Slipsliding Away

...that would be time.
How did Friday arrive without a post between Tuesday and Thursday? I honestly feel as if I've lost three days. To "S."

slip
synecdoche
sycophant
snowplow
snow
sleep
slippery
stone
sophomoric
sensibility
sensible
sestina
socratic
sentry
seep
steep
steel
starling
star
... I wonder whether these lists accrue rhythm, or tone? Do they develop a cadence or rhyme scheme? Should they? Could that be a goal?
swelter
sweep
swoop
semolina
soar
sap
sage
sag
saga
saint
soul
separate
seventeen
sentence
sixteen
surreptitious
serpentine
sale
sales
salesman/salesmen
salsa
semifreddo
snowcone
sarcasm
sarcastic
sarcophogous
saracen
... another fantasy novel staple, and historical I believe.
staple
sartorial
splendor (and... "sartorial splendor")
sugar
sweets
somewhere
solace
solitude
sorrow
savor
.... 57 at first try. Thank you, "S." And I will attempt not to lose any of the weeks in March.

Relinquish, Regain

The "R" words feel full and rich and resonant, and yes I'll use all 4 of the above.
Eighteen letters into the alphabet and I feel, generally, reconnected to writing in a way I haven't in a long time. As if the simply act of putting down words each day, of asking my mind to think of language for myself rather than for the job, is opening up my mind once again. A character in the new project I'm working on is named "Reston," a name I came up with this weekend while musing on the letter "R."

relinquish
regain
resonate
resonant
...the aforementioned
rich
... followed by
repeat
repetitive
repetition
repeal
replete
replenish
recognize
recompense
restitution
real
roam
roan
roar
refinance (would that I could)
rest
reconstitue
renegade
register
relegate
rise (above?)
roil
reunite
rope
romp
reel
rein
reign
regress
royal
refute
reputation
roast
remnant
recoil
repute
rabies
rabid
rabbit
raffle
rakish
remote
....46... and that with a work interruption to throw me off my game..
reconnaisance
rennaisance
restoration
rappel
rim
rich
rife
riposte
rook
room
roost
rooster
ruminate
rhyme.

That will do for today. I'd rather find a comfy chair and work with Reston, but that will have to wait.

Sunday, 9:09 a.m., "Q"

and...
quaff
...makes 32!

For "Q," I feel alright with 32. Watch out tomorrow when I'm set loose on "R"!

Saturday at 3:47, "Q"

quazar
quagmire
queen
.... of all she surveys?

Saturday at 2, "Q"

quintuplets
quintessential
Quahog (home of the "Family Guy" family)
quail.

... and that's what a long run and mid-afternoon shower will do!

Friday night, 11:30, "Q"

quantify
qualify
quarantine
quantity
quantum
quiz
quicken
quoth (the raven, nevermore)

Q, part 1

quince
quick
quicklime
quickly
quixotic
quote
quotation
quotable
quid
...pro...
quo
quorum
quality
quiver
quaver
quay
quip
.... that'll do for now. When I imagined "Q" I thought I'd falter after just a few.
Off to work.

P

perennial
pontificate
poor
post
policy
pontiff
pest
pester
peel
pent
poke
pain
pail
pay
payment
(The) Payless (Shoe Source)
permanent
permafrost
peg
pirate
picnic
pinch
pony
pine
Pine-Sol
prevaricate
(going) postal
perineum
peekaboo
police
picture
picturesque
pit
pity
pillage
pill
pillory
pants (meaning underpants in Britain)
pansy (odd, that I go from "pants," and thoughts of Martin in London in '04, to "pansy")
periwinkle
peony
parlay
parsley
persimmon
pumice
puke (a word? a word.)
purse
pursestrings ... as in, tied to Mommy's...
...48! Drat! I thought today was my day.
portal
port
portage
pacifist
pacify
peace
....please?

That'll do, Pig, that'll do.

