WordCamp Austin was a massive success today. 400 people attended, and we had packed sessions, great conversations, fun and games, and learning galore. People got help with their websites, attendees learned about WordPress security, theming, and coding,
Justin’s blogging challenge
50K and the light at the end of the tunnel
I’m writing like a fiend.
Despite all odds, I have managed to write every single day this month. Even when I ended up in the ER, through the death of a pet and the adoption of a new one, and the last minute frantic planning of WordCamp Austin, I have found time to put words down on virtual paper, and to stay at or above “par” almost every day.
For proof, here’s today’s stats:
The diagonal line represented “par”, or the total number of words I needed to log in order to stay on track to reach 50K by April 30. Each bar is the total wordcount to date, and whether I was above or below par by that day.
As you can see, I’ve cut it close. When I did NaNoWriMo last November, even with traveling out of the country for a week I made much better progress:
I attribute the differences to a few things. Of course it goes without saying that the chaotic life I’ve led this month has hurt me. Beyond that, though, I think it was easier to write the first time because it was my first time doing NaNo; it was a brand new concept and I was discovering things and inventing characters constantly, which kept me excited; and perhaps most of all, there was an active community of fellow writers who had write-ins, and chatted a lot on forums and on Facebook, and we received almost daily writing encouragement from novelists. This time it was much more of a solo effort and much of my writing has focused on solving plot holes or character development, which is both more challenging and less thrilling than the original spurt of creative energy.
Even so, I’m pretty happy with what I’ve accomplished so far, as my characters continue to surprise and delight me, and most days I don’t know what I’ll be writing until it’s already completed.
One thing I have discovered, though, is seeing that graph and the objective total I need to reach every day has caused me on many occasions to push a little harder. What, only 1200 words today? Come on, you can make it to 1500. You’re below par, keep writing until you reach it. And even though the numbers are ultimately meaningless, challenging myself in this way has brought about some fantastic bits of writing. “Just 200 more words” has sometimes generated a gem.
For now, the biggest question is, can I make it to 50K with a very long, exhausting 4 day weekend ahead?
Stay tuned, and we’ll all find out together! 🙂
Halfway through and still alive
The month is halfway over now. Fifteen days of blogging for Justin’s blogging challenge, fifteen days of writing as part of Camp NaNoWriMo.
Is the glass half full? After all, look at everything I’ve accomplished! So many blog posts! 26,371 words written towards my novel! Or is the glass half empty? There’s still 15 days to go. Where will the ideas come from? What will be my motivation?
Well, one thing’s for sure. It’s hump day. And today, I declare that the glass isn’t half full or half empty. It’s just a big cup of steaming hot coffee. 🙂
To all my fellow writers this month, let’s keep going. We can do it!
Acupuncture gets right to the point
Alternative health care fascinates me. Not only are the tools for providing care different from “traditional”, allopathic care, but the methods can also vary.
Often, alternative care finds ways to reach people who don’t have access to doctors and hospitals due to expense, scheduling and other concerns. As I learned through my herbalism training, it often works just as well, or better, than mainstream treatments.
After my unexpected trip to the Emergency Room on Friday, I discovered that the pile of medicines prescribed to relieve my pain helped… to a point. Even with a full dose, I was still in considerable discomfort, particularly as I tried to sleep.
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Looking for a solution that would work in tandem with the medications (not wanting to chance herbal remedies this time around), I considered acupuncture, something I had tried once in the distant past for a similar issue. I discovered a small clinic in Austin called Acupuncture Together that advertises low cost treatments ($30 for the first one, and $20 thereafter).
I did more research and it turns out that this clinic is part of a national cooperative of affordable acupuncture clinics, the People’s Organization of Community Acupuncture. The goal of this co-op is to make acupuncture accessible and affordable to everyone.
So I decided to give it a shot. In the case of Acupuncture Together, they have one common room with 8-10 recliners, and staggered appointments every ten minutes. The room is quiet, with a peaceful meditation music playing. The recliners are draped with sheets, there are pillows and blankets for comfort, and mandalas on the walls and ceilings for relaxation and mediation. One acupuncturist attends to the room, greeting you when you come in, reviewing your file, and discussing your treatment briefly, and then you recline and they insert the needles. All you need to do is take off your shoes and roll up your pants legs/sleeves, and sink into the comfy recliner. This is in contrast to standard acupuncture treatments where you are in a private room, you may need to at least partially undress, and may have a longer consultation.
