Archive for December, 2008
-
Little annoying things
Actually, it was a pretty good day. After I used all my table salt to get the ice off my steps. And, oh, rats, I just recalled that I forgot to pick up more canned dog food today. But it was still a pretty good day. I took my grand-daughters to the mall to Christmas shop because we’ve all been mostly at home for the past three days. And they were good and we had a good time. Shop at Old Navy. Eat at the food court and play on the kiddie toys. Not a productive writing day at all, but some days we just have to stop and admit that life isn’t entirely about writing.
But even on a good day, there are those little things that just make me go, "Hm. Does that bother everyone, or is it just me? Surely if it bothered everyone, Those People in charge of fixing stuff would fixt that." So. Just for the record. Is anyone else bothered by these little things?
Guys, you can skip this first one. It doesn’t apply to you.
You know those magical self- flushing toilets in malls? Why can’t they make one that doesn’t splash droplets of water up on the seat in the process of flushing? Little girls look at that and say, "someone brought a little boy in here and he peed on the seat." It can take quite a bit of toilet inspecting to find one they will then use. When I consider how my light is spent . . .Green potatoes. I buy bags that look like nice brown russet potatoes. But when I dump them in the sink, about 80 percent of them turn green as I scrub them. It makes me wonder if the potato marketers have some special brown dust that they put on the potatoes to make them potato colored. You know how potatoes get green? Exposure to sunlight. If you grow potatoes, the ones down deep are the right potato color. The ones that grow too close to the surface and stick out of the mounds turn green. Or if potatoes are stored in light, they turn green. Because they try to photosynthesize, and thus create solanine. Which, my friends, is poisonous. (You do know that potatoes and tomatoes are members of the nightshade family, right? As in deadly nightshade?) Anyhow, that green skin isn’t good for you. Cut it off. Someday, in an excess of zeal, I will discover why so many potatoes in American grocery stores are green. Then I’ll post it here.
Mealy apples. Again, what is the deal here? I mean, I live in Washington State, for heavens sake. In October, there are so many apples growing everywhere that even the birds are sick of them. And they are great apples! But here we are, it’s only December, and I bought what looked like really good Galas. And all of them have the ‘maybe they froze it’ brown inside them. And the texture is awful. Ick.
Glue that dries up inside the bottle. Has anyone in the world ever used a tube of super glue twice? I open one, poke the hole in the spout, use it, and seal it up carefully. The next time I need it, nope. It’s all dried up like a little rock. Maybe that’s why the tubes are so tiny. They know you can only open and use it once.
Okay, enough whining. None of those things killed me today, so I guess I’m stronger now. I should end this on a positive note.
I got really good red and black licorice at Tacoma Boys a few days ago. They had my chewy ginger candy there, too.
The rear defroster on my van windows works better than any rear defroster I’ve ever had.
The new gas fireplace on the main floor actually almost heats Ru’s bedroom. She is almost grateful.
I got really good wrapping paper at Big Lots.
And the marathon of cookie baking proceeds apace, with all going well.
Robin
-
Being a writer
There are good exciting days to being a writer.
And then there are slogging days.
Today I slogged. I slogged for 1500 words. Yesterday I got 2200 words. So 1500 is better than 1000 but not a top notch day.
My hands hurt. And I wanted to be making gingerbread or spritz cookies or going for a walk. I wanted to be doing Christmasy stuff. But the deadline is coming, and i really thought I’d be finished by now, so I have to make myself sit at the desk and get the words.
The story grows and it’s going in the direction it should. But today it seemed like the most boring story that anyone could possibly imagine. After all, I knew exactly what was going to happen next and I typed along and typed along and sure enough, it happened.
When the time comes and it’s a book, maybe someone else will read it and be stunned or at least entertained. But today it was putting the sentences together, one key stroke at a time. Moving the characters like pieces on a chess board. Tightening the tension here, resolving a small problem there. One letter at a time, one word at a time. For 1519 words.
That’s still part of being a writer and part of the writing life. Tough as it was today, I still don’t want to trade it in for anything else.
-
Vera Nazarian needs a hand!
You may or may not have heard of Vera Nazarian. She is the founder of Norilana books, a little publishing house that has given many new writers a hand up. It would be worth helping Vera if the only thing we wanted to do was keep Norilana books afloat. However, there is a lot more to the story.
http://community.livejournal.com/helpvera/751.html
That links takes you to a detailed retelling of all she has been through, and all she has accomplished despite those obstacles. Here’s the basic summary from that site:
"Vera Nazarian of Norilana books is facing foreclosure due to a series of truly unfortunate events (a fradulent lawsuit, mother’s illness, father’s death and sub-prime mortgage.) We hope to raise $11,229.72 to help Vera save her house."
Now, you can just send a couple bucks straight there and that would help. But there are other easy ways to help, too.
Go to Norilana Books http://www.norilana.com/ and do some Christmas shopping. Or Winter shopping or any other holiday you celebrate. Just buy one for yourself! You deseve a good book, don’t you?
But if nothing there seems quite right for the preschool child on your list, use the Amazon portal there to do your Amazon shopping. Most of you probably know that Amazon’s gives a small fee back to the websites that serve as entry portals. Costs you nothing, but helps Vera a bit.
Many hands make light work. Help save a home, please.
Robin Hobb