Friday Fiver

1. Made it through this week, monograph-heavy as it was. The next ten working days look to be even more intense right up until the day I get on a plane to head over to London (vacation, not work-related). I'm so excited though. It's a dream come true and there will be so much to see. I cannot wait.

2. Headed to see the niece tomorrow. Hope the weather's nice. I feel very here, there, and everywhere with work and the upcoming trip. It is hard to go on vacation, yes? So many loose ends just as you prepare to go. And I'm such a homebody anyway.

3. Writing has slacked off. I am frustrated because the topsy-turvyness has affected the one thing it should NOT be messing with.

4. Finishing up everything freelance-related in good time. Preparing to load up again, this time with writing projects. Very excited about the opportunities coming my way.

5. It is officially fall to me. Cold mornings, staying darker longer. The afternoon sun burning off the cloud cover. It's bliss. My favorite time of year. I love it.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Playing on the iPod: Put Your Records On (Corinne Bailey Rae)

Fighting Resistance Thursday

Self-doubt can be an ally. This is because it serves as an indicator of inspiration. It reflects love, love of something we dream of doing, and desire, desire to do it. If you find yourself asking yourself (and your friends), "Am I really a writer? Am I really an artist?" chance are you are. The counterfeit innovator is wildly self-confident. The real one is scared to death.

Good thoughts, right? As always, from Steven Pressfield's War of Art. Great book! You need it!

Playing on the iPod: Stronger (Kanye West)

Writing Inspiration Wednesday

I'm hearing from some that 9/12 might be a tougher day than 9/11. Sending good thoughts out to all.

Yesterday was amazing. In the midst of all the sad memories and sorrow, two of my good friends had their babies! It reminded me that 9/11 can be happy again. Congrats T & J on E's arrival. She's just gorgeous with that dark hair. Congrats to A & C on H's arrival. He's our miracle and we are just thrilled that he's here and such a big boy! Over 4 lbs at just under 32 weeks. It's made me so happy! I can't wait to meet them.

So, my friend, Allison is struggling with getting her writing time in this week. I don't have nearly her excuse (I have no kids) but I'm feeling the same frustration. I like her description of trying to draw blood from a stone. How true.

So, in light of both our struggles to get back to last week's pure undisturbed stream of writing ideas and writing time, I'd like to offer up this inspiration from our inspiring writing coach, Monica Wood.

"It all means little, all the painting, sculpture, drawing, writing . . . it all has its place and nothing more. An attempt is everything. How marvelous!" Alberto Giacometti

Make the attempt.

And this one:

Today's the day. No more fooling around.

Set a timer for forty-five minutes, and don't get out of the chair until the timer dings. Even if you sit staring at the page the entire time, you're ingraining a habit.
Chickens and fraidy-cats may begin with five-minute segments.

If, after all your best efforts, the piece you're writing must be abandoned, do not despair. There is no such thing as wasted writing. Sometimes you must search and destroy, search and destroy, search and destroy before finding your true subject. Kiss those hard-earned pages good-bye--fondly, if you can manage it--and take out a beautiful, clean sheet. The new, marvelous thing you are about to write will emerge not despite those abandoned pages, but because of them (emphasis mine).

Train yourself to write through anything and to write anywhere.

Playing on the iPod: 1,2,3,4 (Feist)

Gadget Girl Tuesday.

Do you use Shelfari, Good Reads, or Library Thing? How did you choose? Which one is best?

How about another option instead?

Lifehacker reviewed Google Book Search and gave it two thumbs up.

I have accounts at all the big three, but I intend to check out Google Book Search, because I like the quotes function possibilities.

Anyway, it looks interesting.

In other news, eWeek discusses the prospect of Facebook indexed on Google. I admit, I changed the information included in my public profile, just because of those same concerns. While I love the Internet, I'm also aware of its excesses.

And last, but definitely not least, my thoughts and prayers are with the families and friends of those we lost six years ago today. It is shocking to be back to that Tuesday after so many years. God bless you all.

Playing on the iPod: Adagio for Strings (mixed by Tiesto)

Monday Book Rec

Rarely do grammar books read beautifully (well, I think they all do, but I have heard from friends that Amy Einsohn's Copyediting Handbook is pretty "information-dense") unless you love Karen Elizabeth Gordon or Patricia T. O'Conner (no, sorry, Lynn Truss is not on my favorites list, but this is my blog, so my call).

