A very special week.

A NEW PRESIDENT-ELECT!

After three months of presidential campaign uncertainty, Barack Obama became our 44th President.

We woke up yesterday and YES, YES HE IS the President Elect. So slowly we are adjusting the conversations. Who will he choose to help him run the country? Now we can enjoy listening to the president again. It’s been a long time coming for me. I’ve gotten to tuning Bush out. It’s so good to care again.

We are off to the Inauguration in January. Pictures to follow…

I have share a great post from Becca’s describing Obama’s election moment in Grant Park. It’s what I wanted to write but she’s captured it. Enjoy!

Week One: NaNoWriMo

As for writing, my novel this month, I am up to date at this moment. We are coming to the end of the first week one and I have 9600 words and counting. I am luxuriating in the need for words, for details, so I’ve been slowing down to put meat on my characters. Two main characters: one I know well, based on me and one I once knew and she’s the challenge. Actually everything about this is a challenge, a stimulating challenge.

So far I’ve been working solo with some sharing here and with a few online buddies, but I’m thinking a face-to-face session being planned for Tuesday might be fun. It’ just great to be able to write this here on the computer. Some people still write with a pen and a yellow pen. Bravo, but the computer opened up my writing life. As a lefty, I had no writing stamina, but here, I can get my ideas down as I create them.

NWP off to San Antonio

As we move closer to San Antonio and the National Writing Project’s annual convention I am presenting two workshops with members of other sites. We have been meeting virtually using email, Google Docs, and conference calls and it’s been great.

I hope the workshop participants enjoy the presentations as much as we are enjoying the rich collaborations.

DOVER INSERVICE

And my Digital Storytelling workshop is going well. We have completed 4 of 6 sessions and the group of 4 is a true group! More important than learning the web tool, Photo Story 3, seems to be the rich conversation about the texts and their connection to the photos.

Do we need a new challenge? There’s Memoir Mondays,  Slice of Life Tuesdays, Boil Down Your Week for Sundays.

So why not?

I would love to begin something fresh, something that involves images and text. I have a new blog for that  but I’d love to share this passion with an online community.

I wonder, anyone out there reading this and interested?

How about PHOTO FRIDAYS, an image and some text????

Your are invited.

Here’s the link: http://www.flickr.com/groups/photofridays/

Bonnie

I am halfway through my morning routine. The Today Show is on as background music, I’m drinking a cup of coffee, and I have written into the morning on my word count journal.

I move to my bloglines and as usual Kevin has already posted something on his blog. I open it and there’s an entry about The Invention of Hugo Cabret, by Brian Selznick. a book he recommended to me last spring. He was passionate about it and I ordered a copy from Barnes and Noble.

When it arrived, I opened it and started turning the pages and it was truly a unique adventure but somehow, in my chaos at the time, I put it down and gradually, during a spring cleaning I  moved  it to its permanent residence on the middle shelf  in my book case and it’s been living there, untouched ever since.

Just 10 minutes ago, as I began to read Kevin’s post about Hugo Cabret, and its recent award I made my way to the HC website (click below) and found it as wild and imaginative as the book.  From there I discovered  an interview on NPR with Brian Selznick(click below).

As Brian talked about his book I ran to for my copy and as he read from the text,I read along.

It’s right here now and I’m back in it, and it’s all because of Kevin’s early morning post.

Here’s a good example of what would not be right for my new Kindle reader, that’s for sure.

Hugo netted the esteemed Caldecott Medal for 2008.

Hugo Cabret website

The NPR interview :

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=7114977

Thanks Kevin. Just another reason why I’m hooked on the web 2.0!

Bonnie