Geek Squad”s got my computer. Did 1,500 words today before it glitched. Posting this on my son’s computer. Hopefullty I’ll get my computer back tomorrow. Wish me luck.
My Favorite Places: Zion National Park
Emerald Pools waterfall in Zion National Park in Utah -- Photo by Pat Bean
There are so many different kinds of writing and so many ways to work that the only rule is this: do what works. Almost everything has been tried and found to succeed for somebody. The methods, even the ideas of successful writers contradict each other in a most heartening way, and the only element I find common to all successful writers is persistence-an overwhelming determination to succeed.” – Sophy Murnham.
NaNoWriMo Update … 28,717 words
NaNo goal of 2,000 words met, physical therapy appointment kept, drive from my daughter’s homein Dallas to my son’s place in Harker Heights accomplished, segments of my novel written out in my head as I drove, hugs and kisses from my autistic granddaughter, yummy liver with onions and bacon, rice and gravy and green pea dinner with family, ice cream sandwich for dessert, Survivor show watched with my son, and now I’m writing and posting my blog post.
I’m pooped but happy.
Posted in Favorite Hikes, Favorite Places, Nature, Travel, Writing | Tagged Emerald Pools, nanowrimo2011, pat bean, postaday2011, Utah, waterfalls, Zion National Park | 5 Comments »
Travels With Maggie
Maggie and I were just about half-way around this 1.5 mile trail at Laura Walker State Park, located just a few miles from Georgia's Okefenokee Swamp, when we came upon a warning sign that said beware of bears. I think she and I covered the last half of the trail in a fourth of the time it took us to walk the first half. It was beautiful trail, however. -- Photo by Pat Bean
NaNoWriMo Update … 26,697 words
“You can’t wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club.” – Jack London
Busy day today. Lots of errands to run. I’m not pleased with my word count, and hopefully I will get some more writing done before I go to bed.
I find it interesting that when I start writing a scene, things happen that I don’t know are going to happen. I find it frustrating, however, when I start a scene and then it doesn’t know where it wants to go. Both of these happened to me today, and numerous times over the past 15 days.
Keeping the action moving, trying to insert clues and red herrings, and leaving out all the boring stuff is my goal. But meeting it isn’t easy.
There is so much I want to do to make my words better. But I tell myself to just keep writing … just keep writing … just keep writing. Better is for later.
I would take heart in that the challenge is halfway over and the fact that I’m on target with my word count. But I fear it’s easy part that is all over. I’m thinking hard on the “S” word again
Posted in Favorite Hikes, Favorite Places, Nature, Travel, Writing | Tagged georgia, jack london, nanowrimo2011, okefenokee swamp, pat bean, postaday2011 | 3 Comments »
Somewhere over the rainbow is Mesa Falls in Idaho -- Photo by Pat Bean
My Favorite Places
“The best time for planning a book is while you’re doing the dishes. – Agatha Christie
NaNoWriMo Update … 25,743 words
Two glorious days of writing going well, followed by two miserable days of brain farts. At least I got a little more written these last two miserable days, and thankfully I was ahead of schedule.
Next two days have chunks of missing writing time: Doctor’s appointment, final physical therapy appointment (The therapy for my neck went much better today than the writing.), and drive to my oldest son’s for his the official retirement ceremony from the military after 37 years.
I sure hope Christie was right about writing going on even when you’re not writing. But just in case she’s not, please send words my way.
Posted in Favorite Places, Nature, Travel, Writing | Tagged agatha christie, Idaho, mesa falls, nanowrimo2011, pat bean, postaday2011, waterfalls | 3 Comments »
“From wonder into wonder existence opens.” – Lao Tzu
Thanksgiving Square Chapel, Downtown Dallas -- Photo by Pat Bean
“Wonder rather than doubt is the root of knowledge.” – Abraham Heschel
Wonder is the beginning of wisdom.” – Greek Proverb
Wondering is healthy. Broadens the mind. Opens you up to all sorts of stray thoughts and possibilities.” – Charles de Lint.
Posted in Weekly Photo Challenge | Tagged Dallas, lao tzu, pat bean, postaday2011, thanksgiving square chapel, weekly photo challenge, wonder | 4 Comments »
The landscape along Highway 95 in the Glen Canyon Recreation Area dwarfs my RV, Gypsy Lee. -- Photo by Pat Bean
My Favorite Places: Glen Canyon
Highway 95 Bridge across the Colorado River in Utah. -- Photo by Pat Bean
“A writer lives, at best, in a state of astonishment. Beneath any feeling he has of the good or evil of the world lies a deeper one of wonder at it all.” — William Sansom
NaNoWriMo Update – 23,643 words
Continuing with the 5 a.m. start. The writing came slow at first but then it picked up momentum. This one scene, where a self-righteous hypocrite and her lover get caught with their pants down, was a joy to write. I had wanted to put the woman in her place and couldn’t figure out how to do it until today.
After it was written, I wanted badly to go back and polish the writing, But I convinced myself that leaving it alone, at least for now, is a good thing. At the end of this challenge, I want to be excited about going back and doing the necessary rewrite.
