Midweek Musings , Our Rights

It’s early voting season for our mayoral election. Lots of citizens just don’t participate. They say,”I’m not very political,” or “Both the candidates are shady, so why bother.” When I turned 18, I voted in a presidential election but wasn’t very active in voting at city level. I’m trying to change that these days.

Why should we vote? Because it’s not political, it’s responsible. Find out all you can about the candidates and even watch the televised debates. Think: what questions are they answering,and which are they avoiding? Is one candidate constantly putting a negative spin on the other? That tells me they don’t really want to tell us where they stand, they just want to win. (Straw man argument).

It is our duty to focus on the issues each candidate addresses and realize when a candidate is deflecting or putting up a smoke screen. This is why reading and vocabulary knowledge are so important for young people to work on and improve. There are a lot of things we can’t control in the world around us, but no one can say the world, nation, or city sucks if they didn’t even try to improve it.

I’m proud to say I’ve had quite an active voting record since 2016. Vote by mail has helped me with that. I don’t like crowds at voting sites. I prefer to get my ballot in the mail and hold it in my hand while I search for information on the candidates. It’s helpful too, if I change my mind about one of them.

We have the right to vote or join a political action committee, even to run for office. However, we have a duty when voting to learn what each candidate truly represents, and then to vote as our conscience tells us to vote. I’ve sent in my vote today, an easy process with vote by mail, especially since I’m sick this week.

Those are just my thoughts for today. I’d like to give a shout-out to my friend and fellow blogger Emily at The 6Parkers, who blogs a lot about her adopted family of four and striking a balance by maintaining her hobbies and identity while being an active mom.

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A November to Remember. On Losing Graciously, yet Victoriously, in NANOWRIMO. #amwriting

My NANOWRIMO bio photo.  I think it reflects a serious writing face, and it appropriately features my favorite coffee cup. 🙂

As the goal of NANOWRIMO is to write a 50,000 word novel, I’ve done a little writing this month.  🙂  I also have:  worked full-time, encountered two car accidents in my family, one of which has me now driving my son to work at the other end of town, but let me say I’m thankful, since no one is hurt.    I made a visit to southern Florida to spend a short weekend with a high school friend, attended church, attended yoga (though not enough, it helps undo the tension from typing and laptop use), I blogged more than I should have while trying to write a book, but I love the friendly community of blogging and I couldn’t stop. I voted and watched the world unravel over the election’s results, I processed the election results, spent a little time with my boyfriend, hung out with his family and my son for Thanksgiving, I walked my dog countless times and got sudden glimpses of inspirations, and….that’s about it. Unless I forgot something.   Yes, that’s one heck of a run-on, but in November, you don’t edit!  Never mind that it’s December now. 🙂 I’ll edit in January!

So, considering all that is my life, I feel victorious when I say I wrote 45,000 words in November!  I’ve been in forums to get support and also heard the naysayers, “Quality means more than quantity.” But I truly think the beauty of NANOWRIMO is the deadline, and perhaps, the competition.  You know others are doing it, you know many of them will succeed, so, why not you?  I gave it my best effort.  I decided halfway in that I was only competing with myself.  Last year, I wrote 30,000 words of a novel.  It was finished in January.  This year, I wrote 45,000.  I think I’ve won.  After all, you only have yourself to compete with, right?  Still, when you know so many of your peers in the writing world are doing it, you want to join.   In the words of my NANOWRIMO bio,  “I might as well write as much as I can, while I still have the mental faculties and stamina.   Victorious, I march on with my pen!”

Working title.

So, let me end with some of my survival strategies for this November, that, if employed correctly, will have me at 50K for the next NANOWRIMO:

1.  Notepad and pen handy when traveling in the car
2. Dog walks are short as that’s when inspiration hits, especially at night
3. Read Chris Baty’s “No Plot, No Problem.”  Next year, I’ll read all of it. 🙂
4. Limit reading to very short books, like the one I finished while getting a pedicure.
5. Get at least one massage during the month
6. Make a book outline.  I’ll be more detailed with my next outline.  DO this BEFORE November.
7. Don’t stare at the laptop/typewriter.  Get a notebook and map out your setting or make a timeline of events.
8. Pop in to forums to get inspiration.  A helpful post I saw recommended deciding your character’s Zodiac sign and reading up on it.
9. Next year I’ll try pure dialogue sprints between characters and see what is revealed.
10. NANOWRIMO sprints.  They’re on Twitter.  I participated in just one. It seems I didn’t really get the concept and got up to pee then got distracted during the twenty minutes.  It’s okay, I am new to NANOWRIMO.  I’ll give them a better try next time!
11. The Night of Writing Dangerously.  I was so tired lately, I didn’t consider this, but it is a grand idea!  An all-nighter, when people all around the globe are having a writing marathon?  Call in sick the next day! Yes, It does sound interesting.  I may try it in the future!  Stress just got me this year, and bedtime was always so inviting.
12. I didn’t try this, but I hope to next time:  A local write-in!  How I’d love to meet with local writers.  If you tried this, how did it go?

Photo from Pixabay.

Well, as I said, I love blogging, so here I am processing the month of November, while my main character is still treading water.  I will have to leave her that way until my two weeks off at Christmas time.  Right now, I need a much-deserved break!