December 31, 2008
Let me start off by saying that I do not make New Year's Resolutions. I never have and do not intend to start. If you're going to make a promise to do something different in your life why wait until December 31st to promise yourself that. Just do it.
This year went by awfully fast I have to admit. The two biggest things that I did was start this blog and do NaNoWriMo. I am certainly glad that I started this blog and I am glad that I have begun a reader base. It makes me happy knowing that you have enjoyed my content enough to subscribe. Doing NaNo and winning on my first try was a great experience. I hope you had as much fun reading about my triumphs as I did writing them.
In other news this year I became addicted to Lost all thanks to finding First On Mars. I started at season one and watched it all the way to the end of season four in record time. There were times when I thought I had things figured out or knew what was coming next, but then the writers yanked me in a different direction. I am really looking forward to season five. I actually can't stand the wait.
This year I saw gas go as high as $4.77 for premium grade, and if my memory serves me it stayed at the horrific price for nearly a week. We all know the troubles the economy is going through, so I won't beat that dead horse. But I will say that I hope never to see the Dow Jones drop as much as it did.
Here are some random events from 2008:
- Fidel Castro announced his resignation of Cuba
- The moon moved to its closest point to Earth
- Bernie Mac, Paul Newman, Estelle Getty, Heath Ledger, Charlton Heston, Tim Russert, Bobby Fischer, and George Carlin all passed away
- America elected the first African-American president
- OJ Simpson gets thrown in jail
- 67,000 Chinese people died as a result of a 7.9 magnitude earthquake
As midnight draws nearer we say goodbye to 2008 and welcome in 2009. I wish all of you a happy and safe New Year. I hope that you ring in the New Year surrounded by friends and family, a champagne glass raised in the air, and some one to kiss as the ball sinks to one.
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!
December 26, 2008Exactly one year ago today I made the choice to quit smoking.
I started smoking when I was 17 years old. My best friend in High School looked 18 and she was able to buy cigarettes for us. This was right before they made it mandatory for store owners to card people that looked under 30. My very first cigarette was a Camel Light and we would smoke only a couple of cigarettes a day. Mostly when we hung out after school. We always blamed the other when our parents would ask why we smelled like smoke.
Three years ago when I bought a new car I made the decision not to smoke in it. Doing this was the start of my road to quitting. I soon noticed that I was smoking less because I would normally have two or three cigarettes when I was driving to and from work. In addition to not smoking in my car I was not allowed to smoke in my house because my landlord's would not allow it. I respected their wishes. After all, who wants their house to stink like nasty cigarette smoke? So, through the rain, the wind, and the cold I would stand outside in my backyard puffing away. After two years I was down to less than a half a pack a day.
As I thought more and more about quitting I became more and more scared. What would I do at work? I had a schedule to keep. My breaks were like clock work. At 10 o'clock I was out there with the morning crowd. At lunch I would smoke one or two and again at 3 o'clock I was back outside smoking away with the crowd. I knew I could break the habit, but I didn't know if I was ready for it.
Quietly, on the day after Christmas last year, I smoked my last cigarette at noon, put my trusty lighter away, and bought Nicorette. I carefully read the instructions and popped the first piece in my mouth. It was peppery just like it said, but satisfying at the same time. Every couple of hours I would chew a new piece cravings or not.
All my fears washed away after a week of chewing the gum. I hardly had any desire to smoke and actually was enjoying the fact that my clothes smelled like laundry detergent. I found new ways at work to take my breaks and after a month of chewing the gum I gave that up too. Nicotine had me in its hold for 11 years, but now I can proudly say that I am smoke-free and I will never take another puff.
Are you a smoker? Is it time for you to quit?
December 22, 2008Dear Santa,
I know it has been eons since I've written you, but I felt compelled this year. I have been good, so I am confident that I am on your 'good list.' With that said I have a couple of Christmas wishes.
This year for Christmas I would love a Nintendo Wii. You might think that I am too old for such a gift, but let me tell you that the Wii is the BEST thing that Nintendo invented. I have to admit when I first saw it I wasn't impressed, but ever since I played it at a friend's house I am in love. Tennis is great, and even though I don't bowl in real life I love Wii Bowling. I would also like a digital camera. I think I am one of the last humans on this great earth that does not have one. Any make or model will do. I'm not picky. My cell phone just isn't cutting it anymore.
