It’s also been a wonderful month for me because I’ve been doing some serious future planning.  I think yesterday may have been the first day this month that I didn’t do something or just daydream about those future plans.  It was also the first day in weeks I haven’t written.  I’m not putting myself down for that, I hit my goals and figured I could take a break for a day and just well, take a quick break.  I did catch up a little on my Netflix and finished reading a Suzanne Brockmann short story I’d started weeks ago then put aside for the writing.   Today is a new day however and I’m back in the mind set of working towards those goals.

So who else is in for NaNo this year?  At this moment I plan to blog a little more, if for no other reason than to keep a record of this year’s progress.  See NaNo is all a part of these plans too.  I need to cross the finish line this year.

See I put all my music on a portable hard drive years ago, but iTunes the program has always sat on my laptop.  When I installed iTunes on my current laptop I didn’t think for a moment that I would lose the playlists when I did this.  If I had realized then that plugging in my iPod to the new iTunes would wipe them off I would have recreated them first.  I know better for next time.  Some of the playlists I’ve been able to recreate to some degree but not completely.

I gambled this morning and pulled out the laptop and the recovery disc and set about to restart the laptop and after a few tries, I got it back.  It started up and gave me my desktop.  I was able to open iTunes and there they were.  I cannot begin to describe the sheer joy that came over me as I realized I could have them back.  Not to mention just how happy The Younger Miss Bennets are, let’s just say there is much dancing and singing.

But something else happened.  I should have known this, but didn’t.  I world build through music.  Only music.  Well, I have photos of my heroes and some side characters but everything and I do mean everything else comes from the music.  My stories and the drive to write came back to me today in a rush.   It all makes such sense now, but I never made the connection before today.

So, in addition to backing up story files, I will from now on keep a record of my playlists.

I’ve been going through a phase of trying to reduce my footprint around here.  I have stuff that I keep for reasons I cannot easily remember.  Like the stack of books I put in the donation box this afternoon.  I read 3 books from that stack and each one was more frustrating than the last.  I went through a phase where I bought books strictly because they were from the Harlequin Blaze line, especially at the used book sale at the library that’s all I bought.  For at least 3 years.  So my paperback book stack now is 24 books high.  I have some keepers, books that aren’t available electronically.  If they are ever made as e-books then out the physical books will go.

I wonder a little what has brought this on.  I’m feeling very determined to let go of stuff lately.  Maybe it’s leftover from last year?  I never really had the energy, emotionally, to do any of this.  I kept losing family last year, I had trouble coming up for air some days.  I just have to check myself and make sure I’m not toss things just to toss them.  I’ve done that then wished I’d had them back.  I know I’ve bought a couple of craft books twice because I’ve donated them only to want/need them again.

So does anyone else do this?  Get in a mood in the Spring and/or Fall to clean up the space around them?

Oh but this hasn’t pushed me to put those 60 pages of handwritten story on the computer yet.  I actually considered laundry over that today.  Maybe later.  Maybe.

The writing is coming along much better I’m afraid.  The manuscript I was ignoring for the first couple months of this year has been put away and I’ve pulled out an old favorite.  One that actually has a beginning, a middle, and an ending.  Imagine that.  Of course that’s the draft that’s also like 20,000 words short.  Details, details. 

I’d say I promise to blog more, but well I’ve been saying that for a while now and it’s not happening.  If it’s any excuse, I am getting other things done and finally get out from under the clutter around here.  Not that you’d know it at this exact moment but it is getting better.  Now I just have to get to the whole putting words to paper thing.  Speaking of which, has anyone seen the Younger Miss Bennets?  They’ve been suspiciously quiet.  I’m worried where they’ve gone off to.

I’m not quite back into writing, but I do have the file open with a few new words.  I’ve been listening to the playlist while reading old notes so the story is definitely in my head.  I’m just trying to get the latest new ideas formed better in my head.  I like where it will take the beginning of the story, but I have to re-work a couple things to get there.

I’ve been trying to get out from under some of my crafting projects.  I’ve made some serious headway in that and maybe this latest appearance of sunshine I’ll feel more motivated to keep at it.  I was feeling great there for a few days then, well the snow and grey and cold came back and out went any desire I had to do anything. 

So that’s about it.  Just wanted to drop in and post a quick note and hopefully I’ll be back at this with more regularity as the weeks go.

What has been taking up my time is piecing 4 small quilt tops to donate.  I see a lot of women on my quilting chat loop who make charity quilts with their guilds to donate to wherever.  I discovered that the local shop owner will take pieced tops and finish them and donate them.  I think I mentioned this in my last post.  Well I’ve happily made 4 tops that will be taken to the shop this weekend.  I think committing (to myself) to piece 4 in just over a month was a bad idea.  I will still make a few more during the Spring and Summer (assuming we ever see the end of this snow) but I won’t put a deadline on it again.  I am very proud of myself of doing this.

