Monday Miscellany

*Note:  I am changing my Monday posts titles to 'Monday Miscellany' cause well, they tend to be just that--a group of different topics and things I've seen, heard, listened to, contemplated and gotten done over the prior week/weekend.  And since Blogger doesn't do categories, it will be easier to group the Monday posts together using labels! Besides, isn't miscellany just an awesome word? I love it!* 

What a weekend.  It was one of those where I was up at an early hour both days, trying to get a million things done.  Knowing that this week is going to be busy, my goal was to try and get myself ahead of the game by checking some things off my list and I think I was successful.   Well, moderately so anyways.  

Book Club is this Thursday, at my house.  So Saturday was spent cleaning and doing some prep work for the food. I'm a bit nervous about this little gathering since my house is, well, kinda old.  The other members of the club have these brand spanking new houses and mine is about 100 years old and has been been lived in by someone in my family for that entire time.  It has loads of history in it and I've grown up wanting to live here since I was 5. But, that being said, I'll be the first to admit it needs work in terms of being updated (which I am getting to--just having to do it room by room for budgetary purposes.)  The upside is that the downstairs is presentable in that it is painted, decorated in a style that is me, and ready for guests, kind of.  I want to kick myself for feeling self-conscious about it, but old habits do die hard I guess.  

And just in time for Book Club, I finished A Thousand Splendid Suns Saturday night.  I have started a review of it which I will posting soon, but I wanted to wait until after Thursday.  If you have not read this book yet (it came out in 2007), I highly recommend it.  It's been awhile since a book has hit me like this did.  It was so, so good.

Unfortunately, I didn't get any catching up on the DVR done.  I am seriously considering cancelling cable, at least for the summer. Now that the Walking Dead is over for the season I might, and just keep basic cable.  Though, honestly I don't know what that is anymore.  Last time I had basic cable it meant channels 1-13....I guess I will have to look into that before I make a decision!  I can't imagine not having cable and a DVR, but I could get some serious reading and writing done if I didn't have it as a distraction...hmmm, this will have to be pondered over the next week or two.

Last week I was on 'spring break' from the classes I've been taking, though that just meant I was home for a week. Sadly there was no beach involved.  Even though I know my assignments ahead of time and could have gotten ahead, I did zero homework.  I needed that mental break since it has been a rough first half of the semester.  But starting today, I need to get back to the books since I have a whole lot of reading and researching I need to get going on.  My hope is to spend 2 hours a day on it.  I might even use the word sprint time (which I usually write for) as homework sprints instead. That should keep me on schedule to not freak out when the end of April comes and all this work is due.    

And to wrap up the relative boring recap of my weekend, I will leave you with a song by Train.  Their new album comes out in April and seriously, I love these guys.  Ever since the songs "Meet Virginia" and "Drops of Jupiter" they have become a staple on my playlists. There are so many songs I could pick, but this new single is just so fun that I've been singing it around the house and in the car since I heard it last week.  Have a listen if you'd like!

"Drive By" by Train

  

Bidding Adieu to ROW80 Round 1--Final Check In

It's here! It's here! It's here! To paraphrase REM, it's the end of Round 1 as we know it!  Have goals been met? Or even smashed into oblivion with the awesome-ness of your progress? Or did you take a slower and steadier approach to get the year started?  Whatever the result, the end is here and it's time to look back and see what has been accomplished thus far.

For me, Round 1 has been a mixed bag of progress.  I wish I had made more progress than I have, but at the same time, I am grateful for the progress I did make.  I am trying to look at what I've done this round from a balanced and realistic perspective.  I don't want to get all emo-sad because I didn't accomplish everything I wanted to, but I also don't want to be overly congratulatory of myself either.  I know I have work to do in round 2, but for round 1, here are the results:

Writing:  I did okay here, writing 3-5 days a week, though my word counts weren't always that stellar. I am at the point in my WIP where I need to go back and add in several scenes in the beginning which I hadn't planned on, but that make sense after some of the recent changes that have occurred in the overall story.  My hope is to work on those scenes between now and the start of the next round.

Working out:  Eh...my habits here are better than they had been at the start of the round, but not where I want them to be.  With the string of nice weather we've been having I have definitely picked up the pace in this regard, but I still lack the willpower and motivation I need to have.  I just wish I could get to the point where working out becomes a habit and doesn't feel like actual work.  It would make things so much easier!

Blogging/commenting:  Much improved! Posting took a hit when I took a bit of a break in February, but I am getting back on track with this.  I had forgotten the reasons I started blogging in the first place and that was to (1) have fun and (2) get more comfortable writing to an audience since that was the biggest hurdle I faced (and still face) in my writing. My blog posts aren't earth shattering by any means, but they let me put a little bit more of myself out there.  Progress is progress, right?

