Hiking

I hiked in Garden of the Gods on Saturday and Sunday. What lovely walks. A little cold, but with all the trees and shrubs, the wind was broken so there wasn't really any wind chill to speak of. A few icy patches here and there. Another effect of the trees. I didn't have any trouble Saturday, but Sunday I slipped and fell on an icy spot. No big deal. After a few years of hiking here, one learns how to fall. Ice in the winter and loose sand and gravel in the summer mean you will fall from time to time. It's always better to just go with it. Fewer injuries than when you try to fight it.

My fall came just as I was thinking about how to blog about hiking. I was thinking about how I use my walking stick to help keep my balance and protect myself from slips. That during hikes, it is important to pay attention to what is right in front of you, not worry too much about what's around the next turn. And, surprise!, I slipped on the ice right in front of me.

I'll let you draw the parallels between hiking and writing. I don't want to slip and fall on it. But I will be out walking again, first thing in the morning. Watching what's right in front of me. And I'll be writing this afternoon, doing the same.

Don't Hate Me Because I'm Beautiful

Hate me because I have a whole week off next week. Since I already had Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday off because of our very generous boss, I decided to use up my last two vacation days and make it a whole week. I'm not really planning to go anywhere or do anything particularly special. Here are some of the ideas that have floated by:

--Write, of course.
--Sit in on the Sunday CSFWG meeting and see what everyone is working on.
--Absolutely go to Sunday dinner with the gang.
--Get together with the usual suspects for New Year's Night (not Eve) tradition.
--Movies, movies, movies. I'm really behind on my movie viewing for the year.
--Hike. Garden of the Gods should be lovely right now. And I've never hiked Garden of the Goddess.
--Finish piecing a quilt I started for Miss Elizabeth.
--Read.
--Take in the Impressionist and Modern Art exhibit at the Fine Art Center.

Any other suggestions? Must be something that requires minimal funds.

Metaphors

Jenny recently posted about "filling the well" not quite fitting how she feels when she runs out of inspiration. Hers was a grape that had become a raisin, needing more moisture to plump up and be ready to go. Ali followed up with a kite analogy, Nicole feels like a plate of tangled spaghetti, and D.B. used a deflated balloon.

Mine is somewhere in the middle. Maybe it's the whole Pirate thing. Or the fact that my father designed and built boats. But I feel like a becalmed schooner. My sails need some wind to fill them so I can get moving again. And let's get those ropes coiled neatly on the deck so I don't trip.

I have been keeping up with my Morning Pages, but not much else. Things are percolating, but not ready to be poured out. And if I did, I'm not sure I have the energy to add any of the cream and sugar that makes writing (and reading) fun.

The good news is that I have started reading Jenny's manuscript. I'm still on parts I've read before, but there seems to have been some changes made since then. And notes for more changes. Makes me smile to see someone else doing that.

I should finish before the weekend is out. I want to jot down initial comments then wait a while. Sometimes I think it's helpful to know what stayed with a reader--or what bothers them after they think about it a while. So she should have her pages back for the next Pirate gathering--which isn't Last Sunday, Jen.

A fun way to end the year.

A Challenge

I know everyone's busy with the holidays and feeling like writing is the last thing you have time for. But here's a multiple-choice Evil Editor themed challenge to get you writing for a little bit at least.

Pick one (or more if you're feeling ambitious):

1) Submit a query letter to Evil Editor.
2) Submit the first part of something you've written to Evil Editor for a continuation.
3) Do one of the following current Writing Exercises (word limit 250) and submit to Mr. Evil:

a) Evil Editor is visited by the Ghost of Christmas Past, who helps him revisit the crucial event that led to his evilness.
b) You find the list of your three 2007 New Year's resolutions. So far you've accomplished none of them. But there are still two hours till 2008. Better move fast.
c) We all know what happened when the little "Who" discovered the Grinch taking all the presnts; she bought his lies and went back to bed. Write a scene in which one of the following characters discovers the Grinch stealing Christmas: Columbo; Rambo; Chief Wiggum.
d) An ice storm has had your electricity of for four days. You can't cook, watch television or use your blender. Worst of all, you can't get online. Write a scene describing the lengths you go to to find out what's happening on Evil Editor's blog.
e) Stranded on a frozen tundra, you look up to see a vast herd of reindeer stampeding toward you. It could be time to use your time travel device, but there's no telling where and when it'll deposit you.

Have fun.

Ha!

I'm Feeling Better

I wrote that with a Monty Python accent, not sure if it comes through.

