Beginnings at the End

Re-beginning the on-again, off-again practice of daily writing. December. Month of leaves giving up on the idea of sticking it out with the tree, of glaze-eyed flight-or-fight consumers propelled by greed and vanity (I must succeed in this purchase while someone else fails). Month of crisp nights and seeing the stars. As good a month as any to be a writer, even one who is falling asleep at the keyboard!

October Hearth

I am home from my travels, safe and sound and grounded, and grateful for both the survival and for homecoming. I may have sadly ambivalent feelings about my house, the Winchester Mystery House North, with it's various mostly-finished remodel and home-improvement projects a reminder that things never seem to get completed, but I am grateful to be back there nonetheless, with my family and some semblance of a routine.

More importantly, as truly wonderful as the four trips (10 plane flights!) I've taken since June have been, I'm grateful for the ability to focus once again on my writing - both the poetry and the prose.

My current goals are to make notes toward a new poem daily, to work on revising poems weekly, and to focus on the re-write of the novel at least five days out of seven.

I recently overheard someone (perhaps on Fresh Air?) talking about creating a "cocoon of creativity" - a time and a place that is sacred, or at the very least devoted to one's work and protected from the distractions and intrusions of every-day demands. The space is important - a room of one's own - and I have that. I have my own office, with a computer and walls lined with books, and a place under a cantilevered desk where the dog likes to stretch out and sleep. The office has a door, and a window with a view into our unfinished cement courtyard and its reflecting pool, water plants, rock.

What's lacking, still, is my scheduling of a time in which to create. Here are the options I must chose from: before 5am on mornings when I work early, or after 9pm on days when I work late and D. can home to supervise S's homework. Neither is ideal, my desire to be a writer has joined forces with my impatience with my own whining and excuse-making. Besides, this post (which I started weeks ago) is a prime example of making due between the cracks of Life. I can write while S. is in rehearsal for one of the two orchestras in which she plays. I can write in bed (and have begun to do so almost every night). I can write after working out at the gym. And on those mornings when I don't work early.

Here's the street where the heroine of my novel lives in Aberystwyth, by the way. It's one of the spots I scouted out while there, and I found it after I had nearly given up on discovering the row of stucco houses closer to downtown that I'd imagined. But this works, I believe. Not a place she'd want to live forever, but good enough as a room to rent while she gets her feet under her.   

At the Airport Again, Bound for Tokyo

With all the travel I've done lately, it seems surreal that I'm about to get on a plane again for another (very long) flight, this time to Narita. It should be the most exciting trip of all this year, and in many ways it is - I keep having to pinch myself to believe it, and I'm so very grateful for this opportunity ,afforded to me by our Japanese clients and the owners of my company who have supported that relationship for the last ten years. But on the other hand, I haven't yet had the time and space to write about my big Wales adventure, or the amazing weekend I had in Colorado with my family (both adopted and biological). And whether I'll have time to do that kind of reflection and review while going to, or in, Japan is questionable. But hope springs eternal. And in the meantime, I'm taking mental and actual notes and lots and lots of pictures. October and November may be quite the months for retrospective travelogue writing.

Diplomacy dictates silence

Besides, no one wants to read a blog that's just a rant about first world problems every other day. But suffice it to say that while my personal life is going well, and most aspects of my professional life are highly satisfying, there are moments (sometimes several) some days (fewer than half) when I just frankly don't know how I got myself into this position. Golly. Going to bed grateful that tomorrow is Friday. Happy Friday Eve, and happy birthday Mark, and happy day after your birthday little Miss A. who is now 9.

Tomorrow I'm looking forward to the Rose Ceremony at S's school, a big tour of guests at work, and the dinner with friends in the evening. Tonight I'm looking forward to sleep.

Sept. 4th Live

I was asked to try the new masseuse at our Chiropractor's office at a special price. Am so glad I did. I cannot remember or even imagine being more blissed out by a massage. Wow. I wish I could say the total relaxation and sense of well-being lasted without interruption all day, but I did go to work after the massage, so...well...it didn't. But for the first time ever, I can see that it would be very wise (and *lengthen* my lifespan) to have regular massages. Never thought I'd feel that way!

