Writing Prompt Sunday: Be Afraid!

Let's all get excited because I actually A) remembered it was Sunday; B) remembered that I have a blog to keep up; and C)came up with a prompt. And guess what? It isn't really a Hallowe'en related prompt. Well, it's sort of kind of related. It's about fear. As a child I was always fearful of Hallowe'en. I'd been forced through too many neighborhood haunted houses and had too many people jump out of the bushes screaming when I was little to truly appreciate the fun of Hallowe'en until I became an adult. I also feared that my costumes would be lame (like the year I was a flower wearing a green leotard and pair of tights and this huge fabric flower that was starched so it would bloom out around my face, until it got humid half way through trick-or-treating and I looked more like a wilted daisy). I have very few real things that I am actually afraid of. I'm not really afraid of spiders, but have this fear of being wrapped up in spider webs. I'm not afraid of snakes. Not afraid of the boogeyman. Not afraid of black cats or saying that Scottish play's name. My fears run more into the emotional. For instance I fear being lonely (but not of being alone). I fear being lost. I fear being in very large chaotic crowds. Especially lost and lonely in very large chaotic crowds.

Sometimes when writing out characters I find that I either give them too many fears or that they are too perfect and fearless. We can't have that. I don't believe there is anyone who has no fears. So what are your characters' fears? Are they afraid of public speaking? What about falling down? Fear of flying? Fear of bats? Fear of being hit by a foul ball at a baseball game? Fear of being poor or losing all their money? How does that fear move them?

Here's the prompt: Have your character confront one of their fears. What does your character do to overcome the situation so that they can move on? What does your character learn about themselves? Has the confrontation helped or made the fear worse? Do you see your own fears reflected in your character? What would your character say about your fears?

Now how many of you are afraid of what NaNoWriMo is going to hold in store for you this year? (Not me!)

Oh there it is!

I had a Really Good Idea for NaNoWriMo this year. I had a plot and everything. And the more I looked at it the more I realized it was nothing more than a short story. There was no way I could turn it into 50,000 words. At max it would be 10,000. So it was back to the drawing board. And nothing was coming. Do you know the sound that nothing makes in your brain? It's sort of like playing Pong with the computer as your competition. It's full of dark empty space with the echoing plink as the pong hit the paddle. Yeah. That bad.

Usually when I get into one of these states I will head to the bookstore and just browse the back of rows of books to read their covers. It gets my mind whirling and I end up with a plot about a computer nerd, a nun and a prostitute who are trying to save the world from aliens. (Do not steal that idea. I'm planning on using it one day!) I've had this horrible desire to want to create, but lacking the, well, gumption to actually jump off the creative diving board and do it. I've been that way with my knitting as well. I want to make gorgeous Jane Thornley inspired sweaters and shawls, but I keep standing on the edge refusing to even get my toes wet. It isn't that I don't have the talent or skills or education to do those things. It's that fear of failing or not being good enough. The bookstore did nothing to help inspire me. If anything it made me feel pathetic and clueless.

That's when the wonderful words that keep coming back to me started taking over the plinking of the everlasting Pong game.

"Write what you know," my brain finally heard.
"But what do I know anything about?" I asked.
"Knitting," said the mysterious voice.
"Uh, have you forgotten that this is National Novel Writer's Month?"
"So incorporate it."
"Leave me alone. I'm enjoying my game. Plink. Plink. Plink."
"Have it your way," said the voice.
"Bzzzz. Darn it! You made me miss."

But now it is there. I've got the idea. And yes; it incorporates knitting. Well, knitting is a character really. I've got a plot with a beginning, middle and and end and it can easily become 50,000 words. I passed it by my biggest critic and she said, "Aw, Mom, that sounds like a wonderful romantic comedy that I would pay money to see as a movie." (That, by the way, is a major compliment.) So beginning Monday morning my word count will appear here. You can also follow my progress on Twitter (user name is knitcookwrite there, too).

Now to go find all that yarn for my creative shawl.

OMG run around in circles screaming, "It's almost time!"

