A Writer's Life

And she rode off into the sunset

Yes, I've been faithfully Fitdesking since Tuesday.  I know that's a mighty long time, but it's just the beginning. I'm still determined to prove to everyone who believes that my beloved FD is just a place to toss my clothes (remember, that's the chair) that they are wrong. I've been doing at least 45 minutes a day, often more.  I even worked out before my date on Friday. 

I need to give FitDesk kudos for their customer service.  The attached monitor that gives a read on calories/distance and so on stopped working, so I emailed the company and had a response like two minutes later that they'd had problems with their supplier and would send a new one right out.

While handing out kudos, I also need to thank Gold's Gym.  I was so excited when they opened a location right behind my house, and I signed up for a membership for my daughter and the "bells and whistles" version for myself.  Well, my daughter has so much homework at night that it's not easy for her to leave, and we're always rushing around on the weekends.  So, I dropped her membership completely and dropped the b&w on mine, so now I'm just paying $10 to Gold's for the occasinal use of their weight lifting machines. 

I have been doing a ton of researching on exercise and anxiety, and I'll start posting it here soon.  Until I do, I highly recommend the book, "The Spark," which details links between exercise and about everything. 

Rachel

20 miles is how many minutes?

I don't know how many minutes it takes to ride 20 miles on my new bike yet, but that's my goal.  In reading the book "Spark," I'm reminded of the importance of exercise in combatting stress, anxiety, and depression.  My book is full of highlighted notes on studies that show that exercise is long-term more effective against anxiety/depression than anti-depressants.  I'm looking for my sweet spot for not just reducing body fat but also for increasing my happiness.

One thing I can say, as I type this from my FitDesk, is that right now, I do love being able to pedal in my pajamas and watch whatever I want on Netflix and help Jaeme with her homework all at the same time.  These are all things I couldn't do at the gym.  The FitDesk really takes away my excuses for not exercising. I'm using the little Acer that I got from my dad, and it's the perfect size for the FitDesk.  Hey, maybe one of these days, I'll write or edit a novel from here. 

With the addition of my FitDesk to my life, I've also selected a specific eating plan.  I was going to do a generic low carb/gluten free, but I have decided to do Primal Blueprint.  I like the food lists, and with my bike, I can add the fitness component: 2-5 hours of slow steady cardio a week, short sprints, and periods of lifting heavy things.  I've got every single thing I need to do this plan now right here at home.

I might even do the Primal Blueprint jumpstart in February.  What a better way to celebrate my love for being happy, being creative, and being fit?  I've lost 6.5 pounds this month doing my own thing with no exercise, so hopefully a bit more structure+exercise will help me reach my goal of losing another 15 pounds by June 1.

I am at 10 miles in 23 minutes.  I'm gonna keep going. :) 

Rachel

FitDesk Revolution

So, I got home last night after work, and I'll admit that I was kind of tired, and a little bummed out not to see a big box sitting right in front of my door.  But that's when I noticed the sticker from UPS on my door, which meant that they'd either tried to deliver it or that a neighbor had it.  I was hoping it was either the nice new neighbor to the right or the noisy girls to the left because I didn't want to drag it across the road.

When I read the note from the UPS man, it said: "hid behind the bushes." OMG.  I couldn't believe  he'd figured out a way to wedge it between the prickly green bushes  and the front of my house.  And frankly, I didn't know how I was going to drag it out.  However, I was determined, and I got quite the workout figuring it out.

After I dragged the box inside, I ran upstairs to change into workout clothes.  And I grabbed a pair of scissors.  I sat down on the floor, sliced open the box, started unpacking the parts, and put them all on the floor. 

Now, you have to know that I'm not the most mechanically inclined person out there, and I usually make my daughter assemble everything because she's better at it than me.  However, the directions clicked for me, and even after installing the handlebars backwards the first time, I figured it out.

I PUT MY OWN FITDESK TOGETHER.  I need to go and put that statement on Amazon.com as a review for other non-mechanical people who may be experiencing a bit of hesitation.  It took me about 75 minutes, but I'm sure that someone who is better with assembly projects could have had it together in 45 minutes or less.  The instructions could have been written better (I'd do a great job, FitDesk!) but I liked it how all the nuts and bolts were already on the piece of equipment where they belonged.  It was really a lot of tightening and not too confusing.

And, now the results: I love it.  It's nice and quiet, and I rode 25 miles last night and a mile this morning while my coffee was brewing.  It folds up for easy storage--I can always put it in a corner if I need to make room (for now, it'll sit in front of the downstairs television so that we can watch tv, work on the computer, or play the Wii while riding.)

I don't think I've been this excited about a purchase since I bought My K-Cup or since I received a Kindle from my mom for Christmas.

Let the biking revolution begin!

Rachel

 

"Things I Almost Bought Today But Didn't."

The stars have aligned, and I'm full of ideas.  Things to invent, things to write about, and oops (!) things that I want to buy.  I'm doing so well with my budget that I don't want to go all crazy making purchases on Amazon.com, even if the shipping is free.

So, here's what I am doing instead of buying.  This is an idea I had from when I was teaching, and my students would ALL want to raise their hands and contribute and share an idea during a twenty minute lecture.  I'd tell them to write it down and pass the idea up to me.  This way, they got to express the idea, I could give them a personal comment later, and everyone was happy.

I've started a list called "Things I Almost Bought Today but Didn't."  This list has become a source of personal pride for me.  You see, I do have a personal spending budget, but I'm tapped out for January, and I don't know how many of the "things I want to buy right now" are things I would really use or things I need.

Here's what's on my list so far this week:

A food dehydrator, best price is Amazon, $33, qualifies for free super saver shipping

A non-stick spatula (as in, the food won't stick to the spatula, not that it's safe for your non stick pan), best price Amazon, $6.74

A divided frying pan (so you can cook two things at once and only clean one pan), best price, Amazon, $39.99

A travel coffee mug that actually keeps my coffee HOT (haven't found one yet)

A desk coffee mug that actually keeps my coffee HOT (found one at Target for about $20...)

A new pair of black heels (scheduled for purchase out of February's personal fund, plus I have a $10 off coupon for DSW.)

Hair powder (to give my hair more volume, recommended by my stylist, $15 at Ulta)

The book: "Life Without Bread."

And the book "One For the Money" ($8.99 on Kindle)

Yes, it's only Tuesday.  Who knows what else will show up on this list by February 1?  And who knows how many of those items will actually be purchased?  We'll see....

Rachel

 

 

 

And more thoughts from the closet

How much is too much and how much is too little for a professional wardrobe?  I haven't decided quite yet, but I feel as if I'm verging on too much.  Luckily, I'm a good shopper, combining discounts with coupons, so I'm running at about a 65% discount on everything, but, here's what I have in my W (work) wardrobe.

Skirts:

black pleated skirt (sale, $35, NY&Co)

black pencil skirt (sale, Macy's, $20?)

black tulip skirt (sale, Macy's, $35)

Pants:

black dress pants (sale, NY&Co, $40?)

gray dress pants (sale, Macy's, $18)

nice trouser jeans (sale, Loft, $25)

Dresses:

black dress (sale, DownEast, $20)

gray dress (sale, Macy's $18)

Sweaters:

purple, red, blue/light blue, pink/dark pink, black with gray snakeskin trim, black with pearl buttons, navy blue with black trim (need: another great black sweater, mine got all dog haired)...Most of these are from NY&Co, and I picked most up on sale for $10-$20

Jackets:

short black blazer(Kohl's, sale+Kohl's cash, $10)

serious black blazer (NY&Co, sale, $45)

long gray jacket (Bohme, sale $25)

swingy gray jacket (Target, sale $14)

Camis:

purple with floral detail, gray with ruffles, white with lace trim, black, ruffled light blue cami...these are all from NY&CO, and probably all in the $7-15 range. (need: a few more camis...these are so versatile, and I wear one almost every day...)

Shirts:

white satin, blue satin (NY$C0, each $10 on sale)

green with ruffle (Macy's, $18 on sale)

purple with gray pattern (Macy's, $9 on sale)

white with black pattern (NY&Co, $10 on sale)

+ purple with ruching, burgundy with pleated ruffles, white with black pattern, black with ruffles on top, black with ruffles down the middle, longish pink top...from the Loft and NY&Co, probably $15-$20 each, either on sale or with a gift card

If someone who was good at math plugged all of these items into a magical multiplying calculator, I'm sure there'd be about 7,893 combinations, especially when you add in jewelry...I am going to figure out the perfect amount of work clothes one day.  :)  (Yes....I've been trying to do this for years..!!) 

Rachel

 

 

Bike Tracks

So, I'm waiting for the arrival of the bike.  I've never tracked a package this often.  It's due to arrive tomorrow, which is good to know because I really need to do my accounting and my taxes tonight. 

To amuse myself during the Bachelor last night, and to put obsessive thoughts about receiving my bike out of my mind, I decided to take all of my clothes out of my closet, organize them into outfits, and take a photo of each outfit, with it's corresponding jewelry.  My closet looks amazing, and getting ready this morning was as easy as putting together on outfit W-G-B.   That would be Work-Green Top-Black Dress pants.  Like this:

Now that's I'm promoted to Editorial Director, I'm working on dressing the part.  No more jeans at work, unless it's my fancy Ann Taylor Loft jeans on a Friday, with a work appropriate top, maybe a jacket, and of course, jewerly, 

This exercise in clothes rearranging resulted in several good things.  First, I pulled about six pieces that just weren't being worn or up to par.  Those get donated to Big Brothers, Big Sisters.  Next, I created an area for work clothes, an area for weekend clothes (hello skinny jeans!), and an area for clothes that won't get destroyed if I wear them around my boyfriend's adorable and yet white-hair shedding boxer. 

The work clothes have black hangers, the weekend clothes have blue hangers, and the puppy clothes have red hangers.

In addition, putting together my outfits made me realize that I bought too many clothes at sales this year (I have too much, which makes me feel uncomfortable), that I should never buy jeans that give me a muffin top even if they fit great in the legs and rear, and that I'm missing a couple of key items, mainly a couple of more camis, a fitted black sweater, a beautiful blue necklace with some dark blue in it, and another pair of great heels.  Not too bad, right?

Rachel

 

Fit to Desk

I finally did it.  I ordered myself an exercise bike.  Not just any exercise bike....but the FitDesk, a bike that will allow me to browse the internet while stacking up miles of exercise instead of logging in daily number of hours added to the wear and tear of my IKEA loveseat.

A funny thing happens when you tell people that you've ordered an exercise bike.  Instead of people saying, "wow, that's so awesome!"...many people say "you'll never use it for anything but a clothes hanger," and "where are you going to put that thing?'