Twitter:  This is still a work in progress, but the word sprints in the afternoon (when I can particpate) are a huge, huge help here.  Not only do I knock out a lot of words, but it gets me more comfortable in the twitter-verse.  And seriously, I love the motivation that the sprints provide and it's a great group of people to write with.  *throws glitter over all the word sprint peeps!*

I also had an unofficial goal to read more, and this has been happening. Between my classes and reading for fun, I've read 6 books (almost 7!) this year and have a bunch more to get through.

In looking over the results of this round I see much accomplished and much which can be improved upon.  I have already started tweaking my goals for next round to make them work a little better with my schedule which will be crazy between now and the middle of May.  I definitely need to make the goals more realistic for everything that I will have on my plate.  Two papers, two finals, plus lesson plans and grading for the classes I teach, on top of the day job, and well, life in general, will make for a very stressed out Kat if I take on too much!

So fellow ROW80-ers, how did everyone else do this round?  Did you check off lots of goals from your lists?  Are you planning on taking part in the second round?  Good luck and see you in eleven days!

Monday Mash-Up: Basketball and Music

Unlike the last two weeks, this past week I did a whole lot of nothing on the entertainment front so my Monday Mash-Up post is woefully empty.  The weather was just so nice, and since I didn't have to teach (yay for spring break!) I spent as much time as I could outside, enjoying the sun--something we don't always get a lot of where I live.  The television I did watch involved a whole lot of college basketball and in case anyone was wondering, my brackets are thoroughly and completely busted.  I am still hoping Syracuse wins since I have a lot of loyalty towards the schools I've attended. St. Bonaventure ended up getting knocked out of the first round, but...they made it there for the first time in 12 years and it was a really close game. We should have won in fact, but oh well, there is always next year!

Other than basketball, the only other show I watched was the season finale of The Walking Dead.  Can we say zombie-tastic?!  Holy wow, I was floored by what happened in the episode and am so excited for the next season.  Just wish I didn't have to wait so long cause...just...WOW!  Seriously people, if you haven't seen this show, it is so good!  I'm just going to keep hoping that the zombie apocalypse doesn't come in my lifetime.  Because seriously, a zombie herd has to be the scariest thing ever.  More frightening than bees--and I have a strong loathing and irrational fear of bees, so that is saying a lot!

Lastly, since I have so little to report in terms of entertainment, I thought I'd combine the Monday Mash-up with the song I was going to blog about later in the week.  I heard this towards the end of last week and something about the amazing weather we are having here and the rhythm of this song had me blasting it over the weekend.  The song also got me past a block I was experiencing in a particular scene I was writing.  I was having so much trouble I though about leaving the scene out completely, but then I just had this hole in my outline. I finally got through it, with the help of this song. Now, I can move on to the darker parts of the work, which for me always tend to be easier to write.

Andrew Allen "Loving You Tonight"

Happy spring (it hits officially on Tuesday!) and if you see a zombie...remember to aim for the head!  

Sunday ROW80 Check In

I almost forgot to post this update for ROW80.  I have had such a busy day with hosting a family dinner at my house.  I had to get up early and it was non stop cooking and cleaning but I had so much fun it was all worth it.   So as I get to watch the season finale of The Walking Dead (and yes, I have my pillow ready to hide from the blood and gore that is sure to be ever present in the episode), here is an update for what's been happening since Wednesday:

• I wrote 5 days this week and though my word count on those days wasn't always 1500, I made up for it on some of those days.  Overall for the week I knocked out 5175 words.  It wasn't the 7500 I wanted to hit, but it's better than nothing!  And also, a big big big THANK YOU with a bunch of glitter thrown in to all the ROW--ers who have kept me going during these sprints!  It has been so much fun, and it really is the best part of my day. It's nice to have people cheering for me, and to cheer for others, as we all work on our WIPs!
• Exercise--took at least a 30 minute walk (some days longer though no less than 30 mins) three days this week, and did a bunch of Just Dance 2 on the Wii this weekend with my niece.  I had a bunch of fun and exercised--that is the best kind of workout in my opinion!
• Blogging and twitter--still keeping up with both of these, though at the end of the week I wasn't around much twitter wise. Sometimes the day job just doesn't let me to be as present as I'd like to be, but I hope to at least be around during the word sprints.

Next week I am back to work so I won't be able to participate in the word sprints everyday, but I am hoping to get in at least three days.  The rest of this week my plan is to finish a few posts that I've had in my draft folder for a bit, as well as finish reading "A Thousand Splendid Suns".  This is the book that I chose for book club this month and since I am hosting I definitely have to read this one!  I knocked out over a hundred pages Thursday and am hoping to finish it by the middle of this week.

Hope everyone's week has good and Happy St. Patrick's Day! I know it's a day late but...well sending the luck of the Irish to y'all anyways!  See you Wednesday!