With all that done I suspect I’ll get back on the writing wagon soon.  This sudden blast of really cold weather has pulled any desire I had to do anything but reading and nap.

How is everyone else’s week been?

Let’s see on the writing from I’ve got 8 pages and about 1,000 words.  Wait think you read that last week?  You did.  But no worries, those 8 pages will be incorporated into the 8 pages I’ve written today.  Yup, I’ve done that 1,000 words today.  I need to sit down and work out the new story points I’ve come up with in the last week or so and get it all in one piece.

On the crafting front I’ve got the blocks for 4 charity quilts pieced and pressed.  Now I just need the time and well, thread, to sew them into small quilts.  I figure it will take me a day for each.  Let’s hope it only takes a day for each top.  We’ll see.  I had hoped to pop out to the store today but waking up to snow (even just a dusting) made me not want to leave the house and since I didn’t have to I didn’t.  Maybe tomorrow will be better. 

Oh, I did finally get around to trying out Pandora radio.  I’ve been seeing people online talk about it for years now but never thought much of it until recently.  I go through this phase every couple of years where I just get bored with my iTunes catalog.  There’s plenty there I’ve barely listened too but still, I get bored.  I used to listen to the local radio station but that’s become a joke, even when I can pick it up.  So Pandora to the rescue.  I created my little radio station with a couple of artists from my current story’s playlist.  Namely David Bowie.  I built from there.  I’m liking this.  Also I’ve hit a small snag with the iTunes playlist for this story.  I’ve written to it just enough that I cannot change it because I know the order and expect song b to follow song a and when it doesn’t it pulls me out of the work.  The problem is that this playlist isn’t in the best emotional order so there are songs I’ll skip when I’m plugged into the iPod but on the computer it’s more than just a finger swipe. 

Not much else going on around here.  I’m seeing more and more signs of Spring, even if the temperatures aren’t improving.  I just want some fresh warm air and the ability to sit outside in the sunshine.  Is that too much to ask?

Since last we spoke I’ve written 8 pages or 1300 words.  It’s slow but it’s coming along.  I suspect I’ll write some later.   My writing time last night got sidetracked by a little bit of just not feeling well.  So far today I’ve done my morning internet, that somehow took ALL morning to deal with which isn’t usually the case.  Then after that I cut some fabric for a charity quilt.  Did I mention that last time? 

I’ve committed to making 3 small quilt tops for charity during the Lent season.  It’s a great way for me to deal with the scraps that have been collecting around here.  I really wish there was someplace I could just donate the fabric to around here but alas there is not.  I wonder sometimes what it says about a place that makes donating items nearly impossible.  When we moved, my mother and I found at least a dozen coats/jackets that we were no longer wearing and wanted to donate.  Now I understand why most women’s shelters are not publicly listed, what I did not expect was to be told by someone at Social Services that they did not take donations of clothing or toys or blankets.  Really. 

I used to donate fabric and other crafting supplies to a local nursing home but they won’t take them anymore.  The nursing home my mother works at hasn’t taken donations like that in, well damned near forever.  My aunt and her girlfriend made lap afghans during the football season a couple years ago and then had a hell of a time finding any place that would accept them. 

Yeah, I just keep finding more and more reasons to get the hell out of here.  Now if I could just settle on one place long enough I might actually do it.

How’s everyone’s week going so far? 

p.s. what is it with the speller checker on this thing?  Afghans is too a word and it is spelled correctly.  Jeez.

What else?  Not much.  I’ve been crafting a lot, trying to get to the bottom of piles and have a little less stuff sitting around here collecting dust.  I’ve also been reading through what’s left of my physical to-be-read pile.  I got a gorgeous red Sony ereader last Christmas but I’ve resisting much on it until I got a handle on the piles around here.  Notice it’s taken a year but it’s done, mostly.  I have a huge pile of Harlequins that I bought at various used bookstores for pennies that I’m thinking of actually buying retail and putting on the ereader.  I mean, I didn’t feel bad buying 4 and 5 year old Harlequins at book sales because they were virtually impossible to find anywhere else, but the glories of the digital age means I can buy them and actually support the authors. 

Not much else right now beyond my overwhelming desire to have Spring.  NOW.  Did I mention it’s snowing as I write this? 

And once again the speller checker has me laughing.  It’s flagged “red” as a misspelling.  It thinks I mean “read.”  I’m off to work on something.