Etude: An umbrella, a feather duster, and a book, Part 1/5

Editor’s Note: I don’t have a name for this one. Drop a suggestion in the comments below. xo

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She likes to wear black tights under her skirts to work so that it doesn’t matter whether she’s shaved her legs. Her favorite work skirt is a short, tartan plaid that’s a bit too big for her. She almost always wears a black pair of mary janes because they look tidy but are comfortable with their thick soles and don’t leave her feet feeling like lead at the end of an eight-hour shift.  

She is 21 or 22. 

Most of their customers are men and boys. She is the only woman on the six-person staff. There are usually a minimum of two people working in the small boutique electronics store in the featured corner in the mall. A crossroads corner. Busy times mean more staff.  On this weekday evening, she is working with the manager, and so even though the manager is very soft and not all likely to do any kind of discipline except in the case of gross negligence, he is also nice, so she is making a half-hearted attempt to look busy. There are no customers. She can hear the rain falling on the skylights in the mall breezeway. It must be raining pretty hard to hear it inside the cave-like little shop. She moves slowly around the shop, sliding boxes over, waving the duster at the shelves, sliding them back. Returning mis-stocked items to their proper spot. Throwing out the trash left by the after-school mallrats.  

At some point she has listlessly dusted everything that is reasonable to dust without dismantling anything. There are no shipments to process. There are no promotional materials to take down or put up. There is only the heavy, cold air of the mall, the relentless “pow pow pow” of the demo of some permutation of a two-person fighting game on the center TV, overlaid with the Computer World promo video in the corner display.  

The manager has receipts and forms spread out all over the counter. He has brought a chair from the back room. Normally, no chairs are allowed on the shop floor. Sitting looks lazy and unenthusiastic to customers. Chairs promote sitting. The manager sighs occasionally as he punches numbers into the calculator, punches numbers into the computer, and shifts around bits of paper on the counter.  

The plaid-skirted girl with the shoulder-length blonde hair, and today a plain, black, t-shirt, finds herself leaning on a display, staring at the back of the MicroSoft Office Suite, wondering if the manager would object if she pulled out a book from her bag in the back room to do a little studying or reading. She looks at him, thinking she’ll ask, but something about the way he rubs his forehead, the way he looks at the paperwork, makes her frown at him. Without asking, she turns on her thick-soled heel and walks into the tiny, cramped breakroom/storage room/office/bathroom/cubicle and pulls out The Monk, the current novel for her “Gothic Imagination” class. She is supposed to have it finished by ten o’clock the next morning, but she’s only on page 88. Later she will decide that turbo-skimming will serve her better than staying up all night to read it carefully. 

She returns to her semi-leaning spot at the center of the sales floor, propping the book up in front of a bundle-pack of arcade games for the PC. If a customer comes in, she still looks vaguely attentive, and can leave the book there.  

More tomorrow… 

10 Things: Resolutions 2011

Yes, I know. The blog is a little stale. Things have grown dusty on the Christmas hiatus. I’ll work to tidy up around here in the coming weeks (and yes, I’ll fix the broken post about Sonar X6’s birthday).  In honor of the recent passage of an “arbitrary spot in Earth’s orbit around the Sun” (thank you Neil deGrasse Tyson)—i.e. The New Year—I’ve cooked up a 10 Things to get us back to writing. 

What? You don’t remember how to do 10 Things? That’s ok, it’s very easy. I’ll give you a prompt, and you write down the first 10 Things you think of in response to that prompt, the faster the better. It shouldn’t take you more than five or ten minutes. (Set your timer, Patrick!)  Then post your 10 Things down in the comments (or on your blog with a trackback).  

For a more rambling discussion of 10 Things, check here.  

I’ll leave some space here so that my 10 Things don’t unduly influence your 10 Things.  Scroll down to read mine when you’re done posting yours. Or don’t. It’s your life. 

10 Things: New Year’s Resolutions! GO!!!!

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My 10 Things (yep, these resolutions look a lot like last year’s, go figure.)