A Freakin' Awesome Song...and a ROW80 Update

As I mentioned in Saturday's post about Fitz and the Tantrums music is so important to me and I'm always finding new and interesting tracks to listen to while writing.  Well, while cooking dinner (carbonara with whole wheat spaghetti and grilled asparagus. So, so good!), I had VH1 on and the following song came on.  As the music started it barely registered with me until the chorus literally made my head turn. The video is...different.  It's very artistic-which isn't a bad thing, since it allows the focus to be on the music itself, but a friend of mine was like "wtf does that mean?"  My response was "who cares?! Did you not hear the song?!" and then I promptly hit repeat.  I can't stop listening to it, though I totally understand that it might not be everyone's cup of tea.  It's a bit quirky but in my opinion, quirky in a good way.

Gotye  "Somebody That I Used to Know"

And now for the Update--so far so good. Word count so far is:

Monday:  844
Tuesday: 1142

I plan on doing the word sprint at 2pm today.  I need to get some extra writing in this morning because I am way behind my '1500 words for 5 days a week goal' and really need to pick up the pace.  As for working out--blah.  This is just not going well.  It doesn't help that my allergies are kicking my butt at the moment. I did take a walk yesterday and am going to take another one this afternoon.  I need to take advantage of the rare, sunny weather we are getting in central New York.  Blogging, catching up on reading blogs and tweeting are all checked off my list and I am definitely happy about that.  I just need to keep it up.  I am having so much fun blogging about the music that is inspiring my writing and the different tracks I'm finding.  Same with writing what hopefully will become my weekly Monday Mash-Up.  I've done two weeks so far, and it's just been fun.  I feel like it's letting me put more and more of myself out there too, which actually makes tweeting a whole lot easier.  Who knew?!

Hope everyone's week is going well and see you Sunday!

Monday Mash-Up: A Little of This And A Little of That

This weekend was fantastic for several reasons. Not only do I have spring break at the college I am teaching at, but the midterm I had to take for one of my master's classes is over.  Thank god, because seriously, I was stressing like crazy over that thing.  So this weekend, I vegged a bit, did some reading and caught up on one of my favorite shows, and watched on my favorite movies.

Speed:  Can I say that I just love love love this movie.  I don't know why, because it certainly isn't an Oscar winner or anything, but seriously, I love Keanu Reeves in that movie.  And Sandra Bullock's hair is so cute!  It was funny too, because it came out in 1994, and so the cell phones they used are as big as bricks.  It had me totally cracking up.  I love this movie mainly for the fun of it, not it's artistic appeal.  It doesn't make me think too hard and I can just stare at Keanu Reeves for a couple hours.  Not a bad way to spend some time.

The Walking Dead: I hadn't seen the last three episodes and was itching to get caught up on my favorite zombie drama.  Yesterday I finally got the chance and can I just say..this show rocks.  I do find that I have to turn my head away or mute it when someone is being gorged on by zombies, but I can handle that. I watch it more to see just how this group of people tries to survive in the world while facing the zombie apocalypse more than anything else.   I won't give away any specific spoilers, but the fact that the creators of this show are not afraid to have fan favorite characters die is a testament (I think) to their commitment to the telling of the overall story.  Sure, a few of these were some of the most popular, but ya know it...it worked.  It wasn't for shock value, or just to have more bodies pile up.  The deaths made sense given how the story has progressed up to this point, so kudos to the writer for staying true to the story as opposed to the individual characters. It's an ensemble for a reason after all!  If you haven't caught this show, or have skipped because of the zombie aspect of it, trust me--it's not just about zombies.  And like I said, the mute button, or a pillow, works great if you are at all squeamish like me.

And lastly--it is that time of year again where so many of us become focused on college basketball and that amazing phenomena that is March Madness and I just want to say...

LET'S GO BONAS!  
LET'S GO ORANGE!

I am an alum of St. Bonaventure University (undergrad) and Syracuse (graduate school) so I am so happy to see that they both made it to the Dance.  Syracuse was a given since they were ranked #2 in the country most of the season...but Bonaventure?!  Who freakin' thought that was going to happen?!  They hadn't been asked to the Dance since 2000 but this year they kicked butt in the A-10 tournament becoming A-10 champs for the first time ever and getting an automatic bid.  Kudos to the underdogs and the place I spent some of the best years of my life.  Now we just gotta get past Florida in the first round, but even if we don't...least we made it!  

And with that sports related cheer of sorts, I will return to regularly scheduled programming, which means getting back to my as-yet to be titled work in progress.  I got a certain character who needs a slap to the back of the head...

ROW80 Sunday Check In

It's Sunday's check in and all in all I would say things have gone okay this week as I get back in the saddle!  I missed a day of writing (only got in 4) but I did catch up on the exercise front, which I really needed to do.  As for blogging, it's definitely becoming easier now that I post about topics other than writing. Don't get me wrong, I love writing and love to write and read about it, but sometimes a girl needs to change things up a bit to keep things fun, fresh and well interesting!  I've decided to do a Monday Mash-up kind of post about whatever shows, books, movies, blogs, YouTube videos etc. that I've seen the week prior that has peaked my interest and want to share.  I had fun writing Monday's post about Primeval and Stargate Universe so I want to keep that up. I also will try to do a semi-regular post about the current music that has me inspired, that I'm writing to, and/or music that I just like and want to share.  Saturday I blogged about one of my favorite songs by Fitz and the Tantrums.  I have a bunch more songs and albums waiting in the wings that I want to blog about too.  My decision to blog about music came about from a post I did on Tuesday, where I discussed turning to writing to relax and release some stress, and how doing that affected a scene in my WIP.  Music has a huge influence on my writing so I am really looking forward to doing more posts that are music and writing related!  I've also been reading a lot--for my classes and just for fun--so I have a bunch of books (and even a few poems!) to review too.  I will be starting to tackle that stack soon!

