ELECTION DAY!!!

I can't concentrate at all. I don't know what I was thinking coming to work (you know, making sure future generations are civically engaged) instead of going to be a poll monitor like everyone else I know.

What would help, of course, is if I could get away from the computer and my desk and read a good book :)

And speaking of good books, I just finished one: California Uncovered, a 2005 collection of stories from Californian authors. Many of the selections are excerpts from novels, and quite a few made me curious about the larger work itself. [When I get home, I will update with some examples.] One of the editors is Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, who I have liked very much since I was in college. (I've seen her at readings too - she is lovely in person.)

On the other hand are bad stories, and that is what I've been writing (see my post below). I do not think I'm cut out to be a novelist. I tried for 2 days, and had my "novel" go in about 60 different directions. I haven't given up entirely, but I'm not convinced I should write as a chore, when I can just read something instead.

Vote, vote, vote! I love Election Day. Even if I usually don't have much to cheer about.

Update: The following were my favorites
Yxta Maya Murray (from The Conquest)
Paul Beatty (from The White Boy Shuffle)
Brian Ascalon Roley (from American Son)
Khaled Hosseini (from The Kite Runner)
Dana Johnson ("Melvin in the Sixth Grade")
Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni ("Mrs. Dutta Writes a Letter")

Erin's Library to Climb a Mountain

Or rather, write a novel or something in the month of November.

One of the many non-books that I read is the blog LAist. Thanks to the power of its team of bloggers, I have learned about National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo to the cool kids). As far as I can tell (their site is sloooooow today), the NaNoWriMo folk are dedicated to proving that all you need to write a novel is a little push. Their push: 50,000 words in the 30 days of November. Along with tens of thousands of your closest friends. And they even forewarn that it'll be crap. At least, most of it. But if you're me, and you like to write but don't make the time (and don't actually have a fiction story flitting around in your conscious brain), it's a pretty cool deal. So I am in the process of signing up (like I said, the site is slow) right now.

Another driving factor: I like things you can count. I am very tangible in the way I look for results. September was 10,000 steps a day + and I took great joy in calculating the change in my average performance from week to week. (I added the equivalent of an 8th day/week of walking by the end of the month.) October was sit-up and arm weight month, with similarly numerical planned gains. It got boring around the 24th. So I was trying this morning to figure out what November would be. And what better challenge than something I would never do on my own, with word/day goals, and no exercise required :) So here I go. If the novel gets far enough to acquire a title, I'll let y'all know.