Day... what is it, 6 now?

So my novel writing is not going well. It is not nearly as long as it should be by now, and I'm finding I lack motivation to do this. I am finding that my story is more of a short story than a novel. I think of ways to add to it, but I lack the desire to write about those added situations. This is all much more difficult than I thought! ...not that I thought it would be a breeze...

I start to write, but I get sick of it, get itchy all over, or can't figure out how to move the story along. I wrote a paragraph like eight times tonight and deleted it just as many times. My target should be 1,667 words per day, but I'm nowhere near that. I didn't write at all the last two days, and it is looking like I won't do much tonight, either. If I look at the word count I need to make up, it's a bit daunting. If I spread it out over the whole month, it just means I have to write 1,888 words per day instead, which is less daunting, but if I can't get 1,667 words out, how do I add 220-ish words each day from here on out??

I keep thinking maybe I should scratch this story and try something different. Something where I don't have any idea of what will happen, so I can sort of make it up more as I go along. It will mean all this writing I have done so far is wasted, but maybe it's worth it??? Thinking about it is making me itchier...

***update at 12:06 a.m. I restarted. Or rather, started something new. And I wrote over 1,900 words tonight! I might stick with this new novel. But I'm even more afraid to tell you what it's about than the last story I was working on, so... we'll see how it goes and how I feel about it in the morning.

Day 2

My second day of novel writing did not go great. I wrote more than the first day, but I'm still not at the word count I should be. I do have the excuse of stomach flu the day before yesterday and recovering still yesterday, but I need to get moving on this. I've got 1,932 words. I should be at 3,334. That means I have to catch up 1,402 words, including the additional 1,667 new words I need today. Maybe I should get one of those meter thingers to put on my side bar...

My problem right now seems to be that I don't really want to do the character building that is necessary. I want the reader (if there ever will be a reader) to already understand the characters. I'm not sure how to give them experiences that explain their thoughts and actions, so you get to know them as they exist in my head. There's a really big event going to happen at the end of Kathy's work day, but I really need to get through her work day first, giving situations that let you know what makes her tick. And I just want to skip to the event...

If any of you want to help, can you give me a description about what it's like to work in retail? Maybe working in a clothing department of a store, or something like that? That might help, actually. And I'll name a side character after you if you help. :) Hmm... maybe I'll just come to the interwebs when I need help with what to do next. So if you can, PLEASE HELP!

I think I'm doing it...

Writing that book, I mean...

My friend is also doing NaNoWriMo, and she did a post about how day one went. In order to get 50,000 words by the end of the month, you need to write 1,667 words per day. My end-of-day word count was 721. I need about a thousand more words, which means I need to make that up today. Considering everyone in my house had the stomach flu yesterday, I think I get a pass on that, but that doesn't mean I get to be the only one that writes 49,000 words in this little competition/activity. I'm having trouble getting through the first day and figuring out who these characters are and how they interact. Once I get that down, I think writing about them will be a little easier.

To tell you about my book, I don't think it's going to be a happy book. It might be a little depressing. And I'm not sure if I'm going to share it with anyone. I get very self-conscious about fiction writing. I am just fine showing what I've done for work or school, but anything I write for fun, I suddenly don't want you to not like it, because that will mean you don't like me.Or I'll take it personally, and it will create some wedge between us. Or you will like it, and will somehow know secrets about me I didn't intend to tell. But I think by the end of the month, I'll get over that. I'll let you know how things go, and if anyone really wants to read it, I'll let you. I think.

So my story. There are two main characters. Kathy and Jonathan/Jon. I keep wanting to change Jon's name, but because there has been so much advice to NOT edit and just write, he's going to be Jon at least through the end of November. So far, I have almost written John, Steve, Mark, and one other name that inspired this blog post, but now I can't remember it. They're a couple living together in Chicago who have been together for a while and it's comfortable. They might get married. But it's still a depressing story, trust me.

Is anyone else out there writing for NaNoWriMo, or doing any other writing at all? Care to share?

What if you wrote a book...

Let's say you heard about this thing where you try to write a novel in a month. Not so much based on quality, but on quantity--you just need to get the words on paper/file. You have to write 50,000 words (about 175 pages) in a month. That's about 1,667 words a day, every day, for all of November.

What would you write about?

Do you already have some story in mind, and you've never taken the time to write it? Is there something completely new, or some idea you've never expanded upon to use for this challenge? Seriously, what kind of book would you write, and what would you write about?

...and let's say I decided to do this thing. What do you think I should write about? Would you want to read all 50,000 of my words? For context, my last post was about 580 words. I'd have to write just over double that each day...

Construction

Remember how mad Mikey got at construction? Well, I'm as irate at he was tonight.

So on our way to return a couple items to the store, we were faced with even more construction on 7800 South. I was expecting this. I was even glad to see some actual progress, rather than just one strip of road ripped up and undrivable, they've ripped up half the street. It's got to start somewhere. I was prepared to wait 3 or 4 light changes to make it across the intersection; what I wasn't prepared for was the idiot moving cones.