As for the goals I didn't quite make?  Well like I said, I missed a day of writing, and also...Twitter.  I still am more of a spectator than anything else. I watch and don't say much.  I know that deep down this is a self confidence issue and I just need to put myself out there and tweet, but yeah, I'm still not totally there yet.  This goal is continues to be a work in progress!

Hope everyone's week went well and good luck on your goals this week!

Whatcha Listening To?

I am obsessed with music. I always have it on--and I mean always. From the time I wake up in the morning to the time I go to bed, unless I am in a meeting for work, or teaching, I have it going, even if it's just on low in the background. I think it has to do with my grandmother's love for music-when I was a kid I used to spend a lot of time at her house and she and my grandpa always had music on.  The type of music they liked was what I used to call "oldies" but it was still music.  My dad was always listening to music too; or he was  singing; or both.  Although I didn't mind my grandparents when they listened to music (mainly cause I wasn't stupid enough to tell my grandparents to NOT listen. That would have gotten me grounded for sure).  But when it was my dad singing, that was a different story. I for some reason hated it.  Of course, it didn't help that he did it when my friends were around.  Talk about mortifying!  There was nothing worse than hearing your dad singing a Johnny Cash song while your having a sleepover and your trying to concentrate on boys, makeup, New Kids on the Block, all while watching scary movies and drinking kool-aid.

So back to the point of all this: I LOVE music and listen A LOT. I sing and dance to it while hanging around the house, even while vacuuming or doing the dishes; and if you pass me in the car, although I may have a hands free cell phone thingy in my ear, that likely isn't me on the phone.  No, it's probably  me singing like a fool.

Singing and listening to music lifts my spirits; it provides me with inspiration, especially when it is on short supply; and when I am stressed it helps me even out and just relax.   Given my stress levels of late, I have been finding a lot of new music and artists lately and wanted to share, and figured what better place than my blog!  I hope to do this semi-regularly as my taste in music tends to vary quite a bit (from 50 Cent to Micheal Buble and everything in between and beyond!) and hopefully someone will hear something new they like, or perhaps have a suggestion for something I should check out.

For now, here is the song that I've had on replay this week on my MP3 player.  This is Fitz and the Tantrums "Don't Gotta Work It Out".  They have been getting a pretty good rotation it seems on VH1, but if you've haven't heard of them, I would definitely suggest checking out the video below or via Zune, Spotify, ITunes or wherever it is you check out new musical talent.  Hope you enjoy and as always, feel free to leave a comment or suggestion to let me know what you're listening to, or think I should be!

ROW80 Check-In--Feel Free to Throw Things...

I totally deserve it.  

I feel like I should make some sort of confession for having disappeared for like...a month...I have no excuse other than I was wrapped up in that "oh my god I have too much to do, lemme just hide under the covers until it all goes away!" kind of feeling, and didn't know where to start. It's no big surprise that while hiding under the covers,  things didn't just "go away".  I finally had to crawl out and just start ticking things off my to-do list and get back on track.  So now that I've begun that process, I sheepishly drag myself back before you to try and finish out the end of this round as strong as I can.

So that being said, since Sunday, I have done two days of 1500 words.  I've blogged Monday (a fun one about some sci-fi shows I caught up on this past weekend. Yes I am a geek, and I wear it proud!) and Tuesday (focusing on writing while being all moody...and the effects it had on the character in my WIP).  I'm really proud of myself for just blogging about things that interested me at the time I was writing. I wasn't worried about what people would think, which I unfortunately worry about all too often.  I am working on that though.  Anyways, back to my update.  I haven't made the blog rounds yet but plan on doing towards the end of this week and well Twitter...yeah that's just a mess. I really am such an introvert when it comes to twitter. I will get more comfortable with it though...I just need to practice and just...do it!  As for working out...*just glares* Week isn't over...so, there's still time to buckle down on this one.  Hopefully the weather cooperates.  

Hope everyone is kicking butt in terms of their ROW80 goals better than I have been, and I look forward to seeing how everyone is progressing as I hop around blogs in the next few days! 

Just...Breathe...

