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Try a Little…Change: ROW80 Update, May 5, 2013

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Okay, it’s May. I haven’t posted an update in a week and a half – I needed a breather after out of state travel and winning my fifth NaNoWriMo challenge. I kicked back and puttered. I celebrated the win, and took time for resetting, catching up on a few dangling ends, renewing, and evaluating where I am and where I want to be at the end of this round.

I left my charting notebook alone. I wrote no daily goals lists. I dabbled at this and that, enjoyed the lovely spring air, and recuperated from an intense month of writing and doing. It was lovely.

What I’ve done:

April CampNaNo – Exceeded goal of 75,000 words, split between 3 WIPs .

  • Originally hoped to complete all three, but that will take longer.
  • Moved all three novels further along, and am well pleased with the progress.
  • Final count: 78,251 words.
  • Target surpassed!

Blogging from A to Z April Challenge – Completed.

  • Received some great feedback on the stories, and attracted new followers.
  • Developed two more Trueborn Warp/Weft storylines.
  • Increased my visits and shares from 2012.
  • Target attained!

Blogging -More consistent than ever before, even with the challenges.

  • Some lapses in my intended schedule, but blogging remained a part of my weekly activities.
  • Gained insights that will prove useful in keeping up with future consistent blogging through challenges.

Ample time with my family.

  • Several outings, a large trip, and many times of family connection throughout the month.
  • Target attained!

Plum tree in bloom. Photo credit:kbowenriter, courtesy WANA Commons.

And now, a look to the future:

Noveling:

Revise my noveling action plan and post by May 15.

  • Pending.

Complete Sima Garo Provides by May 5.

  • Epilogue completed 12:20am, May 5.
  • WIP first draft: 110,659 words.
  • Target attained!

Complete Blood and Breath by June 1.

  • Needs approximately 20,000 words.
  • Pending.

Complete To Be or Not to Be (double volume) by June 30.

  • Needs approximately 90,000 words (Will net two complete WIPs, once sorted).
  • Pending.

A to Z post stories -Complete by June 30.

Place stories into Scrivener files as expandable scenes.

  • Pending.

Reread both; create to-do lists.

  • Pending.

Plan WIPS.

  • Pending.

 

 

Yellow blooms. Photo credit:Melinda VanLone; courtesy WANA Commons.

Blogging:

Continue throughout round:

Sharing posts from all blogs.

  • Target Attained!

Commenting according to my posted schedules.

  • Comments were off schedule for a while, but are now on track.
  • Pending.

Completed by May 10:

Revise my blogging action plan and post.

  • Pending.

Revise and post my blogging schedule.

  • Pending.

Completed by May 15:

Create resource lists for all features, and add to them in an organic and ongoing way.

  • Continuing this, and evolving.
  • Target attained!

Begin reviewing Trueborn Jottings – bring into alignment with current vision for this blog.

  • Pending.

Completed by June 1:

Build scheduled posts two weeks ahead for each feature.

  • Maintain as safety margin.
  • I scheduled two Saturday’s Share posts.
  • Scheduled through May 18.
  • Pending.

Completed by June 10:

Have two more posts for each feature in drafts queue.

  • Pending.

Maintain as additional safety margin.

  • Pending.

By End of Round:

Draft plan for website hosting expenses (where will money come from?).

  • Pending.

 

Yum! Photo Credit: Jordan L. Hawk; courtesy WANA Commons.

Networking:

Continue throughout round:

ROW80 updates and sponsor visits

  • Have fallen behind; will catch up.
  • Pending.

Check weekly updates for blogs I follow, two Mondays each month.

  • Pending.

Check WANA Facebook Group each Wednesday.

  • Pending.

Comment on posts and share as inspired.

  • Target attained!

Use in features where appropriate.

  • Target attained!

Create discussions around new thoughts.

  • Target attained!

Facebook and Facebook Groups :

I fell away from my groups over the last months. Reconnect, participate, share.

  • A smallish, getting-my-feet-rewet beginning.
  • Target attained!

Twitter:

Visit each day; read, share, tweet, comment.

  • Pending.

Google +, LinkedIn, and Pinterest -

Visit each weekly for May, then evaluate by June 1.

  • Pending.

Have fun with these – and, if not, let them go! =)

  • Pending.

 

Crocus loveliness! Photo credit: EK Carmel; Courtesy WANA Cammons.

Real-life:

Continue participating in activities and connecting with friends. This tends to slide during busy writing times; take advantage of natural lulls to feed my social spirit.

  • Long weekend with friends last weekend; still recovering from social intensity.
  • Target attained!

Return to WANATribe – by May 10:

Check back on WANA113 and Writing Moms class groups.

  • Pending.

Explore other groups I have joined there.

  • Pending.

Post to WANATribe blog, and update page – by May20.

  • Pending.

Visit WANA friends….invite more, as inspired.

  • Pending.

 

Wild beauty. Photo credit: LE Carmichael; Courtesy WANA Commons.

Other Writing:

Children’s Third-Quarter Homeschooling Reports: Due on June 1.

(Submit to district by May 25.)

  • I have begun Annalise’s report, and am moving through her Reading section.
  • Pending.

Revise three flash fiction WIPs using Sarah Selecky’s Deep Revisions exercises: (Complete all by end of round.)

“A Splash of Red” :

  • Pending.

“Morning Coffee”:

  • Pending.

“Peach Liqueur Love”:

  • Pending.

 

OOH! Photo credit EK Carmel; Courtesy WANA Commons.

Queen of My Infinite Spaces (poetry volume):

Revise poems and end matter by end of this round.

  • Highlighted passages and phrases for further attention – first two poems.
  • Pending.

Canvas for beta readers.

  • Pending.

Complete Ursula LeGuin’s Steering the Craft(by end of round).

Do exercises, using existing WIPs where possible, for efficiency. Complete by end of round.

  • Pending.

There….I think that’s a pleasing buffet enough, for now. I will revisit in a fortnight, and see how I feel about them then.

My most recent fortnightly (or so) long term goals evaluation.

It’s a BLOG HOP!

Splendor. Photo Credit: Dave R Farmer; Courtesy WANA Commons.

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Saturday’s Share: Goat Girl

This picture has a story to tell….

And maybe you do, too. 

If this image sparks your memory –  or your imagination – go for it! Use the image as a writing prompt, edit it, add graphics or a caption…

It’s up to you!

In Monday’s Coffee and Conversation feature, I will share this photo’s story, seen through my eyes, and what it has brought forth in me.

I hope that we can learn one another,  and find inspiration, together!

 

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Vulnerable Trust: #ROW80 Update, March 3,2013

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The last few days have been vulnerable ones, for me I’m learning, deepening, and awakening to new ideas, new ways of being. I’m stretching toward my dreams, and, at the same time, needing lots of time to just be where I am, and absorb…

Have you ever felt this way?

I’m in a slack tide…some energy shifting outward, some still inwardly directed. I am a held breath.

Broken open, hesitantly poised at the edge of something so long yearned for, but which, as it begins to unfurl, is as vast as the Grand Canyon under a moonless, star-filled Arizona sky.

I feel it into my soul, echoing through my mind – the resonance of knowing that these dreams are not only possible, but attainable.

Have you ever neared that possibility, and you can at last see just how you can get from here to there – the place you’ve dreamed of, longed for? How do you feel, when it happens, for you?

I’ll admit it. I’m a little terrified.

Taking the next steps means shifting from what I have been, how I have lived. It means owning things about myself in new ways, proclaiming who I am, what I want, what I am willing to do to get there.

Becoming…Photo courtesy WANA Commons.

And, then – it means doing it.

What is it that has me quaking, wanting to crawl into a cocoon and pretend that it’s still just fantasy, a not an schievable goal..?

I’m hearing the voices again.

You might know them. They say it’s impractical, a pipe dream, that I am too ditzy or unmotivated – or too something – to ever do this.

They are the “who the hell do you think you are” voices, and they come with faces, attitudes, energies, and experiences I’ve known my whole life.

