Hosting a write-in and trying to finish a book
I’m going to open this week’s post with the same lament I’ve been lamenting for the last several weeks: work is crazy busy, which is cutting into my blogging time. Specifically, a colleague and I are editing a book, and the manuscript is due on October 31, which therefore will be the most terrifying Halloween of my life. I’m at the wake-up-at-4-AM stage of book deadline panic, so this post will be short. I do have some news to share, though, besides the aforementioned book.
Before I get to that: Welcome to the Weekend Coffee Share, hosted by Natalie the Explorer! Grab a treat, have a seat, and let’s get to it.
Write with me!
I’m hosting a weekly write-in, sponsored by Lawson Writer’s Academy. We meet every Saturday from 7-8 AM Arizona time (GMT-7, currently the same as Pacific Daylight), with the Zoom room open at 6:30 in case anyone is sufficiently caffeinated to want to chat before getting down to business.
How to join
- Go to margielawson.com and sign up for an account. It’s free, and all you need is an email and a password.
- Go to https://www.margielawson.com/product/lwa-write-ins/
- Click Add to Cart
- Click either View Cart or Go to Checkout
- Click Place Order
You’ll get the Zoom links for all LWA write-ins, including mine, on the next screen and in your email. You can also access the classroom forums to chat with other writers. I don’t get any kind of compensation for either referring you to LWA or hosting the write-ins. I just really like the community of LWA writers and the classes, and I’m hoping a commitment to dragging my ass out of bed at o’dark thirty every Saturday will result in me actually getting some writing done.
What’s a write-in and why should I join one?
Haven’t been to a write-in? You’re missing out! A write-in is exactly what it sounds like–a bunch of people gather in a room (in person or virtually) and write together.
Why not write by yourself? Well, we all do that, but a write-in serves a couple of purposes. First, it can create some motivation and accountability to actually get your butt in the chair and hands on the pen or keyboard. It’s protected writing time, right there on your calendar. Second and more important (for me at least), it provides a sense of community. Writing can be a lonely business. Other writers can provide support, encouragement, and empathy. No matter what kind of writing you do–fiction, nonfiction, blogging, ransom notes–come join us.
Let’s talk about… the weather!
No, I’m not desperate to fill space in this post. It’s finally weather-bragging season down here in Satan’s Anus, otherwise known as The Reason We Live Here.
What? You thought a few million people endure 4+ months of temperatures roughly equivalent to the surface of Venus because we *like* it? Get real. We live here because from October through April, it’s (mostly) glorious. We’ve had daytime temps in the mid-upper 80s and nights in the low 60s, and this weekend we’re dropping into the 70s during the day and–gasp!–it’s supposed to get below 60 Sunday night (for the first time since maybe early April). While y’all in the Northeast and Midwest are shoveling snow all winter, I’ll be sitting on my porch in a t-shirt and flip flops. Believe me when I say, I’ve earned it.
Early fall in Tucson
I haven’t traveled anywhere since my trip to the piney woods last month, but now that it’s cool enough to avoid spontaneous combustion, Long-Suffering Husband and I have ventured out to explore our adopted city.
Tucson Mountain Park
After 4 months of being mostly trapped inside by the heat till after dark, I’ve been itching to get out in nature, so a couple of weeks ago I took a short solo hike in Tucson Mountain Park.
I took that last picture while perched on a rock on the side of a hill, just looking and listening and… being. I should do that more often.
Historic Pima County Courthouse
Almost since we moved here, we’ve been saying (OK, *I’ve* been saying) we should explore downtown Tucson. We finally did.
First stop: the historic Pima County Courthouse, built in 1929 and now home to a museum and other tourist attractions (learn more here).
A couple was having their wedding pictures taken in the courtyard. Lovely setting for it.
The big metal ring near the top of the cactus is attached to a pole sunk in the ground:
Chained up in front of the courthouse… what did this poor cactus do to deserve such a fate? Or did they chain it up because they think it will try to escape?
Now I’m picturing a sentient saguaro rampaging through Tucson.
Sentient Saguaro is now my band name.
Send help.
Seriously, I assume it started to blow over and is being staked in place, but I’m still enjoying the mental picture of it being apprehended and chained in place after a Godzilla-style rampage. Gotta admire the cop brave enough to cuff a cactus.
