Spread too thin

With gratitude and apologies to my two readers and most of all to myself, I am officially excusing myself from NaBloPoMo, NaNoWriMo, and WhyMeNoWri. I am spread too thin, with too many ambitious creative commitments.
     "Know thyself" is the most important self-help adage, my Weight Watchers leader, Beth, says repeatedly. (Going to Weight Watchers weekly is truly like getting $10 per hour therapy, and the stuff I hear there applies to a whole lot more than food/eating/weight loss. Plus there are recipes.)
       And myself is in need of focus. The novel needs my full attention. I just don't have great stores of concentration, I discover, and the limited amount I have can best be used there.
       My one week of renewed blog-posting put me in touch with my original NaNo sponsor and has made possible an unexpected reunion. So hooray for that!
       If the spirit moves me, I'll be back here. If not in the near future, then maybe later.
       I couldn't just fade away. I had to ANNOUNCE it.
       Bye! I'll miss me!

I'm not here

Yeah, I might not post today. 

Just letting you know.

So, don't look for anything.

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Pudding Pages

The Artist's Way, a book about accessing one's creativity, was written by Julia Cameron.

I read it years ago. One of the creativity exercises she recommends is what she calls "morning pages," three pages of handwritten, free-association writing, done first thing in the morning, to get the hand moving, and the juices––you should excuse the expression––flowing. It's a kind of mini-NaNo, to be done every day, no exceptions.

My free association takes me from morning pages to Picture Pages

which brings me, naturally, to this:

A different path of free association takes me into scarier territory:

Julia Cameron once looked like this:

but more recently looks like this:

which is a kick in the gut right there.

She was once married to him:

and he had an affair with her:

who has free-associated herself to now look like this:

who was once married to this:

I'm going to spare us all having to gaze upon what he looks like now. Sheesh.

There was no real point to any of that, and that's why it qualifies as free association.

NaBloPoMo can serve as my morning pages for the month, though it is not handwritten, and it is not quite morning as I post this. I had a bad night. There wasn't any sleep in it. So morning today was a moving target.

Unfortunately I didn't get any other writing done yet, either. But the night is young! See you in the morning!

This, on the other hand, never fails to cheer me.

Triage

The time has come, suddenly this morning, by way of one of those encouraging emails from my agent, to prioritize my projects. The silly stuff has to make way for the serious stuff, and if that means bailing out on the NaBloPoMo thing, then so be it. 

And the NaNoWriMo thing may have to take a back seat this year, too. 

Because there is interest in my novel. My unwritten, unproven novel.

Interest by an editor at a real "everybody has heard of it" NYC publishing house. And that editor has asked my agent "When can I see it?"

When can SHE see it? When can I see it? 

Crack of Noon

Sunny day, sweepin' the clouds away.

Or is it clowns?

This is marketed as a "Clown indoor broom"

Fresh start, new day, back to the drawing board. I have lots of work to do, and I am gearing up to do it. Proportionally more gearing up than is strictly necessary, but one does what one must.

This, the blog posting, is gearing up for the NaNo writing, which is gearing up for the real writing, which is the project that I alluded to two months ago.

A few weeks ago, I had to pass through customs or immigration or whatever it's called when you show your passport to a stern-looking individual sitting on a stool at a not-very-intimidating little booth in a large room and before whom you must remember to be serious and direct and not make any sudden moves or end any of your answers with "Heh heh, just kidding." When he asked me what I did in "Massachusetts" (it sounded like it had quotation marks around it when he said it), I answered, "I'm a writer."

I omitted the "Heh heh, just kidding," and he didn't bat an eye.

I like to wear all black when I travel. It simplifies packing.

Though I didn't have to swear an oath, I think that makes it kind of official.

So, I'm a writer, you guys. I'm writing a novel, and I have an agent. Yup. I have a literary agent in New York City (ever heard of it?), whom I have not met but who calls me on the phone and writes me encouraging emails. And any minute now, right after I write 1667 words on my NaNo document, refresh a few dozen websites, make lunch, and possibly go out to CVS, I'm going to be writing that novel like it's going out of style.

And also, look at me going to foreign countries solo without getting all "What's it all about?" about it in advance––while six months ago I was musing profoundly about the significance of taking the train to New Jersey by myself. Stretching much? I'm Gumby, dammit.

Don't get too excited about the passport, though. It was Canada.

Here's what I did in Toronto:

Harrowing.
 Heh heh, just kidding.

NaNo NaNo

Sssshhhhh.

I'm doing this just for me. Stop looking at me, privacy invader! Why are you reading me? Is it because I'm a public blog and not a Hello Kitty diary hidden in an underwear drawer and locked with a little lock that can be picked with a bobby pin? What's a bobby pin, you ask? Are you from the future?

Back to my request: Stop looking at me when I'm jumping up and down and waving my arms wildly in front of you!

It's November 1, which is a full and precise two months since I last posted. Nice and neat. Today is the start of National Novel Writing Month, NaNoWriMo, which anyone who knows me knows about, so I'm not even going to link it.

OK, I linked it.

BUT. . . it's also–– apparently, lamely, and totally copycattedly––National Blog Posting Month. NaBloPoMo. Psych! The point of which, I think (I'm not going to be reading any RULES or anything) is to post something every day for the month of November.

As stated elsewhere herein, I like starting things on starting days and then making optimistic plans to follow through in an orderly fashion. So––

Here I Go!

The question will be what to blog about every day, which I guess is part of the point.

Should I explain, just in case the Mork and Mindy reference is lost on anyone? Nah. It's just for me, remember?