I did own an exercise many years ago.  It was in a time period that I don't really talk about much, which was my short stint in the Evergreen, Colorado area.  My then ex claimed that he got a hand injury when the clerk from a big box store "shoved" the box into the back of my old CRV, jeopardizing his HUGE career as a producer of music trailers for movies.  Although I don't know if the hand injury was real or not, I did LIKE having an exercise bike (there was no way for me to get to a gym from the isolated mountaintop where we lived anyway...)

One of the reasons I decided to get an exercise bike now is that I need it.  I need the stress relief that exercise provides, and I won't go outside when it's cold and dark.  Also, even though there's now a gym just around the corner from my house, I don't always feel like getting gym ready to go.  Add in the fact that three ex-boyfriends attend that gym, and you've got a pretty good recipe for gym avoidance.

My bike is scheduled to arrive between today and Thursday.  I'm HOPING it's today because I'm ready to start proving all the critics wrong.  I'm going to blog the use of my exercise bike.  I mean, if people can photograph every recipe they make and my boyfriend can text me every meal he eats, then why not journey my miles?

I promise that I'll take a photo the moment a dress or pair of dress pants lands on my bike.  (I usually throw those things on my chair upstairs, which means my chair is more likely to become a big hanger...but I digress.)

Send me good thoughts that there's a decent size package from Amazon on my doorstep tonight...

Rachel

"Life isn't always logical; life is often magical."--Rachel's Dream, December 18, 2011

Abandoned Notebooks

Last night, I had a beautiful dream. I was back in college, and I was taking a graduate level chemistry course. I knew that I was going to have to rely on my analytical skills to pass the course as I'm not skilled in chemistry or math, and I felt confident that I could be logical enough to pass the course.

On the second day of class, the professor piled all of us into his car, and told us we were going on a field trip. He pulled his car up in front of an old house and parked. As we walked inside, I noticed two of my old yellow legal pads,filled with my cursive writing, just sitting on a table and the ground.

Inside, there were tables and each table was set with a package of supplies. Being logical, I quickly looked for the best teammates possible, choosing a girl who said she'd always excelled at chemistry.

We sat at our table and the only instruction we had was to figure out what was inside the bottles. We had no idea of where to begin. We all sat there, dumbfounded for a few minutes, and then I took over, instructing my team to start examining the bottles for clues. One bottle contained words on it, and I instructed someone to open his computer and type in the words.

All logic led to dead ends, and soon the class time was over. No one had figured anything out. The professor came over and opened one of the bottles and poured it on the floor, where salt crystals formed in a chain all around us. Another bottle had the taste of sugar.

It was all simple. And it wasn't necessarily even about logic. It was about paying attention and not making things harder than they had to be. Suddenly, the room started swirling, magical colors and music playing everywhere. There were dead plants and trees in the room that came back to life, grew green leaves, and started blossoming.

When it all stopped, I left go to back to school. I didn't walk out...I was dancing to the song, "Dream a Little Dream of Me," and I made sure that I picked up all of those old abandoned notebooks along the way...

A Writing Life

I’m currently taking a sabbatical from this blog, as I work on shifting my priorities in 2011 towards paid writing projects.  I’m entering my novel into a writing contest sponsored by Amazon (with a due date of January 24!), and I’m also developing a freelance website (www.rachelthomae.com).  My website will eventually include a working blog, where I’ll post on topics related to writing. 

My goals for the year include becoming more financially savvy and putting $10K+ of freelance income in the bank.  I’ve discovered that these goals are payment worthy, so I’ve joined the Yahoo Contributor Network, where I’ll soon have my first article (tips on saving money while eating out) published.  They’re also picking up my recipes, like this one: http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/6191056/touchdown_mushrooms_feta_and_shrimp.html?cat=22

 I’m also looking for a literary agent to represent my non-fiction and fiction work.   If you need a writer or want to see samples of my work, check out my website or email me at rachel@rachelthomae.com

All this work on my writing (I’m committing to 12-15 non-work writing hours a week) will ultimately give me great content to fill this blog: a writer’s life.  As I figure things out and it all starts to happen, I’m sure I’ll post more here.

Thanks for reading and stay tuned as my writing life unfolds this year,

Rachel

Glutened

I've been lucky most of my life to never have many allergies or food sensitivities.  Sure, I had an allergic reaction to bananas, and I'm super sensitive to codeine, and I can't take some pain relievers because they shoot my blood pressure up higher and faster than a roller coaster at a theme park.  But that was always it for me.

Until I developed a sensitivity to wheat and gluten.  Sure, I knew that eating low carb made me feel much better, but it wasn't until about a year ago that I realized that I was becoming very sensitive to wheat products.  Once I stopped eating all wheat and gluten products, I started feeling much better, and for the first time in forever, I actually had a glimpse of what a flatter stomach might look like.

With a gluten sensitivy, you can't just cut back.  You have to cut it out.  Completely.  Just a little bit of flour in a soup or mixed into meat will have me doubled over in pain.  And it happens fast.  Just a few minutes after I've eaten something, my stomach starts to gurgle and cramp, and then it swells, and I get all the lovely gi symptoms you'd hear about in a Pepto Bismal commercial, except worse. 

Tonight, I got glutened.  We went to dinner at a place I've eaten before.  I ordered food that I've eaten before. And five minutes later, I started having symptoms.  We'd planned dinner around a shopping trip, and I was hoping that I could walk it off, but it didn't happen that way.  When I sank to my knees in the dressing room, my daughter knew that something wasn't quite right.

The pain hits in waves, so I'd be fine one minute and not the next. We went and stood in line, with the items we needed, and I felt my body going hot and then cold.  I think I broke out in a sweat as I tried not to double over in pain while the cashier rang up our good deals.  We walked out to my car, and my daughter told me that I could squeeze her hand as hard as I needed. 

The drive home was mercifully short.  I thought I might have to pull over, but I decided to just keep going instead.  Loaded up with immodium and wrapped with a heated blanket, I'm finally starting to experience some relief, two hours after it all started.  Now the fatigue has descended around me, and I'm only at a dull level of pain, but I doubt that I'll get to any of my projects for tonight now, although I did manage to help Jaeme study for a science test.

S. and Jaeme both wanted to help me feel better, but there's no help for being glutened except for getting the poison out of your system. :(  Tomorrow, I will probably still have some swelling, some undereye circles, and a possible new rash.  Fun times, people, fun times. 

I'm not writing about this for sympathy or anything.  I just wanted to share what it's like to have a food allergy and why I can't have just a little of something with gluten in it.  And if you're someone who has these symptoms, you should explore the idea that you may be allergic to wheat.

Rachel

 

Goodbye to Jasmine

Almost seven years ago, Jaeme and I headed to the Humane Society, with the intention of adopting a kitty.  We looked at several of them and held a couple, but there was one that stood out to me.  This cat was scared of people, and she was hiding in the back of her cage, but the people at the Humane Society liked her so much that they’d made a poster to promote her adoption efforts.  On what would have been her last day there, I picked her up, and she snuggled into my long red coat, and I knew that she was our kitty.

The day we brought her home, she ran and hid behind the fridge.  That night, I was in bed, and she came over and looked up at me.  I patted the spot next to me, and she jumped up.  From that moment on, she was ours.  Jasmine lived with us in three homes.  She had a couple of escapades, including one where I thought she was gone for sure…I woke up late at night to hear her loudly meowing on the front steps.  Another one where she ran out one night and slept under the bushes when it snowed...the next morning, I was out wandering around in my pajamas and boots, calling her name.  She was safe that time.

Jasmine was a smart and social kitty.  She taught herself how to open the door of Jaeme’s room.  She liked it best when she got to drink out of human drinking glasses…no bowls for her!  She would run down the steps of my house to greet me when I’d been gone, and if I was gone longer than she’d liked, she’d give me a little kitty lecture.  She liked to play with grocery bags and loved to sleep on Jaeme’s homework.  She was the kind of cat who would sleep on you at night and curl up next to you if you were sick. 

I never had to come home to an empty house when I had Jasmine.  She saw me through bad dates and breakups. We must have watched hundreds of shows on TLC and on Lifetime together, on those Friday nights and summer days when Jaeme was with her dad or visiting her grandparents in Illinois. 

We lost Jasmine a week ago Saturday.  It was one of the saddest days of my life.  Although we intellectually understand that she was very sick (with an abdominal obstruction and possibly cancer), we still miss her very much.  I still want to call her name when I walk through the front door.  I still expect to see her come running when I jiggle the can opener.  The other night, I saw my black boots on the floor and thought for a second that it was her.   I like to remember her as a healthy ten-pound cat, before she lost ¼ of her body weight to whatever illness she had. 

To remember Jasmine, Jaeme made a special ornament from clay for her.  The ornament is a black cat, and it has a banner that says: “merry Christmas, jasmine, we love you.” 

RIP, kitty.

Rachel

Making Up Savings

Hair and make-up are items that I’m always going to spend money on.  Unfortunately, it’s not easy to save money on premium brands of hair or make up products.  They just don’t go on sale.  So,  if you really want to save money on hair and make-up, you have to do some homework.  It’s not worth it to buy cheap products that don’t work or that mess up your hair or your skin.  It is worth it to find out which products are the best value and to find a good stylist. 

Here are my best tips for saving money on hair and make up.

1.       Join the website makeupalley.com.  This is crucial.  On this free site, you’ll find hundreds of user reviews for all kinds of hair and make-up supplies.  They even have make-up ranked by best value and rated by which percentage of users would purchase that brand of make up again.  I recently wanted to spend money on a product that makes blow drying your hair faster, however, after seeing that only 22% of users recommended the product, I decided not to buy it.  I was also able to use this website to find out which products at Sally Beauty Supply compare to expensive salon products.

2.       Get a Sally’s card.  They’ll charge you $5, but you get a $5 coupon.  They have well rated products and great sales.  I recently got a new curling iron and received a specialty shampoo, conditioner, and deep conditioner for free.  I saved over $40, and they gave me a $5 bounceback coupon for the next visit.  You can visit their website before you go shopping at the store and figure out exactly what you want to buy. 

3.       Use make up coupons.  Just like grocery coupons, you can find make up deals on brands like Maybelline, Cover Girl, and Loreal.  These are items that you will find listed on the Target list from CouponMom.com.

4.       Find your foundation match.  I love Smashbox and Clinique, but I need an affordable foundation right now.  I found my foundation match on the Loreal website.  And guess what? Loreal is sold at Target. And it goes on sale.  And they have coupons.  And I can use my 5% Target discount there.  And it has a higher rating than the Clinique make up I've been using.  

5.       Highlights.  My hair is never going to be cheap.  Doing highlights at home is a disaster, but I just couldn’t afford the $125-$140 salon visits every six weeks.  I did some research and found a great stylist at a spa who will do my hair for $72 every six weeks.  That includes the tip.  She never pressures me to buy brands from the spa, and she offers little incentives here and there, like $5 off or a free brow wax.