Writing when I am in a ‘mood’ always makes me, the writer behind the keyboard, feel better. But what I have discovered is, that when I go back to look at what I wrote during times of heightened emotions, I often have taken my characters to dark places—emotionally and otherwise. As I re-read a scene I had written yesterday, it became quite clear that this was the case. Prior to writing this scene, my character was standing on top of cliff, looking down at the main street of the town she lived in. Her emotions were already swirled up from the action in the story that just preceded her walk, and there were dark storm clouds rolling towards her, to reflect her emotions. As I sat down to write, my mood was just as dark as those clouds.

Monday Mash-Up: Clearing Out Space on the DVR

So I am a television/movie junkie. Problem is I always end up liking obscure shows that get cancelled--or, don't find time to watch the shows I do record on the DVR and end up way behind.  Well, the last two weeks I have been trying to play catch up on a variety of shows saved on the DVR and in the Netflix queue in an attempt to fix this problem.  Last weekend, I caught up on Castle--which can I just say, I love Nathan Fillion.  If you haven't seen that show, or Firefly (and the movie, Serenity) stop reading right now and go watch them.  It's okay, I will wait til you're done....

Alright, so you're back.  Amazing right? Can you see why I love him?  Now, where was I, oh yeah...Castle.  So that was last weekend. This weekend I knew I would be stuck inside, trying to get homework and grading done and knew I would need something on in the background while I worked. You see, for me, there is nothing worse than sitting in silence while I try to do either of those things-the silence drives me crazy. So I found myself once again looking through my bloated Netflix instant queue and my DVR to see what I could find.

ROW80 Update for Wednesday. Jan. 25th

This will be a woefully short ROW80 update since I have classes and office hours this afternoon, but seeing as I took some time off last week, I wanted to post a quick note as to my progress.  I need to keep holding myself accountable to my goals after all!  School is back in session and I have returned to running around like crazy, either doing homework for the classes I'm taking, or grading introduction to literature quizzes and papers for the classes I'm teaching.  It's going to be a tough semester since I decided to add another class to my schedule, but I really want to get closer to that goal of my Master's degree.  I took last week off to get all that sorted and ensure I got started on the right foot and didn't fall behind.  So far I'm on track to hit my exercise and writing goals by the end of this week.  The word sprints are a definite help in that regard and I try to participate whenever I am in the office or near a computer.  I hope everyone's week so far is going well and good luck with your goals!

Wednesday ROW80 Update

Things are looking good this week! I am happy with my progress so far, which as of today is:  

• Writing 1500 words a day--check
• Activity--two days so far! Woot! Won't likely get to it today, but that's okay-I can still make the 5 day a week goal.
• Blogging-work in progress.  This goal is more about doing a non-ROW80 blog once a week. I'm shooting to get something out sometime in the next day or two. I won't stick to the same topics every week--it could be anything from tv to music to books to teaching to humorous stuff found around the interwebs.  Bottom line is, I want to have fun writing about it and for it not to seem like a chore. 
• Commenting--check
• Twitter and Tweeting--check and check! I am getting better at this, I think. I hope.  The 2 pm word sprints are a definite help! 

My WIP, which is my unfinished NaNo story, is coming along great with the help of Lauren's  2pm word sprints!  I even have found time to edit the first part of it in the evenings.  I've made several changes, additions and deletions to the outline and the WIP itself, but so far I am happy with them all and really like the direction this is moving in.  I feel like the story and the characters have started to have a mind of their own and are leading me on twists and turns I hadn't even thought about when I was outlining!

In yesterday's word sprint I also made a huge decision about who the bad guy is. I've kept many of the characters mysterious, each having their own set of secrets and I thought I had decided on who the baddie would be. But something clicked as I wrote in the word sprint on Tuesday that made me finally decide. It changes A LOT of what is to come in terms of motive and I have to add a few scenes to my outline...but I think it makes it more fun, less predictable, and it just feels right.  Listening to my inner voice as I write has been something I've been working on since the start of ROW80, and it's finally starting to click.  I can't wait to see where this leads for the rest of my characters!

I am also working on a short story which I'm in no rush to finish--just kind of taking my time there and being lazy. I'm not putting pressure on myself to get something done, or out there. I'm just going to write and relax for a while.

Lastly, I am adding at least one reading challenge to my goals.  In catching up on blog reading the other day, I found Tia's post about the Stephen King Project and I literally squealed with delight.  I love Stephen King and this is the perfect excuse to read more of his books. So a big thank you to Tia and to the Stephen King Project!  Now I just have to choose how many books to read and which to read first.  Decisions, decisions...

Hope all of you are doing well on your goals this week.  See you on Twitter, during the afternoon wordsprints, and/or for Sunday's update!

ROW80 Goals and a Big Accomplishment!

