Bittersweet Goodbye

My friends,

I am saying goodbye. Gottawrite Girl has been exquisite fun... but it's nudged my novel off the rails and molassessed my job - which is so imperative to my little family.

If gratitude's an action word, than I have to loyalize what means the most. My family, my job that sustains it, and my blossoming novel.

Thanks to all my writerly friends, especially Nicky at Absolute Vanilla, Beth at Writing it Out, PJ at Roots in Myth, Devon at Ink in My Coffee, Paul at Struggling Writer, Serena at Savvy Verse & Wit, Sonia at Gutsy Writer, Kyle at First Person Plural, Edie at One Potato... Ten, Christy at Christy's Creative Space, Shelby at the Shelby Show, Justus at Ambition, Rebecca at Rebecca's Writing Journey, Kelly at Cross Your T's, Lois at Lotus Rising, Tabitha at Writer Musings, Alice Pope, Cynthia Leitich-Smith, Becky Levine, Kelly Polark, Miriam Forster, CJ Harley, Suzanne Casamento, Sheri Oshins, Jill Wheeler, Keri Mikulski, Solvang Sherrie, and the whole of Lucy's staff.

I'll miss GwG dearly, but vow to return once published!

Un-Dimming My North Star

Guys, I have a serious goal with a fierce deadline. There's no way to meet it, unless I pause blogging and hammer it out...

The critique deadline for my upcoming SCBWI day-long is imminent. Ten polished pages to overnight next Wednesday.

I can't allow GwG to nudge my novel off the rails. This kind of time-management-twisting is a common blogging result I'd not anticipated. And it dogs my every novel-writing step.

My true North Star's my novel. No excuses. Ten sparkling pages on short order, please... North Star, ahoy!

I Can Be Mature

So, I've just been told my cubicle is permanent. Forevermore. No nose-picking privacy for me, ever...

I say? Cubicle schmoobicle. Why? Let me list away...

1) I like my neighbor, Lou. I like to toss small candies over the bathtub-like wall and startle her.
2) Better air ciculation.
3) I sit amidst a symphony of office-machines... the printer and copier make such sweet music.
4) I hear and smell everything. It's like having a faux super-powers.
5) I've jammed a curtain across the entrance. It gives me a childish yet very REAL satisfaction.
6) You'd be proud of my cubicle. It's shelacked with flowers, nymphs, and even a lamp. It's my pastel cocoon. So there.

Add to this list, and I'll be deeply indebted ~ in the name of grown women everywhere, toiling away in apulstered bathtubs.

Washington, DC: Something Historic Is A-Foot

My city is humming. There's a carbonated, communal energy that's normally not present. It reminds me of the Sniper attacks, but in a reversely GOOD way.

More than two million people stuffed the National Mall, drawn to the spark of Obama's message of hope and change. Our regimented, turtlenecked city was a veritable Woodstock yesterday.

I don't believe Obama is a miracle worker, but I do believe he has an unexplainable ability to incite people to action, which our country desperately needs... the magic is more so in the response of the people to Obama, rather than Obama himself... is that ok to say? I mean that only in the most respectful, positive way.

Even if you live across the country, I hope you all but crawled into your television yesterday to feel a part of.

Those of us who work close to the Capital are back at work today, on day 2 of this 44th Presidential chapter.

I'm proud, excited, and grateful to witness this history-in-the-making... Can you feel it?

Do It With Your Whole Heart

“Enthusiasm is one of the most powerful engineers of success. When you do a thing, do it with all your might. Put your whole soul into it. Stamp it with your own personality. Be active, be energetic, be enthusiastic and faithful, and you will accomplish your objective. Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.” ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

I love this quote. It's beautiful, and it outlines an ideal way of life.

I've just come off a week of being sick, and still feel a bit like I'm underwater. But I've got that stirring-to-action one feels following inactivity... I wanna get back to the gym, back to frequent blog posts, back to consistently completing bite-sized novel goals...

...and do it all with faith and enthusiasm ~ how 'bout you?

Book Trumps Movie

Let me paint a picture for you... me, on the metro, quaking with laughter... shaking, crying, slurping for air. Shoulder to shoulder with metro-riding strangers. THAT'S what the book did for me. Hands down, Marley & Me is THE funniest book I've ever read.

