My Vote Counts

If you live in California, New York, or Oregon, you can vote for Jill Stein or Gary Johnson, and not worry about throwing a vote away.  But as an Ohio resident, I can tell you in all seriousness, my vote is VERY IMPORTANT.  According to Nate Silver's 538 forecast, Ohio has a 50% chance of being the tipping point state; that is, it is as likely as not to be the state that gives Obama (or Romney) the needed electoral votes to remain (or become) president.

I've got to admit, all this attention has been nice.  Every other day, one of the candidates or his running mate has visited my state, from Cincinnati and Dayton to Columbus and Cleveland.  Even in the third debate last night, which supposedly focused on foreign policy, the candidates were wooing Ohio.  That talk about "getting tough on China"?  It was actually about Ohio.

The race has certainly tightened over the past three weeks.  But I'm confident Ohio will do you proud, President Obama.

Cutting and Pasting

My manuscript, upwards of 80,000 words, was a decent first draft.  It was a full story with complex, mostly well-defined characters, and a plot with only a few holes.

I've been working on my revision for a few months, though it's really picked up momentum the past few weeks.  This is for a multitude of reasons.  My progress had slowed because, I think, I began to equate the completion of a first draft as some kind of accomplishment.  It didn't matter that it was flawed, that it wasn't published.   The bound manuscript sat on my desk like a trophy.  I was going for a promotion at the library, and so I focused on the possibility of a shorter commute and increased responsibilities, not on my "side project."

But I didn't get the job.  It was a disappointment, but also a relief.  I like my current location and my coworkers.  As an introvert, it takes me a long time to become comfortable somewhere, and I'm finally comfortable where I am.  It was a disappointment, a relief, and a kick in the pants telling me, You've got to DO the things you want to DO!  I want to write, so I must write.  It's as simple as that.  If I'm not going to fix my manuscript, then I need to start something new; and I'm not ready to dismiss this story and these characters I've nurtured for over the past two years!

Second, I gave my full manuscript to six beta readers: My mom, my fiancé, my best friend, an English professor (and good friend), a former coworker/friend/writer, and my friend/writing partner.  Each provided me with different kinds of feedback that's been invaluable as I move forward.  I'm going back through the manuscript, starting on page 1, and making some of their suggested changes.  This involves adding and removing commas, finding synonyms for words I had unintentionally repeated, and restructuring the timeline.  Most of this I can do on the computer, with two documents open.  I edit as I go, then paste the fixed sections into a new document.  But sometimes there just isn't enough room on the computer screen.

Hence, sitting on the floor, tearing pages out of the spiral-bound manuscript, cutting my precious sentences, rearranging them, and taping them back together.  Anyway, I'm about 1/3 of the way through my editing process.  I hope to be finished by the end of 2012... Wish me luck!  If I'm not posting here, it's because I'm working to achieve that goal.

Thinking of Others

Sorry for the absence of posts. I'm at a mall, overhearing a teenage girl whine and complain to her parents that they won't buy her an iPhone. Yay parents for standing strong. She has enough money to buy herself a smartphone, just not a top of the line phone. She's pretty upset. Parents walked away, she's still pouting.

Anyway, things are good. Picked a date, picked a dress, picked a venue. Got a guy. A challenge, for me, is learning to think of the other person, his wants, his interests, as much as my own. I'm good at thinking about myself. Just like that annoying teenager sometimes.

Dad just came back. Explaining to her why she needs to wait; she's still upset but listening.

A Couple Things

Lately, when I think about how little I've been writing, I feel sick.  Like I'm not living up to my potential.  Like I'm not figuring things out.

This week I plan to start a new routine--one that involves early mornings (when I'm most alert and when my head isn't clouded by unshelved books, late fees, and traffic jams).

But in the mean time, I'd like to share a couple things.  Yesterday, I saw a beautiful movie shot with 70mm film.  Samsara had no dialogue or discernible plot.  Its filmmakers traveled to 25 countries over five years filming prisoners in the Philippines, dancers in Thailand, and tribesman and women in Namibia among scores of other people.  Check out this preview:


Second, I've been closely following the presidential race.  While I'm excited that Obama seems to be the frontrunner, I become more scared at the prospect of a Romney presidency.  He hasn't stood up once to the zaniest wing of his party, and I can't imagine how he would govern.  He acts like he would run head first into a war with Iran!  His comments following the recent tragedy in Libya seem all the more flippant after reading about Obama's sober deliberations prior to American involvement in the conflict.  To write this Vanity Fair piece, Michael Lewis spent six months with the president, gaining almost unfettered access to him, from Air Force One to the basketball court.  It's worth reading from beginning to end,

Arizona Skies

Sunday I returned from a week-long trip to Arizona.  Two memories will stick in my mind.  The first, seeing the Grand Canyon, left me speechless.  Its sheer size is not captured in pictures (though capture I tried):

The second is my boyfriend of two years getting down on one knee and asking me to marry him.  This was just after we had arrived at the rim and set up a tripod with my camera:

Months ago, we'd talked about marriage.  I even tried on engagement rings.  But in the past few weeks, any time I'd mention marriage he'd say, "I like the way things are now." Little did I know, this proposal had been in the works for a while.

"Of course I will," I replied.

Prior to this relationship, I had never pictured myself getting married.  I'd been happy alone, and the prospect of spending my life single and completely independent never scared me; in fact, it excited me some.  But this excites me more.  The trajectory of my life has changed.  It now includes a partner who makes me laugh and, more importantly, laughs at my jokes :)

Cool Skies

We headed to a local park yesterday, thirty minutes before sunset.  It has a man-made lake surrounded by  a 1.4 mile cement path, and this picture was taken about a quarter of the way around.  While I took many more as the sun, a tiny ball of orange, set behind the clouds, this one is my favorite.

I grew up in the city.  The night sky I looked at as a child was mud-colored, though the skies as the sun set were awesome: "The pollution makes it pink!" we joked.  Now I can see much more of the sky; it's impeded only by trees and water towers, not tall buildings and smog.  I like that.

Next month we head west to Arizona and the Grand Canyon.  In the intervening weeks, I'm practicing with my new camera.  I took a year of photography in high school and a semester in college, but you wouldn't know it by my current confusion about aperture, shutter speed, and ISO.

I imagine the skies out there will make my suburban ones seem muddy and modest.

Hot hot hot

Here's a screen shot of my phone today: