Triumph of good communication

This past weekend, my aunt was in town to visit us and do a training class for work. Even though she's always lived several states away, she's one of the aunts I've always felt closest to. Now, it happened that I had been hired be a soloist at my parents' church for the past two weekends, so when my mom and I were discussing the weekend plans before my aunt came to town my mom mentioned that my aunt was planning to come to the church service to hear me sing. (Side note: I can't remember when the last time my aunt was able to come hear me sing, but it's certainly been at least 7 years, and was before I got my master's degree in music).

Sunday morning rolls around and my dad, aunt and I were gathered eating breakfast and my aunt was still in her PJ's. I didn't think much of it, because both my dad and I needed to be at the church an hour early for the pre-service choir rehearsal (he sings in the choir on a regular basis), but as I'm heading back to my room to finish getting ready to leave, she mentions how she's probably not going to make it since she's not dressed or ready or anything.

Now, I have to tell you, having people come hear me sing can be a real trigger for me. If you don't want to come, fine, but don't tell me you're going to be there and then not show up. I've had too many people do that to me, and it pisses me off.

So I went to my room, finished my hair and makeup, and pondered what I was going to do with the information I had just gotten. The childish side of me was pissy and unhappy and felt very unloved. The adult part of me decided that I needed to be honest with her about how I felt, rather than just be silent and pissed off all day - which is how I have often dealt with such things in the past.

I finished up my preparations, and as I was heading out the door, I paused, took a deep breath, and told her, "You know, it would really mean a lot to me if you were able to make it." I tried SO hard to make it a neutral comment, not antagonistic toward her or anything, and it was really awesome to see her reaction. At first, she was a little puzzled, but then I think she understood what I was *really* saying, and started asking me about what time the service started, and about what time I thought my solo would come up.

I drove to the church feeling relieved and happy that I'd spoken my heart, and hopeful that she would make it, and sure enough, about 5 minutes before the service started, there she was. Afterwards, she came up to me and thanked me for reminding her where she really did want to be.

Pretty nifty, huh? Maybe this being honest thing works after all......

First person helps! (and other NaNo thoughts)

I did almost 3000 words today. Probably half of that was in first person. And yes, the words do seem to flow more easily that way. YAY! Maybe I'll switch back to 3rd person if I can get my pace going a little bit faster, but as it is, I'll take all the help I can get!

Now the question is, can I make myself do one more "power noveling" session before going to bed? Or maybe I'll go to bed and wake up early to do it in the morning.

One other NaNo fact I've learned about myself is that I have a virtually impossible time writing at home. Even though I've somehow managed to muster the willpower to leave the TV off for almost two straight weeks (yes, that is a big deal for me), there's always one more thing to do here... and I just don't *like* writing at my desk. Lame, I know, but I managed to bag 1000 words at lunch time while eating at Round Table Pizza. Ok, I was late back to work by about 15 minutes, but the point was, I went there to write, and I actually managed to!

So now the question is, where am I going to go tomorrow to write, since all my writing buddies are unavailable for the next few days (at least).....

NaNoBreakthrough?

OK, I just got out of the shower, where I had an idea that I think is going to make my life (and finishing my NaNoNovel) SOOOO much easier. Here goes:

When I started writing the novel, I decided to write in third person limited - kind of like wandering around life with a webcam on your head, and the reader gets to watch the webcam and also sneak into your head. That's definitely how I want the final novel to be, but I've found there's a sense of immediacy that's missing when I write in that style. Conversely, I absolutely *detest* reading books in the first person but writing in it - like for this blog - is SUPER easy. So here's the brilliant newsflash. For at least the next little while, I'll be writing my novel in first person. And then fix it when the edit comes around.

It probably doesn't seem like that much of a newsflash to anyone else... but it feels like one to me. I'll let you know how it goes.

NaNoSlacker....

So I didn't get to 25K words tonight. In fact, I didn't write any words tonight. I'll try again tomorrow - and since I'll be writing with JoAnne, I'll probably stay on task pretty well -- she's quite the taskmistress when she puts her mind to it!

Want to see my pets? Here they are...

Beam me up, Scotty! part 2

Apparently the doggie barfing is *not* over yet.

Sigh.

Beam me up, Scotty!

Total verified word count tonight before collapsing asleep: 20,036. That only leaves 3302 to finish tomorrow to get back up to date.

Argh.

Props to Scott, who pulled out the whip and started crackin' it on me. I don't think I would have gotten as far as I did without your help, so thank you. :D And if you ever need a dive with a change of scenery from your regular joint, we can always go back to the Concord Denny's!

Of course, when I got home, I found out the puppies were unhappy with me. So unhappy, in fact, that one of them had barfed on the bed. Yumm. Thanks. So I just spent the last 45 minutes stripping the bed down to the mattress and replacing all the sheets and blankets, and starting the yicky ones in the washer.

They seem to be better now - at least no active barfing going on. So hopefully whatever it was got out of their systems. In the meantime, I'm planning to collapse in bed, and hopefully dream up more plot twists and insipid dialog like I was coming up with earlier this evening.

Another Link

This one is much less random... I came across the absolutely perfect comic strip for NaNoWriMo this morning. Enjoy!

Your random link for the day

Here it is, folks... Your random link for the day:

Malapropism