November 13, 2011

Feeding My Soul Feeds My Writing: ROW80 Check In

I wrote this post twenty minutes ago only to lose it to some young hands playing on my computer. I had a small heart attack, tried to recover it... but it was gone. Completely wiped away. This will teach me to type directly into blogger. I wanted to cry, but I decided to pick myself up and try again. Here it is, rewritten to the best of my panicked ability.

*****

Yesterday was a cleaning-writing marathon. I made a deal with my family. Work on Saturday, play on Sunday. At first, they were uninspired. But I told them I would alternate between cleaning and writing, get it done and focus on them. It worked. Everybody chipped in, divided up chores, and the house is pretty darn clean. And I wrote quite a bit to boot.

Today, I ran a 5K with my 9-year-old daughter. I love one-on-one time and proving to her she can accomplish anything she sets her mind to. After, we joined the rest of the family for a well-deserved lunch followed by a trip to a bead festival. Each girl spent $9 and walked away with a one of a kind piece of jewelry. They were thrilled. It was a lovely day. Worth every second of our manic Saturday. Feeding my soul, spending time with those I love, truly feeds my writing.

Plus, the day came with a precious story. My 6-year-old daughter was modeling her new necklace when a nice salesperson asked if she'd like to see herself. She bounced over to collect the 5x7 mirror.

Me: Please be careful, you don't want to break the mirror.
Daughter: Why?
Me: Because you'll get seven years of bad luck.
Daughter: Who said that?
Me: It's a superstition, something people just believe.
Daughter, after thinking for a second: Well, I don't believe it. You want me to try it and find out?

The nice lady behind the desk gently took the mirror away. I love my daughter's spunk, but it can sometimes be a bit embarrassing.

*****

A brief ROW80 update

Writing: Inspired. Wrote quite a bit just on Saturday. I need to polish up some edges, but in a good place. I didn't keep track of words, but I'm proud of the progress.

Blogging: Thanks to NaBloPoMo, I've blogged here daily. Yesterday, I posted a fun piece about superstitions with some help from Mom and finally posted my Henrietta Lacks review on Mom in Love with Fiction. I look forward to adding another 5 star review, Melissa Luznicky Garrett's wonderful Turning Point, on Tuesday.

Commenting on blogs: Keeping up pretty well, but I want to get around to more of my NaNo friends and do some cheerleading. Rah, Rah! Hope everyone is doing well.

Miscellaneous: Still reading, but having to put it aside for some editing projects. I love what I'm working on, so it's like reading. I'm a few pages into Stephen King's On Writing and hope to make some progress this week.

Exercise: Still no sugar. Although I must admit I wanted a lot of it when my post went missing. I resisted. Exercise is going well, including the 5K today.

All in all, a nice week. I even wrote this post twice, so that's got to say something!

Check out some great writers, and fellow A Round of Words in 80 Days participants, here.

12 comments:

Darlene Steelman McGarrity said...

Ha! I love the adventure in your daughter! :) Good luck with your goals and congrats on your 5k run with your daughter.

Sounds like things are moving along nicely.

Darlene

Stephanie said...

Sounds like you're doing well. Good for you.

It's always good to read about writers who know how important it is to stay physically active. Kudos! Keep it up.

I hope you have another successful week - in all areas.

TTFN

L.S. Engler said...

Ha! I love the little story about your daughter; definitely spunky! And that actually sounds like a pretty neat premise to get a story started...what might happen if the mirror did get smashed? Hmm...

I really also like your cleverness in your plot to get the cleaning done, and it sounded like it was a pretty fun time, too. Even better!

Keep up the great work! I hope you have a great coming week!

Lauren Garafalo said...

Oh my goodness! One of my characters does and says almost the same thing about a mirror - almost died when I read that. Hope you had a wonderful time with the 5K, that's an accomplishment all in itself. Sounds like you had a great week, and I wish you the same for this week. Thanks for all your NaNo pom poms, I and I'm sure others have really needed them at times :D

amy kennedy said...

What a lovely post, your daughter cracks me up! You sound like you're so well balanced with your family and writing -- keep it up!

Tia Bach said...

It's good when the writing flows and family time is fun!

I really appreciate all of you stopping by and commenting.

If you ever need inspiration for a spunky girl character, look no further than stories I post here about my daughters. ;-)

Tia Bach said...

Lauren, That's too funny that one of your characters did that. It just shows you the mess I get to enjoy day in and day out at my house. (Don't let me fool you... I enjoy every second of strong, spunky women!)

Anonymous said...

A nice week indeed. You've been doing great!

Anonymous said...

That's awesome about the 5k. :)

Tia Bach said...

Thanks!

It felt productive, but I do wish I had more words to show for it. I keep reminding myself to look at the big picture and not get so caught up in the details, like wordcounts, but...

Liz said...

Keep staying away from the sugar - it gets easier. I had to laugh at the mirror story. My friend's daughter says stuff like that. She is constantly moaning about it.

Tia Bach said...

Liz, Thanks for stopping by! Sugar is tough, but I'm hanging in there pretty well so far. We'll see how Thanksgiving day and Christmas go. So much great food this time of year! :-) and :-(