6.       Highlights, 2.  My daughter now has highlights.  Red ones.  Those can fade really fast.  I put a water softener on her shower, and I bought color protecting shampoo at the salon for her, after her stylist offered a $25 gift card which made the shampoo set free.  I’m going to space her highlights out to 2.5 months, as she doesn’t have any gray hair to cover.  I’ll switch to the Sally brand of color safe shampoo/condition after her salon product is gone.

 

And finally, Ask yourself: do I need it?  This summer, I got caught up in a mascara frenzy created by friends.  Everyone was raving about a new mascara, and I had to rush out and try it.  Then I didn’t like it because it irritated my eyes and it flaked everywhere.  I didn’t need it anyway.  I already had mascara.  Also, I have a bad habit of liking all of my make-up to be from one line.  I am NOT going to throw out my Clinique and Bare Essentials and Smashbox and make a switch to Loreal.  I don’t need new eye shadow, blush, or bronzer right now.  Do you?

 

Rachel

Save Where You Shop

I always read the magazine articles on how to save money, and most of the tips don’t work for me.  I already bring my lunch to work.  I’ve already cut back on my Starbucks addiction.  I’ve already got my auto insurance as low as it can go, I’m locked in a two year contract on my cell phone, and my cable is included in my HOA fees.  So what’s a girl to do?

I figured it out.  The way to save money is to pay attention to the sales and special offers that are going on at the stores where you already shop.  The way to find out about the sales is to watch your mailbox and to go to www.shoplocal.com, where you can review all of the sale fliers in your area in just a few minutes.  You need to do a teeny bit of planning, but it’s really not that hard. 

Here are a few examples of how I recently saved money by being awake to what’s going on around me.

1.       Kohl’s.  I like Kohl’s, and we shop there anyway.  Recently, I got a coupon in the mail for $10 off a $10 purchase. Then I got a card for 15% off my entire purchase.  We went shopping at Kohl’s for Christmas gifts this weekend, where items were already on sale.  We bought a robe, a sweater, a bracelet, and several other Christmas gifts and spent $60.  We saved $130.  S. recently gave me his Kohl’s cash ($10) and I combined it with a Kohl’s coupon ($10) and bought myself a robe for $3.

2.       Craft stores.  There’s never a reason to pay full price at Michael’s or JoAnns.  In the past, I have because I haven’t taken a few minutes to grab a 40% off coupon or to see which store has the best offer for the week.  Both are within three minutes from my house.  This weekend, I saved $40 on gifts to make at JoAnn’s and we saved about $8 on gifts/craft supplies at Michael’s. 

3.       Books.  I’m on a Kindle budget right now.  I’d download a book every day if I could afford it.  There are free books for the Kindle, but not many of those titles really appeal to me.  So, I went and got a library card, and S. has been sharing this favorite books with me.  I’m also sharing books with Jaeme…our Kindles are both on my account, so we can read the same titles.  Plus, there are always coupons to be used at BN and Borders.  Just never a reason to pay full price when you can always save at least 10%. 

Remember, just because you have a good coupon doesn’t mean you have to use it.  I recently found a coupon for $10 off a $50 purchase at a popular store.  They had sweaters buy one, get one free, which would have brought me to $35.  They had other stuff at the store that I could have bought as Christmas gifts, to bring me to the $50 point.  I could have saved a lot of money.  But, I didn’t find two sweaters that I liked.  Only one.

I’ll share my favorite tips on how to save money on hair and make-up next.

Rachel

Targeted Shopping: The Essential List

As part of my financially savvy strategy, I’ve determined that I need to shop not just with a list (which I already do), but with an essential list.  The essential list is something that is going to save me money over the course of the year.  It’s a different way of shopping for me, as it involves stocking up on essential items that we know we are going to use anyway.

As a single mom with a family of two, I’ve always shopped in small quantities, thinking that I was saving money. Cheaper to buy a 4 pack of toilet paper than a 12 pack of toilet paper, at least in the short term.  Maybe not in the long term, where you can hit the right sales and save 30-40% on the items you were going to buy anyway.  Yes, that’s my mantra for coupon shopping.  It’s not going to work for us if it’s something that we don’t need, but if I’m spending, there’s no reason I can’t always be saving.

So, what’s on my essential list?  Items that we always need, so we might as well buy them on sale (but only to the point where we have room to store them, and only to the point where we are not overstocked. As in: I really don’t need 72 rolls of paper towels, but having up to 24 would be okay, if the price is right.)  Non-food essentials include: Charmin toilet paper, Bounty or Viva paper towels, Suave bath and hand soaps, batteries, light bulbs.  Food stock up items include: tomato sauce, tomato paste, Rotel, black beans, pinto beans, canned corn, canned green beans, Folgers, Maxwell House, or 8 O Clock coffee, rice.

I keep my essential list in my coupon notebook (more about that later) and refer to it as I’m scanning the Coupon Mom deals for Super Target.  If there’s an essential item on the list, at a savings of 25% or more, and/or a coupon for it, then it’s a good week to make the purchase.  By purchasing essential items when they come up on sale, you’re rarely going to pay full price for them.  And in my limited time devising this strategy, I have noticed that there are ALWAYS essential list items on sale.  There’s never a reason to pay full price for toilet paper, paper towels, soap, or coffee. 

The other part of making the essential list work is to not go crazy.  I could buy coffee on sale with a coupon EVERY single week, but I’d never get ahead of it all.  Keeping 1 container is use and 1-2 in stock is enough for me.  You need to work your essential list with finesse to keep the right number of items in stock for you and your family.

There you go.  Make a list and check it twice (or at least once on Sundays.)

Rachel

Targeted Shopping

I have a new goal, and that’s to be more financially savvy.  I’ll write about how this goal came about and my personal reflections that led to this goal in a later post. 

Right now, I want to write about how I figured out how to save money on groceries each week, with a minimum of work on my part, while still shopping at the grocery store that I like best (Super Target) and while still eating the foods and buying the brands that we like best.

Here’s part 1 of my personal strategy.

1.       Pick a store.  Mine is Super Target.  I don’t have time or energy to run around to several different stores each week, picking up the best deals here and there. 

2.       Sign up for your store reward program.  At Super Target, I was able to sign up for the store debit card. There is no fee, and every time I use my card, I save 5%. 

3.       Do your homework.  On Sunday mornings, I go to a website called Coupon Mom.  They have all of Target’s best deals listed in a checklist form.  I go through the form to see what is on sale that week.  For example, on a week when pot roast is on sale, I’ll plan a meal around pot roast.  On a week when oranges are on sale, I’ll have oranges in my lunch.  I check the items on the list and print it out.  These are foods that we like anyway. 

4.       Get the easy coupons.  Target has a website where they have coupons listed.  These coupons sometimes match up with the items on the checklist=more savings.   Check the coupons you are going to use that week and print them out. 

5.       Get the extra coupons.   You know those flyers that come in your mailbox?  Flip through those fliers and see if anything matches with your list.  Another place to check is the Sunday paper.  Target lets you combine their coupons with manufacturer coupons, which means you can save more money.   Also, look for coupons on packages at the store—stay awake in the checkout line and make sure the cashier scans those coupons for you.

6.       Get the special deals.  At Target, you get receipt coupons when you make a purchase.  Last week, I got a receipt coupon for $10 off $100.  I also got a Target coupon in the mail—get a $15 gift card if you spend $150.  Then I got another one-buy Bounty paper towels (on sale and I had a coupon) and Charmin toilet paper (on sale)—and got a $10 gift card. 

At Target this week, I saved $60, plus I have $25 in gift cards, which I’ll put towards next week’s groceries.  I spent $150, which included a week’s worth of meals, a 24 pack of toilet paper, a 12 pack of paper towels, a 24 pack of batteries, all my Christmas wrapping paper and bows, five Christmas gifts and several stocking stuffers, and couple of clothing items.

Next post, I’ll talk about my essential list concept.

Rachel

Nano, Done

So, we find our intrepid writer on a vacation in San Francisco, where she doesn't feel like writing.  She's got 6,000 words to write, but she doesn't write on the 24th or the 25th or the 26th.  She does decide to start writing on the airplane on her trip back home and tells her daughter and her boyfriend that she's just going to knock it out the next day.  So, she gets up and she goes and gets coffee in the snow and she organizes her coupons for the week and then she starts typing really fast and BAM, she's done.  She just won Nano.

Well, kind of.

That would be me.  This year's novel is different.  The story is definitely not done, and what I wish I was here telling you is that I wrote an ending that gave me chills....but the story is not there.  Not yet.  And this novel is in shambles.  It's truly a draft.  I've got unresolved relationships, at least one too many scenes, and I'm just getting to know my heroine.  Her working name is Sonne, which is sun in German, and it's kind of a play on words as she's a night person and since her work sometimes involves a cross point between good and evil, dark and light.  I also don't fully understand the conflict between my character and her work, and I need to work that out before I figure out the rest.

I was telling Jaeme on the way to groceries in the snow that I wished they had Nano Advanced.  Now that I've won 5 or 6 times, I know that it's NO problem to commit 50,000 words in a month, even with taking several days off, being sick, taking vacation, having friday free writing days, etc.  The volume is no longer a problem.  It's the quality.  Putting the plot together.  Having the right number of conflicts.  I need a new writing challenge, and as Jaeme quickly pointed out, I think that challenge is going to need to come from within. 

I'm not ready to put this story aside yet.  I think it's salable, and no one is going to get upset with me for writing it.  I love it that I finally came up with a heroine who is NOT a writer, an editor, or in marketing.  And I think my writing is just as strong as a recent popular series that I've picked up. 

So, there's a little Nano post mortem for you. :)  I'm done, but I'm not done, all at the same time.

Rachel

50200/50000

Nano, 23

Wasted a lot of emotion today on the "biggest baddest blizzard" to ever hit SLC.  Right now, it looks like it was pretty much marketing hype, but you know how much I hate to drive in any snow and ice.  Jaeme's school even closed early, which validated the whole blizzard notion. 

We got home early, and I was grateful to be here and not have to worry about the roads.  I did keep watching for the snow.  Went outside and took a photo every hour so that I could document the blizz, but then nothing really happened.  We got some snow, and I can see where it could be icy, and who knows, it could be absolutely HORRID in the morning...but it was kind of a big letdown, and it kind of made me really tired.

And then I didn't want to write.  Just wasn't in the mood for it.  But I finally hit a writing zone.  My heroine is being questioned by the NMC board of examiners, and she's receiving a couple of consequences, both of which make her question the ethics behind her work...no snippets tonight, too tired.  Maybe tomorrow, if I have time before I leave for the airport...

44200/50000

Rachel

 

Nano, 22

I wasn't sure if it was going to be a good writing night or a bad writiing night.  I can't always feel in when I sit down and get started.  And tonight I was feeling pretty non committal about the whole thing.  I had a good dinner of steak, potatoes, asparagus, and bacon (I know the bacon part is weird, lol.)  I worked out.  And I listened to Jaeme practicing her speech.