NaNoWriMo is almost here again and this year I actually feel prepared going into it. I'm planning on posting my word count each day so those of you cheering me on can know how much further I have to that 50,000 word mark. I love NaNoWriMo. I feel free when I'm writing in a blitz like that. Just write. Don't think about it. Don't edit. Don't critique. Don't even spell check for that matter. Just sit there and write. I should write like that more often because I get really good stuff pouring out when I'm not all concerned about how it looks or reads or if it even makes sense. I think I'm hypercritical when I write leisurely.

In other news, I'm still baking away. It's fun. You should try it. I also am knitting up a storm. Have finished a few shawls and am almost finished with my hexagon socks.


I'm trying to settle on my next "thinking socks" and have a feeling I am going to lean either towards the Miss Marple socks by Star Athena or a pair of entrelac socks.

Bread bread and more bread

The weather has finally started to cool off and with that I get a major bug to start baking. I was recently introduced to the book The Bread Baker's Apprentice by Peter Reinhart. I am loving the concept of slow fermenting breads. I've played a bit with this concept in the past but never to this extent. I've made several of the breads and they have been quite fun. The hardest part is that we aren't eating the bread as fast as I can make it and most of the recipes come in two loaf variations. This is a delightful large book filled with fabulous recipes. Reinhart talks of bread as though he is wooing it. It is near poetic erotica how he speaks of bread and describes it. Just reading his description of crumb and crust will make you salivate and yearn to get your hands into flour. I highly recommend this book for any true bread lover. Oh and just a word of caution. If you make poolish and put it in a 1 quart jar because it fits and then you forget to put it in the fridge after a few hours you will come home to find poolish all over the counter, down into the draw that houses your bags and wraps, inside the door of the baking pans and in a puddle on the floor. The next day when you go to use said poolish you will only have enough for one large loaf of bread. I don't think you need to ask me how I know this.

The biggest problem that I am having with some of the wetter breads like the ciabatta is that I'm not getting the nice big open holes that these breads are known for. Mine tend to have a really nice crumb and great taste, but I'm missing the holey experience. I'm thinking that I am handling them too much between letting them rise on the cloths and putting them on the pants. The next time I make one of these I am going to let it do a final rising after they are on the pans and see if I am just degassing them too much when I move them to the pans. My friends are enjoying my efforts (though I think that their waistlines are not).

My last bread I made was a lovely egg enriched challah which had just the most wonderfully tender insides. It made you just want to use it for a pillow and it was quite delicious. I have several loaves to make for this upcoming weekend and I am going to make sure that this is one of them.

Don't faint - it's a post (and a writing prompt)

Yeah, sorry about being gone for so long. Life sort of got in the way there a bit and I've been so busy with various projects and events that blogging took a back seat. I've got a blog planned for tomorrow that includes a bit about baking and later this week I intend to catch up on my knitting and writing projects. But this is Sunday and Sundays are my writing prompt days. So here goes:

Your character's best friend is having a birthday. How is it celebrated? What does your character buy or make for their BFF? Why? What is the point of the gift? What does this tell you about your character?

See you tomorrow!

10 on Tuesday: Off to College

Today's 10 on Tuesday is about 10 things you wish you had known before you went to college or that you would tell someone before going to college.

1. You don't have to go to college just because you finished high school. You can wait. You can experience some life for a while. You can still backpack across the US or Europe or go do a mission trip to bring fresh water to people in Guatemala if you like or get a job at the MAC counter in the mall. College isn't going anywhere and if you go before you are ready chances are that you are going to drop out, fail out or (worse in my opinion) bore out of learning.

2. Don't let anyone tell you that your major is stupid or useless or not real. If you want to be a theatre major or a French language major or get a degree in fine arts with an emphasis in pottery, then go do it. Do what you love not what someone else thinks is important. If you are studying accounting because your father told you that it was a responsible career where you can make lots of money but you hate it, then don't do it. Do what you love. Be happy doing what you do rather than rich doing what you hate. Also, while it is true that jobs are further and farther between in specialized degrees, not everyone ends up as a teacher or waiter or flipping hamburgers at Mickey D's.

3. You will party. Don't delude yourself that you are going to buckle down and study. Let yourself enjoy your college years. Just don't let your partying dictate how well you do in college. If all you do is sit in your dorm or the library studying and you have no social life, you might as well just do a home study course in your closet in your parents' house. Save it for the weekends and for Bob's sake, please always have a designated driver and make sure that your DD is sober. If you can't trust your DD, then you be the DD.

