If We Were Having Coffee on the 12th of November, 2022 #weekendcoffeeshare

51 Replies

Hello and Welcome! Come on in and I’ll get you a nice large dark roast, a cuppa tea or some other beverage. It is pouring rain outside now. The rain had lessened, so I took a walk but it came back and I’m soaked. It is warm (for November) at 68 F/ 20 C, so it was a nice walk despite getting wet. The storm is far to our west, but I am sure this rain is influenced by it. Oh, where are we? Some of you may recognize the photo at the top as being from Cape Cod.

It has been unseasonably warm lately and I spent a lot of last weekend outside in a short sleeve shirt. It was very nice. I drove to the Cape on Tuesday evening and had yesterday off (Veterans Day in the US, Remembrance Day in most of the English speaking world). I was not able to do much after work on Wednesday or Thursday, so I spent all day yesterday outside, much to the chagrin of the cats (the cats come with me here). I did a kayak paddle in the morning, took a very long walk on the beach and a longer walk in the woods. I was out a lot besides those walks and paddles. It was a great day.

The day I arrived on Cape Cod it was a little cooler. I noticed the house was cold. If you remember, I had to change the thermocoupler on my heater last year. I didn’t think that was the issue. When I went to check, no gas at all was reaching the pilot. I had to call a service place and get someone out here to fix it. He did a few minor things, but the main thing was just replacing the pilot itself. He also replaced the thermocoupler again, saying it is a good idea even though the other was still fine. OK, they’re cheap, but I’m sure the work wasn’t…

Did I say I spent a little time raking leaves last weekend? I raked the weekend before as well. Of course Monday was super windy (we even lost power because of the wind!) and all of the raking I did over the weekend was for naught – there was just as much piled up as there was before. It’s what you get when your backyard is a wooded hill….

I did almost no blogging last week. I posted on Monday but didn’t even read any posts the rest of the week. Funny, but yesterday I received a reminder that I have been blogging for 9 years now! Great way to celebrate, taking a week off…

I did write last week. I think I added 30K words to my WIP since I wrote my last coffee share. I am just under 68K words. My guess is that I will finish the rough draft early next week. I will do a quick read through and correct obvious mistakes, but then let it sit for at least two months, though if the past is any indication, it will sit for six months or more. Then it will be time for a second draft.

I will admit that those last two paragraphs are closely tied together – the reason I wasn’t blogging was because I was writing. I can write and blog at the same time, but not if I am writing at a pace of between 4K and 5K words a day.

Anyway, that is about it. The rain should be gone in a couple of hours. I have a few indoor things to do in the meantime.

Thanks for stopping in! I will try to visit everyone this weekend, though be warned that if I get into a writing mood I won’t be touching the blog!

Hope you are having a great weekend.

Natalie the Explorer is the host of the weekend coffee share and she is doing a wonderful job. Stop in at this week’s main share page or go to the InLinkz-Linkup to see all of the other shares!

51 thoughts on “If We Were Having Coffee on the 12th of November, 2022 #weekendcoffeeshare”

  1. Julie

    Congratulations on 9 years of blogging! A couple of weeks ago, my husband and our kid were in Western Massachusetts visiting a family friend. They spent their days cleaning up the leaves around the house.

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    1. trentpmcd Post author

      I think raking leaves is a late fall ritual that has to be performed every year by everyone in New England… Well, maybe by everyone where leaves fall. I know people who are super obsessed by it.
      Thanks, re: the 9 years! It doesn’t seem that long. I have enjoyed it :)
      Hope you have a good week.

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    1. trentpmcd Post author

      I get distracted pretty easily, but then I also sometimes go into my Zen mode when I am doing something artistic. With writing, if I am in that mode and hit the zone, words just flow like water.
      Hope you have a great week!

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  3. Ocean Bream

    That’s funny, it’s been uncommonly warm here in the UK too for this time of year. The news articles I have read about it blame it on a warm jet stream from the south of the globe. But it’s the warmest November on record (14-16C [59F], normally it’s like 4-6C [39.2F]). So I have a suspicion it’s not just a jet stream. But I am not a scientist. Your raking story made me chuckle, it reminded me of that Frog and Toad story (The Surprise) where each rakes each other’s garden as a surprise but by the time they both get to their respective homes the wind has undone all their work. Also great work on 30k words in a week, that is really impressive. I am curious about you letting the writing sit for a couple of months before attempting a second draft. Is it to let it reset in your mind so you can edit with a fresh mind?

