Edgy Mama

NaNoWriMo ends at midnight tonight. NaNoWriMo ended for me about two weeks ago.

Instead of forcing myself to chip away at my novel, even though I might not make the goal of 50,000 words, I made the grand, illogical gesture of abandoning the whole thing until the month of November is over.

According to my screwy logic, I can start working on my novel again tomorrow.

Here’s part of my problem. Several of the NaNo chat rooms and advisory e-mails tout “padding” your novel so you meet the word count. One chick suggested never cutting, or if you do cut, just paste the cuts onto the end of the manuscript so you don’t lose a SINGLE word.

Does this strike any one else as an exercise in futility? I mean, I could easily write a couple thousand words a day if I wrote overly-full scenic descriptions or long, boring dialogue exchanges or every touch-rendered sex scenes. But is the point, really, just to write 50,000 words? For some people, perhaps. And I’m not saying it’s not an accomplishment. It is. Writing 50,000 words can be a great and wondrous thing.

But I’ve done that. I’ve already written two 80,000 word novels. And one of them I wrote without planning or much editing. And you know what? The novel sucks. I wrote myself into a big, gaping mudhole.

So, I realize that, while it would be nice for me to have 50,000 words written on this novel instead of a paltry 11,000, I’m not going to write words for words’ sake. I’m going to write as well as I can, not as long as I can. I’ll still have to go back and edit 15 times, but if I have a plan and some organization and I edit as I go, I have a MUCH better chance of having the end result be publishable. Some day, though not today.

For those of you who wrote 50,000 decent, well-organized words this month, congrats! I wish I could’ve done it. But I couldn’t. Unless I had an advance that made it possible for me only to work on my novel AND to hire a part-time hausfrau. Now that’s an idea…

UPDATE: According to the NaNo website, the total collective word count for November 2006 was 982,495,939. No word yet on how many of the 80,000 or so peeps who signed up actually made it to 50,000.

Our Christmas tree is up and decorated. Yes, I realize that it is still November. But I LOVE having a live, spicy-smelling, bedecked tree in my home. LOVE IT! The tree sits next to my desk in the front window of my living room, and gives me, for over a month, a special nooky hiding spot. It’s not much, but my 18 inches wide desk is really the only spot in the house that is ALL mine (now that my kids want to use my puter, it’s not even that). I adore sitting here, writing and working, while feeling all festive and holidayish and smelling like I’m in the forest.

I’m proud of this particular tree, because I worked hard on this one. I drove back from Atlanta on Sunday with the kids (E stayed there to work). Stopped in Franklin at a backwoods Xmas tree farm. Let the kids (with help) choose a tree. Drove it home in horrible traffic on I-40.

Got Paul (neighbor) to help me roll it off the van and onto the front lawn. Then realized the base was huge. Too huge to fit into my tree stand. Sawed three inches off the bottom of the tree. Clipped off several lower branches. Admired resultant blisters on my sap-heavy palms. Got tree upright in stand. Got Paul to help me carry it inside. Spent about an hour getting it straight and screwed into tree stand. Admired new prickly fir hair-do.

Next day, spent 500 hours untangling Xmas lights and wrapping tree in color. Ran out of lights. Had to visit the drug store for more. Forgot to plug lights at top of tree in. Found amazing cord that has multiple plugs and can run up the back of the tree. Had tear-jerking moment when all lights came on at once. Put on some Xmas music. Sang Feliz Navidad off-pitch with the kids. Sat on the sofa exhausted while the kids placed all the ornaments on a two-foot wide area of tree. Had friends over to help decorate who sat in the kitchen drinking beer instead.

Now admiring gorgeous addition to my office space and rearranging ornaments so my favorites are on my side of the tree. Photos to follow. Whenever I can get up the energy to move.

…pushed back into my mouth. And some Pokemon cards.

All Mommy wants is the $3,500 needed for step ONE of my orthodontia. Okay, that’s not really all Mommy wants. The U.S. out of Iraq would be nice. As would a 30 percent decrease in world carbon emissions so I have a future. And could you throw in some liquored chocolate while you’re at it? Mommy’s really happy when she can snarkle one of those in the morning.

One of the hottest trends in food has finally hit Ashvegas, and if you haven’t been by the Cupcake Corner on Pack Square, you’re missing out.

The Cupcake Corner comes to us courtesy of the Sisters McMullen, bakery owners with a track record of knowing how to please. The cupcake shop opened up recently in the space formerly occupied by Bonnie’s Little Corner on the square in downtown.

We stopped by on Saturday and found the place slammed with tourists packed into the tiny shop. It’s a space not really suited to crushing crowds, but that’s what the cupcake folks were dealing with as downtown buzzed with tourists/shoppers and people just out and about enjoying nearly 70-degree weather.

The pastry case brimmed with gingerbread men and cookies of various sorts and, of course, wonderfully fluffy cupcakes of all kinds. Customers were literally gobbling them up.

The cupcake trend is one of the hottest trends in food these days, having conquered New York, L.A., Detroit and now, apparently, Ashvegas. According to this Detroit Free Press story, the craze can be traced back to 2000, when an episode of “Sex and the City” featured Carrie and Miranda chowing down on cupcakes at Magnolia Bakery in Greenwich village. Magnolia now reportedly sells 3,000 cupcakes a day.

The trend spread to the West Coast a couple of years ago, according to the story, where the shop Sprinkles in Beverly Hills has taken cupcake chic to new levels.

The cupcake craze has even inspired a new blog.

So, now you’re hip to the cupcake craziness and you can try it yourself. Check out the Cupcake Corner and give us your full report.

Houdini

Your Christmas Stocking Will Be Filled With Little Wrapped Presents

You’ve made Santa a very happy fellow this year. Don’t worry - what happens at the North Pole stays at the North Pole!

EM, hope you don’t mind me sneaking by the bloggie! -ash

We’ll be in Atlanta with one of my sistahs and her kids for the weekend. Turkey Day dinner will be at Dad’s house, with various extendo family members of ours and his wife’s attending.

I haven’t had a traditional family Thanksgiving in a while. Since my grandfather died, there have been fewer times that my extended Atlanta clan has convened for holidays. Plus, negotiating hols with divorced parents can be a mine field. Stir in marriage and kids and differing traditions, and, damn, got to wonder why we torture ourselves.

Why are traditions, holidays, quality family time, so important to so many of us? And why do we screw it up so often? Everyone’s got a story about a family holiday gone wrong. I remember a couple stupid, heated debates leading to my wanting to stick a fork, or even a butter knife, into one of my loved ones. Or into one of my spouse’s loved ones.

This year I’m not cooking, which decreases my stress level significantly. All I have to do is show up, drink some wine, and try to keep my kids under control. And try to keep my Dad off the topic of my soon-to-be ex-BIL, who, needless to say, will not be showing his cheating face. But that’s another story for another day.

All this is to say, have a relaxing Turkey Day. Try not to let the fam dynamics get to you. Don’t drink and drive. Or drink and play football, particularly if you only do it once a year (I did that a few years ago, and I couldn’t walk for three days afterwards). Don’t stab anyone with a butter knife. But if you do, let me know, because it’d make great blog fodder.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Can’t get photos to post. AGAIN.

I’m getting a new camera for Xmas, which I’m excited about, but it’s looking like I won’t be sharing photos with you much.

Because Blogger SUCKS!

I know I’m supposed to be thankful this week, but I’m feeling irritable. And I’m gonna take it out on the fricking Internets.

Happy Thanksgiving, turkeys!