Sept. 3 Retro

Here's the memo I made for myself on my smartphone to remind me September 3rd what I wanted to say about the day:

Work stress is probably shortening my life. There must be a better way.

Sept. 2 Retro

Here's the memo I made for myself on my smartphone to remind me September 3rd what I wanted to say about September 2nd:

I had such a massive to-do list for to-day and I nearly got it all to-done. Here are excerpts, in no particular order:
Study Japanese
Weed front yard
Weed back yard
Transplant grasses
Vacuum
Clean bathrooms
Clean bird cages
Clean kitchen floor
Laundry
Write condolence card
Emails to 5 different friends & colleagues
RSVP to party
Stats for work
Blog about trip
Work on Novel
Pledge paperwork for S's school
Organize laundry room
Switch girls' closets
In addition, I went to the gym.

Sadly, I saved the novel and blog for last and they were not crossed off my list at the end of the day.
That is not the best prioritization. But still, it felt good to get so much accomplished.

Sept. 1 Retro

Here's the memo I made for myself on my smartphone to remind me September 3rd what I wanted to say about September 1st:

I had a dream about a kids' video game/quiz that would be called, "Sit Down Town."

I think the title was to encompass the idea of kids sitting down and focusing but on something interesting the way "downtown" can be interesting.  The game was to be all about current world events, including horrible conflicts in the Middle East. There would be an option to update via a sync daily, so the kids could test their knowledge of how poorly human beings were treating each other, real time.

Even while part of my subconscious was plugging the concept, another part of my subconscious was thinking, "This will never fly. It's too intelligent and too dark. And the title doesn't quite work, either."

Three Days

Blessed with 3 days of not needing to go to work, but for some reason at the end of the first of these I am not feeling that lovely euphoric freedom that usually accompanies a long weekend. Is it because I didn't have a glass of wine tonight? How sad if so!

But on the other hand, I am very tired and very sleepy, and D. guesses it's because all week I'm wound up so tight that when I'm not faced with a heavy burden of work outside the home, I just collapse. Hmmm. But I look forward to what will be the biggest chunk of free time I'll have all month tomorrow and the day after. The second half of September promises to be very busy indeed. So I have time but this pressure to "make hay" as well!

Putting the Week to Bed

Nearly all week I worked 6am-6pm. This is not a boast. This is a confession of having already fallen back into the habit of thinking I need to do it all.

This three-day weekend, I will not be working, apart from the highly anticipated yard work, house work, writing, exercise, and catching up with friends. And maybe some genealogy. And studying Japanese. But that's it.

And I'll start by going to bed early. Writing this tiny blog post feels like the most important part of my day. Necessary and satisfying. That's the weight I am giving writing.

Here's a picture sent to me by one of my travel companions in Wales, Jerry. It's me, writing, at a place that has inexplicably huge meaning for me: Dinas Bran.

47 + 1

Today the course of a conversation required that I say out loud how old I am. It was the first time I'd done so. "47."

It sounds frighteningly close to "50" to me, and even though I know 50 is the new 40 - or younger! - I live with existential crises and morbid thoughts of mortality close enough at hand on a regular basis to feel a twinge of panic at the thought.

Not only have I clearly missed the opportunity to be much of a prodigy at anything, I am getting dangerously close to being behind schedule for even some kind of late-blooming life achievements. I don't really want to make Colonel Sanders be my benchmark for personal, professional or artistic success. I have a memory of my father using him as an example of someone making good after the age of 50 - he was 62 when he franchised KFC - but then again, my father was not a shining beacon of accomplishments either.

So I'm currently working close to half time (12 hours a day) and am also writing. Maybe only a little a day, but - say it with me - "incremental progress is progress."    
      

