The sun is an eerie, distant visitor this morning.  After I dropped Dan off at the airport for his trip, I drove toward the sunrise on my way home.  The sun was the size and shape of a harvest moon, only in shades of fuschia, with drifts of smoke cowling it in visible layers.  The dust and ash cover was so thick I could look at the sun directly.

I've stayed in the house 90% of the past two days, not even venturing to the gym because my chest was so tight after Monday's hour in the smoke.  I literally cannot imagine what it's like for the men and women on the fire line, breathing in smoke, ash, chemicals day after day.  I am so grateful to those who risk themselves to protect our lives, homes and businesses.

Thank you.

I also found the letter from Rev. Hughes at Malibu Presbyterian Church to be inspirational.  I've been checking out the website so we can donate to their rebuilding efforts.  Malibu Pres was an important way stop in my spiritual journey.  It was at Malibu Pres that I began to integrate the born-again fervor of my youth with critical thinking, love-based faith, and to understand that God didn't want to punish me but love me.  I am forever in debt to Rev. Dave and Nancy Worth for their investment in a college kid from up the hill. 

Thank you.

In the hiatus brought on by the smoke, I've been taking advantage of my hermetically sealed, hermit-like existence to complete paperwork, put together files, fill nail holes (today I'll paint) and generally clean up.  Amazing what some concentrated time will do for you.

I'm going to carry that principle over into the Nanowrimo (National Novel Writing Month) exercise.  I've got a tentative plan put together for culling writing time out of my day.  Here's what it looks like so far:

Activity                    Time Saved

Television                   2 hours/evening
Blogging                     1 hour/day (mostly research)
E-chats                       1 hour/week
Video Games               1 hour/day

With 4 hours saved each day (and by focusing them on writing) I should be able to hit my goal of 1667 words per day.  I'm actually aiming for that as a minimum and for 2300 per day as a maximum.  If I hit the max, then I will be able to take a day off here or there (Thanksgiving for example) and not get too far behind the gun.

Also, I'm headed to Hawaii for a Girls' Work Week with Lynne and Shari (we really do work!) 11/5 through 11/11...so I figure I'll get at most an hour in there each day...so I'll need the extra time to catch up.

So that's the plan for Nanowrimo.  I'm looking forward to the challenge.  In some ways, November will be a continuation of this time as a hermit.  I'll be staying mostly in the house, typing away, getting up to stretch and do little tasks, then returning to the computer.  

I'm also planning on paring most other activities to a minimum.  Emails will receive short shrift.  Cooking will likely be salads, roasts and take out.  Phone calls will roll to the answering machine.  Laundry may pile up a bit.

I will, however, be making time for two important things: 

1.  Hitting the gym.  I'll need it to work out the kinks!

2.  Golf on Thursdays with my friend Renee'.  Similar justification as above, but along with the necessary component of being outdoors.

Hey, I can't be a hermit all my life!
 

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