pictures 366 (Leap Year) -- Wk 3

It's that time of the week again!

It's been a slow week. I did manage to get caught up on my entire to-do list early, which left blissful hours of NOTHING.

*grin*

It was awesome!

I would like to say that I wrote. Um.. Not so much. I did, a little. But I'm seriously stuck with this new book. I've written and cut the first few chapters at least six times now. I'm not getting traction.

However, I had a breakthrough. Or, at least I thought I did. I was in bed, halfway to sleep, and the whole thing came at me. I was like: wow, that's brilliant!

Then I woke up the next morning and couldn't remember any of it! haha.

*cough*

It's slowly coming back to me. I've been jotting notes down. This next week, I'm hitting that MS hard.


Now the photos:

I post on Facebook what happened in the photos. I don't think I want to do that here (because it's a lot of work!), but there are two I'd like to explain.

January 15 (Sunday) -- Bekah is in love with my new K-cup machine. She thinks it's hers. She wakes up and makes Steven and I coffee (and herself a cup of hot chocolate). Unfortunately, last Sunday she woke up hours before us.  Never fear, though, she kept the cups and their contents warm by repeatedly putting them in the microwave every 20 minutes. This went on for FOUR HOURS.

While I appreciated the gesture, I did not drink that cup of coffee. haha. But I did teach her how to make the coffee in the coffee pot instead.

January 18 (Wednesday) -- The sunset picture.

Steven came in to the living room where I was working watching TV.

"You've got to come outside," he said.

It was below 20 degrees and I didn't have a jacket or shoes on. Not even a pair of socks for my poor little toes. I thought he was crazy and told him so. Because, in my mind, there was nothing worth seeing that would make it worth the effort.

"No, really," he insisted. "The sky has the most amazing colors."

I heard 'amazing' and 'colors,' grabbed my camera (it was on the coffee table next to me), and ran outside.

It was totally worth frostbite and the loss of a small toe. ;)

Now every time he looks at that picture, or someone comments on it, Steven gives me 'the look.' The one where I have to say, "Thank you so much, baby. If it wasn't for you, I wouldn't have taken that picture."

Thoughts on "Showing Up"

I feel like I need to blog. So. With nothing to blog about, I thought I'd tell a story about photography and how it relates to my writing.

I'm in week three of my 366 project. It's going awesome, thanks for asking. :)

I've been reading posts from other participants who are struggling with it. The common theme seems to be that it's unnatural to pick up the camera every day.

That is not the case for me. Actually, I don't even think about it. I just kind of do. My husband says that when the kids grow up,  they aren't going to recognize me because they think mommy has a big black box attached to her face.

*grin*

That is exactly what it's like for me and writing. I do. Even when I feel like what I'm writing is crapola. Because I know that someday, when I'm less judgmental of myself, it's surprising how good those days can be! Ironically, they're usually better days than when I think I'm writing "good stuff."

This was something that registered when I popped out my memory card this morning. I had no idea what photos I took yesterday. I knew I took some and to the best of my memory, they sucked.

What are you gonna do?

Anyway.

I was determined to roll with the crap pictures. Imagine my surprise -- shock, actually -- when they weren't as bad as I remembered. They ended up kind of fun.

Huh.

I'm reminded, yet again, that I simply need to show up and work. Everything else will sort itself out in good time.


PHOTOGRAPHY TIP:

Another thing I want to bring up because these two pictures are prime examples, is leave yourself lots of space to edit. These pictures aren't cropped. This is exactly how I shot them with all the negative space. I do that a lot. You may wonder why and the answer is this:

I never know when a shot may be THE ONE I want to frame. If I take the picture too close, there's no room to adjust for proper cropping.

This is a really good article explaining what I mean.

There is nothing worse than seeing a picture and thinking: That is gorgeous! And then realizing... the best you can do to preserve the "look" is to throw it in a 4x6 frame. ;)

The Creek

This is the creek bed. I probably should have included these pictures in the last post, considering I alluded to them. Eh, holiday brain. ;)

As you can see, no snakes.

The water had a sheer coat of ice over the top. The patterns were awesome.

