Aiona Byuwek

I adore Ishmael. He really knows me. He saw a sign about Mother’s Day, and talked about what he was going to get his mom. He told me he used to always give her mums because he got them from working at the auditorium during Commencement for the University. I asked, “Did she know they were free?” “Yeah,” he said. “But I still had to drive 30 miles up to Minonk to give them to her. And we *worked* for those mums. They were given to us because people appreciated what we did.”

Anyway, I reminded him, “You *know* not to give me flowers, right?” He said, “I wouldn’t dream of it.”

It’s always around these holidays that I feel I have to remind him that I do not appreciate someone sending me dying vegetation. Unless it’s something I can eat, of course. I also don’t really care for colorless rocks whose only good use is for cutting metal or as the head of a phonograph record player. I feel as if I’m in competition with all those marketers who keep trying to brainwash my husband into thinking I want those useless things. And, of course, it’s that time of year, when he reminds me that he knows me better than highly paid marketers.

He knows that what I really want is this:



A 10″ Ryobi Portable Table Saw!!!!!!!!!!!

He knows me so well.

So the prevailing winds in the Gulf of Aden are *not* from the northwest. Totally makes sense if you think about your anabatic winds. Argh!! Gotta change that chapter.

Average wind speeds over Arabian Gulf

5.39 m/s = 0.00334918969 miles/0.000277777777777778 hour = 12.057082884 miles/hour
7.35 m/s = 0.00456707685 miles/0.000277777777777778 hour = 16.44147666 miles/hour

1 meter = 3.28084 feet
1 meter = 0.000621371 miles

60 seconds = minute
60 minutes = hour
3600 seconds = hour

See what I do for you, my readers? By golly, you better appreciate it!

Husband and I were talking yesterday about how he wants to get his pilot’s license when we move to another state, but that it might be difficult with his health history. I said, “Can’t we move to a different country? Like Bessie Coleman did.” If you didn’t know, Bessie Coleman was a black woman who really wanted to learn to fly. We’re talking like early 1900′s. Kinda around WWI. And something about how they wouldn’t let her enroll because she was a woman. And she was black. So she went to France, and got her training there.

Where there’s a will there’s a way.

Husband said, “Well, no, we can’t move, because right now, America *is* the easiest place to get one’s pilot license, and I mean a real pilot’s license, not learning in some dilapidated Russian flight…” something-something, I stopped listening at that point.

When I was in graduate school, I got a chance to go to a regatta close to St. Louis. It was there, I met Sara Bean. I swear, she’d probably hit me if she knew I was posting about her. Sara is just the most awesome sailor I’ve ever met. I am not lying. And I am not exaggerating. She raced a 420 at that regatta, and I don’t even know what place they came in, but she’s still awesome. You wanna know why? Cuz she’s a girl.

Yeah, and I know, people would say, “That’s sexist. Why is she all that, just ’cause she’s a girl? And she’s not a ‘girl,’ she’s a woman.”

Whatever. If you are female, and you sail, you *KNOW* what I’m talking about. The constant referrals to you as “a good first mate” when it’s *YOUR* damn boat. The ads that say, “Wanted: Captain and wife to transport boat.” The losing of spots as crew on a boat because a skipper’s married and “your ad didn’t really specify that you were female.”

It stings a little. But, awwell! Bessie Coleman didn’t let things get her down. She just went about finding a way to do what she wanted to do. And that’s what I continue to do. Sara did it too. That’s why I admired her.


“I’m Just a Girl” by No Doubt

Broke out the brush pen today. Augh! Calligraphy is so much harder than it looks! But practice makes perfect. Or at least less oogly.

Kuretake No. 50 brush pen, working on the kanji

I get really wordy sometimes. Maybe that’s part of my ADHD. Oh, I need to stop making excuses. Probably the best way to get around my internal editor when writing is to remember that it’s okay to “suck” when one is starting something new. I’m always starting new things. So I suck at a lot of things. But, allowing myself to suck is how I finally finished my first draft — the one that was sitting on my hard drive since 2005. (It’s also how I finally passed my board exam, but I digress again.)

It’s Friday! For all those people who want to try something new, and are afraid they suck at it… Lemme be honest about it. You do! And it’s okay. I recommend watching this video (unless you are a total YouTube addict, in which case I recommend that you go read a book instead) to prepare to suck this weekend:

Maureen Johnson’s “Dare to Suck” video from the vlogbrothers

It was my Uncle Danny who asked me the question at the dinner table. I was home on Xmas break from my first year at college (or uni, or whatever you wanna call it) where I was majoring in chemistry, and he asked, “So do you know how to make glass now?” I had finished General Chemistry and was starting on Phys. Chem. and O. Chem. at that point, but I had to answer him honestly.

