This Week I Read…

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Welcome to the September 14th Edition of This Week I Read…

Since I started working at the public library, I have discovered so many new and interesting books (like A LOT of books!). I’ve mastered the inter-library loan system that allows me to get books from anywhere in Michigan. The only problem is, when five of these requests show up at the same time, I only have three weeks to read them. Challenge accepted.

One of those books was Adulting: How to be a Grown-Up in 468 Easy(ish) Steps by Kelly Williams Brown. Love the title. Love the format (a book long list!). Some of it was funny, some serious, some obvious, and some new. Overall I’d say, according to this book, I am about 33% of the way to being a grown-up. Not bad. Not bad at all.

It feels like something I should have written. If I had, it would be less useful and far more ridiculous. Since I didn’t it, I commend Kelly Williams Brown for writing a book that had some very funny moments in it and a lot of practical, useful ideas. I particularly recommend the section about friendships. I’ve been thinking a lot lately about what it means to be a good friend, how to break up with toxic friends, and what the appropriate boundaries are for what type of friend (I get SO much TMI!). Thanks for the tips Kelly!

Love a Good List

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This past Sunday I finished the first draft of my novel (yeah!). The moment I wrote those words “the end,” I felt sad, like losing my best friend sad. I love first drafts, that’s why I start and abandon so many of them. BUT, if there is ever to be a final draft or a published book, there will have to be a second draft (and probably a third, fourth, maybe fifth draft). I need something to help me get into this second draft business and what usually works best for my motivation is a good list. So here we go:

Things I Will Do Now I’ve Finished the First Draft

  1. Remind myself that the dirty dishes in the sink are not a sign that I’m failing at life.
  2. Ditto the pile of laundry.
  3. Clear and organize my desk – a clean desk means a clear mind (or some nonsense like that).
  4. Organize my notes because there are a lot of them – some on the computer, some on a legal pad, and the really good ones on the backs of old receipts.
  5. Get some moral support. Stat.
  6. Ditto a writing group. If these two things could co-exist as one (my writing group provides said moral support) that would be the ideal.
  7. Do NOT fall into the black hole of procrastination caused by work, television, the internet (particularly YouTube videos), toxic friends, guilt over the messiness of my apartment, food, and even, occasionally, books.
  8. Post inspirational collage over desk to remind me why I’m doing this (why am I doing this? Figure that out first).
  9. Perhaps some actual editing. In cupcake sized pieces. Otherwise I try to eat the whole cake at once, get sick, and never want to eat cake ever again.
  10. Find and eat some cake.

What It’s All About

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In an effort to improve my blogging, particularly my posting consistency, I have signed up for Blogging University‘s class “Blogging 101.” First assignment? Post who I am and why I’m here. Since I’ve had this blog going for a bit, I hope my stalwart followers (Anna) know that this blog is about writing, books, and life. As for the why:

I started this blog as a place for me to share my writing successes, stagnations, and failures. I’d created this website for my author self but I needed a way to connect it with my day to day progress. Thus the blog.

I started it as a place to share what I’ve been reading since I love nothing more than to talk about books!

I started it as a place to write down all the weird dreams and experiences that happen to me, both as a writer and as a human being moving through life.

I’m here to tell stories and share my experiences. I’m here to comment on life and society and the process of growing up. Mostly I’m here to talk about books. Lots of lots of books.

The Art of Adulting

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I have been working on the art of being an adult. What does being an adult even mean? To me it means autonomy, taking responsibility, and paying a lot of bills.

In some ways I’m doing a fine job of adulting. I pay my bills (mostly on time), make my own decisions (after much consultation), and cook my own meals (occasionally). I still, however, do not have a washer or dryer and cart my laundry to my parent’s house every few weeks. I sleep on a futon and ignore my dirty dishes until I can’t use the sink faucet. So I’d say it’s about 50/50 right now. I may act like an adult but I live like a college student. And you know what? Right now, it works for me.

Note: This piece was originally published in April but, due to user error, it showed up as a page rather than a post. The author would like you to know, she no longer sleeps on a futon. She now has a mattress on the floor.

If You Can’t Keep Your Own Goals…

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I have a Sunday tradition. Every Sunday, around mid-afternoon or so, I sit down with my paper planner and I sketch out my week. All the appointments I scheduled and forgot, all the shifts from my two jobs, all the extras I took on months ago and also forgot.

This week when I sat down to write it all out, I found my book draft is supposed to be done by this Sunday, the 6th. A few months ago I laid out my goals over the next year, milestones for how I would finish not just this draft but all the editing, more editing, and still more editing. I gave myself 10 weeks to write the rest of the draft. 10 weeks seemed like forever to me. At the rate I’m going, I thought to myself, I’ll be done in 5.

Then work happened and vacations and family events and summer. And then I was down from 10 weeks to 1. There was no way I could have it done in time. Not with my schedule.Absolutely no way!

Then I thought, if I can’t keep my own goals what was the point of making them? What good am I when I can’t keep a promise to myself?

