Attending to Details

Since I leave tomorrow morning for the beach for my writing weekend with the girls, today is "clean-up" day.  I have about 6 phone calls I've been putting off that need to be made, I need to make a poster for a book signing I'm doing on Monday night, I've got the ever present pile of "I'll get to it when I have more time" papers piled by the side of my desk that need to be sorted through and either acted upon or thrown out, and I've got work to turn in and appointments to set up for next week. Also need to do laundry, pack, and practice my speech.

One thing I also have to do is send a letter to a magazine that's published my work for years and threaten to sue them if they don't pay me money owed. I'm hesitant to enter into the fighting ring on this one just because I don't want another battle in life, but they owe me over $1,000 and the publisher won't return my calls or answer my e-mails and they are several months behind on payments.

People like this irritate me. I've always had payment issues with these people but I would eventually get my money (usually 3 months late). But I'm tired of having to beg and plead for money that is legally owed me. And I have bent over backwards to be nice--I've offered to have them set up a payment plan and told them if you can't pay me one month and have to wait a month, that's fine.  Just pick up the phone and let me know.  Nothing. No response.

I will take them to small claims court if I have to.  I'd prefer not to as what a waste of time, money and energy to have to go fight about something about which there can be no dispute.  I have a signed contract and the articles have already been published in their magazine.  It's a no-brainer. 

The downside is I have several articles into them that I've already written and I'm guessing once I send this letter they won't run those and so I'm out my time and effort for those pieces. But considering I'm not being paid anyway, there's no real difference right?

I'm trying not to think ahead.  One step at a time. Today is pulling together the documentation and the letter.

I'm feeling sluggish.  I slept until 6 today and feel like I've wasted the morning. I know that's silly and 6 is still early by most people's standards, but when you live with the God of Dawn who is up at 4:30 AM every day you do feel a bit useless when you don't pull yourself out of bed until 6.  I'll make a to-do list.  That always perks me up and gets me motivated.  Is there anything more fun in life than crossing completed items off a to-do list???

I'm such a geek.... =) 

"I Know The Author"

I attended my Triad Networking group this morning and a member approached me and said he went for a massage the other day and as he walked into the room the massage therapist was reading my book.  He said, "Hey, I know the author," and the woman talked so much about how funny the book was that this member--a (gasp!) non-cat loving guy--bought 4 books from me this morning to give as gifts to friends.

That's the thing with Lessons In Stalking.  People love it once they read it-it's just getting it into people's hands that's the struggle. Book sales off my website are almost non-existent at this point.  Purely my fault, as I have slacked on marketing. I'm going to work on kicking it into high gear again once we return from England. Being realistic, I know I just won't get that much done on it before then.

I've been practicing my speech for next Tuesday's competition.  It's the darndest thing.  I never have trouble remembering speeches.  I just think of it like telling a story.  But even after rounds of practice I am still struggling to remember the correct order of this speech.  I have no idea what will happen on Tuesday.  I hope to do well and advance to the next round but I'm not overly confident like I typically am when it comes to my speech-giving abilities. We shall see...

I'm heading to the beach this weekend for a writing session with two of my critique group buddies, Bernie and Maggie.  I've been looking forward to this weekend for months. We're sharing a room but going to plant ourselves on the beach (weather permitting) or in the hotel lobby or area cafes and just write our little hearts out. I'm hoping to get through several chapters of Millicent.  I'll set myself a word count I have to write for the weekend to make sure I get accomplished what I need to.

As for today, I've planted myself in the Green Bean for a 2 1/2 hour writing session before my weekly Toastmasters meeting. Then I have an hour to make phone calls before I meet my friends Pam & Michael for lunch, then home to apply another layer of red paint and move from "bloodbath" (see yesterday's entry) to "almost there."

I wish everyone a happy and productive Wednesday.

Trying to Get Ahead

While some people operate in "catch-up" mode, I am constantly in what I consider "get ahead" mode. It's one reason I'm always checking e-mail--if I stay on top of it then I can deal with things as they come in and not let them pile up and voila!--I'm "ahead." Yes, I realize it rarely works that way. My constant e-mail checking instead allows me to put off doing the real work that actually would place me ahead.  

But this nagging feeling of "stay on top, don't fall behind," permeates into every area of my life.  Blair and I will be in the car and I'll be giving orders, "Hurry, we can pass that car. Go around this guy.  Hurry and we'll make the light!"  Blair always asks, "What's the rush? We've got plenty of time." And we do.  But I feel the persistent need to be ahead in case something goes wrong. I'm anxious in the grocery store if my line is moving slower than the others. I don't like it if the yoga class I attend doesn't start right on time because then we'll get out late and oh my God, it's like the end of the world to me.

I'm working on letting go of this feeling.  It's a hard process--like changing the core of your being.  Still, I don't want to go through life feeling like I'm racing against an unknown enemy.  This weekend, for example, I "let go."

Checking e-mail on Saturday, I received the edited versions of several written pieces I'd been waiting for.  My impulse was to dive in and compare the edited versions to my original ones, see if I had any comments and e-mail my reply.  I got excited about doing the work. Why?  Because if I cleared it off my plate now, then I'd be ahead for Monday. I took a deep breath and set it aside.

I received an e-mail from a fellow writer I've been trying to arrange a lunch date with.  I wanted to break out my day planner and check the date--just so I wouldn't have to deal with it on Monday. I gritted my teeth and moved on to the next e-mail.

In Saturday's mail, I received copies of two articles coming out in the next issue of a pet magazine, which reminded me these people are woefully behind in their payments owed me. I fought against racing upstairs and tackling that issue immediately. 

Now of course I could have done any of those items this weekend and yes, I would be ahead of the game in that I wouldn't have to deal with them today.  But looking at the big picture, I'd only be marginally "ahead" and I would have had to give up my weekend time to do it.  What I need to realize is there will always be tiny issues popping up and I will never be able to say I'm 100% fully caught up, because there's always something waiting in the wings. 

Which ironically circles me back to that slightly panicked feeling of "then I'd better do what I can now because who knows what really big event might come along to suck up all my time."

And yet, it's Monday, it's sunny, Olivia was in my lap purring a few minutes ago and I just brewed a pot full of Snickerdoodle decaf coffee and the smell permeates the house.  Life is good.  It will take less than an hour to e-mail the friend, fire off an e-mail demanding my money to the publisher of the magazine that owes me, and do a quick printout and comparison of my articles. Less than an hour.  Leaving me plenty of time to tackle the other Monday morning workday tasks that await.

Here's to not being ahead, not being behind, but instead, just enjoying the ride.

Dena 

Holy Cow!

Remember the Pet-A-Scopes humor column I've been asked to write for a veterinarian's magazine? I spoke to the magazine editor today who said she'd like to bring me out to Portland, Oregon for a week to meet with her, tour the campus and interact with some vets. 

Wha--??? You could have knocked me over with a feather.  Magazines are notoriously tight on budgets.  They don't like to pay authors let alone fly them out for a visit.  I'm psyched--I've never been to Portland. And this training compound sounds incredible. I just love this about life--you never, ever know where it's going to take you.  One minute I'm heating up a sweet potato in the microwave (which is beeping at me to let me know it's done) and the next minute I'm penciling in "Portland" on my daytimer. 

It's freaking me out a little bit, like I better step up my game.  I wasn't at all nervous about writing this column before but now I feel a bit intimidated--like they'll be thinking, "Hey!  We spent all this money on this woman and this drivel is what she gives us?  Off with her head!"

Luckily I work well under pressure.  Bring on the guillotine.