Saturday, January 28, 2012

Assignments

This morning, the roads were icy.  It was a perfect excuse to stay home, but I had a fiction writing class to attend at the Neenah campus of the Fox River Technical College.  It took me 70 minutes to do a 40 minute drive, but it was worth it.  I get inspiration, new ideas, and most important, deadlines from these classes.  Without deadlines, I procrastinate. With them, I get busy and write, write, write.

The first assignment was to read a book I would never read otherwise.  I've come up with three possibilities:
--  I could borrow one of Gary's thrillers.  He pulled one out of his library and handed it to me.  It's Harlan Coben's Long Lost.  I have not a clue about it.  The dust jacket says this is a best selling author, but I've never heard of him.
--  I could read Hunger Games, a post-apocalyptic book that started a new trend.  I'll order it from the library and take a look.
--  or I could follow another of Gary's suggestions, Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers, an Updated Guide to Stress, Stress-Related Diseases, and Coping, a scientific book by Robert M. Sapolsky. We've watched some of Sapolsky's lectures and they certainly are interesting. It's non-fiction but nothing I have ever considered reading.

I'll have to make a choice on that one, soon.

Then there are a couple of books Nikki, our instructor, recommended.  I'll look for those, too.

During the class, we did a writing exercise about our morning and how it had progressed.  Since I had just driven on icy roads that was easy enough.   Now I have to polish it up and add some fiction to it by next week.

At the same time, I continue to work on my novel plus finish writing "Island Fever" for Black Coffee Fiction.

Have I ever mentioned that I once had to write seven 20 page term papers and read 49 books during one college semester?   What I'm doing now looks easy compared to that!

Friday, January 27, 2012

The Pressure is On.

This morning, Wade told me that his story, "Badlands Journal" in our shared Black Coffee Fiction short story blog ( http://blackcoffeefiction.blogspot.com ) was going to be a three parter.  Part 1 appeared last Friday and  Part 2 showed up today. Next Friday, he will finish the story, and then it is my turn to produce fiction for the next three weeks, since from the onset, we have shared the blog equally, though from time to time we have guest writers.  

To have a short story ready to go once a week is putting pressure on any writer.  I looked at the short story ideas I had and despaired.  How could I work on the stories and continue to work on my novel at the same time?  Wade and I both struggle to keep our other writing on track.

Luck was on my side because the day was sunny and warm.  I took a long walk to think about where I was going.  Half way down Lincoln Street, I remembered a story about a lighthouse that we had agreed was way too long for the blog.  We try to keep our stories around 3,000 words each week and "Island Fever" is over 7,000 words long.

Since Wade's story was in three parts, I thought, why can't I do the same?  I sent him an e-mail and he agreed.  So in two weeks, I will be ready to go with a thriller.

Tomorrow, I start another Fox Valley Technical College course taught by Nikki Kallio.  Why does this writer  continue to take these classes?  Ballerinas work at the barre, actors attend the Actors' Studio in New York City, artists attend workshops.  Those of us in the arts are always learning from each other.

I hope to come away from Nikki's class with enough new ideas to keep Black Coffee Fiction in stories for months to come.  

Thursday, January 26, 2012

Habits

A few nights ago, son Chris wanted to talk to me about plans for the weekend but realized it was getting late, approaching 10:00.  He told Tisha it was too late, I probably was in bed.

"Just a minute," she said and sat down at her computer. A few minutes later she told him, "She's still up."

No, she didn't send me an instant message or check Facebook.  She looked at this blog to see if I had posted yet, as I do every night.  It is usually the last thing I do each night.

He called me and we made arrangements, but after he told me about Tisha's computer check, I began wondering, am I that predictable?

I think of myself as a free wheeling individual, who flies from one thing to another with no real order to my life, but now I began to wonder what other habits I have. I decided to change things around a bit.  I would walk earlier in the day, spend time working in the afternoon instead.  I would post on this blog at noon.

It didn't work.  I found out that the reason for habits is that they work very well indeed.  So here I am, still posting late at night.  You see, I know that Tisha checks the blog last thing at night.   How could I change?

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

From the Netherlands

This week this blog had 310 “hits” from around the world:

177 from the United States
99 from the Netherlands
12 from Russia
8 from Germany
4 from the United Kingdom
3 from Canada
2 from Australia
2 from Indonesia
2 from India
1 from France

I understand the 177 from the United States but seventy five percent of my readers come from outside the US borders. People in Germany and Russia often check in. I know I have friends in the UK, Australia and France. I also have one friend in the Netherlands, but I doubt he has read my blog 99 times in a week.

So why are people in the Netherlands suddenly reading my words? The last time I was in Amsterdam was in 1968. I was there with my sister for three days. Every day we went to a two story bakery near the center of the city and gorged on the best pastries I've eaten anywhere. As we drank our tea, my sister and I enjoyed watching the people. It was a happy memory.

