TC Larson

Stories and Mischief

Neglect the Family: All-In for NaNoWriMo

16
Nov

The Common Pheasant, the most important bird f...

The Common Pheasant, the most important bird for many gamekeepers (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

My husband likes to hunt.

I don’t share this interest, but I am glad to benefit from his efforts. I didn’t grow up eating hunted things, but during our marriage I have developed an appreciation for wild game of different kinds.

Being a hunter, he goes out of town on hunting trips.

In the past I’ve been fine with these trips. He gets a lot from being outside and really enjoys everything about hunting. It’s the equivalent of a spa day for some people. I’ve gone with him once or twice, and there is something that feeds the soul when you walk through areas with no path and take in the beauty of creation.

That is, it’s very nourishing until your socks are wet, you can’t get warm and you’re considering peeing your pants rather than hang your cold, naked buns over that fallen log to do your business.

While I’ve been an Accommodating and Supportive Wife in the past, I’d say that this year I might teeter on the edge of Enthusiastic Wife. He’s got a trip coming up and I have to be honest and say I’m happy about the timing. With him gone, I can spend the evening typing away with abandon, with no guilt or compunction about neglecting him, since he’ll be out in the woods somewhere in South Dakota.

Because I am a SAHM, there is a certain amount of guilt that goes with being busy in the evenings. There is an expectation I have for myself that if there is anything personal or just for me that needs to get done, I should be able to fit it in during the day. Two of my kids are at school all day, and the preschooler is gone a couple hours most days. Surely this must be ample time to address any personal enrichment activities, right?

Not really.

If you’ve ever stayed home with kids, you already realize that they are a whirlwind of papers, toys and peanut butter. When my kids get on the bus, it takes me an hour just to put to rights the path of destruction they created by being in the house.

It doesn’t get any better when they get home in the afternoon.

In order to make any headway on daily chores or projects (and not be forced to employ someone else to do it), I spend hours, hours, in movement everyday to keep the great tide of chaos at bay. I fold, sweep, load, unload, wipe, scrub, recycle, sort and organize. And still my house is not as tidy as I would have it in an ideal world.

On the other hand, I like to think our house is fun.

During this weekend of temporary single parenting I’ve lined up plenty of kid-friendly activities for my three monkeys, sure-fire meals and snacks, and an aaaaaample amount of screen time. I may be behind in my word count for NaNoWriMo but as Meg Ryan said in the movie French Kiss, “I shall triumph!” (I just dated myself, didn’t I? I can’t help it, she was a bit of a style guru for me for a while, and I have photos of the haircut misadventures to prove it.)

My husband will have fun hunting, my kids will have their fun,  and I will have fun writing like a crazy person.

Let’s all charge victoriously into the weekend and our writing (or hunting).  🙂

Juggling Life and NaNoWriMo

8
Nov

Housewife

Housewife (Photo credit: garryknight)

Last night I made dinner for my family and it didn’t involve cereal. Oh believe me, it WILL involve cereal at least once during the month of November while I try to churn out enough words each day as a part of NaNoWriMo. But so far, everyone has been fed, dishes have been done, laundry has been folded (or at least it in the basket in order to be folded) and the pets/domestic animals have been fed and are still living. These are all good indicators I think, but check back with me at the end of the month and we’ll see how the animals (and the family) fared.

There is a strategy here. The way I figure it, if I keep them clothed and fed, they can’t begrudge me a little neglect in other areas, right? After all, as a stay at home mom, there is a base-line of familial duties that fall to me. I couldn’t, in good conscience, hear my husband come in the door after being at work all day, peer at him over the top of my computer and ask him to rustle up dinner  for our family. I mean, I could. And my husband would probably be a good enough sport to do it. But making meals is one of my responsibilities.

There’s a funny thing about being a stay-at-home-mom (SAHM). Until you’ve done it, you imagine that it must be so boring (like what do you DO all day??) or that you get to do whatever you want all day long. Neither of these are accurate. SAHMs are first and foremost Moms and that probably means there is a kid around. And when there are kids around time operates in a different way, more fluid or stretchable. Minutes can seem like they go on forever and other times you look at the clock and panic because how did it get to be that time? We’re going to be so late – hustle, kids, hustle!

If you are a person who manages a household, here are a couple things you probably do, but let’s let the others know about our little routines or the things we do to make life easier for ourselves, shall we? These things can keep your life in order while you complete that ground-breaking novel of yours.

  1. Put the dirty dishes directly into the dishwasher, rather than leaving them in the sink.
  2. Keep a few easy meals on hand (think soup, sandwich, salad, etc.). You’ll save money, time and stress.
  3. Just break down and do a load of laundry every day. You’ll stay ahead of it, and you can keep the stink off your favorite writing pants with the elastic waistband.
  4. Put your family to work. Even little kids can do small chores, and contributing to the family/responsibility is a great lesson.

