Really good chocolate for a really good cause

If you're a chocolate lover and would like to support a really good cause (adoption) by a really great local gal (see blurb in corner as to why this blog is purple this month), you can do both at the same time. Sweet Hope chocolates are only available once, twice and we might be able to talk her into thrice a year, and I was lucky enough to receive a beautiful pink box with brown ribbon last year. And now I can't wait to see what comes with this year's order. The flavor descriptions are enough to make you drool ... this is torture.

But did I mention chocolate? And a good cause? Just a click away.

When the weather is soupy ...

Eat soup! There are plenty of options around town for a good bowl of soup, and lunch specials for those who just need that little something extra to make it a meal ...

My favorite soup haunts:

Margaret's Cafe, 754 St. Helens Ave
Her soups, along with her salads, change daily. But there's a fantastic soup, salad and roll lunch combo that will help you be warm and cozy and the weather is drippy and nippy. Plus, if comfort food is what you're after, she carries some great brownies, cupcakes, pies, scones, cookies and more. And she's currently taking orders for Thanksgiving pies and roll dough (your Thanksgiving guests will thank you ...)

Over the Moon Cafe, 709 Opera Alley
Many folks know of this little treasure on this little enchanting alley practically across the street from Puget Sound Pizza, but I've run across a few folks who don't know they're open for lunch. And they have this great cup of soup and half-sandwich special for under $8! It's phenomenal. It makes me very, very happy. Their famous grilled cheese with that fabulous crab bisque? Divine.

Infinite Soups, 445 Tacoma Ave.
Tiny space, lots of fabulous, fabulous, ecstacy-provoking soups. If you missed them at Farmers Market, or if you miss them now that there's no Thursday Farmers Market for a few more months, they're still cooking soups in their little shop. Little price, lots of taste. But it's just soup, and a roll or crackers. But it's wonderful soup. Did I mention their soup is great? Lots of options, changing all the time. Great soup. Did I mention I really like their soup?

One Heart Cafe, 6th & Fawcett (next to the Grand)
I haven't actually tried this out, but my swim buddy raved about their soups (by Infinite Soups, and did I mention I love Infinite Soups?) and sandwich specials, and how she had a full meal and latte for under $10. Oh, and it was good, too. This locale is the former Kickstand Cafe, which currently underwent a change of management and a complete rehaul. Me thinks I must check it out one of these days ...

Anyone have another soup place for the list?

NaNoWriMo: Day 7 outtakes (catching up ... and a hint of conflict)

Passed the 10,000 mark tonight, but I'm still a day behind. But that's what weekends (esp. Saturday morning cartoons as far as the kids are concerned) are for! We'll all be happy soon ...

Today is the one-week mark and I've said "blood" in today's text and my main character has even wielded a knife. Plus, I kept to a story line and, inspired by Day 5's comments, I experimented with injecting a bit more assertiveness into my main chickadee rather than keeping with the somewhat accidental heroine vein I'd been following. I'll experiment around with this newfound boldness for a few days and see how it works, but will also be open to returning the original vision or looking for some sort of cross-pollination of ideas to occur.

But before I get to excerpts, I gotta say ... not sure how anything I made up today can beat the reality of seeing a balding Superman hanging out across the street from my office today, paying a little too much attention to the soda can he was cradling. In fact, he even lit the can a few times. Kind of like he was smoking it, like a giant doobie ... Draw your own conclusion. His cape was pretty impressive though. He had a Superman shirt, too. Not quite sure what kind of undercover he was going for. Surprised he didn't run into some other undercover folks ...

And back to business ... since you didn't get any actual excerpts yesterday (though you should really check out the music videos I linked to), here's three biggies:

Early Day 7 excerpt: Moments ago she’d shivered at this strange man’s presence. Now … now she felt like she could break his neck with a look. And she kinda wanted to try. As they made eye contact, it seemed he thought she might too. Liz reached for the vial. Davin seemed to resist for a moment but then let her take it. Over and over she turned it, feeling the cool of the glass, imagining almost a pulsating power within. Color had returned to her face and her eyes betrayed her increasing craving for mischief.

Mid-evening excerpt: “Have you ever wondered what fear smells like?” the man she hunted gasped. Liz stiffened a bit, but remained silent. “Like acid. In your nose, your brain. It feels like jagged ice ... and smells like acid in your head.” His speech was more mutterings than sense. More ramble than real. He was quickly becoming delirious. “I think you need some air,” Liz calmly cooed, taking his hand and leading him to the front door as if they were doing nothing more than calling it a night. The confused and undiagnosed terror in his face was easily mistaken for drunken idiot. As they stepped outside, the man stared, practically paralyzed, into the headlights of his fate.

Final graph of the day: Liz was less than pleased. She fumbled for the knife she’d hidden within her costume and crept toward the two figures with purpose. Davin and George didn’t even notice her until she’d placed the blade of her 6-inch dagger insistently against Davin’s neck. “Imminent, you say? Like a cold dagger?” She pressed harder, and drew the cutting edge slowly across his meaty cheek. Her heart echoed more feverishly beneath her garment’s constraints as she made her demands known. A thin line of blood rose to fill the void. George’s terror only grew with his proximity to Liz and the reality unfolding before him. “I think there’s more you need to tell me," she instructed Davin as she kept the blade pressed against him. "Now."