Birthday Post

I did not write a Birthday Poem, a la Dylan Thomas.
But I did check in to say :
still here, happy, working

There have been major ups and some significant downs of late, but I'm
happily working
happily here

Posting from the Eisteddfod

This represents the best wifi I've had in 10 days. So instead of spending a long time writing, I'm going to take advantage of the connection and only post a picture. Here's a shot from Wales.

First Welsh Weekend

It’s a good day when you’re awakened by the sound of sheep a few yards from your window, complaining about whatever sheep complain about at six a.m.

I suppose this wouldn’t always be the case, but if you happen to be sleeping in a three hundred year old farmhouse in North Wales, the sheep are a lovely alarm.

Our journey to the farmhouse was (at moments) stressful but (overall) uneventful. We’d landed a little ahead of schedule, and after grabbing bags, getting some of the local coin, and – for those of us with the need – purchasing some coffee, we headed to the National car rental location by way of a bus from the airport to “Car Rental Village.”

The weather was beautiful. It was likely in the upper seventies, and even with a little cloud cover, it could easily have been a July day in Northern California. After they’d issued us two snazzy Volvo’s (leather seats, bells, whistles and – we’re officially here! – left-hand drives, we waited briefly for the eight member of our group to join us. Susan was coming from Scotland, and intrepid traveler that she is, managed to get the train to the airport and the bus to the car rental and find us sans cell phone.

We drove to Chester, and while we’d hoped to get somewhere closer to the castle, ended up having lunch at The Boathouse, a restaurant on the River Dee. We had a lovely late lunch and then half the group started out for the farmhouse and Wales while the other half spent a few more minutes both seeing Chester and gathering some basic groceries, the fear being that the local grocer in Bala might close at 5pm.

I was in the group that left Chester first, and after a slightly harrowing trip along the fast, tight, winding road that the Garmin nav-sat suggested (which conflicted with the printed Google maps directions the restaurant staff had kindly printed for us), we made it to the house and met our hostess. I felt for Jerry, the driver, who was jet-lagged and driving on the wrong side down roads that would have been challenging even on the right side of the road and not after 14 hours of travel. 

But we arrived safely thanks to his skill, and after dropping off bags and settling in for a few minutes, headed into town to grab a bite and have a drink. We ran into a local woman sheering sheep in a field, and I couldn’t help but stop to take a picture. She had a son with her – maybe ten years old – and she was issuing instructions to him in rapid Welsh. I made my first foray into speaking the language by saying “Thank you again,” after snapping some shots, and she asked where we were from (“California!”) and asked why I spoke Welsh. I told her it was just an interest I had and she said, “Well, I’m a Welsh teacher, so that’s brilliant!” Lucky for me that this was my introduction into trying to put the hours of study to practice! She was used to hearing learners stumble through the words, no doubt.

We also passed by our comrades as they drove past on the way into town. They’d had a harder time of it from Chester, having been lost between Wrexham and Llangollen more than once, so they took a few more minutes to settle in before some of them joined us at the White Lion.

Those of us who’d been out walked back to the house in the warm night air under puffy high clouds made gloriously orange and pink by the sunset. The lake was beautiful, and I was in Wales.

Back at the house, exhaustion trumped jet lag. It was dark, though warm (we slept with the window open), and I slept well.

The second thing I was aware of in the morning, apart from the sheep, was the smell of coffee. I showered, had breakfast with those who were up, and after spending some time settling in, we had a morning writing session. Terry described the exercise of listening to excerpts of what some of our comrades were reading and then doing some free, or automatic, writing as “priming the pumps,” and all I can think is that my pumps are plenty primed.

After we wrote, we figured out what we could of getting wi-fi from the caravan park next door, and then headed a few yards down the road to the local narrow-gauge railway for a trip down the eastern side of Lake Bala. We arrived at the last stop, in Llanuwchllyn (there having been only one other, smaller, stop before that) and because we had about an hour and a half to spare, we walked through the town to the pub at the other end. Just past an old church and its nineteenth-century cemetery and graves, we converged upon The Eagle, where they were not serving food until they realized there were eight of us, and then they offered to do us some sandwiches. The choices were ham, cheese, shrimp or tuna on white or brown. (The “brown” was wheat.) Because the girl behind the counter had been speaking Welsh, and at the encouragement of my colleagues, I ordered my sandwich by asking for “caws” on “brown” with “dˆwr.”

