A Day in the Life + Monthly Review [November + December 2011, Mexico]

This is my life in Mexico.

I've been here a month and a half. I'm here on an open ticket. I have no plans of going anywhere else. I love it here. 

I'm going to tell you about my life right now. First, I will tell you about being 11. Then I'll tell you about some of the work I did the past month. Then I'll tell you about a day in the life, by the hour. Though there are really no clocks in my life right now.

If you'd like daily updates, subscribe here. I will not spam you. The blog is now reserved for longer pieces, more broad, overview type things. The site itself continues to evolve.

This is where I do the work. I spend a few hours here each day, seven days a week.

I've gotten questions about what it is I mean when I say "do the work."

If you're unsure, read this post, and this book.

This year on the first day of November I wrote

It is November. Though you wouldn't know it for the heat, humidity, insects chirping and fan churning. Ate at a restaurant with no name. The owner's daughter is 11. Industrious and taking orders like a pro. Like a champ. I remember 11.

I remember 11. I don't care what anyone says.

You never forget the month or the day or the year. Or the moment you knew. I know the hour and minute of her death. I know the year.

I know who I was then, and how I felt.

It was the last day of November, perfectly poised to ruin November and December for me for life.

I remember 11 because I went into overdrive.

I wanted to live live live live live live.

And I did and I have but now

I'm living a little slower.

*

Mexico

The End of 2011

This November I decided to stop publishing to the blog. (The exception is pieces like this - overview, this happened type pieces.)

After nearly a year of writing directly to inboxes in the form of a letter a few times a week to paid subscribers I decided. This is how I wanted to write. To inboxes, not to the public web. For me, a big shift.

This only to inboxes, no longer blogging thing is still new to me, but so far I've noticed two things, both surprises to me.

1. my work is reaching more people, in what seems to me to be a more intimate way. It's hard to put my finger on how, or why, but it is
2. two, because I know more about those reading, I feel safer and happier going into deeper work when I'm publishing to inboxes instead of to the public

This is some of the internal work I did in November

In November I started listing my ideal outcomes.

In November I drew a comic of what happened in some of my relationships this year. It's not a funny comic. 

I said, Reverbers - it's your turn. I sent out an email to the list saying that, on November 29. That wasn't an easy decision, but I felt relief. Reverb 11 is...here, you can feel the reverberations yourself.

I sat with some of the difficult choices I've made to date to be able to have the freedom I do.

Thing I practiced most: The Bored Face (instead of feigning enthusiasm, actually showing my boredom)

This is some of the public-serving work I did in November

In November I gave the letter a focus: Impermanent Address. (In December it's Financial Ease.)

In November I launched the Experience Telling template. It brought in just over $3k. (We're discussing finances and writing here.)

November was the last month of the three month Align Your Website we started in August. (There's interest in another round. You'll want to be subscribed for details.)

In November, along with Language Dept., I assessed the present on this site. The case study is now complete though the work continues to evolve.

Here's a Day in the Life in December 2011

7ish wake to the sound of waves crashing, roosters calling. I sometimes feel slightly seasick. Weird.

8ish make way to breakfast, usually by 9. There's coffee in the public gathering place. I start there. Also, there are usually banana and cranberry muffins, warm and ready for pairing with coffee.

9ish strategy session and plan the day's writing

10ish open laptop, divide time between inbox, Google+, Wufoo and MailChimp

12ish lunch - burrito, tacos, sushi, smoothie and or anything else that can be eaten with minimal effort. I wish I didn't have to eat. It's so time-consuming and gets in the way of the work, but I know I have to eat.

1-3 siesta, or shower. Or personal care like clipping nails or shaving legs or swinging in a hammock listening to the sound of palm fronds clack together.

Also, maybe a latte by the beach.

3-4 write, longer form in Scrivener. No internet.

5-6ish hunger kicking in. Have to eat again. Find tacos, usually by this time street taco stands are open and roasted vegetables are best paired with the sea salt, which is on the table, in an upturned shell

[The shoes and bag up there are mine. I bought them here, but now I barely carry a bag anymore. And I've started walking around without shoes on, too. I got my tetanus last-second in the States, so I'm good!]

7ish more writing

8ish done. So tired I want to do yoga, burn kopal and chill out. Instead, I usually write some more (yes, I push myself most days). This is about the time mariachi music gets cranked somewhere. It's probably my number one biggest annoyance here. So, I deal. 

9ish-11ish either ignore the mariachi and fall asleep, or silently lay there cursing the day mariachi was born

*

The last few pages of my notebook are covered in four year old drawings. She drew sunflowers, a pretty avant garde looking bee, and a car.

That's how I ended the November notebook.

I feel happy in Mexico.

Gwen