Even The Elements of Style Illustrated is lost on most people (what a great book!).

Virginia Tufte has added her volume to the mix and it's fantastic.

It's truly a beautiful book and so beautifully written. Virginia's book is published alongside Edward's graphic presentation books, which are worth checking out as well.

ETA: Had an exhausting weekend (ended up with a great largish crowd and some stayed until 3 am!) Hubby and I were both tired and so took it easy. I am back to writing today though and hoping to reach 20k today and 25k tomorrow (30k by week's end).

Playing on the iPod: Littlest Things - Lily Allen

News Addendum

Madeleine L'Engle passed away last night.

NYT on Madeleine L'Engle

Farewell, Madeleine, you will be missed. God bless you.

Friday Fiver

1. Hit 20k on the novel first draft! Yippee! I plan to hit 25k this weekend if everything goes well, but it depends on the other four issues I will relate below.

2. Hubby invited way too many people over tonight for pizza (all his coworkers who will be laid off effective today; yes, they are partying; it's how the majority of the world deals with disappointment), and was up at 5 am this morning to get to the grocery store to stock up on soda, beer, and alcohol (don't worry, I will kick out anyone who spills beer on my carpet, seriously). It will be fun. Cheers!

3. I am getting hammered with the job. The first round of feedback from our client is back and well *headdesk* -- their criteria must be like higher than perfect. Today was the first time I got feedback that actually complimented the editor on an enjoyable monograph. I will be strategizing over the weekend because next week I need to be in meetings.

4. All that job stuff has shoved the freelance back, but I have chained myself to the desk and I finished a big project last night after double-checking and triple-checking everything. I finish two other smaller projects today and this weekend will be a large bulk of the big project that I've been working on since March. It will be worth it to just power through on a weekend because there are so many little details.

5. Hubby is so stressed with his new bigger job. It's like a train wreck (but totally unlike the train wreck that unfolded on yesterday's ConstantChatter). There's just a lot that has to transition in the next week and I keep reminding him to lower the threshold. I am also fielding calls from his team throughout his region (multiple states) as our home number was given out by accident. Geez!

With that, I'll sign off for the weekend. I'm looking forward to a calmer week next week. The London trip preparations have begun in earnest. I have a to do list and it's time to get started on it.

Playing on the iPod: In My Arms - Plumb

Fighting Resistance Thursday

I've been listening to Amy Winehouse this week (I can't stop; her music is just toe-tapping good) and her Rehab song is my favorite:

They tried to make me go to rehab
I said no, no, no.

And I sing that in my head when Resistance attempts to sidetrack me from my writing.

I won't go, go, go.

Between her and Lily Allen, my fall 2007 playlist has so much energy! I love it. (Yes, I know Amy W. does really need to go to rehab. I hope she does. If Ray Charles can kick heroin, so can she.)

Another note from War of Art,

If you find yourself criticizing other people, you're probably doing it out of Resistance. When we see others beginning to live their authentic selves, it drives us crazy if we have not lived out our own.

Individuals who are realized in their own lives almost never criticize others. If they speak at all, it is to offer encouragement. Watch yourself. Of all the manifestations of Resistance, most only harm ourselves. Criticism and cruelty harm others as well.

Moving up toward 20k (just shy of 19k this morning) and hoping to continue the progress. Lots going on though, so I have to do other things than write.

Happy Thursday!

Writing Inspiration Wednesday

So, who's the aspiring novelist writing over 5,000 words in under 12 hours?

Yep, that's me. I turned off Gilmore Girls last night at 9 pm and wrote until 11:30 pm, went to bed, woke up again at 6:30, starting writing at 7:30 and started work at 8:45 am. It was like a huge breath of air that I just let go of and voila, out came story.

I am over 17k words and feeling great. Yes, the story is rough and I probably used one or two words like a zillion times, but I'm even able to watch for -ly descriptors now and am having fun avoiding them.

So happy writing Wednesday!

From Monica Wood's The Pocket Muse,

There is a special throne in heaven
for poets, who labor in obscurity.
The rest of us harbor an unexpressed hope for fame
and glory.
You might be tempted to write for a market.
You might be tempted to ride the crest of a trend.
That kind of writing is about as stable
and fulfilling as day trading.

