… who knew?

So I was sitting here trying to decide what I did today that made me happy. After all that is the premise of the whole blog.

The project. For no reason other than it makes me happy. Doing something. So what did I do today that would fit the bill?

Was it the fact that I slept in this morning after being up for a few hours in the middle of the night? Or that I just took a nap?

Or that I skipped a dinner get-together that I really didn’t want to go to? Or that I skipped another meeting that I really didn’t want to go to?

Or would it be that I went out and bought window treatments for the bedroom which is nearing completion … and yes, pictures and details will follow when it is done. Hint: Its beautiful.

Or would it be that I helped a friend clean a room this morning that was arguably the dirtiest one I have ever seen. And I lived with a hoarder, so we are saying something here. In defense of the friend, it was a room which had, until recently, been occupied by a renter … and he obviously did not believe in cleaning … anything … ever.

But while debating on what to write, I went out to my Facebook account and read a post by nanowrimo.org. That is the group who got me started initially in writing with their yearly project last November.

And I realized how very much writing has meant to me for the past many months. How much joy it gives me every day. How happy it truly makes me.

Almost like I was a real writer.

I wondered if I might ever write something that could be published. And I read what they wrote today. And laughed out loud.

We love Kurt Vonnegut’s description of the two types of writers. “Swoopers write a story quickly, higgledy-piggledy, crinkum-crankum, any which way. Then they go over it again painstakingly, fixing everything that is just plain awful or doesn’t work. Bashers go one sentence at a time, getting it exactly right before they go on to the next one. When they’re done they’re done.”

Crinkum-crankum? Seriously? Those are words?

But then I had never even heard of the names Strunk & White until the other day. And no, I have not felt the overwhelming need to pick up / download / commit to memory their Elements of Style since then.

I continued to read.

About nine Brooklyn writers and how they write.

And everyone knows that if you write in Brooklyn you must be a real writer, right? And the question was asked … “Are you a basher or a swooper? And do you write standing up?”

Now I haven’t read the entire article yet … but I am making the rash assumption that one of the real writers does indeed write standing up. I am not sure what that does specifically to aid the writing process, but then I am open to suggestions.

Up to a point.

So in answer to their question of the day …

Definitely a Swooper … Sitting …

Consider yourself Swooped.