And then I pulled up my Word document, and started typing.  I'm at the point in my novel where I'm learning more.  Learning more about the conflict in the book, and learning more about my heroine.  Now is when I'm figuring out the little things about her that make her unique and interesting to the reader.  I just told Jaeme that I didn't know if my heroine liked to cook or not (don't think she does) and Jaeme said that was a weird thing to just randomly say.  It is. 

I'm also figuring out the conflicts in the story.  There's the nightmares themselves....full of mishaps and conflicts. There's the romance storyline, in which she has to potentially choose between a man she loves and a man who is like her.  And there's conflicts involving her job, involving the ethics of what she does.  As I'm headed towards the 50K, I'm seeing where I might cut and what I might keep in the dreaded E stage (E is for Editing...here we go again!)

And I'm making notes for a sequel.  I have another storyline I want to write involving nightmare collection, and I'm holding back from adding that plot to this book.  Because I think it can stand on it's own.

42300/50000

Rachel

“I’m starving,” I said.  “I can tell that my blood sugar is too low.  I need sugar and carbs.”

“Are you diabetic? On any medication?"

I ignored his question.  It was impossible to explain to him at this point in time. “A donut or a cinnamon roll,” I said.  “That’s the kind of carb I need.  Even some cookies might work.”

“Are you sure?"

“I have a very fast metabolism,” I said.  "Look...you said you wanted to help me.  Do you or don't you?"

“Okay,” he said.  “Let me see what I can find.”

He disappeared, and when he came back, he had a plate with two chocolate frosted donuts, a sugar cookie with sprinkles, a piece of white cake with frosting, and a couple of foil-wrapped Hershey’s kisses.  “Any of this appeal to you?”

“It’s all great,” I said.  “Just what I need.”  I started with the white frosted cake.  I could tell that there’d been something written on top of the piece, with pink frosting.  “Someone’s birthday?”

“Not sure,” he murmured.  “I just saw this stuff at the nurses’s station and snagged it.” 

He watched as I scooped the frosting off the white cake with my fingers and then ate the cake portion.  Then I studied the plate.  I needed another carb-sugar hit, and decided that the donuts would be great, both efficient and delicious.  “You wouldn’t have a soda that I could wash this down with?” I asked.

“Really?” he asked.  And I nodded.  “I’m so close to feeling better,” I said.  “I just need a Coke or something.  Pepsi, Mountain Dew, Dr. Pepper…about 16 ounces.” 

“You know to the ounce how much sugar your body needs?”

“Uh, I just have a feel for it,” I said.  “It’s kind of an intuition I have.  Surely you’ve heard of the concept of intuitive eating?”

“Eat what your body wants, eat when you’re hungry, stop when you’re full?”

“Yes,” I said.  “That’s what I do.”

"You must have a fast metabolism," he said, watching as I finished off both chocolate donuts.

“I have an active job,” I said. 

“Which is?”

“Get me that soda now, and I'll tel you all about it," I said.

Of course I was lying.  

Nano, 21

As a writer, I sometimes forget that I have tried and true methods of accomplishing things.  Take novel writing, for example.  I hate the days when the writing is awkward, forced, and slow.  But when that happens, it happens.  My mantra has always been...the words will show up at precisely the right time. And I've seen it happen, both personally and professionally.  Especially when I'm in tune with a project.

Yesterday, I was struggling, and I'd hoped today to have a quiet day on the loveseat, with the computer, writing away while thinking about how happy I was to be inside.  However, Jaeme reminded me that I'd promised to take her to have her hair done, and I knew we had to go and get groceries, anyway.  But instead of looking at that as five lost hours, I pulled out an old trick: the kitty cat binder.

I took a binder with notebook paper in it...and a pencil....and I sat at the salon for three hours while Jaeme got her highlights retoned, and I made notes on the novel while the salon girls brought me hot tea.  And those notes turned into some text when I got home.  I NEED to remember this change of venue trick the next time I get stuck.

The snippet that follows is a scene following a nightmare collection where my heroine--who I've given a working name--has rescued a baby in a fire manifestation.  Unfortunately, her employers are not too happy about the resulting publicity...

40,000/50,000

Rachel

The flash of a camera illuminated the darkness during the moment right before Ken handed the baby over to the woman from social services.  The image captured: me, leaning over to kiss the baby on the forehead, while he was cradled in the arms of the firefighter who had apparently saved us both. And of course, that was the photo that would appear across dozens of wires and all over the internet the next day.  It was a great human interest story: The woman who runs into a burning building to save a baby, and the firefighter that saves them both.  Or so the humans would think.

Too bad it was a story that my employer wouldn’t want told.

I thought about the NMC rules for the second time that week.

Don’t call attention to yourself.

Don’t seek publicity.

If publicity happens, call your PR handler immediately.  Publicity had definitely happened.

I was searching for my phone to call in the report when Paul, my PR handler, appeared on the scene and whisked me away to an NMC black sedan that was parked on the side of the road.

“Miss, what’s your name?” called out one of the reporters.  “How did you know that the baby was in the warehouse?”

“She’s got no comment,” he called out cheerily, and I thought how his cheerful voice contrasted with what I’d always thought was his unfortunate rat-like appearance.  He had a head full of white hair and a white beard that covered a pointy chin.  His eyes were always slightly pink, and his skin was pale.  And I swear if I squinted my eyes that I’d see whiskers sprouting out around his nose.   I felt like he was AR...almost rat, not almost human.

“Well, well,” he said.  “And how many rules have we broken today?"

"It's not enough that I just dashed into a fire and saved a baby, is it?"

Paul frowned, and I imagined those whiskers quivering wildly in disapproval.  "The saying 'all publicity is good publicity' does not apply to the NMC."

 

Nano 19, 20

Great weekend with S. We're both feeling better, and we had the best time this weekend.  First, he took me to a really upscale steakhouse called Ruth's Chris, where we drank a Riesling with notes of honey and pear and where the waiter (Mike) greeted us by calling us Mr. and Mrs. M.  When S. told him that there was not a Mrs. M.,  Mike apologized for being presumptuous.  He was a great waiter, nonetheless, and even checked to see if the creamed spinach had flour in it.  Anyway, it was an amazing meal that included desert coffee, and S. had already stopped by my favorite Sweet Cake Bake shop and picked up gluten free cupcakes for desert.

Today, we went window shopping and laughed our way through Trolley Square.  At one of the stores, a girl yelled at us when she thought we didn't answer her question "How are we today?", to which S. had already nicely said "good."  Nothing like the girl at Brookstone trying to engage you in a fight when you walk in the door.  I hear it's a really successful sales tactic. ;) 

The writing is flat tonight, but some nights are just like that.  I'm filling in the gaps with a bit of research on what different nightmares mean, and I'm trying to decide if I need to add a second love interest or if her work is the competition.  So even if the story isn't flowing, the research and planning are good.

Still aiming for 37500 by tomorrow night.

35601/50000

Rachel

Nano, 18

Writing nano is not linear.  I am not the kind of person who can write 1667 words a day.  I have some days where I'm more prolific, others when I'm less, and days when I take a break. 

Tonight was weird..I felt like I was lost in some kind of disappearing time sequence.  First, there was the workout, then the dark drive to pick Jaeme up from piano, then dinner, then shopping for a birthday gift, then homework, then stopping to get cat food.  Then coming home and realizing that I really needed to pick up the living room, vacuum, and do the dishes.  Before I knew it, it was 9:40, and I hadn't written a single word.  I think this is how people must feel when they say: "I have no time to write a novel."

I added a few words to the count.  Part of me wants to stay up and keep writing, but the other part knows that I need my sleep.  Although I feel TONS better than I did most of the week, I don't want to jinx my good health by not attempting to get a good night's rest.

34100/50000

Rachel

P.S.  I've been reading a lot about money and passions lately.  Today I had some interesting thoughts about my finances over the last eight years and what's worked and not worked for me.  I'm making note of this thought here so that I can write about it after nano is over. 

P.P.S.  I've got the best cheerleaders ever on this project.  Special thanks to my friends on Facebook for liking my word count status updates, to S. for the Mac so that I can write the novel and for support and encouragement, and for Jaeme, who continues to insist that I'm really good at writing and that I should sell a novel. :)  The kind words and supportive thoughts all keep me going and make the whole process that much more fun. :)

 

Nano, 17

I'm getting better.  I had periods of time today when I actually didn't cough for more than one hour at a time.  Even wore a cute outfit to work and did my hair. 

The story is in that untapped place that I hadn't felt much this year.  That's the place where I'm doing something simple, like walking down a hallway, and I start thinking of a scene in my mind.  It's the ultimate place for a writer..the place where you want to write so much that you can't stand not to do it. Totally different than forcing yourself to sit down and hit some word count.

Some interesting things happened in the writing today.  First, I figured out how the story is supposed to begin and rewrote the beginning.  Second, I made some notes about the nightmare collection scenes.  Trying to decide how many is too many.  Third, I found some places to flesh out what I'd already written.  And the best....fourth.....I discovered a plot twist that I didn't know existed until now.  And that's where the writing feels really good.

I'm going to make a cup of hot tea.  Part of me wants to keep going, but part of me wants to stop and savor the experience that I've already had tonight.  Another part of me wants to hit 33000 words tonight, just because it's a nice round number. And seriously, I could type 250 words in about five minutes.  But I don't want to lose my starting threads for tomorrow. 

No snippets right now.  Too much in the middle of it, and if I start pulling, I'll start rewriting.  Maybe I'll post something before I go to bed, though.

32756/50000

edited to add: 33304/50000, had to write some more, tired now, off to bed

Rachel

P.S.  In reading Pillars, I'm realizing that really good writing stays with you.  I have words and sentences and scenes from the book popping into my mind as I go about my regular life.  Thinking about Aliena and her wool trade and how she built it up from nothing and then how she lost it all...

P.P.S.  Just a little:

...That’s a rule that I’d definitely broken tonight, and now NMC was going to have to cover it up.  But it was hard to cover something that had already gone viral.  We pretty much considered social media to be a curse. All a nightmare collector needed was a dreamer or a dreamer’s friend tweeting about how she’d just witnessed a miracle.  And don’t even get me started on YouTube.  I could only imagine the videos that would probably be up tomorrow, showing me and the baby and the firefighters and the kitten.

NMC had preventative measures, but they couldn’t always be everywhere at one time.  For example, they could jam cell phone signals within a certain area when a manifested nightmare was in progress.  They could also screw around with people's electronics so that digital cameras didn’t process and videos didn’t upload.  But that only worked on the nights when NMC was able to have a special team in area.  And some nights, things were just so crazy that they couldn't get a team to control the technology...

That's when we were supposed to be on our best behavior.  Which meant not giving an interview to Channel 6 news.  But...

 

Nano, 16

Stayed home today.  Finally slept without coughing, which felt good.  And did a little bit of writing.  None of it's snippet worthy, so I'm not sharing tonight.  And I'm still a bit behind after skipping out on writing yesterday. 