I really am feeling better. I sent the packages that had to go out of town on Friday, cleaned the house and finished decorating the tree on Saturday then had tea with the USOC ladies on Sunday.

Today, I finished my Christmas shopping at lunch. Thanks, Barnes & Noble! And manager Dave, who recognized me and came to my aid. A hot non-fiction book only displayed at the back of the fiction section. Silly me for not looking there. Anyway, that's done. Huge sigh of relief at the register and much bantering with the gal at the checkout. Love B&N employees. One in particular, but almost all of them chat about what you're buying and such.

My for-no-reason-in-particular vacation day also worked wonders. I finally watched Pan's Labyrinth. What a beautiful and horrible movie. I understand now what everyone was talking about. My nephew had said that it was the most violent movie he'd ever seen. This is the guy who grew up on what he calls slash and hack films. I'm not sure I could have taken the brutality without the fairy tale element intertwined. Of course, most fairy tales are brutal. But when it's called fantasy, it seems easier to deal with.

Then last night I watched a fluffy little bit of fun called The Holiday. I knew exactly how it would turn out after the first five minutes, but it was still fun. Surprisingly, there was no real chemistry between Cameron Diaz and Jude Law. There was, however, a spark between Jack Black and Kate Winslet. Half the scenes they're in together, she looks like she's trying desperately not to laugh. As an aside, Alex O'Loughlin, who plays the sexy vampire on Moonlight, has a cameo in the beginning of the movie as Kissing Guy.

I also made some tasty but somewhat healthy cookies to bring in for snacks so I don't go for the chocolate and preservatives. Key word there is "tasty".

So just a general day of putting a drop or two back in the old well. Not quite a refilling [see Jenny's blog for an explanation if you're not familiar with Julia Cameron], but a start. Even with so little, I had a dream that may be a plot for another novel. I'll have to let it stew a while. And it's given me a taste for a fuller refill. There's an exhibit of Impressionist and Modern art at the Fine Art Center that I'm taking myself to see--possibly next weekend. There are a few movies out in the theater that I want to see. I have a wine date with a friend. I have Jenny's FJR to read, plus a couple other books I've been wanting to dip into. And I have a pattern and yarn for a new sweater.

So right now all I'm worrying about writing is Morning Pages. Another Julia Cameron thing. Writing three pages a day off the top of your head. A way to get out the gunk and get the juices flowing. I mentioned in my goal update for the week that I'm writing every day but cheating. Actually, what I'm doing is making up for days I don't write. So if I miss Saturday and Sunday--which happens a lot for some reason--then on Monday I may put a heading of 12/17/07 Monday for Saturday. I'll write the three pages. If I have three more in my, I'll head the next one 12/17/07 Monday for Sunday. And so on until I'm writing for whatever day it is. I did this one other time and, after getting four days behind for some reason and making myself catch up, I didn't skip any days for well over a month.

Amazing how just a few little things can turn a mood around.

From Tension to Stress

What is it about this time of year? I don't have nearly the amount of presents to buy or promises to keep as most of the people I know. Yet I am feeling really stressed out. I just came off a 4-day migraine that was probably equal parts stress, winter weather and not eating correctly (because of the stress thing). I'm watching the snow coming down, making the roads even more fun to drive on going home than they were coming to work--and they were BAD coming to work.

So what to do? Here's my plan of attack. Which may be an oxymoron when talking about getting rid of stress, but there you go.

1) Lists. Once I have everything I need to do in a list, it makes it seem more manageable.
2) Divvying up the tasks. I tend to try to overdo. [Okay, I hear all of you out there with your sarcastic, "Oh, yeah?"s.] Since I really don't want to get out on the roads today, I keep thinking, "Tomorrow at lunch I'll . . . " I've listed things that will take 4 hours to do on my one-hour lunch break. And none of them involve actually eating lunch. So 2 list items tops at lunch and one after work. There's still Thursday, Friday and Saturday this week. Plus some time next week, too.
3) Let a few things go. Always the hardest for me. But it does help to identify an item or two that I don't really need to get done right now and take them off the list until next year.
4) Do something fun just for the hell of it. Again, a hard one when I'm already feeling overbooked. But stopping for a cup of gingerbread coffee and reading a chapter or two of a book or shooting the bull with a friend I haven't seen in a while can be just what I need to energize for all those other tasks.
5) Take care of my health. That means eating right and making time to exercise. The temptation is to grab Micky D's or some other high-fat, high-cal, high-bad food and eat it in the car. Not conducive to feeling at my best. Pack lunch.

See, I feel better already. So what do you do to relieve stress? Is writing, or not writing, involved?