Hey everybody! I know Jayden gave you a little preview last week, but I wanted to take the time to update you too. We’ve both successfully completed Nanowrimo for this year. For Jayden, it was mostly cruise ship smut. Mine is more mixed, bits and pieces of character back story for a variety of projects, some blog posts, work for my MFA program, it’s a whole mixed bag.
Our current million words count is right around 810K, which should be doable next month. We’ve got a few thousand written today that we haven’t counted yet (including this post) and we both intend to do some serious writing tomorrow. Closing out with 80K or so each is a challenge, but very doable. Which I think is how you want to go into the final leg of a goal like this.
We are never doing this again. 😛
Other than that, we haven’t done TMI Tuesday in around a month, so here’s a grab bag of some questions we enjoyed over the past few weeks. Actually, we ended up doing them all.
TMI Tuesdays
- Traditions. We all have them. Some good and, well, some not so good. Think for a minute. When you were a kid, what were your holiday traditions? Do you still follow some of them today?
Richard: We didn’t have a lot of specific traditions as a kid. We usually visited my mom’s parents on Christmas Eve, then went to church. Santa and his fire truck usually drove by around the sermon, which interrupted it. We did have a pickle ornament (though we didn’t do an extra gift or anything with it) which I still do on the years I put up a tree. It’s about 50/50.
Jayden: We have a lot of holiday traditions and there are a few that I keep with religiously. The buying the real tree is right out (I’m super allergic) and so is the holiday open house. But we do this crazy stocking thing for Christmas morning, we light things on fire, and the menu hasn’t changed in all the years I can remember. - How would you describe this stage of your life?
Richard: I think I’m finally mostly done building my “foundation” I have an okay job in my field, a partner that seems to be working out well, and a decent idea of what kind of interests I want to pursue for the foreseeable future.
Jayden: Well, this last year has brought a lot of change for me. But career-wise, I’m pretty settled again, and I think (hope) I will be for a long time to come. Same with my partner. And I’m finding my way to the things that bring joy to my life outside of those two things. - What is next for you?
Richard: My main mid term goal is to finish my MFA. Once I’m closer done with that, I’ll start making some longer term career decisions: how much effort to I want to put into writing professionally or semi professionally, do I want to keep teaching or try to do ed consulting, administration, or move out of education, etc.
I’ll probably marry Jayden somewhere in there too.
Jayden: I would like to get my Doctorate. That’s a long time coming, though. I haven’t even picked what I want it in yet. No rush. Marrying Richard is probably the next big thing for me. No, we’re not engaged. Yet. - What will you do this month to nourish you?
Richard: Normally, Nano is very nourishing for me, but this month has been so busy (plus the pressure to overachieve for the million words, while also writing enough quality stuff to turn in) has made it more draining. For the coming month (since this was supposed to be a beginning of the month question) Jayden and I will be taking a trip to Williamsburg, which I always enjoy, and I’m looking forward to being able to take some more time to relax with non-writing hobbies. We finally plugged the Switch back in after packing it for the move, and it was nice to just sit on the couch and play stuff for a couple hours.
Jayden: Richard pretty much said it all, but I am also looking forward to getting back to journaling I hope, and doing some more crafty things again. Oh, and playing the piano! - Are you participating in Movember?
Richard: I was going to cut this one originally, since the answer for both of us is “no” but then it was the only one we didn’t do. So I’m putting it back, but the answer is still no. I have been shaving a lot less lately though. Given me a chance to grow in a different facial hair style. I guess masks do have an upside.
Jayden: Nope. I guess I could do something with not shaving my pubic hair, but that ship sailed for this year. - What is your motto in life?
Richard: I don’t have one, but I assumed Jayden would want to answer this, so I’m including it.
Jayden: I don’t know that I have a motto. But, uh, well, here’s one: We’re having fun! No matter what we’re facing, the best thing we can do is try to look at the good that comes of it, or laugh at the bad. I have many friends who are going through things that are so horrific that there is no good, and that sucks, but most of the time, we can at least try to do that. - You went to dinner on a first date, and your date took care of the bill. But when you get home you get a text from your date that is a Venmo request (money transfer app i.e., TransferWise, Paypal Worldremit Azimo) for half the cost of dinner. Do you;
a. Pay the Venmo amount in order to up your chances of a second date
b. Only pay for what you actually consumed
c. Pay nothing because the date supposedly picked up the tab and did not discuss halfsies when you were face-to-faced.
d. Call the date and yell “WTF?!”
Richard: Was it otherwise a beyond fabulous date, did we have to rush out after the bill because the restaurant was on fire, or was there some other extenuating circumstance? Assuming not, C. If it was, probably D, but when I say “beyond fabulous” I mean best date of my life.