Who the hell DO I think I am, anyway?

Well…

I am myself. I have a passion for life, connection, and communication. I adore words, ideas, and imagery. I feel emotional energy in the same way I feel the shifting of the winds.

I am the only one of me there is. No one else has had just my set of experiences; no one else has felt and thought in just this way.

No one else will share their life just in the way that I do.

I think there is value in that – in each of us sharing our story in our way, giving it to others to do with as they will.

I’m feeling vulnerable. I am the early bud; I am the chick who no longer fits within a once comfortable shell.

If I remain curled into this cocoon, this casing, this shell – I cannot survive.

Emergence…Photo courtesy WANA Commons.

It’s time.

Time to thrust outward – to break the silky threads, force the outer leaves open, tap cracks into that shell and push outward.

Time to trust in metamorphosis.

I’m at the beginning, atremble, beset with ‘what-ifs’. Naked, bereft of the protections of the comfortable spaces I had occupied – I know too much, now, for them to be anything other than restrictive.

I have to change, grow, evolve…

I can’t be as I was, and so I become something new, something bigger and deeper, something truer to these dreams that are becoming my reality.

What will I be, on the other side? Hard to say, exactly, since I am not even sure where the other side is….

But I will find it.

And live it.

Who or what has challenged you to grow and change, else wither and stagnate? I love comments, and reading your stories!

Dreams and beauty beyond the shell…Photo courtesy WANA Commons.

 ROW80: 

(My biweekly evaluation is pending until later Sunday, March 3, and will be posted here, when complete.)

 #WANA113 - My BIG ONE:

  • I completed and posted my Word Cloud Grokking.
  • I connected with all class members.
  • I read Lessons Four and Five.
  • I scanned the next two assignments.

Targets:

  • Read/comment on five word clouds by Wednesday, March 6.
  • Begin Grokking #3.

Sponsor Visits:

Reading: (slowing down some as I move into slack tide,and am writing more.)

Blogging:

  • New weekly feature, Friday Frolic. The inaugural post was a video tribute to Davy Jones, on the anniversary of his death. It will be a place for lighter fare to start off the weekends.
  • I spent some time with my blogging action plan, setting some things down.

Target:

  • Rough draft complete by March 15.

Writing:

  • Submitted “The Last House” to a literary journal – a personal, scary first.
  • “A Splash of Red” – revising for deep POV. Will be a guest post submission.
  • Completed QUOMIS rough draft! Next,editing!
  • 750 Words - Exposition and Blogging from A to Z rough posts D and E (C was done as one of the exercises above.)

Targets: 

  • Submit “A Splash of Red” by March 10.
  • Compile QUOMIS. Revise 2 poems by March 6.

Beta-reading:

  • “Blow Me a Candy Kiss”- will comment and return by Wednesday, March 6.

The children and I visited friends with newborn kittens on Friday, to fulfill a dream for Annalise. Saturday, I took Jeremiah to the store for half-birthday treats, and today (Sunday), the kids and I are going to the bookstore to meet Elizabeth Anne  Mitchell.

That makes a happy but busy weekend for me, and I will be happy to go nowhere tomorrow!

It’s a BLOG HOP!

Am I ready to take flight? Photo courtesy WANA Commons.

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A Pregnant Pause – #ROW80 Update 12/16/12

 

Curious? Click here!

Here we are, at the beginning of the final week of my inaugural year of ROW80.

 

I’m finding it a little hard to believe that it was just about at this time last year that I began seriously considering undertaking this challenge. I had no idea than how it would shift my thinking, focus my energy, inspire new friendships, and expand me,as a writer and a person…but I will have more to say about that next Sunday.

It’s been a mellow penultimate week here. Since shortly after our trip, both kids and I shifted to a nocturnal schedule. I was faster to begin the return shift than they have been, so the last three days have offered several hours each of daytime quiet for writing, which is rather unusual.

I’ve put the time to good use: catching up on comments, doing setup, reading, and writing. Oh, and resting, and hometending, and a very mellow beginning to our seasonal decorating – Annalise enjoys being a part of it, so I am waiting to really get going until out schedules are more in sync again.

I am still in the process of wrapping up my 2012 projects, and prepping for 2013 (yes, I have a focus, and some ideas about my goals and their structure). I am feeling mellow, relaxed, and productive in an easy and unstressed manner.

Life is more than good!

Art by Annalise Burton, age 8, using the Picasso app on a Kindle Fire.

How about you? Are you moving calmly toward the year’s end, eager for the next – or is this last week destined to be a frenetic charge to the finish line, with the new year breathing down your neck? Please share in the comments!

December ROW80 Goals (End-of- Round Housekeeping)

  • My original goals for this round.

  • My Thankvember NaNoROW80 goals

  • My informal schedule for December (not used during this session).

Write and post ROW80: Year One in Review – four seasonal posts, one for each round of my first year.

  • I’ve reread what I have written thus far, in preparation for adding the concluding passages..

  • This goal was moved to the back burner over the last session, as I caught up on other goals left untended while we traveled.

This goal is changing. The time element means that, rather than four separate posts, I am going to combine them into one “A Year of ROW80” post. I will also be shifting the focus, as what I have thus far written doesn’t inspire and isn’t saying what I intended.

Read posts at My Write Spot and Thankvember Blog Hop.

For Thankvember Blog Hop:

At My Write Spot:

Jot some notes for ebook/hard copy poetry book, Queen of Infinite Spaces, which will use my 31 OctPoWriMo 2012 poems.

  • I have reread the notes I wrote last week, and don’t feel the need to add anything to the prep list at this time.

  • I have begun to work on the list by gathering the poems from my LibreOffice files and adding them to my Scrivener binder for this project.

  • I have collected two poems, so far. Another small step; another small beginning.

Continue writing Sima Garo Provides, throughout December.

  • I plan to use Rachel Aaron’s process on this story, noting what I plan to write about before each session, even if it’s only a short one, and time-tracking.

  • I reread my notes and Chapter Ten,Scene Four, realizing that it is complete.

  • I’ve done no new writing, but I feel the story building for Chapter Eleven, and will be taking notes in the coming days. Perhaps writing will also commence.

Moving firewood into garage, stacking, and stocking house as needed.

  • I’ve restocked the house supply, and will next be tidying what I tossed into the garage to avoid it getting wet. I’m glad I did, because the next week is expected to be raining. =D

Picasso Art by Annalise Burton, age 8.

Editing Picasa albums, and sharing them more widely.

  • I began by adding a description and making public this small album of the kids’ recentish stuff….

  • Another small beginning here – do I hear ice cracking? =)

Add reports and sections to kids’ reporting blogs, and organize blogs.

  • I began the reporting period, last quarter, with one idea for these blogs, but, as is so often the case, living with it led me to some fairly major shifts.

    Now, I will be working toward adjusting the setup to match what’s really working for me, and making sure all of the first quarter report sections are public – I will use this if I need quick proof, or to refer a concerned family member to evidence of “what we do all day” (even though, very often, we are likely to be doing it all night, instead…)

  • I intend to have all of these done before the end of the quarter – January 31, 2012.

  • Nothing new this session – will be a priority for the next.

Weekly update posts to both reporting blogs.

  • I am thinking that these will just be roughly sorted into categories – a sort of laundry list of the cooler parts of our week (Monday sounds like a good day to do them!)

  • I edited a small album of kids’ projects, in preparation for adding to the kids’ portfolios.

  • I have fallen behind on this goal, but I am beginning to think that it is OK to relax a little and hit the high points. My reports have been extremely detailed; and there is no real need for that.

So, my new focus will be just on getting some things down for each objective before the quarter is over…and I will allow myself to breathe around this one.

  • I also intend to remember that this goal is intended to simplify my lie, not complicate it! =D

  • Categories may be as simple as “Doing”/”Seeing”/”Making”/”Playing”/and “Talking About”, and may include pictures and/or links.

  • I haven’t done anymore on these projects. I’m OK with that, and will make it a priority in the coming days.

  • I may also categorize using an initial code system, so that the “subject/s” an item fits into will be clear at a glance.