1. Run, push ups, run some more, sit ups, run some more.

2. Write EVERY day.

3. Read every day. Finish at least four books each month, following the elaborate scheme mapped out on the wall in front of me. (I’ll share that plan in another post)

4. Knit more, as in at least weekly, with the goal to have handmade Christmas gifts ready for most of my loved ones by December.

5. Keep the blog pretty and full of fresh words.

6. Plan love. On the first of each month, check the calendar, write cards and notes for friends and loved ones to connect or commemorate about significant events. Jot ideas for things that people want or need that are particular to them, so that I have ideas when I need them.

7. Sleep more. Yeah, I always fail at this one.

8. Update the financial plan. Toe the line, with some minor adjustments. Cross my fingers that the economy gets better for everyone.

9. Protect the writing. Incentivize (that’s a totally disgusting word, right?) the writing so that I’m not the only one protecting it. Make it a priority for those sharing my space and time as well.

10. Revel in the LOVE and BEAUTY  and GOOD around me. That includes YOU.

Thanks for hanging around and watching me ramble. What kind of ruckus can we get up to in 2011?   

25 Days of Gratitude, My Epic List of Thanks

Every day in November, over on Facebook, I posted something for which I feel grateful. Here’s the list.

Have a really fabulous Thanksgiving everyone!

November 1: I’m thankful for music. It moves our bodies and our minds, inspires, calms, excites, connects, and funkifies.

November 2: I’m thankful for Buttered Toast. What? They don’t all have to be profound.

November 3: I’m thankful for Books to read and Authors who drag my brain and heart to new places.

November 4: I’m thankful for Generous, Loving, Compassionate People who see a need in their community and pull together to fill it just because it will help someone.

November 5: I am thankful for all of YOU, the community of family and friends, old and new, that make up the fabric of my life and my experiences.

Bonus November 5: I am thankful for teachers who inspire kids to FLY!

November 6: I am thankful for Time. Time to write crappy novels, time to make them better, time to make things with my hands, time to run, time to be where I am needed by people I love.

Bonus November 6: I am thankful for toes in the sand and lovely friends with beautiful beaches.

November 7: I am thankful for knitting. The action of my hands soothes my manic brain and allows me to wrap the people I love in the warmth of a hug that can hold them even when I’m not there.

November 8: I am thankful for running and what it does for the body and brain, especially how it produces a really sharp pair of tibialis anterior muscles. (I’ve always been a sucker for those tibialis anteriors).

November 9: I am thankful for caffeine. Without it, I could still do all of the things I do, but I would surely be less enthusiastic about it.

November 10: I am thankful for the kitchen timer on my desk. It pushes me through my day, reminding me that I can do anything for fifteen minutes.

Bonus November 10: I am thankful for Hands. Hands to feel, to hold, to touch, to type, to push, to probe, to pull, to grab, to wave, to catch, to press, to test, to wiggle, to point, to emphasize, to speak, to write, to pinch, to direct, to shake, to tickle, to poke, to caress, to let go. Those suckers are really—um, useful.

November 11: I am thankful for my Veterans. To all the veterans and their families that I don’t know, thank you for the commitment and sacrifices you made to serve. The payback does not always justify what you gave or continue to give, but for this day, I hope we can do right by you, and remind society and government to do right by you always.

November 12: I am thankful for Partner because—among many other very cool things—he makes me oatmeal-raisin cookies for no reason.

November 13: I am thankful for Sonar X10, Sonar X7, and Sonar X5. Their jokes, their compassion, their creativity, their silliness, their struggles, their independence, their fierceness, their capacity to soak up ideas and push at the world around them. They make me growl sometimes but watching them grow is the most awesome thing I’ve ever done.

November 14: I am thankful for chocolate. Preferably dark and bitter, but also creamy and sweet with a swirl of caramel. Melted into hot chocolate with a crumple of dried chile and a splash of whiskey. Drizzled over ice cream. Chipped into a spoonful of peanut butter. The last melted bit sticking to my fingertip.

November 15: I am thankful for all of the people who have sheltered and lifted me when I have been broken, who have guided and forgiven me when I have been wrong and stupid, who have loved and laughed at and with me when I have been worthy. You rock.

