Thoughts on the Day

 

It's Martin Luther King Day. Let's all take a moment to consider why this day is important, and to acknowledge that while we have come far, we have much farther to go. 

Char

The Tale of Two Roads....

 "The road goes ever on." (JRR Tolkien)

"...and I took the one less traveled by. And that has made all the difference." (Robert Frost)

Wishing you happy trails and discoveries in this journey we call life...

Char

Monday Again, So Blog This!

Monday. Blog Day.

I don't have anything to write about. I'm trying to revise an NA (new adult) novel but with my right hand/arm in a brace and hurting, typing is hard. Even worse is that I like to print out my novel and revise while reading the comments from critique group members. I hate the double screen because everything's too squishy (I work on a laptop, so I don't have a big desk monitor). I have ideas for other books, but don't want to start until I clean up the several I'm working on so I can submit them.

Weeded my meditation garden with my left hand. I think by the time my right arm gets normal,  my left is going to look like Hellboy's giant stone fist.

Enough boring you with complaints. How about I show you a little happy?

My bee balm bloomed (say that 3 times fast). I love the coral color.

My astilbe popped with color. And yes, I had to go to Dictionary.com for the proper spelling because I was pronouncing it wrong.

I don't know what these pretty purple peeps (I'm obviously in the mood for alliteration), but they are one of my faves. I have them in front, pool, and meditation gardens. If you know, tell me!

The only way for my lilies to bloom is to put them in pots. Rabbits? Chipmunks? Gophers? I don't know but SOMEBODY is eating them.

And finally, have a happy, and SAFE Fourth of July. While our current situation is far from perfect, we have a good beginning as stated in the Declaration of Independence:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. 

We have not always employed these ideals, but that doesn't mean it can't be done. We need to work harder to embrace all humanity. We must learn from the past to improve our future. Don't give up- we can make it work.

CHAR 

Taking A Step Back...

Yep, missed last Monday's blog. This time, I have the BEST excuse. I'm not dead, so okay second best excuse. Wait, haven't been kidnapped by aliens. Or joined a secluded religious order. Or been in jail. But I have a REALLY good excuse.

I fell off my bike and broke my arm. Got 6 staples for a gash in my head, too. Lots of road rash. I'm a righty, so typing this left-handed is a tedious chore. I'm going to need some recoup time.

Have pity on me, send prayers and vibes, and show cute pics in the comments.

Char 

The Poetry War..

New week, new insults on the fridge. From one of the boys:

My response:

So, who's winning?

Stayed tuned for next week's insults and digs...

Char

Ooops, I Did It Again...

I missed my last Monday blog post. I have several good excuses. Don't I always? Choose your favorite from the list below:

1.  Snow day!

2.  Tired of people spamming my blog comments with their stupid stuff. (You know I'm only going to block you and remove it, right?)

3.  Book proposal to finish to send to agent. And like everything else, it took longer than I expected. I had to change the ending from the previous one back to the one I liked.

4.  Lazy.

5.  I haven't been able to increase my followers so I'm feeling a little 'why bother?'

6.  Wondering if anyone noticed....

7.  Procrastinated.

8. Yesterday was #NationalNappingDay (although I didn't get any nap, I sure felt like I needed one).

9. The outdoor temperature was in the 50's yesterday and I had to make some vitamin D (I raked the fallen twigs and branches in the front yard).

10. Pre-spring fever. I/m tired of being indoors and cooped up. It's hard to sit down and write (although I'm doing it now), especially when there are long stretches looming in front of me...

I think I'll stop there.

They all are true, and valid, and still no excuse.

But now it's done, although I still have so much more on the To Do list....

Catch you later.

Char

Groovin' On a Monday Afternoon

Actually the song says Sunday afternoon, and I started this on Sunday, but it's Monday when I'll finish it. I claim poetic license.

