November | 2014 | Perle Champion

How busy are you in November?

04 Nov 2014 Leave a comment

by Perle Champion in Blogher NaBlo, National Novel Writing Month, Poetry, Thanksgiving Tags: Blogher NaBlo, Nanowrimo, Poetry, Thanksgiving

November is shaping up to be a roller coaster ride of

To do

To do.

First off, November means a bunch of holiday open house events and gallery openings, and other parties and I try never to miss a one. Then there’s Thanksgiving holidays, which in my family is a 4-day marathon of gathering, cooking, eating, etc.

Add to that:

NanoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) is always a challenge. In order to write 50,000 words by November 30 I need to write 1667 words per day minimum.

Solution: I’m banking words by writing as many words over 2000 as possible on a daily basis, because there will be days I won’t be able to manage more than 500.

BlogHer’s November challenge to post one blog per day for 30 days (NaBloPoMo).

Solution: I’m banking blogs, buy writing 2-5 at a time and scheduling them to drop on the appropriate day; cheating and posting NanoNovel excerpts; dashing off a quick haiku or plain poem…

Two poetry contests.

One was due Sunday at midnight, and I got it off @ 6pm that day. Cross your fingers for me – the prize is $500.
The second one is due November 30 same day as NanoWriMo, so I’ve already started on it in my ‘spare’ time.

Later gators. Tomorrow is my day out with my Mom, soooo I’ve got to write tomorrow’s blog and at least 1667 words on my novel.

What does your November look like?

Women’s History Told

03 Nov 2014 Leave a comment

by Perle Champion in Blogher NaBlo, Journaling, NaNoWriMo, National Novel Writing Month, Poetry, women's history Tags: Blogher NaBlo, Nanowrimo, Poetry, Women's History

“I prefer the pen. There is something elemental about the glide and flow of nib and ink on paper.”
― James Robertson, The Testament of Gideon Mack

Paean*

praise for the paeans
flowing from a woman’s pen
that told their story

quietly they rail
assail anonymity
filling silent pages

pen in hand they stand
long lines of women through time
countless pages writ

journals letters more
words telling the history
men tend to omit
© Perle Champion

*Paean: It comes from the Greek παιάν (also παιήων or παιών), “song of triumph…

So much of history is about men by men, but there is a rich history of women if one is willing to look. It exists in journals, letters, and more. So much has been lost or tossed as of no consequence. And, some has been preserved for us if we know where to look.

Southern History Room of Birmingham and the microfiche archives of the Linn Henley Library are rich with such histories. To pluck any journal from a shelve and begin reading is like stepping back in time and experiencing a life lived.

I’ll be spending some more time there in the next few weeks as I have some research to do. Birmingham has one of the best library systems I’ve encountered and I’ve known many.

Note:
Day 3 of NanoWriMo – Novel Wordcount is 8,449
BlogHer Blog-a-Day challenge 3 for 3

Do You Have Sunday Rituals

02 Nov 2014 Leave a comment

by Perle Champion in Blogher, Cats, Poetry, Ritual Tags: Blogher NaBlo, Cats, Poetry, Ritual

Rock Ritual & Rote

with rote of ritual
rock bottom can become our
solid foundation
© Perle Champion

Ritual can be elaborate, but many is simply the rote tasks we perform on a daily basis and never give a second thought unless life or the weather interferes.

It’s early Sunday morning (really early as I forgot to fall back) and, as with all my days, my first tasks are cat-related: put kibble in one bowl, pour fresh water in the other, put the coffee on. But, it’s Sunday and Jazzmine somehow always knows when it’s Sunday and waits impatiently for her can of stinky, shrimpy, Fancy Feast for breakfast. Seven days a week she gets kibble, but Sunday she’ll save the kibble for later and devour her stinky treat.

Sunday breakfasts require an audience, so I sit at the table with my coffee and keep her company whiles she eats. I open my journal and begin writing my morning pages, much of which made their way into today’s Blog.

No hurry. No walkabout this morning – I’ll probably ride my stationary bike while I watch Today and later do yoga stretches while I watch Charlie Osgood and after I’ll make my way to my desk to transcribe my pages and begin my 2000 words for my NaNo novel..

Finished eating, Jazzmine dashed down the hall, and I know she’s gone out her window kitty door to the balcony. Her rituals are simple, eat then outside to scratch her post and preen, before retiring to whatever pool of sunshine she can find to snooze in.

Moments later, she is back inside, and staring at me as only a cat can. Jazzmine feels betrayed, and lets me know it – it’s 31 outside. The odd throaty ‘meorrow’ seems to ask accusingly, ‘what have you done to the weather’. She stares out the window and ventures out once or twice more before giving up and curling up on the electric leopard throw that kept us warm at my desk yesterday.

On the bright side, this is the south and it will be 65 tomorrow and back to a shirtsleeves 70 Tuesday and Wednesday. Jazz will be able to resume, at least briefly,her daily balcony ritual foray – Winter southern style – gotta love it.

How to Make November a Marathon

01 Nov 2014 Leave a comment

by Perle Champion in Blogher NaBlo, NaNoWriMo, National Novel Writing Month, Thanksgiving Tags: Blogher NaBlo, Nanowrimo, Poetry Contest, Thanksgiving

Talking to a friend on the phone this past Monday, she commented that omg it’s practically November. I looked up from my coffee to the kitchen calendar and noted that in my Kitchen, it already was November and it was already booked solid – omg indeed.

I had turned the page early Sunday morning to jot more than a few items down for November and as I could see from Sunday the 26^th all the way through to November 1, I just migrated the few events left in October to the November page.

Yes I still use a real calendar, two actually. I have one in the kitchen for day to day life and one in my Aerie (that’s what I call my office/studio where I write and paint) for various deadlines and some duplication of the kitchen calendar. Later I will put everything into my Google calendar which syncs with my iPhone calendar. If they aren’t already there that is.

So, I’ve been looking at November since last Sunday, and still November 1 surprises me with all that I have committed to do this month.

Write a 50,000 word novel for National Novel Writing Month – NanoWriMo.org
Post a Blog a day for Blogher.com’s NaBloPoMo.
Enter 3 poems in the Two Sylvias Press competition for the Russell Prize due tomorrow.
Write a brand new poem and submit by the 30^th to Hermeneutic Chaos Literary Journal competition for the Jane Lumley Prize.

Oh, and lest I forget,

Luncheon lecture at Lister Hill next week – History of Medicine thru the Ages.
Three open house events I never miss in the little neighborhoods which make up some of Birmingham: Homewood, English Village, and PepperPlace.
Three or four of my favorite art galleries all have November Christmas shows.