Sunday, November 22, 2009

I Have a Dream, Too

This is hard for me to articulate, because it's been percolating in my head for so long... I'm not sure it's going to come out right! I just know I've been training my whole life for this project, this dream. It's as if I had to have the experiences I've had in order to be worthy of getting to this point. So here goes, I'm throwing this out into the universe!

I want to run a non-profit. I want to bring music, Portland's at-risk teens and words together in ways that will have long lasting impact. I want to run an organization that combines free writing and music workshops and teen events. The workshops will run, like, four times a year. The events will meld the inspiration of words and the inspiration of music together to change lives. In my dream, Portland based bands like Floater, Everclear and others will play and Northwest authors such as Stephanie Meyer, Sherman Alexie, and others will give readings between sets.

That's my dream and I'm sticking to it. The how is whole nother ballgame. But I'm working on it.

Friday, November 13, 2009

My Husband is a big A** Baby

And I don't care who hears me say it.

For the record, I love this man. He has worked for his family harder than any man on the face of the planet,(just ask him). How could you not love a man who grocery shops, keeps my car running, fixes stuff and does laundry? Seriously. Plus, he has a great sense of humor and makes me laugh more often than not.

But.
No, make that BUT.

He is a baby. What's that baby chant we used to taunt little kids with when we were bigger kids, but not big enough to be totally secure in our bigness? Kind of like neener, neener, baby needs a binky, or something like that? That's the kind of BABY I'm talking about.

I've always known this. He is NOT a good patient. (He will admit this himself.) At twenty he ruptured his appendix and by the time his mother got there, the nurses were all like, "Oh, Thank GOD, she's finally here!"

So this shouldn't be news. I've nursed him through many an illness, after all.

But now he has a hernia and the end of the world is AT HAND. When he told me on the phone that he had to have surgery, and would be down for a month, I ALMOST HAD A HEART ATTACK. I thought, if that man is going to be sick for a month, I'm outta here. Whatever sick, sadistic S.O.B. wrote the vows in sickness and in health never had to take care of MY husband. Turns out, he would only be down a few days and would be on light duty for a month, but that is the kind of EXAGGERATION I am dealing with.

I'm trying to be sympathetic, really I am. But a hernia is NOT that big of a deal. MILLIONS of people get them and have them FIXED. I understand it is a big deal to him and I'm trying. God, am I trying.

But for the love of all that is good and holy, he's whining to a woman who had TWO children without the benefit of drugs, a twelve hour BRAIN SURGERY, BRAIN RADIATION, and had a blood vessel in the back of her sinus CAUTERIZED with VOLTS Of ELECTRICITY! WHILE CONSCIOUS.

I could SMELL my own BURNING FLESH.

Ahem. So I am really struggling with being as sympathetic as he needs me to be. Possibly because there isn't ENOUGH SYMPATHY IN THE WORLD that would satisfy.

There. I just had to get that off my chest.

Sunday, November 01, 2009

Nano and Other Crazy Things

Yep, I'm doing Nano. For the first time in like seven years, I had the concept and the motivation at the same time on the first of November. This idea might be THE high concept, break out novel I've been waiting for. So I went to a nano write-in last night and I can't believe how tough it is to just write and not edit. I've done it before, usually at the end of the book as I'm trying to finish, but never at the beginning when I am trying to lay a good foundation. All I have to say is December is going to be FUN.

Speaking of Nano... I went to the meet and greet last Thursday night. So I am sitting at Powells, chilling with my peeps and I hear loud applause behind me. The woman across from me says, “Some really popular children’s author is in there. Some guy named Eoin Culfer? I guess he wrote a series called Artemis Fowl?” I freak out, text my son, and run over and buy his latest and stand in line for an hour to get his autograph. I get my pix with him and bring the books home to my son, who actually gets teary-eyed! There are two authors in the world he would die to meet: one is JK Rowling, the other is Eoin Culfer.

Serendipitous!



Off to add to the 1800 words I wrote last night! (After midnight, of course!)