  • In the coming days, I will be adding these items to the appropriate categories on their pages, from which the next report will be created.

  • Nothing new to report, here.

  • From there, I will move them into their “subject” and “objective” on the IHIP.

  • I have done nothing toward this goal in this session,but plan to have both children’s first updates categorized before I post their third updates.

Guest blogging catchup.

  • I will be doing a round of checks on previous posts, to answer comments as needed.

  • I have completed responding to the comments onmy guest post at Elizabeth Anne Mitchell.

  • Next up, I will be visiting my ROW80 sponsor post.

  • As I move through this process, I will make certain that myWhere on the Web is Shan Jeniah? page is up-to-date, and possibly prettied up a bit…

  • I have played with my screenshot app, and think I will replace it with something else. It doesn’t seem to be working as well as I had hoped.

  • I will be sending a completed post to a friend, to see if she would like it, and another where I can send a nifty little bit of flash fiction I wrote a few months back, and contacting another friend where I planned to write during the craziness that was Round 3.

  • I have sent the essay to my friend, and will wait for her decision as to whether she can use it.

Prepare items for submission.

  • I’ve been planning to send some things out into the world, but haven’t done so since the early part of summer. The reasons have been various, and now it’s time to offer up some of my words in exchange for a bit of disposable cash flow…

    I’ll begin small -just choosing a thing or two to spruce up and let go….and take it from there. My Writing Bullpen is chock full of potential – time to bring out some new pitches! =D

  • “The Last House” has been submitted. =D

  • This piece was rejected, with specific criticisms and references. I will read, revise, and resubmit to this market or elsewhere.

  • I will continue to do this as I read, so that I will have a selection of items to prepare, without any extra work.

  • I’ve saved my flash fiction category to my Read Later file. There are good pieces there….

  • I am toying with the idea of rewriting a story I wrote in 2000, Morning Coffee, for the Writer’s Digest Short Short Story Competition.

  • I have written over 300 words of this story.

  • This is a small beginning, but I expect the writing to flow quickly from this point.

  • Even if I do not finish in time for the deadline, which is midnight, I will still have a story I can submit elsewhere.

My favorite Annalise art.

And my two standing goals, continuing on…

I am serving as a  ROW80sponsor for this round.

  • I have caught up on my responsibilities, and am happy to be in good standing again.

  • I have volunteered to serve as a sponsor again next round – I love this gig!

  • I’m up on the sponsor list! Yippee! =D Hope to be seeing you all again soon!

Fitness Goals – I will focus on eating before I am hungry (and getting protein and magnesium into every other time I eat). I will be active enough that I can always feel my body and muscles. I will add more fruits and vegetables to my diet, and be more attentive to how much water I am drinking.

  • I will be recording my progress here, along with my energy levels for that Sunday – Tuesday or Wednesday – Saturday period.

Wednesday – Ebb Tide

Moved firewood, minimal hometending, worked on update and other writing, resting

Thursday – Ebb Tide

Moved firewood, moderate hometending, answering comments and other writing, submitting, resting

Friday- Ebb Tide

Moderate hometending, pet tending, answering comments and other writing, resting

Saturday – Slack Tide

Moderate hometending, firewood stocking, beginning holiday decorating setup, update and other writing, including short story.

  • I have been following a more intuitive and natural approach to eating and drinking, and allowing myself to feel my body’s wishes.

  • I continue to do well with this goal, intuitively eating more in the way of vegetables, protein, magnesium, and attending more to my water consumption.

Experimentation by Annalise.

And now, a bit about our last few days:

As I mentioned above, things have been pretty quiet here, over the last few days.

A side effect of this is that the quiet house has inspired Squeak, one of the semi-feral kittens, to come out and play. She’s still avoiding direct human-initiated contact, but will come close enough to me to sniff my hand, and she isn’t in nearly as big a hurry to hide from me.

Yesterday and today, she’s done a little dance in front of me, tail curled and back a little arched, as though she wants to be friends but can’t quite trust me yet. She’s let me touch her a few times, very briefly…she is soft and sleek.

Her sister Srindi is a little less adventuresome, and a little less interested in being on the floor when I am. She’s still hanging mostly in my office, but is getting less shy about being out on the table while we are near.

Both girls like Achoo, our little kitten from the woods. She’s still sneezy, but growing well, and active. Hoping things clear up for her, as they are better than when she first arrived.

Achoo moves happily between her two big sisters, snuggling with Srindi, and playing with Squeak.

As for me, I am percolating with new awarenesses and ideas.  It’s one of those deepening times where everything seems just beneath the surface, and just beyond words, a cresting wave preparing to break over me…

We’ve talked about the emotions brought up by this week’s events, and shared hugs and gentleness and gratitude that we have found an alternative to school.  There are no guarantees of safety for any of us, but there is a certain peace in our being together, in the knowing that our lives are filled with wonder and love.

Until then, I will move along, wrapping up my goals, and enjoying this quiet space…the kids were both up after 5pm today, so I feel that they are shifting back to a more typical pattern…

May your week be cheery, productive, and delightful!

More by Annalise, from last Christmas, when she was 7.

It’s a BLOG HOP!

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“BOO!” – An All Hallows’ Eve ROW80 Update, 10/31/12

Curious? Click here!

In deference to the intense nature of NaNoWriMo, my projects list will be modified for the month. See the November goals here!

It’s Halloween here at the Burton house, and we’re in the midst of the tumult of getting reaay for trick-or-treating. I am writing when I can, in the gaps between other things. I will likely take my computer, as the kids are hoping for some time at the mall’s bounce house, and I have enough battery power to write there, even if they do not have free wi-fi (Jeremiah is telling me that they do, so I may be setting up blogposts instead).

This is our Plan C. Plan A was to spend Tuesday -Saturday with our friends, the Woodman family. But they live in central New Jersey, and Hurricane Sandy had other plans. Plan B was to meet up with friends and trick-or-treat with them…but sadly, that hasn’t worked out, either, with such short notice.

We’re pretty good at rolling along with the flow, though, so, tonight, we will be visiting a local mall (the weather is still unsettled, and we live quite rurally). We hope to be home in time for the Peanuts Halloween special at 8pm, after which point we’ll shift to a hometending mode for a bit (I did some already, but the house could use a bit of a reset before I dive headlong into NaNo at midnight!).

The Woodmans’ hometown, where many people are still without power, is rescheduling their festivities for Saturday. So, if they should have their power restored by then, we may still be able to celebrate with them,, too! =)

As for tricks or treats, I prefer the latter. So, scattered through this post will be images from last Halloween with the Woodmans, and, at the end, there are a few extra treats. You can read through or just scroll down – but please don’t leave without depositing a little treat of your own in my comment box (I like comments and frozen grapes better than candy!).

Pink unicorn rider, Halloween 2011.

Honoring Myself  (Original goals post)

My goal for this round is to honor myself – my rhythms, energy, needs, truth, dreams, desires, and emotions.

A fundamental part of that is to identify my energy type each day, and summarize what I do. It’s my hope that, throughout the round, patterns will emerge which lead to a more joyful, organic writing flow – one that honors me and allows me to get the most out of my seldom predictable writing time.

 

My energy levels and poems for the last few days..

  • Sunday: High Tide (used more for hurricane preparations than for writing, though).
  • Poem: Wild Origins
  • Monday: Serious Ebb Tide (backlash from so much busy on Sunday, and too little sleep).
  • Poem: Outside In; Inside Out
  • Tuedsay: Slack Tide (a bleed of input and creating; very little physical acticity. I needed a “down” day to rest for Halloween and the arrival of NaNo, I think.
  • Poem: Two Lives, Two Rings

 

Our friend Harry, incognito!

What’s goin’ on..?

Priority Projects –

I am serving as a  ROW80 sponsor for this round.

Devil Darling, impish grin!

I am participating in the OctPo WriMo Challenge throughout October.

I will be participating in NaNoWriMo throughout November, writing at least 50,000 words of another novel in my Trueborn Weft series , Sima Garo Provides.