November 16: I am thankful for beer. This one doesn’t need elaboration, does it?

November 17: I am thankful for the good job that provides us safe shelter, a full fridge, everything that we need, and many things that we want (including chocolate, beer, internet access, and buttered toast).

November 18: I am thankful for social media. I came to FaceBook kicking and screaming, and I used to think Twitter was stupid. But social media has allowed me to build a diverse community of writers and strivers and friends, and has allowed me to connect and reconnect with amazing people (That’s YOU!) across miles and time.

November 19: I’m thankful for electricity. I’m stealing this one from Sonar X10, actually (and another friend mentioned it too!). His science homework the other night asked him to list twenty things in the house that use electricity. My favorite electric things include the fridge, the Mac, the air conditioner, the washing machine, the radio, the stove, and lamps. But there are so many others. What’s your favorite?

November 20: I am thankful for bread, especially hot & fresh in my kitchen. Knead the dough, watch it rise, shape it, and wait. Sandwich bread, baguettes, buttered rolls, cinnamon buns, tortillas, naan, breadsticks, foccaccia, soft pretzels, bagels, pizza balls, whole wheat, rye, sweet, savory, sliced, stuffed, dipped, rolled, & TOASTED. Bread demands patience, but nothing feeds the stomach or the heart better than fresh bread.

November 21: I am thankful for Crys M., who convinced me to do NaNoWriMo in 2005. I am thankful for Cassie T., who introduced me to Crys. I am thankful for the English Dept at Penn State, which introduced me to Cass. I am thankful for Dan P., who told me to go to grad school somewhere else. I am thankful for the English Dept at NMSU, which introduced me to Dan P. I am thankful for all of the people in that chain of learning who taught me things and let me teach them.

November 22: I am thankful for the health and well-being of everyone I love (that includes YOU again). Let’s all take good care of ourselves and each other!

November 23: I am thankful for Popcorn. With finely crushed salt. In Charlie Brown’s Thanksgiving, they eat popcorn with… Anyone remember?

November 24: I am thankful for laughter, good humor, and fun. Laughter can be a light in the darkness, a spark between lovers, the glue between friends.  Thank you for laughing at me. Thank you for laughing with me. Thank you for making me laugh. I love, love, love YOU.

November 25: I am thankful for so many more things. Clean water, awesome crossing guards, warm blankets, fresh grapefruit juice, pumpkin pie, comfortable shoes, blooming flowers, love, compassion, honesty, wide open spaces, reliable highways, soft kleenex, hugs… I could go on and on. I am so grateful for the richness of my life. Thank you for putting up with my list this month!

NaNoWriMo Begins!

Note: this post contains a link to the National Novel Writing Month website. At various times during November, the demand on that site is pretty high, so links may take time to load or not load at all.  Be patient or try again later.  

Welcome to November friends. A time when the bluster returns to South Texas and we start to juggle plans for Thanksgiving and Christmas. But more importantly, November is the time when tens of thousands of people take leave of their senses and try to write 50,000 words of a novel in a single month!

National Novel Writing Month, Thirty days and nights of literary abandon!

At that website, you can register and post a picture, link up to regional forums and find Wrimos near you, tell us something about you and what you want to write, get a badge for your blog, check out the new and improved nifty statistical tracker.  Then you have to write.  Every day is best, but whenever you can is good too.  As you progress you can enter your word count.  If you enter some new words every day, then you can watch your graph fill up.  If you link up with some writing buddies (I’m Eglentyne over there, so buddy me), then you can cheer for each other, help each other through the misery of dredging up words, and celebrate together when it’s finally over on November 30.  The winners are everyone who achieves a personal goal, but especially those who manage to write at least 50,000 words in a single month.  The prizes are the personal satisfaction of having accomplished something difficult, the joy of sharing that experience with a lot of other people, and any of the stickers, tshirts, or goodies you want to buy in order to support NaNoWriMo.  Read more at the NaNo site about the great programs created by NaNoWriMo and and their parent organization (The Office of Letters and Light) and sibling program (ScriptFrenzy).  