First, let me say I have some respect for construction workers. It's hard work (while, yes, there does seem to be a lot of standing around...), and it something I wouldn't do, but I'm glad there is someone to actually do it. But this guy doesn't deserve much respect. Let me setup this story.

We were in line to turn left on New Bingham Highway, right at 4000 South in front of Target. It was about 5:00 p.m., so traffic was pretty heavy, and the line to turn left had piled up beyond the given left turn lane. This is not an unusual occurrence. Add construction to the heavy traffic and you can imagine how slow things go and how tight space is. We move 3 or 4 cars at each green light, slowly but steadily moving forward, but being completely stationary most the time. During one of those not-moving-at-all-on-a-highway moments, a less than intelligent construction worker places one of those heavy cones right in front of my car, gives no instruction--doesn't even look me in the eye--and turns around to walk back away from me toward the traffic light. I was shocked. What did he want me to do? I waved at him to try to get some instruction, but instead, he plopped the next cone in front of the car in front of me. That car made the sharp turn into the traffic lane to our right, and tried to continue moving on. I was flabbergasted. And stuck.

The construction worker just kept walking away. The traffic wasn't getting any lighter, and there were cars behind me. So I did what any sensible person would do. I put my car in park, got out, and moved the cone out of my way. The construction worker finally noticed my existence, and ever so eloquently yelled at me, "PUT IT BACK!!" Seriously? What the heck do you want me to do? Stay there all day? Do you not realize you placed a cone six inches from my bumper and gave me no other instruction on what to do about that situation? So I, with equal eloquence, yelled back to him, "YOU PUT THIS RIGHT IN FRONT OF MY CAR! WHAT ELSE DO YOU WANT ME TO DO, YOU IDIOT?!!?!" His response was again, "PUT IT BACK!!" To which I responded by getting in my car, closing my door, and driving away.

I can tolerate construction (somewhat). But this was ridiculous. I'm glad you can lift a shovel, but maybe blocking cars into  your construction zone in rush hour traffic may not help your cause, nor will it do much for the reputation of your fellow construction workers. All it would have taken to get the result you wanted was a meager point to the left (you didn't even need to make eye contact), and 6 to 12 more inches of space. Jackass.

Primary

Here's the truth: I'm not loving teaching primary. I don't like that both Hayley and I are teachers, but we're not in the same class. we're not even in the same primary group--she's in senior primary, I'm in junior. I don't like that I came in in the middle of the year, so I didn't get to be the one who lays down ground rules. I don't like that my teacher companion guy is old enough to be my dad, we don't relate to one another, he's gone all the time, is sometimes mean to the loud kid in our class, but doesn't discipline at all. I'm annoyed with the one kid that won't shut up the whole time and the girl that can't seem to keep her dress down. I'm sick of rushing through lessons that no one listens to, just to get to the coloring so they'll focus on that one thing.

I whined about all this to Hayley today, and she gave me some great advice on how to teach kids. She was sympathetic to my complaints, and understood that I want to talk to the primary presidency and have us be put together, but I think we'll hold off on it. It may not be easier to try to teach class with Mikey (we both just take him to sharing time since we're there at different hours), and if this is how we were called, maybe I need to figure out what I need to learn from this calling, and what I need to teach these kids. She pointed out that a coloring page may be age appropriate for them, but there are ways to get them to pay attention. It was a very helpful conversation, and while I still wasn't super excited about church today, I felt armed with some new tools to teach.

In class today, I did some massive positive reinforcement and it was awesome. They payed attention, they were reverent, and while I still somewhat rushed through the lesson, we got through the whole thing, and only spent ten minutes on the coloring (as apposed to the 20-30 minutes that sometimes happens). Sure, the one super talker kid wasn't there, but if the rest of them are that good next week, he'll start falling into line. I'm hopeful and actually enjoyed church today.

And I wanted to share this with you. While looking online for a coloring page, I found this gem. As you can obviously see, Jesus is the mysterious hooded one, God is the shirtless, bald guy with great abs, and the Holy Ghost is the fiery one like God, but with blank, hollow eyes. Just as I imagine the Trinity to look. Surrounded by stars and planets, like superheros. ...but to avoid parents getting all up in my grill about false doctrine and whatnot, I decided to go with something else. Hope you got a kick out of it like I did.

So here's hoping things continue to go well!

Tales from first class

I've been on a few business trips lately that were given very short notice. This usually means the flights are sold out and expensive, and all that is left is a first class seat. In addition to my first time ever in first class, I wanted to share some experiences I've had. To keep it somewhat shorter than to what I may be prone, I'll give them to you in bullets. The bullets will be followed by narrative, so if you get bored, you can skim.

