Friday, November 30, 2012

Kinuyo and the Kitsune


It had been three days since Kinuyo’s mother had gone out to buy some eggs from Mrs. Yamamoto, a friend from across the town.  She hadn’t returned.

Her mother left in the early evening.  Kinuyo chopped the green onions and heated the rice; she fried the fish and boiled the tea.  Then she waited until the tea grew cold and the sky became dark.  The late autumn wind sent a shiver through her thin shawl.  From somewhere deep in the streets, someone cried out, someone scampered like a rat over the road.  Leaves rustled.  A lone dog howled.

And still her mother didn’t returned.

The second day, Kinuyo swept the house and mended a tear in her mother’s slippers.  She bought soba from a small shop nearby for dinner.

“Maybe some trouble on the street kept her from coming home last night,” she told a scruffy orange dog sniffing the maple tree in front of their house.  “Perhaps there was a scuffle between the imperial troops an accused and a Shougitai spy.  I’d say a robber, but,” Kinuyo smiled briefly, “they don’t seem to be good at catching them.”

The dog gazed out into street.  It barked once, then went back to sniffing.

(Continue after the Break) 


A Brief Summary of November

So November passed, with good times and bad.

On the bright side, I completed my NaNoWriMo.  The brainstorming really helped me.  I ended up with 54,000 words, 4,000 words more than necessary.  Part of what kept me going was a bit of competition with other writers and seeing the chart on the page inch up with every few hundred words added.  Yes, there were also times when I got swept up into the story, when I needed nothing else but sheer inspiration.  For all the times I got stuck, I had word counts and graphs.

My aunt joined in the fun, though she wrote poems, and we had little adventures in inspiration.  We went to the arboritum, to the park, to Huntington Library.  We even went to Disneyland as a reward.  But I do have to admit, when I finished, I felt rather glum.  Yes, I had finished, but it was hard work, harder than I expected and I was sort of disappointed I'd only finished NaNoWriMo and not more.

Now, before you throw knives and pitchforks at me, I have this to say: I only worked twice this month as a substitute, meaning that for November, NaNoWriMo was my employment.  And 3 hours a day, 5 days a week seemed like too little work.  But that could also be my perfectionism talking.  Whenever I accomplish something, I end up with a teaspon of guilt.  Either I didn't do enough or I didn't work fast enough.  There's always something a little wrong.

 Like this blog.  I tried to write a few articles for it, but somehow, it didn't work out.  Maybe I just don't know what the point of this blog is or who is reading it or who will ever read it.  Nonfiction isn't my strength.  I don't do it well.  Why bother?

Sorry.  My writer moodiness is coming out.

I got a further three rejections this month, two on the same day.  This is discouraging news for me, but (possibly) good news for you.   I'm going to post one of my stories online for you to see.  Perhaps I'll get some comments on how to improve it for publication. One can hope and dream.