Real Life Magic

Today has been such a good day I may just have to cave and go buy a lotto ticket.  Get a load of the power of goal-setting.

I sat down this morning with a blank pad of paper and began to rough out my goals for the next 6 months. I started with Financial goals, as each year I assign myself an income goal. I'm a little ahead of schedule for this year, so I was doing the math on how much more I need to earn, equals X amount I need to earn per month, etc. 

I was scribbling notes in the margin as I wrote such as, "I like focusing on big tasks, like book projects, versus a lot of little projects."  I also noted it would be nice to have another column--guaranteed income--versus having to ferret out work.  I wondered how I would meet my financial goals with no new projects on the horizon and was thinking I'd have to get busy finding new magazines to write for.

I moved on to writing goals for my products/services some of those included actively seeking out more speaking engagements, maybe doing another cat book or more humor writing, and a few others.  I wrote I'd like to do more promotion of my cat book.

So then. I put all that aside and start the work of the day. And here's where the magic comes in. In the last 4 hours,  I've:

• Received an e-mail from an editor that she's recommended me to a UK book company seeking a humor author for a new dog book. They wrote my editor asking if she knew of anyone and she gave them my name.
  
• Last year I wrote an article for the 2007 Novel & Short Stories Writer's Market - a reference book that comes out yearly. I had to contact the editor for a quick update and was invited to pitch new article ideas.
• Received a call from a fellow pet writer and friend. She's working on a new book on cats which will pull pieces from other authors and she wants to highlight several of my stories from Lessons In Stalking, as well as another humor piece I've written. 
  
• This same author is starting a radio talk show heard by 2 million listeners and wants me on as a guest.
• And she assigned me an article to write for the magazine she edits.
  
• NC Career Networking Magazine, the magazine I write for and am Associate Editor of, has been picked up by Ingrams and our little magazine is flying to distributors, including some in Vegas and California.

I feel like someone dipped me in happy glue and all the good things in the Universe are winging my way and sticking to me.

All from the power of goal-setting? Not really. I think the real power lies in the intent behind the goal-setting. We create energy and intent with our thoughts and dreams. I apparently managed to harness and aim my intent in the right direction this morning. 

I think I'll go set some goals to adopt more cats. Maybe the Universe can find a way to work around Blair and make it happen. =) 

What Am I Writing?

I often get the question, "So, what are you working on?"  I've noticed of late that more often than not my response is a waving of the hands and saying, "You know...stuff."

How very eloquent and writerly of me, no?

So I thought I"d share what I am working on these days:

• I've just finished a 1200-word article on Goal-setting for my Market Savvy column for Art Jewelry magazine. I like the content and mulling over ways I can repurpose the article and sell it to other magazines.
• I'm getting ready to start brainstorming ideas for my next Pet-A-Scopes column. You've got to love a job that requires you to sit and think hard if you can come up with anything funny related to pooper-scoopers or a cat's predisposition to barf.
• I've just completed a 900-word article on Networking for NC Career Networking Magazine. I pulled this column out at the last minute and am chastizing myself for not being better organized so I'm not scrambling for ideas last minute.
• Public-speaking book. I was spending 2 hours on this each morning after returning from England, but last week I don't think I touched it. I'd like to get it into draft shape so I can send it out for comments to friends before rewriting. I'm spending a fair amount of time thinking about formats--ways to structure the information, and need to spend some time this week in Barnes & Nobles, looking through business books for format ideas.
• I had an idea for a first reader or picture book and went to the library and checked out about 20 first reader books so I can get an idea of how they're put together and what the sentence structure is like. A task for this week is to read and evaluate the books and see if I still like my idea enough to rough out a story.
• I've been dreaming new ideas for a brand new adult novel. I'm not going to talk about it yet b/c I don't really have the story formed yet and don't want to interrupt the creative process. I'm not technically "writing" this yet, but it's on the radar.
• I've got 2 middle-grade novels I'm supposed to be working on editing/writing and I haven't hardly touched those in weeks either.

Other writing is I've been bidding on a lot of projects on GURU. I'm wondering if I've priced myself out of this market though, as I've bid on 12 jobs this month and have not heard back from one of them. GURU is great if you're willing to work cheap or if you have strong expertise in one area. Not so great for the middle man, or that's my take.

I also try to blog every other day and I say I'm going to start my journal again, but that doesn't seem to have happened--at least not on a consistent basis.

Early Morning Run

I promise this blog won't become a documentary of my running life but I do want to share a moment from this mornings run.

First of all, kudos to me for hauling my butt out of bed at 5 AM on a Sunday.  Dena was not a happy camper when her alarm went off and even less of one when she got out of bed and Blair rolled back over and went to sleep. I loathe being the first one up.

But I fed the cats, started the coffee, put on my running clothes and had a nice, long stretching session while I waited for the sun to come up. I headed out the door at 5:30 AM.

What a fantastic  time to run. Minimal traffic, the birds were in a frenzy of song, and the world felt quiet, like an infant just on the verge of waking from slumber. I ran for 45 minutes and (please no jinx, please no jinx) it was easy.  Covered 4 1/2 miles with no problem. 

Along the way I saw 8 cats (how happy was I?) lounging in yards and on top of cars. Two rabbits darted from the underbrush in front of me and a field of horses raised their heads from feeding to watch me trot by. There was a momentary hesitation on my part when I came to the rooster and chicken in the road and the rooster let me know with loud crowing that HE was the boss around here. But he shuffled the chicken off to the side and I passed by without incident.

I came home, showered, and read the paper. "How do you feel?" asked Blair.

"I feel great!," I answered. "What a magnificent way to kick off the day! I could do anything!"

Then sleep deprivation set in. I crawled into bed about 8:30 and slept solid for an hour.

Okay, so the program needs a little fine tuning. But I believe the goal now will be to run on Tues/Thursday/Sunday mornings with one evening run thrown in.

Part of the fun is that it's still new. I'm a little worried what happens when the monotony sets in.  Nothing to do but wait and see.

Goal Setting

I know--the term is way over used and sends shudders down our spines. But I'm writing a column right now for one of my magazines on this very topic and it's got me thinking I need to spend some time in the goal-setting arena.

I tend to think of myself as a goal-setter but what I really am is a list-maker. Big, big fan of the "To Do" list. You need a list baby, you give me a call and I'll hook you up. But I don't set a lot of goals.

One woman I interviewed for my article is the CEO of a company that helps businesses grow. She stated every business (or individual running a business) should set goals in three primary areas: 

1. Financial
2. Product-Oriented
3. Customer-Oriented

You have quarterly goals in each of these areas and sub-goals (there are my to-do lists) to help you achieve them. What I'm seeing is I am one of those people who get bogged down in the minutia. I have a list a mile long - "update the web site, send out books for review, find places to speak, send out query letters..."  But I need a prime goal to help me determine why I should be doing certain tasks and why I should be letting others go.

Another person I interviewed for the article, a psychiatrist, stated before any goal setting could take place you had to set a vision for yourself. This is bigger than your goals. It's not "I want to be a famous writer." It's the needs behind the goal. So for example, a writer who likes to travel and buy nice things will be motivated by money. Another writer may just want recognition and winning contests may meet her needs, even if she earns little income.  Our internal needs are what drive our goals.

So, I'm thinking I need to sit myself down and tinker around with some visions and goal-setting and see what comes of it.

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 Running time last night: 45 minutes.