We ate and walked back to the train, taking one of the windowless carriages as our own, with Terry asking how one would say it’s the “bards carriage” in Welsh. The local older woman who was manning the counter at the shop and café at the train station was unsure about “bard” and had to even ask for the word for “author” – (awdur). This even though she and her young red-haired assistant had been speaking rapid Welsh to one another!

The train ride back was pleasant, the sound of the cars rattling along the tracks putting one of our party to sleep. A few of the poets, led by Terry, played around with the rhythm (duh-duh-duh duh DUM, duh-duh-duh duh DUM) by saying, “We’re riding on the train, I hope it doesn’t rain, it’s such a lovely day, even though it’s not May. What else can we say?” etc.

Back at the house, some napped and some of us tried to access the internet yet again. I went for a walk along the lake and into town while a few people worked on making a lovely dinner of two whole chickens, salad, broccoli and (it turns out we all had some) wine. I took a picture of the table, it was that lovely, and asked if all the cooks would marry me.

After dinner, it was late enough for bed.  The bat that had come in during the night and crawled into a pocket inside Susan’s suitcase was released into the wild. We’d been told by the house owner that hundreds of bats would come out and fly around the house at night, and when one of us had asked where they lived, she’d said in the walls of the house! This makes more sense when you realize that the walls are three feet thick in some places.

After the excitement of ushering the bat out of Susan’s room was over – I missed that part of the action, as I was finishing the washing up of dishes - I scribbled then slept.

[If the internet connection were not so spotty, I'd be filling this post with pictures. As it is, I will have to fill in those pictures later, I suppose.] 

The Beginning

I’m writing this while on the plane to Atlanta, en route to Manchester airport and from there, to Wales. I’m listening to Antje Duvecot singing “Reasonland,” and thinking of two days ago when Clare and her beautiful family came over for dinner, and we hung out in the livingroom afterword, singing and playing instruments to and with one another. S. gave a bass recital of sorts – basically, she was practicing for orchestra camp, and it occurred to me that we should have company over more often. It encourages the basic practicing that should happen daily anyway!

But even if S. hadn’t picked up her bass and played for us – though I’m very glad she did! – it was amazing to have Clare and her daughter harmonizing together like angels, and to see both of the twins playing guitar. We had two guitars out. Clare played some Antje Duvecot songs – figuring out the chording as she went, because she’s that good. And we all sang “This Land is Your Land,” together, with those of us who could harmonizing. As I think back on it, I realize that the dads (D. and Tim) may have stepped out of the room for this display of old-time fun, but it just makes me so happy to know that there are still families in the world who sing together, and to know that we are not too self-conscious to be one of them. It makes me think of a nineteenth century salon, something that encourages the pursuit of art.

In contrast, here I am wearing blue ear buds that are connected to a Macbook Air, typing away and listening to iTunes. I’m not usually someone who is “plugged in” while on a plane, but I have the great fortune of no one in the seat next to me so I don’t feel as much as usual that someone might be looking over my shoulder, judging how I turn a phrase! And I’m writing. Writing! Something I hope to do for the next three weeks extensively. God willing I will have both endurance and inspiration enough to fashion some poems and re-write my novel. While studying more about Dylan Thomas, sightseeing, and working very hard to speak and understand as much Welsh as possible.