  • I have set up an as-yet blank page for this nascent WIP, and will be moving some items to it throughout the challenge. I will make my detailed updates there, and link those posts in this space.
  • In that way, I can begin to somewhat painlessly build the shanjeniah’sTrueborn blog and improve it as I create.
  • I’ve added a picture and an avatar, and changed a few other minor details.

I will be answering a rather embarrassing backlog of blog comments that have, in some cases, waited for months.

  • I answered all waiting comments on The Unfettered Life, on Tuesday.
  • I went through the spam folder.
  • I did it! Across the three major areas, I have answered all backlogged comments! And a full day before NaNo starts, too! =)
  • There are still some other places where I may have a comment or three to catch up, and I will trace those down and take care of them during the coming weeks.
  • I will be doing comment answering about once a week at The Unfettered Life, unless I post there more often than I have during the last few months.

Cray Dave (aka Jim Woodman)

New Fitness Goals – I will focus on eating something each time I am hungry (and getting protein and magnesium into every other time I eat). I will be active enough that I can always feel my body and muscles. I will add more fruits and vegetables to my diet, and be more attentive to how much water I am drinking.

  • I am continuing to drink more water, and, with varying degrees of attentiveness, have been conscious of hunger and thirst.
  • I am continuing to add fruits and vegetables, and whole grains.
  • I have been doing well with getting protein more regularly.
  • I have increased my magnesium intake a bit. I had black beans, salmon, and bananas during the last few days – all good sources.
  • On Sunday, I had a very physically challenging day. With Hurricane Sandy bearing down on us, I spent an hour or so in fairly serious yard cleanup. I also did some hometending, and the kids and I went out on a major provisioning run – I find shopping hugely exhausting. And I drove the standard transmission Subaru – still something of a strenuous affair.
  • Monday involved some moderate hometending, and some stretching. Very tired from little sleep and Sunday’s exertions.

Trick or Treat!

Short Term or Intermittent Projects:

Complete Logline Lesson reading, draft logline, and submit to class.

  • On Monday evening, I attended the Webinar (my very first!), for the Loglines class. Although Sandy really messed with the sound, and I will be going back to listen to all the parts that skipped out on me, the text and chat box helped fill in the gaps, and I took a page and a half of scribbled notes I will be adding to my Scrivener files, including a bonus section on making a pitch.
  • I have now visited most or all of the other participants, and left comments where I had relevant contributions to make.
  • I have written several more drafts, and critiques thereof, as I worked my way through the process. I’m not sure my latest logline is final (especially since the story is still in a very NaNo rough first draft!), but, barring anyone pointing out something brilliant or a glaring mistake, it’s the one I will carry forward into the rewrite.
  • I feel that this class was very much worth the small fee, and I am developing a skill I hadn’t realized the importance of.
  • I will be writing loglines for every new and ongoing project, from this point forward.
  • Special thanks go out toWANATribe and especially toMarcy Kennedy, instructor extraordinaire, who provided the perfect blend of support and freedom!

 

Lise made a new friend!

Read existing segments, and write my portion of Write A Story With Me!

  • This is all set to post when my turn comes up on November 5! My first public collaboration!

Moving ahead with the Reporting Pages projects for both children..

  • My long-range goal, for the rest of this month, is to have enough material for each topic to construct the main body of the report, so that completing them does not conflict with my NaNo participation.
  • I set this aside for this last update before NaNo commences. I still have a month, and I have a plan adapted for where I am and where I need to get before month’s end.
  • The most taxing part, at this point, is finding the time and patience, and making regular progress, so that this can be wrapped up and out of the way of other projects.

Gabriella the Wizard used magick to avoid my camera most of the night…

Revise and submit “Claiming My Passions”- WIP submission to the Pittsburgh Flash Fiction Gazette .

  • I am setting this goal aside. It will make a very nice thing to putter with, or to noodle with after NaNois over, when I am likely to need refilling and renewing time before moving on to anything brand new.

What I’ve been reading…and watching!

All that candy…and his first choice? Peanut butter crackers! 

 

And Now for Something Not Completely Different, and Not Just the Same:

 

 

  • My dear lifelong friend and sometimes ROWer, Eden Mabee, sent this bit of fascinating loveliness into my life a few days ago….it inspired me to purchase an out-of-print book I’ve been lusting after since high school….Reflections on Spock

Treats for all – I guess the pumpkin knife is the trick?
Help yourselves….carefully!

 

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Soul of the Season – ROW80 Goals Update, 10/21/12

 

Curious? Click here!

It’s been a full-rich few days. We’ve had a beautiful autumn drive into the mountains to visit friends and meet our new semi-feral kittens-to-be, SRindi and Squeak. We’ve had time hanging out in the yard, the kids and I, taking pictures and reveling in this season of transition. We’ve had a day of steady rain, hanging inside and cocooning. We’ve had a thunderstorm. Jim may have found me a car….there’s been hugs and Animal Crossing and snuggles and a few angry moments and disappointments.

And, for me, there has been growth and daring and pondering and swirling, breathtaking possibility.

I’ve taken on some new projects, and I feel a new confidence opening up within me. I am breaking open to free something phoenixlike within myself…

There will be a new project or two popping up here and there, as I explore new horizons and adjust my focus…

I am eager and ready to see what sima garo provides…

Maple leaves in the backyard, October 2012 -edited with Saturation filter, in Picasa

Honoring Myself  (Original goals post)

My goal for this round is to honor myself – my rhythms, energy, needs, truth, dreams, desires, and emotions.

A fundamental part of that is to identify my energy type each day, and summarize what I do. It’s my hope that, throughout the round, patterns will emerge which lead to a more joyful, organic writing flow – one that honors me and allows me to get the most out of my seldom predictable writing time.

My energy levels and poems for the last few days..

  • Wednesday: Slack tide. The children and I went to visit our friends, the Mabees, from whom we will be adopting two semi-feral kittens in the next weeks. This was a lovely drive into the Helderberg Mountains, a little more than an hour from home, and a chance for me to get in more practice with driving a standard transmission vehicle before our trip out of state at the end of the month…I took some pictures, while adults chatted and children played. I was able to get my blogpost and poem finished, but little else due to visiting. – a worthy trade-off.
  • Poem: Firehole River Splash
  • Thursday: Slack tide, with elements of high tide. Moderate hometending. Some lawn mowing in overgrown backyard. Hung out on the grass with the kids and the camera, soaking up fall magic. Answered comments at shanjeniah,as per my schedule. ROW80 sponsor visits, and lovely wanders through other OctPoWriMo poems. Worked on photo editing, and Annalise’s Reporting Blog. Began researching/exploring CreateSpace as I open myself to inspiration and daring.
  • Poem: Oceans of Time
  • Saturday: Slack Tide (evenly distributed between Ebb Tide and High Tide). Moderate hometending, some firewood restocked in house. A little tidying in the playroom/enclosed porch. More WANA Tribe exploration. Worked on Miah’s Reporting Pages and ROW80 update. Cake Mania 2, Animal Crossing, and PBS.
  • Poem: Unfettered Wordplay (Etheree)

Autumnal Splendor….

What’s goin’ on..?

Priority Projects –

I am serving as a sponsor for this round.

I am participating in the OctPo WriMo Challenge throughout October.

I will be participating in NaNoWriMo throughout November, writing at least 50,000 words of another novel in my Truebornseries, King of Infinite Space.

  • I have reread the two notetaking/freewriting sessions I have engaged in so far.
  • I will gather the random notes in Scrivener…I believe I am going to experiment with writing this draft there, rather than moving it from750 Words, which is tedious. That will also leave 750 Words as my freewriting space for other things…
  • I have added more information to my NaNo page…small steps seem to keep my frustration levels low.

I will be answering a rather embarrassing backlog of blog comments that have, in some cases, waited for months.

