This & That

My poor little blog readers... I have nothing to entertain you with. The temperatures today are predicted to be sunny mid 60's, I'm spending the morning book writing and the afternoon doing a bit of paid writing. (Someday those will be the same things...) But there is nothing to report but tidbits of life.

• Last summer's running group reformed on Sunday as we did 13, 11, 10, 8, and 5 mile runs, depending on when each decided to turn back. =)
• Blair is working on our taxes. The good news is that I made a lot of money last year. The bad news is I didn't withhold taxes on that money. Can you say, "Owe the government copious amounts of cash....?"
• I pulled a muscle in yoga and, for the moment, can't lift my right leg more than 4 inches off the ground. Makes getting dressed that much more interesting.
• I'm half-way finished with a new book of cat stories, a follow-up to Lessons In Stalking. I've got about 15 stories complete and ready for review. I need 5 more stories to round out the book. I'm staring at the cats hourly, hoping they do something cute.
• We made brownies last night and I decided nothing but brownies would do for breakfast this morning. I'm now on a massive sugar high yet can do little more than think about the one brownie that remains in the kitchen...

I told you... pretty calm life. I'm off to goad the cats into doing something at least mildly amusing.

Life Creeps In, Life Creeps Out

At the start of 2008, I vowed to devote myself to bettering my writing. To take a "writer's journey" and explore new genres and interests while simultaneously striving to improve on the basics such as grammar, use of simile and metaphor, attention to detail, etc.

I dropped much of my paid work and cleared my schedule. But I've noticed life has a way of creeping in. And what starts out as a month with no committment other than to write suddenly becomes filled with meetings, speeches, workshops, lunches, assignments, and other obligations.

This month, for example, I agreed to:

• Give a speech in my advanced Toastmasters club
• Create a tri-board for the club (the accursed thing still isn't complete)
• Write two 600-word assignments for a regional publication.
• Write a monthly article for a UK-based dog site, www.dogtwist.com
• Organize long runs for my running group
• Teach a 2 hour networking workshop at the Women's Resource Center
• Attend an all-day marketing brainstorming meeting for a friend
• Facilitate a 2-hour Saturday writing workshop for kids in the foster care system
• Attend a concert of my neice's in Raleigh
• Attend as a guest a women-only networking/mentoring club
• Wrangle out the details of a dental claim with our insurance company
• 2 doctor appointments, one trip to the vet, 2 races, 1 massage (had a coupon), 2 lunches with friends, one dinner out.

Looking ahead to March, I already have a book signing at a local libary and a book launch party to attend for a friend. The rest of the month appears gloriously free of commitment. And I aim to keep it that way. I've discovered that when I have a free schedule, it's so easy to agree to "stuff." I think, "Well, I certainly have time to fit a speech or a tri-board into my month." But I say that 10 times and then--oops!--the month is full and I didn't focus on what I said I wanted to focus on.

So... back to hibernation. It's a game of push and pull. I do too much... I cut back... I let life creep in... I push back. On a bright note, however, I've done over 50,000 new words of creative writing since the start of the new year. That's probably more than I did all last year combined. So I'm getting there. It's just a matter of deciding WHAT I want to spend my time on, WHY that's important to me, and then sticking to it.

Here's a quote I love:

"Let the act of changing be the reward, and do not count on the outcome, for it may well be far different than you ever imagined."

Ignoring My Last Post

In Friday's post I wrote about making writing a priority and saying no to others. However, if I had followed that advice I would not have attended the outstanding Foster Friends writing workshop yesterday. And that would have been a severe loss, indeed.

The Foster Friends network of NC is sponsoring an art and essay contest for children in the Foster Care system in our area. First prize is a $500 savings bond. I was asked by a friend in the program if I would facilitate the 2-hour writing workshop held yesterday. I said yes, and a friend from my writer's group, Daniel, who used to teach Jr. High English, went with me. Thank God. Daniel is a teaching whiz and quickly connected with the kids. For example, to demonstrate the importance of using specific language, he did this marvelous peanut butter and jelly exercise where he had one student instruct him how to make a PB&J sandwich. When told to take the bread out of the ziplock bag, he ripped at the opposite end of the bag that had the zipper. When told to put the peanut butter on the bread, he stacked the jar on top of the bread. And, when told to "squish together" the pieces of bread that had the peanut butter on one and jelly on the other, he left the jelly side up and squished his hand into it--to the great delight of the kids.

The kids were... brilliant. Open and communicative and serious about writing. Ages ranged from 8 to 16, yet the room jelled. I came home and told Blair only half-kiddingly that there is now an 8-year-old boy out there I want to adopt.  The 8 year old boy came with 2 paragraphs already written for the contest which Daniel read over and helped him with. A 10 or 11 year old girl asked me to read the 2 and 1/2 pages she'd written. The essay is private so I won't share the contents here but... oh my God. Simply but beautifully written, heartbreaking, honest. It was an honor to spend time with these kids. I never would have wanted to miss the chance to work with them.

So I guess the lesson is... be careful what you consider saying no to or you might miss out on some really special opportunities in life.

Pulling the Pieces Together

For long time blog readers, you might recall that waaaay back in September of '07, I mentioned there would be some career changes in the air for '08. The biggest change is that I have drastically, as in almost completely, cut back on my project (read: paid) writing and am instead spending the first half of this year focusing on creative writing.

Or rather, I'm trying to. I'm amazed how quickly each day flies by and how little work it seems I've accomplished. My struggle is making life fit around my writing versus the other way around. This week, I am losing the battle.

Instead of sitting down to write, my mind is buzzing with a list of chores. These include: preparing material for a workshop this Saturday, writing and practicing a Toastmasters speech, following up with our dental insurance to see where the heck our claim money is, calling our auto insurance carrier to see if they'll match the better rate we were were quoted by a competitor, clean the house, buy stamps, pull together a tri-board display I said I'd do (stupid, stupid, stupid) for my Toastmasters group, write a brief proposal to someone who wants me co-author a book, research details for said proposal, exercise, yoga, volunteer at the animal shelter, wash my car, etc., etc.

Certainly nothing mind boggling or outside the ordinary there. But I'm finding that I'm focusing on getting all of the above done FIRST and then I'll write.  Only I'm not feeling the least bit creative or inspired after being on hold with dental claims for 30 minutes, or after spending 4 hours with caged animals in a shelter.

So my priority is to fit the rest of life around my writing time. Which probably means I need to start saying "no" more often then not. No, I can't give a speech that week, no, I will not teach a workshop, no, I can't meet for lunch or coffee. Writing time first, in the morning and early afternoon hours when I'm at my best. All the rest can wait to be dealt with in the late afternoon. I need to get back to my "no checking e-mail and no taking phone calls" before noon stance, as well.

So I'm going to ignore the list I just typed here, pour myself a cup of coffee (decaf) and go sit in my messy downstairs bedroom writing space and spend the morning writing. The rest of the world will just have to wait to be dealt with until later today. I'm sure it will still be there when I emerge.