Write what moves you.
Write what interests you.
Write what frightens you.
Write what thrills you.
Take a cue from the poets,
bless their underfunded little hearts.

Gadget Girl Tuesday

Back in the saddle again . . .

I really could get used to those nice long weekends, you know? I enjoyed my moratorium on work, hosted my brother (he and hubby golfed twice), watched stupid movies (Blades of Glory definitely qualifies), and ate great food. I need to go to the gym!

Today I'm back glorifying Firefox yet again. I know, everyone is probably saying enough already, but there's a swell add-on that I think I've used more than any other.

Session Manager is a nifty little deal that basically saves your browsing for you. Say you're online using Firefox (what else would you be using to browse, hm?) and you've got four (or seven) tabs open and the power goes out, or your computer decides to restart on its own (my computer is nearing death and does this), or you close your browser window and click okay to close all of your tabs (I have not done this in a while, but it has happened). You can use Session Manager to find it all again. Once your computer reboots (if it was shut down in the middle), Session Manager asks which browsing session you would like to pull up. If you manually shut down Firefox and want to remember where you were, before you shut it down, go up to Tools > Session Manager > Save Session and then shut down your computer. When you start Firefox back up, Session Manager will ask which session you want to continue browsing.

A very handy way to deal with Firefox. It has saved me a lot of time.

In other news: The novel race is under way. I'm rapidly heading to 25k (my goal for this week) and having a blast. It's a busy week for us this week because of jobs and a huge party we're having (25 of hubby's coworkers and their significant others!!!) on Friday, so if I blog every day, I will impress myself.

Happy Tuesday from rainy Seattle.

Friday Fiver

1. We're getting gorgeous weather in Seattle. Wednesday night we took the ferry to Bainbridge Island for dinner at the very much anticipated Four Swallows restaurant and it was delicious. The fourteen of us got an t-shaped table and the conversation never lagged once. It was a perfect day and was a great sight to see Bainbridge come into view and then on the return trip the city lights of Seattle dazzled us.

2. Great meeting, great time with fellow employees, and great to meet those who came in from London.

3. My bro comes in today for golf with hubby and to eat food, watch stupid television, and generally hang out. I can't wait.

4. Stayed at a swank hotel downtown. The first day I arrived I ran across the street to Seattle's Arundel Books and found an obscure Jacques Barzun book (1971) on writing for five dollars, which is a major score. In between meetings, dinners, talking, and sleeping, I managed to read a bit and I got inspired. More on that next week.

5. The novel challenge begins Monday and I'm ready to go! Will spend this weekend finishing up my notes on plot and once Monday's here, it is go time!

Happy weekend to all.

Gadget Girl Tuesday

I'm going to use the Gadget Girl heading until someone comes and takes it away by force. For those who are new, no, I don't claim this for myself specifically.

Anyway, do you use iTunes to listen to your music on your computer?

Check out the Mac OS X Hints article giving a"Perfect" setting featured on Merlin Mann's 43 Folders.

People have grabbed the screen shot and used the settings for their own iTunes. Interested?

Merlin also has the settings summarized with a link to the original article:

Open the equalizer, and from the pop-up menu, select “Make Preset.” Call it “Perfect,” because it is, and set the following levels, from left to right (skip the Preamp section):
db +3, +6, +9, +7, +6, +5, +7, +9, +11, +8 db

I'm off for a few days to a conference. Talk to you Friday.

Monday Book Rec

It's a classic, yes, and better if you can manage to attend one of his two-day seminars in LA or NYC, but Robert McKee's Story is one of those books that will inspire your writing even if you just read the first 75 pages.

A daunting book (just because the hardcover is thick), but a smooth read and one that enlightens you on each page. Ever wonder why some movies just don't do it for you? It's probably their plotting (archplot, miniplot, antiplot, or nonplot).

On the advice of a friend, I'm only reading this book before I plunge back into my novel work for the Novel Success Team Fall Writing Challenge that starts next week. I believe one can get too caught up in the how-to process and neglect the actual writing.

The sun is back out today in Seattle, the I-5 construction is complete, and teachers are back to school today readying their classrooms.

Happy Monday!

Friday Fiver

1. Hubby is negotiating for a great job! Which means we get to stay here! Very exciting and brings such relief.

2. What a whirlwind week! I've not been home all week as usual and I can tell. The job/freelance work/writing is fine, but the messy piles have grown. Getting ready for London, baby!

