Year: 2014

  Tis the season for sparkly cat vomit. (Cats + Tinsel. You do the math.) It’s the season for my 16yo to prance around the house like a velociraptor in a Santa hat saying “Chrisssstmmaaaass…” “Child, did you put the dishes away?” “Chrissssttmaassss…” “Did you feed the cat?” “Chriiiiiisssstmassss…” “Do you want some gravy?” “Chriiiiissssssttmmmmaaasssss…” It’s the time my inner Evil comes out, as I wrap the three new videogames that are cool but not what she asked for in the same wrapping paper (no disguising box either, she KNOWS those are games), and then hide the game she begged me for in the very bottom of the only gift bag, with another present on top so she’ll be more surprised when she finds it. It is, alas, the time of year when I run out of holiday spirit well before the holiday. It doesn’t help that I’ve been sick for a week and my 16yo is currently down an excellent impression of a seal. 

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Here we are with my final progress report for my Year of No Fear.  It has been a crazy year, and I did accomplish a lot.  But not everything on my list, unfortunately.  So here’s the run down: Ice skating – My first time was 1/4/14, and I didn’t fall!  Hubby and I managed to get out another two times, plus one last Saturday, 12/13/14.  We are planning on doing more after Grave Touched is turned in. 

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I don’t mean to be tagging along on Siri’s coattails, but perhaps it can’t be helped. This was the first year in a while for both of us to attempt Nano, so of course we’re going to want to talk about it.  Unlike Siri, my wrists haven’t been hating me any more than usual, so I threw myself into the idea full force–50K, on a brand new project (I did Nano in 2011, but did a story I’d already started–second draft, even). And I am pleased to say that, in the end, I pulled it out.

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I’ve won National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) multiple times, but this year was my first time tackling it since 2011. And I didn’t win — I only hit 15,000 words. (For those of you who don’t think in word counts, that’s just under 1/4 of the way through the novel I’m writing.) Here’s what I (re)learned… 5. NaNoWriMo is not worth killing your wrists over. I’ve had on-and-off wrist problems this fall, and as soon as I started to push for higher word counts, the problems flared up again. I backed off right away and wrote all of 300 words in the next five days, before cautiously starting up again. I’m still trying to pinpoint how much I can comfortably write without physical consequences (current guess is at least 800 words a day), but I’m in this for the long haul. I’ll do what I gotta do.

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  I had a plan for this blog post. I don’t remember what it was. Last night’s events in Missouri have left me saddened, outraged, and deeply distressed. I can’t talk lightheartedly today. In this world, we’re not supposed to hit people. We’re not supposed to react with violence to the hate and harm piled on us. And I get it. I do. Anything that can be solved with violence can be solved better and faster without it, if people are willing to try. And we need to be willing to try. Or it just gets worse. I know that. But sometimes, man…sometimes the need to just hit someone is pretty darn strong.

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Those of you who have been following my shenanigans know that since February of last year, I have been suffering from severe chronic eye pain in my left eye. It happened suddenly, and as far as I know, it hasn’t affected my vision.  But the pain has been excruciating, and it’s constant.  I’m on a nerve pain medication for it, but I have to stay on a low dose to prevent terrible side effects.  So I often have breakthrough pain. (I am, however, very thankful that I didn’t go blind.  That would have been much worse.) 

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So, if you guys follow our Twitter or Facebook feeds, you’ll know that a few weeks ago we had a table at a smallish scifi/fantasy literature convention called MileHiCon. We went into this madness with our previous experience on the subject being that we had attended a couple conventions ourselves at various times, and also knowing people who had had tables themselves, though not with any details about how they had run said tables.

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I’ve recently re-learned something about weekends that I tend to forget. It has to do with travel. Ever wonder why a weekend (or week) away tends to feel longer than the same amount of time in one’s regular routine? Basically, you’re out of your rut — seeing and doing new things — so you’re actually noticing the world, no longer on autopilot. That means you’re fully alive in every moment and experiencing every detail. As a bonus: you’re also doing more fun things (unless you’re travelling for work); you’ve literally left the grind of work and other daily responsibilities behind; and you’re probably getting more exercise (walking!) and more nature. I’ve found this time-dilation phenomenon to be true of all sorts of travel, from long-weekend hops to a nearby town or city, to multi-month overseas expeditions, and everything in between. Last weekend I took a road trip through gorgeous countryside to another city, poked around a trendy street, stayed in a place I’d never been before. Earlier this fall I spent a weekend in Montreal, doing much the same things. This summer I went hiking in the Rockies for most of a week. A year and a half ago, I spent three months backpacking around Asia. All of those trips felt twice as long as they really were. Here’s the secret: you don’t have to actually travel.

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