I am now seriously thinking what I’m writing could be turned into an actual book. It’s a necessary ego trip that keeps me writing. Otherwise I’d have given up after the first week when the doubts started to slip in.
As an old broad who made her living writing for a newspaper for 37 years, I never doubted my ability to write. What I wasn’t confident about were my ability to finish such a lengthy project, and whether I had enough imagination to write fiction. It’s not nearly as easy for me as writing facts. But writing a mystery, which I love to read, has been something I’ve wanted to do ever since I got hooked on Nancy Drew and the Hardy boys.
Thanks NaNoWriMo for challenging me to actually do it. It’s been a long time coming.
Posted in Favorite Places, Nature, Travel, Writing | Tagged glen canyon, Highway 95, nancy drew. hardy boys, nanowrimo2011, pat bean, postaday2011, recreation areas, southern utah | 4 Comments »
One of the books I loved growing up was a literature textbook that belonged to my mother. She told me her parents had bought it for her after she had flunked her English course so she could study it before she had to take the class over again.
I must have been only about seven years old, but already reading extremely well, when I discovered it. I fell in love with the book, and especially the poetry it contained. I memorized many of the pieces, including the lengthy “Prisoner of Chillon” by Lord Byron. The poem’s chilling closing lingers with me still: “My very chains and I grew friends/So much a long communion tends.”
But my favorite of all the poems, which I also memorized although at the time I understood it less than Byron’s narrative, was “In Flanders Fields.” I simply liked the rhythm and music of the words.
Today I understand it well. Sadly it’s as timely now as it was at the end of World War I, when John McCrae wrote it.
Field of poppies -- Wikipedia photo
In Flanders Fields
In Flanders Fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the dead. Short years ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved, and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders Fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders Fields.
NaNoWriMo Update – 21,497 words
Lot of backtracking during my writing today. What time did that restaurant open? What was the name of the Bed and Breakfast on the beach? What was Jeff’s last name? Etc., etc, etc. Thankfully I was able to find what I wanted through a word search.
I added the information I needed to my character/time frame/place-name notes. It would have been nice if I had jotted that information down when I originally wrote it but how was I to know I would need that information again.
I’m learning, however, and that was what this challenge for me is all about.
And among the things I’ve learned is that I work best if I start my writing at 5 a.m., especially since most of the rest of the world – including my daughter and her husband who got back from their cruise yesterday – are still asleep. The secret to doing this is to get to bed early.
And despite my flipping back and forth through what I had already written, today’s writing went speedily, more so than any day. I had my 2,000 words finished by 9 a.m., despite trying to remember and get up every half hour and stretch my neck and back. .
The “Force” was with me today. Hope it’s with all you other NaNos out there, too.
Posted in Books, Writing | Tagged in flanders fields, john mccrae, Lord Byron, nanowrimore2011, pat bean, postaday2011, prisoner of chillon, veteran's day | 4 Comments »
My Favorite Places: Tonto Basin
I love Arizona's Tonto Basin any time of the year, but it's especially colorful in spring. -- Photo by Pat Bean
“I try to leave out the parts that people skip.” Elmore Leonard
NaNoWriMo Update: 19,476 words
I was up and at my computer at 5 a.m. this morning. It’s much easier for me to write before the sun comes up than after it goes down. I’ve also started using a timer set for 30 minutes. When it goes off I get up and move around for at least a couple of minutes, or a bit longer if my neck feels stiff.
I actually love it when the bell jangles while I’m in the middle of a sentence. Such an untimely interruption makes it easier to get back immediately into the writing.
In this way, I’m surviving what past NaNoWriMo survivors say is the second week slump, a time when you’ve gotten to know your characters a bit and maybe don’t like them. I know my first-person character is coming off too bland, while those with supporting roles seem to have personality up their ying-yangs.
One piece of advice I got today from one of the NaNo blogs was that if you didn’t like what was happening “get kooky.” Gotta think about how to do that. I mean not every one of us can write like Janet Evanovich – and we shouldn’t.
I pick my daughter and her husband up at the airport in a little while. I’m worried about how the writing will go when I have people around me again. It’s been great having a big old house to myself, although I miss writing in my RV where I can I look out at the world. When I’m visiting my daughter in Dallas, I have no place to hookup. It’s been the only place I haven’t slept in my own bed in seven years.
But sleeping in my own bed will happen again when I change home sites next week. I’ll headed to my son’s place in Harker Heights, and he has a great set up for my RV.
The downside there, however, is that I’m going to have to steel myself away from early morning games of Settlers of Catan with a daughter-in-law. She and I are both addicted to this board game, and when I visit we play it a lot. I’ve already warned her I have to do NaNo first.
