3 a.m.

Well, it's been a while. 

I've been spending some time going back and reading my posts, my favourite ones from 2009 and 2010. The boys were small, I was a stay-at-home dad (SAHD) and life was very, very different.

Today, I am no longer an SAHD. I am working for an insulation company, the wife is no longer an RCMP member and the boys are much, much more independent. We left Manitoba and are now living back in Ontario. But some things have not changed.

I saw a meme on Facebook a while back that said something about 3 a.m. being the time for writers, painters, poets, musicians, silence seekers, overthinkers and creative people. And as wacky as that all sounds, I think there's something to it.

I am usually awake at 3 a.m., seeking silence, over-thinking things and resisting the urge to start writing again. Not sure why I've resisted. I do enjoy tapping away at the keyboard, trying to sort out everything from how to properly install a new door to raising my boys in such a way that I give them the freedom they need to grow, with the guardrails they need to survive. It's often overwhelming and I think I need to write again to help myself sort it all out.

 So I'm gonna give it another shot.

As it is now almost 7 a.m., I feel like the 3 a.m. magic is gone. It's a Sunday and I have no real plans for the day. My mind is on the job I need to finish Monday. I think that's unfortunate. My job rarely invades magic time. 

In any case, I'm gonna leave it here for now and await 3 a.m. tomorrow. I'm not promising myself genius, but I do want to write again. I used to be pretty good at it.

NaNoWriMo

So, I think I mentioned earlier that I am participating in Blogtober festivities mostly for the writing exercise.

Well, I think I'm going to expand that a little by taking part in NaNoWriMo. Stands for National Novel Writing Month and it runs from November 1 to November 30.

I gotta be honest. It may be a bigger bite than I can chew. 

I'm not one of those people who has always believed they have a great idea for a novel. I don't. I really don't. I read a fair bit, I enjoy a good novel, or blog, or news story . . .

Anyway, I'm still learning the finer points of NaNoWriMo participation, but the gist of it is that I must write daily and, by the end of the month, must produce a novel that is 50,000 words long, or longer. (That breaks down to about 1,666 words per day.) I have signed up on the web site and will begin writing on November 1. 

According to the web site, I need to tell everyone I know that I'm participating.

"This will pay big dividends in Week Two," the site tells me, "when the only thing keeping you from quitting is the fear of looking pathetic in front of all the people who’ve had to hear about your novel for the past month."

If nothing else, I like the attitude.

Anyhoo, today's Day 2 of an all-male household. We're out of cereal, out of bread and must go shopping later today. So, after a breakfast of dry frosted something-or-other, we'll just kinda sit around and anticipate an afternoon of football. Maybe we'll play some video games. Then, we'll watch football and eat chips. A post-game discussion will follow, supper of chicken wings (not too spicy, I know) and then maybe a movie.

Just kidding dear. As soon as the boys wake up, we'll go for a brisk and vigorous walk, followed by a nutritious fruit-filled breakfast. Church after that, swimming in the afternoon with a vegetable-laden supper to follow.

Have a great Sunday! Go Packers!

Keep going . . .

Blogtober, day 3.

And a happy Wednesday to you all . . . hump day . . . celebrate as you see fit.

So, how many of you take the time to brown, or sear, your pot roast before pot roasting it? And no, this isn't going anywhere, I was just wondering.

Well, today is playgroup day, so must pack up Sontoo and head on over. But before I go . . .

As I sit here, staring blankly at the keyboard, I am considering the fact that I promised to blog, daily, for the month of October. And I'm considering how many times I've promised to blog daily, or at least more often, and failed on both accounts.

So, is Blogtober a good exercise? Not sure yet.

I mean, it does make me examine my life in search of something fun, interesting, or annoying to write about . . . daily.

It forces me to take the mundane and attempt to make it interesting. 

And, if I remember correctly, at one of the newspaper conferences I attended years ago, that was the kind of exercise we were encouraged to do. 

"Write about an apple," we were told. 

Boring subject, make it interesting.

Write about my daily life . . . see above.

(Okay, here's an example of why this is a good exercise. I just mulled over the order of the words above. Should it be "Write daily about my life," or "Write about my daily life?") What do you think? Did I go with the right one?

Anyhoo, I have just decided this is an exercise worth doing. So I will attempt to catch up and complete the month on schedule. 

That is all. 

Flounce

Here it is, Day 10 of the new year and again I'm blocked. And there is now no question in my mind that the schedule is to blame.

I wanted to sit down this morning and write away. But other things (I'm looking at you Sonwun and Sontoo) required my attention. Could not focus. And then I had the trim to finish downstairs, clean-up the mess I made while trimming downstairs and then Neomom (she's off for a few days) wanted to take Sontoo skating at the local outdoor rink.

To make a boring story a lot shorter, here I am at 4:30 p.m., racking my brain and trying to meet my commitment for 90 days of blogging.

And you know what keeps coming up in my head? The word "flounce."

I blame the book I'm reading, or maybe it was the last one. The author used the word . . .

Sontoo: Dada, dada, dada, I'm going downstairs, don't turn my game off.

Me: Mmhmm

Sontoo, halfway down the stairs: Dada, dada, dada, are you going to turn my game off?

Me: No.

Sontoo: Dada, dada, dada. DADA! Why aren't you going to turn my game off.

Me: Grrrrrrrrr.)

And that's why I don't like writing with the minions scampering about. Just can't concentrate.

Where was I . . . oh yeah, flounce.

I like the word, but I don't like the fact that I can't get it out of my head. So let's just fully explore it.

It's a good word. It tells a story, provides a visual - at least for me.

And while it's been rolling around inside my head, I've come to a few conclusions. Women are more likely to flounce the men. I just don't see a man flouncing. Maybe that makes me sexist. Pretty sure I never flounced.

And the woman who flounces, can not possibly do that before showering. Flouncing, in my mind, involves are certain amount of hair movement. You can't flounce with flat, greasy hair. The hair must be fairly poofy, at least shoulder length and more often blond. A woman with short, straight, dark hair would find it difficult to flounce.

I'm not 100 per cent certain, but I'm gonna guess the word is some hybrid of flirt and pout and maybe bounce. There's playfulness, there's . . .

Now, Sonwun is whining that he's hungry, moaning, carrying on like we haven't fed him for a week. Supper's still an hour away. I don't think he realizes just how difficult it is to fully explore the word "flounce" when someone's whining and moaning. They just are anti-flounce emotions and, therefore, make my writing difficult.

No consideration. Where was I?

Oh right, the dictionary definition. And this is interesting (just looked it up).

Flounce (verb): go or move in an exaggeratedly impatient or angry manner: he stood up in a fury and flounced out.

You see, I may have it wrong. The dictionary folks used the male pronoun. Apparently guys can legally flounce. And he's angry, furious in fact. Hmm. It seemed like such a playful word.

Second definition:

Flounce (verb): • move with exaggerated motions: she flounced around, playing the tart and flirting.

See? That's more what I see in my head. But now "playing the tart" is gonna be stuck in my head for a day or two. That's just too visual to pass up.

Anyway, that's all I've got for today. Once again hoping to get back on track tomorrow, or you may just get a full exploration of playing the tart.

Your assignment for tomorrow is to work the word "flounce" into at least one conversation. If you can pull it off, please send me a note. Dying to hear how it went.

Enjoy the rest of Tuesday.