THIS IS WHERE I'M AT

I need one of these kits.

Today, I....

Went shopping

Bought Christmas presents and had Christmas presents bought for me (always fun!)

Ate a delicious lunch at Cracker Barrel

Got some super-awesome shoes which I've decided to wear forever

Watched the old Little House on the Prarie on the way there 

Watched the old cartoon version of Redwall in the car on the way home

Hugged my family a lot

Got stuck in the rain

Sent in my transcript to a college I'm applying to

Went into Carter's and just stared at all the cute baby clothes

Hung out with my sister and pretended to be rich and snobby in a super-expensive store

Got up really early (like, really REALLY early--7:00! That's EARLY, guys) *note* You don't have to take this part seriously >.>

Walked around--a lot

Saw some Amish buggies

And houses

And plows

And some Amish people!

Talked to my grandmother about Mae and learned some interesting facts, such as:

MAE'S dad was the owner of a livery stable, not a watchmaker as I had him in the book. One thing to change.

Her first husband was a British magazine model/interpreter who spoke four languages. Yeah, weird. What's even stranger is that I described him as this really good-looking guy in the book. I guess I just know everything :3

Mae was closest to her sister Clara, not her eldest sister Sophia (as I only thought natural).

And  Mae always thought her sister Rose was a bit off her rocker because their mother had been forced to squeeze through a barred window to escape a housefire when pregnant with Rose. I guess Mae thought Rose's brain got sqooshed XD

Yup. I did a lot of things today. But do you know what I didn't do?

I DIDN'T WRITE IN MY NANOWRIMO BOOOOOOOK.

*begins process of stress relief*

Meet Mimi

This is my great-great-grandmother, Mary Ann, and the first picture I've found of her so far :3
 The caption under the picture said, "Mimi." My grandmother said that Mary Ann's very first grandchild used to tug at her dress and cry, "Me! Me! Me!" when he wanted her attentions. The name stuck, resulting in "Mimi" as the grandmother title for Mary Ann.

All this is so cool. I feel like I'm swimming in history.


Cheers to all you NaNo participants this year! 16 more days!

Is it November Yet?

I was babysitting for a friend today. She has a lot of health isssues and just really needs someone to help her out with her rambunctious, adorable 18 month old baby girl. I was sitting with her daughter and she was out in the kitchen getting breakfast.

"So, have you gotten much writing done lately?" she asked.

I tried to force a smile, even though I knew she couldn't see my face. "No. It's hard, with school and all. It's pretty crazy."

"Yeah." She laughed. "Hey, have you ever heard of this thing called NaNoWriMo?"

"YES," I replied, almost before she was done asking the question. "I actually did it last year. It was so fun! I think the most words I wrote at one sitting were about 5000."

"Five thousand?" she exclaimed. "How long did it take you to write that many words?"

I paused, nostalgic. Those were the richest three hours of that November. I sat on the floor at my sister's friend's house while she and my sister talked. They talked. I wrote. I wrote and wrote and wrote until it seemed like my fingers were going to fall off. But when I was finished, I looked up with bloodshot eyes and triumphantly announced, "I'm back on schedule." My sister and her friend gave me the weirdest look and kept on talking. But I was saved. That little blue chart now matched the curve I should be getting for that day. I felt fulfilled. "Three hours," I told my friend as I twisted her daughter's little mop of hair into a curlycue. "It was amazing."

I can't wait until November.

NaNoWriMo emails are flooding my inbox. I'm ecstatic. I can't wait to start. I want to write. I want to write fifty-thousand words. I want to write a hundred thousand words, if I can. These short spurts of creativity each day are driving me insane. I want to tear down the dam and submerge myself in all the pent-up ideas floating around behind the barrier I've put up to keep my life somewhat normal. Even if it's for only a month. Even if it was only for a day.

I can't wait until November.

I think I have the story for this year's NaNo. It's the story of my great-great grandmother, May. It's not fantasy, but it's a GOOD story. And, depending on how much research I get done, most of it will be true. I'm so excited. I want to show it to my grandmother when I'm done, to thank her for sharing those stories with me. But first I have to write it.

I can't wait until November.



Is it November yet?

~God Bless

Elisabeth (who is on a different computer and thus cannot stamp her awesome signature onto this blog post :( )