So, I’ve had this idea for a while now and, since it’s a new year, I’m gonna go for it this time. I’m gonna write about something from every day this year.
I know that doesn’t sound like much, so let me break it down a little. I’m certainly not gonna write about EVERYTHING (e.g.: Got out of bed, ate breakfast, brushed my teeth…), but I’m gonna try to find something unique, newsworthy or otherwise notable from all 365 days this year. So, for example, I’m not gonna mention that I went to work, or went grocery shopping or mundane things like that, unless that event somehow ties into something interesting. Also, I’m not gonna write everyday. I’d like to, but that would just bring out more unhealthy OCD, and it would lead to frustrating situations wherein I’m speeding home from a party to get online by 11:55 at night so that I can quickly write something. No, instead I’ll just write whenever I feel like it (hopefully at intervals of no more than 4 or 5 days) and, in doing so, cover the most recent days. Kind of like a glorified Facebook mixed with a toned down blog.
Here goes…
01 January 2009
We went to ProEx to get some pictures taken. My mom had these pictures of me (back when I was four) with a certain stuffed animal. I still own that same stuffed animal and so, I thought, I’d be fun to duplicate the pictures with my son. We styled his hair similarly, he wore a similar outfit, had a similar pose while sitting on a similar stool in front of a similar background. In fact, I started to feel like the outfit wasn’t similar enough, and I panicked for most of the rest of the day (and into the next day) worrying that we should retake the pictures. But I think I’ve made my peace with it: there’s no way the pictures can be that exact and, in not obsessing about it, we’ll be more free to take similar – albeit not exact – photos from any future sons (or grandsons!).
Despite his recent behavior when being photographed, Owen was a good sport – a great sport, really. I think it has something to do with the fact that I bribed him with Jimmy John’s if he behaved. After leaving the photographers’, we ventured over to Jimmy John’s…and proceeded to pay the price for the rest of the day. I’m not sure what is in that bread (but it’s in Subway’s, too), but something about it turns my digestive tract into a burning cauldron of, well, I’ll just leave it at that.
02 January 2009
I take it as a point of pride that I can sometimes go an entire day without using a vehicle. Today was such a day. Think of what it means: it means that I’ve got enough funds in the bank and food in the fridge so that I don’t have to go to work or run any errands. It’s not that I don’t get anything done on days like this. Quite the contrary, we gave our home a good cleaning, I finished up a book I was reading, and made some good progress on a couple of filmlets I’ve had been working on.
We watched an episode of Little House on the Prairie this evening. Back in September of 2006, Jennifer and I decided to start getting all the episodes from Netflix and watching them in order. We made the same goal with Quantum Leap and Northern Exposure, too. We finished those two shows last year, but Little House went on a wee bit longer, so we’ve still got over four seasons to go. Jennifer and I both used to watch Little House when we were kids, so it’s fun to relive them now that we’re adults. I bought us the complete set of Little House books as kind of a family Christmas gift, so I hope to read them all this year, too.
03 January 2009
We had company today (thus the thorough cleaning noted above). My sister and her husband Mike came over for a belated Xmas celebration. We’ve done this for three years now, although during the last two holiday seasons we’ve aligned our get-togethers closer to December 25th. They brought some gifts for Owen who promptly played with the packaging the gifts came in instead of the toys themselves. Then we all went out for dinner. Having a fun day like this makes for a downer of an evening – I’ve only been at work for 6 of the past 16 days. Tomorrow it’s back to the old routine: a full five-day week with all my co-workers back from their vacations. I’m not sure why, but I never take any time off during the holidays. (Maybe it’s because we have nowhere to go requiring additional days of travel…?) Most of my co-workers were gone for part or all of the last two weeks. I think, last Monday, my department was operating at 1/3 staff. The down side is, you feel like you’re the only one at work when everyone else is off partying. The up side is, I carried over 6 vacation days and now, with the roll-over to 2010, I have over five weeks of vacation time. So, if I wanted, I could take an entire month off of work. Yay for me.
Your experiment reminds me of a writer that I admire, J Michael Straczynski, who writes ten pages 323 days a year. He adheres to the idea that “writers write”.
By the way, I brushed my teeth today too.
I’ve never heard of that writer. Are you sure you remembered to use all the vowels in his name? It looks like you left out a few.
His experiment reminds me of NaNoWriMo, which I’m sure you could Google if you really cared (I’m too lazy to supply a link). Basically, it’s a site that encourages people to set aside the entire month of October to write a 50,000+ word manuscript during the month. It shoots for quantity, not quality. I’ve known several people who have done this (some more than once). No one has ever offered to let me read the fruits of their OCD labors, so I’m not sure there’s ever much to show for it.
My experiment here is a little more low-key than that…
I looked up the site NaNoWriMo and it sounds interesting:
“It’s all about quantity, not quality. The kamikaze approach forces you to lower your expectations, take risks, and write on the fly. Make no mistake: You will be writing a lot of crap. And that’s a good thing. By forcing yourself to write so intensely, you are giving yourself permission to make mistakes.”
It looks like a nice creative experiment to write 50,000 words in one month without agonizing over each word. Maybe 45,000 of those words would be junk, but a later review of your novel could reveal a few gems.
So, are you saying you’re gonna try NaNoWriMo this year?
Does it say anywhere that the 50,000 words have to be coherent? ‘Cause if not, I think I might do it, too.
I would like to try writing a novel. I spent some time the morning thinking of the subject I would write about. Perhaps autobiographical or science fiction.
Cory,
You should go for it. You don’t have to wait for NaNoNaNaBooBoo, just start now. I could see you writing a great autobiography/sci-fi mash-up.
This is how I plan to begin the story:
“I was born on a dark and stormy night in a galaxy far far away”.
I like it. It’s a new twist on a couple of old favorites.