Giving up but not quitting
So after a long hike in the Wissahickon this morning, I’m pretty much sure I’m giving up on making 50,000 words in November. (I’m wiped! Good times though.) But I decided not to give up on 50,000 words total. Just gonna keep plugging away, a thousand at a time, every day, until I hit the “end.” (Which is only going to be 50K at this point.)
I’m over 7300 now, today’s goal is 8400. Then I’ll reassess, add a thousand and round up to the nearest hundred, then make that my goal for Sunday.
The character is driving herself cross country. I’ll try to update here. Give me extra motivation, maybe. Kim put Graceland off for a while; I stopped her in Asheville, North Carolina, to do some whitewater rafting in the paddling capital of the east! (Google says its only about three hours away from Charlotte, so why the heck not. She’s got three months to travel. ) Am thinking of doing this in the form of a travel diary, but that might have to come later at this point.
Be back when I hit 8400…
Until you make a decision, you have nothing at all
“I know it feels like you have all these options and when you make a decision, you lose a world of possibilities. But the reality is, until you make a decision, you have nothing at all.”
Quote from Janet Fitch in a pep talk for National Novel Writing Month. Am trying to write 15,000 words today. Haven’t written one yet. Am also looking for another quote about how procrastination is just waiting for perfection. And I also need to do a little research on Graceland for the story. But so far I’ve chatted with Kimmee about The River Wild and A River Runs Through It and looked up the trailer for the new Shopaholic Movie (doesn’t come out until February 13! Why are they showing trailers already? How are we supposed to wait that long?!) NOW I just got off the phone with Renata, and she wants to do stuff tonight, and I am checking out the Wissahickon hike tomorrow…..aargh.
Word Count: 6019 Need 21019 before i can say i made the goal for the day. Oof.
I know it feels like you have all these options and when you make a decision, you lose a world of possibilities. But until you make a decision, you have nothing at all.
Quote from Janet Fitch in a pep talk for National Novel Writing Month. Am trying to write 15,000 words today. Haven’t written one yet. Am also looking for another quote about how procrastination is just waiting for perfection. And I also need to do a little research on Graceland for the story. But so far I’ve chatted with Kimmee about The River Wild and A River Runs Through It and looked up the trailer for the new Shopaholic Movie (doesn’t come out until February 13! Why are they showing trailers already? How are we supposed to wait that long?!) NOW I just got off the phone with Renata, and she wants to do stuff tonight, and I am checking out the Wissahickon hike tomorrow…..aargh.
Word Count: 6019 Need 21019 before i can say i made the goal for the day. Oof.
If not now, then when?
Quoting the slogan of Hillel, the Jewish organization for college students, because for the life of me I can’t figure out what my problem is. Wei sent me this link to a contest that Away.com is sponsoring. I looked at the damn page for nearly half an hour. All I have to do is write 100 words about how I travel adventurously, or an adventurous experience that I’ve had. One hundred measly words. But I’m afraid. Of what, I have no idea. I mean, there’s absolutely nothing riding on this, whatsoever. If they like my 100 words, I win a book and I can write the full story on Away.com’s blog. If I don’t win…absolutely nothing happens whatsoever. They are going to read & grade my entry, and that’s it. There is no time investment. There’s no money investment. There’s not even a risk of anyone finding out my real name.
This fear of whatever is holding me back not only for this silly little contest, but with NaNoWriMo and also Elance, which is one of the best chances I have of making money until I get another job. I don’t know what the deal is. I’ve been trying to write 10,000 words a day for NaNo for the past week; for the most part I haven’t even bothered to open the damn word doc. I’m at a point I don’t like, but instead of skipping it I get stuck. It’s frustrating.
And now, if i want to win, I need at least 15,000 words on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. My only writing goal tomorrow is to write 100 words for the damn Away.com blog. Then on to 15K Friday. If I get to at least 10K on Friday, I’m going to write a sample article about something so I can use up my 3 connects on Elance before the end of the month, and bid on new projects next month. Meanwhile, I’m still out of work….
UFOs
Unfinished projects are finally, finally on their way out the door. What a relief!
- At long last, i finished the orange stripey sweater for baby Allie. i started it before the summer of 2006, for crying out loud, and it was supposed to be done for Christmas…but it’s finally ready to go. Problem is it’s probably too small for Allie now, so It will go to Patty….hooray for unisex colors (and that Wally is a Longhorns fan…..)
- Finished the bunny suit I started while on the Costa Rica trip. Was supposed to be for Patty, who wasn’t born yet when I started it, but I wasn’t sure what I was doing in the feet part and was just too busy, so I put it aside for awhile. Picked it back up because it was in the way, and gritted my teeth and stuck with the complicated foot pattern….was totally shocked when I finished and realized, yes, it did look like a foot! So ready to try socks now. Gave to Carrie for her new baby. It was a hit, but duh–forgot to take a photo! I’ll get her to take one with the baby in it. Means waiting until January.
- Finished Sara’s dress that was supposed to be a present from the last birthday. Oops. Will give for Christmas next week, with a long sleeve shirt to wear under. I’m not too crazy about the way the finishing crochet came out; think I need to figure out why I have so much trouble with that.
Next to finish:
- Patty’s sweater. Making the same style sweater but in diff colors for Patty & Allie. Just have to finish the last sleeve for Patty’s then sew it together & finish. It went quick, colors are nice :) Either that or a red & gray homespun hoodie (leftovers from Sara’s first sweater).
- Boomer’s coat. Finally figured out how to work it. Have to finish clearing up upstairs then will drag out the sewing machine and put it together.
Other more immediate (Christmas) projects that I haven’t even started yet:
- Allie’s dress. Same as Sara’s but dark & light purple. Need to set up the knitting machine, but I should be able to do it all in one day….maybe tomorrow.
- Allie’s Christmas Sweater: Matches Patty’s but in pinks & red. Will probably just do the dress for Christmas & send the sweaters for Patty’s birthday in March.
- Baby Jeffrey’s Christmas sweater: same colors as Patty’s, but I’ll probably pick a different pattern…the stripey one has the same gauge.
- Mom’s scarf (I think I’m going to need more white yarn. If I have a lot of yarn left over, I’ll probably make mittens for her birthday in Feb.)
- That green hoodie that I started years ago that I just haven’t gotten around to finishing….will need to get a different yarn for the sleeves, since the gauge was wrong.
Future stuff:
- If I get some of this other stuff done, and depending on how big the dress is on Sara, I’ll make a matching sweater for her. I should have enough yarn, after I finish Allie’s dress.
- Dress for Sara’s birthday (July)
- Dress for Allie’s birthday (September)
- Gifts for next Christmas (2009)
- Blankets for Brigantine Knitting group. (The “Brigantine Seashore Pearls,” they call themselves.) Have plans for a big colorblock one, and one where i do a cable down the front.
As I’m going through boxes, both from here and from the old apartment, finding hundreds of projects that I started, or set aside materials to start, but never did anything with. Once I finish this year’s Christmas gifts, I’ll pick one of those to work on & alternate with starting new knitting projects.
finally found a website (knitpro2) that will translate JPEGS into knitting graphs! Cool! Need to practice my intarsia….
Am getting a lot of knitting done due to having teevee again as well as no job. Need to do as much as possible while the free time lasts….