I'm curious to see what this area looks like in the spring. Right now it's desolate. That's part of the reason I'm attracted to it, I think.

Cruisin' the Hood

On Sunday, I went out with Nikki to take pictures again. This time we hit my neighborhood. I told her, "I want to photograph horses, cows, abandoned houses and cars, and hay." I think all we missed was the hay. I did get lots of weed shots.

Nikki drove. We turned out of my subdivision and... bam! Not two miles later started taking pictures. My family asks what living here is like. I say, "We have a Walmart."

I can feel them nodding, like we live in civilization. But that's not true, really. We live on the edge of civilization. At any point you can tip the other way. All of these pictures were taken closer to my house than the nearest Starbucks.

We literally drove until one of us said, "Oh, pretty!" And then Nikki would pull over and we'd jump out.

At one point we ended up at a creek bed (or maybe a runoff?). It was in the middle of nowhere, on an unpaved road. A truck pulled up with a little old man driving. He rolled down his window and asked me, "Are you taking pictures of snakes?" His country accent was pretty thick (plus he didn't have teeth), so it made it hard to hear him.

"What?"

"Snakes! Snakes!"

I looked on the ground, trying to understand what he meant that sounded like 'snakes' because, hello, there were no snakes. I must have been mishearing. "I'm, uh, taking a picture of the water."

"I'm just kidding, girl! There are no snakes this time of year!" Then he belly laughed like it was a huge joke.

Pictures 366 (Leap Year) -- Wk 2

It's been such a busy week! It flew by! I wanted to be more present and in-the-moment on the blog. Meh. Maybe next week. :)

Thursday was Seth's 9th birthday. I can't believe it. He's a really amazing kid. I'm proud that he's mine.

The day before Seth's birthday, Steven took me to lunch. We were sitting across from one another in the booth, discussing our day.

"Doesn't it feel weird?" he asked.

"What?"

He shook his head. "I can't believe we have a nine-year-old."

Yes, most days feel exactly like that.

Sometimes it hits me: I'm a mom. I know that sounds silly. I'm with my kids every day. But. It's easy to forget that I used to be a different person, and then suddenly I realize how my life has morphed. As a kid, I could never have imagined the life experiences I've had so far. I'm thankful for every single one of them. I think a lot of it has to do with being open to letting them come.

Is it only Tuesday?!

I got a TON of sleep last night! Yay! My husband and I were in bed, asleep by 8pm. That never happens. Boy, oh boy, I needed it!

Which means, when I woke up this morning I was alert. Hum. Imagine that. ;)

I've been struggling with my photos since I purchased my new lens. Every time I get a new one, I have to learn how to use it. It's never the same feel/distance/setting. Ugh. I went from hitting the picture correctly (in focus w/ correct exposure) 100% of the time, to like, never. haha. It took me at least a week to get to 1 out of 20 in focus. Not a good average.

I refused to take it off my camera because I was determined to master it. I did contemplate it several times. It was driving me insane. I even thought about returning it.

I take a lot of pictures a day, I want to point that out. I practice a LOT. Especially if I'm not nailing my shots.

This morning was the first time I hit 100%. All my shots were correct, but more important, in focus. Thank. God. I was getting twitchy.

In the end, I'm glad I stuck with it. The lens is pretty darn awesome.

Practical Advice from an Almost Nine-year-old

My son -- the one I had to bribe to read -- has suddenly become interested in books. Not only that, he's also decided to write his own.

Because, you know, it's easy. Or so he told me.

He's currently composing chapter four of his epic saga about a man and his quest to find some sort of fossil that will save the planet.

(giggle)

*ahem*

Friday night, he read it to me as I made dinner. I have to say, I'm very impressed with his use of current pop culture. It's fluid throughout his narrative. I found myself wondering: how does he know about this stuff? Because it isn't like I allow him to watch that much TV and when I do, it's the Disney channel.

In chapter one, the man blows up his house. He does this because the fossil is supposedly underneath it.

I asked, "Why blow up the house? Can't he simply dig the fossil out without destroying everything?"

