A Little Bragging

I haven’t done a very good job on the one post a day on my blog.  I will start doing better as I now have reliable internet and don’t have to worry about being cut off.  The internet is not the only reason I have neglected my blog. I have done some actual writing.

I am so proud of myself. I have finished the story evolution of my new book idea.  In other words I have made a very basic outline that has a beginning, middle and end.  Now I am going to do a more detailed scene by scene outline to write my novel from. But I have at last gotten to the end of a story. Something I haven’t done in a long time.

I didn’t do this on my own. I have read a terrific writing book called “First Draft in 30 Days” by Karen S. Wiesner. It is an awesome book and I have gotten more done on this story than any I have worked on in the last six months.  She also has a really cool website. www.karenwiesner.com 

My goal has been to finish a book, and now I know that I can do it. Because I know how its going to end. I haven’t been this excited in a long time.  So I have finished writing for today, and now I am going to watch some old tv on hulu. Guess which show. Lou Grant, of course.

Blogs and History

Last night I was reading the The Civil War the book that went with the Ken Burns movie.  And in it they quote several diaries and letters. Things we don’t seem to have so much of anymore.  It got me to wondering.  Someday in the future will historians go through old blog post of ordinary people to see how they felt about life?  Are blogs the replacement for diaries? 

Maybe in a way, but I would not be as intimate in a blog as you could be in a diary where no one else sees it. After all a blog writer wants to be read. She wants people to notice her words. But a blog could also be used to express opinions about what’s going on in the world.  I know I have thought about doing that a couple times.  Future blog posts may be about how I feel about health care (I  am uninsured, and hate it.)

There is such a huge paper record for some times in the past.  A record that maybe we don’t have in this day and age. When you write a letter, someone might keep it forever. I have an old letter my grandmother wrote me, and I sometimes bring it out and read it. It’s like having her around again. I don’t keep every personal email I have ever gotten. I hardly read all my email the way it is. 

I wonder how historians in the future will figure out how ordinary people lived?

New Writing Goal

I don’t make New Year’s resolutions.  I never keep them. I am just extending a goal I made last summer.  I wanted to start writing every day, and maybe even finish a project.

I did start writing every day, through the months of August, September, October, and November. I feel off in December when I started working and I was so tired. And my legs hurt so badly.  I am now getting ready to try again on my writing.  I have started a new project, and I am still working on the one from last year. 

So to help me with that I have join WriYe. I have set a goal of 150,000 words. That is only 12,000 or so words a month. I can easily do that, I’m sure.  I just need to start writing and stop wasting time.  The sad thing is my post on my blog don’t count as my word goals, but that’s okay.  The blog is for warm up. 

Now on to character and world building.  Those worlds will count.

A Blog a Day.

Daily blogging is harder than I thought.  Here it is the 6th of January, and I have already missed two days.  But then I have also missed almost 3 days of work, as I have been sick.  I am writing this in a wonderful cold medicine haze.  I feel so out of it I can’t even watch my normal MSNBC programs, news just doesn’t interest me today.  Sorry Keith.

But being sick has given me time to check out a few things on the web. I found Wriye.  A forum to help me write all year,with the same intensity I had in November.  I really miss NoNaWriMo. So I joined up.  I am still shooting for 1000 words a day too. But haven’t made it yet.  Normally that is pretty easy, but my standing only job and this stupid sinus infection have kicked my tail.

Well, I have at least for the day written something in my blog.  Maybe I need to start planning each day’s blog in advance.  Maybe  a week at a time.  Who knows it might even get interesting.

Sick Day

Today’s post will be short and sweet. I am home from work for my second day. My head hurts, my ears hurt,and now I am getting a sore throat. Basicly cut off my head and I would feel fine. I have laid in bed so long my back started to hurt. So now I am sitting up on the computer, wishing I was feeling better. No matter what I have to go back to work tomorrow. I don’t have enough money to go to the doctor, and I haven’t worked at this job long enough to have insurance. If I miss one more day I have to get a doctor’s note. But I do feel better than I did yesterday. So maybe tomorrow won’t be so bad.

Sorry about the complaining, I usually don’t carry on this way. Hope everyone else is having a healthy, happy kind of day. Tomorrow my post will be happier. Really.

Best of what?

The theme for NaPloBoMo is Best.  So I have been brainstorming what that could mean. I’m not sure here is a list of a few ideas that I came up with

The Best day of the past year.

The Best book I have read, or would like to read. That blog would probably be way too long, as I love to read, and rarely met a book I wouldn’t start to read.

The Best actitives to avoid during family gathers. Or the best to do during the same.

The Best ways to get over a cold. I have been thinking alot about that one today as I have an ear ache and have been sneezing and coughing my head off.  I am in bed writing this blog, after having called in sick to work. I didn’t want to cough on anyone’s french fries.

The Best ways to travel across country. I like this one as I am in Alaska and all my relatives are in the lower 48 mostly in Kansas.  This summer I found out the most relaxing way to travel is Amtrak.  I rode the train from Kansas City  MO, to Bellingham, WA.  It was great. If I have the time that is way I will always go.  But of course flying is faster.

The best GED programs for high school dropouts. This one I would like to explore as my 18 year old son wants to get his GED.

The best work at home jobs. This I would also like to explore as I would love to work out of my house.

Or I could just write about the Best of this or that.  The Best of 2009, or 1980 (when I graduated high school), or what ever I think of.

