NaNo Eve

It is Halloween, which means it is also NaNo Eve, ie the day before National Novel Writing Month, the beloved NaNoWriMo begins. I have been doing this long enough that the kickoff party is always a little strange, since as with many craft endeavors, it trends towards the recently initiated.  This isn't to say NaNo has nothing to offer grizzled vets.  The camaraderie of the writing gig can be found many ways. Finding your best pace (which may or may not align with the NaNo pace), your best writing time of day, your optimal writing environment are all helpful.  I tell people that I know lots of folks who like the wake up an extra hour early and write first trick.  It isn't just for self-described morning people, but still, just thinking of it make me sleepy.  But, if you tried lunch time writing, evening writing, night time writing, and nothing is working, you may secretly be a morning writer.  

I find writing a few words (like 100) when I get up in the morning, gets my brain into the story enough that when I sit down to write in the evening I'm ready to go.  

People will tell you that real writers write every day.  That real writers write to deadlines not randomly assigned months of the year.  People will tell you that real writers do a lot of things.  And here's the thing.  I can point to a real writer that does every single one of those things.  I can also point to real writers that take weeks or moths off from writing every year. That set their own deadlines, and get them assigned.  That write in mornings, afternoons, evenings, nights, or only on full moons.  Listening to other people's writing tips and processes is useful and interesting, because real writers find people and processes interesting. But any process that doesn't work for you, doesn't work for you.  Or maybe doesn't work for you just now. And that's all fine. 

Find your process.  Find the way that gets you the best words.  Happy writing!

Acceptable Protest

There have been many many examples of what kinds of protests in general our country, and more importantly our law enforcement, find acceptable over the last few years.  From the various Black Lives Matter protests being labeled everything from racist to terrorist, to the outrage from small, quiet acts of protest.  But yesterday, when a jury found the defendants of the Oregon Wildlife Refuge not guilty, when, we all know they were in occupation, and protesters at the Dakota pipeline site faced pepper spray, and if on the ground reports are true, likely far more. 

Three Interesting Things

1. If, like me, you learned a lot of what you know about the early days of AIDS research from "And the Band Played On", there was a crucial misunderstanding about a patient who had been coded as patient O (like October) and it got transcribed into patient 0 (like zero). 

2. Gene Demby wrote about how his trip to Ghana for a friend's wedding had him reflecting on his parentage.  

3. And I stumbled across this older piece where Kaui Hart Hemmings talked about her adoption, and the power of a new name at 11. 

In the Room with Taraji and Luvvie

In one of those weirdly synchronous moments I had just caught up to the episode of "Another Round with Heben and Tracy" where Luvvie Ajayi was interviewed and had picked up her book when I saw that the DC library was going to release a batch of free tickets to her chat with Taraji P. Henson about Henson's new memoir.  Well, I clicked, I succeeded and suddenly had another entry on my Saturday calendar. 

The event ended up moving locations, literally on the day of, so that goodness for event apps that update automatically.  It also started, ahem, quite a bit later than planned which was certainly not the worst thing, but Saturday was windy and a bit chilly, and while I had dressed for the weather, I had dressed for a short wait outside, and well, they didn't even let the people who had ponied up for VIP tickets in until 45 minutes after the official start time.  (It was harder to complain when one had free tickets, but I am not at my best when cold and hungry.  As it turned out I would have had plenty of time to get food before they let us in, I just didn't have any way to know that.) 

But they did let us in, and I managed to grab a seat.  The DJ was playing good music, and Henson and Ajayi came out to cheers.  Ajayi asked Henson about her career, and her decision to write a book about it.  Henson said she had started writing a memoir before "Empire" and had to reflect once "Empire" and Cookie became a thing, because she understood the spotlight would be bigger and said her makeup artist told her people needed her story.  And that surrounding herself with folks who wouldn't let her forget who she really was had helped.  She also said in the early days, while they were still filming "Empire" but before it had aired that Jussie Smollet and Bryshere Y. Gray would go with her to Target and pretend they were her security team, and she would ask them who would be their security once people saw the show.  

There was a moment where Henson suddenly looked out at the audience and said, "Is that Miss Debbie Allen trying to sneak in there?"  Apparently it was.  (I was pretty close to the front, but on the other side, thank goodness for people with better angles and social media, so now I know for sure I was also in the same room, breathing the same air as Debbie Allen.  It's cool.) Henson said Allen had been an inspiration to her, and she had gone to Howard, figuring if that's where Allen went, that's where she would go. Ajayi took a moment before continuing on with questions.

Henson said that she had found people assumed if she was a certain way in chats with creative teams, that they got stuck in their head and couldn't imagine her as something else, even though she's been studying acting for a while, had done Shakespeare in the Park and such.  And now with "Empire" and Cookie, she's worked to be very strategic to take hiatus projects that are different to keep reminding people of her range.  

Henson also said that being young, and in your twenties, was about trying and failing sometimes. Ajayi asked her what she thought her biggest mistake was. Henson said really, she tried not to focus or believe in mistakes, since that meant trying to attain perfection, instead of letting yourself be flawed. 

Project Runway: Dear Heidi

Oh, Heidi, don't fall for the designer drama. None of these designers are old enough to have invented applique.  And the whole point of an anonymous runway is in fact for you to discover or be surprised by things you thought you knew who had made them.  Yes, Erin has been making a lot of shapeless things with applique.  She tried to do what you always say, which is demonstrate that she has other things inside of her, and, well, instead you assumed the shapeless appliqued dress was hers. So, again, that's fine.  That's why the anonymous runway has been such an improvement, because sure, you know by the time you send designers home (or don't).  But the scores are made blind. 

And I appreciate that in the stress of the workroom, Erin noticed that Jenni had done and then been praised for something that looked like what Erin had been doing.  And it's a little funny that they used the talking head segment where Jenni said Erin's stuff is not her style but the judges seem to like it, and then said that this dress was the most her thing she had made.  She also said that about her athleisure outfit, so, okay. I'm sure they are all multifaceted designers when they aren't making everything under extreme stress and time constraints.

And oh, you designers.  Hi, cocktail is just not even remotely unexpected. You can say that's not your girl.  But I think you should look at Rik who made something very specific, very him, and not traditionally cocktail, and yet, no one would scoff and kick that person out of their party.  (Disclaimer: You should never scoff and kick someone out of your party for their clothes. Don't be that person.) And look, could you be a successful designer who never made cocktail wear?  Probably.  But it was easy to know going in this was going to be a thing.  For you to be unable to roll with that isn't a sign you are a bad designer, but it is a sign you are a bad Project Runway contestant.