They Warn You About This
Still haven't cleared the 34,000 mark, and the NaNoWriMo gurus warn you about the treacherous 20 thousands, where many writers get bogged down and distracted. They say it gets easier after that, just slog through and you'll be okay.
The biggest distraction was an unplanned-for domestic project. Steve is allergic to certain aromatic oils, such as found in some candles. It became evident there was something in our immediate environment which was having the same effect. He tracked it down to my prize boxwood hedge in the front courtyard. When I first planted the hedge, the site was fairly shady and remained shady until early this summer. We had a large tree removed and our neighbor had several removed. The site is now full sun--and the sunlight sets off the oils in the boxwood. It's not a nice smell, either, and many people have often remarked that it smells like cat urine. There is a similar boxwood and sunny site at our doctor's office and Steve reacted the same way to that area, too. So it had to go.
It was a huge project which not only involved the physical removal of dozens of mature shrubs, but of shopping for, hauling, and planting of 40+ new privet shrubs, each averaging 5' tall. I got them for half price, and also got great deals on topsoil and mulch. It took about 3 solid days of work. There are still some details to take care of, such as replacing & expanding the irrigation system in the vincinity of the new privet hedge, but a bitter cold front came in and that will have to wait for a few days. Needless to say I was far too exhausted to do any art or writing or even housework.
I've been playing catch-up this week, getting the gallery website updated, the press releases out for the next show, the postcards stamped and mailed, the garden club website updated, a dozen batches of laundry done, taking in art for the new show and moving out art from the old show and this weekend will be spent hanging the next show. Somehow I have also been writing for the novel project, did over 3,500 words yesterday and will try for 5,000 today.
The best thing about the novel project is that in the course of writing about art and the process of art, I've done what amounts to an analysis of my own art up to the present day, and it's been quite revealing. I will write more about this in a future post, after I am able to articulate it more concisely. The novel writing project does reward quantity over quality, so it would not pay to quote it here!
The biggest distraction was an unplanned-for domestic project. Steve is allergic to certain aromatic oils, such as found in some candles. It became evident there was something in our immediate environment which was having the same effect. He tracked it down to my prize boxwood hedge in the front courtyard. When I first planted the hedge, the site was fairly shady and remained shady until early this summer. We had a large tree removed and our neighbor had several removed. The site is now full sun--and the sunlight sets off the oils in the boxwood. It's not a nice smell, either, and many people have often remarked that it smells like cat urine. There is a similar boxwood and sunny site at our doctor's office and Steve reacted the same way to that area, too. So it had to go.
It was a huge project which not only involved the physical removal of dozens of mature shrubs, but of shopping for, hauling, and planting of 40+ new privet shrubs, each averaging 5' tall. I got them for half price, and also got great deals on topsoil and mulch. It took about 3 solid days of work. There are still some details to take care of, such as replacing & expanding the irrigation system in the vincinity of the new privet hedge, but a bitter cold front came in and that will have to wait for a few days. Needless to say I was far too exhausted to do any art or writing or even housework.
I've been playing catch-up this week, getting the gallery website updated, the press releases out for the next show, the postcards stamped and mailed, the garden club website updated, a dozen batches of laundry done, taking in art for the new show and moving out art from the old show and this weekend will be spent hanging the next show. Somehow I have also been writing for the novel project, did over 3,500 words yesterday and will try for 5,000 today.
The best thing about the novel project is that in the course of writing about art and the process of art, I've done what amounts to an analysis of my own art up to the present day, and it's been quite revealing. I will write more about this in a future post, after I am able to articulate it more concisely. The novel writing project does reward quantity over quality, so it would not pay to quote it here!
posted by meg at 11:21 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home