Category Archives: procrastination

The journey to a 50,000 word novel…

starts with one word…

graffitti journey to 50000 words

Because I have 50,000 other things I should be working on…

I’m going to do NANOWRIMO this year and, like 2006, 2008, and 2010, I’ll finish.

I promise! [That’s me talking to me. I’m pretty sure you folks won’t lose sleep over it.]

–I’ll take my own prewriting course over the next few days prior to Nov. 1. Just to see if I know even a nano-iota of what I’m talking about [i.e. stealing from smarter, more experienced writers].

–Plus, a little inner dialogue as I venture ahead…

Critical Me: So, why are you even doing this?

NANO-Me: I need a deadline. I want to do push ahead on a new project. I want an excuse to not look at the clutter in my garage. I have to prove that I can still crank out words, since I promised my wife that a dog would actually make me more productive. [Of course, I wasn’t serious, but it was well worth the good laugh.]

Critical Me: Do you want this to be, eventually, a marketable product?

NANO-Me: Since I’m not great a Round Two Writing, that’s not even on my radar.

Critical Me: Do you have a plan for your story?

NANO-Me: Why yes I do, smarty-pants. In fact, I have a chronology all set up in my mind, a sequence of 180 mini-chapters, if you must know.

Critical Me: And you really think you’ll finish all 180 mini-chapters?

NANO-Me: I mainly want to finish my 50000 words and see which comes first.

Critical Me: What do you like about NANOWRIMO?

NANO-Me: I like the freedom to inject all sorts of detours into a story depending on your mood on a given day. And I like Chris Baty’s No Plot, No Problem book.

Critical Me: What’s so special about that book?

NANO-Me: Well, it’s like this. He’s the guy who started it. And his fly-by-the-seat-of-one’s-pants suggestions are worth the read. And it is just that devil-may-care [am I using too many hyphenated expressions?] approach that inspires me to spend my words like a drunken, well, not Hemingway, because he didn’t waste words…spend my words like a drunken Tolstoy, how’s that?

Critical Me: First of all, yes, you are sucking the well of hyphens dry. Thanks for noticing. Care to share any gems from Baty’s book?

NANO-Me: Sure. I’ll put them at the end of this. I wouldn’t want them drowning in this sea of blather. Time for a break, right?

Critical Me: What for?

NANO-Me: For lunch, that’s what for.

Gem #1 from No Plot? No Problem

“Having an end-date for your quest through the noveling unknown is like bringing along a team of jetpack-wearing, entrepreneurial sherpas. These energetic guides not only make passage easier through the myriad formidable obstacles, but they’ll fly ahead and open coffeeshops and convenience stores along the route.”

INSPIRED BY TODAY’S JUMBLE®

jumbled letters gratisography-419-thumbnail

What took me so long?

A blog named Word Inventions and I never got around to making up my own words?

Well, the time has come…

Thank you to David L. Hoyt and Jeff Knurek, creators of JUMBLE®–‘That scrambled word game’…

CLYDOC

Marcie turned from the cloudy weather outside and shook her head at the new workmate, deep into his daily chants. What a complete and utter yuclod.

NEIGSN

“Ensign! You’re not facing your men until you get that festering sennig removed from your chin!”

REBGLI

The Senator glared at his staff. “Time to change the narrative. Send for Bob. He’s the best bilger our super pac can buy.”

***Image courtesy of gratisography.com

I should be writing. Instead…solarizing.

afternoon coffee

My other blog has the full post.

But I have to say, considering today is back to mid-50’s and damp,
I’m really pleased with yesterday’s lack of ambition.

The only thing that would make yesterday better is having a new dog cruising the yard…or mercilessly begging. [Sorry, writing police, for using an adverb.]

Oh, that kind of writing night…

brain-954823_1280

This is one of those nights when I need to set a timer to get me going on my 500 words.

This is one of those nights when I find emptying the trash and relining the container an easy go-to instead of writing.—one of those ‘must-do’ items before I sit down.

This is one of those nights when I keep looking at the timer.

This is one of those nights when I keep editing as I go [there, I did it again…I had typed ‘mistakes’ and wanted ‘typos’ instead and then I went back and substituted ‘editing as I go’. It’s madness! Make it stop!]

This is one of those nights when I have to have some music playing in my head while I write. [Of course, the very act of opening iTunes and selecting some instrumental stuff—Dave Brubeck, in this case—is another avoidance tactic, though I hope it pays off down the line with keeping me focused.

This is one of those nights when I’m thinking ahead to the weekend when I have garage-cleaning and general decluttering on my list. Notice I didn’t mention writing. What’s wrong with that picture?

This is one of those nights when I am hyper-tempted to click on the ESPN window to check the latest Olympic results. How many smarter people have told writers like me to just plain turn off the Internet? I hate those people. I mean really, why should I tolerate anybody who has me pegged right down to the exact website I have temptingly available?

This is one of those nights when I’m glad I have ‘copy/paste’ down pat so I can keep repeating ‘This is one of those nights when’ and chalk up cheap words. But I have to say…it adds a certain rhythm to this masterpiece. ‘Rhythm’…’monotony’…tomato-tomahto.

This is one of those nights when I have more than a few topics I’m thinking of tackling, thus resulting in my taking a stab at none of them.

This is one of those nights when I’m back to the timer. One minute left in the 11 minute stint. 362 words in 10+ minutes, I’ll take it. Of course, if you’re still reading, you’re reaching through your screen to strangle me, which would be okay if you’d let me write about it for my next 500 words.

This is one of those nights when I’m glad I’ve reached 400 words and am slogging my way to 500. Aren’t we all just feeling exceedingly gratified?

This is one of those nights when I recalled that Valentines Day offered so much possible material and, once again, I dropped the ball.