  • I will be answering comments atshanjeniah on Mondays and Thursdays, as long as that provides the best balance and timing for answering comments.
  • I will post a comment schedule on the blog sidebar within the next days, to announce my commitment, and let those kind enough to take the time to comment know when they can expect a reply.
  • This week’s replies were slightly off-schedule, due to our spending a day away from home, and the ROW80 linky being broken for most of a day.
  • I am now answering comments on my Tiny Buddha guest post.
  • I have completed the comments at this site! WOOHOO!
  • I began addressing the waiting comments on The Unfettered Life, on Saturday, and will do this on an every other day basis until I have caught up.

New Fitness Goals – I will focus on eating something each time I am hungry (and getting protein and magnesium into every other time I eat). I will be active enough that I can always feel my body and muscles. I will add more fruits and vegetables to my diet, and be more attentive to how much water I am drinking.

  • Wednesday –
  • Not the best day to attending to my hunger, but better than it might have been. We spent a good part of the day away from home. My eating and drinking were skewed, and I came home quite hungry. I did not surrender to the desire for a fast-food fix during the one hour plus drive each way.
  • I didn’t do any hometending or exercise per se, but I did drive the Subaru, which has a standard transmission. That is a more active style of driving than I’ve been accustomed to lately.
  • Thursday – I did a better job of attending to and answering hunger and thirst cues. Protein was good; water fair; fruits and vegetables on my radar – I had a few baby carrots, and apple slices, in addition to the cooked veggies and black beans in my dinner.
  • Moderate hometending and some difficult mowing on the backyard. A bit of dancing with Ellen.
  • Friday – I did better on all food fronts. Chomped some carrots and romaine. Drank more water, and made sure I got my protein in.
  • Mellow hometending throughout the day.
  • Saturday – I did moderate housework, and restocked some firewood into the house.
  • I ate a salad and some romaine. Still wanting to up the quotient, and my water intake. It’s a building process; attention is the beginning.

    A pair of beauties.

Short Term or Intermittent Projects:

New Projects:

Complete Logline Lesson reading, draft logline, and submit to class.

  • A week ago, I didn’t know what a logline is, and I am excited to learn, create, and then improve upon my creation. This will help me target my revisions for WIPs, and assist in future works, as well.
  • I read The Curious Case of Carrie’s Characters.
  • I read Critiquing Rob.
  • I brainstormed a logline, and revised it through five drafts .
  • I submitted my logline to the class, and will await input while I continue to mull and turn it over myself, as well.
  • I will also continue with reading and learning from the rest of the links included with the lesson.

Read existing segments, and write my portion of Write A Story With Me!

  • This is a collaborative writing project begun by Jennifer M. Eaton. I received my tag on Sunday, and hope to have it sent along by next Sunday. I will be focusing on it on an every other day basis.
  • I have completed the reading, written and submitted my first segment, and drafted a post for my blog.
  • I need only to publish my post at the appropriate time, and then am free until it comes round to me again if it does – it will go until it reaches a natural ending or people lose interest.

Moving ahead with the Reporting Pages projects for both children..

  • I have completed the text for Annalise’s Arithmeticpage.
  • I had nearly completed Jeremiah’s English Language Usage Page, but have lost the draft. I am therefore beginning again.
  • I will continue adding to the pages on an ongoing basis.
  • My long-range goal, for the rest of this month, is to have enough material for each topic to construct the main body of the report, so that completing the reports does not conflict with my NaNo participation.
  • I am moving forward with this.
  • I have decided to attempt to work on these daily until the initial text for each topic is complete for each child.
  • I will save adding links and images until all the text is done, because those will be easy to add during NaNo, a little at a time. The text won’t be.
  • I will add new items to existing pages on Sundays and Wednesdays. 

Brainstorm and Create Lists for Ebb Tide and High Tide projects.

  • No progress on this for this time period.
  • I seem to have enough to do, without further developing the lists, at this time.
  • I am putting this project on hold until I feel a need for it.

Revise and submit “Claiming My Passions”- WIP submission to the Pittsburgh Flash Fiction Gazette .

  • I have reread this piece, with the view of an interview with myself.
  • I will soon be ready to begin a rewrite, with the new theme, and it may also answer my desire to reflect on this last, most amazing, year in my writing life.

Miah, from below….

What I’ve been reading…and watching!

Lise lovely with grass stained knees and a crazy-loose tooth.

More ROW80 Adventures!

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Activities and Projects – 10/10-13, 2012

High tide

High tide (Photo credit: Capt’ Gorgeous)

Activities and Projects 10/10 – 10/13/2012

Wednesday –

  • I answered all the backlogged comments on shanjeniah! That’s a big hooray!
  • I began my ROW80 sponsor visits.
  • I added two photos and perhaps a dozen links toAnnalise’s Reading page.
  • I completed the current text for Jeremiah’s Reading page.
  • Unable to edit photos in WordPress, I sent a letter to the Happiness Engineers.

Thursday –

  • I finished the woodpile (at least, until and unless my big brother brings more!). It still needs some tidying and stacking, in the garage, but all the usable firewood is currently in the garage and out of the weather. As we are expecting some rain, maybe snow, and our first freeze predicted for Saturday night, this is good timing. YeeHaw!
  • In the next days, I will focus on yard cleanup and winterizing, moving the playroom ahead so that bikes and sleds can be stashed there for the winter, and tidying up the firewood.
  • I completed my OctPoWriMo poem, The Broken Code.
  • I watched the Vice-Presidential debate, parts with Jeremiah.
  • I have been meaning to check out the websites for both campaigns, and, when a conversation touched on that, I chose to spend a few hours in research.
  • This may or may not lead to an essay or two.
  • I answered all comments on shanjeniah, as the kickoff to my “official” Monday/Thursday schedule.
  • I completed my ROW80 Sponsor Visits for the 10/10 check-in.
  • I began my Things to Check Out list ( items culled from sponsor visits).
  • I created a rough list for EbbTide and High Tide Projects.
  • The Ebb Tide list is categorized with general topics; the High Tide list is within freewritten text, and uncategorized.
  • Next, I hope to add to, unbury, and categorize the High Tide list, and then post both to shanjeniah.

Friday –

  • I began, five months after my guest post was published, to answer comments st Tiny Buddha! Wahoo! 5 down, 22 to go, but still, a beginning!
  • I visited 4 OctPoWriMo poets, and commented.
  • I began adding things I found during OctPoWriMo visits to my Things to Check On list.
  • I completed my OctPoWriMo poem for the day.
  • I edited Namaste and cut a good deal from it. The current word count is 953 words, below the 1000 I was aiming for, and I think it is nearly ready to submit.
  • I will sleep on it, and give it a final readthrough- revision on Saturday.
  • I began updating Annalise’s Writing page.
  • I added all needed links to Jeremiah’s Reading page.
  • I spent some time freewriting ideas that flitted between TBONTB and KOIS. Plot elements are becoming clearer, and more details are emerging.
  • I began my list of questions for Jeniah with one question, just before I went to bed. I think it informed my dreaming somewhat.

Saturday –

  • Woke up with a very powerful migraine, so it was a slow start to the day.
  • Read a writing article by Jenny Hansen – and discovered a wonderful blog in the process.
  • Learned that my poem Passion has been reblogged. Yay, me!
  • I added more questions to the Things to Ask Jeniah list. Next, I will move these to their own LibreOffice document, and let them sit in my mind for a while; Jeniah will answer if she’s interested.
  • I did some more written plot development and pondering for both novels.
  • I did some very mellow hometending, and began restocking the house firewood supply.
  • I posted several times in an unschooling group I belong to.
  • I reread and made further notes on Claiming My Passions, and began the process of rewriting it as an interview with myself. An idea for the introduction is percolating, and I believe that will ties everything else together, so I have set it aside fora while while I move on to other things. 

Reading List 10/10 – 10/13

ROW80:

OctPoWriMo

Others:

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ROWing Along the Erie Canal – ROW Updates #15 and #16

I really thought I’d be feeling more talkative by now.

Truth is, though, I’m not.

I’m not going to apologize for that. I’ve used my words here at home, during a week when the children both had colds, and there seemed to be more than the usual amount of conflict.

