Monday, November 7, 2011

Monday Meeting: Thunder Snow and Other Lessons

Last week, I learned that Thunder Snow is not something to be scoffed at. Or maybe my scoffing was the issue. It made Thunder Snow want to prove to me that it was a force to be reckoned with. Knocked out our power for two days and nights. Which probably wouldn't have been a big deal, if we hadn't had 20 degree nights. Oh, and if it hadn't been right before Halloween.

Life lesson: Never mock mother nature.

Zoom in on me making this costume by candlelight:


Which my son loved. And wore for the exact time it took to snap this picture. Then he stripped it off, and went trick or treating in street clothes. Sigh.

Life lesson: Never try to constrict a boy's nature in a box. Even if the boy insists.

Fast forward to my daughter walking, no, running, to school. Debris from thunder snow litters the sidewalk. Daughter trips, flies forward, and lands on her face. Does not use hands to break her fall. Loses (literally) her tooth. I spend the next 48 hours looking for tooth, and watching for concussion.


Life lesson: Magic makes everything better.

All this gave me perspective this week. When I try to control things is when I get into trouble, in my real life, and in my writing. When I leave myself open to what my subconscious has already worked out about a particular scene in a book, or when I leave myself open to the unexpected turns and twists of life, I am better equipped to handle where writing and life is going.

This week, I am hoping for a less action-packed week, and more action-packed writing.

How are you? Do you have writing goals? What are they? Do you have wordcount goals this week? Lay them on me!

15 comments:

  1. It's so true. Life never turns out the way we expect it too. So glad we could meet up yesterday! Wish I lived closer. :)

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  2. Ohhh- you "need a break today!!" or this week. A yese- you might as well go with the flow- save on sanity in the long run!

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  3. Hope you have a less eventful week in real life and more eventful in writing. Last week sounds like it was challenging.

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  4. Laura--I wish you lived closer to. How much an IRL conversation fills me up. :)

    Julia--Quite honestly the whole Fall has been a lot of action in my real life. I'm hoping for some quietness between now and the new year. :)

    Natalie--Last week was challenging, but in a very interesting way. My daughter and hubby both have birthdays this week, so I don't think it will be less eventful! But definitely fun! Thanks for stopping by!

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  5. Oh man, Heather!! Hope this week is indeed less action-packed (minus the writing, of course!)

    Hope your l'il kiddo feels better!! Poor thing!

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  6. Good lessons here! I hope *girl* makes a quick recovery, but she can show me her battle wounds via skype if she wants :P

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  7. Your poor sweet daughter! I hope it was a baby tooth!

    Good luck this week! My goal is to write a lot. :) Okay I'd like to write 4000 words this week. (definitely an attainable goal.)

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  8. I can't get over how many people lost power due to that one freak snow storm!

    And your poor little girl!!!

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  9. I'm so impressed you found such great life lessons in that! I totally laughed at the thought of you making the halloween costume by candlelight. You are such an awesome mom! And your daughter's note to the tooth fairy is priceless. Seriously cool.

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  10. your poor daughter! owch! And unlike everyone else I'm trying to cut words rather than add :)

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  11. What an awful week. How did you stay warm? And what a trooper, to make your son's costume by candlelight! It turned out great, even if he didn't want to wear it. He could probably see much better without it anyways! I remember when my son wore a California Raisin costume and had such a hard time seeing out of the eye holes, he walked into a tree - hard! So sorry your little girl had such a hard fall. She's a cutie even with the bumps and bruises.

    And look, you got a great blog post for all your troubles and applied the analogy to your writing, so you made the best of the situation. I hope you don't have to deal with any more Thunder Snow. No fun.

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  12. A horrible week, indeed... especially for your daughter (though I think I'd _nearly_ rather take the fall than spend 48 hours searching for a tooth and monitoring could-be concussion). Anyway, here's wishing you a better week and a bounty of success courtesy of your revelation. Along those lines, perhaps this is the cosmos's way of telling you that your next book should be called THUNDER SNOW. Great title...

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  13. Marisa--Yes, more action packed writing, less...other stuff! Let's hope!

    J--Let's put a skype schedule together. She looks so much a better a week later!

    Kelly--It was a baby tooth. Thankfully! 4K is a great goal. Maybe I'll join you!

    Dianne--Such a crazy thing. Our leaves were still on the branches, which is why so many came down onto wires. I hope you guys kept your power!

    Peggy--The costume was a BIG stress in my life. Thanks for the kind comments!

    Marcy--I'm doing both, adding and cutting. I'm revising as I go. :) Good luck!

    Lynn--If we had one more night without power, we would have left the house. The house was down to about 45 degrees when power came on. A concur, please, no more thunder snow!

    John--Hello! I came to the conclusion that perhaps she swallowed her tooth. We really couldn't find it. I love your take-away here--THUNDER SNOW is a great title!!

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  14. The first line of THUNDER SNOW: "I came to the conclusion that perhaps she swallowed her tooth."

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  15. John--I'm laughing at loud. Could you imagine the process if we wrote a book line by line in the comments of our blogs?

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