Frustrated and anxious about ML business

So – it’s just over a week until Nanowrimo starts…

As I’ve mentioned, I signed up to be an ML for Hamilton this year. My Co-ML and I met to start discussing plans back in September, but – well, I haven’t been hugely ‘on the ball’ and proactive about getting all the little details organized, and as a result we’re both scrambling a bit to get the Kick-Off party organized in time.

I was supposed to meet Co-ML yesterday evening, actually, for a pre-write-in, but the location got switched several times at the last minute and the agreed-on coffee shop turned out to not be open past 6 on Tuesdays – whoops! And each of us tried alternate venues in a different order missed each other, and went home.

But we connected over the phone, and settled on a time for the Kick-off, an ideal venue, and a back-up venue. I called the #1 pick venue yesterday evening; the same local coffee shop where we held our MLs planning meeting. They have a gallery room that can be reserved for parties, which sounds really good. The woman who answered the phone took down my details and assured me that her manager would call back today to confirm.

But the phone, it hasn’t rung all day. 😦 I tried calling them again at quarter after four – a machine picked up, and I left my information again. Tried one more time just a few minutes ago. Same machine, I hung up on it this time.

I’m trying not to get too anxious. This coffee shop should work out, I’ve made every reasonable effort, and if not, the backup venue, (a restaurant that’s very popular with the Wrimos in our region,) should be happy to take a reservation for us on Sunday afternoon on relatively short notice. 🙂

I’m excited about being a Nanowrimo ML for the first time. Shouldn’t let the pressure get to me.

How to procrastinate on your Nano – the Lisa Simpson way!

So, I was really pleased to come back from San Fran and find a new writing and books-themed Simpsons episode on my DVR – ‘The Book Job.’ While Homer, Bart, and friends collaborate to churn out a soulless best-seller ripoff, Lisa vows that she’s going to write a personal book that readers will connect with. Most of what she does, though, is procrastinate. It’s a pretty good list of ways to not ever get a book written, in fact:

• Swear to only write 2000 words, then stop ‘to pace yourself.’
• Don’t write until you have music that inspires you playing.
• Organize your CD collection.
• Play online Boggle.
• Take your laptop to a coffee shop.
• Set up your Wi-Fi ‘in case you need to do research.’
• Buy something out of a sense of obligation to the coffee shop.
• Brag about how much you love being a writer.
• Build a toy log house out of pencils.
• Watch kitty videos on Youtube.
• Build a model cathedral or castle out of pencils.
• Stare out the window.
• Rub your finger against the window.
• Clean the window.
• Clean the outside of the window with a makeshift platform lowered from the roof.
• Watch the complete series of ‘Friday night lights’ on DVD.

Happy Thanksgiving to everybody in the USA!

Elizabeth Twist

E is for… (A-Z Challenge Directory)

Elizabeth has a great blog of her own, and she’s participating in the Crusade and the A-Z challenge, but this post isn’t a blogger spotlight. It’s about the Elizabeth that I know in real life – or as close to real as it gets for writers who talk about writing together.

I’m not perfectly clear on the circumstances, but I think that I first met Elizabeth late in October or early in November of 2008, at an event for the Hamilton National Novel Writing Month region. And it seems likely to me that she stepped into the room, noticed the other writers gathering, and hurried over with a big wave.

That’s the impression that I always have of Elizabeth, though I know that there’s been times when she hasn’t been able to keep up that kind of enthusiasm, but I still associate her with creative energy and optimism.

Since December of 2009 or so, we’ve continued to meet at coffee shops in Hamilton on the weekend whenever we can schedule it, to type away or scribble longhand on paper, (in her case – I can’t read my own writing on paper anymore,) chat about our recent projects, and procrastinate by discussing work, books, television, movies, or anything else we can think of. I’ve heard all about her stories involving fem-angst vampires, zombies, poisoners, and less likely suspects, and told her about my unlikely angels, space parents, wizard detectives, spellcasting princesses, and homesick aliens.

More than anything, though, I’d like to thank Elizabeth for supporting me in my creative goals through the times when it seemed like a lot of other writer friends I’d made were busy on adventures of their own. I hope that I’ve been as good a source of support for her too.

So, here’s to you, Elizabeth. It’s your day, as far as I’m concerned. And good luck with that crazy Story-a-Day thing that you’ve signed up for in May!