Heptadecagon

There's something about symmetry, and because I have updated most other days of the month, I will at least pretend to update you on my NaNoWriMo progress (or lack thereof). Actually, I made myself stop writing yesterday so that I can hold off the rest of the words for today. That way, I won't go even one word over the same count I made last year. I can't even remember how many words I wrote yesterday, and that's okay, because what I'd really like to do is simply ruminate on some other things. Like... Haven't seen a good ole Chameleon in a while. I felt like this back on November 14. I love the color here, but I see a lot of chaos, too, which is disturbing. These represent the people I live with. Guess which one is Melina?

How did my day go? Seriously, you can't tell me that these posts are even interesting anymore. If I do this again next year, I'm either going to come up with more creative updates, or I just won't update you at all. Instead, you can flounder in your curiosity about how I fare until the bitter end. Ha! As if. Back to the task at hand... The kids were back in school today. I was back in school. I had work to be done and as I said yesterday, I didn't really have any plans to add more words to my story. But plans...well...they're made to be changed, right? And asking me NOT to do something is the same thing as challenging me to do it, and so, I wrote. Not a lot, mind you, but I did add 597 words to the story. I also figured out that I'll need to add a few more (757 to be exact) to match up with my word count for next year. So, that's the plan for the 29th and 30th days of November. I guess I won't need to update you now on those two days, will I?

How did my day go? I'll tell you. These updates are getting to me, partially because I think my computer is on its last leg, and I'm too cheap to buy myself another one. I know, I know. That thinking is really idiotic, because I use this computer ALL THE TIME and much of what I need to do in my daily routine (update grades, edit a profile) involves my computer. So I either need to get on the "buy a new computer" bandwagon, or I need to park myself elsewhere for much of the day. Which would mean getting a full-time job, and I'd have no time for any of the editing and writing I wanted to do if I do go get the full-time job. (Who would hire me, anyway? That's the subject for another post, my dears.) Sounds like a complaint, eh? It's not. I'm just stating a fact. Even with the computer issues, I managed 2003 words yesterday and I might be calling myself done. Do I really "need" to write 30 days in a row just to add a few hundred more words to

How did my day go? Overall, I cannot complain about the day I had yesterday. I slept in until almost 7 o'clock, ran for over an hour, met a friend for a hot beverage at Starbucks, and bought enough bags of melting chocolate to cover many pounds of pretzels. What I did not have, however, was my 5 a.m. writing and alone time, and by the end of the day, I could tell I was suffering (and I only wrote 1007 words). Thanks to my lack of alone time, each creak of the floor bothered me, the cacophony of cats' voices in my house irritated me, and I snapped at Melina when she was taking too long to put on her pajamas. All signs point to the fact that it is time for my kids to go back to school, and that I'll have trouble come winter break if I do not keep my early morning wake up routine. Lesson learned, I say, which also makes for a good day.

How did my day go? A little Christmas decorating, and 2024 new words. Not a bad day, if I do say so myself. Happy Saturday to you all!

How did my day go? When day 24 lands on Thanksgiving, you can imagine why I didn't get much NaNoWriMo writing done. But unlike last year, when I only managed 66 words on Thanksgiving, this year, I keyed in 1009 new words. I'm not sure it helped out Just Be very much, but I'm thankful I had the time to write for a little bit. I'm also thankful for my family, for my friends who are like family, card games that keep us laughing, and bellies full of wonderful food.  And on that note (and this time, just like last year), I thought I'd let someone else say a little something about gratitude. For it is important to be grateful every day of your life, not just on Thanksgiving Day. This year, we're going simple: When I started counting my blessings, my whole life turned around. ~Willie Nelson

How did my day go? My 2016 NaNoWriMo novel, Just Be , happens to feature a rock star. He's not a rock star so much as a guitar god, I guess, and I have yet to really flesh that side of the story out. However, yesterday, as I sat at the computer trying to add a few more words to my story, this character--who is now named Matt instead of Trey--started speaking to me. In Richard Marx lyrics. Yes, FRN, he really did! So now, my novel might feature Richard Marx (or at least a few of his songs), and I'm thinking that it's a good thing...a way to remember the past and how much fun we had with good old  Richard. In fact, once I figured out what Matt needed to tell me yesterday, I began researching his lyrics, listening to his songs, and avoiding strange looks from my children. So on this day of Thanksgiving, one in which I find myself immensely grateful and satisfied with my life, I'm wishing you wonderful thoughts and many blessings. And so does Richard.