Thank you Santa for reading my letter. I hope that you will be able to deliver these gifts to me on Christmas Eve. My house doesn't have a chimney so you will have to use your magic and go through my sliding glass window.
Oh, and one last thing. Please make sure that my family gets their Christmas wishes granted too. If nothing else, that's what I would like most this year.
Love,
CJ Harley
December 19, 2008
I grew up as an only child. My parents divorced when I was young and I was raised by my father. I don't recall sharing Christmas with my mother, father, and half-sister but I know we did because I have seen the pictures in our album. I was wearing a Santa hat in all of them and you can tell they were taken at night because the Christmas tree was lit ,casting a rainbow colored glow throughout the photos.
My dad and I lived in apartments most of the time, but when I was six or seven we rented a house on a busy corner. I remember sitting in front of the Christmas tree one year with my dad and asking him how Santa got into homes or apartments that had no chimneys because every kid knew that's how Santa got in to leave the presents. He looked at me and said that Santa could get in through the windows. That his magic let him walk right through them.
He and I would put out cookies and milk for Santa. Sometimes even carrots or sugar cubes for the reindeer. I chuckle now, as an adult, knowing that it was my dad who took the sip from the glass of milk the night before. And it was he who ate the cookies and removed the carrots and sugar cubes. Wasn't it so exciting to see that Santa had actually drank your milk? The milk you left for him?
I loved Christmas as a kid. All the anticipation leading up to that one special morning when you wake up and see what Santa left you under the tree. My dad and I always opened one or two presents the night before. Then he would send me off to bed and of course I wouldn't sleep. How could I? In the morning there would be the unwrapped presents that Santa brought in the middle of the night sparkling under the Christmas tree.
I think my favorite Christmas present I got when I was growing up was a bicycle. It was my first bike that had hand brakes and I loved it. My dad and I, we did pretty good during the Christmas season for two people who just had each other. And I think that was the best gift every year...each other.
I'm not sure about you but I have heard this phrase many times through out my lifetime and I have to admit the very first time I heard it as a kid I had no clue as to what it meant. Me being the observant and quiet person I kept my mouth shut and decided to figure it out later. When I was a kid the Internet was not as readily available as it is today, so I couldn't just go home and look it up on Google. It was probably not until I heard it a few times in the movies or heard a friend or two say it that I finally caught the meaning. Ah ha! To be worth one's pay or to be effective, but where does the salt come in?
Apparently salt was a pretty big deal before refrigerators were invented because it was used to help preserve food. In addition to preserving food, salt was also an important commodity. In the Roman days salt was used as an item of trade and for its health benefits. Back then soldiers were given salarium which was an allowance for purchasing salt. The sal in salarium means pay in Latin and over time the word was shorted to salary. So because the words salarium and salt went hand in hand, the word salt became associated with pay or worth.
Aren't you glad I cleared that up for you? Don't you feel more knowledgeable?
Good. Now get out there and prove your worth in salt to the world!
Less than 2 days before NaNoWriMo officially starts, and as the day gets closer I find that a lot of the writing blogs I follow are posting their words of advice and great tips for the new comers to NaNo. I am doing my best to take all of their advice and use it the best way that I can. These tips come from veterans of NaNo and even people who have published a book or two.
SamProof over at The Path to Publication wrote a post on NaNo that really made me think. He called it Nanowrimo How to Schedule Your Time. The first thing I remember about NaNo in the beginning was someone saying that if you just write 1,667 words a day you'll get to your 50,000 by November 30th. While, in theory, this is correct (divide 50,000 by 30=1,667) it is not the best way to approach NaNo. SamProof points out the obvious in his post. What about taking a day off? What about Thanksgiving? I'm pretty sure my family would be fairly unhappy with me when I excuse myself for a few hours because I have to get my 1,667 words out that day. Besides, the fingers and the brain have to take a break at some point. Sam suggests taking at least one full day off from writing a week and definitely taking Thanksgiving off. In short my new goal will be 2,084 words per day, and I am comfortable with that. By no means am I going to stop writing for the day once I hit my magic number. Got 2,084 words and it's only 11:00am. I'm done! That would be plain silly. I will be using it as a marker and should I be faced with writer's block at least I'll know how many more words I need to put down to make my quota. Then I can focus on something else for a bit and return to my writing.
