The · Life · & · Writings · of · El

The old adage 'you don't know what you've got 'til its gone' can be applied to what happened to the Nanowrimo forums this week.
I am not a mad forum addict, but not having access for a week really hurt. More than I expected.
Today I had a day off so once I realised the forums were back I was like a kid in a candy store, spinning from spot to spot madly.
Still trying to work out where to put my first query - historical, plot fixes, expert thread or all three.
Decisions ... decisions!

I think it is time to stop lurking in dark corners and try and live a little.

Nano wrimo is definitely on the cards again, despite last years crash & burn -out. 

Even if things get hairy, I resolve to find solutions that are better than throwing my hands in the air and screaming "it's all too hard!"

Courtesy of my new possie at work, I now have a very smart lap-top, so even write ins are possible.

Time to write again.

This is just a little exercise that betweenthemoon posted on the Adelaide Nanowrimo forum for one of our other members to relieve boredom.
On the forum I used my favourite contemporary band - The Whitlams.
Just for the hell of it I decided to do my all time favorite band Queen and post it here.

Just a bit of good, clean fun, but you do need to pick a band with a decent discography.

I went to bed late last night and forgot I had to reset the clocks. Thankfully I woke up obscenely early.

I am not a big fan of daylight saving. Apparently it was introduced to save on energy. That might work in some parts of the world. But here in Adelaide in summer the majority of people go home at the hottest part of the day thanks to daylight saving and immediately turn the air conditioners on full blast. No energy saving thre that I can see.

Today is pre Nano meet up day so that should be interesting. Attendance seems to be comprised of approximately half of the old crowd and half newbies. That's good.

Nanowrimo here we go - I have as good a plot line as I am going to get, I have a rough map for reference and links to references to help me with the background, but I really don't feel ready for this.

I can't start on Wednesday morning like I want to due to other commitments and I think thats a factor.

At last after two days of separation preceded by two days of frustration my PC is home and working very nicely.
We should be thankful that it took three years to get so corrupted.

At least it is back just in time to get the Nano plotting under control.
I was so desparate I started typing up plot points at work. I normally avoid any of my fiction writing at work, it is bad enough my husband looking over my shoulder at home, I certainly don't want my work colleagues seeing it.

In a weeks time we will be on holiday. In sunny Darwin. 
At the moment the concept seems so surreal as I sit here listening to the rain pelt down.
Today I will be starting the packing - bathers, sunscreen, large hat.

We fly straight up to Darwin and then we are taking the long road home via Alice Springs , Uluru and assorted other spots. 

Normally we travel as an insular family group, this will be something different, bouncing around on a little bus and camping in the outback with a small group of total strangers. 

Very good for expanding Karl's social interaction experience and probalby not too bad in that regard for his parents either.

I hope to make at least a couple  of journal posts from internet kiosks along the way. 

And I will definitely be writing. 

Because I don't have to drive or navigate I will have plenty of time to jot down a few notes. Both about the trip and about my nano project. 

Especially now that I have changed my mind which story I want to tell. and the new one needs a lot more work than the one I originally had in mind.

A week for reflection and contemplation of mortality. 

Reminded by the radio today that yesterday would have been Freddie Mercury's 60th birthday. Has it really been that long.

Today is a work colleague's 25th birthday. When she was born I was making wedding plans.

I try not to think to hard about aging and mortality as a personal thing. It scares me too much, but every now and then a week like this forces me to consider these things.

I don't like it ... I don't like it at all!

Two great Australians died today. 

Colin Thiele & Steve Irwin.

I pay my private respects to them both and pause for reflection.

Two very different people, two different lengths of life, but both very influential in their own way. And both still with much to say no doubt that will now remain unsaid.
Of course it says something about our society that  the commercial news services lead with Steve Irwin's passing and one of Australia's greatest writers comes a long way down the bulletins.

That's just my view fwiw.

