Chicken Butt

Can I get an Amen sister!

I've been reading Posie gets Cozy for years now. I have her book and look forward to getting the next one. Her work inspires me, but mostly leaves me in a state of awe. Today I feel we're more kindred spirits than I ever had before. It's like she pulled these words out of my head:

"Apparently also my favorite part of "sewing" seems to be the picking out of the fabric and the pattern more than any of the actual sewing itself, since I have a stack of fabric-and-patterns two feet high."

Go read the whole post now.

This explains a lot about my list of projects I've bought supplies for but never started. The potential object is perfect but destined to be less-than-perfect once it is begun.

Updated CB, a little

Well I added Mon's new blog, Monido this, to my Compulsively Clicked links. While I was in there tinkering I removed some broken links and some sites I just don't visit very often anymore.*

I also updated my Currently Reading list. The last time I updated was Jul 7, 2008. It did not take me 17 months to read Crooked Little Veins. I might remove that section if I'm unmotivated to keep it up.

Also, I thought that my most recent Twitterings were appearing in the sidebar, but they disappeared. So now, you should see the last four updates I've made. Let me know if you don't see them. The widget might be flaky. 

I'm struggling a bit with Facebook added into the mix. I don't want to link my real name to my blogs. But some things I want to write about would be equally appropriate on FB as CB. The decision between FB and Twitter is hard too. One big factor is that I'm friends with some work people that are not really friends. It's all getting a bit complicated isn't it. I like FB for the easy casual contact with old and current friends, but I miss some of the older social formats. One reason I finally joined FB was to keep up with the KarenWorld gang. It's just not the same.

I've also reconnected with some very special friends from my past. They ask me what I've been doing for X number of years and it is tempting to share CB with them. But no one should have to sift through four years of my ramblings. I certainly don't want to.

Yes, it has been four years. I started CB in August 2005. This is post number 358. My five loyal readers are now shaking their heads in disbelief at the incredible time suck I'v been. Thanks guys!

* Quite a while ago I had to cut some blogs from my daily reading because their blogs turned into mostly food porn sites. Love Smitten Kitchen and Apartment 2012(?) but too much food discussion and luscious food photography is not good for me.

I want to be a writer (Or Navel-gazing again)

I read a lot about writing today. The Morning News has an essay by a student of Annie Dillard and two related links in the links in the Weekend Edition of Headlines:

1. Annie Dillard and the Writing Life by Alexander Chee
2. Becoming a Writer by Junot Diaz
3. Why I Write by Stephen Elliott

When I read essays like these I want to be a writer. I want to learn to craft words that change how people perceive their world. There are so many things wrong with that ambition I’m not sure where to start:

• I don’t know much about technicalities of writing. I looked up gerunds while reading the Chee piece. I have to think twice about what adverbs are and cannot diagram a sentence. I remember my sixth grade English classroom and taking my turn at the board to make marks around sentences. I even remember that it wasn’t very difficult. I just don’t remember what any of it means. I could fix this. I could read some books about it.
• Writers write. Usually from an early age writers write out their hopes and fears. Writers write no matter what. It is a persistence compulsion. This is not me. I wish this was me.
• When I read about technical business of writing (narrative voice, structure, moving time) I lose enjoyment of reading.
• When I try to think of a story I’m blank. Maybe I could write non-fiction. I like to research things. I’m not very good at follow-through. I’ve started to write out details and results from my hunts for assorted information. Most of those posts never make it past draft status. Does anyone want to know what I learned about making pettiskirts (with source links)? Maybe when I get some pictures of my attempts I’ll fill it out with that info.

I think my craving to “be a writer” is just another way I’m looking for complements.  I have sometimes been casually praised for my writing and I want more. I want to turn a slight talent into a gift, into genius. Freshman year my teacher Peter told me he liked one little swirl on a painted sketch for a project in Drawing 101. I became a painting major on the strength of the one complement. (This is a slight exaggeration, but still true. I was disillusioned by Graphic Design and the Photography department was a political nightmare. There was also no portfolio was required to become a painting major. They took anyone.)

