This will be one of those weeks that I look back upon in the future and say, "That was an important week for me as a writer."

I think any artist goes through seasons, or cycles, of possessing or using the energy he needs to effectively accomplish and promote his work. The great thing about working retail – other than the alcoholism, promiscuity and free clothing – was that it left my mind free to wander all day, and as a result I was able to write some pieces of which I was proud, at the time, and to journal effectively. While I do love my current job and would only leave it if offered a multimillion-dollar publishing contract with movie rights and a TV development deal – and a sandwich – it does have the unfortunate downside of leaving me occasionally sick of staring at a computer screen and unable to stomach composing words at the end of the day.

This year I’ve resolved to combat this ennui, this stagnation, because the fact is that for a year and a half I’ve had no writing professors to breathe down my neck, threatening me with an additional semester or year of expensive schooling should I not complete the work I’ve been given. This year my Überlist, my annual mission statement/to-do list for the year, contained fewer writing items than usual, but each is very ambitious and yet totally doable.

It’s been a big week.

I’m writing a novel. Actually, I’ve written three of them, and the one I’m writing now is a ground-up, from-word-one rewrite of the novel that earned me my graduate degree in Professional Writing, because while I liked the story and loved the characters, and while it was good enough for me to pass my thesis defense, I can’t look at it and say it’s the best work I’ve ever done. So, after giving it some time to breathe and rest, I started again from the beginning with the same basic concept and characters, and so far I’m much happier with the result, even though I discovered a semi-large-but-easily-fixable hole in the plot this afternoon while driving to lunch. This week alone I’ve written over 8,000 words. Two nights ago I sat down to work on the story and found myself in a sort of a fugue state. I was listening to Ennio Morricone’s soundtrack to The Mission while I worked, and the combination of the music and my own creative frenzy caused me to have what I can only describe as an ecstatic experience, wherein the scene I was writing was at least as real to me as what was going on around me at the time – my desk, the window, the keys, the world all sort of blurred together and when I emerged I had written what I consider to be my best chapter to date, of anything.

Also this week my friend J-Money and I set in motion a plan we’ve had for awhile to write something together. J’s one of my favorite people; we met in college, she cracks me up, and her website is at least five times better and funnier than this one. We have been repeatedly assuring one another that the concept we’re kicking around should easily secure us the fame, prestige and fortune we so deeply crave in a matter of weeks, at most. Seriously, I’m honored to get a chance to work with her because I think she’s going places in a big way and I want in on the ground floor. I’ve never collaborated with someone this closely on a project before, however, and have no idea what this kind of collaboration – especially between two people who live 1,150 miles apart – entails. It’ll be exciting to find out what we’re capable of when we put our brainsauce together.*

Last but not least, something I’m stoked about to what I think is an appropriate level – Okay City was nominated for an Okie Blog Award for Best Looking Blog.** To whomever nominated me, thank you; it’s an honor that you think Okay City is a great looking blog. I do too, and I’m proud of it, though at least 75% of the credit goes to my brilliant husband, Brian, who recently spent almost an entire Saturday tinkering with the look and feel of this website, making things happen as if by magic while I stood behind him and told him what to do. Anyway, I can’t vote for myself, but if you live in Oklahoma and have a blog, you can vote for me, and I hope you will. I also have to give a shout out to my fellow nominees and buddies Lucas, whose website Hypeful was nominated for Best Audio Blog, and David, who is up for Best Overall Blog with Last Exit to Babylon. There are a lot of fantastic Oklahoma blogs out there, so I hope you’ll take a look at the nominees, because they’re all great websites, and vote if you can.

*Just the conversation we had on Twitter, going back and forth with direct messages, is one of the funniest things I’ve written/read in a long time, so this project has a lot of potential.

**It needs to be said that the nomination is for Best Looking Blog, not Best Looking Blogger, because, well, Lucas would beat me stupid in that category.