Jenyfer Matthews

I love water – being near it or in a boat – and I never get tired of looking at the Nile. There is always something interesting to see and look how lovely it is at sunset. I took this picture from the deck of the restaurant where I had dinner with my friend last week.

I recently read a book that made this view all the more interesting to me, Down the Nile: Alone in a Fisherman’s Skiff by Rosemary Mahoney. I’ve wanted to read the book since I ran across an article the author published in The Guardian about her experiences rowing a boat down the Nile. I’ve always like memoir-type books and one that included adventure travel sounded all the more interesting.

The book was fascinating. I’ve never been as far up the river as Aswan, and still so many of her experiences were very familiar to me. When she said she wanted to row down the Nile, everyone said no, you’ll never get permission. In true Egyptian fashion, Mahoney didn’t give up at no, she just asked other people and when that didn’t work she went off and did it anyway. It’s a classic example of the way things work in Egypt! (Also, a bad habit that is all too easy to slip into!) And no matter what topic the topic of conversation, the men Mahoney encountered usually managed to turn the topic to sex. That’s another familiar scenario to me. I’ve been in a shop to buy copper pots for my plants and had the merchant start regaling me with tales of his sexual conquests in Hurgada during the days he was a tour guide there. Um…interesting but I just want to buy these pots…

More than a book about rowing, this is a book about people and culture and attempting to understand each other in spite of the wide gaps in experience that have shaped us all. Mahoney was able to interact with local people in a way that few foreigners ever do, and has provided a very thoughtful account of her interactions from the ridiculous to the poignant.

I’ve been thinking about what I want to do on my next get-away lately and reading her book has inspired me to want to step outside my comfort zone and see more. I’m not getting any younger and in the immortal words of the Red Hot Chili Peppers this life is more than just a read through. I haven’t made any firm decisions yet, but I’m close. Stay tuned…

For craft sales that is.

And in that mindset, I have been working on making a few extra items to round out my inventory for an upcoming sale next week. People aren’t always prepared to buy a baby quilt on a whim, but sometimes something smaller like a decorative table runner will catch their eye. So I sat down over the weekend and made this:

(click to enlarge)

I have another similar one in progress that is quilted with red thread and will have a red binding edge. They’re so pretty that even if they don’t sell I won’t be too bothered. That’s the nice thing about making things that you like – you can always keep them

You can also give them as gifts. I started my Christmas shopping ages ago. What about you? Time is flying by – the big day will be here before you know it!

It’s that time of year again – November, National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), a time when a largish group of people decide that THIS will be the month that they write the novel that’s been lurking in their heads.

From the NaNoWriMo website:
National Novel Writing Month is a fun, seat-of-your-pants approach to novel writing. Participants begin writing November 1. The goal is to write a 175-page (50,000-word) novel by midnight, November 30.

Valuing enthusiasm and perseverance over painstaking craft, NaNoWriMo is a novel-writing program for everyone who has thought fleetingly about writing a novel but has been scared away by the time and effort involved.

Because of the limited writing window, the ONLY thing that matters in NaNoWriMo is output. It’s all about quantity, not quality. The kamikaze approach forces you to lower your expectations, take risks, and write on the fly.

It’s not a bad idea really, setting aside a specified amount of time and demanding a specific output. Quality aside, at least you have something to show for your effort at the end of the month. You can’t revise and edit a blank page after all.

I’m not participating in NaNoWriMo. Every year I find myself kind of seduced by the challenge, but wisely back away. Why set myself up to fail so spectacularly? I am the sort of writer who is lucky to write 50K words in a year, not a month. I feel bad enough when I fail to meet my own modestly set word count goals on a day to day basis.

Part of my problem is discipline – you can’t write if you aren’t sitting down and doing it. Yes, I’m busy. Everyone is busy. Other writers make time. What’s the difference between them and me? Who knows. But at least some of them have contracts to fulfill and deadlines to meet. It’s amazing what those things can do for your discipline. Being accountable only to myself isn’t really much of a stick. What’s the rush? The story is in my head – I pretty much know what is going to happen next. And if I don’t, then what’s the point in sitting down to write? My writing process is often like waiting on the next installment in a serial story. It comes in waves, with lulls in between.

I think that writing 50K words in one gush like that might work better with stories that are heavier on plot. First this happens, then that happens, then watch out! Big climax. Phew – we made it. Most of my stories are very character driven and even though I start out with a premise, the characters tend to reveal themselves as I go along – things happen that I didn’t really plan. I have *tried* to turn off the internal editor and get on with things, to speed things up, usually to no avail. I simply can’t move forward in the story until I feel like the emotional tone of the story up to the point I’ve written is what I mean for it to be. I might only go back and add one sentence or change one word in a scene, but for me that one sentence or word will make all the difference. If I don’t add it when it pops into my head, I will likely forget. (Though from time to time I have an idea of something to add / fix, only to discover I’ve already added it!)

It might take me months longer to finish a story, but on the other hand my first drafts tend to be very clean and require minimal editing. In the grand scheme it’s six of one, half-a-dozen of the other. The important thing is just to keep writing until The End.

I have a bit of a cold this week. Or maybe it’s allergies. It might even be a bit of both. Whatever it is, it doesn’t inspire me to be very energetic about much, and it’s fogging my brain for anything to write. Instead I thought I’d share a picture I took yesterday in Garden City downtown while I was sitting in traffic, on my way to meet a friend for dinner.

I love this sign. The combination of the name and the gigantic portrait of the president is so Soviet Block somehow – I felt sort of disoriented for a moment, as if there should be a hammer and sickle mounted somewhere nearby as well.

I amused myself trying to figure out just what “social solidarity” means? Public morale? I was imaging all sorts of interesting and fun social programs they could institute to keep everyone happy and content. Like line dancing. Or picnics. Maybe trips to the zoo for school children. My friend, who grew up here, said it was more akin to the American welfare department. I suppose that would also contribute to morale, but so far as I can tell it hasn’t led to “social solidarity”.

Maybe they should try the line dancing…

We’ve had a lot of clouds but little real rain – and still we got a rainbow. This beauty appeared outside my window on Friday afternoon and vanished a few moments later. Glad I looked out when I did!