I could do a lot more with #4 but even with a small amount, we’ve found that our kids respond well to having a manageable amount of “jobs” each day or week.

A few years ago I wasn’t actively doing any of these little routines and life felt a whole lot more hectic (true, my kids were a few years younger at the time as well, but I could have been helping myself more than I was). I owe a lot to FlyLady for bringing these routines to my attention and helping me take hold of my house. She’s kind of amazing. (http://www.flylady.net/)

If you chip away at the everyday things around you — you can apply that to making forward progress in your writing as well — , you will be able to work in a less chaotic environment. Notice I didn’t say UN-chaotic, but sometimes just lowering the level of mess or last-minute-ness  can really make a difference. You’ll have more room for your gigantic writing ideas to walk around if they’re not tripping over piles of stuff.

Happy writing! Hope you have a miraculous breakthrough in your story today!

Jump Start Your NaNoWriMo

6
Nov

Vermont Valley [This may be Vermont but it looks just like Western Wisconsin!]

Vermont Valley (Photo credit: pchgorman)

Somehow I hit the jackpot this weekend. My dear friend, who is really as close to another sister as you can get, had me and four other women up to her family’s cabin in Western Wisconsin (a beautiful and under-appreciated part of the Northland) for the weekend. And just for the record, the stock photo to the right may be Vermont but it could have been taken in Western Wisconsin!

It was a highly caffeinated, chocolate-y event.

People worked on scrapbooks, knitting and other craft projects, and I typed. I will admit I was less social than I would be normally, since when I tried to work out in the communal area my friends were far too distracting with their witty banter and mind-bending political and theological analyses. I thought of using headphones to tune them out, but I didn’t want to be that person. Instead I took my computer and retreated within my retreat to a bedroom.

There was a writing desk, a window with a view of the lake, a red afghan and more pillows on one bed than my house has in all the rooms put together.

It was lovely.

For the next day and a half I wrote, listened to music, drank coffee and ingested the equivalent of two pounds of sugar. My friend claimed one night that she was pregnant with cheese. I laughed until I cried (it may have been the late hour but I still giggle when I think of her comment).

I made great progress over the weekend and tried to work ahead so that if I don’t make my budgeted number of words on a future day (Gasp! Fie fie! Get thee behind me!) I should still be on target for the 50,000 word goal.

The thing I’m trying to be mindful of is that if I’m in a good flow, I should type until my fingers can type no more. And if it isn’t flowing, I jump to a part that sparks my interest. Later, I return to the trouble spot. Who knows? Maybe I will need to tweak it to fit with something that comes later.

The other thing I like to do is leave myself a note or a memory jogger/prompt so I’ll know where I intended to take a scene. In addition, it often helps me to stop writing when I do have a clear idea of where I’m going (rather than giving up in the midst of a trouble spot), so that I am able to pick right up when I begin again the next time.

I really believe that if you try to do these things, you will have an easier time making it to your 50,000 word goal. Also, I think that if I ever do NanoWriMo again in the future (and this is a rookie speaking here, so take it with a grain of salt) a great way to jump start the endeavor is to spend a couple intense days to lay a solid foundation. Get away if you can, get a babysitter for a nice chunk of time, take a vacation day or anything that will allow you to get the thing going, I highly recommend it!

How do you work towards your writing goal? Do you do your best writing in the morning or evening? What rituals do you use to indicate to yourself that it is now time to write? I’d love to incorporate anything that works for you and utilize it in my own routine and approach, so don’t be bashful – let’s hear it!

National Novel Writing Month

3
Nov

This is insanity. Why would I sign up to do National Novel Writing Month? If I go along with the website’s recommendation, I will have to write like 1600 words a day to make the goal of 50,000 words in 30 days. How can I do this and pay attention to anyone in my family? How will the animals get fed? Must I forgo showers?

There are three main reasons I’m committing to this madness.

  • External motivators are effective — It is way too easy to let other things get in the way when it comes to writing. Having a specific, measurable goal makes me get my butt in gear.
  • Friends are fun — I’ve been trying to get connected to other writers in my area and this seems like a good way to go that.
  • There’s a novel running around in my head — I’ve had this story idea for over a year and since I haven’t been able to shake it out one ear, I figure this is a good time to see where it leads.
NaNoWriMo_2

NaNoWriMo_2 (Photo credit: nataliesap)

Have you ever thought about writing a book? If you have, what would it take for you to actually do it? The way I look at it, even if I don’t finish (but I will finish, doggone it! I’m going to make NaNoWriMo say uncle!) I will have a great deal more to work with than I do now, with characters and ideas contained in my brain and causing me to get a glazed, far-away look in my eyes when a new thought joins them. Maybe you should check out NaNoWriWMo’s website and decide if you’re a closet novelist!  P.S. I do plan to check in here during November, but please forgive me if I use this as a procrastination tool rather than a place for deep content during this time.