Writing « Popping Bubbles

NaNo or No No

September 7th, 2010

Fall is in the air again. A faint chill rides on the morning breeze and I feel like making hot, steaming pots of soup and warm, cozy comfort food. I have a recipe for Coconut Cream Pie that I am anxious to try out and I've already started thinking about my annual Thanksgiving extravaganza.

It also means that November is quickly approaching and with it National Novel Writing Month or, more affectionately, NaNoWriMo. Those of us who join in every year shorten the name even more to NaNo. In February and March, I started thinking about NaNo and what I would write, but I seem to have nothing but cobwebs in my head instead of story lines and characters.

I am hemming and hawing trying to decide whether or not to participate this year. I have significantly more time on my hands, but can't think of any good story ideas. I have read the partial novels that I wrote for NaNo in 2008 and 2009 a dozen times, as well as all of the other bits and pieces of stories that pop into my head throughout the year, but nothing is striking my fancy.

I came thisclose to finishing the 50,000 word challenge in both 2008 and 2009 until work and school got in the way, but I don't have that excuse this year. I have plenty of time to devote to writing if I put my mind to it, but when I look at my blank screen…nothing.

There are 8 weeks until NaNo officially starts. For the next 2 weeks, I am going to write down every odd thought I have, every dream I remember and every idea that runs through my mind. Maybe if I mix them all together in some sort of crazy mash up style something will come out of it. If not, I'll save it for the memoir I'm planning to write for my 95th birthday. Either way, my black Moleskine notebook is going back into my purse starting today (which reminds me that I need to switch purses. The summer bag is too small.) I'll toss a couple of pens in with it and maybe by some twist of fate something magical will come back out.

Comments ( 9 )

NaNo, Writing

Waiting for Winter

September 2nd, 2010

It's 100 Words time again! This week, Velvet Verbosity hit us up with "fingers" and I'm ready to go. If you want to play along, you can either go directly to their site or to their new Facebook page!

Here's my entry for the week….

Waiting for Winter

She stared out the window with her chin in her hand, watching as the snowflakes floated down, down, down onto the ground, covering the last bits of dry, brown grass that Autumn had to offer.

“Fall faster,” she willed the flakes, wanting the ground covered with snow. Her coat, hat and gloves were waiting to be thrown on, her sled sat by the front door aching to be used. As she waited, the flakes turned into raindrops. One landed on her window and with a sigh, she used her finger to trace its path to the bottom of the glass.

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stories, winter, Writing

Onemorethingitis

July 13th, 2010

Right now I have 27 drafts of posts started. Some are a single paragraph and others are almost complete. They sit, patiently, and they wait. Why haven't I hit publish and shared them with the world? I'm suffering from Onemorethingitis. Blogging, actually writing in general, is something I consider a "me time" activity and during the summer I feel like it's in short supply. Not that I'm complaining, mind you. Rob, Aidan and I have been having loads of fun lolling around the house and the swimming pool. We've gone to movies, visited the Shark Reef and played with my cousins for a few days this summer.

Yet when I sit down in the evenings, instead of writing I think of a hundred other things I should or could be doing. I have three Christmas projects to knit, another to scrapbook and a funny little gift I may decide to whip up for my bestie to congratulate her and commemorate her move from a workplace hellhole to what I hope will be her own personal dream castle. I keep putting writing on the back burner and the longer I avoid it, the easier it gets. The harder it is to sit down at the keyboard and let the words flow from my fingertips.

Tonight I am wide awake for the first time in a long time, so here I sit and yet a fresh topic eludes me. Thoughts float on the edges of my consciousness like wispy little clouds. I can see them, but I can't make out shapes and they're translucent and easily blown away. I have gone through every one of my drafts in an attempt to finish at least one, but for now I just can't seem to connect all the dots. I feel like an artist who has picked up her paintbrush for the first time in years, but has no clue where to begin and so I paint circles…and flowers…and stick figures until they become a picture that makes sense.

I am unorganized and scattered. My writing is a jumbled mess of half formed stories. Plot lines and characters stumble over each other like so many people rushing on and off the subway at rush hour. They brush past each other, occasionally colliding hard enough to knock each other back into their own tales, but mostly run along not paying attention to anything around them, carrying my stories with them on winding, random paths that have no end. I have every intention of going back and finishing the thought I left dangling….as soon as I finish onemorething. By the time I'm done, another idea has popped into my head and I start jotting it down only to trail off and leave everything hanging so I can finish onemorething.

Everything is stuck in my head, needing to be put to paper (or screen) and I'm afraid things are going to start leaking out soon. How much room can possibly be in my noggin? Sometimes I wonder what would happen if I took all of my characters and ideas, threw them all in a blender and mashed them all up. What would come out? Something anyone would read? Probably not. So they stay separate, contained in different documents locked inside my laptop. The many drafts? I'll finish them…as soon as I'm over my Onemorethingitis.

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blogging, Stuff, Writing

A Perfect Figure

June 23rd, 2010

It's 100 Word Challenge time again courtesy of Velvet Verbosity. This weeks word is "bustier." Not bustier, as in Anna Nicole Smith was bustier than Kate Hudson. Oh no, "bustier" as in the French pronunciation. That bit of fabric designed to give every woman an enviable figure. Here's my entry..

A Perfect Figure

Her fingers trailed along the racks of silk and barely there chiffon, ribbons and lace. Sighing, she glanced at the life size posters on the wall. Models with tiny waists and gigantic breasts. They would look fantastic in one of the tiny teddys or babydoll frocks before her.

Glancing in the mirror, she sucked in her stomach and threw out her chest. She needed something with a little more structure. Groaning, she turned away from the ruffles and thrills and saw it, a white bustier with delicate satin ribbon detailing. It was her own hourglass figure made to order!

Go check out the other entries or you could try writing your own!

Comments ( 9 )

muse, sexified, Writing

Wanted: One Muse

May 12th, 2010

I have put up posters, looked all over the neighborhood and called all my neighbors. I've even checked the lost and found boxes at the library, the schools in town and the community center to no avail. My muse is missing.

I'm resorting to the want ads.

Wanted: One muse filled with ideas for fun and whimsical writing. Applicants should be witty and smart, funny and able to twist thoughts into stories at the drop of a hat. Offering to clean my blinds is a plus.

Maybe it's because I'm busy or maybe my brain has just run dry, but lately I open up my blog, dust off the cobwebs and place my fingers on the keyboard. What follows is…….nothing. That's not exactly true. There are lots of little bits of stuff. A sentence here a sentence there, but nothing of substance. That's why I'm holding an open casting call for a new muse. I'm hoping something fun will strike soon, shocking me like lightning and lighting this little page up with sparkles of brilliance. I hope I find one soon!