#reverb10 Day 28 – Achieve
*Drags hand slowly down face*
I was sorely, sorely tempted to throw a line up here that said something like “for the answer to today’s #reverb10 prompt, please refer to days 2, 11, 13, 18, 20 and 21,” because (*resisting the strong urge to facepalm myself into oblivion) I feel like this topic is well-trodden ground.
In fact, this ground is so well trodden that it is now a crater or a valley. Scratch that, it’s the freakin’ Grand Canyon.
But fair play to Tara Sophia Mohr, the author of our #reverb10
prompt for today, she has delved deeper and asked us to do the same.
ACHIEVE:
What’s the thing you most want to achieve next year? How do you imagine you’ll feel when you get it? Free? Happy? Complete? Blissful? Write that feeling down. Then, brainstorm 10 things you can do, or 10 new thoughts you can think, in order to experience that feeling today.
For me, there is no one thing that I want need to achieve in 2011.
1. Finishing my book.
2. Finishing my course.
3. Dropping some essential lbs.
4. If not moving then traversing the treacherous desert that is the legal/immigration implications of moving to Canada.
These goals are all like identical quadruplets nestled toasty warm in their matching onesies and adorable bobble hats. Why? Because they all make feel exactly the same way when I think of achieving them: wild, almost irrational glee, bulbous, chest swelling pride, tingling not-sure-what-comes-next anticipation.
Today is a hard day to try and think of feeling any of those things. A small, petty but nonetheless painful argument with the Parental Unit and my impending departure down south tomorrow are weighing heavily on me and it’s all I can do not to burrow under the duvet in my childhood room and sleep until mid-2011.
Still…
1. Write this blog post.
2. Watch the letters appear one after the other as I scrawl them on napkins and in moleskines and on computer screens all in the name of that elusive “The End.”
3. Tuck into that delicious (and healthy) Nigerian delicacy; eba and ogbono soup.
4. Turn the heating in the house to full blast and settle between my mum and dad to watch The Blind Side.
5. Watch Big Bro drive off into the sunset in his shiny blue car and think “well damn, if that boy hasn’t done alright for his big-headed self.”
6. Pack my suitcase, bittersweet as it may be and realise that this Christmas was the best in years.
7. Crack the spine of my brand new copy of Water for Elephants and inhale that heavenly new book smell, feeling the pages brush against my fingertips.
8. Order my Kindle (which I have, thanks to Daddy Dearest’s Christmas gift) and relish the knowledge that I no longer have to feel guilty about buying books as I have no more room to place them.
9. Shove my feet into my slipper socks (the ones with the built-in toe warmer) and feel my tootsies turn cosy.
10. Hide the Bing Crosby Christmas Carol CD wayyyyyy in the back of the rack as it’s been playing almost non-stop for the last seven days and everyone (bar my wonderful mother) is on the verge of a homicidal rampage.
And, as a bonus, being one of reverb10′s recommended reverberations is pretty up there. Kind of makes me feel happy in ALL my special places 
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Stereo. 20-something aspiring bon vivant. London based. Exceptionally Nigerian. Partial to snark. My default setting is "wry". Jeans and blazers are my uniform. Landlady. Speed reader, tuneless singer, hoarder of words, drinker of Schloer; I am suspicious of most people, have zero tolerance for tomfoolery, have a vast DVD collection, worship at the altar of Al Green, own too many bottles of nail polish, have small eyes, small ears and giant hair and owe approximately 86% of my awesome to the Parents Typewriter.
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The Scintilla Project
Totally love you!
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I’m with you on this prompt and stumped (once again). I seem to have lost my MoJo. Oh well, I can just read yours everyday and know what this Reverb10 thing REALLY should be. You are one of my day’s highlights, and well deserved to be called out for the “best of the best” of Reverb10′ers. You are awesome, thank you. I cannot wait until you finish those novels. I’ll be first in line to get it and ask you to sign it for me!
Oh, and Water for Elephants, one of my tops in 2010!
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I love that you can start by voicing your reaction to the prompt and then move into such lightness and purpose. Good to see that you’ve had the best Christmas in years.
Now, I must go order Water for Elephants on my Kindle. So glad yours is on its way!
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I’m with you and Shannon on this one. I think I found my angle (not posted yet) but when I read this prompt last night I might have growled. Just a little one.
P.S. Water for Elephants … I thought it was exquisite.
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I really love your writing voice. You better finish that novel!
Water for Elephants is such a good book! I was just thinking about buying a copy for my mother the other day. And Kindles are wonderful.
All those items sound like the making for a really good day! Enjoy!
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Add me to the list of those eagerly awaiting your novel. Your writing is a joy & an inspiration. Thank you for sharing yourself with us! I, too, am stumped on the post, and have been making notes throughout the day. Once again, you’ve handled your response with grace, and I’m sorry that we’re not going to have the reverberations in the months to come.
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I felt the same way when I saw the prompt! But, I am here, raising my coffee cup to you and saying HERE IS TO A BRILLIANT AND PRODUCTIVE 2011! <> (our cups meet) We will rock this world with our radiance!
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There are times, especially after reading the new prompt that I think “Thanks Be that there are only XXX days left of this!” because of the tendency to lather, rinse and repeat the questions. And then I panic, because this has become such a part of my day and there are so many of you I’ve stumbled, bumbled and so forth across that I enjoy…
Your post is a stellar reason why that is.
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I want your toe socks with built in warmers. They sound like they have magical powers.
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1. Water for Elephants is a lovely read
2. If you write it, I will buy it.
3. Amen to your Grand Canyon analogy. Although, you consistently amaze me with your different takes. They always seem totally fresh. I’d never know that you struggled trying to say something different.
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same face drag. i almost said, forget this. but i didn’t, and it was okay. you didn’t, and it was wonderful.
Water for Elephants is a great book.
warm feet are a good thing.
and of course you are a reverb10 recommended reverberator. perfect.
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I’m sure you will find success in whatever you try. Go for it. Make yourself happy I’ll follow you wherever.
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You went for it and we are the luckier. You’ll go for your big four and we will continue to be blessed. Safe travels home.
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Thank you for coming out from under the duvet and writing. An inspiring list to read as I prepare to blog my own today. Can’t wait to see the things you will do in 2011 and read the words you will write!
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