LA Mill

Breakfast at LA Mill in Silver Lake today. I love this place. I went for the first time in December and it was my highly caffeinated state that day that inspired me to start blogging.

This is truly a coffee lover's dream -- you are given a menu along the lines of a wine menu in a high end restaurant and not only do you need to select the kind of coffee you want to drink but also the method that will be used to prepare it. The Ethiopian coffee has a creamy, blueberry taste that I've never experienced before. Bought two pounds -- one for home and one for a friend. And they have amazing baked goods, including a vanilla cream filled doughnut. I even like the bathroom, which has white marble and walls painted the color of Fortnum & Mason in London (another place where nothing bad could ever happen).

But maybe I'm just excited because I'm having such a good writing week. 2,500 words and a first draft of an essay yesterday and another 1,500 words so far today and finished with the first draft of a short story that's been underway for about two weeks.

Now I need to take a break and clear my head for whatever's next.

Purple People Unite

Well, I didn’t get much actual writing done this past week. But I did gather material in ways I didn’t imagine possible. Not only was I one of the two million people who traveled to Washington to attend the inauguration, but I was among the five thousand or so “purple people” who didn’t make it inside the security gates to the designated ticket area.

We got up at 4:45 a.m., were on the Metro by 5:30 and were at the end of the line at our designated entry point at 8:30. The line never really moved and at the moment of the inauguration we were outside the black metal gate listening to the oath on a cell phone. But we did feel the reverberations of the 21 gun salute (we were right in front of the guns) and we did observe first-hand the Marine helicopter whisking Bush away. And while I would have preferred to be inside the gates, I still feel like I was there – at least in eyeshot of the Capitol.

The entire four days we were there felt like a pilgrimage – suffering physical deprivation, cold, crowds, inconvenience – as a manifestation or expression of having faith and confidence in the American people. It was such fun to see so many people; all happy, all in a good mood, all enthusiastic. And I found some great souvenirs.

Notebooks and Paper

One of the beneficial side effects of writing a lot is having an excuse to buy lots of notebooks and paper. I have a big stack -- all patiently waiting in my closet. But I will get to all of them eventually.

Some of my favorites:

1. Soft-covered notebooks from Apica. They come in a variety of colors, from moss green to bright red. The paper is smooth and fountain pen friendly. They are a little hard to find. There is a seller on eBay who carries them and I have also bought them at Kinokuniya in Los Angeles and Seattle.

2. The new brightly colored thin notebooks from Moleskine I am currently using a hot pink one. The thinner size makes it easy to put in my purse. Also, the paper quality seems much better than that in the "normal" black Moleskines.

3. Marbled Venetian hard cover notebooks from La Ricerca. A bit expensive and of course you need to be in Venice to buy them.

4. Quad pads from Rhodia. These are available at tons of stores and online sources now.

A Week of a Thousand and One

This past week my "desks" were all predictable and close to home -- Peet's, Zinc, Pascal's Epicerie, home with the cat peering out the window next to me. But I followed the rule of "a thousand and one" -- writing a thousand words a day and exercising one hour a day -- five days a week. Maybe this week I can manage to do that and also go a little farther afield.

Resolutions

I have two writing related resolutions. I'm not much of a resolution maker but this year it seemed appropriate.

1. Read less. I'm a voracious reader. Last year I read about 150 books. I know that the direction to "read more" is a classic piece of advice given to aspiring writers. But I also know that I am keeping myself from getting to my own writing and other things that I would get the same or even greater pleasure from, like playing the piano or exercising or cooking. So I'd really like to read no more than 100 books this year.

2. No knitting before writing. I like to knit. I've knitted since I was a little girl. I've had periods of addictive knitting and years where I've packed all my yarn and needles away. I've been knitting again for the past few months and I need to balance things. So, I'm going to try to limit my knitting to days when I've already gotten some writing done. Let's hope this keeps any hand pain at bay too.