November Goals

Read a bunch, write a bunch, and ride while the weather holds...

Read

I’ve been slowly reading a book of essays by Lucia Perillo: I’ve Heard the Vultures Singing, Field Notes on Poetry, Illness, and Nature. Lucia is a poet that one of my writing teachers raved about. The essays in the book are wonderful, written with poetic language, and discussing topics including being an outdoorsy person struggling with a debilitating illness and a wheelchair, yet still managing to get outside for bird watching and mountain exploring. There is an essay about being a poet and the value of poems, and there is one about bats that I haven’t read yet, but expect to love, because, well, bats. According to the Poetry Foundation, Lucia had a bachelor’s degree in wildlife management (mine is in zoology) she once worked for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (where I worked) and she lived in Olympia, Washington (where I once lived). I didn’t realize until I looked it up that she died in 2016. Now I have to read all of her books of poems. Given her background, I am sure they will be worth raving about.

Write

It’s November and its time for National Novel Writing Month, NaNoWriMo, a program to write 50,000 words of a novel in a month. Except the original organization that supported it seems to have fizzled. I’ve considered doing this during other years, but I was quite sure I couldn’t write 50,000 words in a month. Plus, it was really aimed at fiction writers, and I don’t do fiction. Instead, one year I invented Write a Lot in November Month (WriLoNoMo), where I simply tried to sit down and write each day. My effort lasted a week or two. Last year I attempted a different daily writing program, but I had poor follow-through. I failed. I’m not in school, and I’m not working, so I have the luxury of rebelling against other people’s rules and expectations. This year, though, I have a big writing project to work on, a sequel to my book Riding Lessons. Since October 28^th I’ve been sitting down every day and writing and tracking my word count. I am writing fresh stuff and rewriting old stuff. I’m not hitting even 1000 words a day at this point, but maybe 800 or so? It all counts (even the edited pieces) since it’s my project and I get to make my own rules. And there are no rules. I definitely need to name this month-long effort, though, just to fit in: Write and ReWrite Lots of Words Month (WriReLoWoMo). That’s definitely catchy. You are welcome to steal it.

P.S. If you want to do a focused writing effort and you work better with a community, prompts, and expert guidance, here are some alternative programs compiled by Reedsy. And they are not just for novel writers, so that’s cool.

Ride

It’s November, and it’s ride without stirrups month! I don’t do that anymore, due to that very bad year of many unplanned dismounts. I think it’s been more than a year since I’ve fallen off, though. Nonetheless, I’ll keep using the stirrups and the saddle.

I rode a stallion! It wasn’t exactly on my bucket list, but I’m putting it on now so I can check it off. For my non-horsey friends out there, stallions can be a challenge because they have one thing on their mind: breeding mares. Some are ill mannered or unpredictable. My friend’s stallion, Viljar, is a gentleman, and even more so outside of the breeding season. He is also very well trained and sensitive; you need soft hands, and he responds quickly to your seat and legs. I have been trying to be less reliant on my hands and reins, but old habits die hard. My ride on Viljar was difficult, because I wasn’t used to riding such a soft and responsive horse. I was over-cueing and confusing him. The ride was also delightful, because I had moments of connection, and could see how wonderful it would be to have such a responsive and light horse. Now I have new riding goals and expectations for my my lazy sluggish horse Vali to live up to. Poor Vali. In the spring, though, because winter is coming.

[Photo credit: Solveig Pederson at Olivia Farm]