What I want is to be a great writer without putting in the work that must be done to get there. Once again reality puts the damper on desire. THPTPTH!*

So where does that leave me? Same place I started but with a belly-lint filled post on writing.  I’ll continue to live vicariously through Karen (You rock star!) and write here on Chicken Butt and live my life. I know my writing has improved since I started this blog. I don’t think I slip into a writerly voice anymore. I could still use a better editor than myself but who couldn't?

Oh, and go read the linked essays above if you haven’t done so. Especially the first and third.

*This is a Bill The Cat style razzberry. Calvin & Hobbes style adds a B: THBPBPTHPT!

Chicken Butt Housekeeping

The number of spam comments has recently increased on both CB and WIT. You may not have seen many because I delete and report them as spam as they come in, but some may have slipped by. In response I've changed the security settings for commenting. To comment you must now have a TypeKey. It's a simple, free sign up process.

I hope this will cut down on the random comments with dubious URLs. I also hope this will not keep people from posting comments. I love comments. Each time I get an email that someone has commented it makes me happy. I don't always reply because I don't always know what to say back. I feel stupid saying thank you each time. I should get over myself I guess.

I also plan to review and update my links soon.

MiBloNaGaMo

I decided it was wise to skip the NaNoWriMo contest again this year, but I wanted to do something. Karen is writing a novel this month and every time I see her Participant badge I'm filled with envy. I plan to cheer her on and live vicariously through her, of course, but I want a damn badge too! So I did what anyone too unstable to write a novel in a month would do. I made my own contest and badge.

Welcome to Minimize Blog Navel Gazing Month here at Chicken Butt! Doesn't that just roll off the tongue? I made up the name and badge last week, and I didn't know about NaBloPoMo until this morning. (via Smitten Kitchen) So I could have jumped on that, but I've missed the deadline. Besides, I need to make things difficult for myself. Rather than committing to post once a day for a month, I've committed to trying to write less vapid prose.

During November I will stifle the impulses to ponder the minutia of my life. I'm not sure what I'll write about while the lint in my belly is verboten. I will not be posting everyday, that is a certain path to fluff at CB.

Maybe I'll tell some of my stories. Maybe I'll do more than follow links and chuckle or shake my head. Commentary on politics? Maybe, but no rants allowed. The general idea is to do more than my typical babble and blurt. I'd like to add some craftsmanship to my posts.

And don't worry, if I'm a flop at non-trivial writing at least it is only for 28 more days.

If anyone would like to participate in MiBloNaGaMo, please steal my button (or make your own) and let me know.

Belated anniversary

This is my 209th post on CB. My first was written August 8, 2005. I thought it was later this month until I looked it up today. It's been a tough year, but a good one I think. Good because I feel healthier and a lot saner than I was last year.

I'm coming up on one year of abstinence in Overeaters Anonymous in September. Initially I wrote about my fledgling recovery here on CB. But I started a second blog, Whatever it takes, when it gained importance in my life. Sometimes I think I ought to recombine the two, but for now I think I'll leave things as they are.

I've really enjoyed blogging this year. I've become less self-conscience of my writing. I think I've gotten better too, at least I no longer slip into "writer" mode. My writer voice felt elegant and sparkly, but stiff and unnatural, like a fancy ball gown I try on to see what it looks like but have no occasion to go. Um, kind of like that imagery, forced and fancy for no reason at all. So maybe I still pull out the taffeta skirt to vacuum occasionally, but just for fun.

Thank you to each of you who have read CB and come back for more. You are masochists and I adore you all. Special thanks to everyone who has ever commented.

On a completely unrelated note, I've decided not to bring jeans to California and I plan to take the estate tour of The Winchester Mystery House on Saturday afternoon. Check out this bird's eye view from their press images. Click on it to see the full size image. I'd like to take the behind the scenes tour too if I have the time. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that they have a working penny smasher.

Malcolm Gladwell has a blog!

Yeah! Mr. Gladwell has just started a blog. This should ease my suffering during the sometimes long stretches between New Yorker articles. I look forward to reading this blog. I adore his articles. These are a few of my favorites:

• The Naked Face
• The Moral Hazard Myth
• Big and Bad

Yes, I adore his books too. Now go read the articles above. I'll wait.

(Thanks Boing Boing for sharing the news.)