A Guilt Post

A few minutes ago, Jeff asked if I was writing a post. I said no; I didn't have anything to write about. Then he asked if I was doing NaBloPoMo in November. I said no. He seemed surprised. I said I had trouble writing a post every day in November last year and didn't want to force it. I wrote 28 posts in August without feeling forced, so I will see how it goes.

But here I am writing about something. But what?

The weather was nice this weekend, so we took advantage of it. It's rained for much of the last two days. It was badly needed: we're in a drought. But it got suddenly cold yesterday which was a bit of a shock.

My writing class was postponed for this week--Columbus Day. Our prompt for homework is periwinkle blue. I'm working on an essay about shades of colors and how men don't know the various shades. I've got a good beginning using dialogue from Mr. Blandings Builds his Dream House, but I have a lot of work to do from there.

Today was the fifth of six mixed media and collage classes. I would be bummed, but I got an email that there's another class for six weeks beginning November 3. I'm going to continue. 

I just looked at an email from the Cultural Alliance of Fairfield County. There are many events coming up--some virtual and some live.

Despite fears of additional cases of Covid-19, I have things to look forward to. 

Work in Progress

I forced myself to go to the gym Wednesday. I was exhausted Tuesday night, but didn't do the practical thing and go to bed early. I was posting and writing until midnight.

It wasn't that I got a late start on Wednesday (I was up by 6:30) but that I got off to a slow start. Before I knew it, it was 9:30. It would have been easy to blow off the gym: I would have done that a few weeks ago.

By the time I got to the gym. it was 10:15. It wasn't a particularly good workout, but it was a workout. I did better on Thursday: I was finished with my workout by 10:15. I also had a good workout today.

I've been prioritizing my workouts, which obviously has made a big difference in my gym attendance. I've also been prioritizing walks with Lola. I'd say our walks average 50-55 minutes. I want to take this time now before winter sets in, and it gets too cold for leisurely walks.

I finally got started on my new ACT manual. I've only had it since the end of August: just another example of me sabotaging myself. I start with a new ACT tutoring student next week; he's already taken an ACT course. That means I need to get my manual updated as well as figuring out additional material to cover with him. I had a similar experience with another student last winter (without a new manual to update) so at least I have some idea what to do.

I've been seriously considering doing nanowrimo this year. I had an idea to write a murder mystery set in a dog park. Now, I don't think it's  a good time for nanowrimo. I've got the ACT manual to do, ongoing major cleaning, organizing, and decluttering, finalizing (I hope) my mother's estate, financial planning, you get the picture. Even as I write this, I wonder if I'm just making excuses. This just might make me crazy.

If I do forgo nanowrimo, I have to do nablopomo, at least. Oh look, there's also a NaNonFiWriMo, National Nonfiction Writing Month. Pressure.

My last WPA mural inspired writing class is November 5. I want to keep writing. I can try for 500 words a day in addition to my blog posting. I failed when I tried to do that a few years ago, but at least it's doable: not as onerous as nanowrimo's 1667 words a day.

Now it's time to work on my story for my WPA mural class on Monday.

November Miscellany

I went to the gym today, which makes me one for one for November, yay me. My goal was 150 visits for the year--the same goal I didn't meet for 2017. At least I beat several previous years' totals.

Today is the first day of National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) and National Blog Posting  Month (NaBloPoMo.) In the former participants write a 50,000 word novel in November. In the latter, participants write a blog post every day in November. I've enjoyed writing for my art inspired writing course, but it's unrealistic for me do Nano this year. I wonder if I'm just making excuses, but I have to be realistic. I'll commit to NaBloPoMo.

Last week I finished a minor kitchen project. "Lola" gave us four beagle wine glasses and two beagle themed mugs for our 30th anniversary. Jeff gave me another mug. Jeff wants to keep everything, but we just don't have room. Maybe I'm in the de-cluttering mode because I've doing so much work at my mother's place.

My mother spent a few days in Norwalk Hospital this week. She fell and had hip pain so was sent to the ER. She developed pneumonia, but is back home now.

I recently had another frustration dream. I couldn't get my phone to work again. Funny how I had the dream after a relatively good day. But there's always something.

Weekly Hits and Misses

I was pretty pleased with my accomplishments this week.

I went to the gym four times this week (only the second time this year.) I exercised here twice for 45 minutes each time. Yesterday we went for 1.25 hour hike and I stretched afterwards. My goal is to exercise at least a half hour each day. I know I can't keep that up, but at least I can try.

I'm doing well with Nablopomo. I've written 23 posts in November, at least one each day. Before I started, I read about it on Blogher and put the badge on my blog yesterday. I also added Coll-ection to the nablopomo blogroll.

I completed all the household projects I assigned to myself.

Now the misses.

I should have done more. I have a lot of free time; I know I can do more.

I got off to a bad start on Monday, mostly by underestimating how long things take.

I never made a list. I worked from a mental list, but I can't keep track of everything. A few things fell by the wayside: emailing some friends and colleagues, sending a Thanksgiving card.

I didn't do much of anything yesterday--a wasted day.

Overall, a good week that I hope is the beginning of better time management. 

A Discouraging Word

I get two emails every day with vocabulary words: one from Dictionary.com and one from Wordsmith.org. It started because the SAT had so many vocabulary questions. Actually Wordsmith.org didn't have the best SAT words, but it was still fun anyway to get those daily messages.

Yesterday's Dictionary.com entree was logophobia--an obsessive fear of words. As someone who loves words--this is both inexplicable and frightening to me.

Today is the first day of nanowrimo and nablopomo, National Novel Writing Month and National Blog Posting month respectively.

I briefly considered nanowrimo, but rejected it. I've barely been writing lately--50,000 words was just too much. Can I have an obsessive fear of putting words together? I hope not; I hope it's just a dry spell.

Four of the past six years I've managed more than 30 posts in November.

This is doable; let's go.

Nano Regrets

Today I was thinking that I should have tried nanowrimo this year. I'm in a LinkedIn nano group and have been reading posts. I'm also in a group that receives email  from my local ML's. I don't remember what ML stands for, but a ML is some kind of nano leader/liaison for the region--in this case--Fairfield County, CT. I miss the camaraderie of the nano write-ins.

But I have to face facts. I've barely kept up with the  nablogpomo goal of one post a day. Outside of my posts, I've only written 322 words. The nano write-ins have been held on Saturday and Sunday, when I'm unable to attend because I usually work.

So what do I take from all this? This wouldn't have been a good year for me to nano.The 50K word count would have been too stressful for me. But I like the camaraderie. I need to go to retreats or create my own, as I tried this year, but need to do better.

NaBloPoMo

A friend recently emailed me about nanowrimo. She decided to use nanowrimo to get started writing again, although she wouldn't try to write 50,000 words.

I had come up with my own writing goals for the month. I had attempted, but
failed at  these goals before. I'll write at least one blog post a day (the blogging version  of nanowrimo) plus write an additional 500 words a day. That's nothing compared to the 1667 daily work count to meet the nanowrimo goal, but it's still hard when I've barely written anything.

I wrote 322 words today; I'm forcing myself to write this post although I really want to go to bed. It's a start, anyway.