• First class will change you. The first time I flew first class, I felt bad. Like I was trying to be someone I'm not, that I was slighting my fellow middle-class Americans. When they gave me a meal, I still ate it, but could NOT look at the people in coach sitting behind me. I noticeably avoided looking behind me (which is odd, because I never look behind me on a plane anyway, but this was so deliberate). I was the last seat in first class. The second time, I noticed that there were 4 other iPads up in first class. I have one, so I felt like one of the elite. I enjoyed the beverage service before the flight began. I left perfectly good pieces of melon on the lunch plate because I could. I also pitied the poor saps that had to board after me, and thought about how sad it must be to have no leg room back in coach. The saddest part is that now that my last-minute flights are done, I'll probably never ride in first class again, and I'll again be put next to a large (not chubby, but large) 6'4" dude, and try to keep my arms folded in an attempt to not touch him at all during a three hour flight (yes, that did happen).
• Everyone has a twin. In a single night, in a single restaurant, I saw the twins of a girl I worked with at my first out-of-college job (and almost waved to her and went to ask her what she was doing in Austin), a girl I knew from my freshman year of college, and a guy I knew in high school. I'm not exaggerating. Just so you know I'm not lying, the names of the real people are RB, Hayley (yep, she spells her name like Hayley), and Ryan. The doppelgangers could have stood next to the real people (the people I actually know are the real ones. Obviously.), and passed as twins.
• It is weird to eat at the bar alone and not order alcohol. But what else do you do? You can take up a whole table for a server, and get your one meal. They have to do all the same amount of work, but for half the tip, because it's just a party of one. The bar, on the other hand, is full service like a table, but it's the freakin' bar. And you're the weirdo that says, "Now that you've explained the great, happy hour deals on shots, beers on tap, and colorful mixed drinks, I'm going to go a head and order a water." When eating alone, I often get a soda solely because I feel I owe it to the server to get something that costs money so their tip will be bigger.
• Austin, TX has lots of christian rock stations, Latin stations, and country stations. I surfed through the radio stations and found a TON of christian rock. Or christian talk, with rock mixed in. I'm not going to lie, I sat and listened a while. If I lived there, I may or may not want at least one on a preset. Just for kicks. On a related note, there are also tons of country music stations and Hispanic music stations. And only two alternative rock stations, and one of those has poor reception. The one that I've taken a liking to has a British lady on the morning show, and likes to play a LOT of Hoobastank. I heard no less than three Hoobastank songs on the way back to the hotel one night.
• Everyone obeys the speed limit in Austin. Seriously, there are very few that speed. In SLC, people go 75 mph on the freeway and don't bat an eye, and if you're not going at least 5 over, EVERYONE is passing you. In Austin, there are sections where the limit is 55, and everyone complies. I like it. It may be because they have a zillion cops on the roads. All the roads. At all times.

Maybe we're ALL a bit narcissistic

So I was listening to the radio today, and the song "Good Life" by Onerepublic came on. I like the song, and it has even made it onto a CD of favorites that is currently in the car. So I continue listening, singing along because I'm alone in the car and can shout at the top of my lungs, and it gets to this part:

To my friends in New York, I say hello
My friends in L.A., they don't know
Where I've been for the past few years or so....

and so on. Well, to my surprise, some of the lyrics were changed. Instead, it goes like this:

To my friends in New York, I say hello
My friends in UTAH, they don't know
Where I've been for the past few years or so...

and so on. I don't know if you noticed the subtle difference.

It's like, all us folks listening in Utah are supposed to look at each other with super excited grins, saying "Hey, hheeeeeeyyyyy, HEY! Yeah, yeah yeah!! YEAH!" to each other while nodding our heads like this is the greatest thing that ever happened.

Look, I know Utah is not really going to be so inspiring to the likes of Onerepublic that it will get a melodic shout out. Maybe by the Beach Boys, sure. But not Onerepublic. There are LOTS of places that don't get shoutouts. New York, Los Angeles, Paris, etc., sure, they get mentioned. Those of us in other towns don't really take offense to not being mentioned by mainstream musicians. But are we gullible enough and narcissistic enough to really be excited when bands change the lyrics to songs to make us feel like they really love us?

Welcome to the hotel, Arizona!
Just a city boy, born and raised in South Houston
I left my heart in Springfield

Come on. Those aren't the lyrics and we know it, and I find the changes annoying. Just leave it as is. Onerepublic (or maybe the DJs that changed the lyrics), I know you don't have any friends in Utah. But we'll listen to your music. It's still good without mention of salty lakes, snow, or canyon lands. You don't have to fake it.

A bit narcissistic?

I don't know how it happened, but somehow I "followed" my own blog. It's the only blog listed on my profile as a blog I follow, even though there are over 100 blogs in my google reader--and this somehow made a "blogs I'm following" folder in my reader, too. I don't want my own blog listed as a followed blog on my profile! Nor do I want this extra folder in reader. Anyone know how to remove it?

So mad!!

Mikey gets so mad sometimes! Not really, it's like he's playing at yelling. Because we'll both laugh, and he keeps doing it. Hayley posted some pictures of how mad he gets. I recorded this video and started asking his opinion on a few things. Seems like between the GOP depates [sic], the state of the economy, and potholes, the thing that gets Mikey most riled up is potholes. Take a look. (And please excuse the camera work. I was holding the camera away from him, so he'd still look at me or Hayley, and it went a little off to the side at times.)