My Uncle Danny and Auntie Elsie
(You’d never guess he used to be a priest, huh?
But it’s easy to see why he left the priesthood.)

“No, they haven’t taught us that.” “Yet,” I added. Because surely at such a renown university and with such a ubiquitous material as glass, they would get around to it eventually. Continue reading →

So I was eating lunch with my husband, and I got this email that a friend had finally finished formatting a book. And I showed the cover to my husband. And he goes, “The biggest problem is the title.” I was like, “Huh? Why?” And he says, “That’s not a real word. It’s some kind of compound word.” I said, “It is a word! You should know. You’re in law!” The word is manumission, by the way.

And we got into a big discussion about titles, and how a good title is a difficult thing. He said that titles should give the reader some idea of what the story is about. I said, “That’s what the story *is* about! Manumission!” Like “Jaws” for example. If it were named for what it is about, it could have been called “Mastication,” which is also a real word. But anyway, yeah, it really made me think about how to choose a good title.

What processes do you all go through?

Manumission by Matthew E. Lewis
(who is *not* the actor that plays Neville Longbottom)

So I was doing my CME to maintain my state medical license, and I come across a question that starts like this:

“You are called to the emergency room at 11 PM on New Year’s Eve…”

I sat on that question for probably 20 minutes as flashbacks flew through my head. Maybe it’s because I have ADHD. Personally, I think it’s more PTSD. Or maybe this happens to everyone. I don’t think so, because not everyone has to take the board exam 4 times.

Starting a question in that manner is like setting off a string of BlackCats next to a Vietnam Vet who is about to undergo psychological testing. I’m sure every physician can remember being called at 11 PM (except dermatologists, but even they probably were called to the ER at 11 PM during the medical school clinical rotations, which I can *guarantee* is why they went into dermatology. Don’t get me wrong. I respect dermatologists. Anyone who can discern between the 7 types of melanoma has my respect. Or is it 8?), and *everyone* has a story about their 11 PM calls. I suspect people who write questions like these are those who have repeated their stories to others (medical students, residents, colleagues, relatives, friends, strangers on the street, etc.) so many times that they are running out of outlets to tell their stories. Hence, they write exam questions.

I know one signs (or clicks on a box to) an agreement not to talk about board questions (because even CME questions are prior board questions) outside of the exam or the copyrighted CME, but dis-board me if you wanna (I’m not certified yet, even though I passed.). It’s still a shitty way to start a board question.

Anyway, distractions are what caused me to have so much trouble with finishing my current manuscript. It was sitting on my hard drive since about 2005 or so. Of course, I was going through residency at the time, so I had good reason to be distracted, but even so, I have found it really helps me to simply get “unplugged.”

Here are a couple of things that help me get “unplugged” (and some things I am considering spending money on to get “unplugged”):

1. PRINT IT OUT
Back in December of 2011, when I was editing for a friend, I came across a neat article called “On the Death of Foul Matter” by Stephen White. It used to have some really neat pictures of his foul matter, but I think he has since taken them down. No matter! Below, I post a picture of mine from my most recent first revision:

I was really struggling towards the end of December with switching gears from writing to revising. It really is a whole different ball-game. But, then I read Holly Lisle’s One Pass Manuscript Revision guide, and in it, she recommends first just PRINTING IT OUT. On paper. Hard copy.

And that was the ticket. No distractions from the internet. Just your book and you, in all its ugly unedited glory. There was something very satisfying (and painful) about crossing out whole sections, or writing in the margins. Or circling. Or drawing little arrows. I got my first revision done in 2 weeks. It’s still a piece of crap, but it got done.

2. HAND WRITE
One of the rules of Fast Draft is there are no excuses. Your house is burning down, your toddler just swallowed a button battery, your dog is dying. You still find time to write. Some variation of all three of those happened during the course of my Fast Draft workshop experience. And I still managed to write. How? This.

I bought myself a notebook. Mostly, I bought it because my parents were visiting and were using my computer to post funny things to their friends on Facebook, but I also found that it really helped keep me from web-surfing or trying to do too much research *while* writing.

The picture on the front always gets me pumped up too! Kittens and puppies just don’t do it for me.

3. TYPE
I contemplated buying an AlphaSmart Neo. It’s a typewriter, basically. I do have a very old mechanical typewriter, which I did use to write about a decade ago. It broke. And no one knows how to fix it. But, if I ever come into a good spot of money, I may purchase an AlphaSmart Neo or Dana. The nice thing about these “typewriters” is that they are able to serve as a keying memory device. So, later, when you have time, you can let the Neo (or Dana) type in your data for you, and hence, save it as a Word file, or any other kind of document you want.