I'm a little late jumping into ROW80 this round, but with good reason.  Well good reason in my view anyways!  But before I get to that, I will set out my goals this round:

• Write 1500 words, a minimum, at least 5 days per week
• Work out/get moving 5 days a week
• Blog weekly
• Comment on a minimum of 3-5 blogs every week
• Work on becoming more present on twitter

Along with these I am still holding the line with my 'get organized' battle.  Slowly but surely I am getting rid of the clutter in my life and finding more time to enjoy myself.  Classes start next week, on the 17th, and I am vowing to keep ahead with those too.  I don’t want to get overwhelmed at the end of the semester. I refuse to let that happen again.  The twitter goal is oddly the one I'm most worried about. I often really have nothing to say or add, so I keep quiet and just watch what scrolls by.  I need to put myself out there more, I know that much. So hence the 'work on' part of that goal. I will hopefully define that goal a bit more as I move forward this round, but for now, that will do.

So that's it for ROW80 goals. I will be heading over tomorrow to see how everyone is doing-can't wait to see what y'all are working on.  Oh and, feel free to stop reading now since the rest is non-ROW80 related. Or if you'd like, read on and learn why this is my first ROW80 post for this round.

And the Countdown Begins...

To Christmas of course!  Only one week left and I am slowly but surely crossing things off my list. I got started late, but by going out and picking up gifts and needed supplies before work, I am getting closer to the finish line.  The only hiccup so far has been that I found out Christmas Eve festivities will be at my house.  That was not in the game plan, but nothing I can do about it now. I got the menu together and now, all I have to do is head to the grocery store to make sure I have everything I will need.  Should be interesting to see how it all goes, but well, first time for everything, right? 

As for writing, I've been slowly getting back into the game, writing a little bit each day.  Not as much as I would like, but baby steps! I also have come up with the cover design for my short story thanks to a friend of mine so that will be going up for sale by the end of the month.  (Thank you Sunhi!) And, as an added bonus, as I was working on the cover, I was hit smack in the face with an idea to expand on this story by creating a companion piece.  I kept thinking about my main character and how, in the story I wrote, she only really tells her side--the motivations for her actions and emotions in the relationship and events she recounts.  The other side isn't really explored, and even though he is kinda, well a douche bag in many ways, he still has his own reasons and motivations for how and why things happened the way they did.  So I have decided to write his story as a follow up/companion short story to hers.  I even came up with names for each one which I think fit really well.  

Don't even ask about my working out goals...they have not been going well.  I really really really need to get back into that this week.  I actually MISS it...yes even the getting out of bed a half hour early to do yoga, or stretching, or whatever workout is on the calendar for that day.  So yeah, tomorrow it is back to hitting that weekly goal.  I hope my yoga mat will be happy to see me...

So, lots on my plate but things are looking up after that crazy month of November and early December.  I look forward to checking in to see how everyone else is doing later this week. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!     

I Fell Off the Bike...

Not literally of course.  I don't ride bikes since I have very little balance and it usually ends with some sort of physical injury. I fell of the bike in the sense that I mucked up my ROW80--and NaNo--goals.  This is truly kinda embarrassing  because I had been doing so, so so (yes that is three so(s)) great on my goals and on NaNo.  I had just over 20K words, and then all hell broke loose...something  just had to give. I had 4 projects to complete in November for my classes and major headaches at the office, so I had to step back from the writing, tweeting, blogging etc to get all that done.  Thankfully, there is a light at the end of the tunnel in that my last final is Wednesday.  I will be done until mid-January and things at the office are back to the normal level of chaos I can handle, and should be for the next few months.  

Throughout all the craziness that has consumed me the last month, I did learn a few important things.  Those lessons are:  I can't do everything all at once; that organized or not, there are only so many hours in the day; and sleep is necessary for some of those hours.  Sometimes we have to make sacrifices, even with the stuff we love to do, and prioritizing is key.  Knowing that I had to take some time away from writing, to get done what I needed to, and would eventually get back to my writing once things settled was key.  In the past-and pre-ROW80- I would have wallowed in my 'failures' and got frustrated and let the writing gather dust, but not this time. ROW80 has taught me that having a life, is just as important as meeting my goals--and even though in this instance that 'life' consisted of work and not fun, that's okay.  I had to prioritize and I did.  Now I can get back to my regularly scheduled programming so to speak, without worry that I missed something or stressing out (and ultimately burning out) that I was falling behind as I tried to juggle a hundred million things at once.  Instead, I will take this as a learning experience, sigh, and hop back on the bike.  I can still make it up this next hill by the end of the Round.

As for NaNo--as I mentioned, I didn't 'win' in the sense that I did not reach 50K words.  My final count for November ended up being 31,543, but I didn't even have a chance to update it on the website by the 30th.  However, despite not hitting the 50K mark, I still feel like a winner. I know, it sounds corny right? But seriously, I have a WIP that I am so proud of, I've already knocked out a pretty big portion of it and know where I am going with the rest of it!  Once finals are over, I plan switching up my goals to write a minimum of 1K words a day, 5 days a week and get back to my routine. That should set me on par to complete it and be in the revision process, or close to it anyways, by the time I am ready to hit the books again.  After all, it's all about how we look at things right?  And there is always next November to finally conquer NaNo!  

