Wow it's been 10 days since I last wrote. I feel like I've got legitimate reasons for not writing, but I still feel bad for not keeping this up to date, especially with the adventures I had in San Francisco a week ago. Other than keeping pretty active, I've also pushed myself to write just my novel whenever I had writing juice and time on my hands.
But it's also the 100th post on this blog! And I've reached 40,000 words on my nanowrimo novel! Woo hoo! I personally think reaching 40 was more exhilarating that reaching the 35 that seems to be the second biggest milestone in the nanowrimo process. But to each their own. Perhaps if I'd been as busy and as able to come up with ways to procrastinate (ooo look! sightseeing! ooo look! a book to read!) this month I'd be a little closer to the norm. Oh well.
I've also come to the realization that this isn't just one novel. It's more like at least two novellas. Case in point: the main character is three years old when the story begins. 40,000 words later, he's only seven. I don't think I'm writing way too slowly (maybe a bit at times to kind of explore ideas in my head), but I've let loose the idea of saying only what needs to be said and going wild with it. I still have only a hazy view of the rest of the story, including how much there is left, but no, the boy does NOT die young. At least, not this young.
I'm kind of in awe of my novel in some ways ... there are so many surprises that have cropped up and the story just goes flying in directions I didn't really expect it to. I wouldn't say the story has flowed painlessly all month, but I'm surprised at how I'm able to keep writing without too much pain. I have only taken one day off, and that was the full day of sightseeing. Looking back, I could see that I could have crammed a few words in when I was at the coffee shop instead of reading Google Reader, but I was multitasking and noveling is not a multitasking ... task.
Okay, short summary of SF:
Arrived Sunday afternoon at hotel on Nob Hill, was starving, got lunch in Chinatown at Happy Chinese Restaurant. Returned overdue Toy Story 3 to Redbox (still haven't watched it) down the hill near Union Square. Saw people ice skating and a tree being put together out of multiple trees. Died walking back up. Had overpriced latte with Illy espresso at hotel cafe, now know that Illy just tastes burnt normally. Wrote a prolific amount of novel in hotel room while Colin partied with other computer geeks in the garden right below. Also emailed Kelsay after realizing she lived in SF's vicinity then made plans to meet up with her and go to Alcatraz Island the next afternoon. Had dinner of Spaghetti Carbonara at a small and good Italian restaurant after half an hour's wait. They like to put tons of parsley in it, perhaps to make up for not enough cream. Fell onto pillow-top bed.
Went partway downhill with Colin to a breakfast place. He left me with the check because he was a bit late for the beginning of the convention. Walked down the rest of the way to Union Square. Tried to get cash with my TCF debit card with no success. Loitered in Yerba Mate before anything there was open. Went to a cafe even further south where I got my internet fix. Made my way over to Embarcadero to get three day muni pass and walked around pier one (for the view, not for any special sites since it's just all businesses). Found out that Kelsay wouldn't be able to make it after all and grabbed a Vietnamese sandwich on my way to the boat to Alcatraz. Was herded onto boat, around island, and off of boat. Still had a good time and enjoyed using the transcript of the audio tour. Took too many pictures. Then met up with Kelsay back on the mainland for a couple of hours of chatting and discovered the amazing food called garlic fries. Then met up with Colin and other developers at the Cheesecake Factory where I had a delicious Pina Colada with dinner. Fell into bed again.
Tuesday: Snuck into the convention breakfast for Danish rolls and coffee. Then struck out for Fisherman's Wharf with no jacket, only a t-shirt, spotted the Rogue bar (I'd recently picked up a random beer glass from a thrift store back home with a Rogue logo on it, no idea that it was a bar in SF). Spent the morning touring the WWII sub Pampanito and the WWII Victory ship next to it, before picking up lunch of clam chowder and fish n' chips to take back to the hotel. Walked most of the way up hill since the streetcar left before I could reach it and the next didn't start up until I was almost to hotel. Then headed back down the hill at a slower pace, stopping in Chinatown to get handmade fortune cookies and waiting quite awhile for the next streetcar going the rest of the way down. Wandered around Ghirardelli Square and in the Boudin sourdough bakery, bought some tee shirts, before finally hobbling to a cafe in North Beach. Wrote words, rested my back. Nabbed a couple of slices of real Italian pizza and splurged a bit on a bottle of wine. Walked back up hill to hotel and vegged while watching Dirty Jobs, drinking lots of wine and falling asleep before Colin got back from his fancy convention dinner.
Wednesday: Broke the rules again and ate breakfast with the convention members. Took a shower after eating, packed up. Computer was accidentally awake on the way to the airport so it was dead when sat down to wait for airplane. Eventually found outlet, wrote up outline of trip then had to board plane. Finished reading 'Pirate Latitudes' by Michael Crichton with Colin. Ended up napping most of the rest of the flight. Got back to wet, cold and dark Milwaukee and drove home.
So I did a lot of walking and doing things by myself. After being in Hyderabad for a month last year, SF felt like a cake walk when it comes to comfort zones. My back killed me but I did start dying less when I had to walk uphill. The weather was insanely perfect the whole time we were there. There were no major mishaps and I enjoyed the trip. Sure, there was plenty more I could have done (such as gone to the Golden Gate Bridge or walked around the biggest municipal park in the world) but I am more than satisfied with what I did do in such a short time frame. And I really like North Beach; it made me nostalgic for Italy.
What else ... oh yes, I reached 40k. And I've had 3 dental appointments since my last post (introductory, cleaning, 2 fillings). And today I tackled the pile of clothes that needed fixing via iron-on patches, including pants with holes in them or peeling decor (yay for more pants I can wear! Also for cut off sleeves of an old ripped long underwear top for fingerless gloves). This weekend Colin had a soccer game (they lost which isn't unusual). We both seem to have some kind of cold which results in coughing and wanting to go to sleep all the time. I picked up a book called "Stuff," found out it wasn't what I expected it to be, but got drawn in anyway and read it as fast as I could. It meant I almost didn't write one day, but then I got up the motivation and wrote anyway.
Today it was really warm (comparatively) and it thunderstormed at least twice. I celebrated by putting on a tanktop (though I never really went outside except to clean out the back seat and wore a sweatshirt anyway). It's supposed to be back to dreary grey cold and windy tomorrow. *sigh* If you happen to have sunshine or cheery/exciting weather where you're at, send some my way?
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