NaNoWriMo

November is National Novel Writing Month.

I participated last year. It was difficult to push yourself so hard, but it was good. Why was it good? Because you HAD to push yourself to write 50,000 words in one month.

I like to write. I want to write more. Somehow this blog and my other writing has taken the place of the journal I used to keep, and that's okay. But my more creative side has been put on the wayside for a number of years. That's par for the course when you work full-time, have a child, have a husband, etc. There are tradeoffs in life, and in the end I'm very grateful because I still get the opportunity to pursue much of what I want to pursue. Things would be different if I had a less supportive husband or I had 8 kids.

In the past, when I have attempted to write fiction, I get to a decent 30-50 pages, and I lose momentum so I put it down. For months, for years it just sits. Anyway, when I get enough momentum again, I have to read all the pages I wrote and try to get into that mindset. It's easy to lose that mindset and very difficult to get back into it.

That's why I like NaNoWriMo. You don't put down your writing long enough to forget. You may forget the specific scene you're in the middle of writing, but you don't forget the overall mission you're on.

There are so many entries I want to do here in the next few weeks (since I've been feeling like I've let this blog slide a bit), but at the same time I'm excited for NaNoWriMo. I have been trying to come up with ideas for NaNoWriMo, but most of my ideas centered around one theme & I suppose I felt boxed into a corner because I couldn't fully develop it. Last night, though, I had an unrelated thought path in my brain, and I realized that it could be a very good NaNoWriMo path. It will push me, though, in ways I don't want to be pushed but probably be well-served in being pushed.

Save me from this week

My life through next Sunday is, in short, going to suck.

Monday: work, pick up 40 lbs of chicken (long story), meeting right after work until 8:30pm, try to figure out how to keep chicken cold until I get home
Tuesday: work, errands, tae kwon do
Wednesday: work, soccer, book club
Thursday: work, tae kwon do
Friday: work, "celebration" dinner (semi-formal, finally found a dress to wear)
Saturday: soccer game, errands, soccer party, costume party at J's school (we can't call it a Halloween party although there are costumes, candy & trick or treating...I don't understand evangelicals)
Sunday: birthday party, going out to movie

I can feel that I'm getting sick: achy, tired and feeling really cold. 

Dress Angst

My husband's new job is celebrating an awesome 3rd quarter by putting on a cocktail party.

Personally if I worked for a for-profit, I'd want a cash bonus. But instead they do rah rah things like cocktail parties with valet service after a good quarter. (See, I can complain about ANYthing.)

Why it makes me cranky:
1. It's on a Friday night. Friday nights are my night to change into fleece when I get home, read US Weekly & watch a movie.

2. I have to get out of my fleece and put on a stupid cocktail dress.



I know his company is rah rah (kind of like a high school pep assembly that's aged 20 years), and I know it's kind of expected that he (and I) show up. So we will.

Enter Dressamaggedon 2012. What do I WEAR to a cocktail party??? My willingness to spend money on a dress is pretty much nil. My willingness to go through trying on dresses is nil. Therefore, I commenced closet destruction in search of a dress, any dress, to wear to this thing.

Contender A: The dress I wore last year to the wedding. It's a bit...warm weather, but it's a really pretty blue.

Contender B: Basic black dress, sleeveless. It's a little big. Safety pins will be required.

Contender C: Ohmygod, my Homecoming dress from when I was 16 fits!!!! See, I told you I don't weigh that much more than I did in high school. Potential objections: 1) Are you allowed to wear a dress that you wore to an event with a different guy? 2) The dress is kind of funky. Timeless - it is NOT. I wore it in 1994, and multicolored dresses were fashionable. What WAS I thinking???

I did go to a store and look for a dress. I hate trying dresses on because either my boobs fit but the rest of the dress is a sack, or the bottom fits and my boobs are exploding. It's really discouraging. Unsurprisingly, I didn't find anything during my search.

I'm thinking Contender B. Basic, fade into the wall black with a black scarf. Simple, and I won't end up in the "she wore WHAT?!" highlight reel the next week.

So Long Mean Girl

I've stated before that my 4-year old girl has selected a little Mean Girl as her main friend. Mean Girl will play with her one day, then tell my daughter "You're not my friend" the next day, which my daughter then repeats in various mean ways to other kids and my husband and me.

I figured out where Mean Girl gets it very early on. Her mother is very hot and cold. I've noticed this when I see her places around town. One day she'll chat with me for 15 minutes; the next time she'll ignore me. It's very much a mind game when you don't know where you stand with someone.

Mean Girl's mom has decided to put her little cherub in a private school with a pre-K program.

My daughter is devastated.

I am super joyous.

Mean Girl has been gone for over a month. There are almost daily iterations of, "I miss Mean Girl. When am I going to see Mean Girl?"

I think, ummmm never if we're lucky. I say, I can ask her mom if we can meet at the park.

And I actually did this; I'm not one of those mothers who tells my kid empty promises. Mean Girl's mother responded "sure" the first time. I asked for a specific date and then suggested a few dates, and she never responded. It's not like I expected her to, but I at least had to try for the sake of my begging daughter.

I'm not going to pester Mean Girl's mother. Obviously, Mean Girl has forgotten about Little J, or her mother wants to put the kibosh on it for some reason (probably because we're such riff raff that will be going to public school).

Regardless of the reason, Mean Girl continues to be out of our lives. And guess what? The "you're not my friend" crap has ceased. The mind games (a crushed little girl whose friend wouldn't play with her that day) have ceased.

Little J still talks about Mean Girl. Hopefully, it will fade over time. I'm not sure why J doesn't have those connections with the other kids at school. She talks about the other kids, she plays with the other kids, but she's not that passionate about any of the other kids as more than a temporary playmate for a few minutes.

I'm worried that she'll latch on to another Mean Girl the moment the opportunity arises. But it's not my life; it's hers.

Facebook Statuses I Really Want To Write

I totally want to play Calvin Broadus, Jr., in Celebrity Words with Friends.

If I get invited to another MLM "party," I may become homicidal.

Isn't it enough that you take dozens of pictures of yourself in the bathroom mirror every day and post them? Must you rotate your profile picture amongst the gazillion pictures EVERY DAMN HOUR????!!!!!

I love Scott Weiland's gravelly voice.

Thank you to ex-boyfriend in college who was obsessed with Radiohead and Nine Inch Nails. You've helped my 90s Alternative SongPop score tremendously.

63 SongPop challenges against my husband in the last week = need a life

I've been sucked into the Pretty Little Liars book series. And watching Downton Abbey. There's not enough hours in the day if you consider that I have to work and sleep! Oh yeah, and take care of my child and talk to my husband.

Soccer countdown: 4 more games, 3 more practices.