Blog, Childhood, Gardening, Pansies, Plant

Pansies vs Me

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My mom has a green thumb that is unparalleled to anyone. This woman can honestly look at a plant and it’ll grow on the spot. It doesn’t matter if it’s from seed, seedling or a cutting. Our yard would bloom from Mary Boots, Tiger Lilies, heather to a willow tree. Gardening was a passion of my mom. You just had to see her face light up when she was working in the yard.. Fortunately some of that green thumb has passed on to me. My yard has two varieties of rose bushes, a peach color Camellia tree, and three varieties of azaleas just to name a few. On my small porch is  Lily, my wandering Jew, Elephant ears and a few others. Like my mom it gives me a joy and a real sense of peace as my fingers work their way through the soil.

Unless of course I am working with pansies. The plant from hell that hates me with every fiber of its leaves and stem. I have tried to grow them from seeds, seedlings, cuttings to pots where they are already full grown and doing well. The end results is always certain death. This behooves me which makes my offspring laugh as I fuss non stop at this plant. The irony of this is I love pansies and all the amazing colors they come in. They just don’t like me. So until I can figure out what the deal is, I will enjoy them from afar.

My family has been told on my grave site to not plant pansies for there would be no point. To which my son chimed in and said “ No, that is when they would make it.” as he smiled at me. The kid is probably right, they are waiting for their shining moment and that would be it.

Blog, Books, NaNoWriMo, Writing, Writng frenzy

NaNoWriMo Virgin

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I am a NaNoWriMo virgin who is ready to be deflowered. This will be my first year to attempt the month long frenzy of writing 50K words in November. The writers I associate with have inspired me to do so. My friend Erica had her book printed for winning NaNo and we were all so proud of her. Also my Twitter buddies Ami and Ruth have been encourage me all week long and we have not even started this event. Thank you ladies. So between all the tips I have been given this is how I will prep for NaNoWriMo 2011

1-I review books for Booksneeze and authors who request it. I finished reviewing the two that were on desk. The month of November I will not review to save time.

2- I am a member of two book clubs, one of which I run. I will put on the reading dock books I have either read or books that are super duper small. This will save me time for my writing. Those reviews will be done in December.

3- As a blogger who posts 2-3 times a week I need to plan in advance. I have made a list of 14 topics to talk about. At this moment I have 11 that are in draft mode.

4-I tend to write all my stories and books in long hand first. But this time around will use my laptop to save on the writing.

5-I have listed 30 plots to include in the book with subdivisions for some of them. That way each day I will already have a topic on hand. The goal will be to write 2K words per day or as close to it. This will help if I get behind, the holidays or if I just need a day off. ( Great tips from Ruth)

6-I will schedule a time each day to do this and try to keep on track.

7-I have some writing buddies who will support and encourage me through the month as I will do for them.

Now the real issue of me not being able to accomplish this will be my fibromyalgia. When I do a writing frenzy for 3-5 days my hands will freeze up and go numb on me. This results in not being able to use my hands for a few days. So I have to time this well and try to pace myself. My primary goal is to accomplish the word count. But at the end of the day my ultimate goal is to have a great time writing along side others who are joining in this adventure. Even if I don’t finish I will have a story on paper that I been meaning to upgrade from a short story to a novel. The frame work will be up there for me to work on.

I am so stoked. Who’s with me?

Blog, Family, Laid back, Life

The Tortoise and The Hare: Williams style

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Growing up my family was the one who was always on time. But not only on time but really early. It would not be uncommon for us to arrive at church 30 minutes ahead and be one of the first ones there. My mom instilled that in us from day one even if it was not verbally said. The problem with this is my husband. He was raised in the sense “I’ll get there when I get there” mentality. His laid back attitude which I do like kills me when I am trying to get anywhere with him. He just does not see the reason to rush. Yes I am rushing my life away, I know it. The sense of urgency when I have an appointment or errand consumes me. Heaven help me if anything slows me down getting someplace. It will unravel me faster then a ball of yarn going down the stairs. My husband is one of those obstacles. But it is hard to blame him to much when his own father, a preacher man, has been late for his own sermons. The term “ He will be late for his own funeral” had to have been coined by their family.

I am not too upset I am like this on the occasion where punctuality is an essence. This is probably why I get most of my work done during the morning hours. However by 3pm if you want anything done out of me, you might as well just wait until the next day. The motivation and energy are just gone gone and gone.

Though arriving at church with my husband as Father Tom is going up the aisle rattles me. But to mention this to my husband he would just say “ Well at least we made it” or something along those lines. I wish I could slow down enough to have the laid back attitude my husband and son has. Yes it has permeated to my son. Aren’t I a lucky woman? The only way my son goes any slower was if he was sleeping. But I envy that and I hope he finds a woman in his life who is of the similar notion. That way they can be late together and not give a hoot. Then they can enjoy their life.

The Musings of A New Englander