!); or 3. delay our move until 10/1 and we will have a new kitchen with new cabinets and granite countertops and oh, did he mention he will also be installing new carpet in the bedrooms?
Having been burned twice before we replied: can you guarantee this new date? What is the timeline of the work? How big is the crew? We need to revise the lease. And also, we are asking these questions because if we plan for a move on 10/1 we do not want you to email us on 9/21 and say, hey the work is done, move in now! We want a firm, guaranteed move-in date so we can plan our damn move. And then he went out of town for a week and we didn't hear from him.
In the normal sign-heeding world, you sign a lease, and you turn over your deposit, and you agree on a move-in date, and you hate moving and maybe at one point when you can't find your deodorant or your shoes you cry, and then you move and you are so happy you did it. We are still at the date part and I am confused because the signs--I'm trying to heed you! Why is my approach not working?
As it stands now, our landlord (is he a landlord if we haven't moved in?) wrote back and said that he'd gotten our message, was back in town, and was trying to get answers for us. And then...nothing. I should probably mention that we are communicating via email because he said that's easier for him than the phone. Only, not so hot with the communication! Sends us life-altering messages and then drops off the face of the earth for a while.
Here's the confusing part. I heeded the signs! Yet these most recent signs, in any other situation, would send me running in the opposite direction. I am wondering if my approache to life needs to be adjusted.
There's a similar situation going on with Zoe's potential Montessori school but after typing this novel I don't have the energy to write about it. But we can sum it up by saying: it seems like everything we are touching right now sounds and looks great until we say, yes, please! And then suddenly there are all these mysterious delays and obstacles popping up around it. Frustrating, confusing, tiring. Thank goodness I have a four-day weekend to recover.
I am one of those people who believes that when you start getting "signs" from "the universe/God/deity or belief system of choice including coincidence" if you heed them, then things will work out much better and easier than if you ignore them, because then the universe will have to really knock you upside the head to get you to pay attention. "Hey dummy, I'm talking to YOU. Sincerely, the universe."
Look, I'm not a philosopher but this approach to life has mostly worked for me. Until now.
In the past few years Nate and I have made some rash-ish decisions relating to our living situations and that has sometimes not worked out so well for us. Sometimes life/circumstance got in the way and unless we could have seen the future there wasn't much we could have done about it. (See: moving into a kickass apartment in Chicago, signing an 18-month lease, and Nate getting transferred to Dallas four months later. Doh.)
Our most recent crazy move took place back in spring 2008. After an interesting and great trip to Austin over Easter weekend, Nate and I decided to take the plunge and move back to Austin from Dallas. There were signs, let's say. I heeded them. We made this decision in March/April. By June I had a job and had moved to Austin and I found a space in a daycare near work for Zoe (doors opening). Nate joined us six weeks later. We stayed with generous friends. At a certain point, our house still hadn't sold and we realized we couldn't stay with generous friends forever so we found a cheap apartment in a good part of town for us (good as in we liked it and it was convenient to both of our jobs). Two weeks after moving in we got an offer on our house. At the time I was irritated because we could have bought a house if we hadn't signed a lease! But now looking back, I'm more or less glad what happened happened because it has forced us to live simply, not accumulate more crap, and we have almost halved our debt in a year (sweet!). In these crazy economic times I'm amazed we sold a house right around the time real estate was imploding, we are both still (knock wood) employed, we have paid off a nice amount of debt (but still have a ways to go), and now we have much better financial habits, which will be good in the long run.
But you know, one bedroom apartment with a toddler. Not much room. No yard. Not so great for the romance. Our dog is living with our bro and sis-in-law. And we were ready for more space and more than one bathroom and maybe the child having her own room. And we started looking way early, like two months before we needed a place, which in the rental world is about four weeks too early because most people are giving notice 30 days before they are getting the move on. But we found a place! And the place was in a hood convenient for both our jobs (not so easy when one of you works east and one of you works west); within walking distance to groceries, yoga, a park, and other goodness; and it was large! we would have space for bedrooms and guest room and workout room and an office! and it seemed perfect. Heeding signs, right? All going to work out.
And then...our landlord asked us to move in on 8/24 (we'd asked for 9/1). But he said he didn't want the house sitting empty. So fine, 8/24. We booked movers, made arrangements with the utility companies, etc. A few days before our scheduled move the landlord called to tell us that the tenants, who were buying a house, had some delays with their closing so they would be staying longer. And since he was putting in new kitchen cabinets and countertops, could we move in on 9/1? Kind of a pain having to reschedule all those things we'd recently set up but we'd wanted 9/1 anyway, so...once again, schedules are arranged.
On either the Friday or Monday before we were supposed to move (can't remember exactly because the boiling of my brain fried some details), landlord emails and says they are thinking of expanding the renovation. For the house's size the kitchen is quite small (probably the size of our current apartment kitchen and did I mention it's a one bedroom? not large) and he was considering knocking down some walls, losing a pantry and a coat closet to get more square footage in that room, and did he mention they had decided to order granite for the countertops? So...he writes that we can 1. move in as planned without any work; 2. move in while the reno is being done (no working kitchen with a toddler? sounds fun!); or 3. delay our move until 10/1 and we will have a new kitchen with new cabinets and granite countertops and oh, did he mention he will also be installing new carpet in the bedrooms?
Having been burned twice before we replied: can you guarantee this new date? What is the timeline of the work? How big is the crew? We need to revise the lease. And also, we are asking these questions because if we plan for a move on 10/1 we do not want you to email us on 9/21 and say, hey the work is done, move in now! We want a firm, guaranteed move-in date so we can plan our damn move. And then he went out of town for a week and we didn't hear from him.
In the normal sign-heeding world, you sign a lease, and you turn over your deposit, and you agree on a move-in date, and you hate moving and maybe at one point when you can't find your deodorant or your shoes you cry, and then you move and you are so happy you did it. We are still at the date part and I am confused because the signs--I'm trying to heed you! Why is my approach not working?
As it stands now, our landlord (is he a landlord if we haven't moved in?) wrote back and said that he'd gotten our message, was back in town, and was trying to get answers for us. And then...nothing. I should probably mention that we are communicating via email because he said that's easier for him than the phone. Only, not so hot with the communication! Sends us life-altering messages and then drops off the face of the earth for a while.
Here's the confusing part. I heeded the signs! Yet these most recent signs, in any other situation, would send me running in the opposite direction. I am wondering if my approache to life needs to be adjusted.
There's a similar situation going on with Zoe's potential Montessori school but after typing this novel I don't have the energy to write about it. But we can sum it up by saying: it seems like everything we are touching right now sounds and looks great until we say, yes, please! And then suddenly there are all these mysterious delays and obstacles popping up around it. Frustrating, confusing, tiring. Thank goodness I have a four-day weekend to recover.
Thursday
Summer Update
Man, where does the time go. Work has been crazy lately (for Nate too) and between that, trying to work out, and raising a toddler I don’t seem to have much time/energy for other stuff (like updating) lately, which is unfortunate. But these are some of the things that have been going on:
Tennis. For the past few months I’ve been taking a weekly class with Caswell Tennis. I played several sports growing up and now I feel kinda silly playing soccer, basketball, etc. so I was looking for another sport I could play as I age gracefully (cough). Tennis is so much fun, but I will confess that playing in the middle of the summer and a drought has been brutal at times. And unfortunately, I may have to put tennis on hold for a little while because of my other activities.