4. No Doze will not help you pass a test. If you don't know the material, no amount of caffeine will get you through the test. You might as well take it tired with the limited information you have retained than hyped up and unable to answer a single question.

5. While ramen is cheap, you still need protein and fresh produce. Take care of yourself and remember those 4 food groups. Alcohol is not one of the four food groups. Protein and fiber come before rum and Coke.

6. Safe sex. If you don't know what it is, ask. Ask your mom or your dad or your guidance counselor or your school nurse. Or if you really are seeking anonymity, e-mail me and I'll explain it all to you. Or Google it. Just make sure you use it. Got it?

7. If you find yourself hyperventilating before every class and not sleeping because you are so stressed you can't think past the next minute let alone through Friday's Ethics class, then it is time to take a break. It's ok to take a break. See #1. College isn't going anywhere.

8. Always circle the last day to withdraw without failing on your calendar. Just in case. You never know when that World History class (or in my case the five attempts at College Algebra) are going to be your doom. Don't let that date slip by knowing that there is no way you are going to pull off a passing grade. It's ok to drop a course that is killing you so you can spend more energy on those classes that are going to be productive for you.

9. The package store is cheaper than a night on the town and usually lasts longer (as long as you don't invite all your friends over.) Now, I realize I've mentioned alcohol several times in this post and I'm not an advocate of heavy drinking. I'm just being frugal. Oh and red wine keeps better without a refrigerator than white. Just saying.

10. A degree doesn't equate to a career. And not all careers need a degree. If what you want to do would be better served through a different avenue, do it! If you want to own a yarn shop, take some small business classes through your local community college and get a job at a yarn shop. If you want to be a chef, go to a culinary institute and get a job at a restaurant. There are tons of apprenticeships available in all kinds of careers. College is not the only way to a successful and happy career. It's a lot of money to sink into something that you may not use down the road. Make it count for something. And if it won't, then find a different way to get to where you want to be.

10 on Tuesday (sort of)

I received an e-mail that there wasn't going to be a 10 on Tuesday list this week. So I thought I'd put up my own list of 10 favorite numbers.

1. 11 - just because I like rows of ones all lined up like little soldiers. I suppose you could say I like 111 and 1,111 and 11,111 as well. (But not 1 by itself. That's too lonely.)

2. 2 - Two is a nice number. Two is a couple. Two is a mother and child. Two is twins. Two is a pair (as in socks and shoes, two of my favorite things.)

3. 7 - Like the movie Se7en. (Brad Pitt, Morgan Freeman, Gwyneth Paltrow). 7 virtues. 7 deadly sins. 7th inning stretch. 7 days of the week.

4. 50,000 - it's the magic "You win" word count for NaNoWriMo It's the beginning of the end of a novel (or half way if your name is J. K. Rowling, Stephen King or Stephenie Meyer).

5. 667 - because it is the neighbor of the beast (even though we all now know that the actual number of the beast is 616, not the previously believed 666).

6. 8 - When I was growing up I learned my multiplication tables thanks to School House Rock. Figure 8 was my favorite one and I always dreamed of ice skating perfect figure 8's on the ice (not that we have ice in Florida, but a girl can dream).

7. 3 - because it is a strong number. Triangles are the strongest shape because two sides give support to the third. Three plays out often in religious contexts (Maiden, Mother, Crone; and Father, Son, Holy Spirit; trinities). It also is the number of books in a trilogy, which are so popular to write at the moment.

8. 100 because it is C in Roman numerals. It was the first really big number I can remember writing to as a child in kindergarten and remembering the thrill of getting to such a huge number. We measure things in 100's. We examine a president's worth by his first 100 days. We celebrate centuries and 100th birthdays and anniversaries in a big way.

9. 97132 - it's the zip code I wish I lived in again.

10. ∞ (Hm, it's sort of small for infinity). Infinity is one of those "numbers" that perplexes me. I remember the first time that I was informed that there is no last number. That you can always have one more after it. I sat for hours pondering the largest number I could (gajillions is a number, right?) and then realizing that there could be an "and 1" or even an "and 1/2." Wow. There is no end. It just keeps going. Unlike this post which will end now.