Structure

Hi everyone,
I started this entry perched on the top level of a Megabus returning to New York from Philadelphia, where I spent less than 24 hours this weekend (a good whirlwind trip). For those of you who aren't familiar with their $12 fares and unpredictable routes, Megabus is a cheap, mostly reliable way to travel between cities in the Northeast. My favorite feature, other than the free wi-fi, is the double decker buses. So, I sat up there, and started to write this, before I fell asleep and almost dropped my iPad.
So, as I mentioned before, I've been reading The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin, which my mother recommended to me. It's written by a woman who lives in New York with her husband and two young daughters, who, though her life is comfortable and relatively charmed, decided to spend a year trying to become happier through truths and resolutions she set for herself at the beginning. What sets this apart from Eat, Pray, Love and other, more superficial entries in the genre is the fact that Gretchen goes about her year in a smart, organized, and academically informed way. A former clerk for Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, she feels comfortable with lots of lists, research, and rational pursuits, and that really hit home for me - especially with all the resolutions I've made for myself in the past month.
I finished the book on Saturday, while my friend got her hair cut at a Philadelphia salon, and reading 200 pages of it in one sitting made things all the more clear. If I wanted to be successful in the goals I've set for myself, I need to set some guidelines and introduce real structure. Keeping the resolutions vaguely in mind throughout the days and weeks works for some people, but I'm someone who responds really well to boundaries. I was so busy being pleased with myself for making the resolutions in the first place that I didn't realize I was swimming in some ambiguity as far as how the hell I was going to get this stuff done. So, for some of the bigger and more isolated resolutions I've made, I'm going to attempt to devote one month to each of them, as Gretchen does in the book.
So, in February, which conveniently starts tomorrow, I am going to attempt something kind of huge and crazy. I'm going to write a novel. In one month. Typically, November is National Novel Writing Month, where people write a novel (about 50,000 words - the length of The Great Gatsby or The Catcher in the Rye) in one month - about 750 words, or 7 pages, each day. It's supposed to be a high velocity, low stress approach - not a ton of editing, just lots of writing each day for a month. One of my resolutions is to write every day, which this will certainly help me do, but the thought of finishing something this big (even if it's totally horrible) would be such a great way to knock that one out of the park. So, we'll see how I do!
As a fringe benefit, I'm trying to save lots of money for my Paris trip, so hopefully this new undertaking will keep me in the apartment working, instead of out doing the fun and expensive stuff.
More updates soon!