Crossfit. I also started taking Crossfit, a core strengthening/boot camp-type class. We’re lucky enough to have this at work and I do this two evenings a week. If you do the math, between Crossfit and tennis I’m busy three weekday evenings. This past week I had book club and next week I may go to a happy hour, which means I’ll be busy four out of five weekday evenings. This does not make for a happy husband or child so I think I need to cut back. I miss hanging out with my family and I just feel frazzled, like I’m running around all the time and that’s no fun. Right now I think getting my core stronger is a higher priority than playing tennis so for at least a little while I think I’ll just do Crossfit.
Running. I’m also running again, about three times a week, and loving it. I did a walk/run program and am currently up to running 28 minutes, which is great. I hadn’t been doing that since I was in my first trimester with Zoe.
Weight loss challenge. I did a weight loss/workout challenge with Joi and G. We’ve all had babies in the past two years and weren’t happy with where we were with our fitness. So we threw $5 into a pot each week for 12 weeks. Joi lost the most poundage so ended up winning; G also did great. I was a little frustrated because I kept losing/gaining the same 1-2 pounds, but I did go down a clothing size so that’s good. And my fitness is definitely a lot better now than when I started. I’m hoping to keep that progress going and hopefully will see more results. I also plan to start keeping a food log just to see what kind of stuff I’m eating. Nate has started doing the walk/run program too. We hope to run the LIVESTRONG Challenge 5k together in October.
Moving. We will be moving in two weeks! We are beyond ready to leave our small, one bedroom apartment and move into a (rental) house. We’re heading to the Western Trail neighborhood and will be within walking distance to Central Market, YogaYoga, Whole Earth, etc. so we we’re pretty excited about that. And we’ll have a ton of space. The house was listed as a 4/3 but it’s really more of a 5/3 (they enclosed the garage at some point and that added two extra rooms and a bathroom). Zoe will have a yard again and Walker (our dog) will be rejoining the family. I am so impatient for this to happen already.
Growing up. Zoe is firmly entrenched in the terrible twos, testing boundaries, trying to be more independent, asserting herself, etc. She’s definitely not the worst two year old I’ve experienced but she can be a handful when she wants to be. She talks up a storm and bosses “daddeeeee” around all the time. (She also goes through periods where she calls him “Nate.”) She’s become quite assertive when she wants you to sit down (she pats the floor emphatically while saying something like, “hab a seat”) or when she wants to play with her “doh” (play-doh). She’s a testy one. Her hair is halfway down her back but it looks shoulder length because of her curls. I’m thinking about getting her first haircut soon.
Checking out Montessori schools. We’ve also been touring some schools in our free time (haha). We’ll do more tours in September after classes have been in session long enough for the kids to be settled in. We went to an open house at one school that was great, but the commute might be a deal killer. Demonstrations at the school included a musician singing and playing guitar, he is there once a week with the kids, and capoeira, which the kids do once or twice a week. Ever since Zoe saw the people doing capoeira she will randomly bust out some moves at home. She was one of the few kids who went into the circle to give it a go during the demonstration, and definitely the youngest, though she didn’t do much once she was there. I think she wasn’t sure what to do but she’s been practicing ever since.
Falling in love. I’ve also fallen in love with a historic house near downtown. If any of you have a spare $785k you want to give me, just let me know. Zoe also seems to have an eye for our upstairs bachelor neighbor. He has quite a way with the ladies; hopefully this is not a sign of things to come with our child.
Tennis. For the past few months I’ve been taking a weekly class with Caswell Tennis. I played several sports growing up and now I feel kinda silly playing soccer, basketball, etc. so I was looking for another sport I could play as I age gracefully (cough). Tennis is so much fun, but I will confess that playing in the middle of the summer and a drought has been brutal at times. And unfortunately, I may have to put tennis on hold for a little while because of my other activities.
Crossfit. I also started taking Crossfit, a core strengthening/boot camp-type class. We’re lucky enough to have this at work and I do this two evenings a week. If you do the math, between Crossfit and tennis I’m busy three weekday evenings. This past week I had book club and next week I may go to a happy hour, which means I’ll be busy four out of five weekday evenings. This does not make for a happy husband or child so I think I need to cut back. I miss hanging out with my family and I just feel frazzled, like I’m running around all the time and that’s no fun. Right now I think getting my core stronger is a higher priority than playing tennis so for at least a little while I think I’ll just do Crossfit.
Running. I’m also running again, about three times a week, and loving it. I did a walk/run program and am currently up to running 28 minutes, which is great. I hadn’t been doing that since I was in my first trimester with Zoe.
Weight loss challenge. I did a weight loss/workout challenge with Joi and G. We’ve all had babies in the past two years and weren’t happy with where we were with our fitness. So we threw $5 into a pot each week for 12 weeks. Joi lost the most poundage so ended up winning; G also did great. I was a little frustrated because I kept losing/gaining the same 1-2 pounds, but I did go down a clothing size so that’s good. And my fitness is definitely a lot better now than when I started. I’m hoping to keep that progress going and hopefully will see more results. I also plan to start keeping a food log just to see what kind of stuff I’m eating. Nate has started doing the walk/run program too. We hope to run the LIVESTRONG Challenge 5k together in October.
Moving. We will be moving in two weeks! We are beyond ready to leave our small, one bedroom apartment and move into a (rental) house. We’re heading to the Western Trail neighborhood and will be within walking distance to Central Market, YogaYoga, Whole Earth, etc. so we we’re pretty excited about that. And we’ll have a ton of space. The house was listed as a 4/3 but it’s really more of a 5/3 (they enclosed the garage at some point and that added two extra rooms and a bathroom). Zoe will have a yard again and Walker (our dog) will be rejoining the family. I am so impatient for this to happen already.
Growing up. Zoe is firmly entrenched in the terrible twos, testing boundaries, trying to be more independent, asserting herself, etc. She’s definitely not the worst two year old I’ve experienced but she can be a handful when she wants to be. She talks up a storm and bosses “daddeeeee” around all the time. (She also goes through periods where she calls him “Nate.”) She’s become quite assertive when she wants you to sit down (she pats the floor emphatically while saying something like, “hab a seat”) or when she wants to play with her “doh” (play-doh). She’s a testy one. Her hair is halfway down her back but it looks shoulder length because of her curls. I’m thinking about getting her first haircut soon.
Checking out Montessori schools. We’ve also been touring some schools in our free time (haha). We’ll do more tours in September after classes have been in session long enough for the kids to be settled in. We went to an open house at one school that was great, but the commute might be a deal killer. Demonstrations at the school included a musician singing and playing guitar, he is there once a week with the kids, and capoeira, which the kids do once or twice a week. Ever since Zoe saw the people doing capoeira she will randomly bust out some moves at home. She was one of the few kids who went into the circle to give it a go during the demonstration, and definitely the youngest, though she didn’t do much once she was there. I think she wasn’t sure what to do but she’s been practicing ever since.
Falling in love. I’ve also fallen in love with a historic house near downtown. If any of you have a spare $785k you want to give me, just let me know. Zoe also seems to have an eye for our upstairs bachelor neighbor. He has quite a way with the ladies; hopefully this is not a sign of things to come with our child.
