How busy are you in November?

November is shaping up to be a roller coaster ride of 100_2442

To do

To do

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?

 

How to Make November a Marathon

Talking to a friend on the phone this past Monday, she commented that omg it’s practically NovemIMG_6615ber.  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 26th 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 30th 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 sthanksgiving past throw back thors day 11-18-13ome of Birmingham: Homewood, English Village, and PepperPlace.
  • Three or four of my favorite art galleries all have November Christmas shows.

Oh, and then there’s

  • Thanksgiving – the family gathers and cooks and it all starts the day before and runs through the weekend.

What’s your November look like?

I’m grateful for things small and large. You?

Thanksgiving Day 2013. 

Seriously:
 I’m grateful for things small and large.  I’m especially grateful for those we often take for granted.  In our mad dash to get from here to there and back again, we oft forget the things we have that had we not, our lives would be so different.  

I can walk and talk and hear and see and feel and breathe and think and love and more.  When I look around and see those who are missing even one of these things in their lives, I am doubly grateful for my largess.

I say a quiet thank you for these not-so-simple things we take for granted on an almost daily basis, as I cannot imagine how different my life would be without any one of them.

thanksgiving 11-28-13

Grateful for it all.

An then of course: 
I’m grateful for  family, friends, good health, sunrise, hats, sunset, eyesight, fall’s trees and kicking leaves, good food, Cabernet, dark chocolate, cold dos Equis, music, warm fire, candles, rainy days, martinis, sunny days, art, books, corny movies, poetry, my cat Jazmine, working from home, parades, Obsession perfume, red lipstick, leggings, l’oreal, red nail polish, friend green tomatoes, shoes high and low, pizza, etc., etc., etc…

How about you?

I love a parade

music, marching bands

themed floats and balloons on high

talking heads report

let the games begin

bowls followed by malls shoppers

armed and dangerous

Note: 

I love a parade – shopping and games – not so much.

My Thanksgiving day begins with coffee in front of the TV watching the Macy’s parade and perusing the Sunday-thick holiday newspaper that came out at 9pm Wednesday night.  Mainly, I love a thick newspaper, and I do need to do a little shopping, so I need to see what the deals are.

We don’t eat until 7, so there’s no rush to get anywhere until later this afternoon.  I’ll spend the rest of the morning on my e-books that I’m hoping to launch by Saturday or Sunday; calling friends to wish them well; chatting on facebook; the old ‘Miracle on 34th Street’ playing in the background…

Life is good and I am grateful.

Holiday Migrations

thanksgiving eve day

the gatherings begin now

students scatter to

far flung parents’ homes

neighbors’ drives spill onto streets

christmas lights appear

Note:

Driving to the store today for last minute supplies for Mom, I notice that my young downstairs neighbors (students both) are gone.  There are a lot of students living in my neighborhood.  Other neighbors driveways are populated with out-of-state plates.

I’ll head out tonight for Mom’s in Hoover, 15 minutes down I 65, to help her and my sister with food prep for tomorrow.

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