Posted in Favorite Places, Nature, Travel, Writing | Tagged arizonia, deserts, elmore leonard, nanowrimo2011, pat bean, postaday2011, tonto basin, writing | 2 Comments »
My Favorite Places: Lake Claiborne
Lake Claiborne, Alabama, in the fall. -- Photo by Pat Bean
“Writing is an exploration. You start from nothing and learn as you go.: –E.L. Doctorow
NaNoWriMo Update – 17,309 words
Only about 1,500 words today, but they felt like good, words and I feel I’m back on track with places to go in my book. A couple of new plot lines finally hit my brain cells. .
I also don’t feel too bad about the fewer words because I had several errands to run and two hours of physical therapy for my neck. I also did an extra blog to promote Rana DiOrino’s “What Does It Mean to Be Safe,” a children’s picture book, but one that has good advice for adults as well.
The other reality I’m facing is the fact that I can’t sit and sit in front of the computer as I want. It’s most likely what got my neck so horribly stiff in the first place. I need to get up and move about every 30 minutes.
So what I’m now doing is writing my book in short scenes, and then taking a short break. I walk the dog, put a load of clothes in the washer, do my neck and shoulder exercises or whatever. The key is to get right back to the computer and go into the next scene. It helps if I get up in the middle of a sentence so I can get right back into it. A timer’s helping me do that.
I’m also trying to convince myself that I really can write after the sun goes down. I don’t like it, but I can see it’s going to have to happen if I’m to meet the 50,000 word goal without screwing up my neck any more than I already have. Can I say my favorite “S” word right now?
Posted in Books, Favorite Places, Lakes, Nature, Travel, Writing | Tagged Alabama, d.l. dcotorow, Lake Claiborne, nanowrimo2011, pat bean, postaday2011, writing | 5 Comments »
“I feel there are two people inside me – me and my intuition. If I go against her, she’ll screw me every time, and if I follow her, we get along quite nicely.” – Kim Bassinger
When a beautiful landscape is also a safe place for Maggie and me to park Gypsy Lee, life couldn't be better. The Idaho state park campground above was lighted, patroled nightly and located by a scenic lake. -- Photo by Pat Bean
Travels With Maggie
When you’re an old broad who lives in an RV and often doesn’t know where she’s going to spend the night, safety is an issue. There are just too many sunrises and sunsets I still want to see.
I thought about this seven years ago when I sold my Utah home, and disposed of almost all my possessions and became a nomad.
My rules for staying safe on the road began with driving only during daylight hours and making sure I had a safe berth for the night. I quickly realized most inexpensive Forest Service campgrounds, where I thought I would be staying, didn’t quite fit that bill. They were a little bit too lonely and isolated for my comfort.
Written by Rana DiOrio and illustrated by Sandra Salsbury
National parks, state parks and decent commercial parks, while a bit more expensive, have become the mainstay for my nightly, weekly or even monthly stays, as this past summer when I volunteered as a campground host at an Idaho state park.
For additional safety, I have a guardian travel angel, a daughter-in-law who always knows the route I’m traveling when I’m on the road, and with whom I check in with once a day. And when I lock the doors of my 22-foot RV, I actually feel safer than if I were living in a home where I couldn’t see all the doors and windows. For added measure, my canine travel companion, Maggie, makes an excellent alarm system. She barks when anyone comes within about 30 feet of our home on wheels.
I wish when I was younger, and a mom of five kids, I could have felt as secure about their safety as I do today about mine. I was fortunate that my offspring escaped all the pitfalls of speeding cars, unsupervised creek swimming, stranger encounters and teenage foolishness to become adults who now worry about the safety of their children.
I do believe their job is even harder than it was for me, and more complicated for their children than it was for them. Rana DiOrio, author of the award-winning “ What Does It Mean To Be …” children’s book series tackles this situation in her latest offering” “What Does It Mean To Be Safe?”
It’s a book I want my grandchildren and great grand-children to read. One of the best messages of the book, which is delightfully illustrated by Sandra Salsbury, is that kids should follow their inner voices, that their own intuition will tell them when they are not in a safe situation.
I found this interesting because it was my own inner voice that told me I would be safer while on the road if I traveled only when the sun was out and spent my nights where there were people and lights.
I also remember times as a young child when my intuition told me never to be caught alone with a distant male relative. As an adult, I realized how on target my inner voice had been when I was only eight years old.
While designed for children, Rana’s book has a message even for us grownups.
Readers can buy her book by going to: http://shop.littlepicklepress.com/what-does-it-mean-to-be-safe-p33.aspx Enter the coupon code BBTSAFE at check-out to get free shipping and a free poster to go with the book.
Posted in Books, Lakes, Nature, Travel | Tagged children's books, kim bassinger, postaday2011, Rana DiOrio, safety, Sandra Salsbury | 16 Comments »
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“It is good to have an end to journey toward; but it is the journey that matters.” — Ursula K. Le GuinPat Bean is a writer, avid birder, hiker and passionate nature observer with wanderlust in her soul. She spent nine years living and traveling in a small RV. She now lives in Tucson with Scamp, a rescue who was supposed to be a Schnauzer mix but turned out to be a Siberian Husky-Shih Tzu mix who is as stubborn as his owner, her granddaughter says. She was also a journalist for 37 years, and can be reached at patbean@msn.com
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