There’s no shame in failing as long as you’ve given it your best shot.  And even if you can’t be a Wrimo, you can sponsor someone who is, you can make a donation to the cause, or you can cheer on those who are answering the call to abandon caution and write like the wind.  

This will be my sixth NaNo.  I’ve been a winner each of the five years I’ve participated, and I can tell you that NaNo is one of my favorite things all year.  Group participation, a deadline, and that nifty word tracker are all amazing motivators to get my butt into the seat and write every day.  

I have two personal goals for NaNo this year.

1. Write 2500 words each day.

2. Spend at least one hour each day revising my NaNo project from 2007.  

I also have some rules for myself.  Ok, just one rule really: no Tweeting, blogging, or Facebooking until my daily goals are met. Full disclosure: I’ve met my writing goal but not my revising goal today, so I blew the rules right out of the chute, but I’m excusing that because I really only decided on the rules and the goals this morning—cutting myself some first day slack.

In order to meet the 50,000 word goal for November, you should try to write at least 1,667 words each day, every day of the month.  That’s what I did in my first NaNo and it worked just fine.  Some days I didn’t write that many words, some days I wrote a lot more.  That was sort of a high-pressure scenario for me, and because of various distractions, I ended up having to pull out a couple of 3,000 and 5,000 word days to squeak out with 1,600 words on November 30, 2005.  The next year I decided to try to write 2,000 words every day, so that I would have some built-in Off Days, for those times when life sucked me out of writing (like Thanksgiving Day or almost any day with a sick kid or a sick me).  This worked much better for me. This year, I’m stepping up the goal to 2500 words, both so that I have more free passes and because I’d like to get down as many words as I can in the month.  I’m only going to use my free days if I really need them, so I’m hoping to hit November 30th with well over 50,000 words and a complete (if completely ugly) draft.  

I’ll put a word count widget in the sidebar in the coming days (only after meeting goals, of course) or you can click through my NaNoWriMo participant badge in the far right column to link through to My NaNo page and see my full statistics.  Better yet, join me in the literary abandon and put some words of your own onto a page.  I’ll be here to cheer for you if you try.  

10 Things: Backpack

10 Things participation has been very low lately. Apparently everyone has been Working when they should be Writing 10 Things. We must put a stop to this productivity right now.

Stop what you’re doing.

Take out a writing implement.

Write the first 10 Things you think of when I say BACKPACK!

Write yours first. Read mine if you want to. Put yours in the comments. Or put them on your site and link back here. Whatever floats your pack. Go go go go go. 

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My 10 Things for BACKPACK

1. You need to know what’s in your BACKPACK. If your friends put things in your BACKPACK, then you must be able to trust your friends. Better yet, don’t let anyone else put anything in your BACKPACK.

2. A tiny Sonar, in a sweatshirt, sleeping in the kid BACKPACK on Partner’s back, while Partner washed clothes at the laundromat and I read dusty books, and wrote 20 pages treatises that were only ever read by two people. 

3. BACKPACKing across Europe. A Euro-rail pass and a change of clothes. Can anyone over 30 or with children do this?

4. BACKPACKs filled with books and lunch, on a kid, on the way to school.

5. BACKPACKs for kids, a school-supply charity drive.

6. BACKPACKing in the mountains with extreme-weather gear that weighs mere ounces, and carrying tiny tubes of gourmet spices. 

7. A jet-pack on your back. No, not on YOUR back, on Connie Chung’s back at the Republican National Convention, circa 1984.  Am I remembering that right? Who remembers this? Political conventions are apparently good opportunities for weird stunts. 

8. Rolling BACKPACKs are nuisances in schools.

9. BACKPACK as euphemism? Anything can be euphemism. There must be a way to spin BACKPACKing as euphemism for something. It should include a monkey. Like a monkey on your BACKPACK. But NOT a monkey BACKPACK.

10. The BACK PACK, a lesser-known cousin of the Brat Pack. Who would you put in the BACK PACK? People with hairy backs like Robyn Williams? Or perhaps quarterbacks and fullbacks?

Some weeks are harder than others!

What’s coming out of your BACKPACK??? It must be better than mine. Share it. Now!