How did my day go? I had a good day, part of which I spent with the kids. Again. And that's because they are home. Which is a good thing, because that means I get to sleep in. Yes, I actually have slept in, past 5 a.m., each of the last few days. Plus, we've had some sun out here in many-times-it's-dreary-Ohio, which is about all I can ask for. (I guess I could ask for more writing time, but hey, we can't have everything.) So right now, as of this minute, I feel as though I'm walking on sunshine. Therefore, so shall you: And just in case you were wondering, I managed to add 1046 words to my story. It's still craptastic, but hey, it has a few more words to round it out.

How did my day go? Yesterday is a perfect example of why I hauled some butt early on in the month and got my words done. Because once the kids are home, and I'm still teaching, my time to write dwindles to just about nothing. So once again, I had a productive day, but not by way of writing (only about 360 words--maybe a little more but I inadvertently sent the wrong copy of my novel to myself after I worked on it at school, so I can't tell you how exactly many words I added). I also recognized that once NaNoWriMo is officially over, I will likely go back to taking a blogging hiatus. I need to reevaluate my writing goals for 2017, and I'll need some time to think. In the meantime, I'm also thinking about Christmas, and what I want, which only comes down to this: another dog. Here's a few pictures of some cuties that I'm eyeing:

How did my day go? Waking up to gloom and gray skies never makes for a good writing day for me. Instead of dwelling on that, though, I decided to get other things (and 570 words) accomplished. And no one wants to hear about that because it makes for a boring post. One of the "things" I did that you might be interested in is looking up a "love poem generator." Yes, I need some song lyrics or love poems and I figured someone out there could help me. Well, I found out that sometimes generators are not the way to go, as evidenced by this poem: Love You Always In summertime, our love is delicate , like lilacs floating in the breeze. In wintertime, our love is warm — it shimmers from heart to toes. If skies are blue, our love is joy — two people listening in the sun. If thunder rolls our love is blessed , a refuge from the falling rain. When spring flowers bloom, our love is bold, like crimson petals on the orchid . When autumn leaves fall, our love is

How did my day go? Yesterday, the 19th day of November, was full of friends. We attended a bar mitzvah, and spent much of the day outside of the home. In between the partying, I managed to put away a few clothes and write 313 words, but the words are not flowing for this story. I cannot find my muse, so to speak, and I know where it is hiding: in the music that still needs to be added to the story. You see, my character, Matt (he used to be named Trey) is a rock star. But he's not really a "rock" star--he's the sort who picks up a guitar (acoustic or electric) and the women swoon. Think Niall Horan or Ed Sheeran, only American and a little bit more rough around the edges. I'm not sure why he came to mind that way, but he did, and any time I hear a song I think he'd sing, I write it down. The problem is, though, that the music I see him singing needs to fuel his character more than it does and I just don't know how to get there. I think if I immerse

How did my day go? I slept til my alarm rang... I didn't have to rush to work... I volunteered at the library for the kindergarten class... I had an interesting experience at the grocery store... I wrote another exam... And I logged 312 words for NaNoWriMo .

How did my day go? It was a day full of writing! Yes, it was. But not a day full of writing for my novel. Instead, I wrote a lovely summary of cell metabolism for one of my classes that gave me 485 words. I can't count those words for NaNoWriMo, though, and that's okay. And because the day was, in general, very full of everything else, I'm still very tired. I'm hoping for a good stretch of writing time sometime this weekend. I will, of course, keep you posted. (So how many words did I chart for NaNoWriMo on Day 17? Fifty-six. Yep, only 56. That's a record.)

How did my day go? Honest to goodness, I haven't had a headache like this since I was diagnosed with a sinus infection back in 2008. And, I think the headache is directly correlated to my time in front of the computer screen. So, I tried my best to not spend time in front of the computer, which means my word count suffered: 306 words yesterday, and that's all! However, I had a productive day on other fronts. I put the finishing touches on an exam, graded a few papers, tweaked an existing essay, and entered a contest . I also met an old friend for lunch, and it was as if we'd seen each other just last week. I love friends like that. So here's to a new day of writing and whatever else you might want to do. Good luck!