After the first treatment on Saturday I felt very relaxed, and the pain was significantly diminished, to the extent that I took a nap and without even thinking about it, slept on the side that had been hurting all week. I actually was able to skip a dosage of the pain medication and didn’t need any until the evening. As a side note: I also found the hour in the clinic provided a great meditative experience. (I should also note: there should be no pain or discomfort from properly-administered acupuncture. While you might feel the needle slightly, they are so tiny that it isn’t even comparable to a sewing needle or a hypodermic; and if needles make you uneasy, you can just close your eyes, like I d0.
So I felt great the rest of the day Saturday, but by night time, the back pain returned, so I scheduled another appointment and went back on Sunday. Again, the pain diminished, lasting even longer this time. Today, the pain came back, but once again, after the treatment, it was gone. This is in line with the recommendation that I go for four treatments, as the acupuncturist warned me that one visit was unlikely to completely relieve the pain. I can definitely sense an improvement over the course of the three days.
I discovered that one hour’s acupuncture has a longer lasting effect than two+ doses of my pain medication, and seems to be helping the overall pain diminish. I’ve also had three very relaxing contemplative sessions in which I’ve gained a few personal insights and a great idea for my Camp NaNoWriMo novel. Plus… I got an idea another blog post for my challenge. 🙂 So all in all, it’s been a big win.
The best part of all, perhaps, is that it didn’t break the bank. The entire recommended course of treatments will cost me less than $100.
If this sounds good to you, I’d suggest you consider acupuncture as a legitimate tool for managing your pain. You can check out the POCA website and find out if there’s a cop-op member acupuncture clinic in your city.
I don’t want to write this post
I love to write.
I do it for a living, assisting WordPress.com users, creating and updating support documentation, and communicating with colleagues. At a distributed company such as Automattic, there are few in-person/voice conversations. The majority of interaction among colleagues and between staff and our users is through written communication. Outside of work, I write fiction for fun and am an occasional blogger. For the month of April I signed up to do Camp NaNoWriMo and my colleague’s blogging challenge, so I have been writing quite a bit more than my norm, seven days a week.
Like I said, I love to write, so it’s great to have so many opportunities to do so. However, even for someone who does so much of it, it doesn’t ever get easy. And tonight, I really didn’t feel like writing a blog post, and had absolutely no ideas for what to write about.
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Each time I make a conscious decision to write something, I have to think about audience, tone, purpose, length… whether it’s a quick post on an internal company blog or the next chapter of my NaNoWriMo novel.
For work-related writing, it’s usually not too difficult unless I’m trying to describe a new process or assist someone with a complex problem.
It’s significantly harder to write the optional, creative projects. Often, like tonight, coming up with ideas is the challenging point. It’s tough coming up with something new to say every day. At least for my novel, after doing NaNoWriMo once, I’ve learned some tricks, so it’s not as difficult this time, because I just pick a character more or less at random and start writing, and see what happens. It’s also easier with the novel since I know that it’s a rough draft and if it’s terrible, I can delete it and no one will be the wiser. That’s harder to do with a blog.
Still, I’m stubborn, so I keep going. I want to prove to my friends and colleagues, but most of all myself, that I can complete the challenges. So each evening, no matter how I feel, I sit down and write. Usually I write a blog post first and then work on my novel until bedtime.
As I do so—as I put words together over and over, every day, without skipping a day for any reason, even when I went to the ER—I find both blogging and my creative writing project are improving. The act of starting a new post/chapter/character sketch isn’t as hard as it used to be, and because I’m not holding myself to the same strict standards I used to, I’m achieving more, and that feels good. And just knowing I’ve made it another day into the month without failing is an achievement in itself.
I know there are a lot of bloggers out there who really want to write more often, and like me, they discover it’s a significant challenge. I suspect a lot of them give up, much like I gave up trying to learn how to knit, because I just didn’t have the patience or a strong enough desire to master it.
If you’re like me, and enjoy writing but find it difficult, you’re not alone. However, if you can stick with it, and try to create something every day, you’ll be better for it. And maybe one day you’ll find that writing is easy.
I’m still waiting for that day to come, but I’m sure it’s just around the corner!
A brief thought…
What if everything that you perceive, everything around you, was just a projection of your own consciousness?
What if everything you know to be true about your life and everything that you have learned, seen or done, is actually just one really large dream?
How would you know the difference? And how much would you change the way you lived your life and looked at the world?
