George Washington's
Rules of Civility
and Decent Behaviour

47th:   Mock not nor jest at any thing of importance; break no jests that are sharp biting; and if you deliver any thing witty and pleasant, abstaian from laughing thereat yourself.

Yesterday's Entries

2000: The Care and Feeding of Steve
2001:  Such a Beautiful Day
2002:  How Many Activity Points Do I Get for Coughing?
2003:  Thar She Blows

CURRENTLY READING

Trace by Patricia Cornwell
Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott

Sheila Videos
"See Sheila Run", "Meet Barkley"
"The Green Monster", "Sheila's Tongue"

Today's interesting Search Engine queries:
(how people find this journal)...

• 7 old ladies locked in a lavatory
• 866 849-2343
• Hung Muscle Hunks
• "It's a sorrowful day in the neighborhood"
• Baker Peeples
• 3 wheel metermaid
• jeri butt
• Deep fried Twinkies
• Urethral Play
• Suicidal Squirrels

"HAVING WRITTEN"

10 October 2004

When I told Mary (Bozoette) that I had signed up for NaNoWriMo and was nervous about it, she suggested a couple of books for me to read.  One was Bird by Bird:  Some Instructions on Writing and Life by Anne Lamott

Lamott has written several books which have been published and that qualifies her to teach courses on writing, on which this book is based.

I already had the book, so when I went off to the blood bank this morning to bleed for my country, I took it with me to read.  I immediately identified with her message. 

The problem that comes up over and over again is that these people want to be published.  They kind of want to write, but they really want to be published.

For most of my adult life, people have told me that I write well, that I could earn a living writing, that I should have a syndicated column (what?   The internet isn't enough?), that I should write a book, etc., etc.

Oddly enough, being published has never been that brass ring I'm reaching for.  Being published is scary.  Being published means that there are all sorts of expectations that you be...you know...good at what you do.  If there's one thing that terrifies me, it's rejection.  A published writer might just as well wear a t-shirt with "REJECT ME" written boldly across the chest and a bullseye on the back.

Being published would be nice.  Having a syndicated column would be nice.  Getting paid to write would be nice.  (Well, something a little more regular than the money I get for reviewing shows.)

But it does not eat away at my craw that I must be published. 

What I must do is write.  Writing comes as naturally to me as breathing (and sometimes more naturally).  From the time I was a child, I've written. 

Heck, I've even been published (even if Amazon did get the names wrong!).  Being published isn't nearly as satisfying as "having written."  When you have been published, it's set in concrete and every time you look at the end product, you cringe at the things you could have done better.

...publication is not all that it is cracked up to be.   But writing is.  Writing has so much to give, so much to teach, so many surprises.  The thing you had to force yourself to do--the actual act of writing--turns out to be the best part.  It's like discovering that while you thought you needed the tea ceremony for caffeine, what you really needed was the tea ceremony.   The act of writing turns out to be its own reward.

There is a tremendous sense of satisfaction spending time writing a journal entry, for example--coming to the end of it and realizing that it (kind of) hangs together, (usually) has all the words spelled correctly, (probably) follows a coherent thought, and that I finished it in a (hopefully) logical fashion.

So as I start out on the NaNoWriMo project, I have no illusions about becoming a famous author, writing the Great American Novel, or even writing anything that I'd want anybody to read (one thing I hate is to have people read something I'm not ready to share with them!).  But I am excited about the prospect of spending a month as a working writer.  Having a goal to aim for.  Not feeling like I'm goofing off when I sit here at the computer staring at the screen, trying to craft the perfect phrase.

On December 1, it would be such an incredible high to look back and think "I wrote an entire novel in just a month."

Then I'll burn it.  LOL.

1 Gallon and Counting

I was surprised when I was sitting in the donor chair this morning when one of the employees at BloodSource told me that this was my one gallon donation and so I was getting a keychain.  Kewl.   It can replace the "10%" keychain I got at WeightWatchers when I lost the first 10% of my weight (which I have now put back). 

It was kind of funny giving blood today.  This being October, the donation center was draped with cobwebs, with chains of witches and ghosts looped across the rafters, a big collapsible pumpkin hanging overhead, and a huge tarantula stuck to the wall.  I joked that I would have thought they have chosen a Dracula theme.  She told me that it was perhaps because they were a blood draw station that they rejected the Dracula theme.  "Some people are already nervous about coming in here to begin with," she said.

Fortunately, I've never been upset by blood (now gore is sometimes a different story...).  I'm one of those people who enjoys watching the technician stick the needle in my arm and watching the blood begin to flow into the donation bag, or to fill up a test tube if I'm having a blood test.

It's kind of nice getting this symbol of having donated a gallon blood.  Over the course of my life I've donated a lot more than that, but it's a gallon with this organization and I'm scheduled to begin my second gallon in December.

Website of the Day

My friend Michael sent me a document that everyone should read.  I've posted it as a separate page on this web site.  I hope everyone takes the time to read it.

On the slim chance that you haven't heard that there is a new JibJab movie about the political landscape out there, you must go to this website (if it's unavailable it's probably because there is too much traffic going to it at the moment).  Watch it more than once.   A lot of things slip by because there's so much to look at.

PHOTO OF THE DAY

Another of the pictures I took with the new camera the other day.

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