The One-Minute Rule

With the Page-A-Day Calendar I purchased for my desk this year, I received a free email version of another calendar of my choice. I chose "The Happiness Project", which is based on a book (and project) by Gretchen Rubin. I hadn't read the book, but I liked the idea, so I thought I'd give the calendar a whirl.

The first few weeks of the calendar were ho-hum. I think a lot of it would have made more sense if I'd read the book. Every few days I'd find something inspiring, but for the most part is wasn't too earth-shattering. Last week however I read a tip that I really liked:

Follow the “one-minute rule”: Don’t postpone any task that can be done in less than one minute. Put away your umbrella, file a document—such steps take only moments, but the cumulative impact is impressive.

Huh. That's a cool way to think about those tasks that tend to pile up around the house and work. I tried the rule out that day at work and I loved it! Instead of stacking things on my desk and filing them at the end of the day, I filed them as soon as I was done. It made getting out of the office at 5:00 much easier. At home, I took the recycling out right after dinner instead of letting it sit on the counter. The result was a clutter free kitchen and a happy Jessica!

Honestly, I'm probably not going to follow this rule all the time. We all slip up even when we have the best intentions. Getting some of those one-minute tasks off my plate though eases the feelings of "I have so much to do and not enough time to do it." Apparently, I do have the time. A minute here and a minute there.

NaNoWriMo - The Epic Adventure

Here it is. The post I promised about my November writing challenge, NaNoWriMo.

To start, I WON! WOOOOT!! I wrote 50,053 words in 29 days. I wrote something almost everyday, even if it was only a couple hundred words. During November I functioned in the real world, but I was living in my novel word. Emails were ignored, shows recorded and as soon as Thanksgiving dinner was cleaned up, I was back at the computer.

I had THE BEST group of cheerleaders a girl could ask for. Whenever I updated my word count on Facebook, I would get motivating comments and notes on my wall. When I finished the challenge, I had this convo with my hubby:

"I couldn't have done this with out all of you."

"Yes, you could."

"But you guys made it easier." 

That's the truth. Toward the end, when I was afraid my story might run out of steam before I reached the 50K mark, the belief you all had in me kept me typing (and not crying). Thank you.

Here's what I learned about myself:

1) I can write an entire novel, with a beginning, middle and end. I'd never done that before.
2) I can write a rough draft without editing (or even rereading) as I go. It's crappy, but the story is out and I have something to work with now. P.S. I still haven't read any of it.
3) Deadlines are my friend.
4) I am most efficient and creative when writing at Starbucks at 8:00 p.m. on Sunday night.
5) I truly enjoy writing (duh). When the challenge was over I felt like I was leaving summer camp. Excited to get back home to my own bed, but bummed to leave my new friends.

What a ride! See you next year NaNo!

NaNoWriMo

I've attempted NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month, www.nanowrimo.org) the past two years, but like blogging, it never stuck. The object of the event is to write a 50,000 word novel in 30 days. The key is quantity, not quality. Don't worry if it sucks! Don't delete anything! Just keep writing until you get to 50K. You can make it not suck later, after you've recovered from writing 1,667 words everyday for 30 days.

It's a tough assignment, especially since it occurs in November. Who's bright idea was that anyway? Let's challenge writers to write a novel on the eve of the holiday season! That being said, I have an awesome writer friend who was a winner 2 years ago (you win if you finish) and she told me that she wrote over Thanksgiving with the whole family in the house. That's not even the best part. The smoke detector went off that weekend and before she evacuated the house she grabbed her laptop because dammit she had 47K words and she wasn't losing them! P.S. It was a false alarm! All is well.

I've learned some things about myself this year. I've raised a lot of money for breast cancer research, education and assistance. I walked 39.3 miles to raise awareness for the disease. I've now maintained my blog for several weeks (a record!). If I can do those things, then I can do this. Life's too short to not give it the ole college try. In conclusion, I'm going to do it!

I probably better figure out what I'm going to write about ...

Writing Class

I'm taking a six week fiction writing class this fall and last night was our second meeting. I've been out of college for 8ish years (I was a four and a half year student) and its been about two years since I've taken a writing class. Holy brain function, Batman! I'm struggling! I can feel my brain creaking along during the in-class writing assignments and by the time my teacher asks us to wrap it up I have like, three sentences. Okay, maybe more than three sentences, but you catch my drift.

I'm not sure what's weezin' the juice, but it's a wee bit annoying.

Training Walk

Today, on the second day of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, I participated in a 5K training walk for the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer. One of my BFFs and teammates, Michelle, walked as well and we had a blast! Michelle's first Avon Walk will be in 2012 and she was excited to get a taste of what was to come. As always the Avon crew was supportive and movtivating! One of the walkers spoke to the group before we started. I don't remember her name, but she was a 7 year cancer survivor. Her story reminded us all why we were there and took a little bit of the bite out of the cool fall air.

I am proud to be walking with four awesome ladies next year and hope that we make a difference.

Please check out our team website!

My Big Outdoor Adventure

A few weeks ago I went camping for the first time. Not tent camping, mind you, but pimped-out-camper camping. Two bathrooms, hot showers, four flat screen televisions, a complete kitchen, an outdoor cooktop and free Wi-Fi.

Despite all the creature comforts, I was not a fan of camping. It was humid, miles from civilization (or maybe a 10 minute drive from the grocery store ... whatevs.) and lacking in activities that an indoor, allergy ridden girl like myself enjoys. Stacie thinks I didn't like camping because I forgot to bring my pink polka dot moose pajama pants (my official camping pants). I think it was because 1) There wasn't a New York & Company close by and 2) I prefer small doses of nature close to home.

The good news is when I tell people I don't like camping, at least I'm speaking from experience!