Waffle irons and writing.

Both of my roommates have birthdays this week (oh hay guys! Happy bday!) so this past weekend we went to Carmel with a group of friends to celebrate. In lieu of posting those [amazing] pictures, since I have yet to upload them, I thought I'd do a little flashback to another roomie event: brunch. There was a solid several weeks there last year where waffle brunches would take place most Sunday mornings in the apartment. Leslie would man the waflera (her waffle iron - did you know "waflera" is the Spanish word for wafflemaker?), Lily would take care of coffee or berries or both, and I'd scramble up the eggs. People would rotate duties, or the number of participants would vary (add some some weekends, lose some some weekends), but we had a pretty good system down!

These days our schedules have either misaligned so greatly that we do our own things on the weekends, or align so greatly that we go out to find nourishment elsewhere - however, I still think fondly of the times when the waflera and one-cup coffee cone were on heavy rotation...

That little baby (the waflera) traveled all the way with us to Carmel this weekend, so at least she still knows we love her.

In other news, I am going to attempt my third (fourth?) NaNoWriMo session - this time, in April, for Camp NaNoWriMo. I bought that "Good to the Last Plot" mug last year around this time to inspire me for the month of April but somehow it just never got to that next level. Maybe I rewarded myself too early, before putting in any of the actual work?

This Atlantic article about why writers are the worst procrastinators, and how we may even be self-sabotaging sometimes, really speaks to me. "It speaks to me dahling!" Seriously though, it describes two groups of people: those who think that talent is innate, and therefore you can only ever have so much of it, and those who think that talent is learned, and that you can constantly improve your skills. Those who think talent is innate tend to dislike challenges, as they think challenges and hardships and deadlines will demonstrate their limited abilities. Those who think talent and skill can be learned and improved upon relish challenges because it means an opportunity to learn and better themselves. I think, truly, I subconsciously fit into the former category, which is why I have such a hard time making myself write and putting myself out there - if there is a maximum level of "greatness" to be achieved, better not peak too early, better not show your limitations too soon.

But, I think this kind of thinking can be combatted! And battle it I shall. This year, I am revitalized. I am reinvigorated. I am resplendent with R-words and I have a thesaurus at my fingertips (thanks Internet!) - this year I'm going to complete...at least half of my goal! I shall!

(Baby steps, you know?)