He looked at me like I was insane. "Because every good book starts with an explosion. Don't you know that? I thought you were a writer."

Noted.

Pictures 366 (Leap Year) -- Wk 1

I wanted to participate in a photo project this year. I was going to do a 52 (one a week). It seemed more my speed. But then, I kind of got sucked into the whole 365 thing (366 this year). I do take pictures almost every day. And it would be more fun, I think, to create an album at the end of the year with a year's worth of photographs.

I'll try it. No pressure if I miss a day or two!

My take so far:

1. I'm already starting to see that the issue with doing this 366 is not going to be taking the pictures. It's going to be choosing one picture for the day.

2. I'm enjoying myself! It's pushed me to be creative and also to get that picture early so that I don't have to worry about not getting a good shot.

I thought that I'd get sick of it after a few days. But I find that I'm waking up looking forward to capturing a memory.

3. There's a reason why I pick each picture. I thought I'd end up picking the best picture of the day. But. That's not quite how it turned out. It seems (at least for now) that I've picked pictures that have the most memory attached to them.

Note to Self:

I should follow my own advice. And, perhaps, not use reflexive pronouns. But. I. Can't. Stop.

Where was I? Oh, yes...

I have this friend (she-who-shall-not-be-named / SWSNBN) who is a fantastic writer. I mean, really fantastic -- the kind that makes you cry when you realize you can't write like her. SWSNBN has this block when it comes to her writing. I'm not sure what it is -- self doubt, maybe? Which from an objective perspective (mine) is CRAZY. Because MY. GOD. she can write.

She's easily frustrated and gives up on a lot of stuff. I told her, "Get a notebook and write. I don't care what you write. I don't care if there is a plot, or no voice, or flat characters, or whatever. It really doesn't matter. Because as long as you're writing something, eventually you'll get to where you need to be."

It's good advice and I really believe it. I guess, you know, as long as I'm giving it to others (haha) because do I apply it to myself? NO.

It's very obvious that I don't apply my advice when, after a week of this new draft, I have 1K words. There I was last night at 7pm with 5 -- FIVE! -- new words for the day.

*eye roll*

That's when I had to have a stern talk with myself. Because, COME ON, enough was enough.

I brought out the notebook. And I wrote. First I listed all the books I had to add to Goodreads for December (25 new entries -- I should be more on top of that). Then I had to list their ratings. Oh, and make a list of where I bought books so that I could add them to my file.

And then I made a list of things that NEEDED to get done (bills, balance checkbook, take Yuki to get a haircut...).

And then I doodled. Wrote my name a couple thousand times...

There's a lot going on in my head, gotta tell ya. *Snicker.*

What I didn't do is lift my pen from the paper.

THEN I was able to write. I wrote quite a bit. Enough to get me jumpstarted today, if I try hard.

I need to start listening to myself better. Life is much easier that way.

And So It Begins...

The kids are back in school! Yay!!! The house is quiet! I have it all to myself!

LOOK AT ALL THOSE EXCLAMATION POINTS!!!!!

I was going to attempt a witty post.

[insert witty post]

... but, yeah, not so much.

Why? I'm tired! Winter break sucked the lifeblood out of me. All I can think about is a nap. My bed is so cozy (damn new mattress my husband made me buy).

zzzzzz

Seriously. It's almost 11am and I have yet to write a single word.

ARG!

Focusing now. Goal today: 1K words. Ready? GO.

Happy New Year!

Dear 2012,

Last year I made a promise to myself. I didn't want to make resolutions. Instead, I decided to take a year sabbatical. Do things that I enjoy, let go of the things I didn't.

Well. It was awesome.

Nothing significant happened last year, sure. It was an easy year despite the stressful move from Japan back to the US. Relaxing. Full of new adventures.

I had fun. Lots of it.

With writing, 2011 was all about me. Figuring out where I wanted to be creatively. I finished off the year with a book that I think is pretty good. It's completely different from anything I've written before. I'm okay with that.

2012 is going to be different. I'm ready to dip my toe back in.

[Scratch that.]

I'M READY TO CONQUER.

2012, it's me and you. Let's kick some ass.

Love,
Me