PLAY TIME

    Last night we went to see "Blythe Spirit", the Noel Coward play set in England around 1900.   The Sun City Grand Drama Club put on a great production.   The acting was excellent.   I am always amazed at the talented people that live here in Grand.
     This was the first play we've attended here, but it won't be the last.   It was a great performance.   They price the tickets low enough ($12.00 each) that we retirees can afford to go often. 
     We had great seats, too.  SCG had recently bought a tiered seating system that can be taken up and down for these performances.   We were seated in the third row in the left hand tier because all of the floor seats were sold out when I bought our tickets.     Since the tiers are new, I didn't know how well we would be able to see and hear.   But no problem--our seats were fine.   
       The audience was great, too.   No talking or ringing cell phones at all during the play.   To me that shows a lot about the people at Grand.  Polite and attentive.   It's so rude when people talk during a play or a presentation.   It totally destroys my ability to lose myself in the story.          
     
       Speaking of story....earlier in day I attended the Valley of the Sun Romance Writers workshop.  I've been looking forward to this seminar for months and months.  In fact, I joined the group a few weeks ago just so I could attend this workshop.  It was free, but only open to members.
       Four speakers, all multi-published members of the group, spoke about their process.  Two focused on character and two on plotting.   Their methods were all different and all very good.   A few of the things they talked about are things I already do.  So that was reassuring.  But  I hope to try out a couple of new things soon.    Two things were obvious--they all were very talented, and they all write a lot more than I do.  I may not be able to change the first, but I can do better about the second thing, starting November 1.
      One of the members asked me what my publishing goal was for my book that I'm working on.   Since I've been working on it for a LOOOOONG time, I told her my goal was simply to finish the *>I* thing.     She laughed and understood.
      Romance writers are wonderfully supportive and generously share their thoughts, experiences, and expertise.    I was a member of the Cincinnati group for a few years when I lived in Ohio.   They were a great group, and I was very pleased to see that this West Valley chapter is equally committed to helping one another succeed.  


      

Structuring Retirement

I’m working now, but as the site address suggests, I’m a retiree-wannabe.   I had hoped to make the leap last year, but it didn’t happen.   This year I’m hoping it will.  

Lately, I’ve been thinking about what I want to do with all that free time I’ll have.   (Those of you who have already retired can quit laughing now.)   My friends who are already retired tell me they are busier than ever---many don’t know how they ever found time to work.   And while most of them are doing what they wanted to do, a few have just fallen into things.  So I want to make sure I end up doing what I really want to do.

To that end I’ve been making a list of all the things I want to do or am interested in checking out.  A type of bucket list.  I know I won’t have time to do everything, and I want to make sure I end up doing what is really important to me.   This way, if something comes up that isn’t on my list, it will be easier to say ‘no’.   In the past I’ve ended up working on projects or committees that involved things that didn’t really interest me.    But for one reason or another I agreed to take on the project when I was asked.   This time around I want to have a plan, a structure, for my time.

At the top of my list is writing.   I have an unfinished novel and another one in the idea stage.  Not to mention this blog, and another blog idea that I’m considering.   Getting the novel completely written is priority numero uno, even if it never gets published.  I’ll probably continue writing a blog, too, either this one or something different.

I’d also like to return to taking Spanish lessons.  I had to quit last year when things got totally crazy and out of control at work.    I want to keep mentally sharp, and studying a language will help with that.  Plus I love Mexico and would like to take trips there more often.

I know I have to schedule in some exercise time.  If not, I’ll start to write or read and never break a sweat all day.   Except for walking and splashing about in the pool, exercising isn’t something I enjoy.   There’s no excuse not to do it.  Sun City Grand has two activity centers with classes in aerobics, dance, yoga, and lots more.  So another goal is to find a physical activity I like, sign up, and show up. 

My need for structure was never more clear than yesterday, when I had an afternoon “free”.    I had thought about going to a new bead shop, my latest hobby interest, or attending a beading session here at Sun City Grand.   I looked at the info for two bead stores that give lessons, and I stopped in briefly at the beading group.  But I never took a class or strung a bead all day.  

I cleaned the casita.    On my “free” afternoon!     It needed it, but cleaning wasn’t my plan when I started the day.    The problem, of course, was that I didn’t have a plan for the day.    

Writer Aimee Bender found she needed structure in order to write consistently.   She wrote about it in her article “A Contract of One’s Own”, published in this month’s O, the Oprah Magazine.  Years ago she started writing in a closet for two hours, and has continued the two hour routine long after leaving that closet.  “If left to my own devices,” she writes, “a blank page and a free day and that meadow, little will get done and I’ll feel awful about it.  But put me in a box for two set hours and say go?  It is one of the most steadying elements of my life.”   

That’s the way I feel about my retirement time.   I’ll need a plan, a structure, so that the things that are important to me get done.  I’m working on the list now.   Then I plan to prioritize it and figure out how many things I can fit into a day or a week.

  If anyone else has approached retirement this way, I’d like to hear how it’s working out.    

Happy 2012!

Happy 2012!!!

          

      In my family we had a tradition of eating pork and sauerkraut on New Year's Day.  I'm not sure why, and I hated it as a kid.   It's okay now but I don't keep that tradition.

      Instead, I do on New Year's Day the things I hope to do all year.  It's more fun than making a resolution to lose weight, and I have a much better chance of succeeding.  So I've been writing, making cards, walking, viewing wildlife and partying.    All of these activities are too much for one day so I've expanded New Year's Day into New Year's Weekend.   It worked out great this year.

       I saw a nice sized coyote when I went to the mailbox on Saturday to mail out the last of the year-end charitable contributions.   He was walking between our house and the neighbors.   We both stopped.  I wished him a Happy New Year, and he returned to the back yard.  

       From inside the house, Kent and I watched him sniff under bushes and hunt around the mounds of cacti.   He managed to scare up a few quail, but he didn't find any rabbits.   But that didn't discourage him.  He was having such a good time he was wagging his tail!!!   Neither of us remembered seeing a coyote wag its tail before.   It was fun to see him so happy.   

       Our friends came over later to celebrate Christmas & New Years.  We had left for Ohio before having a chance to celebrate Christmas.   The day was so nice, sunny and in the 70's, that Kent grilled steaks for us.   Much better than sauerkraut! 

       Today I've been writing and making cards.   The New Year is getting off to a great start.  

       So if New Year's resolutions depress you more than inspire, think about changing your tradition.   Do at least one thing you hope to do all year.    You may not lose weight, but you'll be happy.