Hope you guys did great with NaNo and are kicking butt with your ROW80 goals.  I'm so glad to be back and look forward to checking in on everyone later this week!

ROW80 Sunday Check-In

So today is going to be a somewhat short post on my progress so far as I am absolutely swamped with class work, grading essays and house work that has to get done today.  This week I know is going to be insane given my schedule so I am trying to stay ahead of everything.

On my WIP for NaNo I am at 14,589 words, which is above where I should be.  I am loving the sprints during the afternoon with fellow ROW80-ers.  Unfortunately this week I probably won't be around to participate in them until Thursday.   The stats counter on the NaNo site says I need to write just over 1300 words a day to get to my goal by the end of the month, which I think I can do.  I am really liking where this WIP is going and the rough outline I had prepared before NaNo started is really helpful in keeping me on track and organized.

My commenting goal has been surpassed for the week and then some, though this week I expect to be around a lot less given my work load.  However, working out has been sporadic and life keeps interrupting whenever I try to make this goal. It was 4 out of 7 days last week.  This week I really want to try and hit the 5 day goal I set for myself.

I finished the first in Karen Moning's Dark Fever series yesterday and already bought the second one on my Nook. That was a really good book, and in parts I was totally laughing out loud, so I am anxious to read the second one. But today I have to read "As I Lay Dying" by Faulkner for an essay.  Blah....But on the plus side, my goal of reading one book a month is done.  I may have to think of upping this in the future but for now, one is good.

On an unrelated note, and after reading many a blog this past about social media and the blahs about blogging, tweeting etc that can creep in (if you haven't already, check out these fantastic posts by Susan Bischoff, Jami Gold, Roni Loren and Kait Nolan, among others), I have decided to go back to having my blog be an all purpose place for me to talk, converse, rant, vent, and share what I find interesting, or funny or noteworthy etc.  I have gotten away from just blogging for fun, which is one of the reasons why I started. So when I can, my posts will be about whatever I want to write about at the time, whether its a movie, music, a TV show, an issue that has me all riled up, or something in a WIP that has be stuck (or given me an epiphany!).  Hopefully people will want to read it or comment, but that is okay if no one does.  My focus now is going to be on the act of writing and putting myself out there.  After all, all writing, in the end, is at the very least practice towards my ultimate goal of becoming a better writer. So no more worrying about stats or things like that at this point.   I just want to cheer my fellow writers on, have fun, and focus on my WIP(s)!

I hope everyone had a great week and has kicked butt with their goals!  Good luck this week and see you at the next check-in, or on twitter!!

ROW80 Check In for Wed. Nov. 2

Welcome to November!  I really wonder where October went, because I don't remember much of it really.  It was here one day, and then gone the next it seems. But, I can't focus too much on that--I've got too much to do this month.  So for the mid-week update, here goes:

I've been able to keep up with writing 1 hour per day on my WIP.  I did this through a combination of the notes and scenes I've been jotting down in my notebook (and all my attempts at sketches and maps!), and the writing I started yesterday. First day of NaNo word count--3029.  Hopefully I can average about 2000-2500 daily throughout the challenge so I can have a day off on the weekend.  Oh and bonus--my outline for the NaNo WIP, which was a ROW80 goal, is done! One less goal this round; Woot!

As for my other goals, it's a mix as far as where I stand at mid-week.  I've blogged once a week per my goal, and also have been having a great time checking out other ROW80 and NaNo blogs and commenting.  Y'all are some awesomely talented and interesting people.  On the downside though and for completely unrelated reasons, I have only worked out twice this week.  Between fighting a cold, work and homework, I just haven't had the energy to fit this in.  Hopefully I can get back on track tomorrow and workout the next three days.

I've set out to read a new book as well, Kait Nolan's Red (Check out her blog here).  I love it and it has been hard to put down.  I stayed up later than usual to read a little more before I went to sleep last night,  hence why I am a little bleary eyed at the moment, but nothing a little cinnamon tea can't fix!  (And besides, reading the book is well worth the bleary eyes!)

Oh, and one more mini-goal has been crossed off my list--I now am on twitter!  Look for KatMorrisey on there if you'd like.  Though, be warned, I am pretty new at the twitter thing and am a little bit overwhelmed.  And I also feel awkward intruding on other people's conversations, so yeah, expect me to be a little bit timid for awhile, or just providing random tweets about things I see or that happen, find amusing articles or funnies, recipes I like, or things like that.    Be warned though--I sometimes have a dark, sarcastic and/or quite snarky sense of humor (check out Lord_Voldemort7 for an example of what makes me grin sometimes.  I adore him for his snarkiness!  His tweets almost always make me giggle...The Onion too is another fave of mine, among others)  My friends say it is just quirkiness, and due to my love of satire. I don't know where it came from--all I know is that it is part of who I am. (Hence the warning, so people know where I am coming from if I re-tweet something from one of those sites or another)

Anyways, that's all from me.  Hope everyone's week is going well and see you on twitter, at the Friday Fun Not Fear check-in and/or Sunday!!