Anyway, those are some things that help keep me from being distracted when trying to write. Now if only I could find something to help with distractions when I do my CME!

Hmm. So supposedly today was the end of the world. I missed it. Just like I missed our anniversary again this year. Seriously, my husband was changing the older tyke’s diaper yesterday morning, and he goes, “Hey! Happy Anniversary!” Our anniversary was on the 15th. We both forgot. We forgot last year too! And this year was our 10th anniversary even! But I don’t mind, because every day is pretty darn special with him, in both good and bad ways.

So anyway, both husband and I have ADHD. He counters his with cigarettes, more recently e-cigarettes. I have always countered mine with music. It worked for a good 40 years, but more recently, having to take my board exam for the fourth fricken time, I finally succumbed and took Wellbutrin (as being pregnant, I could not take stimulants, and the alternative being a tricyclic that a good friend overdosed on, I really wanted to avoid), and passed. But I stopped it after October 18th. Note there are no web log entries after September. So I am back on it, mostly because I’m struggling with my CME.

Even though today the world didn’t end for most, my own personal world is changing a lot. Just as people have to readjust their lives after a tornado, or an earthquake, or a death of a loved one, I find I am having to readjust my priorities for 2013.

I like to list my goals every so often, so I can check back with myself and see where I am. Sometimes it’s nice to make your goals known to others because there is power in accountability, and sharing goals with others becomes sort of a community prayer.

1. Finish editing the draft of my first completed novel. That includes content, line, and copy editing. I really plan to self-publish. So learning to edit .epubs is part of this process. Whoever said self-publishers are “lazy” has no clue! Seriously. It’s not like I can delegate these jobs to someone else. I have become the manager, cashier, fry-girl, and grillmaster of a McDonald’s madhouse. (I used to work at a McDonald’s.)

2. Build a goose. Yeah. A goose. A goose is a modified PDR (PuddleDuckRacer) — the boxcar racer of the sailboat world, developed by Shorty Pen. Do you want to build one too? Here are the plans: http://www.duckworksmagazine.com/10/projects/goose/index.htm

3. Spend more time with family. This goal will involve moving 2000 miles. Whee!

Anyway, since this is supposed to be a web log to hopefully help other writers (and maybe those with ADHD), here are some things that have helped me so far, especially in finishing my first draft:

1. Snowflake Method — This method is so suited for me, because it allows one to skip around. Not writing linearly is the only way I was able to finish this darn thing. It is actually very similar to Holly Lisle’s free course on How to Create a Professional Plot Outline which I also read back in February 2012 when I started writing in earnest.

2. Write or Die App — I saw this a looooong time ago, and thought it was too drastic a measure. But it actually works for me! It’s like a video game, and I can totally get lost in a video game. Why? Because there’s a little counter at the bottom that counts up as you write! And it’s kinda like a score on a pinball machine. One just keeps wanting to write just to see that stupid number go up, and before long you actually have like 700 words on the page, and you look up and WHOA! Did I just write that? And you’d think, “Well, hell, Aiona! You were just blathering for the sake of word count!” But, lo and behold, the magic of Write or Die. It forces you to turn off your internal editor. Really. It works. Try it. I use the “Gentle setting,” because it freaks me out that it might completely erase my work.

3. Fast Draft (Write a Book in Two Weeks) — It was November, and I was struggling with trying to finish my draft. I had 28,000 words down, which took me 9 months! I wasn’t going to meet my goal of finishing my draft by the end of 2012. So, in some kind of weird serendipity, I heard about Candace Havens’ Fast Draft class. And fortuitously, her last class of the year was starting *THAT DAY*. So I signed up for it. This workshop is one of the few things I’ve spent money on so far, in my attempt to publish this work (aside from my tablet and Dropbox, which was initially free anyway), and it was well worth it to me. It taught me a little bit about where my writing comes from. Y’know how Dumbo has that little black feather that someone gives him to fly? Candace Havens’ class was the little black feather. I recommend it.

I am *REALLY* missing sailing right now. If you live in Chicago, the Strictly Sail 2013 is coming up. And it is wonderful for people who are having winter-time sailing blues.

Down here in Texas, though, people are gearing up for the Texas 200. Part of why I’m planning to build a goose is to possibly do that in June.

Here’s some sailboat music for those who miss the sound:

Ah, heck. That just made me miss it more! Carpe Ventum, people! I’m out to finish my revising.