Here we are on November 16--a little over halfway through November mind you--and I'm writing once again a sort of recap of NaNoWriMo . To some of you readers out there, a recap might sound odd. Why in the world is she writing a recap when the month is only half done? For those of you keeping up with me, you know it's because I'm finished with NaNoWriMo . I bypassed the 50,000 word count goal on November 14th and now? Before I dig in and add a few more thousand words over the course of the next two weeks, I thought I'd spend some time encouraging my friends and DaytonWriMos to keep going. Because sometimes, a little pat on the back and vote of confidence is all the encouragement a person needs to move forward and make progress. So here we go... You have almost two full weeks left to this challenge . Two weeks means 14 days, and at 24 hours a day, we have, effectively, 336 hours. That's a lot of hours. And you and I both know that we don't necessarily need

Author's Note: The plan for November is to update my readers on my daily NaNoWriMo progress. It's a way to connect with you, of course, but it helps keep me accountable, too. Please also note that I've added the date that NaNoWriMo predicts I will be done, assuming I keep my pace. The tally: 1. How many words I wrote on November 14, 2016. 1916 2. Did I make the word count goal for the day (1667 words)? Yes 3. Am I on track to finish by November 30, 2016? Yes 4. I will finish by: A s predicted in the previous post, I finished up yesterday. Distracting thought of my day: I wrote a draft in two weeks, again. I'm not bragging. The story stinks, quite frankly, and it needs so much by way of revision, that--should I decide to follow up and revise--it will take years to do so. But it's a good thing that I am, for the most part, done with this challenge. My head is ready to explode from too much computer time, and my house needs a good cleaning. I'll plan

Author's Note: The plan for November is to update my readers on my daily NaNoWriMo progress. It's a way to connect with you, of course, but it helps keep me accountable, too. Please also note that I've added the date that NaNoWriMo predicts I will be done, assuming I keep my pace. The tally: 1. How many words I wrote on November 13, 2016. 3259 2. Did I make the word count goal for the day (1667 words)? Yes 3. Am I on track to finish by November 30, 2016? Yes 4. I will finish by: November 14, 2016  Distracting thought of my day: I will finish 50,000 words by the end of the day. And right there--how that 50,000 words came to be--is a story in and of itself. It's something I'll be thinking of and I'll try to write it up for the mid-way point post for tomorrow or for my NaNoWriMo wrap up at the end. The bottom line: writing a 50,000-word novel becomes an obsession for me and my OCD. All the other details will have to wait.  So what's on tap for th

Author's Note: The plan for November is to update my readers on my daily NaNoWriMo progress. It's a way to connect with you, of course, but it helps keep me accountable, too. Please also note that I've added the date that NaNoWriMo predicts I will be done, assuming I keep my pace. The tally: 1. How many words I wrote on November 12, 2016. 5832 2. Did I make the word count goal for the day (1667 words)? Yes 3. Am I on track to finish by November 30, 2016? Yes 4. I will finish by: November 14, 2016 Distracting thought of my day: Salted Caramel Pretzel Bark. Yes, it's that time of the year again, when we start making that treat. I made a batch to bring to a friend's house. The girls made a batch, too, since I was taking the batch I made to that friend's house. You can make a batch as well, since I posted the recipe back in 2014. You can thank me later.

Author's Note: The plan for November is to update my readers on my daily NaNoWriMo progress. It's a way to connect with you, of course, but it helps keep me accountable, too. Please also note that I've added the date that NaNoWriMo predicts I will be done, assuming I keep my pace. The tally: 1. How many words I wrote on November 11, 2016. 6089 (Beat that new record from the 8th.) 2. Did I make the word count goal for the day (1667 words)? Yes 3. Am I on track to finish by November 30, 2016? Yes 4. I will finish by: November 15, 2016 Distracting thought of my day: Fortune cookies. At one point, my characters order Chinese food and laugh about fortune cookies. My plan is to have Timmy help me write my own fortunes for the novel, but in the meantime, I spent a few minutes looking at this fortune cookie database . A few, very appropriate fortunes popped up: The leader seeks to communicate his vision to his followers. You are the master of every situation. Ta