Is that bakery still there? Would my readers in Amsterdam let me know?

Some day, I would like to return to the Netherlands for a longer stay. I want to enjoy the pastries again. 




Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Sneezing, Hacking, Sleeping

I have a cold.  It's been creeping up on me for days and now it is really here.

When Gary gets a cold, it shows up suddenly.  He gets very sick and is in bed for a day or two, then the thing is over.

My colds aren't like that. They move through my body in slow motion, affecting one part of my body at a time.  This one first showed up as a cold sore, then became an ear infection. Next came body aches. Yesterday my eyes were watering. Today, with the advent of the sneezing and coughing variety, I finally have been laid up.

I can go for years without being sick so in one way I don't mind this cold.  It gives me a perfect excuse for a vacation from doing anything with my brain.  I put aside the third draft of the novel and didn't think about working on short stories at all.

The timing is good.  The sidewalks are far too slippery for walking anyhow.

With my mind mushy, I've spent the day reading, watching TV or sleeping.  We took one little drive in the sunshine so I could get some fresh air.  Then it was back for another nap. 

Rascal led the way.  He sleeps beside me.  Occasionally, he struggles to his feet, stretches, yawns mightily and circles around to find a new position in his cat bed. When I climb into my lovely bed, he joins me at the foot.  We work on sleeping together.

Yes, I don't really mind the cold at all this first day.  We'll see how I feel tomorrow.

Monday, January 23, 2012

Another Winter Day

Yesterday it began to rain.  The rain turned to drizzle over night and that became a thick coating of ice on roads and sidewalks.  This morning, the snow began, making travel even more treacherous. Traffic stopped around here.  I had to cancel a meeting in Appleton.  It wasn't safe to go there. 

It doesn't happen every winter, but when Wisconsin sidewalks get the ice treatment they stay that way until there's a major melt and that can take a month. This feels like another winter like that. 

Once, when Chris was young, the sidewalks were so incredibly slippery, we put on ice skates and skated around the block.  It was the only way to get around.  I'm too old for skates, so this evening, at the fitness center, I did a few miles on a recumbent bike.  

Several times this winter, Gary and I will spend a morning at a mall walking around. We never buy anything, just walk. It isn't as good as a summer day on a national forest hiking trail, but we exercise as best we can. 

I told Gary I was going to take a nap and get up in March.  


Sunday, January 22, 2012

Bethesda Thrift Store

This afternoon, I took Tisha, Chris and Evan out to eat to celebrate Tisha's birthday.  Her birthday was a week ago, but weather and other commitments had moved the celebration back. That happens a lot to people with January birthdays.

Chris and Tisha have very good jobs, so they tend to buy what they want and need.  I have taken a page out of mother's book.  As she aged, it was simpler to take people out to eat for birthdays, anniversaries or other family events than to shop for presents for everyone.  

After we dined, Tisha and I went to do what we both love:  shopping in thrift shops.  The initial plan was to go to the St. Vincent de Paul shop on College Avenue, but darn, we forgot they aren't open on Sundays.  We decided to try the Bethesda shop, run by the Lutheran Church, on Northland.  We didn't know that they would be open, but found out that the Lutherans are willing to open the Bethesda doors at noon, after church services.

I had seen the enormous store before but this was Tisha's first foray.  We found that like Goodwill, the goods were organized through colored tags.  All items that come in in the course of one week are tagged in a specific color.  When the items have been there long enough, they are discounted.  Today, everything with a yellow tag was 75 percent off. We were off!

I don't shop for clothes very often and then only look for necessary replacements for my wardrobe.  This year, I had worn out sweaters and slacks.  There were rack after rack of what I needed at Bethesda.  Everything was marked and colors put together.  We mostly passed on everything except the sale items.  

Tisha was amazing.  She saw things immediately and pulled clothes off the rack that cost around a dollar, sometimes less.  I didn't try anything on, we just held an item up and measured it by eye. We looked for good brands, such as Landsend. After all, if something didn't fit when I got it home, I could just drop it off at another thrift store where it would be sold again. We checked the labels to make sure everything was washable.  I had no intention of paying dry cleaning bills for something I had bought for a dollar or two.

Within half an hour I had two pants suits for church services and sweaters to get me through cold weather.

We walked around checking the other wares. Tisha found eight books for Evan who is turning into a little bookaholic. I was delighted to find a photo scrapbook with acid-free pages to hold my 2012 photos.  These have gotten more difficult to find with the advent of the digital photo age.  

When I got home I tried the clothes on and everything fit with the exception of one pair of pants that are a little snug.  I usually lose some weight once warmer weather comes on so even that will do.

I spent a little over $16 for everything.  The fun we had:  priceless.