Monday, September 19, 2011

Thursday 13 on Monday

I haven't posted a Thursday 13 in months and years. If you like this idea, please consider doing one of your own.

1. I have just spent three days and nights alone writing ten hours a day and loving every minute of it. I have 300 pages of a first draft, much in one paragraph snippet form, and all of it will be edited, condensed, some sections deleted. This is an activity and a process I love.

2. I know the season here in New England has changed because I'm wearing socks again.


3. Soon the field up the street from me will look like this. It is a most beautiful time of year here. The farm stands are selling apples and pumpkins and mums and I'm thinking of warm fruit cobblers.

4. Is it bad of me that I am rooting for bigmouth attorney Nancy Grace on Dancing with the Stars?

5. Are introverts more comfortable being alone with themselves than extroverts? I'm the latter, mostly, but you have to be alone in order to write. And as I get older, I find I want more time alone. That's a change for me.

6. No matter what I do I cannot take proper care of my jewelry. I misplace my favorite earrings and my bracelets, I break my necklaces, I get things tangled up. I have no excuse.

7. This is the entry way of the house JB and Jessica and I lived in for twenty years. This picture was taken after everything was moved out but I still think the beauty and charm of this Queen Anne Victorian shows.


8. I wouldn't change how emotional I am, but I wish I had tougher skin.

9. If I had to choose one thing to dedicate my life to, I think it would be rescuing dogs, especially older ones like Stella, and finding them good homes.

10. When I started my blog I had no idea I would treasure the whole experience of it as I do. My creativity and appreciation levels are off the charts when scroll down my blog list, and every comment left for me is honest to god a little hersey's kiss to my heart.


11. If I took the time to learn to crop photos, I certainly would not allow this extra wide shot of me. Actually I blame the camera to at least some degree. (grin) But who wouldn't want to have a darling baby sleeping on your chest?

12. I try to be a good listener. "Seek to understand before seeking to be understood." Steven Covey said this, and I've found it to be very wise advice.

and.....

13. Here is an tiny excerpt from my new book:

Casey Mango was born in a working class industrial town where Waltham Watches were manufactured and where the mill workers lived in a slice of row houses extending two long blocks and dating back to the early 1800’s, just above the location of the Penny Pool on Willow Street where a hundred years later eleven year old Casey and her penny would independently pay her way into the girls’ locker room, squirm in and out of her first cold shower, and then emerge full steam into the bright sunlight and into the warm deep end of the city pool.

Love

kj

18 comments:

  1. That excerpt is the longest sentence I've ever read...AND totally enticing! No it ain't wrong of you...whatever number that was, and I think the wide angle shot was wonderful! You're right....BABY - CHEST...totally worth whatever photo you take of me. Post it on Facebook for all I care. I smelled baby hair!!!!...right under my nose!

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  2. annie, one sentence, multiple commas! thanks for saying 'enticing'. i consider that wind for my sails. and yes, smelling that baby, something else ♥

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  3. You have a beautiful smile. There's nothing quite as nice as having a baby sleeping on you.

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  4. I can't wait for my first baby on chest hug with Allie Bel. 39 more days counting down.

    A long winded first intro to the story...I needed to remind myself to remember to breathe at the commas...loved the cold shower to steam sentence!

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  5. Baby in the chest thing is great. That's in my latest post, too.
    Thursday 13 seems like a lot of stuff to cram into one post. I'll think about it.
    Love the house, btw.
    Have you ever heard of a run-on sentence? I suppose not. I got lost somewhere between "Casey" and "pool." Several times, in fact. The journalist's mantra: short words; short sentences; short paragraphs.
    ~ The End ~

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  6. 4. There is no one interesting on DWTS this time around. We are all fans here and none of us is the least bit interested in watching;

    5. I'm an extravert totally comfortable with being alone.

    8. Amen to that.

    13. I discovered I was holding my breath by the time I arrived at the end of your excerpt. Whew, that is one long sentence.

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  7. awww....300pages!!!! i envy you... i dread writing and editing and all that stuff :)
    pictures are not that much wide as you would like us too believe :) no need for cropping :)
    and baby on the chest...amazing :)

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  8. Focusing on the part about being alone; I think the more we hone whatever creative work it is we do, the more we desire to be alone~~as that is when the work happens.
    Lord knows I love to have happy people around, but put me in my studio and I want nothing more than to be a hermit. The world shuts off, the art turns on, all is good in the zone.
    Sounds like that is what you were experiencing~~and yes, it is ALL GOOD!

    XXOO~~
    Anne
    P.S. Love that staircase... ♥

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  9. lilith, thank you very much. ♥

    lynn, 'long winded' is not a good word for a writer! thanks for the feedback. i admit i like piling phrases atop of one another, building intensity. but you shouldn't have to remember to breathe! :^)

    rob-bear, see comment above. as for mantras: not always!

    annie, not so for me. i like the lineup. i like the show. i like learning about dance. xoxo

    muhammad, you are very sweet. thank you thank you ♥

    so true, anne. it't the way it has to be. ♥

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  10. Well there is 13 reasons to want to keep on moving. Liked the blip of the book could catch my attention.

    I am an extrovert who prefers to be in some form of solitude most days.

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  11. wow, i'm speechless - 300 pages?? did you ever stop to eat? i feel the energy of all that hard work rushing out in that one breathless tornado of a paragraph -packs a wallop...

    i'm rooting for bigmouth nancy as well - gotta love the guts.

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  12. Love love love you and the new baba. aaaw what a beatific smile on that gran's face of yours! smooches to you and him!

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  13. i can't stop looking at the wee babe, love and happyness!

    way to go in the writing department, you DID make your pencil sing! :)

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  14. I ADORE that last picture, it's just delicious to have that baby sleeping there, oh my

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  15. Popping in to see what you are up to- Here's a hershey kiss (plop)...Love your photos and your header is stunning! So is the beaming contentment of you with baby boo.

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  16. I guess you have to be frugal with full stops to fit in all that you do in a week! Baby /Grandma photo = priceless!

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  17. mark, yup, me too xo

    amanda, 300 pages over TWO YEARS! it been a difficult book to write and i am now revamping it significantly. in my three days i probably wrote 25 new pages and did lots of editing and moving things around

    joss, Love love love you, you bet i do ♥

    lori, you inspire me and that phrase about making my pencil sing is wonderful!

    mim, it really is

    hello linda sue! thank you for coming by. i'll be stopping at your place too xo

    caroline, THIS week has been a whirlwind! i kind of wish i weren't working so i could attend to my writing and social and culinary and nature life ♥

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