This is one of those nights when I know I need to put in at least a scene, or part of a scene, in my kids book first draft.

So I guess I should be thinking about that and looking up where I left off.

This is one of those nights when it’s about time to move on with my other projects, satisfied that I’ve put in 500+ words in one sitting and pleased that I had forgotten about the 180 words I did when I got home from work. Okay, then, back to the kids book.

And this is one of those nights when I can pat myself on the back for not checking ESPN during this stint.

But first…a five-minute editing session.

Oh, that kind of writing night…

brain-954823_1280

This is one of those nights when I need to set a timer to get me going on my 500 words.

This is one of those nights when I find emptying the trash and relining the container an easy go-to instead of writing.—one of those ‘must-do’ items before I sit down.

This is one of those nights when I keep looking at the timer.

This is one of those nights when I keep editing as I go [there, I did it again…I had typed ‘mistakes’ and wanted ‘typos’ instead and then I went back and substituted ‘editing as I go’. It’s madness! Make it stop!]

This is one of those nights when I have to have some music playing in my head while I write. [Of course, the very act of opening iTunes and selecting some instrumental stuff—Dave Brubeck, in this case—is another avoidance tactic, though I hope it pays off down the line with keeping me focused.

This is one of those nights when I’m thinking ahead to the weekend when I have garage-cleaning and general decluttering on my list. Notice I didn’t mention writing. What’s wrong with that picture?

This is one of those nights when I am hyper-tempted to click on the ESPN window to check the latest Olympic results. How many smarter people have told writers like me to just plain turn off the Internet? I hate those people. I mean really, why should I tolerate anybody who has me pegged right down to the exact website I have temptingly available?

This is one of those nights when I’m glad I have ‘copy/paste’ down pat so I can keep repeating ‘This is one of those nights when’ and chalk up cheap words. But I have to say…it adds a certain rhythm to this masterpiece. ‘Rhythm’…’monotony’…tomato-tomahto.

This is one of those nights when I have more than a few topics I’m thinking of tackling, thus resulting in my taking a stab at none of them.

This is one of those nights when I’m back to the timer. One minute left in the 11 minute stint. 362 words in 10+ minutes, I’ll take it. Of course, if you’re still reading, you’re reaching through your screen to strangle me, which would be okay if you’d let me write about it for my next 500 words.

This is one of those nights when I’m glad I’ve reached 400 words and am slogging my way to 500. Aren’t we all just feeling exceedingly gratified?

This is one of those nights when I recalled that Valentines Day offered so much possible material and, once again, I dropped the ball.

This is one of those nights when I know I need to put in at least a scene, or part of a scene, in my kids book first draft.

So I guess I should be thinking about that and looking up where I left off.

This is one of those nights when it’s about time to move on with my other projects, satisfied that I’ve put in 500+ words in one sitting and pleased that I had forgotten about the 180 words I did when I got home from work. Okay, then, back to the kids book.

And this is one of those nights when I can pat myself on the back for not checking ESPN during this stint.

But first…a five-minute editing session.

I should be writing. Instead…orange marmalade cake.

Orange marmalade cake
My wife added orange marmalade on top after the photo was taken.
Here also is one of the three bambinos.

Orange Marmalade Cake Recipe

On Super Bowl Sunday, as I watched, paused, watched, rewound, paused…well, you get the idea…the game, I took on this new recipe.

Thanks to Virginia for the inspiration to bake this O.M.C. She had blogged about this once-a-year cake a few years back.

It’s so big–needs five whole eggs and four egg yolks–that I have to abbreviate the name. [Shape Shifters Fitness Trainer–avert your eyes.]

A few broken rules:

  1. I would double the syrup and poke even more toothpick holes into the baked cake.
  2. I didn’t go three layers high. Reason? I didn’t have three round cake pans.
    Instead, I went with a two-layer rectangular cake with leftover batter for three mini-cakes. I actually preferred this approach so I could experiment with other accompaniments for the bambinos. [My favorite: key lime marmalade mixed with sour cream as a ‘dip’.]

Anyway, I enjoyed the result. [Thanks again, Virginia!] And so did my work colleagues the next day. [Plenty for them and for us at home.]

Drawback: I didn’t enjoy the way the first part of the recipe was written.

Excerpt: Cake: Sift flour, baking powder, & salt twice in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, beat butter on MEDIUM (~4 minutes). Add sugar steadily with mixer running; beat until light & fluffy. Add eggs & yolks, one at a time, beating well after each addition; scrape down sides at least once. After eggs are added, continue to beat on MEDIUM for 2 minutes; add oil & beat for 1 minute on LOW. In a third bowl, combine orange zest, vanilla, & buttermilk. Using a rubber spatula, fold in half of dry ingredients. [This is where confusion set in. Based on these instructions, wouldn’t you fold half of the dry ingredients into the bowl of the zest, vanilla, and buttermilk?]

If I rewrote this, I would have gone with:

Set up three bowls for the varied ingredients.

  1. The largest bowl for the butter, sugar, eggs, and oil. You will be adding the rest of the ingredients here.
  2. A bowl large enough for 3+ cups of sifted dry ingredients.
  3. A bowl large enough for the orange zest, a cup of buttermilk, and the vanilla.

I valiantly rose above the confusing instructions because, well, we’re talkin’ dessert here.

Give it a try.

Gooooood stuff!

Displacement activities–semi-productive, but so fun

This has been a morning of displacement activities.
Here is a screen shot of my favorite so far…Rebel that I am, I ran a sheet of magnet-paper [intended for an inkjet printer] through my laser printer. Nailed it!

dog magnets screen shot

So I’m going to be cutting out these bad-boys and planting them on the fridge and await my wife’s reaction.
The next post…a change in direction.
The next post after that…a recipe’s instructions…rewritten.