When I'm writing Nano, I feel that I'm very in tune to other writing.  I'm reading Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett right now (thanks, S., for the loan), and the writing is strong and inspirational.  And I've also watched some real lame shows on television while being home sick, and the writing is lame...and yet inspirational.  Makes me want my writing to be better, less shallow, and more meaningful.

For now, 28177/50,000

Rachel

Nano, 15

Last night, I was coughing so much that I couldn't sleep.  I was wishing for a warm water humidifier, and remembered that I had an old one in the upstairs hall closet.  But it didn't work. 

I tried everything I could think of to fall asleep...but the problem was that after I'd fall asleep, I'd rewake with the horrible tickling in my chest, which would make me cough.  I kept thinking back to two of my worst coughing episodes as a child...one in which I remember my parents having me sleep in a recliner (so I tried sitting more upright) and one in which I coughed so much that I couldn't breathe (that happened when I was in college the first time, living at home...and it was really scary.  And I remember the campus doctor telling me: acute bronchitis. And they gave me an inhaler.)  So I tried really hard to not let the coughing spiral into anything that mimicked that feeling of not being able to breathe.

 My poor cat just snuggled in close to my shoulder and put up with the tossing, turning, coughing, lights on, lights off, book open, book closed, web browsing that went on until about 6AM.  Which is when I finally slept for about thirty minutes.  Until my alarm went off.   So I went back to sleep. And my daughter came in at 7 and asked me if I knew what time it was.  Oops. 

I dragged myself into work this morning and just kind of quietly coughed and typed to myself for about the first forty five minutes.  Then as people started slowly streaming in, I realized that I was feeling lousy and needed to just give up and make a doctor's appointment.  Anyway, the results are in, and I do have bronchitis, and now I am on an antibiotic and Mucinex DM, which is supposed to help break up all the irritation and congestion and suppress my cough.

I'm too tired to work on my novel tonight.  I'm just kind of sitting here on the couch, zoned out after helping Jaeme review science homework. 

I do have a doctor's note to stay away from work until Wednesday.  Hopefully I'll have a good night's rest tonight and be well for the rest of the winter....starting SOON. 

Rachel

Nano, 14

Still have laryngitis and a cough, but I felt well enough today to run some errands with my daughter. We found a good winter coat for her, plus hats and gloves for both of us.  I'm in budget monitoring mode right now, but the good news is that I had a thirty percent off coupon for her coat and my hat was very reasonably priced.  Those who know me will be in disbelief that I bought a hat, which will undoubtably mess up my hair.  But it's worth it for the potential cuteness factor.

Apparently people across the country have this horrid virus.  If you're one of them, my suggestion is honey and lemon juice.  It's really what's worked the best for me.  I took Nyquil last night and coughed so much that my abs ached this morning.  Which in some ways is good because I've missed several workouts from being sick.

Anyway, you didn't come here to read about my health.  You want to know about the novel.  The section wrote itself tonight.  My heroine is in what should be a standard nightmare collection, but her dreamer is being stubborn.  At the halfway point of my novel, and my nightmare collector is questioning the ethics of her employer, as well as her own ethics.

26306/50000

Rachel

…I couldn’t believe it.  I’d had many weird things happen during the times as a nightmare collector, but I’d never had anyone flat out refuse my services mid-nightmare.

She started running down the hallway in her dream, and for the first time, I saw her stir physically at the desk where she was sleeping.  Now I was worried.  She didn’t trust me, and she wasn’t going to trust me, either.  She knew too much, and she knew too little, all at the same time.  

In a water dream, you can expect water to pour into the room.  In a fire dream, there’s flames and smoke.  In a fear dream, you never know what’s going to manifest. 

And I didn’t want to know.  Because truth be told, fear based manifestations could be very difficult to fight.  She could manifest anything from ghosts and zombies to mercenaries with machine guns.  I had no way of knowing and neither did NMC.  And even if they did send back up, I didn’t want that to happen.  Didn’t want to look like a failure.  What kind of nightmare collector was I when I couldn’t deal with what started as a simple “I forgot to study” situation?

“You’re going to have to do it,” said Joe.

I didn’t want to do it.  It felt slightly unethical, but it was one of those gray areas in nightmare collection.  I preferred talking and reasoning over violence, but it was now me against her.  She could manifest and scare me, or I could scare her.

That’s right.  My only real option at this point was to manifest violence into her dream.  I needed something that would scare her so badly that she’d want out.  However, I had to be careful because the manifestation could turn on me quickly.  And then I’d have a girl locked in a nightmare while I was fighting the results of what I’d put into her brain.

But I had to do it.

Ashley’s scarefile had been extensive, and I now understood the reason why…it was because she was an insured dreamer and not a random one.  As one of the insured, the information had been provided for me, and even though I hated the unethical way it made me feel, I was about to use what I knew against her. 

“It’s not against her,” Joe said.  “You’re helping her, but you’ve got to do it now.”

I closed my eyes.  And I focused.  And I turned the hallway into a dark alley.  And I filled it full of pit bulls, with teeth bared, barking and growling.  I put a wall at the end of the hallway so that Ashley had no where to run.  And when she started screaming “someone, help me,” I offered her my hand and she took it.

And that’s when she woke up.

 

 

 

Nano, 12/13

I'm still sick. Now I have a horrible case of laryngitis.  Jaeme had to help me order chicken when we went to the deli tonight beause I have no volume at all. 

S. has been really sweet to me, stopping and buying me cough drops, keeping me hydrated, taking me out for soup, buying me a fountain drink with lots of ice, letting me wear his Dallas Cowboys sweatshirt and even volunteering to go buy me ice cream in the middle of the night.  Oh, and pouring me a shot of liquid Nyquil when I couldn't stop coughing. Cheers, sweetheart.

Tonight I'm at 24100.  I want to hit the midpoint before I go to bed tomorrow, and I know it will happen.  I'm kind of sleepy, so I may call the writing done for today and pick up on my story tomorrow.  I feel like this is the first year that I've been this sick while writing nano, but it doesn't seem like it's stopping my story progress.  And I must say that this is one of the more enjoyable novels I've written.  Maybe being sick while writing is a good thing.  Maybe I'm letting go of some of the control over what I think the story should be and just letting it run it's own race.

24100/50000

Rachel

“How does the nightmare insurance work, though?” I asked.  “I know that only one percent of one percent of nightmares actually manifest, but do the insured know that?”

“They know it’s rare but that it may happen,” he said.  “The insurance gives them comfort and may help the nightmares completely disappear.  Kind of like a placebo effect from a pill.”

“And how does NMC monitor all these celebrities?"

"They're not all celebrities," said Joe.  "Some of them are just rich or have wealthy parents."

"Okay, but how?"

“The insured all have a small transmitter placed into their brains,” said Joe. 

I shuddered at the idea.  “You’re kidding me?”

“Nope,” said Joe.

“Does it hurt?”

“Probably as much as liposuction or plastic surgery," he shrugged. "They probably have access to pain killers that we've never even heard about."

“And the insured just keep that in their brains forever?”

“As long as they pay, the service remains on,” he said. “Kind of like your cell phone service.   Pay and you get signal; don’t pay and you don’t.”

“And the signals only transmit to NMC when it’s a manifesting nightmare?”

“Yep,” said Joe.  “And that’s what happened with Ashley tonight.”

“But we got called in early,” I said.  “How can they know that she’s high probability to manifest when she hasn’t even fallen asleep?”

“The device tracks her dream patterns over several nights,” said Joe.  “Some hot shot programmers over at NMC came up with a program that figures it all out."

“And they’re saying tonight?”

“Yes,” said Joe.  He held up his communiator.  “She’s asleep in the stacks of the old research library,” he said.  “Ready to collect?"

"Let's do it," I said. 

 

Nano, Day 11

Planned to write in the evening. However, made a tactical error by taking some nyquil for my cough.  Stayed awake long enough to help my daughter with her book report, but then got really tired.  Think of the scene in the Wizards of Oz where Dorothy and the Lion are asleep in the poppy fields.  It was that kind of tired.  Jaeme kept asking if I was sleeping, and I was like, no, just resting.

She was playing music on her computer and singing, and I was still crashed.  At 9:20, she suggested I should go to bed.

Didn't write much.  Goal for the weekend is to hit the halfway mark.

21681/25000

Rachel

 

Nano, Day 10

Still sick.  Spent most of the day sleeping.  I can swallow again, and I only have a slight cough.  I sound much worse than I feel, and I have an unusual symptom...a symetrical rash across my collarbones.  I know that my lymph nodes were very swollen, and I wonder if this rash is a manifestation of my body fighting the virus...who knows? 

I didn't think I'd write at all tonight.  I couldn't think of anything to say and then the scene I wanted to write popped into my head. 

So, tonight I'm at 21006/50,000.  Should hit the halfway point by Saturday night. 

Rachel

“Well, maybe her friend wasn’t hurt as badly as everyone thought,” I said.  “Maybe it looked worse than it was, and with a little bit of cleaning up, she was actually okay.  Did anyone document that she had broken bones, fractures, etc.?”

“Well, no,” he said.  “No official documentation, like x-rays or anything, but there were several people who saw those girls when they were brought in.  Everyone from the EMT’s  to the nurses to the doctors…you can’t tell me that all those people where wrong.”

I liked the way my hand felt in his.  Warm, comforting, relaxed.  And I liked the conversation I was having with him.  Challenging but not overwhelming.  I could tell that he was smart and open to new ideas.  Trained in the traditional ways, but he’d experienced things beyond medical textbooks.  And while I couldn’t tell him the whole truth, I could make a strong case for what he'd seen.

“Ah,” I said.  “What people saw….have you ever read about people’s perceptions, of say a traffic accident?”

“You mean the classic psychology experiment?  The one where ten people see something and they all report it differently?"

"Exactly.  None of them are trying to lie, and they all think they are telling the truth.  But their perceptions are based on their own backgrounds and what they expected to see..."

"Sometimes used in court," he said.  "But last night..."

“Last night,” I said.  “You and your staff were prepared for what?”

“The worst,” he admitted.  “The results of a train/car collision..."

“And have any of you ever experienced that before?”

“Yes, well at least I have.”

“And what did you expect?”

“That the girls would be under extreme trauma, difficult to save.  It’s rare that anyone can survive that sort of thing..."

“Rare,” I nodded.  “See what I mean?  Perhaps you expected things to be much worse..."

He squeezed my hand and looked into my eyes.  “You are a clever one,” he said.  “You make a good case for what we expected to see.  Still….”

“Still what?”

“I know that something happened,” he said.  “Something out of the ordinary.  Something involving you.  I just haven’t figured out exactly what yet.”

