I’ve been remiss in posting for a couple of weeks, and it shows. I have tons of news, and I’m afraid if I don’t do it quick and short, well, it’s not gonna get done for another two weeks. So here goes…

I survived a night of criticism at my fiction group. The group overall seemed to really enjoy my flash fiction (it was only 1 1/2 pages long), though I did get some thoughts from one member that hit me a little negatively. This isn’t to say that the guy was being out of line. I think he said what needed to be said, but naturally, all I heard was, “You’re not good enough.” The good news is, after being down about it for about sixteen hours, I let that go, and decided I’d just keep working at it, and that all kinds of criticism are necessary for my growth. After all, if no one ever said I needed to improve, it wouldn’t be very helpful. I came to the group to learn to write better, so it’s working.

I have not had much time to work on the RBS, which has pained me greatly. Hugely. Horrifically. However, I’ve survived somehow, and today I was able to put in a few hours, and I’m overjoyed to say that I finally got all the tweaks out of my first piece that I feel I could manage. Then, I took a deep breath, clamped everything in place, lit the big torch, and gave the soldering another shot. It is with boundless happiness that I report the soldering is a success! This is not to say that’s it’s perfect, or even very pretty, but it is a solid joint that will do the mechanical job it needs to do of holding the pieces together. This means I can move on to more of the assembly process. Woot! Can I get an “Amen?”

This week has been huge with creative revelations/realizations of opportunity. One, I was clued in on a challenge called National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo, for the initiated), and decided that I would embrace it and take it on. The crux of it is that you are challenged to write 50,000 words and create a novel between the dates of November 1 and November 30. Cool, right? Crazy, right? Fun, yes? YES! I am so excited! I actually got all signed up online and today was able to meet some fellow NaNo-ers at a coffee shop here in town. They all have experience with it, and each one has completed the challenge. It sounds like it’s going to result in nothing but an excellent time. I can’t wait to get started! (No, you are not allowed to start ahead of time.)

In other art-within-a-narrow-timeframe news, just this afternoon my brother and I were having lunch, and I was relating NaNoWriMo ramblings, and he says something about “Masterpiece in a Day.” I said, “What are you talking about?” He says, “Artists get together down at Fountain Square and make a piece of art work in one day.” It took me about 90 seconds to decide that I was all in on it. While the contest is open to writing, visual, and music arts, I have naturally decided that I will be devoting my energies to an RBS. I so want to have a completed piece! It’s September 27th, and you can find out more about it here.

There you have it, kids, the ten-minute update on my creative life. I have plans to finish my current RBS by the end of September, and I’ll have the second one completed at Masterpiece in a Day, and by December first I will have written a novel.

Oddly enough, when I go to the buffet, I don’t really pile my plate high. Guess I make up for that in other ways.