I promise that during the month of November I will not start any posts off like I wrote a few thousand words today and I feel great. Or I have horrible writer's block and I don't know what to do. How boring would those posts turn out to be?! I will, however, update you from time to time with my progress, but you will be able to see it any time you visit. I'm sure you have noticed my word count widget over there on the right side of my blog. That's the best place to look when you are interested in knowing how I am doing.
I hope I am able to achieve my goal and that this experience will be both fun and become a tradition with me. I have my family and friends supporting me and all of my new NaNo writers to help me in a bind.
I wish all of you good luck and I'll see you at the finish line! And remember, those 50,000 words could be the next best seller.
Inspired by a post from ProBlogger...
I started blogging because I love to write. Writing was such a huge part of my teenage years. It was my creative outlet. I don't remember who gave me my first computer, but I do remember how it looked in the corner of my room. It sat on a wooden desk that was made to fit in a corner. The desk had one drawer and I'm sure I threw anything and everything into it. I escaped into my own thoughts when I sat down in front of its screen and wrote whatever came to mind. I even remember writing my first, and only, story on it. I'm sure that computer is long gone. It had Windows 3.1 on it for Pete's sake.
Writing began to trickle out of my life after High School and the only time I would ever write was to send an email or to write a business letter. I wanted to get back to writing, but I always made excuses for myself. I would tell myself I didn't have anything to write about, or that I was too critical of my own work to make it through a story. I didn't have the confidence that I could just write. I told myself time and time again that I had no inspiration. It was a shame, really, what I was telling myself because I enjoy writing so much. Every person in this world has something, I believe, that is given to them when they are born. A talent. It may not be a million dollar talent, but a talent nonetheless and writing is my talent.
One day, in early October, something came along and told me to quit listening to that nay-saying voice and get out and do what I love. My Muse, lost as she was, found me after a decade of searching. Or perhaps she was waiting for the perfect moment. I will never know.
Tell me, why do you blog?
All right, I'm going to do it. Why not? It makes sense to me. I am an aspiring writer after all and what better motivation is there? I am going to put 50,000 words down on paper, figurative paper because I'll be using my computer, and turn it into a novel all in 30 days. The people over at National Novel Writing Month do this every November and this year happens to be their 10th anniversary.
Theoretically, if I write just over 1,667 words a day I can achieve my goal. I figure that's 2 hours of good, solid writing a day. And maybe more if I am on a roll. I haven't picked out a title. That I think will come later. And I'm not sure what to write about, but I am getting very excited about this challenge. I have joined a group at Blog Catalog . Come over and join us!
For those who are not going to participate in NaNoWriMo you can follow my word count progress right here on my blog.
A few weeks back I read an article on Daily Writing Tips about a book Stephen King wrote. On Writing is half memoir and half how-to. The first part of the book chronicles his early life and how he got his start as a writer. The second half of the book is where King goes into details of what he perceives is the best way to write.
After finishing this book I felt renewed and ready to write. I did my best to soak in what King was trying to convey to me. In this book King tells the reader to read, read, and read some more. This, unfortunately, is something I have fallen behind on. I enjoy reading very much, but have let the TV and internet entertain me. I have realized that reading inspires me.
I think the hardest concept for me to grasp and run with is telling myself to stop editing as I write. Even as I sit here and pound at the keys, I find myself wanting to go to the top and re-read what I have written.
In his book King also tells us that he dislikes the passive voice and adverbs. And I must admit that after reading the pages and chapters about the passive voice I fall victim to writing that way. He writes "With the passive voice, the writer usually expresses fear of not being taken seriously..." Adverbs are those words that end in "ly." King says "With adverbs, the writer usually tells us he or she is afraid he/she isn't expressing himself/herself clearly, that he or she is not getting the point across." Looking back at my style of writing I can see points in my work where I did use adverbs to show the reader what I meant. If I had been telling the story, then my reader would know exactly what I meant and there would be no need for clarity.
This was the first book I read on writing and it has given me some great insight into the mind of such an accomplished writer. I would definitely recommend any writer or blogger, for that matter, to pick up this book.