We’ve been practicing conflict resolution during the last few weeks, and learning how to try to meet everyone’s various needs peacefully.

It’s taken a lot of attention, and a lot of energy, learning new ways of being and relating.

If that doesn’t leave a lot of room right now for long and pithy goals updates, so be it. We’ll make it up on the microfilm….

Which really means that time invested in family peace now will almost surely lead to more writing time, somewhere in the future….

You get 10 points if you know the microfilm reference (and I will write 500 words on a subject of your choice to the first correct answer!).

In other news, on Saturday, after some shopping, the kids and I went to Waterford, the oldest continuously incorporated village in America. We visited with some longtime friends, and took a stroll along the Harbor. which runs alongside the world-famous Erie Canal.

A man and his daughters had found a turtle, and offered us a good look. We walked up along the lock wall, and discussed the awesome power just on the other side, and why the wall is shaped as it is. Annalise read a sign, and we studied the foot and hoof prints in the cement walkway, and how they represent the mulepath of old. We symbolically walked about half the length of the canal via the brick path that traces its route, and we sang the Erie Canal song.

Annalise made a young friend of about 2, and we watched her family catch a bass and a sunfish out of the canal.

We looked at several boats, but the locks were not in use during our visit, so we didn’t get to see the immense lock doors open, or the lock fill or empty of water, which is a beloved pastime for us all.

Then we went back to our friends’ home for the main attraction – the addition of two outgrown guinea pigs, Midnight and Blaster, to our family.

For those who wonder how this unschooling thing works, how children can learn without a curriculum, this one day may hold a clue.

In it, we covered history (the Erie Canal, which was vitally important to New York‘s development; and Memorial Day – the reason and bunting); science (guinea pigs, painted turtle, fish, locks); math (comparison shopping and budgeting; figuring out the guinea’s cage), English (reading various things); and a good deal of easy, natural socialization – the thing so many people seem convinced can’t happen without a classroom, when, in truth, Jeremiah and Annalise are comfortable talking and interacting with people from newborn to the very aged.

And that was just Saturday!

Round 2 Goals:

Reading:

  • Read at least as many books as the number of the month (4 in April ; 5 in May; 6 in June) from my bedroom To Be Read piles.
  • This goal has been attained for this month.

Blogging:

Networking:

  • Continue joining hops, fests, challenges, and other community blogging efforts.
  • I am continuing with the Story a Day May Challenge, as noted above.
  • I have submitted my entry for the June Unschooling Blog Carnival, also as noted above.
  • Comment on and share blogs regularly; share my blogs as widely as seems feasible, and in diverse ways.
  • I have been commenting on most of the blogs I read, and have been sharing them here, and sometimes elsewhere.
  • I have been working on answering a rather overwhelming array of comments…if I haven’t gotten to you, I will – I promise! It just may take quite a while – we’re into our travel season!
  • I have been sharing my blogs through LinkedIn and on the ROW80 page.
  • Do 3 guest posts and  host 3 guest bloggers this round.
  • I still have Elizabeth Anne Mitchelll‘s wonderful post waiting to publish. I am going to schedule it today or tomorrow; it will definitely post on June 1!
  • Still looking for two more guest posters to hop on the Soapbox I’ve provided. The only guidelines are positivity and kindness – the rest is entirely up to you!

Submitting:

 Learning:

  • Use Twitter and Hootsuite at least one day a week.  Learn more.
  • I am changing this to “Twitter or Hootsuite”. There’s too much redundancy in trying to do both…
  • I am running Twitter today. I have to admit, I am liking it more, but it still feels inflexible and counterintuitive to the types of flowing conversation I love on Facebook.

Self-care:

  • Add JOY to every day!
  • Monday: A relaxing day at home, surrounded by loving family. And a little time to myself.
  • Tuesday: A little more time alone, and some hometending. Bought and began playing Cake Mania 2. Got back to kids’ reports.
  • Wednesday: Hometending, Worked on reports (so that I won’t be doing them at the very end of the month). More Cake Mania 2.
  • Thursday: Cake-doing. Relaxing. Stating my needs clearly.
  • Friday: More stating my needs, attempting to do so respectfully and non-reactively. Hometending. Medium. Weeding (I love weeding!).
  • Saturday: Erie Canal, guinea pigs, visiting friends, cake-doing, Medium, and leisurely conversation with Jim. Time spent happily (and a bit not so much) with Miah and Lise.
  • Sunday: Hometending, Writing. TNG and Medium.
  • Add movement to every day, too!
  • Monday: Very little movement – I was really sore from the weekend.
  • Tuesday: Hometending and unpacking.
  • Wednesday: Hometending and more unpacking. Body feeling better and better rested.
  • Thursday: Hometending.
  • Friday: Hometending and weeding.
  • Saturday: Hometending, walking along the canal, shopping, carrying groceries and pig gear, setting up guinea house.
  • Sunday: Hometending, a little mowing.
  • Add self-decorating to every week
  • I wore a smile, anti-frizz cream, and the kiss of the sun this week. 
  • Add more of my passions to each day, in as many ways as I can manage.
  • Monday: Writerly stuff – enjoying being alone and with my family.
  • Tuesday: Began new story sequence that’s been rolling around in my mind for a while. More solitude.
  • Wednesday: Added another story to the sequence. Putting the house back in order. Time alone with Jim. Began Medium.on Netflix. It was a former favorite, but I missed the last season or two due to not receiving CBS. I am starting over at the beginning, and will work my way through the series. =)
  • Thursday: Kept writing the story sequence – it’s taken hold of me! More Cake Mania.
  • Friday: More story. More cake frenzy. More hometending, which brought me pleasure. Flowerbed weeding.
  • Saturday: Hometending cake-doing, story writing,Erie Canal, Guinea pigs, photography!
  • Sunday: Hometending, cake-doing, collage-making, rereading old story stuff, new story writing.
  • Add all these for my beloved others, too!
  • Jeremiah: Conversation and cuddles. Gave him a game credit. TLC for his cold.Erie Canal;assorted goodies; yes to mowing and guinea pigs.
  • Annalise:Conversation, cuddles, and tickles, and TLC for her cold.  Erie Canal; assorted goodies; yes to guinea pigs and a blanket fort..
  • Jim: Appreciation and companionship.  A cleaner house.

Administrative Stuff:

  • Write and submit third quarter reports for both children.  These are due on June 1, 2012.
  • Both reports are written and, as of Thursday evening, submitted to the school district via email.
  • Annalise’s report.
  • Jeremiah’s report.
  • This goal has been attained.

So there you have it – a mellow but reasonably productive ROW. I may falter in my rhythm again next weekend, as we will be visiting friends in New Jersey. That’s OK, though, because I can still make it up on that microfilm!

I’m posting a few hours later than I wanted to, but I’m posting.  This Memorial Day, Jim and I gave ourselves permission to loll about in bed for all hours.  Annalise was in and out, lolling with us and doing her own thing.

Jeremiah awoke just as we started finding some motivation –  the coffee helped, and he asked if he could mow the lawn –  so far, the new mower is solidly in our win column!

After that, he and Annalise watched Sgt. Frog, and yesterday’s paper voodoo dolls (“It’s amazing how much about ancient spellcasting you can find on the internet,” says Jeremiah, as he discussed pin colors and voodoo techniques) gave way to Annalise’s paper dolls representing the members of the Armpit Platoon and their flying saucers, too…..

Jim and I have been working through  a major household issue –  the level of clutter and just ickiness in common spaces, and we had a long talk where I really tried to peacefully express why i don’t feel welcome or at home in those spaces.  Jim listened, and we decided we’d spend 15 minutes in cleaning those spaces, letting the kids know they were welcome to help or clear out until we were finished.

Everyone helped according to their nature, taking frequent breaks   Jim decided to upend the couch, and an eclectic junkyard was revealed…and duly processed.

The rooms still aren’t welcoming me in, but I feel as though they’re moving in the right direction, and we all took some pleasure in working to resolve this issue together.