"O" what a bad Alex I've been

No blogging yesterday, and no excuse. I'll only say that my back went out Monday evening and I'm only just feeling human again. "Only" starts with "O." I'm also going great guns with the new story idea, which has me quite, if cautiously, hopeful. It's growing in shape, the names are solidifying, the arc may or may not be coming into form.

For today, however, "O":

only
oddly
ogle
opportunity
option
opine
opinion
oligarchy
olive
old
Osso Buco
oak
oar
order
oaf
oats (! ... as in "sow your wild...")
oafish
ore
original
originate
origin (being the source of the preceding words...)
obstruct
occlude
occupation
od...
.... and as I'm writing these words, thinking through my "O's", I have this sense of deja vu. So I pause, and I check the roster of posts, and lo (rhymes with "O"), I did "O" on Monday.

Today is supposed to be "P". I'm not sure I'm going to do "P" today. It might wait for Thursday, given the joy Nate and Juliet are offering me right now. Perhaps I'll make start the story's next sentence with a word that starts with "P"? Keep posted!

O

A holiday Monday, President's Day, and the coffee shop is buzzing. Matt's at the office, glum, and I'm having lunch later with the boys. Today's goal - get some traction on the new story idea.

But first, "O":

office

on

obliterate

obstruct

ode

only

oleander

Olympic/Olympics

old

olden

onerous

odor

odalisque

oboe

obey

oat

oaf

omit

overlay

omen

order

orders

oak/oaken/oaky

Oaxaca

Obama(!)

own

ownership

owl

ogre

offer

oft

often

option

opportunity

opine

ostentatious

occlude

optometry/optometrist

optimum

opportune

over

...41...

obituary

ominivore

omnivorous

occupy

offend

offensive

oily

ovulate/ovulation/ovum

oops!

and...

Oz

OK, I may have saved "Oz" for the last one. It felt appropriately hail mary for the final word.

Alphabet Shins

As a counterpoint to our running training and my alphabet prompts, Matt's new exercise to loosen his shins before runs: spell out the alphabet with pointed toes. We're now alphabeting each morning before our runs.

N

I accidentally skipped yesterday: a negative thing. And I'd been worried that "n" would be a negative experience: "no," "non," "negative," "not."

But this morning approaching the prompt, I'm hearing "nascent," "nave," and "navigate." Perhaps its the running training Matt and I have underway? The possibility of "new" pathways and potential?  Let's see.

nave

nascent

navigate

necessary

nonsense

none

no

not

negative

negate

negotiate

nab

name

natural

narcissism

narcotic

narcoleptic

native

nativity

(one) nation (under God)

nominal

nominate

nom de plume (for all the furtive writers out there...)

notion

notional

note

notation

night

nightly

nickle

noxious

neurotic

neurosis

neurosurgeon

...and where it all started, with:

nerves

ne'er do well

nuisance

nude

needle

needless

narrate

.... 41... I do hope I have a day where my first count is something outrageous like 62!

nap/naptime

Nefertiti

Nile

Nigerian

nevertheless

nature

nest

negligent

neck

necking

...51.  I wish I'd been timing these exercises as I've gone along.  Did "A" take nine minutes and "N" only five?  Was the endless "K" a two-day process?  What will happen to me when I'm forced to wrestle with "U" and "X, Y, and Z"?

Matt asked me last night what I'll do once I've lapped the alphabet, and I really have no idea.  Do I start over at "A" and confirm this as truly just a "wake up to words" exercise?  Or do I troll my writing books for new prompts and see what issues forth?

I'm truly hesitant to capital-W write in this venue.  It seems dangerous, footloose, unwieldy somehow.

M

My last name is MacLennan, my sister's name is Maree, the main character of my first novel is named Sam Metcalfe.

