5 a Day Keeps the Manuscript in Play

Sorry for the bad rhyme but I'm trying to write with a toddler on my arm telling me what keys to press.

I've had a revelation, well more like a smack yourself on the forehead moment. Hey, why not give myself a writing quota of 5 pages a day. That's about 1500 words (more or less). During NANO I'm able to hit this mark pretty steadily but once December arrives I kind of squeeze the writing in where I can. On some days I've only managed a paragraph.

I know there's a woman out there who wrote a sentence each day (and would sometimes work up to a paragraph) and she eventually published her book years after starting it. Graham Greene followed a 500 a word regimen and he was incredibly prolific. I need more of a push or else the thread of emotions in a particular scene disappears from me.

I don't know why I didn't do this sooner. The idea has been playing around the edges of my thought process for a while but I've avoided it in the same way the revolutionary idea of eating less to lose weight fills the future dieter with dread.

The rule is 5 day, no excuses- except with a doctor's note. For the writers out there who read my blog, do you set up quotas for your writing? And for the non-writers have you established quotas in your life? Please tell.

Who Needs Preschool Right Now?

This little guy will be three in February and I am utterly ambivalent about sending him off to preschool. Maybe it's because we really can't afford the extra cost right now. Or because I've gone through preschool anxiety twice already and another go-round doesn't thrill me. It could also be because he's my last baby and I'm not ready to give him up to the school day schedule just yet.

When I lived in NYC this wasn't a choice it was mandatory. To even get your child enrolled in a good school you had to prove they'd gone through pre-preschool programs. I knew people who hired consultants just to get them through the application process. Living in the country, I don't feel the same kind of urgency. There are times when I worry he might need a more formal education but then according to an unbiased assessment (okay well not completely unbiased) I realize he's mastered key areas of toddler development, for example:

Socialization: comfortably eases his way through social situations with key phrases like "It's my turn," "That's mine," and "He did it."

Natural Sciences: can distinguish between deer, cow, dog, goose, and bear poop.

Technology: can program cellphones to respond in Spanish and uninstall important software

Psychology: performed extensive stress and behavioral experiments with canine and rodent subjects ( sorry Kisses and Ralphie)

Anatomy: able to name body parts at appropriate and inappropriate moments

Improvisation: taken to mixing in phrases like "Oh, Dang It," "Oh Maaan!," and "Never mind" into his speech

These are just a selected handful of his skills. So do you think he needs preschool right now? I'm thinking he's ready to skip straight to college.

Brrrrrr.... It's Cold Out There!

Tonight my Weatherbug is showing 17 degrees with a windchill of 1 degree. Yes that's right folks, 1 degree. In my book it's still fall. I can handle the 30s this time of year but when wind chill enters the conversation, I'm ready to pull the covers over my head.

Wake me in the spring!

The Time Has Come

I can easily point the finger of blame at my mother. When I was four she enrolled me in the Weekly Reader Book Club. Two brand new books a month arrived addressed to me. I can still remember the first two, Danny the Dinosaur and Sammy the Seal by Syd Hoff. I digested these books until I knew every line. Two new books found a space on my bookshelf every month. By the time I reached first grade, I had more books than the library in my classroom.

I had a library card too but during the financially shaky NYC of the 70's libraries were closed more often than they were open (my neighborhood library was open twice a week for three hours while I was in school). Plus I found it difficult to return those books when I was finished. What if I needed to re-read it on some rainy Saturday? I liked being able to keep my books close at hand.

When my reading level expanded beyond Weekly Reader's ability to keep me entertained, I acquired books on my own. After school, when my friends raced to the nearest bodega for sodas, chips and candy I headed to the Hallmark store on 207th Street to raid their Penguin classics or the quarter bin at the used bookstore on Broadway.