Reading List 2009
The Story of Forgetting by Stefan Merrill Block (book club). Just finished this and if it hadn't been for book club I probably wouldn't have. The beginning was very slow in the sense that it was almost entirely narration with few dramatic scenes or dialogue. I found it very hard to get into, though I liked it better toward the end.
Born to Run by Christopher McDougall: loved it.
Born to Run by Christopher McDougall: loved it.
Monday
Reading List 2009
Finished up Dream House by Valerie Laken. I found one character and the underlying scenario unbelievable. Just couldn't suspend my disbelief enough, though I admired her writing.
Also read Waiting for Autumn by Scott Blum. That was research for my next project. Very new agey, so not for everyone. Useful for my purposes.
Trying to get back into my word count, even if I write just a little most days. Onward.
Also read Waiting for Autumn by Scott Blum. That was research for my next project. Very new agey, so not for everyone. Useful for my purposes.
Trying to get back into my word count, even if I write just a little most days. Onward.
Wednesday
Reading List 2009
Finished Spending. Loved it. And finished Strange Peaches. Not sure about that ending but I loved the rest of it.
Re-reading work in progress to try to inspire me to continue. Not sure if I stalled at 30K words because someone is about to die in the novel and I need to psyche myself up for it or if it's for some other scary reason (like maybe the idea is not novel worthy). We shall see.
Re-reading work in progress to try to inspire me to continue. Not sure if I stalled at 30K words because someone is about to die in the novel and I need to psyche myself up for it or if it's for some other scary reason (like maybe the idea is not novel worthy). We shall see.
Sunday
Reading List 2009
Have read a few books over the past couple of weeks.
Guilty pleasures during a short trip:
Innocent in Death
Memory in Death, both by J.D. Robb
Research for next book:
Coming Back, Raymond A. Moody, Jr.
We Don't Die, Joel Martin and Patricia Romanowski
Life on the Other Side, Sylvia Browne
(Yes, I know how these titles sound but they all apply to my next book idea.)
Also:
The American Painter Emma Dial, Samantha Peale (Great first novel, written by a former MFA program classmate.)
In progress:
Spending, Mary Gordon
Strange Peaches, Bud Shrake
Guilty pleasures during a short trip:
Innocent in Death
Memory in Death, both by J.D. Robb
Research for next book:
Coming Back, Raymond A. Moody, Jr.
We Don't Die, Joel Martin and Patricia Romanowski
Life on the Other Side, Sylvia Browne
(Yes, I know how these titles sound but they all apply to my next book idea.)
Also:
The American Painter Emma Dial, Samantha Peale (Great first novel, written by a former MFA program classmate.)
In progress:
Spending, Mary Gordon
Strange Peaches, Bud Shrake
Tuesday
Monday
Reading List 2009
Finished: City of Refuge. Good stuff and I recommend it.
In progress:
Paris Book (James Bankston, unpublished novel) and
The Hero's Journey: Joseph Campbell on His Life and Work, Joseph Campbell and Phil Cousineau (about halfway done with this one).
Reading slowly these days and last week I didn't even have writing to blame. I met my word count only two of my five writing days. Not for any particular reason or stress. I just felt very tired and had no energy. Trying to work out again and eat better to help on the energy tip but I think I just had an off week.
In progress:
Paris Book (James Bankston, unpublished novel) and
The Hero's Journey: Joseph Campbell on His Life and Work, Joseph Campbell and Phil Cousineau (about halfway done with this one).
Reading slowly these days and last week I didn't even have writing to blame. I met my word count only two of my five writing days. Not for any particular reason or stress. I just felt very tired and had no energy. Trying to work out again and eat better to help on the energy tip but I think I just had an off week.
Tuesday
New Photos
Some recent photos of Zoe over on my flickr page.
We were invited to an Easter party and Zoe had a blast. She took the egg hunt very seriously. Last year she was just beginning to walk around Easter, so she only participated in the egg hunt at daycare (which consisted of the infants crawling around her room to find the eggs). This year was a little more exciting.
She got too distracted to participate in the egg race. She tried to do the egg rolling one but her egg rolled downhill too fast for her to keep up. Oh well, there's next year!
And, a word count for those of you following along at home. I'm writing fast, but I suspect not very well. It's a good way to generate words, but I'm not sure if I'll keep up this method on the next project. Too early to say right now.
Monday
Collecting
I've been wanting to write about my new project, but I'm hesitant to do so because I'm superstitious like that. I'm on my second of glass of red wine, though, and right now it seems like a good idea. Maybe I'll change my mind tomorrow.
I was lucky enough to meet and study with Janet Desaulniers in Chicago. Right now I'm trying her method of writing that she calls "collecting." She always encouraged people to do Nanowrimo, but collecting can be your own personal version of Nanowrimo. Essentially, you pick a certain number of days, say 30, and a certain number of words you will write each of those 30 days. And you don't put too much thought into writing; I think she does this by calling it "collecting." You start collecting a bunch of different words and don't worry yet too much about how they go together.
So I'm trying my own variation of collecting right now. I have these three ideas for what I think might be novella-length works (but knowing me and my tendency to write long, they will probably be short novels). The only thing that connects these stories is a sort of dark mood and place, the southwest. I couldn't decide which of the three to work on at first, so I was sort of piddling around. I'd work on this one for a bit, then switch and write notes for another, and then go to the third, and essentially I wasn't getting much done with all my dither-dathering.
I sat down and started writing notes for all three. And for whatever reason I could see behind door #2 most clearly and I had a sense of the shape of the whole thing, so I wrote a quick outline of 25 or so chapters, which in my case are typically 8-10 pages each. Or at least they were in the last novel. We'll see if that holds true again.
I started writing on April 1. Since writing novels sometimes seems like a fool's errand, this start day seems appropriate. I decided to give myself a daily word count (1200), but only for Monday-Friday. Weekends are kind of crazy around here, what with errands and spending time with toddlers and what not. So weekends are for revising (if I want to) or just getting life stuff done. So I've been doing this for almost two weeks, and nine days of writing. I have more than 15,000 words and I'm guessing at an end total of about 80,000. I could be wrong about that; 80,000 really is just a shot in the dark at this point, but it's a goal. 1200 has been very doable and so far I haven't had a hard time reaching my word count. Monday-Friday also seems to be working well.
Maybe it's just this technique, or maybe it's the story itself, but right now the writing is not hard. I'm writing quickly and not sweating over the details. And if there's something I know I need to add in later but at the moment I'm not sure what it is, I put these [ ] as a note to myself and move on so I can meet my daily word count. If I can continue at this rate, I could have a rough draft by the end of June. (Assuming I haven't jinxed myself by writing this. The first rule of fight club ...)
This project is totally fictional. There is virtually no element of autobiography and part of me wonders if that's why this feels so easy. It feels like playing is what it feels like. And a huge part of me distrusts it. I think: it can't be good if it's not hard. I haven't actually done much revising yet, because I'm afraid if I go back and read it and it sucks, then I'll stop. But it's okay, I keep reassuring myself, if this is my shitty first draft. If this is just the skeleton (to mix metaphors), I can add some meat on the bones the next go around.
I really hope collecting works. 'Cause right now it's almost summertime and the living is easy...
