March 31

*I learned the difference between concertos and sonatas, fugues and preludes, and what "una corda" means.
* I enjoyed a piece by my accomplice in UW's newspaper, the Daily.
* I read, analyzed, critiqued, and enjoyed a story by a writing group colleague.
* I wrote five pages, by hand, on my novel.
* I attended the Mariners' season opening day game against Texas, and was snowed on in the fifth inning (photo by Philip Smith).


* I learned that Yuniesky Betancourt's favorite web page is MySpace.
* I spent time with writing peers and felt happy that I write.
* I found out about another writing colleague's new Internet start-up.
* I came home tired but content.

Birthing

Okay. The title is for dramatics. I am not pregnant nor expecting to be in the very near future. But sheesh! Just about every single person in my peer group has either given birth in the past year and change, is about to give birth, or has plans to get birthy in the near future. Let me give you the tally and names (last names excluded for privacy of course) of the babes born in the last year and a half.
Boys:
1. Oliver Atticus--December 2006
2. Oliver Lewis--January 2007
*note that neither Oliver is my dog nephew, born in April 2007, who often goes by Shitbrains
3 & 4. Sam and Ben (technically born in May 2006 but adopted and brought home officially in January 2007).
5. Another Ben--June or July 2007
6. William IV--July 23 (my birthday!), 2007
7. Miles--October 31, 2007
8. "Banjo" (can NOT remember his real name)--January 2008
And most recently, 9. Kieran--March 2008
Please note that I can not remember the names of at least three baby boys of acquaintances that must have come out of the womb by now too. Boy crazy year.

On the girl side:
1. Sanika--Early April or Late March 2007
2. Yuki--April 2007
3. Serai--May 2007
Yup. Just three. BUT there's a baby girl due in May....
Then there's plans for a sibling for Oliver L. to be conceived this summer. And I know I am forgetting more babies. They're all over the place.

So while my friends, and Wes' friends too, birth actual humans, I am in the process of birthing other things. Broccoli starts. Peas. Potatoes. Oh, yeah, and the novel.
The novel, the novel, the novel...
Here's the good news: I am writing like a mad woman.
Here's the bad news: this is one big, fat, unhealthy sized baby.

And the four year pregnancy, ugh. Don't get me started. I don't have trimesters, see. I have year-mesters. But I'm tired of carrying around this bulge of notes and computer documents and files and books on psychiatric evaluation techniques and suicide survivors and code-cracking, and Utah, and Mormons and the Bible. I'm tired of listening to Mozart piano concertos and late 90s music to inspire my characters. I'm ready to go into labor.

So friends that are expecting--please expect a delay in receiving your infant's hand-knit booties or hat or ugly sweater or leg warmers. I am preoccupied with my own epidermal, c-section, induced labor, you name it. And forgive me if I keep running away to Idaho and pitch my cell phone into the river--if this helps me finish it, then that's the way it's going to be. And then, my friends, I will be kissing your asses and knitting goodies for all the babes like there is no tomorrow--and maybe a few of you will read the massive manuscript and help me potty train it or ween it, or whatever!

And now I must decide whether to sleep, type up a hand-written chapter, or start a new section in the book. It's 2:30 in the morning. I'm leaning towards sleep, but typing may win. Or those books on my bedside table I've been meaning to read: Eckhart Tolle's "A New Earth," highly recommended by my friend Mary and the cult of Oprah, or "The Omnivore's Dilemma" by Michael Pollan (I've actually started this one, but then I got derailed by P.D. James. How have I never read P.D. James, what with my obsession with Agatha Christie who-done-its and PBS Mystery! However, I did come up with an idea for a new novel from one of those early Pollan chapters. Which is why I stopped reading--I had to write the concept down!). 2:30 in the morning! Why do I do this to myself--does anyone even read this thing? I read all of yours, even though I rarely comment, and I must confess, my own blogging habits are highly irregular.

It's official. Sleep is winning. But first, five things I am grateful for today:
1. Fresh snow on the fir and cedar trees and everywhere. There is so much snow here, it boggles my mind. Look at the pictures in my littl' Flickr side badge, and you'll see what I mean. I feel like I'm in a time warp, back to Sun Valley when I was really small and the snow piled up in huge heaps twice my height (then) along the sides of the road.
2. Girl Scouts and Campfire for teaching me to build a fire for a cold morning.
3. My father for not dying like he did in my dream last night (I am knocking on wood as I type) and for letting me use this awesome place.
4. The two deer who allowed me to stare at them for quite a while before prancing away in the snow today.
5. Words. They just won't stop coming out of my fingers, my mind, my mouth. God, how could I be anything other than a writer? Thank you, words, for making me eager to work, most days.

And that is all she wrote.

Oh my, oh my, it is a blog.

So I have been silent for awhile, and after attending the Whidbey Island Writers Conference this weekend, I've nudged myself to blog again.
You may be wondering: How's that novel going? Weren't you trying to finish it by New Year's Day? Are you writing ANYTHING?
Well, here are the answers: the novel is going. I was trying to finish it by New Year's, but life does sometimes get in the way. I've been writing in my journal some, and writing on the book some, and scrawling notes to myself daily since the commencement of '08. But I have not written one single word for Amazon.com since July 31st. Coincidentally, I received my last true pay check sometime in mid-August.
The Amazon drop-off was intentional, though I didn't necessarily plan for it to go on for so long. In fact, at this point, it may be permanent vacation. I am blessed that, on both the paternal and maternal sides of my family, I've had family who thrived in the accounting and banking worlds, and who worked long years for profitable companies on the NYSE, and chose to give me stock or a saving bond for my birthday in lieu of the ever-desired Power Wheel, or say a pony. Thus I've been ransacking the savings as I try to finish "the book."
My new "full draft, damn it" due date is April 1st. I have a "massive revision/slaughter your word count" due date too: June 30th. Then, Buddha, God, Allah, Goddess of the Moons, and Satan willing, I will begin to send out the oh-so-tedious and daunting query letters to agents in hopes of finding someone awesome and energetic who thinks my book is the most engaging thing since breastfeeding (either as an infant or with her own infant). And this awesome, energetic agent (Indulge me for awhile, okay?) and I will then do some more revision, I'd imagine under some ridiculously short time constraint. Then she/he will shop my book to the editors and publishers of the world until they're salivating over my book, prompting an exciting bidding war, that will end in a book contract at a mid- to large- sized, but respectable, publishing house. Said contract will offer me a decent first sales check, and publishing house will have design, promotional, editorial teams that are so excited about my book that they're piddling all over themselves. And then the pre-sale copies and upcoming release catalogs will go out to the major book distributors (B&N, Ingrams, Borders, Amazon, etc.), and they'll ear mark the page with my book's details and consult their staff and estimate that they'll need to pre-order copious amounts of the book. This will get the publishing house pr peeps really in a frenzy, pitching me to the Today Show and to Oprah's Book Club and the notable book review papers and magazines.... and then, well, I'll be the hottest thing since Jonathon Safran Foer or Zadie Smith or Jhumpa Lahiri.... AND well, won't I be full of myself at this time next year....
Okay, so maybe not that's not feasible, but let me say this: I NEED to finish this novel. Then I NEED to revise like there is no tomorrow. Perhaps 15 times. And then I will be begging anyone for proof reads and feedback, etc. It could be you. If not you, I encourage you to please, please, please throw tons of encouragement and love my way this spring. Because this has been the darkest winter of my soul during my life thus far, and it is time for everything to come to fruition. Let the blooming begin.