Author's Note: The plan for November is to update my readers on my daily NaNoWriMo progress. It's a way to connect with you, of course, but it helps keep me accountable, too. Please also note that I've added the date that NaNoWriMo predicts I will be done, assuming I keep my pace. The tally: 1. How many words I wrote on November 10, 2016. 3001 2. Did I make the word count goal for the day (1667 words)? Yes 3. Am I on track to finish by November 30, 2016? Yes 4. I will finish by: November 16, 2016 (I didn't write enough to stay on track for the 15th.) Distracting thought of my day: My competition with myself. I have buddies who are also participating in NaNoWriMo. They are all doing very well, but how well? I can't tell you. I don't check their word counts as those numbers mean nothing to me. But my own numbers? Well, I'm constantly thinking, how many more numbers can I post? And while I didn't think I could replicate last year's success

(Author's Note: The plan for November is to update my readers on my daily NaNoWriMo progress. It's a way to connect with you, of course, but it helps keep me accountable, too. Please also note that I've added the date that NaNoWriMo predicts I will be done, assuming I keep my pace.) The tally: 1. How many words I wrote on November 9, 2016. 4021 2. Did I make the word count goal for the day (1667 words)? Yes 3. Am I on track to finish by November 30, 2016? Yes 4. I will finish by: November 15, 2016 Distracting thought of my day: Videos. When I'm very tired and frustrated, I tend to listen to music or watch videos that make me laugh. I also write, which is why I managed over 4000 words plus a Huff Post piece yesterday. (Why, did I just promote myself? Yes, yes, I did. I'm so proud! I'm getting better at this stuff!) But that writing has nothing to do with the videos I watched: a couple of Bob Ross, a few music videos, and some classic True Facts vi

(Author's Note: The plan for November is to update my readers on my daily NaNoWriMo progress. It's a way to connect with you, of course, but it helps keep me accountable, too. Please also note that I've added the date that NaNoWriMo predicts I will be done, assuming I keep my pace.) The tally: 1. How many words I wrote on November 8, 2016. 6059 (That's a new record for me.) 2. Did I make the word count goal for the day (1667 words)? Yes 3. Am I on track to finish by November 30, 2016? Yes 4. I will finish by: November 16, 2016 Distracting thought of my day: The election, of course! And because I was trying to avoid social media all day, and blessed by the fact that my children were home and occupied, I poured all of my energy into writing (as evidenced by my word count). And by energy, I really do mean ALL of it: I began at 4:56 a.m. and wrote until 5:56 a.m. I left for work early so that I had another 45 minutes to write before teaching lab. While Melina

(Author's Note: The plan for November is to update my readers on my daily NaNoWriMo progress. It's a way to connect with you, of course, but it helps keep me accountable, too. Please also note that I've added the date that NaNoWriMo predicts I will be done, assuming I keep my pace.) The tally: 1. How many words I wrote on November 7, 2016. 3294 2. Did I make the word count goal for the day (1667 words)? Yes 3. Am I on track to finish by November 30, 2016? Yes 4. I will finish by: November 18, 2016 Distracting thought of my day: Constipation . Yes, that's right. I'm admitting (again) to that lovely problem, the one that pops up from time to time in this aging body of mine. The words might be moving, but other parts of me are not. Probably because I'm sitting more, eating more unhealthy foods (at least five slices of pizza on Saturday alone), and drinking less water. So over the next 23 days (that's all that's left of this challenge!), I'

(Author's Note: The plan for November is to update my readers on my daily NaNoWriMo progress. It's a way to connect with you, of course, but it helps keep me accountable, too. Please also note that I've added the date that NaNoWriMo predicts I will be done, assuming I keep my pace.) The tally: 1. How many words I wrote on November 6, 2016. 3615 (Thank you, Daylight Savings Time.) 2. Did I make the word count goal for the day (1667 words)? Yes 3. Am I on track to finish by November 30, 2016? Yes 4. I will finish by: November 18, 2016 Distracting thought of my day: Cats. Thanks to my own feline friends, I'm waking up really early. As in, before-the-butt-crack-of-dawn early. That's great for word counts. Not so great for my mood. Hence, the foray into best cat commercials.