I was lucky enough to meet and study with Janet Desaulniers in Chicago. Right now I'm trying her method of writing that she calls "collecting." She always encouraged people to do Nanowrimo, but collecting can be your own personal version of Nanowrimo. Essentially, you pick a certain number of days, say 30, and a certain number of words you will write each of those 30 days. And you don't put too much thought into writing; I think she does this by calling it "collecting." You start collecting a bunch of different words and don't worry yet too much about how they go together.
So I'm trying my own variation of collecting right now. I have these three ideas for what I think might be novella-length works (but knowing me and my tendency to write long, they will probably be short novels). The only thing that connects these stories is a sort of dark mood and place, the southwest. I couldn't decide which of the three to work on at first, so I was sort of piddling around. I'd work on this one for a bit, then switch and write notes for another, and then go to the third, and essentially I wasn't getting much done with all my dither-dathering.
I sat down and started writing notes for all three. And for whatever reason I could see behind door #2 most clearly and I had a sense of the shape of the whole thing, so I wrote a quick outline of 25 or so chapters, which in my case are typically 8-10 pages each. Or at least they were in the last novel. We'll see if that holds true again.
I started writing on April 1. Since writing novels sometimes seems like a fool's errand, this start day seems appropriate. I decided to give myself a daily word count (1200), but only for Monday-Friday. Weekends are kind of crazy around here, what with errands and spending time with toddlers and what not. So weekends are for revising (if I want to) or just getting life stuff done. So I've been doing this for almost two weeks, and nine days of writing. I have more than 15,000 words and I'm guessing at an end total of about 80,000. I could be wrong about that; 80,000 really is just a shot in the dark at this point, but it's a goal. 1200 has been very doable and so far I haven't had a hard time reaching my word count. Monday-Friday also seems to be working well.
Maybe it's just this technique, or maybe it's the story itself, but right now the writing is not hard. I'm writing quickly and not sweating over the details. And if there's something I know I need to add in later but at the moment I'm not sure what it is, I put these [ ] as a note to myself and move on so I can meet my daily word count. If I can continue at this rate, I could have a rough draft by the end of June. (Assuming I haven't jinxed myself by writing this. The first rule of fight club ...)
This project is totally fictional. There is virtually no element of autobiography and part of me wonders if that's why this feels so easy. It feels like playing is what it feels like. And a huge part of me distrusts it. I think: it can't be good if it's not hard. I haven't actually done much revising yet, because I'm afraid if I go back and read it and it sucks, then I'll stop. But it's okay, I keep reassuring myself, if this is my shitty first draft. If this is just the skeleton (to mix metaphors), I can add some meat on the bones the next go around.
I really hope collecting works. 'Cause right now it's almost summertime and the living is easy...
Reading List 2009
Like I predicted, my reading has slowed down quite a bit due to my writing. Last week I finished Rapture in Death (guilty pleasure) by J.D. Robb. I read somewhere that she tries to write her In Death series in threes, and this is the fourth book in the series, which means she had a break after the first three and worked on other projects. It sort of reads like it too. There's a bit more fluff than I usually notice and it's just not as tight as some of the other books. But I read them as sort of a palate cleanser more than as a main course, so I suppose I shouldn't look at them too critically.
I am reading two other books simultaneously. City of Refuge, Tom Piazza (for fun, and what a great name for a writer) and The Hero's Journey: Joseph Campbell on His Life and Work, Joseph Campbell and Phil Cousineau (research).
At the rate I'm going it'll take me awhile to finish both of those. Writing is going well, so I can't complain.
I am reading two other books simultaneously. City of Refuge, Tom Piazza (for fun, and what a great name for a writer) and The Hero's Journey: Joseph Campbell on His Life and Work, Joseph Campbell and Phil Cousineau (research).
At the rate I'm going it'll take me awhile to finish both of those. Writing is going well, so I can't complain.
Wednesday
Gabo Says ...
""My job is to write, not to publish ... I'll know when the pastries that I have in the oven are ready for the eating."--Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Thursday
Writing Update
I "finished" a novel a few years ago, depending on how you define "finished." There was the point when I completed a rough draft, then points when I completed drafts, then when I decided I had too many characters and switched from six to five (cutting David as a narrator was one of the hardest things I've done as a writer to date), and then there's where I'm at now.
The novel may not be perfect, it may not be publishable/marketable. I honestly can't tell. I've submitted my book to agents and gotten some nice notes. I get a lot of: this is good writing, but I'm not in love with it enough to take it on. Here's the problem.
At this point, I'm really not sure what else to do with it. One person described writing a novel as putting an octopus to bed. As soon as you get most of the legs under the blanket, another one pops out. I really don't know what else to do with it to make it better. That's not to say that I'm against making changes or revisions. If I suddenly have a eureka moment, or if an agent or editor read it and gave me some feedback that I agree with, feedback that made me suddenly realize what's been missing all along and how I could make it better, I would certainly take that under advisement. But at the moment, all I can do is scratch my head. I did the best I could do and until I get a better idea, I'm going to leave it the way it is.
A couple of months ago I entered the amazon breakthrough novel contest. I made it through the first cut (from a potential 10,000 entries to 2,000) but I did not make the next cut, which was 2,000 to 500. One of the "perks" of making it past the first round was getting two reviews of your novel.
Here is my description of "The Belly of the Father":
THE BELLY OF THE FATHER is a 105,000-word novel about four generations of a Mexican-American family living in Midland, Texas, at the crossroads of two cultures. The story spans five decades and is told from five different points of view. Gabriel, a traditional Latino father and self-made entrepreneur, receives a buy-out offer for his two neighborhood grocery stores from a regional chain. His wife Magdalena struggles to find a balance between living her own life and meeting the demands of her husband and daughters, her aging mother, and even her dead father, to whom she made a deathbed promise she can’t bring herself to keep. Their three daughters, Eva, Isabel, and Jane, are each searching for fulfillment and caught between their Mexican heritage and their American goals. When the family’s annual New Year’s Eve celebration is disrupted—first by the news that single mother Eva has become engaged to a man the family loathes, then by the discovery that rebellious daughter Jane has taken middle sister Isabel’s savings and left the country—the family’s long-simmering tensions reach a boil. Will Eva marry her philandering fiancé in the face of her family’s disapproval? Will Jane return to Midland, and if so, how will her disappointed family react? Will Isabel’s crippling anger keep her from finding her own path to happiness? How can Gabriel and Magdalena help their daughters when they are unable to make peace with their own choices? Each character struggles between listening to his or her own voice, and following family expectations.
Here were my two reviews from the contest:
ABNA Expert Reviewer
Gabriel is a traditional father trying to let his daughters be women in the modern world. All he asks is that the entire family ring in the New Year together with their band of family and friends. His oldest daughter is too sexy and makes a life changing decision at this party without consulting him. Another daughter, a professional and more modest seems upset when she arrives. The third never makes it to the party.
At first I thought this was a set-up for a murder or missing person's story but then chapter two flashes back to Jane, the other daughter's life. I just couldn't figure out what was happening and that deeply disappointed me.
ABNA Expert Reviewer
"The Belly of the Father" is a beautifully written portrayal of a family. In a few pages readers get to know Gabriel Garza, his wife Magdalena, their three daughters, and Magdalena's mother. The author has a nice way with words that make you feel like you know these characters. The underlying tension that happens in all families is nicely portrayed on these pages. The second chapter switches from Gabriel's viewpoint to that of his daughter Jane and that chapter is as well done as the first. The author has a wonderful way of describing small things, like a peeling sunburn, that make the excerpt an even richer read.
