To the First Day of DST in 2011

From the last weekend in February to the first day of Daylight Savings Time for 2011. Where did the last two weeks go?

Well, last weekend was one of playing (imbibing) too much - something that is getting harder to recover from the older I get! We attended Barrel Tasting Weekend along the Russian River Wine Road in Sonoma County, and I overtasted...oops! Had a great dinner at Bistro 29 in Santa Rosa on Friday night before the overindulgence though!

This weekend was one of attending the Northern California Publishers and Authors (NCPA) meeting, with one fantastic speaker! Rachel Dillon - an author/illustrator based on Folsom - discussed her series of books comprised of poetry and artwork based on endangered species. How they came to be, her style of artwork (which is fascinating!), and process - of art, of writing, of getting from draft to finished product (published!).

During the work week(s), work has been challenging, playing number games, waiting for Congress to do their job and work out a Federal budget for 2011 (which was due to be in place by last October). At least the threat of a governmental shutdown seems to have been averted, but the final fallout has yet to be determined, both in the short term (the rest of this fiscal year) and in the long term (good old ripple effect to be felt for years to come). Working on long-term studies and projects - where we are expected to stay on schedule and within budget (without taking into account too much on the schedule slip/added cost to ramp down and then ramp back up instead of working straight through to completion) - when we don't know what funding we are really getting year to year is not an easy way to do business. And in today's climate, we cannot necessarily rely on what has happened in the past continuing into the future. Living in interesting times seems more of a curse then a blessing right now.

And in the midst of all this, my heart goes out to the people from Japan to the West Coast of the United States who have lost lives and livelihoods due to the recent earthquake and accompanying tsunami.

And back to the personal side...checking on the accomplishment of the weekly goals.

Exercise - did not do much either week. Think I did yoga three times and the trainer and the gym once each last week, and did yoga and a bike ride once each this past week. Mother Nature reminded me I'm female and knocked me off my game...sigh...

Writing - fell off the wagon two or three days during the last two weeks. And this poor blog was neglected last week as well. Perhaps Percopotomus took more out of me this year than I expected! ; ) Actually I think it was more related to work stress and Mother Nature's friendly (?) reminder of my femaleness.

I leave you this week focusing on those who have lost lives and livelihoods due to recent natural disasters throughout the world. We are all human beings first and all else comes second.

Namaste.

23 Jan 11 - This Week In Life

Well, let's see...I now have a weekly goals whiteboard staring at me through the leaves of the African violet on my desk. It has my goals for exercise (gym/trainer/walks/yoga), writing (morning pages, project(s)), and events (Artist Dates, etc.) for the week.

I can tell you exercise is my dismal spot - 33% completion rate there - must do better! Writing and Events garnered 100% completion rate - yeay! Now to keep that up!

To date, I have done two weeks straight of the morning pages as recommended by Julia Cameron, and I find them to be helpful in centering me. I have rules for these pages - no personal angst (or not much anyway), to start with. Do them daily - even if I can't do them first thing in the morning. This gives commitment to my writing and, perhaps like exercise for other folks I've known in my life, I will get cranky and have to write the pages if I miss a day or so!

I believe I touched on attending a My Girlfriends Garden event in last week's post. I did attend the event, and it was great! I felt so at home with this group of gals. Just meeting them all and feeling accepted - wow! Robyn McCann, http://www.elephantsdance.org/, the speaker, was great! She shared how she was raised in a strict religious home yet always felt guided by animals in her life, even when she didn't realize that's what was happening. She opened herself to the experience and has led a wonderful life because of it. Another gal I met, Kari Hagensmith, has this really cool book - The Girlfriend Will. Her card says "I'm gone. You're here. Someone's got to clean up this mess." I know several women in my life that would get a kick out of this book! And I can't close this paragraph without telling you about Lisa Mann, owner of Fortezza Winery. She put up with my questions about her wine, and poured for all of us. She was just so nice and friendly - a definite keeper on the winery list (and good wines too!!)!

The other event I attended this weekend was a birdwalk at Heritage Oak Winery in Lodi, CA. David Yee, local bird enthusiast (among other things), leads monthly birdwalks on the property, which backs up to the Mokelumne River. We are so blessed that Tom Hoffman, the winery owner, allows us to use his property for these events. His family has maintained a balance between the vineyards and the riparian areas that yields magnificient habitat for many species of birds either stopping off for a rest and a bite to eat during migration or looking for a place to nest for the season.

All of the creative and accepting energy that I was blessed to be with this week led to me starting another writing project using the sentence for the current contest for the publication, The First Line. The sentence is: Sam was a loyal employee. How the story works out...well, if I manage to get it written/edited/submitted by 31 Jan 11 - I'll still have to wait until the periodical is published either way - that's the rules! I will tell you this though...it's another story set in the Character Realm!

Wow! That's a lot for a week's time...

Belkher Chronicles Update

I am still working away on Papacita - and if you look to the right side of this blog, you will see a link to the blog specifically dedicated to the Belkher Chronicles.

2008 Goals

Yes, I know, resolutions are deriguer this time of year...so here are mine, in the writing realm, by month:

Every month

10 hours per week minimum
Work on short stories for various contests (The First Line, etc.)

Every third month

Check progress on goals

January

First rewrite of Harken the Change

February

Work on Soultalker

March

Second rewrite of Harken the Change

April

Send Harken the Change out for critique
Work on Soultalker

May

Not much writing...getting married this month

June

Euro vacation - capture scenes, characters, dialogue

July

Last edit of Harken the Change
Synopsize it
Format and publish it

August

Work on Soultalker

September

Finish Soultalker

October

Develop story ideas for NaNo 2008

November

NaNo 2008 - write 50,000 words in 30 days

December

Enjoy the holidays
Update goals for 2009

GO, GIRL GO!