 

Nano, Day 9

I'm still sick.  Miserable, cranky, grouchy, and tired.  I can't get comfortable, and I'm whiny, too (if you hadn't noticed, lol.)  I am at 19200.  That's a mere 700 words for the night.  So, some is better than none, right? Really glad right now that I picked up the place yesterday.

No snippets tonight.  It's all fever-chill induced writing, and I'll probably look at it when I'm in editing phase and be like, huh?!

19200/50000

Rachel

 

Nano, Day 8

I'm sick.  With a horrible sore throat.  I could feel it coming on today, so I started upping my supplementation with glutamine.  I thought maybe it was the nasty weather or the cold air blowing on me all day at work.  Whatever it is, I'm officially sick.  Can't deny it.

I told myself that I could just hit a few words.  I had a starting thread, and I wanted to get some thoughts down.  And in between dinner, algebra, Cake Boss, making plans with Jaeme, and with a purring cat on my arms, I managed to hit 18,500 words. 

Some good stuff tonight, but I realize that it's not all going to make sense in the snippets.  I have notes within my text on items that need clarification, so I know that everything I post around here will definitely not make sense to you...especially since I know that I'm writing out of order at times.

18500/50000

Rachel

I could feel my body shaking as the bunny venom coursed through my veins.  I willed myself to be strong.  She was on the verge of waking up, and I just had to hold on.  If she would just trust me...

I heard the door to the ER open, just as the dreamer’s eyes opened.  She blinked up at me, her blue eyes glowing in the darkness, and I felt a huge rush of relief.  I’d brought her out of the nightmare.  Her limp hand in mine was already rapidly healing, her joints moving back into place.  Her gashes were slowly closing, one by one.

“What did you just do?”  I heard Dr. Chris whisper in disbelief from the door.  The blonde haired girl gingerly sat up on the table.  Her bones were cracking and straightening and molding back together, the muscle fibers and smooth skin snapping back into place like rubber bands being shot across a classroom.  The nightmare had been defeated at the last possible second, and now, it was leaving her body, the manifested damage disappearing along with it.  The manifestation was nearly complete, but I’d stopped it just in time.  She’d completely heal tonight, without benefit of surgery or sutures. 

 “She just saved my life,” said the girl.  She started sobbing, and for the second time that day, I felt myself faint.

 

Nano, Day 7

Writing was uninspired tonight, although I did add to the word count.  I'm at 16067, but I don't even know if I have a paragraph worth posting.  Some of the writing is flat, which may be because I was throwing in some research as I was writing.  My heroine is in the ER, following a bite from a possibly rabid rabbit.  The problem is, she's not quite a human.  As an AH (an almost human), she has blood that's closely related to A+...but not quite. 

I took Jaeme to see Secretariat today...it's my second time.  I first saw it S. last weekend, before everything went crazy with Jaeme getting sick.  The movie is a great story, and it's also inspirational.  The main character's father tells her to run her own race, and more than once, when she could give up, she doesn't.  And in the end, all of her instincts prove out. 

For some reason, during the movie, I was thinking about being a little girl at the library in our local town and seeing the books on the shelf and imagining my name on the spine of one of those book.  I've been published in non-fiction and have had the fun of going to bookstores and picking up magazines and flipping to my byline and picture, but that novel on a shelf witih my name on it is still elusive.

Is it still something I want to chase after?  Sometimes I imagine how my life might change if I became the next Stephenie Meyer or Rachel Vincent.  Utah is a hotbed for young adult authors, and who says that I couldn't be the next one?  Never thought I'd write a column for an international magazine or that I'd ghostwrite a book that would sell out of numerous printings, either. 

What comes first, the work or the dream? 

Rachel

16067/50000

Great, a doctor who did his homework.  I had to get an ER doctor who knew all there was to know about rabies.  Most people would be relieved to find themselves in his care.  But here I was, arguing with him over whether or not he'd had the right to administer an immunoglobin shot without my consent.  I really hoped he wasn’t one of those overachiever types because all I needed for him to do was to run some kind of special tests on blood, where he'd discover all kinds of things that were slightly off. 

I had one goal for the evening, and it wasn’t to stay here, chatting with a doctor about my potential complications and my need to return for more follow up rabies shots.  I needed to get out, and I needed to collect that bunny before he caused anymore damage.  And I needed to get myself to an AH doctor stat and find out what kind of complications a rabies vaccine might cause for me.  Dr. Chris had argued that he was saving my life, but I couldn't be 100 percent sure...

 

Nano, Day 6

At 14,000 words.  My heroine, still unnamed, has just been injured during what was supposed to be a simple water nightmare.  But it didn't happen that way when her dreamer became host to a second nightmare in the middle of dealing with the first.

This is where I wanted to  by tomorrow.  The story is vivid and multi-faceted, and I keep learning new things about the story and my heroine as I type. I'm making editor's notes as I write the text, asking questions that I know the reader will need to have answered.

As is our tradition, I brought Jaeme to the craft store to buy her a Saturday night project so that I can type furiously while she's doing something creative as well.  Tonight she's making mosaic coasters. I think they'll turn out great!

14,000/50,000

Rachel

And I’d done this a million times.  Inside the dream, the sharks were circling and the dreamer was hysterical, flailing in the water, taking big gulps of water.  I focused on each shark, turning them into bunny rabbits instead.  I turned the first shark into a pink bunny, the second one into a blue bunny, and the third one into a yellow bunny. Pastel stuffed animals, the kind you'd find in a little girl's Easter basket.

My job was almost done. At any moment, my dreamer would relax, would realize the silliness of his dream and would wake.  His heart would be pounding, and he’d be anxious and out of it, and we’d have to take him to NMC (nightmare central) social services, who would give him a room for the night, a meal, and a pill that would make him forget the whole thing.  Tomorrow, he'd be back on the street again. 

I watched carefully, waiting for the dreamer to end the dream.  Which is what usually happened when I neutralized something like sharks.  However, that's not what was happening now.

I watched in horror as the nightmare suddenly switched.  My dreamer was no longer in the ocean.  He was no longer being chased by sharks.  His mind hosted the dream in a new sudden bizarre twist.  He was being chased by rabid bunnies with glowing eyes and vampire-like teeth.  A pink one, a blue one, a yellow one.  I wasn’t used to the dreamer switching to a new nightmare.  It never happened this way.

The nightmares must be getting smarter.  I wondered if the first dream had been a ploy.  We knew how to deal with water dreams, but the dreamer's focus had been stronger than mine.  I closed my eyes, forcing myself back into his dream.  I had to take control of his mind before things went from bad to worse, and I rushed towards him to grab his hand and pull him out of the dream.

But not before I felt a pair of teeth sink into my forearm.

Nano, Day 5

Took it off to spend time with S., who has been sick with a virus of some sort.  Spent the evening eating Moo Shu Pork, drinking Kendall Jackson Riesling, eating caramel-apple cupcakes from the Sweet Cake Bake shop, watching True Blood, and snuggling up on the couch under a quilt with S. and R., his super cute puppy. 

Perfect Friday night, except for S. being sick. :(  Feel better soon, sweetheart. 

Rachel

 

Nano, Day 4

I am so exhausted that I can barely type.  Tonight, I put my character through the memory of learning that she was a nightmare collector.  I thought about the beginning of this scene on and off all day long, and when J. and I got home from Barbacoa, I was more than ready to write it.  Went upstairs, put on bike shorts and an old company tshirt, pulled up the mac, and started typing.  Right at the place where my still unnamed heroine sees aqua colored lights flickering behind her friend's eyelids. That's right before the basement starts to flood...

It is only 8:22.  I have only been writing for two hours.  It's one scene, and it's drained me.  I would really like to just sleep this scene off.  I don't know that I've had this experience before...putting my character through something that exhausts me.  I'd like a coffee IV, stat. 

10,000/50,000

Rachel

P.S. Remember. Text in italics is from my character's perspective.  I like to write in first person, but it's not my story to tell.  It's her.  Miss Unnamed for now.  Someone get me her birth certificate, will you?  Oh wait.  She's not quite human.  Does she even have one?

P.P.S.  This is all very rough draft copy.  Just copied and pasted from a couple hours of typing quickly. It won't win a prize, but it is an honest rough draft.  And that's the essence of this blog. 

“What’s that?” asked Megan nervously.  “What’s going on?”  Her eyes flickered to the images projected upon the basement walls.

“It’s my nightmare,” said Angela.  “It was in my mind, but now it’s not.”  She looked at me terrified and tried to pull her hand away.  But I suddenly knew that the only way to stop the nightmare was going to be to hold onto her hand and to pull her out of the ocean that she’d been engulfed in before she awoke.

“Let me go,” she yelled, and she tugged at my hand, trying to free herself.

“I can’t,” I yelled. Her hand was clammy in mine.

I held tightly to her hand.  I closed my eyes as tightly as I could.  I could feel her pulse rate fluttering and her breathing shallow and ragged.  I was trembling myself, chilled from the water that had drenched my skin.  I forced myself into her nightmare and now I was in the water with her, and I was grabbing her hands in the nightmare and I was tugging her out.  The tidal wave was merely an illusion to me, as simple as an illustration in a book; it had no hold on me whatsoever. I could leave the nightmare and take Angela with me. But would she go?

It didn’t work right away.  I felt her mind shift.  I felt the fear of drowning take over.  I felt the moment she lost hope, and I knew the second that the nightmare was pulling her back in again.  She was the host, and the nightmare didn’t want to give up while it still had a chance.

“The water, the water,” yelled Heather.  I could sense that it was continuing to creep up, and I began to hear it crashing against the walls of the basement.  “It’s changing.”

“Oh my god,” I heard Megan gasp.  The water in the basement was sloshing now, no longer just streaming in but actually crashing against the basement walls the way you might imagine an ocean crashing against the shore.  But here, the ocean was contained.  Contained in the finished basement of a 1950’s ranch house. 

The water had been aqua at first but now it turned gray, storm clouds turned into liquid death. 

I tasted sea salt on my lips as the waves crashed around us.  I felt the water splashing onto my face and arms, stinging my eyes.  The roaring of the water drowned out every thought, harmonizing with the screaming of my friends.  It was a beautifully elegant ugly melody.

I was losing her, but I didn’t let go.  I had to stay focused, inside of her mind.  I had to calm her down and get her past the horror.  I remembered the class I’d taken in swimming and how hard it was to rescue someone who was out of control, flailing and hysterical. 

“Don’t go back, don’t go back there,” I said.  My teeth were clenching, chattering.  “Fight it, Angela, you’ve got to fight it.  Don’t let the nightmare win.  It’s NOT real, it only seems like it is.”

...

And that was the night I learned about drowning dreams and about my special skill.  That night, I’d saved Angela’s life, but in some ways, I’d lost my own.  It was my last true experience with human friends; although I’d saved many humans over the last twenty years, I found it easier not to befriend them in the first place.  It was ironic that my first nightmare collection would be a drowning dream because I felt like I was drowning myself, looking for oxygen in the knowledge of who I was and finding little comfort in the gasping breaths...

