Sunday, December 20, 2009

And today...

I spent my morning at the office, then collapsed into the afternoon, tried to nap, couldn't.  All last night, while I tried to get some rest in preparation for the 4:45 alarm, I kept waking up, thinking that I had heard the alarm. No, I hadn't, and I would go back to sleep, only, I gather, to dream again about my alarm going off. It was almost a relief to finally hear the alarm go off for real, about a minute after I had once again opened my eyes, thinking I had heard it.

I'm reading another of Natalie Goldberg's books, this one called Old Friend from Far Away: The Practice of Writing Memoir.  Yes, it's another book about writing, but this one is different, because it is interactive.  Natalie talks a bit about her own writing and writing in general, and then she says something like "Tell me about how a relationship ended. Go. Ten minutes." and at that point I put the book down and write for ten minutes. These cues come up at various intervals. I might read five pages, do an exercise, then read one sentence (like that last one, which constitutes a chapter in itself) and be sent off to write some more. I love this book.

After my pseudo-nap I drove to Best Buy to see whether I could play the pity card and get them to have a look at my camera, what with the holiday and my going to Hawaii next month, but no. I suspect that their holiday spirit is wearing a little thin, which is only to be expected.

Which reminds me: My daughter, The Christmas Queen, called me the other day to say "You know how to kill your Christmas spirit, Mom? Work in retail." I'm afraid the Christmas Queen, who does in fact work in retail, is seriously considering abdicating.

Tonight, Robin and I went to the Fox and Hounds for dinner. When I finished eating, I took out my notebook (I've finally found one that fits my purse perfectly) and wrote for ten minutes starting with "I am looking at..." These ten-minute writing sessions are just about all I can handle right now - as I'm in one of those all-too-frequent moods of mine in which I could crawl into a closet and not come out for a week. I don't know how I managed to get through NaNoWriMo. If I had it to do today, I would just throw up my hands.

Now I'm going to settle in and watch Oliver Twist on Masterpiece, then retire for a good night's sleep with NO ALARM at the end of it. I have three days off (THREE!), then I'll work through the holiday. Tomorrow is the Winter Solstice (Winter Solstice 2009: Dec 21 17:47 UT 9:47 PM PST, says Google) and our friend Clarence is arriving in the morning to spend the next couple of days with us. I have stuck by my resolution not to light the tree - I must have done a good job of it, because Robin was surprised tonight to learn that the lights were even on the tree - and I plan to have a little ceremony tomorrow night to welcome the return of the light. Mine won't be anything like as elaborate as the one that's already taken place on the other side of the world, but I may just borrow a bit of the poetry:

4 comments:

Karen said...

I think you, TWM, and I are the only people up at that time of morning! That's when I do my morning rounds, and sometimes when I come back and read what I've written, I have no memory of it at all! Enjoy your tree lights tonight! Stop by my place if you get a chance and read my (too long) poem.

Sandra Leigh said...

Karen, I will do that, thank you.

RLM Cooper said...

Happy Holidays, Sandra. And a very happy new year, too!

Sandra Leigh said...

Thank you, Angel May. We're heading out to pick up Clarence at the train station, but I'll check back (and pop over to your blog) a bit later. Happy Solstice!

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