John Grogan has a way of capturing the supposed thoughts of a dog... I uniformly dislike animal stories, minus picture books, but this was hysterically exquisite... pee-pantsingly funny!

Then I saw the movie. I was ready to like it, actually, as John Grogan's voice naturally lends itself to Owen Wilson's self-depreciating drawl. But, oh, what a dull, soft thud this film made.

The movie is boorish. Non-gritty... all the darkness and dimension of John and Jenny's vacillating marriage is glazed over to make for a digestible, Hollywoodish display.

Jenny's post-partum is reduced to a few irratable outbursts, skipping the one scene in which she desperately flogs the dog with her fists... Marley was far stronger than Jenny and took those beatings with a loyalty that made me cry. CRY! And I typically hate a book for exciting my waterworks, as I feel had.

Crying and riotous laughing-out-loud all in one book. But the movie? Nothing but two hours of Diet-coke sucking restlessness.

Your thoughts? Plop 'em on the table, and let's discuss!

Live It

“Many people die with the music still in them.”
~ Oliver Wendell Holmes

My meditation teacher asked, "what would you do if you weren't in any pain, but only had minutes to live?"

I'd rip off my clothes, run outside, flap my arms, wriggle and writhe, shout 'Thank you, God, thank you for everything!' Then I'd grab my husband by the skull, kiss and thank him, too.

How 'bout you?

And Serena of Savvy Verse & Wit, many thanks for my Lemonade Award, honoring bloggers with gratitude...

Tah Dah, it's 2009!

Happy New Year, everyone! Time to roll out a new year's worth of doable but stretch-worthy goals...

One thought to plop on the table...

Outlining is my favorite procrastination tool. But I'm compelled to stick with it. I don't want to submit a hot, wandering mess. You can't escape the story arc. No matter how artful your prose.

Currently, I'm stuck in limbo. Needing the structure. But wanting to wander off the plotted track, when inspiration nudges... author Jessica Anya Blau wrote The Summer of Naked Swim Parties as it moved her, and the arc was hammered out later with her agent. Click here for my interview. Stephen King also writes without a net...

How bout you? Do you map it, or do you wing it? And, mappers and wingers alike, here's to a next year of burstful imagination!

Whistle While I Work

It's been a lovely holiday... alotta long talks, alotta red meat and pie, and alotta Ruby duty ~ protecting the kidlets from her piranha-like puppy teeth, and the rugs from her lightning-fast pee squats.

But my break was a wee longer than anticipated. So, it's back to work I go... back to blogging and my cubicle. In fact, I'm here today... with FOX news streaming and space heater sputtering.

Finally finished the Twlight saga, too. Coulda done without books 2-4... but appreciated their crack-like quality nevertheless. And purchasing all four certainly contributed to stimulating our economy, too ~ especially thanks to the frequent and strategic availability of hardbacks only. Harumph.

Next up? Marley and Me. The movie alerted me to its existence, and I'm smitten by the story... a newlywed couple navigating work, pregnancy and family stress, all under the duress of a psycho-lovely pup. Just like my Ruby. I can't wait to dive in... and am buying it at Borders during lunch today.

Ah me, it's good to be home again... [insert contented sigh].

What books has the holiday machine churned into your life lately?

Woo Hoo Christmas!

I looove me some Christmas! Why?

* Deserted metro trains.

* Mariah Carey's holiday songs (I'm unexplainably helpless.)

* My ceramic tree (Like Grandma's.)

* Peeping other people's Christmas trees through living room windows.

* Elevator-muzak Christmas carols (Perfectly horrible.)

* The lights! Wonderous fairy-land lights!

* A tri-selection of pie for dessert. Boom.

* Scrutinizing reactions to my book-gifts... this year's line-up? The Audacity of Hope; A Bold Fresh Piece of Humanity; Around the Year with Emmet Fox.

* My favorite children's book, for which my piggly puppy was named, Ruby the Christmas Donkey! Old-school, golden-rule, soul-warming fun.

May you be holly-jolly, everyone! I love you, Moms and Dads! And if you're so moved, share a Holiday favorite or two!