Everyone’s also agreed to try to remember to commit 15 minutes a day to clutter control in those spaces, broken up however they choose, because the problem is the result of three people who really do not notice where they drop things or how that might affect others living with one person who sees things wide-angle, in great detail, and with a near -photographic memory…

I have a good feeling that, at long, long last, we may have hit upon an equitable, but more importantly, peaceful approach to what has been the greatest remaining source of friction in our lives.
I will ask both kids how much or little they would like to be reminded, but I will leave the accomplishing to their discretion.  They both like to be helpful; this just isn’t a natural way for them, so it’s very much a learning process for us all.  At last, though, we all seem to be in a good place to deal with it, and I am happy with even small improvements.
Look at that!  I had a few things to say, after all! =)
Check out the other ROWers!
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ROWin’ with the Motion….ROW Update #13

Someday, I may get back to the long, rambling essays I often write for these updates.

Today, though, is not that someday, and here’s why:

  • I have a headache.
  • I have a living room filling up with miscellaneous camping supplies. The children and I are attending the Always Learning Live May Symposium in Massachusetts this weekend; our first camping trip of the season). First trips always seem to involve more chaos than those later in the season, as we transition…
  • I have photos to add and a story to write.
  • I have hometending, packing, and organizing awaiting me.
  • I am more focused, right now, on the actual goals, and our weekend plans, than on deep musings. It’s getting to our active season, and I don’t want to still my busy mind long enough to get all pithy.
  • I have lots of clarity dawning, but….it’s not ready, just yet.

So, for now, I am just going to run down my progress, and add some pictures….

First iris of the spring, and the promise of many more….

Round 2 Goals:

Reading:

  • Read at least as many books as the number of the month (4 in April; 5 in May; 6 in June) from my To Be Read piles.

  • The Shelters of Stone: p 737 of 896.
  • Tuesdays With Morrie: Completed.
  • I have read 4 of 5 books for May.
  • Read at least 3 articles a week from my To Be Read files on computer, and categorize those I choose to keep or share.
  • I have read Birth of a Homeschooler.
  • I have read 1 of 3 articles needed to attain this goal for the week.

Annalise staged a Snake Show on Wednesday evening…..

Sibs with Snakes!

Submitting:

  •  Submit at least 10 pieces of flash fiction or poetry this round.
  • I submitted my flash fantasy fiction story, “Sarjyn and the Kingdom of Man Above” to the Pittsburgh Flash Fiction Gazette.
  • Within several hours, I received back what appears to be a form letter, and which has me puzzled, as it was an attempt to sell my a writing workshop, and contained no acceptance, rejection, or any specific references to the piece I submitted….

Freshly mown front yard….

  • I am in the process of investigating a few other markets for flash fiction:
  1. Digital American
  2. Diagonal Proof
  3. Anobiumlit.com
  4. Fix it Broken
  5. Monkeybicycle
  • I have submitted 2 of 10 pieces for this goal.
  • I will continue to investigate the five publications above over the coming days.

Boyo my Heart!

  • Submit at least 5 essays or lists this round.
  • I have a rough draft of my guest post for Elizabeth Anne Mitchell‘s blog,  (a little long at 993 words, I think).
  • I will let this piece rest for a day or three, and revisit/revise before offering it to Elizabeth.
  • I have separated the very long (2500+ word) essay I wrote as my Cooperative Catalyst guest post into four distinct philosophical threads.
  • Next, I will refer back to the letter from the editor (which I have yet to answer -oops!), and check on suggested word lengths as well as the other places he suggested I explore on the blog.
  • I will be using this information to polish the thread I offer as my first guest blogpost there.
  • I hope to be ready to submit to Cooperative Catalyst by next week.
  • I I have revised my 773-word Anything Goes post to a tighter and within the word limit 572 words.
  • I am much happier with this version, but will let it sit for a bit before looking at it over again, then submitting.

One Corki-dog; three moods!

  • Continue submitting to hops, challenges, fests, etc.; at least 3 each month.
  • I am continuing with the Story a Day May Challenge.
  • Thus far, I have written a story each day, most of them loosely connected.
  • I have not yet written today’s story….first, a hot shower!
  • I have written each story just as it comes, and most in about a half-hour.

After the rain,…the rhododendrons!

Organizing:

  •  Edit all 2009 posts on  The Unfettered Life.  Consider layout and design changes.
  • I have edited the text for my post, Outside with Annalise.
  • In order to watermark the photos as a batch, I needed to download them to my Picasaalbums, then reset the syncing feature to include watermarks.
  • The photos are synced to my Picasa Web Albums, with watermarks, and I have edited and updated Outside with Annalise.
  • I have also updated the post Birthday Party Weekend – Part One.

Johnnies jumping up…such sweet tiny faces!

  • Take clips from first Penzu notebook.
  • I have taken all clips from the December 3 and 4th writings.
  • I have begun taking clips from Dec. 5 and 6th.
  • This leaves 9 posts left to clip for this ROWnd.
  • Input Chameleon’s Dish to Scrivener.
  • I have input original Chapter 9, into Scrivener.
  • I have found the next three chapters, and done a quick edit/reformatting of Chapter 10 (which will become Chapter 3), and Chapter 11 (which will be Chapter 4). It is now ready for inputting to Scrivener.
  • I have added Chapter 3 to my Scrivener Chameleon’s Dishbinder.
  • I have rough edited and reformatted Chapter 12; it is prepared for its future addition to my Scrivener binders.
  • Create story arc for Blood and Breath.
  • I have added Chapters Eight and Nine to the story arc.
  • As I suspected, the reconstructed version is drifting from the direction I know the last draft took. I’m a little sad about it, but accepting. It’s like a semi-rewrite, and I imagine the story will end up better for it.

Snake charmer…and flinger!

  • Clean up computer downloads, documents, photos, and other clutter – move it or lose it!
  • A few weeks ago, I placed all my writing-related files in a folder labeled Writing Bullpen.
  • This was a definite improvement over searching through all my document files for them.
  • However, there were dozens of files there, and they were not organized.
  • I have deleted redundant or unnecessary files, and organized the rest in subfolders.
  • My Writing Bullpen is now a well-organized home for all the writing projects I currently want close to hand.

Marketing:

The unsettled eastern sky at sunset, May 16, 2012….

Self-care:

  • Add JOY to every day!
  • Monday: Easy family day; allowed myself to express my feelings when I needed to.
  • Tuesday: Again, stated my needs and honored myself by doing so; time alone in a reasonably clean house.
  • Wednesday: Mowed the front lawn with new,self-propelled mower, easing calmly into packing for our weekend camping trip. Breathing.
  • Add movement to every day, too!
  • Monday: Puttery hometending; packing.
  • Tuesday: Hometending.
  • Wednesday: Hometending; mowed front yard; began gathering camping supplies.

Recent art by Annalise, who is making artistic leaps, just now…

  • Add more of my passions to each day, in as many ways as I can manage.
  • Monday: Family time; writerly stuff.
  • Tuesday: A few hours of sweet solitude!
  • Wednesday: Mowing; walking around the yard in the early morning; photographing nature and family life; attending a snake show.
  • Add all these for my beloved others, too!
  • Jeremiah: Snuggles, tickles, and spelling help; deep conversations; photo ops; lots of second chances; and saying yes to him using the brand-new mower.
  • Jim: Honesty; even when it was hard; appreciation; conversation.
  • Annalise: Seeing her as she really is; attended and photographed her snake show; time with me in my room; saying yes to her own tent for this weekend’s camping trip; snuggles and spelling help.

Both kids spent time experimenting with stencil spin art…..they got quite good!

So there are my accomplishments for the last three days. I may or may not do a Monday check-in (it won’t be Sunday, as we will be returning home then, and, after two days camping in the company of other unschoolers, I know from experience that we will all be blissfully exhausted.

I will not have regular (and perhaps no) internet access over the weekend, so I won’t be as visible as I generally am. I have structured my writing so that I can focus on things that can be done offline suring the weekend. Although this is a symposium, and there will be speakers I want to hear, activities I want to participate in, children to be with, and social gatherings to attend, I know that there will also be the freedom to read and write.

