Thursday, November 10, 2011

Yes, I know I am being a bad, bad blogger . . .

. . . but I have several excellent excuses.

NaNoing, for example. So far, life seems to be occasionally getting in the way of the novel writing (you know, sleeping -- my current Life Focus -- and working out, appointments and errands and bill-paying, etc.) but I've completed about 20% of my 50,000 required words and it's been ridiculously, stinking fun. My hero was dreadful in that, "Good grief, he has absolutely no flaws . . . I think I'm going to heave," way. So, I turned the first 8,000 words into a dream sequence and now I'm being just flat mean to my characters. It's such a hoot. Where else can you have that kind of fun without actually hurting anyone?

I've also been driving around town, snapping photos of fall color. We knew a storm was coming after Oklahoma's freaky weekend "Quakenado" (first the quake, then the tornado -- I didn't come up with that cute coined word, unfortunately) because Oklahoma's messes tend to land in our yard, so I rushed out to capture as much as possible. We are having an unusually beautiful fall, probably thanks to several unseasonably early and sharp cold snaps.

We did lose quite a bit of foliage in the storm, but not enough to end the beauty completely, so I'm still at it. Today, I took some pics in the Big City because I had to go there anyway, so I figured I might as well drag the camera along and look for more photo-opportunities.

And another thing! I've been playing with my cats. They are very demanding, but how could you possibly turn down a face like this one?

Impossible. Incidentally, Isabel's perched on top of our entertainment center in the photo above; and, shortly after I snapped that picture and several others, she rolled off. Poor Izzy is really bad with heights. I worry about that girl. Fortunately, I had a bin full of clothing to break her fall. It sometimes pays to be a lousy housekeeper.

I've been trying to sort through my million squillion photos of Japan, but to be honest I'm just intimidated. Between the two of us (Huzzybuns and I), I'm pretty sure we took about 2,500 photos. There's a lot of tossing-out to do -- neither of us is brilliant at photography, I'm afraid -- but plenty of decent photos will remain and there's much to tell. I've set up a travelogue blog, but at this point in time I'm keeping it private. I'll sprinkle photos into this blog, now and then. Never fear.

Yes, we rode the bullet train!!! Did you know it's actually easier to eat salad with chopsticks than with a fork, once you get the hang of eating with them? I learned a lot in Japan. Also, if you're going to order spaghetti at a Japanese Italian restaurant, for heavens sake don't order the kind with tomato sauce. White cream sauce is good.

I do everything I can to keep you informed. Gotta go. We'll talk books later, 'kay?

©2011 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery and Babble or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

10 comments:

  1. I look forward to seeing some of your pictures of Japan. I really want to go there someday. My mother went to some of the Asian countries a couple years ago.

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  2. Kelly,

    Oooh, lucky Mom! Where did she go? I definitely want to return to Asia, now.

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  3. I love the picture of the bullet train, and have never seen that before! I can't wait to see more pictures. Izzy looks so adorable in that picture, and I can sure see why you would want to hug and cuddle her!

    I hope that your writing continues to go well and that you have great success with it. I have never even tried to join this event, though I used to want to write full-time. I guess I am just not cut out for it anymore!

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  4. Zibilee,

    The bullet train definitely has the coolness factor going for it (and the ride is so smooth, you'd never dream how fast you're going if you didn't look out the window - which I did, of course). Izzy is a total sweetheart and truly one of the funniest animals I've ever been owned by. Now, if I can just get her to stop waking me up in the middle of the night by knocking things off the nightstand . . .

    Thanks! I'm afraid I'm not likely to finish this particular Nano event on time, for the same reasons I'm not blogging much in recent months. Getting my house in order is my priority and, oh baby, I am a slob when I'm tired. I've got a lot of tidying to do from the past 10 days of laziness! You should definitely try Nanoing, sometime, if only for the fun of the experience. :)

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  5. I love autumn. It's a shame its over so quickly. Isabel's eyes are very hypnotic. I can see why you must give in and give her attention. ;)

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  6. Jenny,

    I know - love fall, wish it lasted longer. Isabel has beautiful eyes and is so sweet when she asks for something. She has a specific way of insisting that I play with her that's just adorable. It's really hard to say no (although sometimes I do when she asks just as I'm climbing into bed).

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  7. I'm loving fall except all of the leaves in my yard :) It seems like this is the time of year when everything gets just a bit busier and it is harder to find time to blog and read. I've been having the same problem but I'm trying not to stress over it. I'm sure it will slow down after the holidays pass by...Hope you have a good week!

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  8. Samantha,

    We're getting to that point with the leaves, now. Till a few days ago, they were still mostly on the trees and now . . . sigh. Time to rake and rake and rake. We have a couple old oak trees that are roughly 75-100 feet tall and they're so huge we end up raking all winter long.

    The holidays are no big deal for us. We don't have much family -- or, at least, not many left that we exchange gifts with. It's the cooler weather that keeps us busy. Summer is hibernating time. Winter is when we get things done. :) Thanks, I hope your holidays aren't terribly stressful. I'm still not reading much but it's mostly because I haven't entirely adjusted to my time zone. I keep falling asleep somewhere between 5-7PM and then I wake up in the middle of the night. Argh! That is a big problem!!!! My reading time is usually at night, so . . . not working out, here!

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