The author of "The Belly of the Father" has created a family that readers will care about and want to know more about. Well done.
So there you go. Two different opinions. I'm not sure if they were able to read the description/synopsis, or only the excerpt (which in my case was two chapters). Some of the feedback I've gotten from agents is that they don't like the structure of rotating narrators/characters because it's confusing. Based on the two reviews, I think you either like it or you don't.
Since I'm not really sure how else to improve the novel at the moment, and I have three new ideas burning holes through my brain, I have elected to move on to my next project. I'll write about that more in a couple of days. Mommyhood calls: Zoe is hungry and it's time for dinner.
The novel may not be perfect, it may not be publishable/marketable. I honestly can't tell. I've submitted my book to agents and gotten some nice notes. I get a lot of: this is good writing, but I'm not in love with it enough to take it on. Here's the problem.
At this point, I'm really not sure what else to do with it. One person described writing a novel as putting an octopus to bed. As soon as you get most of the legs under the blanket, another one pops out. I really don't know what else to do with it to make it better. That's not to say that I'm against making changes or revisions. If I suddenly have a eureka moment, or if an agent or editor read it and gave me some feedback that I agree with, feedback that made me suddenly realize what's been missing all along and how I could make it better, I would certainly take that under advisement. But at the moment, all I can do is scratch my head. I did the best I could do and until I get a better idea, I'm going to leave it the way it is.
A couple of months ago I entered the amazon breakthrough novel contest. I made it through the first cut (from a potential 10,000 entries to 2,000) but I did not make the next cut, which was 2,000 to 500. One of the "perks" of making it past the first round was getting two reviews of your novel.
Here is my description of "The Belly of the Father":
THE BELLY OF THE FATHER is a 105,000-word novel about four generations of a Mexican-American family living in Midland, Texas, at the crossroads of two cultures. The story spans five decades and is told from five different points of view. Gabriel, a traditional Latino father and self-made entrepreneur, receives a buy-out offer for his two neighborhood grocery stores from a regional chain. His wife Magdalena struggles to find a balance between living her own life and meeting the demands of her husband and daughters, her aging mother, and even her dead father, to whom she made a deathbed promise she can’t bring herself to keep. Their three daughters, Eva, Isabel, and Jane, are each searching for fulfillment and caught between their Mexican heritage and their American goals. When the family’s annual New Year’s Eve celebration is disrupted—first by the news that single mother Eva has become engaged to a man the family loathes, then by the discovery that rebellious daughter Jane has taken middle sister Isabel’s savings and left the country—the family’s long-simmering tensions reach a boil. Will Eva marry her philandering fiancé in the face of her family’s disapproval? Will Jane return to Midland, and if so, how will her disappointed family react? Will Isabel’s crippling anger keep her from finding her own path to happiness? How can Gabriel and Magdalena help their daughters when they are unable to make peace with their own choices? Each character struggles between listening to his or her own voice, and following family expectations.
Here were my two reviews from the contest:
ABNA Expert Reviewer
Gabriel is a traditional father trying to let his daughters be women in the modern world. All he asks is that the entire family ring in the New Year together with their band of family and friends. His oldest daughter is too sexy and makes a life changing decision at this party without consulting him. Another daughter, a professional and more modest seems upset when she arrives. The third never makes it to the party.
At first I thought this was a set-up for a murder or missing person's story but then chapter two flashes back to Jane, the other daughter's life. I just couldn't figure out what was happening and that deeply disappointed me.
ABNA Expert Reviewer
"The Belly of the Father" is a beautifully written portrayal of a family. In a few pages readers get to know Gabriel Garza, his wife Magdalena, their three daughters, and Magdalena's mother. The author has a nice way with words that make you feel like you know these characters. The underlying tension that happens in all families is nicely portrayed on these pages. The second chapter switches from Gabriel's viewpoint to that of his daughter Jane and that chapter is as well done as the first. The author has a wonderful way of describing small things, like a peeling sunburn, that make the excerpt an even richer read.
The author of "The Belly of the Father" has created a family that readers will care about and want to know more about. Well done.
So there you go. Two different opinions. I'm not sure if they were able to read the description/synopsis, or only the excerpt (which in my case was two chapters). Some of the feedback I've gotten from agents is that they don't like the structure of rotating narrators/characters because it's confusing. Based on the two reviews, I think you either like it or you don't.
Since I'm not really sure how else to improve the novel at the moment, and I have three new ideas burning holes through my brain, I have elected to move on to my next project. I'll write about that more in a couple of days. Mommyhood calls: Zoe is hungry and it's time for dinner.
Tuesday
Hmmm...
I found out that Natalie Goldberg is reading at BookPeople tonight and at Congregation Beth Israel tomorrow. As far as I can tell, there is no coverage of this in the daily or weekly papers here other than calendar listings. Maybe there will be something tomorrow in the Statesman or Thursday when this week's Chronicle comes out. Or not? I guess I shouldn't be surprised by the lack of book coverage when newspapers and publishing have been hit so hard with recent economic woes. Trying to figure out where to go for local book news and info though ...
Monday
Reading List 2009
Last week I read:
My Life in France, Julia Childs (fun)
Water for Elephants, Sara Gruen (book club)
What You've Been Missing, Janet Desaulniers (an old writing prof)
Not sure what's up next in the reading queue. I'm waiting on a few different books from the library and I'm about to start working on another writing project, so my reading may slow down a bit. I'll write more about my new writing project in a day or two.
My Life in France, Julia Childs (fun)
Water for Elephants, Sara Gruen (book club)
What You've Been Missing, Janet Desaulniers (an old writing prof)
Not sure what's up next in the reading queue. I'm waiting on a few different books from the library and I'm about to start working on another writing project, so my reading may slow down a bit. I'll write more about my new writing project in a day or two.
Zoe Update in Pictures
Our friends Bill and KK invited us to their house for dinner on Friday and Bill got some really nice snaps of Zoe.
She's looking more like a little girl these days, talking up a storm, and tackling the world. We got three incident reports in a row last week from her falling off jungle gym equipment at daycare (she's really into jumping right now). On Saturday we got a glimpse of how all those falls are happening. We took her to the park and watched in parental slo-motion horror as she took off running too fast and fell down a flight of stairs near the playground. A short flight, but still. The child is fearless. Motto seems to be: go for the biggest slide and go as fast as you can. It's sort of inspirational, but also traumatizing from a mama's perspective.
Thursday
Reading List 2009
Just finished:
The Sunday Tertulia, Lori Marie Carlson
The Guardians, Ana Castillo
both for fun.
Next up:
My Life in France, Julia Childs (fun)
Water for Elephants, Sara Gruen (book club)
The Sunday Tertulia, Lori Marie Carlson
The Guardians, Ana Castillo
both for fun.
Next up:
My Life in France, Julia Childs (fun)
Water for Elephants, Sara Gruen (book club)
Tuesday
Zoe Update
It's been awhile since I've done one of these. I no longer count months the way I did during her first year, so I don't have regular reminders to write about Zoe these days. She will be two years old in two months. I can't believe the time has gone by so quickly.
