Wednesday Check-in
Posted: June 9, 2010 Filed under: Wednesday Check-in, Writers Write | Tags: competitive swimming, Donald Maass Workshop, family, swimming, walking, writers, writing, Writing the Breakout Novel Workbook Leave a comment »Writing the Breakout Novel Workbook: 55 tasks completed out of 591 possible, 2 since 6/2.
Miles walked: 3.5 since 6/2
I’m more than half-way through the tabbed manuscript. Some of the new scenes are place-keepers. The problems will be ironed out in rewrites, but the story’s skeleton is morphing. I’m discovering things about secondary characters that I didn’t know. The dumb jock is really a secret computer geek. And, there is at least one tactic too terrible for even the villain to consider. Chapter Seven, the current lesson, has been the hardest and the most helpful work so far. The end of the story is in front of me, but I see major changes in the next twenty pages.
I’ve had trouble finding time to walk since the girls finished school. I’m always with them, and they aren’t keen on walking when I need to. Today, I managed a mile and half around our neighborhood while they were at swim team practice. One of the other moms babysat, so I could get a little exercise.
At the end of swimming, Cherry won a bet with her coach. She swam a 25 meter freestyle without taking a single breath. She cut her time to 16.4–more than two seconds faster than her fastest race time. Very good for a ten year old girl swimming summer league. It was very cool to see her coaches and teammates cheering for her when she got out of the pool.
Challenges
Posted: June 27, 2009 Filed under: Joined at the Heart, Writers Write | Tags: competitive swimming, family, swimming, writers, writing Leave a comment »We’re growing at our house. Swim competition is officially over for the season. Because we only swim in summer league, the girls have a small window to learn new skills. It isn’t a bad thing. I’m a firm believer in compressed concentration. Having a short time means acting without hesitation–grab or let go. Both of my children are grabbers.
Since May 10, Coco learned to swim butterfly and breaststroke. She isn’t really big enough to swim the fly, but the sure way to get Coco interested is to tell her she isn’t big enough. She also learned to push herself despite physical discomfort. Always a koala baby, she would beg, “Carry me mom.” Coco hated strollers and never wanted to walk. At yesterday’s League Championships, she fought through terrible asthma, but got in the water anyway, swimming in five races. She didn’t allow the lack of breath to interfere with the drive to compete.
Cherry learned to swim the 100 meter I.M.–short for Individual Medley–25 meters of every stroke without stopping. It is the longest race a 9 year old can swim in our league. The first two strokes, fly and back, are her weakest. But when she turned at the wall for breaststroke, I saw her effortless glide. The last lap was freestyle. With her body high in the water, Cherry’s long smooth stroke helped her to pull ahead. She didn’t win first, but the last lap brought her up to second place. Finishing felt wonderful. After she climbed out of the pool, she hugged her opponent. Both girls beamed.
I’m learning to be a writer. It isn’t pleasant to plant my butt in a chair for 3 hours at a time and muddle through the day’s pages, but I’ve finally learned that doing it, despite mood, whim, or interruption, is the real reward. Page by page, the book is written. Stroke by stroke the race is won.
I’ve learned from my kids.
Crispy Crudites
Posted: June 5, 2009 Filed under: Housekeeping, Writers Write | Tags: competitive swimming, family, Jamie Ford, Ralph Keyes, swimming, writers, writing Leave a comment »- The girls have been swimming since May 10. The first meet was last weekend. The results were mixed, but we felt good about it anyway. Coco won 3rd in her division in freestyle. Cherry’s relay teams finished 2nd and 3rd. She swam freestyle in the 100 meter medley relay. They love the work, but it’s hard for mom to explain why you’ve been disqualified for trying to pull down your swim cap. Isn’t it enough to keep swimming? Life lessons are everywhere.
- I’m still writing, charging toward the end like a galapagos turtle. I don’t know why this rewrite has been so hard. Transition times have always been crazy for me, and I don’t mean moving from one chapter to the next. The end of school, the swim season, temporary job schedules all reek havoc. The only solution is to write through it. I read the best book on the subject. The Courage to Write by Ralph Keyes helped me to understand I’m not alone. All writers have trouble getting to the page from time to time.
- Speaking of temporary job schedules, Bacon is working overtime at Pearson Education. We haven’t seen much of him. He’s still temping, along with praying for permanent status somewhere.
- Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford is the best book I’ve read this year. I bought copies for both of the girl’s teachers as a special thank you. The teachers are both terrific, and we appreciate them.