I’m planning to write my Story a Day (in a notebook or in LibreOffice); to finish The Shelters of Stone if I haven’t before then; to begin a book review or two (I have a growing stack of books waiting for their turns); and to work on the children’s quarterly reports, which are due on June 1. I may do some, all, or even none of those things.

May the rest of everyone’s week be joyful and productive!

Namaste!

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ROWing Toward My Dreams… Row Update #11

It’s been a jumbly, tumbly kind of few days, here.  The weather has been unsettled, and I am, too…..

For good reason….

On Saturday, my first poem was published in the Pittsburgh Flash Fiction Gazette.

On Tuesday, my post appeared  on Tiny Buddha.

I have plans in the work for guest bloggers, and guest posts.

Things are moving, on many fronts, and I am…..

Hmmmn…..

Yes, I am.

Round 2 Goals:

Reading:

  • Read at least 3 articles a week from my To Be Read files on computer, and categorize those I choose to keep or share.
  • I have read Wind and Rain, an article about the out-of-doors, rainy-day fun families can have together.
  • I read a second article there, but it was not very useful, and particularly poorly edited, so I will not recommend it  (or out it) here.
  • I also read  A New Approach, an article by a mother trying out some “free-range” ideas in her family.  This article made me sad, because it seems she’s missed the point of allowing children the freedom of many choices – she seems to be only allowing the freedom as a way of getting more cooperation from her children, and she finishes by limiting electronics (which will likely have led, by now, to electronics being used for all allotted time, and perhaps begged for, or contended over, otherwise…).  There are no further posts on the blog, so I suspect she may have aborted her “experiment” before it had time to prove its merit….
  • I have attained this goal for this week.
  • Read at least 5 blogposts a week (not including my own), and like, comment, and/or share as I am moved to.
  • I have read When Does Fan Fiction Cross an Ethical Line?  This is a pretty serious consideration for me in my Star Trek-related fanfic, which is an integral part of the universe I have created, and I really don’t have any answers.  All I know is, I can’t seem to let go of my Spock-passions, and I don’t want to, either! =D  I commented with words to that effect, more or less.
  • I have read 1 of 5 blogposts for this week.

Writing:

  • Create flash fiction, short stories, dialogues, character sketches, alternate scenes, and poetry for  Chameleon’s Dish.  Wander cow trails, and learn these people and their lives more fully.
  • I have written three more stories about Tisira , the main character from Chameleon’s Dish.  
  • I  have posted  ”The Huntress in Moonlight” to my Story a Day  blog, shanjeniah.org. 
  • I will be adding the next two segments to the blog within the next few days.
  • Finish father-in-law letter and send.
  • I have given this more thought, and have been constructing portions of it in my head.  I almost have a version cohesive enough to attempt another freewriting, but  not quite.
Blogging:

  • Complete Cooperative Catalyst post and relative links (interviews with both children, and their “day in the life” posts from last year) ; submit to editor.
  • I have heard back from the editor; I will be looking at the article again, to see if there are naturally separating themes or portions.
  • He has also read one of my blogposts, I’m THAT Mom…Naturally!, and thought that, with adaptations, it might make a good post, as well.
  • He has also suggested another writer whose posts I might like to read, and a category or two to explore and comment on, to “introduce” myself to what is an organic community.
  • It is quite possible that I will find a home of sorts there. =)

Networking:

  • Continue joining hops, fests, challenges, and other community blogging efforts.
  • As noted above, I have joined two challenges.
  • At the moment, I feel these are all I can handle, for now.
  • Comment on and share blogs regularly; share my blogs as widely as seems feasible, and in diverse ways.
  • I am doing fairly well on sharing my blogs. through several means –  challenges, posting comments,  submissions, and sharing via several forms of social media.
  • For the moment, I am feeling a bit overwhelmed with the increased attention, and will be just focusing on adjusting, before I diversify further.
  • My essay, Sometimes There Is No Right Way , posted to Tiny Buddha on Tuesday.  It has received nearly two dozen comments and an email, at this point, and I am feeling some pretty major overwhelm.  It’s a big step from where I was, visibility-wise, two weeks ago to where I am now, and I am feeling a considerable degree of disequilibrium at the sudden change after a lifetime of dreaming…
  • As a dear friend and I have been discussing, learning curves are messy.  I will adjust, with time and a lot of deep breathing….and eventually I will get to over 30 comments waiting for me in various places….really!

Submitting

  • Submit at least 5 essays or lists this round.
  • As mentioned above, editing and research are being considered prior to formally submitting a piece, but the lines of communication has been opened.
  • Continue submitting to hops, challenges, fests, etc.; at least 3 each month.
  • As noted above, I have participated/am participating in two challenges thus far, for May.
  • This leaves one challenge left to enter, prior to  this month’s end.

Photography:

  • Watermark all photos that appear on my blogs, and all those I post going forward; begin watermarking favorites not on blogs.
  • I decided I am satisfied with the batch watermarking, and this will make it possible to quickly mark all of my pictures within the next weeks, as opportunity presents itself.

Learning:

  • For WordPress, create a running list of questions; work on finding answers!
  • During dinner with Eden Mabee, she answered one of my questions –  about how to replace the standard header text.
  • I have successfully changed my header text.  It may or may not be permanent, but now I know I can do it, so it will be a simpler matter to change it if I decide  to, at some later point.

Self-care:

  • Add JOY to every day!
  • Monday: I allowed myself a mellow day of puttering, both in my writing projects and in my hometending. A simple day spent with my beloveds.
  • Tuesday: Joy Abounding! I slept in, and, although I woke with a headache at the time t’ai chi was starting, and although it was a damp and somewhat dreary day outside, I was basking in the company of my Syster, Eden Mabee.  When you’ve been friends since you were four and share writing dreams and motherhood and a lifetime of shared memories and interwoven stories, hours can slip by….and then, I was greeted in the driveway, a little after 2am, by my family.  Chatted with the children until 5:30am. Sweet day!
  • Wednesday:  Another mellow, wet, restful day of puttering….I feel my energy slowly returning.  I’ve had some bug writing developments over the last several days, and I am feeling a need to lay a bit low and absorb them.  Why is success scarier for me than failure?
  • Add movement to every day, too!
  • Monday: Puttering around the house and yard.  Moving furniture and bicycles.
  • Tuesday: Moving from building to car, and car to building, and grocery shopping…..not a big moving day…..sometimes, that’s exactly what I need.
  • Wednesday: Puttering with hometending; moving more bicycles –  yes, there DO seem to be an inordinate number of them here –  and I still haven’t moved my own!
  • Add more of my passions to each day, in as many ways as I can manage.
  • Monday: Reading and writing, puttering with storyworlds and blogging.
  • Tuesday: A rare, lovely day with a dear friend.  Utterly rejuvenating.  I wrote my story, but, beyond that, I simply enjoyed the company and the unrolling of the moments.
  • Wednesday: Reading, writing, lolling with the kids, absorbing the nearing of a lifetime of dreaming, and puttering.  A hot shower awaits me, after I post here.
  • Add all these for my beloved others, too!
  • Jeremiah: Finding his bigger bike, saying yes to lots of cooking.  Conversation and cuddles, and patience when he needed it.
  • Jim:  A harmonious home, companionship, and consideration.  Laughter.
  • Annalise: Finding her bigger bike, serious and mature conversation, help when a fall spoiled her baby mosquito study, patience when she needed it, imagination and laughter.
 It seems to be one of those periods where I am doing things, but there is really relatively little concrete to report.
Much is happening beneath the surface, and there is no telling, really, what will evolve from here.
I know, though, that it will involve love, and writing.
And I know that I will keep on ROWing, with trepidation and daring, and remain present not only to the misty path ahead, but also to the rocky, swift, twisty places I am traversing right now…..
Until next time, I leave you with 5 more followers to get to know….

And the ROW Linky, for keeping up with all the other ROWers….

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