“Now and then it’s good to pause in our pursuit of happiness and just be happy.”
― Guillaume Apollinaire
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Posts Tagged ‘#365Ways2021’
Bright Snow and Warm Bread
Posted in Other, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2021, snowy afternoon, Thoughts, yay on December 11, 2021| Leave a Comment »
Overrun by Adorable
Posted in Likes, Other, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2021, #justaddkittens, cat herding, good people, inspiration, kittens, Thoughts, Writers on December 10, 2021| 1 Comment »
I may have mentioned our adventures in kitten trapping over the past couple of years (short version: hard but rewarding, remote cameras for the win).
Here are two organizations that were great as we tried to keep the neighborhood from being overrun by adorable, yet vulnerable, kittens:
The good people in these groups have done an amazing job even under the stresses of the pandemic, which has increased demand for pets but also restricted a lot of shelters and the vet services they need.
Fortunately, we were able to help our local cat rescue groups get a lot of kittens off the street before winter. Just as an example, take a look at two of the kittens we saved: Comet and Dasher. So cute!
If you’re in the market for an adorable fur friend, check out the adoption pages at these or your local rescue groups. We’re not ready for a new cat just yet but when we are we’ll go through a group like this.
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Today Days
Posted in Likes, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2021, #JoniMitchell, climate change, creativity, hope, inspiration, music, Thoughts, Writers on December 9, 2021| Leave a Comment »
Some days you take a break from the avalanche of news and realize you’ve got Joni Mitchell’s Big Yellow Taxi stuck in your head. The chorus can feel too true to remember that there are reasons to be cheerful and the world is not, in fact, on a one way trip to Ugh Town.
But other days? Like today days? With heartfelt respect to Ms. Mitchell,* you realize that the final lines of the song could be rewritten:
“They saved Paradise,
and took out the parking lot.”
And we’re just the people to do it.
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- How does one address someone with this level of accomplishment? Award-winner? Multi-Hall of Famer? Fellow Canadian? Doctor (she has three honorary doctorates)? I went with the title that, I hope, conveys fundamental respect across all arenas.
Raising a Monster
Posted in Food and..., tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2021, gardening, home, inspiration, Laura Ingalls Wilder, memories, Thoughts on December 8, 2021| Leave a Comment »
Here’s a memory that would have been perfect for Halloween or Thanksgiving, but just came to me when I ran across the video below.
The first thing I planted in a garden (aside from myself) was okra. I’d never eaten it but knew that it was a staple in the South by way of some African food traditions. Once grown, I didn’t know how to cook it. The resulting dish was… ok. (If you’re wondering, I recommend using okra in stew or breading and frying the bejeezus out of it. Very good.)
The first thing I grew that I was really proud of was a pumpkin. This was a year or two later and I was still vertically challenged. That may explain why the pumpkin remains a giant in my mind, but maybe not. I’d read Laura Ingalls Wilder’s books and somewhere in there, probably Farmer Boy, they discuss milk-fed pumpkins. Well, who wouldn’t want to try that?
And it worked. Huge, that’s how I remember this pumpkin. Between the vines and the body the plant took up a whole section of the garden. I would ease down the little hill, through the tall grass and into the tilled area, basking in the hot summer sun while hoping to raise a monster.
A strong, bright, delicious monster, of course. A girl’s got to have standards.
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Fun at Work
Posted in Likes, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2021, Thoughts, Tuesdays, work on December 7, 2021| Leave a Comment »
One weird thing about working alone? You tend not to smile as much because there’s no one to smile at. To avoid muscle atrophy (and general Tuesday-ness), I try to think about fun things like cookies or double rainbows or a good book.
Cat videos work too;)
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Gamgee the Wise
Posted in Likes, Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2021, creativity, inspiration, procrastination, Thoughts, Writers, writing on December 6, 2021| Leave a Comment »
“It’s the job that’s never started as takes longest to finish.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring
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New Word of the Day
Posted in Other, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2021, cookies, creativity, home, Thoughts on December 5, 2021| Leave a Comment »
Did I make any progress on writing projects today? I did not. Today was about baking and Formula One (Team Hamilton!).
I tested the first of several batches of sugar cookies. Today, brown-edge cookies. Very good, especially with cinnamon on top. Up tomorrow, my sister-in-law’s favorite sugar cookie recipe. The dough is chilling in the fridge now, and I hope for great things!