This scribbling on the plane, in fact, is a sign (to myself even if no one else ever reads this blog) of my commitment to write. I won’t be able to post this message until I’m back on the ground with internet access, but there’s no reason not to write it. I’ve had my nap and snack and now I’m hoping to stay awake for the balance of this flight (another hour, I believe) and then sleep on the next leg, over the Atlantic. We’ll arrive not long after noon local time – which I think is GMT + 1. But I slept little last night, and I’m sure the two hours I just drooled on myself from SFO to here were not too much to keep me from sleeping again soon. I tend to be rocked to sleep in moving vehicles of all kinds, anyway.

[tried to upload a picture of the view on the approach to Atlanta, but the wifi connection is not cooperating yet!]

Hello from SFO

Our dear friends Kate & Becca used to tease that "I'm at the airport" was code for needing to run away or check out. It was short-hand for admitting that it was time for a break.

Well, I'm at the airport. But surrounded by fellow travelers who are equally excited about this journey to Wales. And at the risk of seeming antisocial, I'm just posting this quick entry that the trip has begun! More soon...

testing...testing..

So this is a test of posting to my blog from my smart phone, if only to say that this time next week I'll be quite close to landing on Britsh soil.
 Hooray!

Active Tense

As opposed to "passive tense."

Today started early, with a walk to a chicken-sitting gig, where I let the 10 gals out of their henhouse for the day, watered Paige's exquisite garden, and took care of the three kitties and angelfish. The owners returned this afternoon, so I won't be back until they next time they go on vacation (September?), but I always enjoy the time alone doing domestic chores away from my own home. What's that all about? If only I felt the same peace in my own home, where I am too judgmental about what I haven't yet done. At least, I suppose that's what's going on.

Later in the morning, I went to the home of one of Petaluma's Poet Laureates (once a Poet Laureate, always a Poet Laureate, right?). Terry also happens to be the leader of our upcoming Poets' trip to Wales, and she's building a lovely herb spiral, inspired by spirals she'd seen during previous trips to Ireland. It was a work party-cum-BBQ and a great chance to spend a little more time with her and a couple other fellow travelers.

I'm now officially "SUPER EXCITED" about the trip. I haven't done much on the revise-the-novel front, although I have been working on poetry and will be sending some things off in the next couple of days for a competition. Such things keep me motivated. Or (as is now the case) re-inspire me. And writing a blog entry two days in a row is fairly remarkable, if I do say so myself.

21 days to form a habit? How many days to format the habit of a lifetime of daily writing? The answer? All of them. "Write all the days!" as the family might say, much as one says, "Eat all the cake!"

And maybe this is what my new poet friends & I will look like while staying in Wales:

Half the Fun

...at least half the fun of a trip is the planning of it. The excitement of anticipation, the puzzle-solving logistics (train timetables, packing strategies, room reservations), all the components of the pre-realized dream have a certain appeal to me.

So as I prepare to travel for a 2+ week long trip (writing! with other poets! in Wales!), I'm thoroughly enjoying the preparation stage of things. And, because I am focusing more on my writing, I'm starting here with at least a brief update and mention of the trip, and to state my intention to blog more while away, although internet access will be challenging at best. Pob hwyl!

Achievement Unlocked

Or so goes the gaming phrase, according to D.

I could say "mission accomplished" but really it's more of a goal than a mission, or more of a small but very significant step towards accomplishment of the greater mission.

At least I have a sense of how it (probably) ends. I have something of a story arc, something of an idea of where Point B is and how to get there from Point A. I have the roughest golem.

And now the real work begins. Fortunately, I have always liked the editing, shaping, fixing part of writing. This might be the reason behind multiple, multiple drafts of even the shortest poems.

So I'm excited about breathing real life into this book now, and making it something better. But ask me again in two months if I'm enjoying the re-write clean up polish as much as I think I will now.

Pointy Pal Julia threatened to share the news with Suzanne if I didn't first, and so here you go. A post to declare that setting my own deadline and daring myself to get something done seems to have worked.

The new goal: a mostly-completed draft by end of July that can be further improved by a trip to Wales. Then let's see if anyone out there is interested in this little creation. Let's see if it has any worth.

The above shot is a view of the town where the story is set (from http://www.aberystwyth.com/):