I contributed to this month's Samhellion, the Samhain newsletter. You can read my piece on the topic of "what I did over the summer" here:

http://www.thesamhellion.com/2008/september/

It's about the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, which I've made an annual summer tradition.

for the love of lists

I am a list maker.

I can't help it. It's just who I am. To-do lists, lists of books I've read and movies I've seen, lists of places I want to go... When I decorated my house, I painted a wall in my writing area with chalkboard paint. What do you think I write there? Lists.

So I like to play around on 43 Things and the List of Bests.

I have two big life goals that are centered around lists. One is to see all of Shakespeare's plays performed onstage. I'm about one-third done with that. The other is to visit all 50 states. I've been closing in on that one for years. Only 10 left!

And then there's movies. I love the classics and I'm addicted to Netflix. My first movie goal was one I set for myself when I was about 8 years old -- to see every movie ever referenced by TV private eye Remington Steele. I made a list when the show came out on DVD of the movies I hadn't seen yet and watched the ones that were available on DVD. It's really fun accomplishing childhood goals, however silly they might be. After that I watched all the Academy Award Best Pictures, and then the AFI 100 Movies. Now when I don't know what to watch I work on the other AFI lists and the Time magazine list. Which Netflix helpfully has on an "award winners" page.

I don't know what it is about lists. Maybe I like things organized, or maybe I feel better if I know what to do next or have a goal I'm working toward.