OK, moving on to more ridiculousness…
The memery
Yup, explains a lot.
Fun fact: I have a 233-day streak on Duolingo.
I brayed with laughter when I first saw that one.
Yes! The syrup soaks into the boxes, and then I pour on more syrup.
I have no idea why my A1C level last year flagged me as pre-diabetic.
A couple of months ago, I shared a meme that showed a squirrel terrifying the neighborhood with a Halloween prop stuck on its head (it’s in this post). This one’s even better:
You don’t know how much I want to do that.
Sticking with the Halloween theme:
This one’s for my husband, who’s had a huge crush on Lynda Carter for as long as I’ve known him:
Remember a few weeks ago when I shared a meme about why it’s good we aren’t naming a bunch of dinosaurs now, because they’d end up named things like Heckin Chonkosaurus? Apparently it’s also a good thing we aren’t naming sea creatures:
Speaking of large, cold-blooded creatures:
You don’t know how much I want to take a pet alligator to a park and walk it around on a leash. I haven’t lived that particular dream, though, for 2 reasons:
- I’d need a Hefty bag to clean up its poo
- I don’t have an alligator.
Speaking of reptiles:
I wish my local 7-11 was frequented by lizards instead of some of the people who hang out there.
Speaking of dangerous creatures:
Speaking of cats:
Used to have cats. Can confirm.
And finally:
If my grandmother exists in the Great Beyond, she’s too busy chain-smoking and drinking highballs to be worried about whether or not I’m eating.
And on that dysfunctional note, I’m outta here. If you need me, I’ll be frantically editing book chapters and trying to invent a time machine in order to extend our manuscript submission deadline.
How about you? What excitement and/or terror is happening in your life?
22 Comments
Joanne
Oh that weather does sound wonderful!! We’ve had rain these past two days but prior to that we have been soaking up all the warm sunny days we can knowing the cold will settle in soon.. we already had our first frost!
Janet Alcorn
We’re supposed to get some rain here too, but we probably won’t have our first frost till December, which is just fine with me.
Maria
Your weather sounds lovely, but I could never take the summer heat. You do deserve to sit on your porch in t-shirt and flip flops! Here in Sweden I’m looking forward to trying my new winter jacket as soon as it gets a little colder 😉 It’s been unusually warm this fall.
Best of luck with the deadline, and do make sure you enjoy some downtime on that porch as well.
Janet Alcorn
Thanks! The summer heat is rough. I love the sun and warm weather, but there’s warm… and there’s Arizona.
Natalie
Thank you for your weekend coffee share and beautiful pictures. Your weather sounds wonderful. Enjoy the nice temperatures and all the best with your book deadline!
Janet Alcorn
Thanks!
Jennifer Jones
Your weather sounds perfect. I love the hot weather, and am pleased that summer is coming for us. I enjoyed the trip around your adopted town. Those cactus are amazingly huge. The write in sounds fantastic. I’m sure it will be well received. I hope we get to hear about it.
Janet Alcorn
Thanks! Glad your favorite weather is on the way. I’m a fall person—sunny days, cool nights—so I’m loving it right now.
trent
I’m sorry, Grim Reaper Droneman, Kristen Arnett is my new hero. No ratting on Marvin!
Yep, a date with Wonder Woman is pure fantasy. Really odd, although as a kid (and, of course as an adult), I thought Linda Carter was very sexy, even back then I didn’t like her as Wonder Woman – she was -too- sexy. There was twice the jiggle in that show than in Charlie’s Angels and one third the characters to jiggle (back when they called it “jiggle TV”) When I first saw a photo of Gal Gadot dressed as Wonder Woman, it was like that was the Wonder Woman I had been waiting for since I was a preteen…. And it is still high fantasy to expect a date with Wonder Woman.
Good luck with all of the editing!
Have a great week!
Janet Alcorn
I remember “jiggle tv.” I think Three’s Company falls into that category too. Ah, the 1970s.
I loved Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman! I remember watching the old TV show as a kid and enjoying it, but that’s it (of course, I was and am straight, so I wouldn’t have the lust factor to keep me glued to the TV). The back and forth between Gadot’s WW and Chris Pine’s character is wonderful–I really need to watch that movie again.
Hope you have a great week too!