In completely unrelated news, I learned a new word today: procrastibake. 🙂
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My Wish for You, Too
Posted in Other, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2021, home, Thoughts, yay on December 4, 2021| Leave a Comment »
We had snow this morning and now the sun is out, streets are white and skies are blue. It’s lovely. I have work to do but I’m grateful to be able to carve out a little time to drink tea and read by the fire.
Happy Saturday!
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When Sharing Isn’t Caring
Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2021, creativity, drabble, Drabble Dabble Do, Fiction, inspiration, short stories, Thoughts, writing on December 3, 2021| Leave a Comment »
As mentioned the other day, I recently read a book starring interesting and complex retirees.* It got me thinking, and now I have a new drabble.
Enjoy!
When Sharing Isn’t Caring
There’s a lot to be said for the “sharing economy.”
My granddaughter DeeDee introduced me to the idea. Say, if you need to cleanup around the yard but don’t have all the tools. Because the neighbor is kicking up a fuss (and poor Mr. Kittikins), wasting Saturdays complaining about trees overhanging his fence.
And the things you can borrow these days!
Order up a tool here or there, pay a reasonable delivery fee and voila, the item comes right to your doorstep.
Like this nice policeman.
“Such terrible news about the neighbor. And no, officer, I don’t own an ax.”
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* Disclaimer: I also happen to be related to a number of interesting and complex individuals of a certain age, but they are in no way associated with mysteries or mayhem!
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How to Win by Losing
Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2021, creativity, Fiction, genre fiction, nanowrimo, sff, Thoughts, writing, yay on December 2, 2021| 2 Comments »
To Whom It May Concern,
Enclosed please find my NaNoWriMo after-action report. Please be advised that this AAR is a summary document of an ongoing project and may be reassessed upon future review.
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Project: NaNoWriMo 2021, Modified Edition (a.k.a. NaYes, a.k.a. NaNoFinMo)
Overview, or The NaNo Plan-Mo
- Goal, Part 1: Plan a story
- Did I do this? Yes!
- Goal, Part 2: Let’s just focus on Part 1, shall we?
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Analysis
Looking back, how did it go?
- After years of NaNo pantsing,* was planning the story a good idea? Yes, to a point. It got me out of being stuck mid-month, but then I went a little overboard and realized that I was probably planning myself into a corner. Backing off, making sure I had a solid foundation under the piece, getting inside the heads of my characters, that made the most sense. (And that wasn’t always easy. One of the characters is an alien space mouse.)
- Was I efficient? Not so much. Taking the word count pressure off was great in many ways, but also allowed me to spend too long vacillating about which awesome idea was the most awesome of all the awesomes. And then writing, backtracking, and writing some more. Not helpful.
- Was I creative? Yes. See the aforementioned space mouse.
- Did I accomplish more than a big fat zero? I did!
- I began the month writing countable words and considered putting out enough verbiage to qualify for the formal challenge. This option was rejected because 50,000 words to no apparent purpose? No thanks!
Notes on the process, using previous related posts and their goals as guides:
Yes, I took on the challenge. Go me.
No, I did not actually finish said story. And yes, I will expect this fact to be reflected in my end-of-year bonus package. No need to remind me.
I am happy to report that I fixed the stopping and restarting problem, picked one idea and rolled with it for the rest of the month.
About halfway through the month I decided that project parameters be damned, I really didn’t care about the word count. At all. What I wanted was a platform to act as a springboard for next steps. So that’s what I did.
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Recommendations & Action Items**
What would I change for next time?
- Skip the prep reading; it was helpful but now I’ve crossed it off my list.
- Go faster, not spend the whole month on one idea, develop more stories, spend more time noodling, more wandering the neighborhood thinking up fun stuff.
- I considered a reading hiatus but then all my library books arrived and I just didn’t want to, frankly. Probably would have helped, though!
- Make December the official followup month, where actual writing shall occur.
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In Conclusion!
Experimental or not, this year’s NaNoWriMo actually went pretty well. My main takeaway is not to stress very much. Or at all. I’m much more productive when I’m having fun.
Because I didn’t bother with the 50,000 words I didn’t count this NaNo as a “win” in the formal sense. I do count it as a win in the “getting things done my own dang way, thanks very much” sense, so yay.
I may be the only one in this particular race, but still. I win!
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* A guide to NaNoWriMo strategies, including pantsing. I suppose you could say I’m a “plantser” at this point, but really, that’s a pretty terrible word.
** I just wanted to say “action items” because it’s ridiculous and fun.
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