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    1. trentpmcd Post author

      lol, yep, my raking is just like poor Frog and Toad. Oh well. It looks the same, but when I actually rake again there will be a lot less leaves.
      The Jet Stream does have a huge influence on weather and temperatures. A few winters ago we had a huge Polar Vortex where temps were 30 F lower than normal and it was caused 100% by the Jet Stream. Still, the Jet Stream is wonky because of general global warming, so…
      If I let my writing sit for a while, and it is usually 6 months to a year, I look at it with fresh eyes and can be much more objective. If I went back to it after a couple of weeks, I would mostly just do general cleanup stuff and not dig deeper.

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      1. Ocean Bream

        Oh yes I remember the Polar Vortex. We had something similar and they called it ‘The beast from the East’ haha. I am fascinated by that, I always think if I leave my writing that long then it cannot have any value as I was not ‘actively’ working on it. I liked the ‘dig deeper’ bit, but also find that leaving a story for a long time makes you forget details, so digging deeper is less likely? Sorry for all the questions, I really am learning from you.

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        1. trentpmcd Post author

          My problem is that I know what I want to say and I also think I know what I said. If I go back immediately, I will read what I think is there. Well, I will interpret it to mean what I think. If I leave it for a while and am in a different state of mind than I was for that first “get it on paper at all costs” draft I will see and understand it different. That way I can make sure I am saying what I thought I was saying. My mind doesn’t fill in the gaps. I do almost as much writing after that read through. My second draft is often what really makes the book. I have made huge changes – The Old Mill was rewritten from beginning to end for the second draft (that is an extreme example, but…). I spend a lot of time on the second draft, going over it several times. Let it sit for a short while (much shorter this time) then do the third draft. Go back to the first draft – this time I will go through it at least once because I know I missed a few things. After those few passes, I will cal first draft done and sit on it for month.

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            1. trentpmcd Post author

              The other thing about mind filling in the blanks – when I am close to being finished with editing, I read it out loud. The helps make sure it reads right, but is also a good way to find repeated words, the wrong word, or other things like that.

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  5. Tessa

    Our weather here in NJ was warm yesterday. No jackets needed and actually sweating. Good job on the WIP. I have been working on my memoir little by little. Since I am a NaNo rebel I count my blogging writing as words written towards the goal.

    Liked by 1 person

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    2. trentpmcd Post author

      Our warm weather went away and it will be old the rest of the week. Oh well, at least I was able to enjoy it and hope you enjoyed the warm weather as well. I really don’t follow the NaNo (I wasn’t thinking and started a few days early), so to me however you want to do ti is fine. I hope you have a great week.

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      1. Tessa

        Thanks Trent! Yeah I do the NaNo but always as a rebel. To me words are words. I have some of each. Our weather is cold now as well, but Saturday was beautiful and I spent it with my daughter shopping around as I had to spend the money from the car I sold so the nice weather was appreciated.

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    1. trentpmcd Post author

      It is nice to be able to enjoy the outdoors in November, though odd… The weather just had a drastic change and it will be a little below normal temperatures all week. Thanks! I hope you have a wonderful week as well!

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    1. trentpmcd Post author

      Yeah, 9 years is quite a while! How long has it been for you? I know I first saw you quiet a few years ago, but you weren’t part of the very first batch of bloggers I met.
      I think writing is writing, and it is all good practice. When I start on a story, sometimes I really get into it and just have to write and write -the words flow like water. I’m in the mode right now.
      I hope you are having a good weekend and have a wonderful week :)

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  8. Rowena

    Wow, Trent I’m impressed by the word counts you’re getting up. That’s very impressive and when you’re in the flow like that, I’d say run with it and the blogging will be there when you come back.
    Congratulation on blogging for 9 years. I think I’m at 10 and missed the anniversary entirely.
    Anyway, I’d better get some sleep.
    Best wishes,
    Ro

    Liked by 2 people

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    1. trentpmcd Post author

      Thanks, Rowena. When I am in that writing mode, it does just flow and often drowns out everything else. So that is what I am doing, running with it while the words are flowing.
      9 or 10 years is quite a while to be blogging. I think I did bump into you pretty early, though not in the first batch of people I followed (I think there are only a couple left from that batch). I am sure it is Monday when you are reading this. Hope you have a great week!