I am feeling bad enough right now I think the best thing in the world is my fleece heated blanket. I have been cold all day.  So I am now going to watch an old tv show and snuggle under my blanket.  That would be another idea, what were the best tv shows of the past?

Hopefully tomorrow my brain will be working better and I will think of something interesting to blog about.

Brighter Side of Winter

Here in Alaska this time of year is dark and dreary.  The nights are longer than the days.  The radio announces every morning how many hours of sunlight we are going to get.  This time a year it is about 6 or so.  Better than farther north where they get less than that. 

The cool thing about dark sticking around so long, is you can really tell when the days start getting longer.  The radio also announces how many more minutes of daylight we will have each day. It averages about 3 to 5 minutes more a day.  In a couple of weeks it will be light until 4 pm, instead of 3:30 pm.  By the end of March the first of April the sun will start coming up earlier and earlier, until it is full on day light at 4 am.

Today is clouding and there is only a few more hours of sunlight, but I know soon, there will be 17 hours of daylight. Can’t wait.

Happy New Year!

Here it is January 1 again.  2010 sounds kind of strange to my ears.  But then 2000 sounded strange ten years ago.  I was thinking about that last night as I waited at the bar for midnight.  My life has really changed in ten years.

January 2000 found my recently separated from my husband of almost 5 years.  I had thrown him out  the first week in December 1999.  I was very much interested in a man who went to the same church as I and at the time he seem interested in me.  I was in fact very, very happy and excited about where my life was going.

January 2001 found me single, divorced, and heart-broken.  The man I liked so much ended up getting married to a woman who started coming to our church in 2000.  They had a history, and she lied to the whole church, saying she was dying from some liver problem.  Funny she got better as soon as she got married. (She is still alive and well to this day, and her liver illness was cured, a miracle.)  But I had also bought a brand new mobile home.

January 2002 I had a job a didn’t really like, but would soon get a job I wanted.  Nothing much had happened in my life by then, but we were pretty happy. My youngest son was having problems in school and I would soon learn he had bi-polar disorder as well as adhd.  And found that medicine was our families best friend.

January 2003 I had a house fire in 2002 and lost my home. But we were all fine, and were learning to live with it.  That January I decided I didn’t want to buy a house and back out of a sale, and moved into an apartment.  I left the job I had so wanted the year before. And spend a wonderful year on unemployment with my youngest son, who really needed my attention.

January 2004, I was in need of a job and a change, and was about to make one, moving in March from Kansas to Alaska. That was probably the best summer in my life.  I loved my job, I lost a bunch of weight, and I lived in a wonderful little town wedged between the mountains and the ocean.

January 2005, we got a better apartment, my oldest son got a good job with the state of Alaska, I started working for Safeway.  Just normal stuff

January 2006 was just the same of same old, and I enjoyed it.  Things were good.

January 2007 started the same old way.  But in the middle of 2007 my brother cames to stay for the summer, I left Safeway and started working for the Alaska Marine Highway, and became homeless.  We all moved onto my son’s 27 foot sailboat for the summer.  It was an experience. I later went back to my old job at Safeway, working and living on a ship was not my thing.

January 2008 I had an apartment, couldn’t stand the boat in the winter, and later in August I decided I wanted to move back to Kansas.  So I did. In Oct 2008 I moved in with my sister.  Got my old job back that I had in 2002, and tried to tell myself I liked it.

January 2009, I stayed at home with my sister on New Years Eve, and entertained her three little grand-daughters. That was fun.  But my September 2009 I knew I wanted to go back to Alaska.  My youngest son had moved back, and my oldest hadn’t left.  So in October I moved back (not sure what all this moving in October means.)

Now its 2010, I got my old job back at McDonald’s.  And I am glad I am here.  It won’t be long before everything comes together again.  I am doing more writing than I was before. And life though not terribly exciting, is really pretty good.

Missed a Few Days

I started out this month, planning on posting a blog a day.  Then I lost my internet connection for a week. That happens sometimes here in Alaska. Mainly the internet connection dropped and I was not able to get it back on.  The wonderful lady that owns my apartment has wi-fi, and I use her connection.  She was out-of-town, working last week. And her husband just doesn’t understand resetting the internet. Sometimes he can get it to come back on, sometimes he can’t. 

This is her week at home, so I am now connected to the world again.  So I won’t be posting 31 blogs this month. But I will post as many as I can.  Tonight I should be writing on my novel, but I have missed the internet so much I am just surfing and reading twitter.  I am going to do some research I need for my book, but I am also going to visit pogo.com.

Hopefully next month I will have a better, more reliable internet connection, and I try again to post a blog a day for a month.

First Day of Work

After being unemployed for two months I started my new job today.  That in its self is a big deal.  My feet are killing me, and I am so out of shape. I am not used to standing for 5 hours. My last job was a sit down job.  But all in all it was fine. I am going to have a paycheck before Christmas.  Soon I won’t have to worry about food.

I even spent the last 45 minutes making french fries.  At McDonald’s  that is an important thing. I sure hope no one was disappointed in my fry cooking.  I had to work hard to keep up.  But I did okay.

Another great thing that happened today. My son wants to go to Job Corp.  I hope we can get him in.  He needs to do something with his life.

Tomorrow I go back to work for four hours.  I’m only working part-time, but as tired as I am today. Maybe that is a good thing. All in all it was a great day. I can’t wait for more.