The post where I discuss the fact I have started writing my novel…

Yep. It happened. I sat down on January 1^st and wrote the first section or chapter or whatever the hell you want to call it. Then, on January 2^nd I read it…said, “This is shitty” and rewrote the first section or chapter or whatever the hell you want to call it. I read that back and said, “Still shitty.”

It is gonna be a long and painful process. Like really painful…

There is a quote by E. L. Doctorow that I am quite fond of… “Writing is a socially acceptable form of schizophrenia.”  E. L. Doctorow hit the nail on the head with that one because I feel very much like someone with multiple personalities.  Seriously. These characters have been beating up the inside of my brain since 2007. Now that I am actually beginning their story they won’t shut up. It is like a permanent party in my brain space. When I sleep I dream about them. It is maddening.

They aren’t the first characters to live in my head. In high school there was a whole different book be-boppin’ around up there.  They still come to visit every once in a while but their almost see through now. Like my disinterest in finishing their story is making them fade away. It almost makes me feel like a murderer knowing that they used to be “living, breathing beings” and they will never have their story told and will die when I die. It is sad…but their story wasn’t the one I am meant to write. This one though….this one is the one.

The part that is gonna be so damn hard is keeping the friggin story line straight. There are so many damn complicated twists and turns. I would love to sit down with J. K. Rowling or Dan Brown or Jodi Picoult and just pick their brains. I almost get a headache when I think about how crazy it is gonna be to do this and how much I don’t wanna screw it up.

Also… writing a blog post is easy for me. (For one I don’t give two shits about grammar and correct anything when I am babbling in this blog.) When I read back posts I am quite satisfied with what I have put down. The fact that my “blog style” and my “book style” are on two different ends of the Rachel’s Writing Spectrum is frustrating.  Writing six pages, reading them back and thinking they suck…sucks.

Okay….that is enough whining for now….lunch break is over. Time to get back to work and be a productive PS2… blarg.  

The post where I discuss 2013 and make plans for 2014

2013.

I turned 27 in 2013.

I like odd numbers.

27 is my favorite number and so I decided that 2013 had to be the best year ever because I was 27 and 13 is an odd number. (Don't mess with my logic.....just roll with it.)

I am also a procrastinator....so I am justifying the fact that age 27 during the odd year of 2013 was so not the best year ever by saying I procrastinated til age 28 in 2014.

Again.....don't mess with my logic. It works for me so roll with it.

I did lose weight in 2013. A good amount of weight. February 22 - November 22 I lost 38 pounds. Not the 50 pounds I wanted to but I started late and I decided I was actually gonna enjoy the Thanksgiving and Christmas food fests.

Lets review 2013's Resolutions shall we?

Oh yeah....we can't... I found the list a few weeks ago while cleaning out the office and laughed as I read all the crap I planned on doing....but didn't. Oops.

2013...

I paid off my car.... Good!
Lap top broke.... Bad.
Adam saved all my files.... Good!
Tablet broke... Bad.
Lost 38 pounds... Good!
Have Achilles Tendonitis.... Bad.
Helped out a friend... Good!
Got so unbelievably SCREWED OVER by that friend.... Bad.


There is a long story to that last one. One I might write out and explain one day while using fake names so the identity of said shithead is protected.... because I am a nice person. Lets just say Adam and I are out roughly $4,000 for six months of trying to help someone down on their luck. Just writing that little bit makes me want to punch something. Moving on...

I wanted to finish writing a good chunk of my book and didn't. Wanted to finally choose a major and start back up with school and didn't. Wanted to be a better wife and wasn't. Wanted to have a good savings account built up and don't. Etc.

I wanted to lose weight and I did. 38 lbs. I wanted to be more social and I am trying..joined a bowling league and I do see my friends more often than last year....not by much but I am trying. I wanted to get back into coaching and I did...two fold. Two teams in one season is kid of a pain in the ass.  I was apparently voted onto the board here too.... THAT should be interesting. Wanted to figure out my finances and bills and I have...I have a ways to go before I am where I want to be but at least I have a plan.

Then there is work... Shit went down in July and that snowball hasn't stopped rolling yet.

Summary... 2013 was 75% suck and 25% good.

So....2014.... I s'pose I will make my semi-realistic resolutions in a public forum...

1. As always... the resolution I have made every year since I was like..... six... I will stop biting my nails. (I probably won't. But after over two decades of saying it every year it just seems wrong to not include it.)

2. I'll drop 20 more lbs. (Did 38 in nine months....why not another 20?) Granted I have not discovered how much I gained back during the Thanksgiving and Christmas Food Fest so it may be like....30 but I digress)

3. I will write more. I'll write a bit on my book every week. Even if it is just a sentence or two. But I will have the in depth outline done by March 1st. I'll do a blog post twice a month....about what... I dunno.... I'll figure that out later.

4. I will work on crocheting more often this year. I have 9,000 balls of yarn and the best intentions but I never actually finish anything I start.

5. More of that being social crap. Do something with someone that doesn't live in my house at least bi-weekly.

6. Keep at least $50 of each paycheck squirreled away in a savings account....or a sock...or in a hole in the mattress. Whatever.

7. Pick a freakin' major for Christ's sake....and keep it. Lucky number five. It'll be my fifth major and probably my fifth college. Sigh.

8. Be a better wife. I am a moody bitch on a good day. I need to stop taking all my frustrations about things out on Adam. It isn't fair to him but I do it alllll the time.

9. Be more of a Susie Homemaker type. I hate cooking. But sometimes you gotta do shit you hate for those you love.

10. Ten is a combination of three things I want for myself that are personal and not for public knowledge. So the most I will say is: 1. I won't.......... 2. I'll stop.......... 3. If I................


Dear 2013,

Suck it.

Love, Rachel



Dear 2014,

Let's do this.

Love, Rachel



Keep livin' the dream!

~Turtle