It's that time of year

Somebody oughta tell these guys that it's not safe for them to be wandering about town this time of year...

On the back side of our block. There were a dozen total!

Insecure Writer's Support Group!

Hi everyone! It's the first Wednesday in October. That means it's time for Insecure Writer's Support Group, hosted by ninja captain, Alex Cavanaugh. Anyone can join, so hop on over to the IWSG page and sign up!

My first post in this group for a while. I apologize for my absence. I was... deep under the tidal wave of real life called "Moving Across Country." I think, maybe, that I've figured out how to tread water in my daily life again instead of drowning the way that I have been for the past few months. Ha! And I'm trying to prove it to myself by writing this post out early and scheduling it for the correct day. Because, honestly, I don't want to miss it! Being part of your collective support and feeling supported by IWSG has been such an important part of my growth as a writer over the past couple of years. I appreciate it. VERY MUCH.

So, as it always happens after I've signed up for NaNo, I'm suddenly busy with a trillion things to do! I have three manuscripts to edit, a friend coming from out of town to stay for a while, lots of Doctor Who to watch before the 50th anniversary ep airs on November 23rd (I'm going to see it in 3D on the 25th), more to do at the horse barn... it's just a massive pile of everything good. And I'm grateful for that... that it's all good things... it's just...

Why is it that when I commit to do something like NaNo I get an avalanche of everything else that I want or need to do? Is it the Universe messing with me?

Does this happen to anyone else?

Let's hope by the time you read this that I'm seven- or eight-thousand words further along on my manuscript. That's what NaNo is for, and I'd like to think I have the resolve to get there. Fingers crossed... or not, because I need them for typing.

Happy writing, NaNoing, or whatever adventures in make-believe and magic you are having in your creative life today.

Jump in with both feet

I've been waffling for weeks now. I know NaNoWriMo is coming up November 1st. I know it... and yet, when people started talking about plotting and planning and getting involved this year, I hesitated.

Mostly I think I hesitated because I was scared. NaNo is a big commitment! It's one of those things that you can go to as lightly or as seriously as you want and it'll have the same effect on your life... total madness for 30 days!

Thing is... I have a good story this year. I have a couple of compelling characters and an interesting plot... already... that I've been "meaning to work on" since we moved and I haven't yet. Maybe the madness of NaNo is just what I need to get them out of my head and onto (virtual) paper?

So... here I go!

What about you? Are you NaNoing this year? Look me up on the NaNo site: fairbetty. I'd love to have more writing buddies in all this madness!

The delight of resurrected nerdiness

I love... I mean absolutely LOVE... being back in Davis, CA. There are MANY things I love about this town, but the one thing I love the most... our crazy, awesome friends.

Let me explain. In 2007, my husband got accepted to UC Davis to complete his undergraduate degree. He was a non-traditional student (older and married), so he didn't have the same undergrad experience that a lot of you have probably had. No dorm living, no late night binges, no all-nighters to cram for that mid-term... We lived quietly. I worked in one of the deans' offices. We made friends, but slowly.

One particular group of friends for me grew out of my place of work. The "cool kids," or the nerd-tastic kids however you want to label us, all sort of gravitated toward each other, and one day, on a whim, we started a book club. We kept up this club for over a year (!), added members, and even had a little blog for a while. We called ourselves the Finer Things Club, or FTC, after a similar group on The Office. We read all genres and then discussed what we loved or hated about the books over lunch and Futerama in the CRU basement office. (That's Computer Resources Unit, if you're wondering.)

In early 2010, N got a job offer in Connecticut, and we moved away. The FTC kept up their reading for a little while after I left... I'm not sure how long, but I AM sure they gave it a valiant effort. Eventually, though, people moved on to other things.

Connecticut was ... cold. It was dark... N worked long hours at a HIGHLY stressful job... and I became a (almost literal) hermit. We had very few friends there, but the ones we did make we valued greatly. Still, when the time came to decide what to do next, the obvious choice for us was to head West again. It was a no-brainer decision for me, moving back here... Davis is where our friends are... it's in CALIFORNIA (where, among other awesome things, there are no painfully snowy and cold winters, at least not in the Sacramento Valley)... and it's a great place for our next steps toward what we want.

Anyhow, here it is, October 2013, and we've been back in Davis for a month. And seriously y'all, the BEST THING EVER... the thing that is making me smile the most right now... is the way our friends here have opened their arms and welcomed us back. Leslie especially, and Lauren, and Debbie... and all my horse barn friends... I even had lunch with my dean's office friends the other week and the FTC was mentioned more than a few times.

But better than that, better than people just remembering me as the queen bee of our nerdy little book club... we're going to start it again! Our first book for the resurrected FTC is World War Z, by Max Brooks. Nothing could be more appropriate.

If any of you FTCers are reading this, I'm sending you a cyber hug and am looking forward to getting together to discuss the zombie apocalypse and the end of the world. FTC FTW!

A Carriage Driving Event (Photos)

Marathon day at the Sargents' CDE in Lodi

An obstacle

Shelly, Debbie, and the fabulous Alejandro
We were rooting form them.

Return trip: Settling in (Lots of photos)

We made it to Cali! There were a couple of days that I wasn't sure that was going to be possible... but we made it, safe and sound, to be greeted warmly by our friends.

I'm so grateful to be here. The apartment we're living in is spacious and quiet (most of the time) and largely unpacked now. We have art on the walls and I have an office! It's in the guest room, of course, but it's my own space from which to work and I like it so far.

Living Room

But I'm most happy to be in Davis because of the people. CA people are my kind of people... and we have some good friends here. Who could ask for more?

Our hammock lives at Leslie's now (down the street from
us). She's loving it.

We had a night of Melon Madness where we tasted as many
heirloom melon varieties as we could find.

There are plenty of great places to walk the pup. He's so
happy!

I took photos for the Brian Sabo clinic that Debbie and Leslie rode in the week after we got back. Here are a few of my shots.

Debbie on Quincy 

Winston's nose

Leslie and Winston

Michelle and Loki warming up for their lesson

Winston

Debbie on Grace. The only picture I caught of her with a
smile on her face.

Next post will hopefully have some pictures of a Carriage Driving Event in it. Right now I'm going to have breakfast and head to an open meditation session at the Davis Meditation Center. Time to clear my mind and get centered.

Return trip to Cali: St. Louis

Ok... so I haven't posted every day since we started driving. That is probably due to the fact that I have been having a literal nervous breakdown. I'm mostly better now... but it was at the cost of visiting my family in Chattanooga "on the way." Yeah, it wasn't on the way, but it would have been nice to see them. Instead, I spent a day in bed in a hotel room in Columbus, Ohio. So not fun.

But... I woke up this morning and felt better, so we jumped at the chance and hit the road. I managed today with no random bursts of tears or panic attacks.

The animals have been great, completely chill (as much as cats can be chill in a car). Tag is so good... surviving and doing his best to share space with Jack and Gill. Bangs spends all his time in the back of the car, even though he started in the front. It's rough, but we're managing.

Tomorrow we're headed to Omaha, and I will hopefully have dinner with someone I haven't seen in ... is it possible it's been 15 years? Crazy.