NaNoWriMo: Day 6 (a work in progress)

This blog has been delayed due to elections, and last-minute school fundraisers. Sigh. I knew it had to happen. An interruption. But it's temporary. If I weren't recovering from that whole being sick thing, I'd write through the night. But I do have to work. So today will be a night off ... sort of, I'll be dreaming of the next plot attempts in an effort to incorporate promised and avoided violence. And I'm really liking the suggested "next line" from Day 5 ... I may try to incorporate and see if it's the "jolt" I needed. That, and I'm trying to read on the bus for inspiration.

So instead of an excerpt, you get my inspiration homework ...

What I'm reading: East of the Mountains by David Guterson
Recent writing playlist includes: The White Stripes, Nirvana, The Killers, Interpol, Green Day and Beck

I'm thinking that perhaps this is a better playlist than the pseudo-country songs (Neko Case/Dixie Chicks) when it comes to rampant fiction and entering into conflict plot lines ... hmmmm ... working so far. Except for the day off thing. But since I'm trying not to have a nervous breakdown by the end of this, I think I'll take one, and write a little extra the rest of the week. No more elections this week, as far as I know ...

Totally unofficial poll observation

I vote at the polls ... a happening that used to be just down the street, but now is over in the Proctor district. And this morning, what could be my last poll-voting morning, I forgot what today was. I blame it on being sick the last few days, but I jumped on the bus only to get to work and realize that I did not have a plan for getting to the polls. So I made one fast. I considered taking the bus there, voting, then jumping on the next bus home. I didn't think it would take long. And I'm glad I opted for taking the bus home, grabbing a car and zipping over to Proctor for my turn. Because, zip I did NOT go through the line. And I had a key kid-switch to do with the hubby before he headed off to post-election parties, and before the kids and I went to the school's great pizza takeover. (Takeover any restaurant equals hell for anyone over 10 ... and yes, I'm including you teachers, too, in being in that hell. You are all more brave then I, who ordered takeout and fled as soon as I could ... before the kids scrounged more quarters out of my purse. This is a stressful venture when the parent-kid ratio is even, but tonight ... it was 1 to 3. And I don't have multiple spouses.)

Anyhow, unofficial and totally who-cares observation of the night from yours truly:

Before 5, the majority of people who voted in the Proctor district seemed to hold last names with the letters M-Z, a letter that let my husband zip through with his A-L last name. After 5, guess what happened ... you got it! A-L all came to vote at once while the M-Z line was practically naked. But I made it through, commandeered my "magic pen" (they were a hot commodity tonight) and studied my ballot to make sure I remembered everything straight. (It was quite the ballot ...)

I'm wondering, will this be my last poll vote? Should I frame my "I voted" sticker?

Because, as crazy as it was in that line and in that room, it was fabulous.

NaNoWriMo: Day 5 outtakes

Today is going better. Something I really didn't expect. I was still sick and slept half the day, but this evening I started to feel a little more human and had made use of the day-sleep to dream up plot lines. And I was determined to battle my literary demons -- aka, conflict and anything that might seem the slightest bit risque.

So today I took a little leap toward action adventure with some definite sci-fi themes, and the rusty writing gears appearing to be easing up. I've already hit 8434 words (50,000 due by Nov. 20), and I think I can squeeze in more tonight.

Today, for the first time, I actually want to write more rather than dragging to push through the wall. I'm still wondering where some things are going, but I'm pushing out of my comfort zone, there's dialogue, conflict and action are amping up, and I'm getting stoked!

One problem: As I push through the comfort levels with the noveling, it gets a little harder to post something on the blog. Where others will actually read it. So the excerpts might become a bit shorter ... at least at first.

Thanks to everyone for the pep talks!

Day 5 excerpt:

“This basically is what your mission is all about,” he said, taking off the lid of the vial. “Smell.” He waved the small wand under Liz’s nose and she had to try not to flinch. But she smelled nothing.

“I don’t smell anything,” she said.

“And you shouldn’t,” Davin said curtly. “But don’t think that others won’t.”

NaNoWriMo: Day 4 outakes

Ok, things are flowing a bit better. Perhaps it's the Tylenol? Or the nap. No matter, I don't even want to count all the attempted starts this weekend. Or even just today. I didn't delete, but several things sputtered out and my ill brain could not continue. I really should have, as the first couple days I plowed through and was able to keep on topic for my day's allotment. And while there are bits of random right now, they just might all fit in together in the end, or at least some of them. But again, my personal NaNoWriMo experience is all about practice, practice, practice.

And today's breakthrough: Fiction. Nearly 1,000 words of pure fiction in this one burst, and I'm not quite done for the night. But confident I'll eke out a few more hundred words by the end of the night and at least be caught up. So tonight's excerpt, my first couple graphs of pure, raw, unadulturated fiction and I'm even using dialog in today's venture ... maybe I'm nearing the end of pure crap! (Maybe next week it will be only partial crap ...)

The only problem -- while I'm somewhat happy with the direction today's end-of-day blurb is going -- is that I have no idea where it's going next, unlike you NaNoWriMo folks who have outlines and character sketches and stuff. And I'm desperately trying to fight of urges to go tame. Trying to put in conflict, but must pick a direction. Here goes ...

Day 4 excerpt: Liz balanced cautiously on her bar stool, chewing at her newly blue fingernails. She wasn’t quite sure whether to sink in or sit up straight. The stool wasn’t comfortable, and too tall for her. She felt 5. But the bartended looked 15. He gave advice like a 50-year-old, but he looked 15. “Now see here, missy,” the bartender crooned as he slid up to where Liz was with the rum and coke she’d ordered. “You’ve been holding your breath for half an hour now, are you waiting for something? Someone?”

Liz bit her lip, and took the drink.