Last month the three of us volunteered at an Austin Marathon water stop. Zoe would randomly shout out, "go!" to the runners and made quite a few people laugh. She was fascinated by the runners drinking the water from cups, then throwing them to the side. She has been mimicking this action at home, unfortunately. The volunteers would crush the thrown cups so they wouldn't blow away if we didn't have time to reach down and pick them up before the next wave of runners. Zoe got a big kick out of going around and stomping on cups.
Also last month the three of us went to Mount Bonnell (Zoe's first time). There was a couple making out and as we walked by. Zoe said, "who's that?" They laughed.
She's talking a lot more these days. She repeats a lot of words, but randomly. For instance, the other day Nate was saying something about being happy, and Zoe kept saying "hop-eee." Her repetitions are close to the word, but sometimes she's tough to understand. Another anecdote: this past Saturday afternoon she and I were watching a movie and sitting next to each other. She pulled my hair and I asked her to stop it. She got a mischievous glint in her eye and kept pulling my hair, repeating, "Stop it. Stop it." She seemed a little evil. Nate thinks this is his genetic influence.
She seems more self-conscious. She doesn't bust out dancing in public the way she used to.
At the playground she always goes for the biggest slide. Whatever the big kids are doing, that's what she wants to do. She has no fear.
Her hair is getting loooong. Her hair used to be really curly but now the length/weight are pulling some of the curls down. And I keep wondering if I should give her bangs to keep the hair out of her face, but I don't think she'd sit still long enough for us to get a presentable haircut.
She has a temper. With the daylight savings time shift, we've had a couple of rough nights. Last night she had a particularly tough time going down. She was in bed for at least an hour and just couldn't fall asleep. At a certain point, she got up and headed toward the bedroom door and opened it. I stayed in bed. She turned and looked at me because she wanted me to come with her. I said, "No, mommy is going to sleep." Then she got really mad and either said "go" or "no" and very clearly gestured for me to get up.
She looooves dogs and cats, but especially cats. When she sees them on our neighborhood walks, she will say "meowww" as we go by. In her books, she points at animals (like lions, bears, frogs, monkeys--oohoohawwawww, etc.) and then makes their equivalent noises. The elephant is particularly funny (she does a trunk motion with her arm). She is scared of chickens if they get too close to her in real life but she likes ducks.
She hates dresses. The last two times I've tried to put a dress on her, she started crying and trying to take them off. I know that at a certain point I refused to wear dresses, but I think I was five or six, not a few months shy of two! I think Zoe is my karma.
Every time we drive by Zilker Park and she sees the playground, she whines. She has started whining more in general. If we ask her if she's hungry, thirsty, ready to go to bed, etc. she says, "yeah," but in this very funny voice that sounds like she's about to cry.
She's tall enough to reach most of the doorknobs in the apartment. We're trying to remember to lock the front door (she can't reach the locks yet) so we don't end up on the news as the parents of a toddler found wandering alone on the street. She's a lot more confident in general. She climbs stairs very well on her own and likes to climb and jump off everything.
Her favorite show is WordWorld. Sometimes she will walk over to the TV and hit it, and yes, whine. That is her signal that she wants to watch an episode. We are heading into the terrible twos, I guess, though so far they are mostly amusing.
Update to the update: I thought of a couple of other things since writing this.
If you help her with something, Zoe will say thank you. Only it sounds like, "tii-tu."
I am working on potty (mouth) training. I still say way too many curse words around Zoe, though I really do try to restrain myself. Today I was changing her pull-ups and she'd had a leak. I said, "crap." She spent the next half hour saying, "Drap. Drap!" Good lesson for me.
Speaking of potty training, she's getting there. She's been using the potty since early December. She uses it several times a day. Sometimes she tells you she wants to go; other times I just guess, put her on the potty, and I'm right (or wrong). I tried the whole put panties on instead of pull-ups for a weekend. The thought being that once she knows she's wet, she'll get uncomfortable and make the whole mind-potty connection. But what kept happening was that she'd pee or poop on the floor because she didn't want to stop playing to go to the potty. Being wet/dirty did not bother her in the slightest, which led me to think she isn't ready for that next step. And since she's not even two, that is fine with me. Plus, poop on the floor? Drap.
Last month the three of us volunteered at an Austin Marathon water stop. Zoe would randomly shout out, "go!" to the runners and made quite a few people laugh. She was fascinated by the runners drinking the water from cups, then throwing them to the side. She has been mimicking this action at home, unfortunately. The volunteers would crush the thrown cups so they wouldn't blow away if we didn't have time to reach down and pick them up before the next wave of runners. Zoe got a big kick out of going around and stomping on cups.
Also last month the three of us went to Mount Bonnell (Zoe's first time). There was a couple making out and as we walked by. Zoe said, "who's that?" They laughed.
She's talking a lot more these days. She repeats a lot of words, but randomly. For instance, the other day Nate was saying something about being happy, and Zoe kept saying "hop-eee." Her repetitions are close to the word, but sometimes she's tough to understand. Another anecdote: this past Saturday afternoon she and I were watching a movie and sitting next to each other. She pulled my hair and I asked her to stop it. She got a mischievous glint in her eye and kept pulling my hair, repeating, "Stop it. Stop it." She seemed a little evil. Nate thinks this is his genetic influence.
She seems more self-conscious. She doesn't bust out dancing in public the way she used to.
At the playground she always goes for the biggest slide. Whatever the big kids are doing, that's what she wants to do. She has no fear.
Her hair is getting loooong. Her hair used to be really curly but now the length/weight are pulling some of the curls down. And I keep wondering if I should give her bangs to keep the hair out of her face, but I don't think she'd sit still long enough for us to get a presentable haircut.
She has a temper. With the daylight savings time shift, we've had a couple of rough nights. Last night she had a particularly tough time going down. She was in bed for at least an hour and just couldn't fall asleep. At a certain point, she got up and headed toward the bedroom door and opened it. I stayed in bed. She turned and looked at me because she wanted me to come with her. I said, "No, mommy is going to sleep." Then she got really mad and either said "go" or "no" and very clearly gestured for me to get up.
She looooves dogs and cats, but especially cats. When she sees them on our neighborhood walks, she will say "meowww" as we go by. In her books, she points at animals (like lions, bears, frogs, monkeys--oohoohawwawww, etc.) and then makes their equivalent noises. The elephant is particularly funny (she does a trunk motion with her arm). She is scared of chickens if they get too close to her in real life but she likes ducks.
She hates dresses. The last two times I've tried to put a dress on her, she started crying and trying to take them off. I know that at a certain point I refused to wear dresses, but I think I was five or six, not a few months shy of two! I think Zoe is my karma.
Every time we drive by Zilker Park and she sees the playground, she whines. She has started whining more in general. If we ask her if she's hungry, thirsty, ready to go to bed, etc. she says, "yeah," but in this very funny voice that sounds like she's about to cry.
She's tall enough to reach most of the doorknobs in the apartment. We're trying to remember to lock the front door (she can't reach the locks yet) so we don't end up on the news as the parents of a toddler found wandering alone on the street. She's a lot more confident in general. She climbs stairs very well on her own and likes to climb and jump off everything.
Her favorite show is WordWorld. Sometimes she will walk over to the TV and hit it, and yes, whine. That is her signal that she wants to watch an episode. We are heading into the terrible twos, I guess, though so far they are mostly amusing.
