Safe

The curtains are tied back, patterned with lilacs and grass and tulips. I gently tug at the ropes until they unravel and the afternoon light is blocked. In the darkness, I can talk to myself until I am old and withered. I’ll pull out a chair and sit back into the paneled wall. We will discuss all that was. The times we ran too fast and when we were covered in grass stains. That one time in the winter when the snow covered our hair and the air was so cold that it stung our throat. Or all those games of hide and seek and kickball.

We’ll talk about all that could be, all the wonderful things we could do and all the things that we could accomplish. We could write a million songs and play them for each other. We could keep our apartment clean and shave our legs. We could travel to Italy and Australia and Scotland. We could do a lot of things. For instance, we could stop living in fear or learn how to be a perfect chef. There would be so much we could still do, like drive across the country and play the piano. We could talk for days of our dreams.

We’ll do this until it gets too cold and the darkness becomes to hard to see in. I’ll pull back the curtains and the afternoon will still be there, there will still be safety in my reflection.

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Rhythm

The topic of the Daily Post for today is Rhthym.

Rhythm is important. We all have our own rhythm. It shows in our writing. I studied rhythm and meter. Poetry is made up of these. Trying to force rhythm is hard. Writing this is hard. It’s easier to follow your natural flow. This feels awkward.

It’s actually really hard to write in short sentences like that. To me, short sentences make me feel almost panicked, like everything is rushed and cut too short. Overly long sentences can seem either like rambling or like way too much detail.

I actually know two people who talk in those two extremes. Honestly, there are times it drives me crazy. My friend, she is always talking so fast and stopping short of what she was saying. It’s hard to keep up with her at times. She’ll call me up and say, “Hi! I saw this movie. It was really good. You should watch it. I think it’s called “Some movie.” So and so also loved it. Are you gonna see it?” Meanwhile, I’m still trying to process everything she just said.

Whereas my Mother, she goes into detail about every last thing. It’s maddening. A phone call from her sounds like, ” I was watering my plants the other day and I noticed this leaf that was much lighter green than any of the other leaves so leaned in to get a better look at it, and I swear to god, a bee came zooming out from somewhere inside the pot and nearly gave me a heart attack.” She will squeeze and entire story into one sentence.

For them, it sounds normal. I suppose I probably write somewhere in the middle. When I write prose, I honestly don’t pay attention to it until I revise. Only then, I’ll focus on the rhythm and length of my sentences. When I write poetry, I do pay a lot more attention to my lines and sentences.

Hmm, I feel like this post got away from me.

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Nanowrimo Update

The more I think about Nanowrimo, the more nervous I get. I need to write around, what was it, 1,677 words a day to meet the 50,000 words by the end of the month? I keep thinking of everything else that I have going on in November and how I’m going to work around it. I guess that’s part of the challenge, though, isn’t it?

Because I’m a little list crazy…

Things I have to do in November:

• I start care giving classes for a week on Halloween. Those will take up most of my day and then I have to work on top of that.
• I’m having my wisdom teeth out in the middle of the month.
• There’s a concert in another city I’m trying to go to and that will mean two days away from my computer.
• Thanksgiving.
• Maybe start planning for a possible move to another city.

Of course, all of these things will interfere with Nanowrimo. I’ll just have to plan my time off very carefully. Some days, I may have to write double the words in order to make up for days I wont be near my computer.

I really wish my laptop would work! That would makes things just a teensy bit easier. I actually may be able to get it running before I have to go anywhere. Regardless, I’m determined to finish this year. I’ll keep a log on here of my progress to keep myself on track. I think next week I’ll start planning for the days when I have to write extra. It will be easier to plan my time when it gets closer.

I completed my chapter outline! Now I just have to start on my character profiles, which really wont be that difficult. I have had these characters in mind for quite some time now and even written them in some short stories. I’ve gotten to know them pretty well. It’s weird how fictional characters that you create can seem so alive at times. I still want the profiles all written up for consistency. My story jumps around a bit and I want to keep track of everyone as best I can.

13 days!

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