Forty-four Pages

It's been 13 days since I made my 1,000 word a day goal and I'm startled, honestly, by how effective that goal is.  Today I was really tired when I sat down to work, and at first I worried that this was the day that I wouldn't make it.   Still, I did manage to think of a scene I need to write for the novel that is a follow-up to Rell, and once I got started it was a bit easier than I expected.  Overall, the goal has led to forty-four pages of writing in less than two weeks.  Which is pretty exciting, considering that when the month started I was staring down the biggest case of writer's block I'd had in recent memory.  

I think there are a couple reasons for why this works:

First, 1000 words is a significant number of words, enough to feel like an accomplishment and yet not so large that it's impossible.

Second, I've done my very best to treat it almost like it's work hours that I need to put in.  Not a hobby, or something that would be nice to get to, but something that I truly must do every day.

Now, here's hoping I can keep it up. 

The Interesting Consequences of Being A Decent Cook

Ok, so I'm not claiming to be a chef or anything, but I'm finally to a place in my life where I can admit I'm a pretty good cook.  I can experiment and things come out well and I've gotten to the point that 80 percent of the time (unless I'm baking) I don't even use recipes anymore. 

However, there are some interesting consequences to being a decent cook.  For example, a couple of weeks ago some decent brand frozen dinners were on sale at the grocery store and so I bought a couple thinking they'd be good for lunches when I'm home.  Well, I had one today, and it wasn't awful by any means, but it wasn't really good either, and I unfortunately could picture what it would taste like if I'd made that dish myself.  Now granted it's a more complicated dish than I would make for lunch - ever - but still I couldn't help but make the comparison.  So, probably won't be buying those again.  

It also changes what I order at restaurants.  I never order pork chops, because Tracy's grilled ones are so amazing why would I bother, and I'm ordering steak less and less for the same reason.  (He made AMAZING steaks for Valentines Day.  I'm very lucky.) I do like ordering salads, because while I could make them, it's a lot of work to not only chop all that stuff, but also to buy it and keep it fresh enough that it's there when you actually want one.

I suppose it's good that I'm more inclined to eat stuff I've made myself, but I also think back to being a single girl and eating lots of frozen easy stuff, because, honestly it wasn't really that much worse than what I generally cooked.  Not as tasty, but occasionally easier :-)

1000 Word Goal Update

So first four days of the 1,000 word goal were amazing.  I worked on the two projects I was ideally supposed to work on and managed to write 18 pages.  Today though, it was pretty painful, I spent a lot of time staring at the computer and being extraordinarily frustrated and the last 300 words were mostly a bit of goofing off - an image I had in my head about two very brilliant but very different people meeting across a library study table.  Basically a random scene I have no current use for.  Still, I managed it.  There's hope for me yet.

Change Can Definitely Be Good

So our New Beginnings for our church's Young Women Program is tonight and since I'm Young Women's President in our ward I've been preparing some things to say about Personal Progress (this is the goal setting/recognition program for the young women).  One of the things I'm going to talk a little about is the history of Young Women Recognition Programs in The Church.  The first program was a Beehive Handbook from 1915

Requirements of 1915 handbook included: 

-  Care successfully for a hive of bees for one season and know their habits. 

- Cover 25 miles on snowshoes on any six days. 

- During two weeks, keep the house free from flies, or destroy at least 25 flies daily.

- Without help or advice, care for and harness a team at least five times [and] drive 50 miles during one season. 

-  Clear sagebrush off of one-half acre of land.

As leaders of the Young Women we are encouraged to participate in this program with our girls.   Can I just say how grateful I am that the new program contains a lot more scripture reading and a lot less fly killing and agricultural knowledge?  Because I'm pretty sure I'd flunk that in a hurry. 

New Writing Goal

Here's the thing...I have time right now to be writing.  I have dozens of ideas and projects that need my creative writing energy and yet I've had a hard time getting myself to do it.  So new goal - 1,000 words a day, 6 days a week.  I just need to sit in my chair and turn on my computer and type, even if it's crap.    Wish me luck.

The Geek Girl Bucket List

So recently on Pinterest I saw someone's geek bucket list,  a list of amazing - very fictional - things one would like to do if it were possible.  And because I had a cranky morning, I decided I needed something silly and fun to do for a minute, so here's my own version.  

One thing that struck me about the list on Pinterest though was how many of the things sounded cool in theory, but when you really thought about it would be kind of horrible.  Seriously, super powers sound awesome, but I don't know that I want all that responsibility.   So I tried to make my list things that really did sound fun to me.  (And even with that, numbers 4, 6, and 7 I would only want to do on a day when I was feeling particularly resilient.) 


Jenel's Geek Girl Bucket List
1. Temporarily replace Jimmy Olsen as photographer of the The Daily Planet (Superman)
2. Join a book club with Lorelai and Rory Gilmore (Gilmore Girls)
3. Work a case with Castle and Beckett (Castle)
4. Work a case with Sherlock and John (Sherlock)
5. Become the official historian of Starfleet (Star Trek)
6. Co-pilot the Millennium Falcon (Star Wars)
7. Co-pilot Serenity (Firefly)
8. Convince The Doctor, preferably Ten, to take me back in time to meet Abraham Lincoln (Doctor Who)
9. Become Minerva McGonagall's teaching assistant (Harry Potter)
10. Take an archaeology class from Dr. Indiana Jones
11. Visit Rivendell (Lord of the Rings)
12. Visit Narnia (The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe)
13. Have Belle take me on a tour of the Beast's castle, before the spell is broken  (Beauty and the Beast)
14. Rhyme with Inigo and Fezzik (The Princess Bride)
15. Be in a position to end a conversation with, "Mulder, I think you're crazy." (X-Files)

I know - silly - but my brain needed a break and I needed to blog, so actually I'm multi-tasking :-) 

Ringtones and other Random Bits

So one of the cool features of cellphones is supposed to be customizing them, right?  I changed my ringtone today (a peppy bit of music from BBC's Sherlock) and realized I hadn't changed it since we bought the phone about a year ago.  Maybe it's a sign that I'm getting old.  I have at least changed my background wallpaper twice.  Yeah, it's a fall photo, so not exactly current either.  I suppose I could take this as a sign of the fact that I just have better things to do with my time.  Yeah...that's a nice theory :-)

I actually realized I have a second thing to say about ringtones (who knew it was such a fascinating subject).  I love having ringtones and other pop culture related paraphernalia that are just a little bit geeky, but that, unless you know what they are from don't seem obviously so.  There's something nice, in my late thirties, about celebrating my geekiness in a slightly lower key way.