The Round Robin Photo Challenge

I was asked to choose the topic for this weeks photo challenge and since I'm near the finish line for Nanowrimo, I chose "what are you thankful for?" This picture represents what I'm thankful for and that is the beauty in my everyday life. These are beautiful iris' that are blooming at the end of November and in 24 degree temperatures in my yard. They stand tall and strong despite the harsh world surrounding them. I watch everyday as they fight to live. If you look close you can see the sun hitting the mountain and the fall colors. Awesome!
I had to add that I'm thankful and blessed to have shared my grandson's first year of life!
Never leaving out my husband, who made it back safely from the harsh storm that hit WA over Thanksgiving. He really got to spend quality time with his grandson's.

I'm going to reach 30,000 words by Thursday in Nanowrimo and I'm so thrilled at my progress that I will finish my novel. I can probably lift a small truck with my one typing finger, but I'm THANKFUL for the push the contest gave me.

Special thanks to Pam and Helen who cheered me on everyday! You all have made this 30 day challenge easier and thank you for all the cards and he emails that comforted me when I lost my Manny dog.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I'd like to thank you all for being such a comfort to me. I'm back at writing but I wanted to wish you all a great turkey day :)

Farewell to a Warrior

Manny has finally passed on and I'm greatly saddened by my loss. He was given to me by a friend when I first retired, as a companion. He became so much more to me. I learned so much from him and he left knowing he was loved. The vet came to the house and gave him a happy shot so I could tell him all that he meant to me. He left this world looking into my eye's and was ready. Rest in peace my little man-dog! I love you!

Manny the Warrior

You were the sweetest gift I’ve ever
been given, full of love and devotion.
Coming into my life in God’s perfect
timing, to walk by my side in darkness.

You made me feel safe and strong,
as you prepared to fight beside me.
Love was your shield, loyalty as your
sword, bringing me into the light.

You struggled as you grew older but never
let it stop you from being my protector.
Fighting a separate battle of your own,
like the bravest of warriors til the very end.

You looked into my eye’s, as I held your
sweet head, saying all that was needed.
I felt your last breath against my skin
as I watched you leave through your eye’s.

You are everywhere and you are nowhere
yet I hear the silence like a loud roar.
Waves of sadness wash over my heart
as I look to the spaces you used to fill.

You left a hole in my heart that I must fill
with all you have brought to my life. I’ll
continuing to keep up the fight, knowing
you are there, always by my side.

Week Two of NaNoWriMo- 15,347 words

Fall has finally hit the foothills and this year has been the most colorful, so it was well worth the wait. The rain has come and with it a chill in the air, but my view is making it bearable since I have strapped myself into my computer chair to write.
I've been an emotional roller coaster re-living the good and the bad of the last sixteen years in my novel. I'm writing my journey of living with ALS, but adding not only my view of it, but my girls viewpoint's as they lived it too. The layers will show my personal battle along with theirs as caregivers trying to remain kids, with an awesome courtship and love story added in. I must become them and write what they were feeling from age six on up (some of it very raw and enlightening). Not to mention I get to be Dave too ;) If you click on the blue NaNoWriMo button on my sidebar it will take you to an excerpt of our funny first date. Remember it's not had my poetic side added yet and it's a ROUGH DRAFT.

Dave hooked up my heated foot bag with massage and made me gloves to keeps hands from becoming stiff. My #1 fan!

PICTURE OF THE WEEK

THINGS I'M GRATEFUL FOR:

1. Continuing to keep up my novel.

2. My friends who walk beside me in spirit.

3. Fall coming through my windows screaming to be admired.

4. My electric blanket, foot bag and peppermint mocha creamer for my coffee.

5. Manny still snoring behind me :)

6. Dave getting to fly to WA for thanksgiving where he can be with his family and totally relax playing with his grandson's. No work for Dave!!!!

7. Lynne, who will watch out for me and keep me safe for Dave :)

Week One of NaNoWriMo- 4621 Words

I was thinking how crazy this is for me to attempt until I read Becca's post here . It's exactly what I needed to read... THANK YOU BECCA! My finger is hanging in there but telling my story from four different characters is tough. It feels great to talk through my daughter's eyes because I can swear like a sailor and It lets out my frustration. Just started chapter two and even though I'm way behind 1670 words a day. I'm excited to know I will come out of this with a first draft. 50,000 words in 30 days or not I'm writing...WooHoo!

PICTURE OF THE WEEK

THINGS I'M THANKFUL FOR THIS WEEK

My friend Tink at http://tinkerart.typepad.com/had a great suggestion for NaNoWriMo writers. It is to post once a week on what we are thankful for. Thanksgiving is almost upon us so it's a great time to count our blessings. Not to mention letting your friends know you did not fall off the planet ;)

1. That I can still use my hands.

2. My daughter Michelle made it to age 23 on the 3rd...Woohoo! Girls day out and did not write a word.

3. TK sleepover leaving me little hand prints on anything with a reflection. He kisses the baby in the dishwasher :) Only other day off but he wore me out more than typing all day. LOL

4. An amazing husband that commutes 4hrs/day to work, is fixing up two homes, does laundry, cooking, groceries and helps me. Yet drives 4.5 hours (each way) to visit his 83yr old mom and put in a new sink for her, all in one weekend. You go babe!

