I apologize to readers of this blog for the long break between posts. National Novel Writing Month took literally every spare second of my day. I admire those participants who seemed to be able to both write and post in November but freely admit that there was no way I could make that happen! And while I crossed the deadline with more than the 50K words required to be a NaNoWriMo winner, I still have a lot of work to do before I can claim the victory of a solid submission draft.
Until I'm able to start some writerly posts again, I’m say goodbye to the old year by the classic expedient of posting some top ten lists (cross-posted to another of my blogs). Only a few of these have to do with the experience of writing, but they're all are part of the experience of this writer!
My top 10 2010 experiences (chronologically)
- Tim Burton exhibit at MoMA
- Trip to Venice & Barcelona with Mom (special mention: dinners at Alle Testiere, Venice and Cal Pep, Barcelona; the roof of La Pedrera)
- Designing/knitting a lace shrug
- A Week in Tuscany (special mention: Uffizi Gallery in Florence; Duomo di Siena)
- Having a piece published by Smithsonian Online
- The Pantheon in Rome
- A day in Pompeii
- Tweets from History portion of my personal 3 month "extreme writing" challenge
- Making Paella
- NaNoWriMo (ending @ a proud 67,845 words)
Top 10 books I read in 2010 (alphabetically)
- A Map of Glass (Jane Urquhart)
- American Gods (Neil Gaiman).
- The Confessions of Edward Day (Valerie Martin)
- Cyteen (C J Cherryh)
- The Elegance of the Hedgehog (Muriel Barbery)
- Fantastical Feasts (Heston Blumenthal)
- Four Freedoms (John Crowley)
- The Imperfectionists (Tom Rachman)
- One Day (David Nicholls)
- Shades of Grey (Jasper Fforde)
Top 10 film and television I saw in 2010 (alphabetically)
- City Island
- Doctor Who, Series 5 (aka season 31)
- Eureka, season 4.0
- Get Low
- Inception
- The Kids are Alright
- Mad Men, season 4
- The Social Network
- Temple Grandin
- The Tudors, season 4
Top 10 music I started listening to in 2010 (alphabetically by artist)
- Amy Macdonald: This is the Life
- Anssi Karttunen: Saariaho: Du Cristal
- Cyndi Lauper: Memphis Blues
- Florence & The Machine: Lungs
- The Like: Release Me
- Nellie McKay: As Normal As Blueberry Pie
- Of Montreal: Coquilecot Asleep in the Poppies
- Rasputina: Thanks for the Ether
- Steve Reich: Double Sextet/2x5
- Vampire Weekend: Contra