Over the years I lost the ability to keep up with my acquisitions. There were books I had to have- the ones I raced to the store to get as soon as they were unpacked from their boxes. Then there were the books I'd get around to reading someday. Added to this were gifts and those left sitting out on stoops, just waiting for a new home. Oh, and I shouldn't forget the books I bought on a whim pulled in by a provocative title or cover or because it was really old and covered with dust. As a writer any new addition can be justified, after all- writers must read.

Now after purchasing three new bookshelves for our fiction collection (which doesn't include the books that are still at my mother's house) I realize the time has come to cull this massive collection. Some books I can never imagine living without like anything by Jane Austen or Tolstoy. It's the books I vaguely recall reading but can't remember a single detail about that may have to find another home. Of course, I'll have to give them another read through before I make the final determination. Those that do not make it will have to be sent off to fill up another addict's collection.

Already I'm imagining the new spaces on the shelves ready for new acquisitions. I fear there may be no hope for me.

Disappointment

I started November confident of reaching beyond 50,000 words, receiving my NANO winner icon, and a completed scratchy rough first draft. None of these goals came to fruition.

Looking back it's easy to see where I went wrong. I should have put everything but the writing on hold- no laundry, no cleaning, no cooking (30 days of take out), hours of DVDs for my toddler, no trips to the library or playground or soccer practices,no hikes, etc. Anything that brought me away from the keyboard should have ceased. I would have reached my goals but the cost would have been too high.

I wrote over 46,000 words, about 128 pages but I did not finish my manuscript. But it's not all bad. I'm farther along than I was at the start of November. I now have more than 33 scenes in what is becoming to resemble an actual story. I've come too far to turn back now.

Life Lesson- Toilets and Cell Phones Don't Mix

I can't even blame the toddler for this freak accident. Yesterday while 'using the facilities', I pulled up my pants as I flushed the toilet. My cell phone with remarkable accuracy flipped right into the flushing toilet. Thanks to the amazing technological advances that have shrunk the average cell phone, the sucker just slid through and is now in our septic system.

Instead of writing yesterday, I spent the day trying to get a new phone from Verizon which had some kind of system brouhaha (which doesn't fill me with a lot of confidence about their technical capabilities). I still don't have a cell phone.

I don't use my phone much. I don't even have numbers programmed in it. I barely know how to use it but I like the security and convenience of it. I like being able to order pizza while I'm on the road. And I'm convinced that the moment I don't have my phone my car will be forced off a deserted road by a band of rabid deer and I'll be trapped unable to call for help.

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly or NANO Update: Day 22

Life is proving to be a carnival ride. I don't mean those gentle rides which leave you feeling giddy. Think back to that monster ride which left you nauseous, terrified and throwing up in a trash can in front of hundreds of spectators cheering you on. This is me now. But hope is not lost (or I could be suffering from delusions).


The Good

I'm still writing. I haven't accepted defeat. My story is still chugging along and I'm finding new strength and vitality in a story I've been working on for more than a year. YEAH!

The Bad

I'm behind. I need a little more than 20,000 words right now if I have any hope of being a winner. In past years, I've never been this far behind. I'm usually a day away from my goal. I wasn't even this far behind my unsuccessful year. How could this have happened?


The Ugly

I did the math. Without going into excruciating detail of the mathematical formula, I need to write at least 9 pages a day from now until the end of the month. This is no easy task given the realities of my upcoming week. Once again, I ponder the intelligence of choosing the month of November for NANO. (Yes, I'm turning on Chris Baty in my desperation) How about nice calm March? As a NANO participant I would cheer the extra day.

I might even have to give up the notion of actually completing the story by the end of the month. I can see my ending, I just don't know how many steps it's going to take me to get there. Will I be Moses who never enters the promised land?

I'm hoping I can escape to Borders today and knock out 10 pages but that might not be in the cards. Right now I'm huddled in my office with Kisses the Wonder Dog. Snow flurries swhirl outside and the temperature hovers in the low 20's. I want to go back to bed or lay in a vegetative heap watching John Hughes movies but then do I really want Lee Van Cleef finding my sorry ass on the couch. If I'm going down, I'd rather do it with butt to chair typing like a demon.