5. Manny is still going strong!

6. Blog friends support and emails keeps me going. I'm missing my blog life and clubs but I'm reading all your posts to keep track of everyone. Writing can get lonely!

MOVIE OF THE WEEK
Deep Blue - An amazing documentary on the ocean!

Happy Halloween!

Getting Ready!

I'm gearing up for NaNoWriMo and I will be missing from my blog for most of November.

NaNoWriMo:
National Novel Writing Month is a fun, seat-of-your-pants approach to novel writing. Participants begin writing November 1. The goal is to write a 175-page (50,000-word) novel by midnight, November 30.
Valuing enthusiasm and perseverance over painstaking craft, NaNoWriMo is a novel-writing program for everyone who has thought fleetingly about writing a novel but has been scared away by the time and effort involved.
Because of the limited writing window, the ONLY thing that matters in NaNoWriMo is output. It's all about quantity, not quality. The kamikaze approach forces you to lower your expectations, take risks, and write on the fly.

I will be checking in on all your blogs daily but to achieve my goal I'll save my finger power for NaNoWriMo. I will be attempting to write a fictional autobiographical novel from four different view points of my families journey. I need cheerleaders for my strength to endure this tough but important goal. I will still post when I can but will miss my blog routine of club participation.

Manny had a stroke over the weekend but is bouncing back yet again! Who says cats only have nine lives? I'm nursing him along but did not want anyone to think I've forgotten them by slinking away. Manny's stroke and this writing venture will take up most of my November. Lynne has been my greatest encourager to write, so I thought I'd share what she emailed me. Many of you are doing this and maybe this quote and poem will inspire you. Wish me luck!

"In my family we were taught to respect excellence...anyone who was good at what they did...deserved our admiration. Moreover, we were to use the talents God had given to us in pursuit of similar excellence ourselves. There was no point in comparing ourselves with others...but only with what we might become by using the gifts God had given us. "Respect for excellence and its pursuit did not mean that you had to be excellent. You did your reasonable best. You didn't quit. Approval....was conditioned on trying. The emphasis was on effort, rather than outcome."
By Andrew Greely

A Simple Poem for Virginia Woolf

This started out as a simple poem
for Virginia Woolf you know the kind
we women writers write these days
in our own rooms
on our own time
a salute a gesture of friendship
a psychological debt
paid off
I wanted it simple
and perfect round
hard as an
egg I thought
only once I'd said egg
I thought of the smell
of bacon grease and dirty frying-pans
and whether there were enough for breakfast
I couldn't help it
I wanted the poem to be carefree and easy
like children playing in the snow
I didn't mean to mention the price of snowsuits or
how even on the most expensive ones
the zippers always snag
just when you're late for work
and trying to get the children
off to school on time
a straightforward poem
for Virginia Woolf that's all
I wanted really
not something tangled in
domestic life the way
Jane Austen's novels tangled
with her knitting her embroidery
whatever it was she hid them under

I didn't mean to go into all that
didn't intend to get confessional
and tell you how
every time I read a good poem
by a woman writer I'm always peeking
behind it trying to see
if she's still married
or has a lover at least
wanted to know what she did
with her kids while she wrote it
or whether she had any
and if she didn't if she'd chosen
not to or if she did did she
choose and why I didn't mean
to bother with that
and I certainly wasn't going
to tell you about the time
my best friend was sick in intensive care
and I went down to see her
but they wouldn't let me in
because I wasn't her husband
or her father her mother
I wasn't family
I was just her friend
and the friendship of women
wasn't mentioned
in hospital policy
or how I went out and kicked
a dent in the fender of my car
and sat there crying because
if she died I wouldn't be able
to tell her how much I loved her(though she didn't and we laugh
about it now) but that's what got me
started I suppose wanting to write
a gesture of friendship
for a woman for a woman writer
for Virginia Woolf
and thinking I could do it
easily separating the words
from the lives they come from
that's what a good poem should do
after all and I wasn't going to make excuses
for being a woman blaming years of silence
for leaving us
so much to say

This started out as a simple poem
for Virginia Woolf
it wasn't going to mention history
or choices or women's lives
the complexities of women's friendships
or the countless gritty details
of an ordinary woman's life
that never appear in poems at all
yet even as I write these words
those ordinary details intervene
between the poem I meant to write
and this one where the delicate faces
of my children faces of friends
of women I have never even seen
glow on the blank pages
and deeper than any silence
press around me
waiting their turn

Bronwen Wallace