It came out harsh but the idea, the nugget of inspiration if you will, was good. If I am going to have this book done by next spring, it had to start with keeping my first goal to myself. So I re-arranged some stuff and decided the dishes in the sink could wait a bit more. I wrote Tuesday evening when I got out of work and this morning before I left. I have one scene left to write Sunday. One scene. A couple thousand words at most. The goal is so close I can smell the printer ink.

Before the End

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I started reading this book and I can already tell it’s gonna be a life changer. I can’t wait until the end to review it, I have to talk about it now. It’s called One Person/Multiple Careers: A New Model for Work/Life Success by Marci Alboher. The book was mentioned in Brene Brown’s The Gifts of Imperfection (also a must read) and the idea of it stuck with me all the way to the library.

What is this revolutionary piece of work, you ask? It is a collection of experiences, of people, of ideas about how to create a slash lifestyle, how to live in the slash. This is not about having multiple jobs, it’s about having multiple careers that each engage us in different ways. She talks about a scientist/poet, a computer programmer/theater director, a journalist/house painter, and many many more.

I am already living the slash lifestyle (writer/wedding coordinator/library substitute) but what I find so engaging about this book is the idea of balance and intention with each of the slashes. It’s not about becoming a workaholic or making each slash a full time career. It’s about creating a balance of work that feeds your interests, passions, personality, and strengths in different ways to create a complete, happy you.

I have a few slash “jobs” that are hovering at the edges. Now, as I read this, I’m already thinking about how to let those go so I can focus my time and energy on my writer, wedding coordinator, and library substitute slashes.

A Shout-Out and An Update Walk Into A Bar

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And I have no punchline to that joke. Oh well.

The shout-out goes to my stalwart reader and #1 fan (according to her, though I’m apt to agree) Anna! She reminded me today that I haven’t blogged in a while and she missed my posts. Aw, thanks Anna!

Now for the update.

Work on the book has been going well for two days now! My intense July writing schedule fizzled out around the time I went camping for a week and didn’t write for a week. Then I spent another two weeks catching up with all that life stuff that piles up when you go on vacation. Now I’m finally back on schedule and ready to finish this draft!

I am about writing the way other people are about exercise. If I haven’t written in a while, I feel stressed, anxious, depressed, and annoyed. I get really worked up about where my life is heading and how each day is nothing but meaningless monotony. When I do write, even on the days where the writing is bad or hard or excruciatingly hard, I feel better. I feel energized. I feel like, whatever else happens in the day, I can handle it because I’ve written. That, above all else, is why I write.

The Traverse City Film Festival

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Every year since it started in 2005, I’ve made it to at least one film at the Traverse City Film Festival. Pretty cool, huh? And for the past few years I’ve come away with a prevailing idea to ruminate on and possibly do something about. Perhaps these will turn into stories or books someday, perhaps activist movements or social media campaigns, who knows.

This year I was thinking about celebrity. I saw the Amy Winehouse documentary “Amy.” It perfectly exemplifies the destructive power of celebrity. I felt sad, not only about the tragedy of her life and death, but about the way she was hounded, slandered, and spewed across every single media venue there is. We are brutal to our celebrities, augmenting their every mistake, chastising their every misstep. Is it that we want to bring them down to our level? Do we find some sick fascination in reading about their downward spirals? Personally I think it’s nothing short of tragic that every child star ends up rehab and that their struggle with addiction is plastered across the tabloids at the grocery store check out.

I saw a headline the other day that speculated whether Jennifer Aniston was pregnant or whether she’d made a bad wardrobe choice.

Ouch.

I don’t know what to do with this yet. But I want to open the conversation.

This Week I Read…

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I completely spaced out and forgot to post this Tuesday. I was sitting on imgresthe couch, thinking there was something I needed to do. I decided it was take a nap. So now here I am, posting my this week’s reads on Thursday (don’t even ask about yesterday, I have no excuse).

I finished the Princess Diaries! The last two books were so good I couldn’t stop reading. I spent all of July 4th with my face buried in book 10.

First up there was Princess Diaries IX: Princess Mia, then Princess Diaries X: Forever Princess.

imgres-1And finally, the one I’d been waiting to read for months, the reason I started this reading adventure – The Princess Diaries XI: Royal Wedding.

I was curious to see if, years after the last book was released, Meg Cabot could keep the story alive. And you know what? She did. It was like visiting an old friend you have  n’t seen in a while and picking up as though no time at all imgres-2had passed. I loved seeing what happens to Mia (and everyone else) after high school. It was fun and funny with just a hint of the very ridiculous.

Summer?

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The calendar may say July but I still hear people talking about what they’ll do when summer starts. Probably because it’s cold. The air’s cold, the bay’s cold, and I’ve only worn shorts once. Yet we carry on with our summer adventures because we’re northern  Michiganders! It’s what we do.

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Photos – beach sunset, pet sitting beach day with Lily the dog, on a walk with Harry the dog, and wine tasting at Willow Vineyards