I notice an update on the NaNoWriMo site to say they are starting to get ready for this year ... surely not!
I have written so little since last November that I start to seriously doubt my credentials as a writer. 
Because writers actually write ... regularly.
I think I know which plot I want to work with for Nano, and I may have a go at Snowflaking it between now and then, to see if I can't protect myself from last year's issue where I lost the plot, literally, on the 28th November. 
I still got the word count, but have been unable to complete the story.

I have had some great excuses in terms of RL and the energy put in there seems to have paid off (but not monetarily dammit). 
It is nice to be held in high regard by people of good standing, but I prefer to fly below the radar and that is a bit difficult at the moment. 
When it comes to power and glory, I don't mind the power, but I can live without the glory, I think.

I was good this morning 
- had my feet laser scanned, so the podiatrist could fine tune his new toy.
- went to the Disability expo to do some prior research on future options for my son. 
I am seeing his teacher for NEP next week so the timing was good.
Now I should be looking through the info, but I am not.

List and schedules need to be prepared, so instead I sit here doing bugger all.
So to assuage the guilt a little, I am posting.

I went to yet another Whitlams gig on Friday night.

The Gov was crowded, I was constantly craning to see, my feet and legs are still aching from the cold concrete floor I was standing on all night, some one was blowing cigar smoke all over me for half the night and I am still coughing it out of my lungs. I am way too old for this!

But, next time Tim or the band are performing in Adelaide, guess what! I will line up and do it all again. Some things are worth it. And hearing the Whitlams live is one of those things.

For me good music must have well written lyrics and most of the time Tim Freedman delivers. As someone who tries to write a little myself I appreciate even more the talents of those who are particularly good at it. As a poet / song writer he is a master.

im_shimmerin  this is a hard question to answer as I have never lived anywhere else. I have no measuring stick of personal experience.

This is only my poor attempt to honestly answer the question.

My nano comrades here in Adelaide are more than welcome to add their own thoughts / contributions in the comments.

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The last bit was a slight divergence, because of the date, but still relevant. Now any questions? 

My life revolves around food.
Eating it, stressing about eating too much, eating too much because I am stressed.
Monitoring, sampling, trying to make sure that the assumption that our food supply is safe is fact. And worrying that it is not always so.
Now I know that food is essential, but most human cultures make so much more of it than necessity allows. Ours most particularly.
Apart from 'Nouvelle cuisine' type stuff, serving sizes are always so large. Then you try to eat properly and the serves looks so small that the subconscious complains that it is being deprived which is clearly ridiculous.
I never wanted to be a Yo-yo dieter, but the alternative seems to be just getting constantly larger and I really don't want that.
I need to get back on the straight and narrow, but there is carrot cake and pate in the fridge and chocolate from Easter in the pantry.
A sin to waste it ... or not?

I don't really mind that sometimes my husband has to work on weekends.
And I don't mind too much if he has to go away for a few days for work - it beats three months at a stretch, which he has done in the past ... that really sucks.
But more than 24 hours notice would have been nice.

It is not too bad though, apart from missing the Adelaide Nano group meet up as I can't desert my son when his father is away over the week end.
So we are spending a little quality time together tomorrow, or our version of it.
That means going to the movies and eating out afterward.

I think I have survived the worst for a while and can stop and draw breath.
Mum's birthday party went well. She was happy and no-one drowned my younger nephew, although plenty wanted to.
And with a bit of help from the new indian doctor at the surgery, I can now breathe freely again for the first time since New Year. That makes a big difference.
I don't wake up coughing.
I sleep better because I can actually breathe deeply, so quality of life is greatly improved.
More energy means greater ability to write. It sucks when what little energy I had was being used up just getting through the things I had to do and having nothing left in the tank when I had time to write.
There is still a lot on my plate, but at least I think I can cope now, and have some time for me and my writing.
It's all good.

I was speaking to one of my dearest friends this morning and she used the wonderful expression you see in the subject line.
This inspired me to write the following short descriptive piece.
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A tribute to someone whose pain I share, because I know that when I need it she shares mine.