Update to the update: I thought of a couple of other things since writing this.
If you help her with something, Zoe will say thank you. Only it sounds like, "tii-tu."
I am working on potty (mouth) training. I still say way too many curse words around Zoe, though I really do try to restrain myself. Today I was changing her pull-ups and she'd had a leak. I said, "crap." She spent the next half hour saying, "Drap. Drap!" Good lesson for me.
Speaking of potty training, she's getting there. She's been using the potty since early December. She uses it several times a day. Sometimes she tells you she wants to go; other times I just guess, put her on the potty, and I'm right (or wrong). I tried the whole put panties on instead of pull-ups for a weekend. The thought being that once she knows she's wet, she'll get uncomfortable and make the whole mind-potty connection. But what kept happening was that she'd pee or poop on the floor because she didn't want to stop playing to go to the potty. Being wet/dirty did not bother her in the slightest, which led me to think she isn't ready for that next step. And since she's not even two, that is fine with me. Plus, poop on the floor? Drap.
I wish I could do this
I can't sing worth a darn but if I could, I wish I sounded like Chavela.
Another, more recent version of the same song.
Another, more recent version of the same song.
Monday
Thursday
This made me laugh
What do you wish writers knew about you that they sometimes don't?
GARGAGLIANO: I think most writers don't realize that every editor goes home and reads and edits for four hours—that they're not doing that in the office. That in the office they're advocating for all of the authors they already have.
NASH: I don't even get to read when I go home. When I go home, I'm continuing to advocate. I haven't been able to read at all recently. I've really just become a pure pimp.
CHINSKI: I thought you were a whore.
NASH: I'm both at once! It depends on the street I'm walking down.
GARGAGLIANO: I think most writers don't realize that every editor goes home and reads and edits for four hours—that they're not doing that in the office. That in the office they're advocating for all of the authors they already have.
NASH: I don't even get to read when I go home. When I go home, I'm continuing to advocate. I haven't been able to read at all recently. I've really just become a pure pimp.
CHINSKI: I thought you were a whore.
NASH: I'm both at once! It depends on the street I'm walking down.
Friday
You know you’re an Austinite again when …
You go to Whole Foods for lunch and the tea sample guy stops you so he can get a better look at your tattoo.
You are in yoga class and when you turn to do a twist, the six people on your left all have a tattoo in the same place you do.
You go to the crystal store to get a necklace that supports communication/writing and your throat chakra.
You go back to work on Fridays after lunch and most of your coworkers are already gone for the day.
You really like where you live again.
Update: Check out Budget Travel's 25 Reasons We Love Austin.
You are in yoga class and when you turn to do a twist, the six people on your left all have a tattoo in the same place you do.
You go to the crystal store to get a necklace that supports communication/writing and your throat chakra.
You go back to work on Fridays after lunch and most of your coworkers are already gone for the day.
You really like where you live again.
Update: Check out Budget Travel's 25 Reasons We Love Austin.
Saturday
Kindle, Kindle-ing
For Christmas this year, Nate got me a Kindle.
The great things about it:
Download books pretty much anywhere and everywhere, with very little waiting. Download time is fast.
Holds up to 200 or so books, and more if you get an extra memory card. We're currently living in a small apartment, so saving space right now is a big plus for me.
Saves paper, if you're into that sort of thing.
You can download sample chapers to check out the book before you buy.
New books (currently in hardback) are typically $9.99 or so versus $20-whatever.
Convenient if you're a frequent traveler. You don't have to lug a bunch of heavy books around, and if you finish all you've brought before your trip is over, just download more.
You can "clip" sections and save them to refer to later. You can also bookmark.
You can also subscribe to magazines, newspapers, and blogs.
Easy-to-read screen and it's easy to use.
The not-so-great:
Kinda hard to share digital books. One of my favorite things is passing on books I think others will like. Even with my spouse it would be tough to share, unless I'm willing to give up the Kindle for a while.
It's an electronic device and my primary reading time is during lunch. I'm eating and drinking and trying not to drip. Not a deal breaker, by any means, but you have to be more careful with the Kindle than a paperback.
You spend a lot more money on books. This is good and bad. But with no waiting for a trip to the bookstore or shipping from Amazon, you get instant gratification. I'm glad I'm supporting writers by buying their books, but man, I'm spending a lot more money in this area than I normally do.
The buttons. The way the Kindle is currently designed, it's really easy to accidentally go to the next page or the previous page when you don't intend to because your fingers hit the buttons on the side of the Kindle. I've read that this design element is being addressed in the next incarnation, so eventually this won't be an issue.
Image quality is very poor. I would not buy a book on the Kindle that had pictures or other images that I wanted to study in detail. I also wouldn't subscribe to magazines where images are important, like say, an architectural or art magazine. The grainy images are frustrating.
Some libraries offer e-books the way they let you check out normal books. This isn't the case in Austin so this falls on the "con" side of the list for me. But if Austin offered this service, it would obviously go to the other side of the list.
Not all books are available on the Kindle.
Aside from these mostly minor complaints, the Kindle is pretty much the perfect gift for me. I love to read, but would never have bought this for myself due to the price. Right now I'm inhaling books and reading a ton more than I had in recent years. And maybe by making it easier to get books (in whatever platform, including iPhones) the publishing industry won't go down in flames the way it currently seems to be doing. We can hope.
The great things about it:
Download books pretty much anywhere and everywhere, with very little waiting. Download time is fast.
Holds up to 200 or so books, and more if you get an extra memory card. We're currently living in a small apartment, so saving space right now is a big plus for me.
Saves paper, if you're into that sort of thing.
You can download sample chapers to check out the book before you buy.
New books (currently in hardback) are typically $9.99 or so versus $20-whatever.
Convenient if you're a frequent traveler. You don't have to lug a bunch of heavy books around, and if you finish all you've brought before your trip is over, just download more.
You can "clip" sections and save them to refer to later. You can also bookmark.
You can also subscribe to magazines, newspapers, and blogs.
Easy-to-read screen and it's easy to use.
The not-so-great:
Kinda hard to share digital books. One of my favorite things is passing on books I think others will like. Even with my spouse it would be tough to share, unless I'm willing to give up the Kindle for a while.
It's an electronic device and my primary reading time is during lunch. I'm eating and drinking and trying not to drip. Not a deal breaker, by any means, but you have to be more careful with the Kindle than a paperback.
You spend a lot more money on books. This is good and bad. But with no waiting for a trip to the bookstore or shipping from Amazon, you get instant gratification. I'm glad I'm supporting writers by buying their books, but man, I'm spending a lot more money in this area than I normally do.
The buttons. The way the Kindle is currently designed, it's really easy to accidentally go to the next page or the previous page when you don't intend to because your fingers hit the buttons on the side of the Kindle. I've read that this design element is being addressed in the next incarnation, so eventually this won't be an issue.
Image quality is very poor. I would not buy a book on the Kindle that had pictures or other images that I wanted to study in detail. I also wouldn't subscribe to magazines where images are important, like say, an architectural or art magazine. The grainy images are frustrating.
Some libraries offer e-books the way they let you check out normal books. This isn't the case in Austin so this falls on the "con" side of the list for me. But if Austin offered this service, it would obviously go to the other side of the list.
Not all books are available on the Kindle.