3. Met up with Jen, my fiction writing buddy, up at the Lodge in B-vue yesterday for a great chat. It always inspires me, plus I then found a great sale at Banana and got home in record time even with all the construction going on.

4. We're hosting all of hubby's team in two weeks (like 25 people!) and I'm so not ready. It's the big "goodbye" for this account and it's sad to see everyone headed out to their new jobs. Times are a-changing.

5. School has begun or will begin and that means I've got some studying to do too. This summer put me a bit behind with my study goals, but I intend to catch up quickly this fall.

Happy weekend! Happy birthday, Mom!

Talking 'Bout Resistance, Willis.

Well, have I had a week of it. This had nothing to do with the job or the freelance. The job actually was fantastic and has been loads of fun. The freelance is back down to a dull roar. The writing is actually going well too.

The Resistance has to do with being in the middle of friends fighting. Never mind that the friends are scattered all over the United States, but they had a get-together last week (that I had to miss) and major drama happened.

The timing of the inciting events just sucked, and the weekend was overshadowed by angry words and a whole lot of drama (on both sides) and I got drawn in to try and make peace by those who were not active participants, but who were significantly affected and stood watching on the sidelines.

It brought to mind some of my favorite parts of my book on resistance: The War of Art,

"Cruelty to others is a form of Resistance, as is the willing endurance of cruelty from others. . . . Creating soap operas in our lives is a symptom of Resistance. . . .

A victim act is a form of passive agression. It seeks to achieve gratification not by honest work or a contribution made out of one's experience or insight or love, but by the manipulation of others through silent (and not-so-silent) threat. The victim compels others to come to his rescue or to behave as he wishes by holding them hostage to the prospect of his further meltdown, or simply by threatening to make their lives so miserable that they do what he wants.

This will not be resolved anytime soon, and that's okay. A member of the group has left and perhaps others are preparing to go as well as a form of protest. That is fine. I believe everyone has a right to do as they please. It's a free country. I know they leave because certain behavior by the group just has gotten out of control. I've seen the behavior and the passive-agressive downright mean actions of a few people did not help the situation. But again, I believe everyone has a right to do as they please.

I just think we're a bit too developed as a society (not to mention friends for almost five years now) to be reverting to such low, insipid attacks. I am scunnered by it this morning (great scottish word, right?).

It just really smacks of Resistance to me. What in our lives are we avoiding by acting like this?

Remember, Steven Pressfield said it best in his prologue to War of Art:

You know, Hitler wanted to be an artist. At eighteen he took his inheritance, seven hundred kronen, and moved to Vienna to live and study. He applied to the Academy of Fine Arts and later to the School of Architecture. Ever seen one his paintings? Neither have I. Resistance beat him. Call it overstatement but I'll say it anyway: it was easier for Hitler to start World War II than it was for him to face a blank square of canvas.

Take down Resistance and just let it go.

Writing Inspiration Wednesday

Before I inspire everyone to drop everything they are doing right now in order to write, I wanted to point out a helpful comment I received yesterday from someone at Feedburner/Google.

Don wrote,

actually, feedburner is a publisher service not an rss reader. we help pubs optimize their rss feed, get analytics and if they want, insert ads. we deliver content to all the different places that consume rss feeds - websites, itunes, services like bloglines and my yahoo, etc.

so, it's not and either / or with bloglines.

See, I told you I'm not technically a Gadget Girl.

Thanks, Don, for your help in figuring this out. I got it now! I will check out the link you provided too!

In writing stuff, big news from a fellow writer buddy. Allison Winn Scotch just sold her second novel! She'll be writing it in our Novel Success Team Fall Challenge that runs from Labor Day to Halloween while I finish my YA novel draft. A whole bunch of FLX folks are joining us too. Should be great fun!

So, with that good news, this was good writing inspiration for me this week:

Routine Maintenance Schedule for the Writing Life

Once a week: Skip to the next part of whatever you're working on, no matter how stuck you feel.
Once a month: Write all day without talking to anybody.
Every three months: Send something out for publications, just to keep your hand in.
Every six months: Clean your workspace: Pitch obsolete files, lumpen drafts, rejection slips, leaky pens, old mail. Clear away the dross, and you'll be able to think more clearly.
Once a year: Take a chunk of time, whatever you can afford--three full days, minimum--and go someplace where your writing will not be disturbed except for eating and sleeping.

from Monica Wood's The Pocket Muse

Gadget Girl Tuesday

Okay, so someone said that I qualified because I keep up with all this stuff. I say that I'm not quite there yet.