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  9. Gary A Wilson

    Hi Trent,
    I’m still finding what my ‘cycles’ are for writing and blogging. Most of this year has been productive thanks to the three main projects I took on. They gave me a base to work on writing better – creating and telling better stories within various definitions for short stories, but unpredictably, I’ve had a couple of slow weeks that could not be blamed on work or other distractions. I guess the creative brain matter just wants a break sometimes.
    30K words is pretty good and letting that work simmer while you let the calendar give you some distance from the result can really help you be a better objective editor when the time comes to do that pass.
    And 9 years, wow, hard to imagine but then I looked at my stats and found that I have 5 years behind me now. Guess I’m going to have to stop thinking I’m still a newbie at this hobby.
    Have a great week.

    Liked by 2 people

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    1. trentpmcd Post author

      The time on the blog just seems to fly by. Of course, that is true about time in general… Every little writing project and challenge does help sharpen our skills. It is one of the things I had no idea about 9 years ago – how much working with others in the community and participating in blogging challenges would help. As to writing pace, I’m one of these people that if I am in the throws of creativity, I can just run without stop. I won’t say what the quality is, but getting it down on “paper” is the important part for a rough draft. And, yes, coming back to something after 6 months, or even a year, it is much easier to be objective about pile of words called the “rough draft”.
      Hope your weekend is going well.

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  11. Shannon

    Way to go on all the writing! I’m stuck in structural edit hell – it was almost a relief to take a break for hurricane clean up. 😂 This unnaturally warm weather is crazy, isn’t it?!?!

    Liked by 1 person

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    1. trentpmcd Post author

      Thanks. Ugh, editing. I think sometimes everyone wishes a hurricane would hit to get them out of editing… lol. I hope there wasn’t much damage and little clean up. Odd having a November hurricane… I hope the crazy weather doesn’t bring any more surprises like that!

      Liked by 1 person

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      1. Shannon

        We’re only 40 minutes from where the eye made landfall (and on the barrier island) so we were really lucky that the worst that happened was losing most of the fall veggies in our garden. And I hope there are no more weather surprises too! 🤞

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  12. Ju-Lyn

    Breaks are very restorative …
    You know, reading about raking leaves makes me wonder if I’ve ever had the experience … I don’t think I’ve ever lived in a place where we have a proper autumn where the trees shed their leaves in a significant sort of way. Ah! the piles of leaves I never got to jump in!

    Liked by 1 person

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    1. trentpmcd Post author

      Jumping in a pile of leaves is overrated – I think it only happens in cartoons ;) lol There has been a movement to not clean up the autumn leave s until spring because insects and animals use them to help get through the winter. The bad part of that is I have found baby rabbits in my yard in the spring and had to wait for them to leave the nest to cleanup.
      Every region has its on little things. Raking leaves and preparing for winter is one of them here.

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      1. Ju-Lyn

        As you say, raking leaves is very romanticised conceit amongst those of us who have never had to do so. I hear you on the discourse around whether to rake or not. Goodness! To play host to bunnies and have to wait on them …

        Liked by 1 person

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        1. trentpmcd Post author

          Even here people still romanticize it as a lost part of childhood… until they try again. Nope, not a soft landing!
          Not too long ago people would look down on you if you didn’t rake, but more and more people realize how beneficial the leaves are to nature and, despite the “old wisdom”, leaving the leaves doesn’t hurt the grass. Finding the baby bunnies was very cool!

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  14. dawnkinster

    Sounds like you had a great week! Glad you’re getting work done on your WIP. That must feel good. It’s SNOWING here today. Not enough you’d notice unless you’re observant…which I am….up in the UP they have enough snow to have snow plows out…now THAT’S snow! I really want to go to Alabama, but husband has an infusion to do at the end of November and we need to figure out how he will tolerate them before we try to travel. Still waiting for a puppy here too…lots of waiting and worryig about lots of stuff.

    Liked by 1 person

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    1. trentpmcd Post author

      Snow! Too early… Well, I have seen many October snows,but it is still too early.
      It seems to be an odd year all around, and you are now waiting. I do hope there is a nice puppy soon! And I hope you can make it to Alabama sometime this year/season.

      Liked by 1 person

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    1. trentpmcd Post author

      Thanks. Yeah, I will most likely spend part of next week doing more clean up. It doesn’t have to be perfect – I was always told that leaving the leaves kills grass, but I’ve discovered that isn’t the case, and the first mowing in the spring does a good job of mulching what is left.

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