Reverb 10 - Week 1

A writing friend of mine, Kim, posted this on her blog.  I totally love the idea behind it, so I am stealing it from her and doing it too.  It will be a great way to get my brain moving again, in prep for the mad editing I have laying in wait ahead of me.

According to their website: "Reverb 10 is an annual event and online initiative to reflect on your year and manifest what's next. The end of the year is an opportunity to reflect on what's happened, and to send out reverberations for the year ahead. With Reverb 10, we'll do both."

Simply, they give you a prompt a day, and you answer it.  In interest of the fact that I am still not a decent blogger, I am going to just do a weekly post of that week's prompts, instead of daily.  So, let's dive in shall we!

December 1 - One Word
   My one word for 2010 would have to be "showcase."  This wasn't the easiest year for me.  Aside from some personal issues that need not be delved into, we had huge bill problems, birthed a baby, depression came back full swing, both kids got dislocated arms, oh the list can go on.  Its no where near as bad as other people's lists, but still, it is my list.  The year wasn't all bad though.  We got our newest family member, who is one of the cutest babies ever.  I finished my first draft of my first novel.  Good things have happened.  And I hope more do next year.  Hence my word for the coming year to be "Hopeful."

December 2 - Writing
   "Writing. What do you do each day that doesn’t contribute to your writing — and can you eliminate it?" (Author: Leo Babauta)
   Things that don't contribute to my writing... let's see... First thing that comes to my mind are my kiddos.  I can't eliminate them, but I'm sure I can find a better balance that what I have right now.  Other than that: Facebook, StumbleUpon, the internet in general.  Reading books.  Wanting to sleep or just zone out mindlessly into television.  Yeah... I have a lot prioritizing to work on come 2011!

December 3 - Moment
   Its hard to pick a moment in which I felt most alive.  Do I pick the birth of my second son?  Writing the last sentence in my first novel?  They are so close to being a tie...So here, I will pick the one that takes up a little less time :)
   I sat at my computer, typing like mad, knowing how close I was to finally finishing.  Some how I had succeeded in getting both kiddos to take naps, and the apartment was silent aside from my music lightly playing and the mad tap-tap of the keyboard. 
   I didn't know exactly when it would end.  I had not fully planned it.  Until that final sentence was written and I stopped and stared.  That was it.  I couldn't go on.  This was the end.  My heart fluttered and jumped, a strange mix of pure joy and odd anxiety.  Had I said enough?  Not enough?  Did I really just finish the first draft?  I did it!
   I sat back and couldn't stop staring, a smile spreading on my face.  I could have ran for miles that day.  I felt like shouting in joy, bursting into tears, laughing like a maniac.  I was alive.

December 4 - Wonder
   Cultivating a sense of wonder... I do not need to cultivate.  I have two imaginative little boys that keep me laughing at the wonders of life every second of the day.  So I guess you could say I cultivated it when I conceived each of them... which wasn't this year... so it doesn't count.  Along with that, I did remake my dining room into my writing den.  I really do think it helped, a lot, with my writing adventures.  It is wonder...full...

December 5 - Let Go
   This is hard.  This is something I am still working on, and have not yet fully succeeded.  But what I let go of was: The battle for love.  I always feel like I need to try hard, to always get everyone to love me and want me around.  But the thing is, how often does that backfire?  How often am I just wearing myself out on a useless case?  This is something I have done my entire life, and just this year I realized that I needed to change it.  If they are going to love me, they will love me.  I shouldn't need to try so hard, every second of the day.  I am me.  Love me or leave me.

December 6 - Make
  This year I made a lot of things.  A baby for one. :)  And I have gotten back into baking and cooking.  Discovering a tuna casserole my husband will actually eat.  Banana chocolate chip cookies.  My first ever apple pie.  Oh yes, and I "made" a novel.  The first draft anyhow.  Materials: my brain and insanity.  What do I want to make next year?  Hm... the final draft?  Maybe?  Oh, and my first successful loaf of bread.  Yeast, I will not kill you this time, I swear!


December 7 - Community
   This has been something hard for me, living down here.  Up on the island I lived on my entire life, the sense of community was so strong you could eat it.  Here... not so much.  I have felt almost lost.  Then came November and I met my online, occasionally in person, community of writers.  They made me like this area, finally.  WriMos, I love you.  This next year I hope to stay in contact with them more, attend the random writing groups that are hopefully forming... in essence: Be a writer.

(even though today is the 9th, I want to only do one week's prompts at a time.  So... on the 14th there shall be more!)