Jayden: I’d be more likely to address it before we left the restaurant. “Oh, let me pay half” or “you don’t have to do that” or “thank you for getting the bill” so it probably wouldn’t be a surprise. But if it were, I’d probably go C and that would be the end of that relationship. - Does anyone owe you over twenty dollars? How many different people?
Richard: Jayden technically owes me around $100 right now, but I don’t think that counts. It’ll all even out between our rolling credit card and rent.
Jayden: Nope. I don’t loan money unless I expect to not get it back. - Are you one to sneak food into movie theaters?
Richard: I’ve done it once or twice, but that theater didn’t really care, so I don’t think it was “sneaking”. I like having fresh popcorn at the movies anyway, even if it can be a little expensive.
Jayden: Sure. Not in a long time, but mostly I sneak in water. - What do you want to brag about?
Richard: Jayden and I are on track to pass our million word challenge for the year. I’m about 30 pages from being done the first semester of my MFA. I think my writing has improved a lot. Also, as long as this is bragging and I’m free to be completely boastful, I think my writing is substantially better than most of the other people’s in my program.
Jayden: Richard’s writing is definitely better than most or all of the other people in his program.
As for me, I’m also proud of our almost passing the million words. I joined a couple of new discord servers and found that I write about double the speed of anyone in there. (Richard and I are right at the same speed.) I also have the greatest capacity to write words in a short span of time of anyone I know. My record is 50,030 in 24 hours. NaNo in one day! I’ve done it 3 times, and I don’t ever want to do it again. - What do you get in trouble for the most?
Richard: Probably procrastination, lately. Getting back to “regular” work has made time management a lot more important, and I’m struggling a little. I used to be really good about getting all my work done during work, and I’ve had to stay late a fair amount this year. I’ve also gotten a lot of my MFA projects in just under the wire. It’s getting better though.
Jayden: I don’t like being in trouble. *pout*
I try really hard not to be. I have also been putting in more time at work, but mostly I’m not taking care of myself enough. Not getting to bed early enough, not playing the piano. No one is policing that, but I am disappointed with myself. - What is in your attic?
Richard: We don’t have one. I don’t think I have anything too exciting in my parent’s attic at the moment either. I know they have a bunch of Christmas stuff up there, so that’s seasonally relevant I guess.
Jayden: Like Richard said, we don’t have one. Our storage space will hopefully be only a handful of items we’ll need when we get a real house and seasonal things (camping gear, Christmas stuff, etc.) - Would you buy a self-driving car and use the self-driving mode?
Richard: Today? No, but they’re not really available. In five years or so, I think we’ll see them start to become consumer ready, and I’d love to get and use one if I could afford it. People suck at driving, and I’d love to have that extra time to read a book or whatever.
Even better if Jayden and I could just live somewhere walkable or with comprehensive public transit, but we’ll see.
Jayden: I don’t think I have anything to add except what Richard said. Not reliable right now, too expensive, etc. But yes, a city would be nice. I miss that. - What is your favorite three-word sentence?
Richard: Stop, hammer time?
Jayden: We’re having fun! - What would your pet say about you if we asked for a reference?
Richard: Sort of kidnapped me, but a good dad all around.
Jayden: She’s okay. She gives me food and treats. Her daughter is LOUD. - Have you ever been stood up by a date? Did you attempt another date with that person?
Richard: I don’t think I’ve ever been truly stood up. I’ve had someone cancel on short notice once or twice, and I think we went on another date after that. There was one time in high school where we didn’t meet up, but I think that was just a timing issue? Back before you knew where people were every second, etc.
Jayden: Yes, my ex and I had a date with a third person who forgot in the five hours from the time we made the date and the time we showed up. We gave him one more chance, but that didn’t happen either. - Have you ever checked through your phone media to remember the night before?
Richard: No. I did get drunk and reset all my passwords in a fit of paranoia once though, which was a fun day with a bunch of different customer support agents.
Jayden: I have never been even remotely that drunk. - Never have I ever _____ ?
Richard: That starter always makes me think of the Fairly Odd Parents where Vicky edits together Timmy saying he stole from his mom’s purse. (Apparently Timmy edited Vicky saying that?) So I’m going to go with that. Never have I ever stole from my mom’s purse.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ILBQPlb4nA
Jayden: I used to always get to say that I had never been drunk, but… I can’t say that anymore. I can still say that I have never even had a puff of a cigarette, and I’ll keep it that way.
How to play TMI Tuesday: Copy the above TMI Tuesday questions to your webspace (i.e., a blog). Answer the questions there, then leave a comment below, on this blog post, so we’ll all know where to read your responses. Please don’t forget to link to tmituesdayblog from your website!
That’s it for updates and November’s TMI Tuesdays. We’ll be back to a more regular schedule next week with TMI Tuesday and Insecure Writer’s support group. Also Jayden’s sheet thing (she likes jersey knit more than pima, send help!) Maybe we’ll even post an actual story again someday…
J R Vincente 