Trying to find Renee Mees regarding Leffelaar

Renee posted a comment to one of the posts here. Another reader here, Jack, has the information Renee is looking for. Unfortunately Renee posted anonymously and did not give any way to contact. I don't know if Renee now has a different last name or if Mees is still her last name. Renee is from the Netherlands, that much I know.  I am posting this in hopes that Renee or someone who knows Renee will see this and provide an email address that I can pass on to Jack. Renee's and Jack's comments are in the comment area, below the post that Renee responded to in the first place.

I hope by posting this I can somehow unite Renee and Jack. Jack is an excellent researcher and has the information Renee is looking for.

"Writer with a Day Job: Inspiration & Exercises to Help You Craft a Writing Life Alongside Your Career" [by Aine Greaney

Realized as I wrote my post about Natalie Goldberg's book that I'd never actually posted anything about this one. "Writer with a Day Job" was a much slower read. I found myself putting it down to absorb the information and meditate on it. I did some of the exercises, I looked things up for further reading, and I took my time. There is a lot in this book and unlike Natalie's materials, I haven't really read Aine Greaney's stuff before so I was unfamiliar with her material. I am keeping both books handy for future reference as I go forward writing longer pieces. Since I am still new to novel writing Aine's book gave me a lot of good information and ideas. There were online resources to investigate which I liked. She talks about how long a novel should be (NaNoWriMo is only 50,000 words. An actual novel should be much longer).  Great examples of how writers with day jobs find time for writing, how they work it into their schedules, and what they are able to write about etc. Lots of good stuff in here.  I highly recommend it.

reading "Old Friend from Far Away" by Natalie Goldberg

Started reading “Old Friend From Far Away: The Practice of writing memoir” by Natalie Goldberg last night. I should have remembered that it would be a quick read with lots and lots of writing exercises. Practically every page is an exercise. Of course I wasn’t doing the exercises as I went. I was sitting just outside the door of my daughter’s art class. It was her first class and she was nervous- new place, new teacher, new classmate.. yup, just one classmate so far. Anyway I was able to read 70-80 pages during the hour or so that I was there. It is a very different read than the other book I just read (about how to write a novel). Since I have read other books by Natalie Goldberg, and also taken a couple of classes where her materials were used by the teacher I feel like I know a lot of what is in the book already. It’s a little disappointing. It’s good stuff, and it’s good to have it in one place, but I’m not getting anything earth-shattering out of it so far. Nothing is jumping out at me that makes me scream “OH! That’s it!!” It’s kind of like “yeah, I know that already...” but maybe when I read the book again more slowly and take the time to do the exercises some good will come from it. I did actually buy this book so I can go back and re-read it whenever I am ready.

A poem- "Drive to work" by yours truly

Driving through the darkness of the early morning
Daylight hasn’t quite reached the horizon of the empty beach
White sand stands alone and I do not pause
I watch the fog rise from the water to the hills above as I drive by
at the top of the hill I turn right.
I put the burning red sun in my rearview mirror and leave it behind me
the bright red sun climbs the hill as I go down the other side
headlights approach in front but it does not matter
more come up behind me fast and I wonder
“will they pass me on the straight-away?”
something small and quick darts across the road
just barely missing my tires
I do not hear or feel a thud and I think it made it safely
whatever it was I am not sure
it was that quick, only a blur at the bottom of windshield
at the bottom of the hill I can see now
the white pickup truck with cab on back has chosen
not to pass me but to follow me into town
I turn and descend another hill, even further from the sun
When I finally stop and turn off the engine
the fog and the red sky have disappeared
it is just another quiet, cool Monday morning
in September.

September 24, 2012... Rebecca Addison

Politics- Obama, Libertarians, recap

Wrote this one after the presidential election in 2008. I'll be voting Libertarian again this year too, again in hopes that some day we can get a 3rd party candidate that will get enough votes to win. I feel like the Libertarians are a stronger party than the Green-Rainbow party in terms of support. Maybe some day we'll even have 4 valid parties or more, but let's start by getting the Libertarians up there at least. Think I pegged Obama about right... "don't have high hopes that he will be able to work miracles..." Yup.

 http://storiesfromclessonville.blogspot.com/2008/11/politics-one-more-time.html?spref=fb

So Gary Johnson for President! Let's send a message that Obama and Romney are both wrong for this country.

Umass demolition, construction, and sunrise photos Thursday Sept 13, 2012

This morning's deconstruction pictures at sunrise...

The usual sea of yellow, going into work at the construction site for the new dorms, They are typically dressed in yello, carrying a hardhat and a lunchbox, and maybe a container of water. The few women that I have seen generally have a purse or a briefcase or both. Mostly it's men though.--

And then here's a couple of pictures that I just thought were pretty....

Multi-tasking, multi-tasking

As I drove into work this morning I thought about how crazy I am making myself right now. On my commute I was taking pictures for two of my blogs, plus reviewing in my head some of what I had been reading in "Writer with a Day Job". Suddenly I realized that I was also writing my novel while I was doing these things, and driving, and thinking about what my work day was going to be like and and and and and.....

Let's break this down:

1. I'm working my job
2. I'm a mother to my kid, and will spend time with her after work
3. I'm a wife, and will see my husband at lunchtime hopefully & later when he gets out of work
4. I'm writing and taking photos (and posting them for this blog)- Umass Construction/Deconstruction, writing, family, and politics are some of the topics. I've been quiet on the politics but it's coming soon. November is approaching after all!
5. I'm taking photos for my "View From Lake Wyola" blog
6. I'm working on my Al-Anon blog which isn't getting as much attention, and trying to keep my sanity. I have some stuff going on at my daughter's school that I really need to be applying some 12-step stuff too. I just haven't figured out how to fit it all together yet.
7. I'm blogging at SparkPeople
8. I'm keeping a "writer's journal" for myself where I make notes about the writing I have in process
9. I'm posting on Facebook of course, and occasionally I find things that I know will interest my friends (like the 2 Eric Church trucks I saw yesterday)
10. I'm keeping up with Twitter sporadically
11. I'm actually writing my novel, and other pieces of writing as they come to me.
12. I'm reading the "Writer with a Day Job" book, and I have another writer-related book ready to read.
13. I have research to do regarding my novel that needs to get done.
14. Of course friends, family, activities, and life
15. Trying to exercise and lose weight and stay healthy.


Now why is it that I thought of #15 last? Shouldn't that have been closer to the top. Small wonder I overate yesterday.

And yes, I'm going to cheat here and repost this blog in at least one other place, maybe 2.

random picture from Umass

Took this photo yesterday on the path that goes from the band building down toward the Mullins Center... not really sure where to put it.

Demolition continues

Brick by brick they seem to be bringing the last stack down... these are from yesterday

This morning I saw this-- note the left side is chipped off: 

construction continues and so does demolition

Not sure how well these are this morning, but over the weekend Campus Center Way was scheduled to be closed on Saturday so that the construction workers would have more room to do their thing. I was curious what I would see this morning on my way in.

This young lady was on her way into work when I was. She was headed toward the construction zone for the new dorms though. Note the hard hat she's carrying on her left.

More Umass Construction/Destructions pictures, Sept 5 2012

Here is a few I got this morning. Yesterday was better though..

UMass Construction Updates, Sept. 4 2012

The students came back over Labor Day weekend and some of them were a bit surprised at all that was going on by the Physical Plant. It was a pretty good show when I came out of work yesterday afternoon. Unfortunately the battery on my camera was dying again so I only got a few pictures. Took a few more this morning though. Very cool to see the progress of this all coming down. So here is from yesterday afternoon: