Another Badge Unlocked!

I just surpassed 10,000 fresh words to my Love Letters manuscript, just since April 1st. That earned me another badge on the NaNoWriMo site, for Camp National Novel Writing Month. Any of you participating?

More importantly, something happened last night which seemed like the kind of thing that would ordinarily provoke a full-on anxiety extravaganza, and I was just fine.

I think what made the difference was the low-key indie music I had going and the fact that I had just been typing away at the computer, solving creative problems and structuring sentences. Writing really helps me stay focused, as does any kind of creativity.

I was in the zone, and in a good mood, even if some of what I was recalling on the page wasn’t entirely all sunshine and rainbows.

In between bouts of rough drafting, I was also browning meatballs and boiling spaghetti noodles. A very generous coworker had given me some homemade pasta sauce she’d created and pressure-canned last year, from the tomatoes in her own garden.

For whatever reason, when confronted with the pressure seal, my brain said, “Let’s try to pry the lid off with a spoon.” Pasta sauce apocalypse ensued, all over my kitchen counter.

(It has since occurred to me to use a facet of my can opener, which worked much, much better on the pickle relish she also gave me).

Instead of hyperventilating or criticizing myself (or yelling or swearing), I said out loud, “Okay, how do I fix this?”

I ended up sweeping the sauce into a soup mug, with a paper towel, only losing a small amount of liquid in the process. I had picked up some fire-roasted diced tomatoes with garlic at the store and added those to the sauce and meatballs, along with some Italian herb and “zesty garlic and onion” seasoning. Delicious!

Very thankful for my coworker’s gifted foods, and for the increased self-acceptance and patience I feel when I allow myself to write. I think it especially helps that this is a project of self-reflection, looking primarily for the good, and for ways to make things better. Reconciling myself to the factual circumstances of the past and the present. Imagining a happier future.