Nano, Day 3

When I write nano, people always ask if I drop everything else to do it. The answer is no. Part of the fun of nano for me is making it happen during the middle of my very regular life.  I don't write at work as I consider that to be a violation of the novel writing process, and besides, I'm too busy focusing on getting out magazines, newsletters, and writing video scripts. 

And I believe that the more nano becomes part of my regular life, the better it is.  Today I found it wound around me during a lecture I attended.  And, during nano, every piece of real life becomes a possible part of my storyline.  Not in a literal way, but in a springboard kind of way.  For example, today, I was learning about viruses, which made perfect sense in my novel.  Because in my novel, nightmares are very much like viruses. 

(Unfortunately, I'm doing all this learning about viruses, and poor S. is sick at home with what is undoubtedly one.  Feel better, sweetheart!)

After making dinner and working out tonight, I wrote.  Some words.  And now I have a headache, so I'm going to let my nightmare collector have a break.  Still a lot of expository narrative being explored, and there's going to need to be some ruthless cutting (because I personally can't stand to read a book that's long on description and short on actual events.)  I'm at the place where some bad things need to start happening, and those aren't always the easiest for me to write.  Which is another reason why I'm breaking now for the night.  1.avoidance 2. I have a natural starting point for tomorrow.

7048/50000

Rachel

Hotels were places that looked grand on the outside.  Tall, stately, columned, and embellished.  But inside, they were harbingers of nightmares, full of messy emotions, arguments, fights, illicit affairs, too much alcohol or drugs, and even suicide and death.  The hotel housekeepers knew all sorts of sordid secrets for they were the ones who cleaned up the remains of what the humans left behind. 

And some of them even witnessed the shreds of nightmares without really understanding that the  mess that they were cleaning up was really decomposing nightmare filth.  We usually got it all cleaned up, but sometimes, there were nightmare wisps that remained. Harmless and unable to grow once they’d been separated from their original host, and as far as we knew, unable to regenerate in a simple sweep up from housecleaning.

...Up on the top of the old hotel, you could see for miles.  Tonight, the stars sparkled up high, and the moon gleamed down on the hotel’s broken skylight, bits of broken glass catching the reflection and casting it back up into the night sky.  And Joe and I sat on one edge of the crumpling red brick building, our feet dangling over the edge, our hands pressed against the rough texture.  We were up in the air, ninety three stories, but neither of us had any fear of heights.  It’s just not something that bothers you any longer when you’ve dealt with thousands of falling nightmares.  

I had no fear of falling…I saved that for the dreamers; they sucked up all the fear of falling and clung to it like a security blanket that they weren't willing to let go.  I could tell you that tonight, hundreds of people would have the falling dream. Their nightmares would start with something innocuous and then they’d get to the point where they were about to jump, and at that point, eighty-three percent of them would wake up.  Another eleven percent would wake halfway down, and the remaining six percent would require possible nightmare intervention to escape tragedy.  Falling dreams were easy to fix, however, and even the suicidal dreamers rarely failed to close the REM gates. 

 

Nano, Day 2

Over the years, I've learned many things while writing nano.  Some of those lessons, I seem to forget.  For example, I know that the story can't be forced.  All day long, I was thinking about the story, making little notes here and there.  I hit the 80 word mark and wasn't too thrilled about it.  Kept wanting to write, but didn't know what to say.  The editors in my mind were being quiet, but my creative slate was blank. 

Then I had one little thought.  Just one.  And I sat down and started to write in that direction.  And my story started taking a slightly different twist than I'd originally imagined.  And it began to open up, providing words and directions that I hadn't thought of when I was just sitting around and contemplating.  Sometimes, the story is written while you're writing it.  That's when you find the good stuff.  In the middle of your very worst draft, you'll find something worthwhile that inspires you to keep writing.  Because YOU want to know more.  You want to know what's going to happen next.  And when you want to know that, so will your reader. 

Don't know what to snippet tonight as the story is still being developed, but I'll cut and paste some italics below.

4700/50000

Rachel

In the world of night, I peacefully exist with those like me, some who you’d call human and some who you’d call something else.  There’s the night watchmen and the security guards, who you think are guarding office buildings and expensive homes and other places on this grid that we call the earth.  If you’ve ever talked with any of them, you’d know that their jobs are more than what you’d think…these men in uniform don’t just guard your physical places, they also guard your souls. 

Well, some of them do.

Nano, Day 1

So, I started having some ideas this afternoon.  Debated taking my novel in two different directions and wound up going in the nightmare collector direction.  For now.  At least there's words on paper, thoughts going through my mind, and 1600 done.  Two possible openers and this is one (snippet below.)

Headed to bed early tonight. Remember, I write in first person, but the italics are thoughts from my character, not from me.

Rachel 

1600/50,000

The first question they almost always ask is “and what type of work do you do?” 

It’s an innocent enough sounding standard question.  One of those questions that’s supposed to be easy to answer.  Supposed to give an insight into who you are.  Supposed to put you at ease.

The question comes up wherever you go.  When you meet your new boyfriend’s family.  When you go in for a doctor’s visit.  When you fill out any sort of official form.  Even the IRS wants to know: who are you and what do you do?

And I guess if you had a regular job and if you could answer that question by saying that you were a butcher, a baker, or a candlestick maker, you might not mind that particular question.  Your answer might be as simple as the drive you take home from work each night or signing your name on the bottom of a credit card slip.  Repetitive, practiced, easy.

How simple when you have a job that can be described in terms people understand.

And how complex when you don’t.

 

 

 

 

Nano 1, Rachel 0

Today's the beginning of Nano, and I'm not inspired to write.  This may be due to how I spent the day yesterday or it may be that I've had my mind occupied with other things this year.  Since I kept my daughter home today and am taking work PTO, I thought I might do some writing.  However, so far, my word count is 0.

I usually start Nano with a part of a story that gets written in my head.  And I've had some cool ideas this year.  But I'm holding myself back because I don't know which story idea has legs.  And I really want to write something and sell it.  And I want to write something that people will like.  And those thoughts are all like flashing red stop signs that are making me afraid to even open a word document.

I think I need to take a lesson from the movie Secretariat, which I saw with S. this weekend.  In the movie, someone says to "let the horse run his own race."  That's what I'm not doing.  Not committing to a story idea and letting it tell itself.  I've got to let this year's novel run it's own race.  Doesn't really matter if it's a win, place, or show...

Rachel

Z is for Zebra and Zofran

I love Halloween.  And everything leading up to this year's Halloween was perfect and fun.  Just the ultimate celebration of fall and friends, costumes and decorations, parties and time travelers. I got to dress up for work and stop by our friend's party in costume.  And S. drove down to get me and took me out for dinner in my zebra dress and surprised me with special gluten free cupcakes.

Then it was this morning, and Jaeme woke up sick.  At first I thought...too much candy, too many parties.  Then when she started crying and screaming from the pain (along with the throwing up), I started to worry.  I took her to the InstaCare, where she threw up three more times, screaming in the exam room that she needed someone to help her.  That's when I had my own personal meltdown.  The doctor came in, said she couldn't do anything to help Jaeme, and that we needed to get her to the ER immediately.

They took my daughter out of the InstaCare in a wheelchair.  But first they gave her something called ZoFran. By the time we got to the ER, the ZoFran was working, and she felt better, but they gave her an IV and did several tests to rule out appendicitis.  They told me she was badly dehydrated but otherwise, she just had food poisoning or a nasty virus.  When we left, she was smiling.  But on the way home, she was screaming in pain again. I have never seen her in so much pain before.  It broke my heart.

I called the ER.  I asked them to call in an RX for the ZoFran. They called the pharmacy by my house. When I got there, it was closed.  The next closest one to my pharmacy: closed.  Finally, I found a third pharmacy that was open.  Calls were flying back and forth between me and the hospital. They told me they would call in an RX to the third pharmacy. 

So I started driving.  Driving, driving. And then I got there, and they didn't have the RX.  Because they hadn't checked their voice mail.  They finally found it and told me that it would take 20 minutes to fill.  By that time, I was having my second meltdown.  Crying.  Alot.  At Walgreens.  Where, btw, I will never fill another RX unless there's absolutely no other option.

Finally, I got home.  Jaeme got her RX and was able to keep down three tiny sips of water.  She told me earlier that she didn't have any tears left.  I feel like I might not either.  I look scary tonight, in my pajamas that I was wearing when we left for the InstaCare six hours ago.  The magic ZoFran appears to be working...I'm just crossing my fingers that the rest of my Halloween night won't be quite so scary...

Rachel

Zebra Halloween

This year, I was going to be a statue for Halloween.  First I was going to be all silver.  Then I studied the living statue costumes, like the ones you'd see in Las Vegas.  But then I decided that I didn't want to put quite that much work into my costume this year. 

So, when I found a great zebra dress at Ross Dress For Less, I decided to keep it simple.  Dress, face paint, ears...done.  My daughter had an idea for my make-up, and she had it applied in about fifteen minutes.  I put white make up on first, then she traced the stripes, and then she filled them in.  If I was doing to re-do the make-up, I would have started with a better qualify white base instead of the cheap make-up kit from the Halloween store that we used.  However, I've gotten a ton of compliments on the make-up, so the look definitely worked.  (BTW, to make this outfit work appropriate, I did pair it with a black sweater.)

This isn't the first year I've been a zebra.  When I was much younger (maybe 4?  I'll say 4...then I can say that I was a zebra at 4 and 44), I was also a zebra.  Here's a super cute picture from a party I attended way back then...in the seventies, OMG. 

I believe the boy in the picture with me is Scott, who used to live in the house behind mine. :) 

Happy Halloween (a couple of days early!)

 

Rachel

 

Roadwork Economy

Every day, I’m frustrated by the roadwork that’s everywhere. Yesterday, I wanted to drive to our local pumpkin patch/garden center, and I was diverted three times by road construction.  I was talking to my daughter about how roadwork=jobs, and she was like, “yeah, but how many? How good is this for the economy?”  And after I dropped her off at school, I was thinking about it, and I thought, well, roadwork leads to other economic stimuli.

For example, car repair/tire shops are probably seeing an increase in business.  With 85% of vehicles on the road already needing some kind of work and with $62 billion in potential auto repairs already driving around*, it just makes common sense that a little road work damage could finally send you to the shop. Driving over thick pieces of rusted metal can’t be good for anyone’s suspension.  The graveled and dusted “roads” cause tiny rocks to fly, which hit your windshield and fleck at your paint job.  Road work byproducts in the road could cause exploding tires, which could cause you to hit half of a tire and break the plastic “grill” on the front on your car (don’t even ask me how I know this.)

I’ll bet that incessant road work also causes more wrecks (in fact: a study in Ohio found that the presence of construction causes accident rates to jump as much as 70%.*), which could be of benefit to tow truck companies and to car repair places (a double whammy for them, right?) and to rental car places and who knows, maybe even to car dealerships.  Wrecks=tickets, which means more money for the local government via fines.  And longer commutes=more money spent on gas, which ultimately helps gas stations/oil industry.

