November NaNo and Novenas

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I would just like to say to anyone who may have sent an email or text or message that’s gone unanswered, I have a really good excuse.

To my friend whose novel came out and I read and thoroughly enjoyed but haven’t quite got round to posting that review yet, it was wonderful and I will get to it. (And P.S. You can read all about it in this interview with Kara Bietz on her book, SIDELINED.)

And even though Libs can’t read, I feel like I should apologize for letting her out and then forgetting to leave the door open so that she could come back in. (To be fair, she seemed pretty happy, sitting outside on the steps in a sunny spot. Where I found her three hours later.) Again, I have a perfectly good reason for that oversight.

See, I had this idea for a cozy mystery–which I’d made a good start on–and I was determined to employ some “planned neglect” during National Novel Writing Month (NaNo for short) and…well, you know what? I wrote all about it already over at the Muffin in “Planned Neglect (Or How I Met My NaNo Goal Without Even Trying).

(I managed to squeeze in another blog post over at the Muffin earlier this month. It is always quite the adventure “When The Universe Strikes.”)

Anyway, here it is, November 30th, and I’ve completed about 15,000 words more than I scheduled, just by ignoring almost everyone and nearly everything. That seems like a pretty fair trade-off, right?

(Oh, wait! Today is the feast of Saint Andrew which marks the beginning of the Christmas Novena. You can find out more about this special Advent devotion here. And sure, I was writing, writing, writing, but you know this Catholic girl remembered to say her prayers today!)

Boo, Y’all

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October is a bit of a busy month for me, but not necessarily in the work department. More in the fun department.

It’s my birthday month and Juniorette’s birthday, too. (She managed to come along exactly one day after my birthday, thereby providing me the best birthday gift ever whilst simultaneously putting my birthday on the back burner for…well, let’s see. How old is she now?)

Anyway, the point is, there’s lots of shenanigans. There’s Juniorette dancing at Fright Fest which goes on during October at Six Flags:

There’s my home team winning the NLCS and going to the World Series! (That’s my T-shirt from when the Atlanta Braves won the NLCS last time…22 years ago. And yes, of course I still have it. And wear it on special occasions. Namely, when the home team wins again.)

There’s the ridiculously cute magnet that was on a birthday card to ME. (My friend just thought it was a ridiculously cute dachshund in a sweater; she didn’t realize it was a magnet. And I was about to put the card on my fridge because it was so cute when I thought, geez, this card is heavy. It had two magnets on back. Hahahaha!)

And there’s the raccoon that has absolutely no fear of me OR Libs and clearly has decided that October is “Help Yourself To the Birdseed” month. So there’s lot of bringing in the birdfeeder and putting out the birdfeeder and chasing away the raccoon and forgetting to put the birdfeeder out again and…sigh. I think you get the picture. Speaking of which, here’s the little bandit:

Seriously, that raccoon is having a ton of fun this October. But what the heck, why should I have all the fun this month? Hope you’re having a boo-rific October, too!

Oh! And just in case you popped in, hoping to get caught up on The Muffin, then here’s some Halloween-related advice in Saving Your Sanity (In Five Easy Steps). Also, here’s my NaNoWriMo tips (NaNo Planning) for those who are fixin’ to jump into this writing challenge the day after Halloween. Buckle up, writers, it’s going to be a bumpy November!

It’s Not That I’m Lazy

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Okay, honestly, I am just a tad lazy. But only when it comes to something I don’t want to do. Like cleaning out the fridge or ironing that linen shirt. And really, that’s just procrastination, not laziness. There’s a big difference, according to the Google Guru:

Procrastination is often confused with laziness, but they are very different. Procrastination is an active process – you choose to do something else instead of the task that you know you should be doing. In contrast, laziness suggests apathy, inactivity and an unwillingness to act.

See? I procrastinate when it comes to the blog here. When I’m watching back-to-back episodes of America Says on the Gameshow Network instead of cleaning up the kitchen, that’s laziness. Anyway, the point is, yes, it’s the last day of September but I wanted to include my Muffin post and it didn’t run until today so I had a very good reason to wait.

Or maybe the post is not that great. But it includes one of my creepy stories and frankly, I’m still not at all keen on going out into my backyard after dark. So you can be the judge on whether it’s a good post/story or not when you read “The Unexpected.”

I also opined on a somewhat current topic over there at The Muffin with The Baby and The Bathwater. Don’t worry, it’s not political. At least, I don’t think bathing is a political topic, just a smelly one.

And speaking of writing, I’ve been thinking, thinking, thinking, and writing, writing, writing, all month long. Usually, I just think, think, think , and never quite get around to the write, write, write, part (procrastination) but there’s something about the fall that kicks the laziness clear to the curb.

Unless it’s cleaning up dead spiders from the basement. Then I absolutely have to watch one more episode of America Says.