(Author's Note: The plan for November is to update my readers on my daily NaNoWriMo progress. It's a way to connect with you, of course, but it helps keep me accountable, too. Please also note that I've added the date that NaNoWriMo predicts I will be done, assuming I keep my pace.) The tally: 1. How many words I wrote on November 5, 2016. 2853 2. Did I make the word count goal for the day (1667 words)? Yes 3. Am I on track to finish by November 30, 2016? Yes 4. I will finish by: November 20, 2016 Distracting thought of my day: I must confess to being a bad mom with this thought. I must also confess that cuss words are used. So if you're letting your little one read this over your shoulder, place a gentle hand alongside his or her cheek and turn it away from the screen. NOW. Okay then. Like most authors, I try to make my dialogue authentic. Which means if I'm writing about a 25-year-old man, then I will try to speak like a 25-year-old man. (Yes, I

(Author's Note: The plan for November is to update my readers on my daily NaNoWriMo progress. It's a way to connect with you, of course, but it helps keep me accountable, too. Please also note that I've added the date that NaNoWriMo predicts I will be done, assuming I keep my pace.) The tally: 1. How many words I wrote on November 4, 2016. 2718 2. Did I make the word count goal for the day (1667 words)? Yes 3. Am I on track to finish by November 30, 2016? Yes 4. I will finish by: November 20, 2016 Distracting thought of my day: The level of my fatigue. That's right, as I knew would happen, I'm getting tired. I jump out of bed so early these days (yesterday, the clock read 4:36 a.m.) that by about 3:30 in the afternoon, I'm spent. And for what? A crappy draft of a novel that might never go anywhere? I'm crazy, right? Yes, I am, but if this is crazy, I'm going to grab it with both hands and not let go and I'm pretty certain I'm bringi

(Author's Note: The plan for November is to update my readers on my daily NaNoWriMo progress. It's a way to connect with you, of course, but it helps keep me accountable, too. Please also note that I've added the date that NaNoWriMo predicts I will be done, assuming I keep my pace.) The tally: 1. How many words I wrote on November 3, 2016. 2538 2. Did I make the word count goal for the day (1667 words)? Yes 3. Am I on track to finish by November 30, 2016? Yes 4. I will finish by: November 20, 2016 Distracting thought of my day: How bad are my sentences, really? As I've learned more about the craft of writing, it's easier to sit down and compose decent sentences, even under a deadline. I automatically now choose active verbs over passive ones and try to show instead of tell . But the goal of NaNoWriMo is to simply get my story down. I don't revise. I don't edit. I simply aim to get a somewhat coherent plot on the page. So let's look at a few o

(Author's Note: The plan for November is to update my readers on my daily NaNoWriMo progress. It's a way to connect with you, of course, but it helps keep me accountable, too.) The tally: 1. How many words I wrote on November 2, 2016. 2572 2. Did I make the word count goal for the day (1667 words)? Yes 3. Am I on track to finish by November 30, 2016? Yes Distracting thought of my day: Ears. Yes, that's right, ears. Have you ever thought about whether or not your ears look anything like your parents' ears? And if your ears don't look like your parents ears, do you wonder about your parentage? Like I said...it's a distracting thought.

(Author's Note: The plan for November is to update my readers on my daily NaNoWriMo progress. It's a way to connect with you, of course, but it helps keep me accountable, too.) The tally: 1. How many words I wrote on November 1, 2016. 2411 (Nowhere near last year's count of 3828.) 2. Did I make the word count goal for the day (1667 words)? Yes 3. Am I on track to finish by November 30, 2016? Yes Distracting thought of my day: Cake. In particular, chocolate cake. One that looks very much like this... Yes, I made this. And it was delicious. Yes, it was Aaron's birthday yesterday, and I had a task on my to-do-list with his name on it: make birthday cake. I tried a new recipe, which the kids and Tim deemed a winner. You can check out that fabulous recipe over at Sally's Baking Addiction . And if I haven't said it before, you can't go wrong with Sally.

Twelve years ago today, at 2:04 a.m., a little after Tim had returned to the hospital because we'd forgotten the camera (yes, we were those parents), Aaron came into the world. I didn't have the easiest labor: it could have been uneventful (and for the most part, it was), but since the girls were born by scheduled c-section, I knew not what labor entailed. Despite my best efforts to experience a natural childbirth, I feared the pain, and thus, it wasn't until after an epidural was put into place that I allowed myself to truly relax, which in turn helped bring Little Red from the darkness into the light (or from the warmth into the cold, whichever you prefer). I marveled then at the tiny life nestled in my arms, and here we are, a dozen years later, and I'm still marveling at the tween life nestled in my arms. And just like every other year since he's been born, I'm forced to realize that the days pass by so quickly. I have to ask myself, am I gleaning as much