Writing Sparkle
A write-in sounds fun. I have participated in mini co-working sessions, and they are enjoyable. Time zones can be a challenge. I signed up for a webinar and I was so excited about it. I had my schedule organized for 12-noon participation. I woke up in the morning and missed it because it was 12 midnight, not 12 noon. Opps.
Janet Alcorn
Oh, the fun of webinars and time zones. It’s extra fun here in Arizona, because we (unlike almost the entire rest of the US) do not observe Daylight Savings Time. Now that we’re getting near the time change, I have to think extra hard to figure out what time a webinar will happen here in my time zone (Is it before or after the time change? Then I have to go look up when the time change is. Sigh.)
Gary A Wilson
Okay – to be clear. I don’t dislike Tucson. I’m more like, its balance between botany and geology is all wrong.
I thought at first, there were going to be puppy dog jokes about that collared cactus. Seriously – am I the only one who sees the puppy with the collar around his tummy for some reason? Then since he’s in front of the courthouse, he could be the prickly pup of justice which is a lot more fun that that blindfolded woman with the scale because, have you noticed? The poor gal gets seriously confused sometimes and perhaps we need to rethink her blindfold and consider a collar – around her tum – and – what? Why are you making that face? Okay, okay. I’ll stop.
A write-in sounds, um, intriguing. But if I’m using it to solve my shut-in personality – meeting other writers and such, which of us are supposed to be writing and more important – who’s reading my results. . . ?
I loved – loved – LOVED the cougar sign.
It reminded me of this adult sorta-leader in a group I was part of when I was 17. Cute gal – about 36 years old took my arms when I was standing behind her as we all were watching something I no longer recall. It was kinda dark and at first I thought she just wanted a hug – which was normal and fine in this group. But without my help, she migrated my hands and — well ’nuff said about this I think. But she scared me to near-paralysis.
Janet Alcorn
I’m so sorry you got assaulted like that. I first wrote, “creeped on,” but no, what you describe is sexual assault. Adults who do that are disgusting.
In write-ins, there’s no expectation to share, just to write together. It’s nice, because it’s encouraging and supportive with no judgment.
Marsha
Lots of laughs in this post, Janet. We are not getting your delightful weather in Prescott. It was nice for a few minutes this morning. Do you have a spare room or two? Love the bound cactus, and the line, “Gotta admire the cop brave enough to cuff a cactus.” Have a great week and rest of your weekend. 🙂
Janet Alcorn
Thanks! Sorry your weather is lousy. I probably shouldn’t tell you it’s 75 and sunny with a light breeze right now. I do have a spare room, though I need to clean it. It’s the poster child for out of sight, out of mind.
Hope you had (are having) a fabulous weekend!
leannelc
Hi Janet – I laughed at the last meme because I think you sounded just like what I imagine your g/mother would while you wrote it 😀 Always interesting seeing snippets of where you live – so different in landscape and flora to what we have here in Australia.
Janet Alcorn
Ha! My grandmother was a character.
One of my favorite things about checking out other people’s blogs is seeing pictures of places I’ve never been. It’s fascinating how diverse our world is.
Susanne
How lovely for you to have some enjoyable weather! Here we’re just entering the not-so-enjoyable season, but I won’t complain because we’ve had mostly glorious weather since July.
The write-in sounds like fun, although for myself I don’t know if I could book a set date and time and expect my brain to be in writing mode then! Possibly if I switched off all sorts of distractions, but I have such a wandering brain so I sit down to write when I feel my brain will cooperate.
Loved the cat and crocodile memes!
Janet Alcorn
That’s the thing about a write-in–built-in accountability so distractions are less likely. I can’t wait for my brain to be in writing mode, or I’d write like once a week. I have to plunk my butt in the chair and do it. But the distractions always beckon…
Kathleen Howell
I love your posts! Thanks as always for the tour (love those blue skies!) and the awesome memes.. I also love the idea of a write in but that would be 4am for me here in lovely metro Detroit. Best of luck with your work and deadlines – I’m facing the same type of Halloween nightmare this year.
Janet Alcorn
Thanks so much! And yeah, 4 AM is early. After the time change, though, it’ll be 5 AM (Arizona doesn’t observe Daylight Savings Time, so it’ll be 7 AM Mountain Time at that point).
Good luck with your deadlines!