Aside from these mostly minor complaints, the Kindle is pretty much the perfect gift for me. I love to read, but would never have bought this for myself due to the price. Right now I'm inhaling books and reading a ton more than I had in recent years. And maybe by making it easier to get books (in whatever platform, including iPhones) the publishing industry won't go down in flames the way it currently seems to be doing. We can hope.
Sunday
2009, Resolutions, Writing
2008 was full, busy, and stressful. The first part of the year found Nate and I learning how to be parents, working full time, and making a few big decisions. In the spring of '08 shortly after an Easter trip to Austin, we decided to take the plunge and move to Austin. It was a decision we struggled over, but once it was made we kept going. We spent most of the spring getting the house ready to sell and then we started looking for jobs. I moved to Austin in June and Nate moved here in late July. We spent six weeks taking turns traveling to see each other on weekends, I got a taste of the single parent life during the work week, and we infringed on our friends' hospitality by staying in their guest room for a couple of months. We also worried our house wouldn't sell, since the mortgage industry started crumbling almost immediately afer we put our house on the market. But things worked out. Two weeks after we signed a lease on an apartment we got an offer (of course).
Nate and I are finally starting to relax. After so many months of struggle and stress, things have really calmed down. We're in a holding pattern until our lease ends. Since we don't have a house, thus no landscaping or home projects, most weekends we spend hanging out. We go to Zilker pretty often. We eat out an awful lot (probably too much). I think we're so used to stress, both of us are waiting for something bad to happen. All this ease seems deceptive somehow. But, I'm starting to suspect this easy time is what we "earned" after all that work. We're starting to have time for ourselves and our interests again.
So, one of my resolutions this year involves time. I get requests for freelance work randomly, yet regularly. I usually say yes because I have a hard time saying no. I also get a sense of security from it, because in these wacky economic times, it seems like it's a good idea to have more than one iron the fire. But ... it interferes with a lot of things. I'll start working out, then get a gig so I won't work out for several days because I have to do freelance after work and after Zoe goes to bed, which means I am up late. I'm tired, don't have energy, and all my free time goes to that gig. I meet the deadline and I start working out again, then the process repeats itself. What it means is I sort of start over and over, instead of being consistent and building up progress. So I've decided to stop doing freelance work. I just said no to editing a book-length manuscript. It was tough (the whole saying "no" thing) and it sounded like an interesting book, but I really want to focus on my health, my family, and my own work.
I've had the idea for my next writing project for a while, but like working out, I'd start dipping my toes in and then have a freelance assignment to do. So the no freelance will help on that end as well. I spend a lot of time thinking before I write so having free time is critical for me to work on something creative. I need a lot of time to daydream. Taps into a different part of my brain, I suppose.
That kind of brings up my old, completed project. I've been submitting my novel to agents when I have time. (Another thing not freelancing will help me do!) In my head I have a number of submissions I think it's reasonable to make. I don't know if that number is realistic or arbitrary, but it seems like a reasonable number to me. I am 40% of the way to that number. I have gotten requests for partial or full manuscripts to almost half of the queries I've sent out, which isn't bad since I haven't gotten responses to approximately one-fifth of those same queries. (Is all this math making your head hurt yet?) I had started getting some really nice rejection notes, which gave me hope that it was a matter of time and finding the right agent. Then the bad economic times hit publishing and Black Wednesday took its toll on the industry. I started worrying that it was unlikely I'd find an agent or an editor willing to take a shot on a new writer during such troubled times. But you know, Nate and I found jobs and sold our house in the middle of all this mess. Maybe my luck will hold just a little bit longer.
Here's my resolutions list.
Make my family the priority--spending time together, cooking nice meals instead of defaulting to our boring standards all the time, having fun with Nate and Zoe, loving on them a lot, and reinstating date night.
Continue looking for an agent.
Live like a writer: make my own writing, not freelancing, my goal during my free time. Write in my journal, work on my next project, go to readings, connect with other writers.
Take better care of myself. Be consistent with yoga and running, eat healthy more often, get enough sleep.
Get to know Austin again. Go to events, festivals, explore things I haven't tried here before.
Continue paying off debt. We've made a lot of progress on this front and just need to keep our momentum going.
Have more fun. After all the work we've done the past half year, I think we're due a few good times.
Nate and I are finally starting to relax. After so many months of struggle and stress, things have really calmed down. We're in a holding pattern until our lease ends. Since we don't have a house, thus no landscaping or home projects, most weekends we spend hanging out. We go to Zilker pretty often. We eat out an awful lot (probably too much). I think we're so used to stress, both of us are waiting for something bad to happen. All this ease seems deceptive somehow. But, I'm starting to suspect this easy time is what we "earned" after all that work. We're starting to have time for ourselves and our interests again.
So, one of my resolutions this year involves time. I get requests for freelance work randomly, yet regularly. I usually say yes because I have a hard time saying no. I also get a sense of security from it, because in these wacky economic times, it seems like it's a good idea to have more than one iron the fire. But ... it interferes with a lot of things. I'll start working out, then get a gig so I won't work out for several days because I have to do freelance after work and after Zoe goes to bed, which means I am up late. I'm tired, don't have energy, and all my free time goes to that gig. I meet the deadline and I start working out again, then the process repeats itself. What it means is I sort of start over and over, instead of being consistent and building up progress. So I've decided to stop doing freelance work. I just said no to editing a book-length manuscript. It was tough (the whole saying "no" thing) and it sounded like an interesting book, but I really want to focus on my health, my family, and my own work.
I've had the idea for my next writing project for a while, but like working out, I'd start dipping my toes in and then have a freelance assignment to do. So the no freelance will help on that end as well. I spend a lot of time thinking before I write so having free time is critical for me to work on something creative. I need a lot of time to daydream. Taps into a different part of my brain, I suppose.
That kind of brings up my old, completed project. I've been submitting my novel to agents when I have time. (Another thing not freelancing will help me do!) In my head I have a number of submissions I think it's reasonable to make. I don't know if that number is realistic or arbitrary, but it seems like a reasonable number to me. I am 40% of the way to that number. I have gotten requests for partial or full manuscripts to almost half of the queries I've sent out, which isn't bad since I haven't gotten responses to approximately one-fifth of those same queries. (Is all this math making your head hurt yet?) I had started getting some really nice rejection notes, which gave me hope that it was a matter of time and finding the right agent. Then the bad economic times hit publishing and Black Wednesday took its toll on the industry. I started worrying that it was unlikely I'd find an agent or an editor willing to take a shot on a new writer during such troubled times. But you know, Nate and I found jobs and sold our house in the middle of all this mess. Maybe my luck will hold just a little bit longer.
Here's my resolutions list.
Make my family the priority--spending time together, cooking nice meals instead of defaulting to our boring standards all the time, having fun with Nate and Zoe, loving on them a lot, and reinstating date night.
Continue looking for an agent.
Live like a writer: make my own writing, not freelancing, my goal during my free time. Write in my journal, work on my next project, go to readings, connect with other writers.
Take better care of myself. Be consistent with yoga and running, eat healthy more often, get enough sleep.
Get to know Austin again. Go to events, festivals, explore things I haven't tried here before.
Continue paying off debt. We've made a lot of progress on this front and just need to keep our momentum going.
Have more fun. After all the work we've done the past half year, I think we're due a few good times.