I don't have an iPhone.

And today's Gadget Girl rec is just one of those foundational things to survive on the Internet. An RSS feed.

I use Bloglines, although Feedburner is a good one as well.

Anyway, this is a simple way to keep track of blogs and other updated content sites without having to troll through a blog roll on a daily basis. If you look up on to the right of the url that is this blog, you'll see an orange RSS feed button. If you sign up for either Bloglines or Feedburner, you can then use that orange feed button to subscribe to this blog.

Now, other people swear by del.icio.us to keep track of numerous sites. But del.icio.us is a bookmarklet tool, not an RSS feed. So if you don't want to subscribe to this blog, but want to tag it, use del.icio.us instead.

I use both on a daily basis. Sometimes I want to just tag a site into a category; other times, I want to keep up with the newest content.

I recommend both.

Once you get those working for you, you'll never run out of stuff to look at online, as if that was ever a problem to begin with.

Monday Book Rec

If you have not read any of the Hinges of History series written by historian and thinker, Thomas Cahill, you're missing out.

The first book, How The Irish Saved Civilization, stands on its own two feet and is worth reading more than once.

The second book,
The Gifts of the Jews, is an interesting look at Jewish culture and its singular impact on the West.

The third book,
Desire of the Everlasting Hills, talks about Jesus, both biblical and historical.

The fourth book,
Sailing the Wine-Dark Sea: Why the Greeks Matter, is my current read.

The fifth book,
Mysteries of the Middle Ages, is my next read.

A great series, one worth exploring, written by a truly great writer and thinker.

Friday Fiver.

1. I'm on the laptop this morning because we are getting all our carpets cleaned. Luckily, our neighbor does this professionally and we get the culdesac discount. Yippee!

2. However, I'm tired because I spent most of last evening moving furniture from carpeted areas to hardwood areas. Our house is a mess, but it's always good to clean for fall. (I guess I'm not much of a spring cleaner then, hm.)

3. Novel Success Team Writing Challenge begins on Monday and goes until October 31. I plan to finish a draft, my friend Allison plans to finish, and I think other writers also have plans to give it a go. Plus, if we don't finish by then, we can use NanoWrimo to finish!

4. This has been a very exhausting week because of a multitude of things: work issues and stress, interviews galore for hubby (which is a great thing!), and lots of house cleaning chores completed (gutters, pressure washing of deck, driveway, sidewalks, and flagstone patios). We're having friends over for some fun tonight!

5. I will have to leave process behind in order to finish my draft in the Novel Success Team Writing Challenge. I may never learn process in this novel writing game, but the goal is to simply complete a draft right now, not become Janet Evanovich overnight.

Have a great weekend!

Thursday Resistance

And I'm back with another few good thoughts about Resistance (and we have lived it this week; one thing after another after another after another).

Resistance has no strength of its own. Every ounce of juice it possesses comes from us. We feed it with power by our fear of it. Master that fear and we conquer Resistance.

Or this:

When a writer begins to overcome her Resistance--in other words, when she actually starts to write--she may find that those close to her begin acting strangely. They may become moody or sullen, they may get sick; they may accuse the writer of "changing," of "not being the person she was." The closer these people are to the awakening writer, the more bizarrely they will act and the more emotion they will put behind their actions.

They are trying to sabotage her.

The reason is that they are struggling, consciously or unconsciously, against their own Resistance. The awakening writer's success becomes a reproach to them. If she can beat these demons, why can't they?

Often close friends (or colleagues, families, couples) will enter into tacit compacts whereby each individual pledges (unconsciously) to remain mired in the same slough in which she and all her cronies have become so comfortable. The highest treason a crab can commit is to make a leap for the rim of the bucket.

The awakening artist must be ruthless, not only with herself, but with others. Once you make your break, you can't turn around for your buddy who catches his trouser leg on the barbed wire. The best thing you can do for that friend (and he'd tell you this himself, if he really is your friend) is to get over the wall and keep motating. The best and only thing that one artist can do for another is to serve as an example and an inspiration.