How hard can "M" be?

music

mustard

mate

mating

matrimony

marriage

misgivings

mainline

main

martyr

macaroni

mastiff

massive

more

mores (as in, said the "c," cultural codes of conduct)

mortify/mortified

malleable

maple

moor

mooring

moon

moose

most

mast

masticate

mental/mentally

metal

meat

merit

market

marketplace

measure

measurement

moan

marble

marbled

marketable

meerkat

monkey

major

manipulate

manifold

manicure

minutiae

minute

minotaur

mystery

maybe

.... 48 .... and it's only 8:25 in the morning.

morning(!)

mourning

mourn.

I think I'll stop with "mourn." The new project I'm working on requires me to put a character through a kind of mourning I absolutely do not want to imagine. Maybe "M" will help me find that place.

link

limn

limit

list

lift

lift-off

listen

lint

linkage

luster

low

lower (I wonder if I "glowered" for G?)

loan

lean

lien

leitmotif

legacy

Lincoln

logs

Lincoln logs

lips 

lip service

(I am the) Lorax (I speak for the trees)

lend

lent

left

leftie

languish

leverage

locate

location

locution

(Picasso at the ) lapin (agile)

labia

laboratory

labor

lable

lariat

lasso

linguistics

linguica (If you haven't tried it, do.)

language

late

later

latent

loam

lunge

lug

....48! ... a great first pass....

....luckily (I might add.)

logistics

logic

literature

LITERARY.

That'll do. Thank God.

I have this fun idea that once I manage "Z" I'll cycle back through, and require myself to make sentences and stories using some set number of words from each letter. I'm just happy I ended on literary.  Gives a thirsty man hope.

K is for Killjoy

Which is how I feel approaching this task.  "K."  K? I mean, I barely scraped up 40ish words for J. Now K?  Luckily I've got "L" to get me through Tuesday.

Killjoy

Krypton

kryptonite

kite

kitten

kill

killer

kick-off

kick-start

kiss

kissing

kissy-face

kiss-up

kit

(the whole) kit and caboodle

kild

kind

kindness

kindergarten

kindle (both Amazon-book noun and fiery action verb)

kippers (rations for the British during World War II?)

kicketyboots (as my Dad called them, a Scottish boy in the 1940s)

Kafka

kir royale

kebabs (a word that will make its way into my new writing project)

kinship

kin

king

kingly

Kunte Kinte (still universal enough? proud maasai warrior and all that?)

killing fields (the)

khartoush (?)

....  32.... I may actually survive "K" after all

.... kickass

kerning

kernel

kestrel

kingfisher

killim

... the last two past an hour-long dinner break (Jambalaya - I cooked) with Matt...

knit

knitting

knight

knightly

...41....

know

knowing

knowingly

known

ken (in that Beowulf, LOTR family way)

keen

keening

kale

.... come on, one more.....

ketchup!

And what a fitting end.

...38.....

Jeffersonian

"J" fell away

Yesterday, a day of madness. Not a moment at the office to steal away for  "J," a driving day so no Metro-provided downtime to journal (Journal! J!), and friends over for dinner who stayed straight through the night.

Today is "J" 2.0:

journal

journalism

jelly

jeopardize

jeopardy

jolly

jokester

... this is difficult, without the ability to check against yesterday's post...

jagged

jab 

jot

jig

jacaranda (!)

jaded

Jaffar (Aladin's nemesis in the Disney movie? The bad uncle lion in "The Lion King"?)

jaguar

jail

jacket

jam

jangle

jaunt

Japan

Japanese

.... can you see the effort here -- jac/jad/jaf/jail/ja(k)et/jam -- as I plod through the alphabet, step by step?

javeline 

jazz!

.... 25.... plus 11 from yesterday... 36...

jihad?

Joy

Funny. 

When I typed in the letter "J" for today's prompt, the word "Joy" autofilled. Kind of a nice omen, given how uncertain I am of my ability to generate 50 words that start with "J."  So I'm open to writing in fits and starts.  J:

Jump

juvenile

jonquil

junior

job

jag

jester

just

justice

June

junebug

...... I'm late for work, sincerely.  I'll follow through later with 39 more.