After a frenetic and frantic summer, I got out of the groove of the writing business. I had a lot of commitments and events that stole my time. Plus, yes, I have to admit, I was discouraged. I've been querying agents (one hand has more fingers than I got agent responses), revising older manuscripts, and trying to get my Evolution Revolution Trilogy into schools and libraries. (Yeah, hitting a brick wall there.) Indies get no respect (but I've cried this mantra before and have to move on). It's so easy to tell someone to 'just keep writing' when they have writer's block (even though that's the best way to break it- write about anything, just write).

But what if you don't have the incentive to write? That's where I was. I had ideas. I had beginnings. I had outlines. But no will. I languished.

So I weeded my gardens, refinished the floor in the guest room then painted and spiffed it up, painted the master bedroom, started painting the hallways, read some books, worked at fixing up our church parsonage, hung out with some friends, and lastly, decorated for Halloween. Hardly a speck of writing in there. (Grocery and To Do lists don't count as writing unless it's for a character or plot).

But everyone's back in school or to work. My pool is closed up and it's too cold to hang out on the patio. My knee's had enough of the painting (although I do have to touch up the hallway paint where I spackled a dent.)

Time to get in the groove. Now. Okay, I'm going. *Sits there. Sigh...

My messy desk, which needs to be cleared before I can work. Add that to the list.

I have to revert back to a trick that I share with a few of my friends. The To Do List. I find it easier to mix the tasks up rather than list Writer Things to Do, Household Things to Do, Mom Things to Do. On the list are: Put up blog post (working on that now), spackle holes/paint in bedroom where I removed extra curtain rod (that's drying; later I'll sand and paint), I have to call the orthopedist for that stupid knee (I'll get to it...), and at 1 pm I have a conference call. Those are the things I have determined I MUST get done today. Additionally, I need to do the first revision pass on my Frankenstein short story for Leap Books anthology, Thus Are Our Souls Constructed (deadline is December, so go check out their website for details).

I already have some things halfway done, like this blog and fixing the holes in the walls.

See? Halfway done; spackled and sanded, ready for painting.

 The bed is made, kitchen cleaned, house straightened up. Damn, gotta wash that kitchen floor. But by writing this blog, being forced to do it every week (sometimes better late than never), it kept me writing at least that little bit and I can build on it now.

I'm going to call the orthopedist and get that off my list. Then, I'll make the holes disappear. Look at Frankenstein short, and then it will be time for my conference call.

Groovin....on a Monday afternoon.

Char

Don't Get Too Comfortable...

It's Monday. Sometimes I like Mondays because everyone's out of the house and I enjoy the serenity and chance to work (mostly) undisturbed.

But it's Monday. That means I have to drag myself to the pool.

Swimming and writing evoke the same feelings for me; I love to do both, but each one has aspects that make me a first class procrastinator. For swimming, it's getting out of my toasty, pillow-soft bed. Creaking elbow and aching (formerly broken) toes are telling me that it's okay to miss one day. And that first dive into the water, when it's snowing and freezing outside? That takes a bit of masochism to do it three times a week.

With writing, it's the revisions. Once I know what to do it's not a problem, but forcing myself to sit and think about a plot problem (currently) is worse than going to the pool. But procrastination for avoiding sitting at the desk to fix edits can be good. While I turn over the problem in my head, I clean, do laundry, run errands (because gardening when you still have almost a foot of snow on the ground doesn't make sense), and talk to the cats. (Sometimes that helps!). When a great revelation hits, though, and I know it's going to require going through every last damn sentence (numerous times, ugh), I procrastinate (like now although Mondays are new blog post days, so I'm not really procrastinating, right?).

Logically I can reason that going to the pool regularly is good for my health (summer's coming! bathing suits, ack!) and I sleep better because I'm exhausted. So getting the edits done means I can work on sparkly new project(s).

It's just that I'm so comfortable... not going out in the cold/not sitting at the desk.

But no one ever got anywhere important by staying comfortable. So I'll get my cup of chai latte and tackle those edits.

What do you need to get 'uncomfortable' enough to achieve?

Char