Road work could also help the psychiatric industry (which may or may not be depressed at the moment) by inducing anxiety in drivers.  There’s the whole crazy making thing of having a lane be there one day and poof (!) gone the next.  The food and drink industry could benefit as drivers find themselves searching for comfort food at the end of a commute that just lasted an hour longer than necessary.  Okay, okay, I’m getting way off tangent with these remarks, but you know what?  Excessive road work will do that to you.

I’m not against jobs, and all I’m asking for is to have one main road going to and from my house that is not ripped up.  And maybe a special government grant to help pay for the imminent road work repairs to my car.  Now that would stimulate the economy.

Rachel

*unscientific and non-authoritative sources that kind of said what I wanted them to say

Car Care Institute Survey

Recession Has Fueled Increase in Auto Repair Business

Regional Roadwork Accident Stats

Nightmare Collector

Every year, it happens.  I get to the midpoint of October, and I start to slightly panic because I don’t have a firm story idea.  But then, one day, an idea comes to me, and I entertain it.  Kind of like a coffee date, I guess.  And then I wait to see if it calls me back.  And I’ve got to say, that it was officially today, October 19, 2010, when I had my first call-back on a story idea. 

Not the “secret” idea that I got from my conversation with S.—that one will require some time and research.  But the nightmare idea and the spooky shop idea are kind of morphing into each other, and they got partnered up with an idea about collections today.  I can’t say for sure that this will be my final because who knows what else I’ll get before November 1?  Working title: The Nightmare Collector.

A Fictional Truth?

I didn’t realize that writing about nightmares would trigger them.  And maybe it wasn’t the blog entry.  Maybe it was watching Snapped at the gym or maybe it was reading Alpha before bed.  Or maybe it was burning the taco shells in the microwave or posing with Halloween-scary creatures in a spooky little antique shop.  Who knows the cause, but last night, I had two of them.

The first one had me out of bed, searching my house, and checking all the doors and windows.  I had such an adrenaline rush that my heart felt like it was pounding out of my chest.  The second one came with spooky sound effects, like an old door in a haunted house slowly creaking open.  I didn’t get out of bed to check the doors on that one because I’d already done it.

Still, I put my glasses on, and I eventually fell back asleep with my cell phone in my hand and my cat sleeping on my feet. 

(Is this blog entry true?  Or is it fiction?  Is it a fictional truth? Or a truthful fiction?  Writing what you know and filling in the rest?  What if writing fiction is about figuring out your own story, instead of making up someone elses?)

Rachel

*Disclaimer: In this season of fiction writing, everything you read here may not be about me or my life. Sometimes it just might be writing practice or trying out a story idea. And I may not always specify.   Proceed with caution.

 

Nano, Two Weeks Out

Two weeks out from Nano, and I'm not sure what I'm writing yet.  It's going to be another year of finding the story as it arrives, but I don't have a clear vision of what my story will be yet.  Trying really hard to not write what I know again this year, but it seems like it sometimes happens. 

I did have a fantastic idea on Saturday morning when I was having breakfast with S., but I don't have enough knowledge on that topic yet.  And not even Stephen King can argue that you can write a "based on real life" story with no knowledge of the real life.  But this would be a great book, and a movie in the genre of "21" and "The Social Network."  Not going to say more than that because it's an idea that's definitely worth keeping to myself.  Can't give the working title of this book, sorry.

 And I had another idea when we were pumpkin shopping today.  The weather was slightly overcast, and we were in this spooky little shop, and I thought about writing a story about, well, a spooky shop, with a strange mirror, and a woman who has nightmares (I know, too much about me, again.) And I think this book would be called Her Nightmares, but I'd have to be careful not to write horror (don't think I could, anyway) and not to fall into any overused plots (people getting stuck in a dream; was it a dream or is it real, etc.)

Rachel 

 

 

 

At the Cellular Level

Sometimes I talk about a topic, write about it, and then I keep coming across more topic variations of it.  Such is the case with my recent post on cell phones.  Since that time, I’ve had a few more thoughts, and who better to torture them with than my very own readers?

1.       Cell phones are not like home phones.  How many times have you damaged  your home phone?  How many times have you dropped your home phone in the toilet?  Or dropped it and had it crack? Or had some kind of poisonous fragrance stuff spill all over it and start to dissolve the plastic? Or sat on it and cracked the screen?  Or heard about someone who has experienced at least one of these?

2.       Cell phones are carried around, and therefore, unlike your (former?) home phone, they offer countless branding opportunities.  When I’m at BN, texting away on my Nokia Nuron, people may know that it’s a Nokia Nuron.  And therefore: cell phone companies should consider it a branding non-negotiable to FIX all broken/damaged cell phones (see list under bullet point 1) for free, whether or not they are under warranty and whether or not the cell phone user selected insurance.  Because if I’m carrying around a phone that’s half-ruined, it makes the cell phone look bad.  Which by default makes the cell phone company look bad. Branding, people, branding.

3.       Cell phones are a big deal.  I was at the mall yesterday, and I was so SAD to see that the Hello, Kitty store is gone, replaced by a cell phone store.  And I was extra SAD to see that the GAP has been replaced by another cell phone store.  And one of my favorite local restaurants is now gone from my local shopping area, and guess what replaced it?  Yeah.  Another cell phone store.  I guess cells are now the cells of the economy.  Does Obama realize this?  Can he stop the road work and put more money into the cell phone industry instead?

That’s all I have to say on this topic.  If you want to know more of my thoughts on cell phones, text me.  I’ve got my cell phone right here.

Rachel

Cute

It happened again last Thursday.  S. and I were looking at western type souvenirs in a gift shop in Park City, Utah, and the girl behind the counter said, “you guys are so cute together.”  This is something that we’ve heard more than once, and I have to agree. I see it when I catch a reflection in a window; I see it reflected in the way people look at us.*  In our case, I think it’s both a looks thing and a behavior thing...we have fun together, we can be silly together, and then there’s the whole immeasurable “this” factor, of which I’ll write about at a later time.  

The whole cute couple comment got me thinking about the science of attraction.  I was thinking about a study I read in which couples who are within two levels of attractiveness (yeah, there’s a scale that was developed for this study) of each other tend to be the happiest.  I haven’t had the whole “cute couple” thing happen in my more recent dating experiences, and I have to admit that it’s pretty fun.  And probably more than just slightly annoying to those who think we’re wearing out our cute welcome.  “Ok, you’re cute, now put down the bows and arrows and back away from the cowboy hats.”

This whole cute factor thing with S. was another thing that I didn’t know that I was missing until I experienced it.  And, really, how do you ask for something like that without sounding totally pretentious and completely into yourself?  Must-have:  someone who, by virtue of his looks and personality, is such a match for me that total strangers can’t help themselves from commenting?  I didn’t exactly see that one on list at eharmony...

Rachel

*initial impression, not the OMG, they’ve been being cute for three hours now, will it ever end???

Miss Mismarked

When I was in college, I was slightly obsessed with my GPA.  Probably too much so.  First class that threw me for a total loop was Fortran, which I stupidly thought would be a "fun elective."  I mean, I taught myself Basic so I could write little programs on our Vic-20.  How hard could Fortran be? 

Cruising into my last semester of my senior year, where I'd already qualified to graduate with highest distinction, it was hard.  And I passed for one and one reason only.  Because I would not give up a single point  Yes, there is a difference between 59 points and 61 points in a point graded class. I also turned in every single failed project from the computer lab.  And that's how I passed the only computer programming class I will ever take.

But that's not what this blog entry is about.  I found out tonight that my daughter is not against asking for the extra points either.  She recently bumped her grade into a new category by examining her test and finding a place where she'd been mismarked. 

It's only fair.  It's only just.  It's only like mother, like daughter.  Oh boy, watch out world.

Rachel

Cell, Cell, and Cell

I was recently in a discussion with friends on the topic of cell phones.  I love mine, but it's taken me years to settle into a good relationship with it.  I'm no longer a big phone talker, but I do love to text, and if I'm bored, I like being able to go right to my favorite websites.  

More importantly, I like my cell phone because my daughter can reach me at any time.  If she got sick at school, and I was in a meeting, her school could call me.  I also like my cell phone in case of emergencies, for example, when I had a flat tire last fall, I was able to call an ex-boyfriend, a friend at work, and finally, my insurance company, who ultimately sent one of their contractors out to help me. When I locked my keys in my house last March, I took my cell phone with me.  Hello, Locksmith!

A cell phone also allows you to respect other people's time, by letting them know if you're running way late (or maybe in my case, way early) And if I'm out with my daughter and her friends, a cell phone allows other parents to reach me if there's a change of plans or vice versa.  Plus, it's very handy if you're lost and you don't have a Garmin GPS. ;)

I don't talk and drive or text and drive, and if someone was calling me on my cell phone all the time, I'd get really annoyed (unlike texting, which is great because you can respond when you're ready.)  I think a cell phone is a good thing, and I won't leave home without mine, but I certainly wouldn't say that I'm tehtered to it, either.

A friend told me she refuses to be a slave to her phone.  That's why she leaves it at home.  When I asked her what she'd do if she had an emergency, she told me that people in the 90's didn't have cell phones and that she managed just fine then...and now.  Don't know that I buy that as a valid argument.  People didn't always drive cars, either, but I'm not going to leave mine at home to make a point.

Before S. took me off the dating market, I was on a site where you were asked to list the five things you couldn't live without.  Many lists included cell phones.  Would yours? Tethered to it? Nice convenience? Throw it in a drawer? Don't even have one?

Is your cell like a cell (jail) or like a cell (part of your body?)

Rachel

The Biggest Whiner

One of my favorite shows is The Biggest Loser.  I look forward to watching it every Tuesday night and discussing it with my colleagues on Wednesday mornings. In the past seasons, there's always been someone to hate, usually a witchy and conniving woman.  This year, however, the contestants are mostly a bunch of whiny brats.

When I worked with my trainer last year, it took me 20 weeks to lose 22 pounds.  Some of the female contestants on TBL are losing 5, 7, or 10 pounds a week.  Then they pout about it and talk about how disappointed they are with their "slow" weight loss.  Granted, I didn't have 100-plus to lose, but still...all the drama and whining from this group, on the scale, in the gym, and during the challenges, is driving me crazy.

I know, I know.  It's reality television, and the contestants are coached to be all sad and depressed over every little thing.  I study alot about nutrition, fitness, and weight loss, and although I've read alot about hormones and sleep and cortisol and leptin, I haven't read alot about positive attitude and weight loss.  After watching tonight's episode, I'm curious to see if the season's Biggest Whiner/s have a chance of winning the title of Biggest Loser.  

Stay tuned to find out who falls below the whining line...

Rachel