10 Spectacular Things

Coach Jennie put out a challenge to join her in writing about 10 Spectacular Things Happening Right Now.

Perfect timing she has, making me look on the sunny side when I'd like to settle in with the SAD for the next few months. So here we go:

1  .  I am done with cable/satellite TV. We are never ever ever getting back together. My Roku just arrived. Thank you Groupon! For the one-time cost of $60.00 and my daughter’s generosity in letting me share her Netflix account, I will never again pay the ridiculous price to flip on a TV and see that my choices are The Best Vacuum Ever! or Pro Golf. Or even worse, the news.

2.     One of my humor stories will appear in Not Your Mother’s Book on Working for a Living, out next month. I’ve been published before, but this will be the first time that I’ll have that thrill of opening a box found on the porch, to find it filled with copies of a book that my story is in.

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My website for my solo biz badassery will (finally) launch soon. It won't have little dots where numbers should be, and it will have spectacular stuff for both current clients and new subscribers.

4.     When I returned from Oregon my friend Emi had a gift for me – A book titled A Year by the Sea, by Joan Anderson. It’s essentially about going away by yourself in order to find yourself. I have an aversion to marking in books and folding pages, but this one will be a mess when I’m done. Also, it’s spectacular to have friends who know what you need when you need it.

5.     Speaking of knowing what you need, I signed up for NaNoWriMo, and I’ve changed my mind. Because I can. I’m over 20,000 words in on my first novel, but I do not have to finish the draft in November. I’m working on numerous, shorter writing projects that make me just as happy if not more so than knowing I'll have a shitty first draft of a first novel completed. It will get done, but not at the expense of my other plans or my sanity. 

  

6.     The view from my kitchen window. It always looks like an R. Atkinson Fox painting.

7.     I’m with Autumn on hating autumn, but I’m surviving it so far, by avoiding all things pumpkin spice and all people who scream about how much they love fall. Honestly, I tried. I fired up the fireplace. I went to the pumpkin patch. Bought some gourds and mums. Then it warmed up again and the gourds turned to squash and I had to turn the gas logs off and open windows and I was very happy. I don't understand this love of watching everything die and waiting for the damned spectacular snowstorms to arrive.

8.     Did I mention Oregon? I spent the month of September there. That is not a spectacular thing that’s happening right now, but it was spectacular. I’m planning the next visit now, and that counts, right? I'll also be heading to Seattle after Christmas, to visit my sister and her family and meet their new rescue dogs, Henry and Cleo. I hear that they're so big that one of their crates could serve as my guest room and I'd never know the difference. Stay tuned to see where I sleep and if I'm allowed to pee when I need to or have to wait until someone lets me out. 

9.     Bachelor Juan Pablo and Nikki broke up. Just checking to see if you’re still reading.

1.   Kansas City Royals. 

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S    So tell me, what's spectacular in your neck of the woods? Take the challenge and write a blog post about your 10 things, or just leave a comment. Go Royals!

My Last Post For The Ultimate Blog Challenge: A Poem About Writing

Today marks the end of my first experience with the Ultimate Blog Challenge. Writing something every day for a month and sharing it was difficult and I'm glad I did it. Some days/posts were better than others, and that's okay. Tomorrow starts NaNoWriMo, which means national novel writing month, and I think I'd never have the nerve to try that. NaBloPoMo also begins tomorrow, which is another month long blogging challenge. And then there is ManiWriMo, a challenge to write an ebook in the month of November, and I've signed on, although I think it's a sign that I've finally lost my mind.

In my last post I shared a poem by Don Coburn, and his poem inspired me to write this one.



Writers' Group

The new lady read her memoir and I thought
that was very brave to share something so personal
with this group of strangers who call themselves writers.

The guy who makes a living as a Christian writer
said nobody wants to hear another bad childhood story
unless you were really tortured or lived in the closet or something.

The romance writer said the story wasn't about
a bad childhood, it was about forgiveness and grace
and something about a stray black cat.

The English teacher said she really loves punctuation and
the quotation marks go after the comma and
by the way it should say their instead of they're.

The poet asked about symbolism and the cat
which reminded the retired pastor of something
that happened thirty years ago that he talked about

until the facilitator interrupted to ask if anybody else
brought something to share and papers slid back
into notebooks as heads shook no

except the loud lady who read her miracle story
and didn't realize it wasn't about a miracle at all
because the inflection of her voice could fool anyone.

The mystery writer said he would be out of town for
a while and the humor columnist wondered aloud why certain good
writers haven't been with our group for a very long time.


What about you? Are you brave enough to share, whatever the response might be?