Sunday ROW80 Update

NaNo starts in two days! I can't believe it is almost here.  Today is just a quick update as I have a lot of homework to get done this afternoon.  I want to get it all done by tomorrow so when Tuesday comes I can just focus on NaNo.  So, here goes:

• Writing 1 hour a day on my WIP(s); Outline for NaNo by Oct. 31—Over the week as a whole,I put 4 hours in, not 7.  And most of that was the end of the week.  Wednesday I had decided to work on notes and the outline for my NaNo book.  Well that kind of happened but not how I expected it to.  On Friday morning I was standing in my kitchen, drinking a chai and staring out the window, when I had an idea hit me.  And it hit me hard.  Suddenly, I had this character in my head, and then that character turned into an amazing idea for a setting, and well, since Friday I have been scribbling notes and ideas down in my notebook, and on my computer.  I had planned on doing NaNo on a totally different story idea but this one hit me out of the blue, and I just have to write it. I'm itching to start right now, that's how excited I am.  But I've held back, instead sticking to just jotting notes and scene information down. I even drew a map!  A MAP!  Now, this is pretty significant, because I have absolutely NO artistic talent but I needed to visualize the town and surrounding area where this is going to be taking place. It's definitely not something I would hang on the fridge, but it is good enough for my purposes. I can't wait til Tuesday when I can officially start! 
• Comment/respond to three blogs per week—done, done and done!  I actually exceeded the minimum.  I am really glad I put this as one of my goals this round.  I am learning so much from all of you! And, more importantly, it keeps me engaged. Reading everyone's check in(s) and blog posts, motivates me to keep chugging along.  So thanks everyone--you are all such an inspiration! 
• Blog once a week, minimum, whether ROW80 update and/or otherwise—Met this goal too!  And, in fact, I even did a non-update blog post yesterday, link is here.  I wrote it based off an experience I had this week in a class I teach, and that evolved into an interesting facebook discussion about teaching students to write and communicate.  If you are at all interested in that, feel free to check it out.  Would love to see what fellow writers/readers think about it.  
• Read one book a month.  I read, for October, 4 books in total.  Of course, that includes the 2 books I read while I was on my vacation, and another one that was for a class I was taking. Hopefully I can get some reading in this next month but I am not going to push it given I will be writing like a mad woman for NaNo.  
• Moving 5 days a week—Only did 3 days, but 3 is better than none so I guess I can't beat myself up too bad!  On the plus side, I've been cooking since yesterday--soups and a casserole, so I should be good for all my lunches and dinners this upcoming week.  My week always ends up being so busy that I rarely have time to cook, and then I end up eating like crap.  This way, I can grab and go, and at least my choices will be the healthier ones I cooked, as opposed to fast food or pre-packaged foods that end up making me feel all blah.  

Happy Halloween!!  Good luck this upcoming week and see you Wednesday!

Maybe a Zombie Invasion Wouldn't Be So Bad...

They never read “The Tell Tale Heart”. They never read, or even heard read aloud, “The Raven”.  When I asked them who Edgar Allen Poe was, the response was “…some creepy dude.”  For a moment I couldn’t breathe.  All I could do was stare at them and just…blink.   I might have even felt a little faint (or that was my exhaustion taking over….no way to know for sure.) But whatever it was, I just could.not.believe.it. 

Now, don’t get me wrong, I don’t expect every student who walks into my English 101: Composition class to have read, or even KNOW all the classics. I get that elementary and high schools can’t teach it all.  But not one of the 23 students read or knew Poe?!  I read “The Tell Tale Heart” for the first time when I was 12.  I thought Poe was the biggest bad ass ever, and he is why I got into reading Stephen King, among others.  Maybe 12 wasn’t the right age to read him, but I was reading at a 10^th grade level at the time and they had to give me something other than the Babysitter’s Club and Nancy Drew. I was bleeding my parents dry with trips back and forth to the public library, and bringing me to the mall to go to Waldenbooks!  (God I miss that store; So many memories of me sitting on the floor going through a huge stack of books, deciding which 3 I could get…and then always getting to go to the Ground Round afterwards as a special treat.  *gets all nostalgic for a moment*)

But I digress.  I had them read “The Tell Tale Heart” for Monday’s class, and then had them listen to it here.  We talked about the story afterwards, and I introduced them to basic information about the author, the basic plot “triangle” (which I learned in 5^th grade but they didn’t know, and oddly I went to the same public school district that most of these kids did.  I don’t know what the hell happened since I graduated high school in 1996!), and how to do a plot summary, and defined key terms (with examples from the story) like theme, motif, symbol, etc.

I did think, for a moment, that perhaps they were just saying they had never heard of this.  That maybe they just didn’t want to participate.  But after 8 weeks or so of class, I know these students.  When they know about something, they participate.  Discussions of readings and participation in this particular class are not ever an issue.  So I take them at face value when they tell me they have never read his work and did not know Poe.