I believe

Another flip-flop day. Work early in the morning, a run late afternoon, the prompting not until now, just before bed.  And the only "i" word that garnered was "in," which marks a lame start. Let's see:

In

inveterate

indigent

indigo

impossible

impotent

if

ignorant

ignoble

insipid

insufficient

ion

internment

internet

interest

.... a flow, or a cop-out?

intravenous

interior

internal

isthmus

island

irate

Ireland

immaculate

inaccurate

ideal

idiomatic

idiot

illness

illiterate (and yes, I need to find somewhere to volunteer)

igloo

ingrained

ingrate

illegitimate (again with the forgetting how to spell!)

....only 33.  I'd though "I" would come more easily....

irradiate

ignoramus

icing (!)

ice cream

ice....

isolate

isotope

impish

imp

illicit

..43... writing at 10pm is difficult. Sleep is what I need.

inspiration

inspired (about time...)

illusion

ill-equipped

illegal

Icarus

icky

italics

italicize

Italy

Italian

Indian 

...cheating now, but past 50 so it's not so bad....

Iranian

immodest

immobile

...I believe that I am done. No writing on the new project today. Work took a heavier than average toll.

H is from the office

"Hello" friends.
This morning ran away from me. Matt and I slept in a bit and then had a good run at the gym. We're training for a race in March, and the schedule -- actually working out regularly -- has us both a bit off. So I'll "hit" my 50 word goal now, stealing freely:

Hello
had
hit
hardscrabble
heart
hard
hemorrage
heartsick
heartache
hearty
home
homeland
hellish
hedonistic
homeopathy
hefty
hapless
happenstance
happenings
hole
heady
heifer
hex
hemoglobin
he
him
Hera (wife of Zues)
Hephastus (god of flame?forge?fire? good words for "f" but not today)
hack
hawk
hope
hero
halfwit
haggis
horoscope
Horus ... is an Egyptian falcon god, and my apologies for the proper names, but I think these mythological entities are valid, given their potential inspirational and descriptive value...
healing
heal
herring
...let's count. 39. Not bad.
hale
hair
here
heresy
heretic
heap/heaping
heckle/heckler
hourglass
hour
honor
honorific
... that's fifty, but it feels ill-earned.

This story I'm beginning to work on has, I hope, legs, and this 50 words at a time feels insufficient. (Can I use "insufficient" tomorrow? Yes I can.) As if it's not proper "writing," but rather, as originally described, warm-ups. And yet, the warm up precedes not fiction, but an Editorial Board meeting. It describes not a pushing into imagination and hard work, but hard work with firm, important limits on the imagination.

I love my job, truly, but wonder sometimes how to balance the creative life and the structured creativity of my work life. Is writing the truest outlet to match a writing profession? Or should I take that drawing class I dream about, for a change?

G is for...

good

great

gosh

golly gee (willickers)

goodness

grand

graft

grate

growl

groove

grip

gripping

gigantic

gentle

germ

germane

German

Germany

Gormenghast 

(which I need to look up, since all it offers me is a vaguely German-Dickensian-mythological resonance)

gorgeous

gorge

gelatto

gelatin

germaphobe

garden

gardener

grey/gray

gargantuan

girl 

... something still in that simple word, "girl"...

gaping

gape

gap

gawp (which the blog software isn't recognizing. Am I stealing some poet's "gawp" or "yawp"?)

guess

game (for play)

game (to experience)

geese

gabble

grab

grade

....40 at first check... This is a hard letter for some reason. Though the words flood my brain during the day, and at night, I try to fend them off ("fend") to be true to this experiment. Would it be cheating if I were to keep a list of words throughout the day?  "Chaff" for example, as a word for last weeks "c" list. Will I be doing a "c" list again, and will I be "g"rasping for "c"haff?

garnet

gale

gay (yay!)

gone

gown

gargoyle

gannet

gift

grange

....Go forward young man, and write.

I did, in fact, begin a new project last night, one that fits the "write the thing you don't want to acknowledge" line of thinking. It scares me, but excites me as well.