This I know for sure...

I can't believe the first half of 2019 is already over (or nearly over). My mom would always say the older you get, the faster the years go by. I guess she knows what she's talking about.

What's Up Wednesday

This week...

My Current WIP (Work in Progress): Worked on the changes my critique partner suggested for chapters 4 through 8. I'm hoping to get a decent amount done this week as we are having visitors the first week of July. 

Quote of the Week: "Belief in oneself is one of the most important bricks in building any successful venture." ~ Lydia Maria Child

What I'm Reading:  I just finished Fudge and Jury by Ellie Alexander last night. It's the fifth book in the Bakeshop Mystery series.

Random Thoughts: I have a love/hate feeling about the first day of summer. I love it because it's the first day of summer. The first of many warm, sunny days. I hate it because after it's over each day grows shorter which means the countdown to winter has started.

Random Photo of the Week:

                                                       Hello Summer!
  

Hello

No post today but Somebody wanted to share his version of a selfie. 

 

This I know for sure...

I came across the above while on Facebook. I think it's a good reminder to take time for self care while you're pursuing your dreams.

What's Up Wednesday

This week...

My Current WIP (Work in Progress): Rewrote the scene I mentioned last week that I wanted to do from a different point of view. I didn't end up meeting with my critique partner as we both had something come up. This week I'm working on the remaining suggestions she made on chapters 4 through 8. 

Quote of the Week: "Think like a queen. A queen is not afraid to fail." ~ Oprah Winfrey

What I'm Reading: I started reading Pie Hard by Kirsten Weiss last night. It's the third and latest book in the Pie Town mystery series. 

Random Thoughts: My god-daughter is graduating from high school this week. It seems like I was just at the hospital coaching her mom through the birth and now she's all grown up and will be off to college in a couple of months.

Random Photo of the Week:

                                                Enjoying a sunny afternoon.

Ways to Write - Part 2

I thought I'd do another post regarding the different things I'm trying in an effort to get more writing accomplished on a regular basis. In my first post (Ways to Write #1) I wrote about two of the things I'd tried that worked well for me. Today I'm writing about a couple of things that didn't work for me (though they may work great for other writers).

One thing was to read the last chapter or few pages of my WIP (work in progress) before going to bed so my subconscious could work on the story. After doing this, I kept thinking about what would happen next which ended up keeping me awake, making it hard for me to fall asleep. I ended up laying awake half the night and waking up tired in the morning

Another thing I tried was writing scenes as they came to me and not necessarily in the order they would happen in the story. I found it hard to go back and tie the scenes into the story. For me, I have to write the story from beginning to end in order that the events in the story occur.

One of the things I tried that seemed to work well was writing in smaller increments of time. I did have good success with this, but only if I had at least 20 minutes. If I tried to write when I only had 10 minutes or so, it didn't work as well. I think it's because I need at least 5 minutes to get my writing brain working.

This I know for sure...

Where there's a will, there's a way. I'm sure we've all heard that old adage. I've decided the squirrels in my neighborhood certainly live by it. I have a hanging basket plant on my porch. I purposely purchased a longer than normal hanging hook so the plant hangs out further into open air area so the squirrels wouldn't be able to jump from the porch railings onto the plant. They love to dig up the roots and make nests in my hanging plants.

They have tried to jump from the one railing into the plant without success. They've also tried jumping from the gutter on to the plant, also without success. Yesterday I noticed my cat crouching in the window. I looked out just in time to see one squirrel climb on top of another and leap into the hanging plant. I went out and shooed it out, but now I'll need to try and find another spot to move the plant to. Sigh.

What's Up Wednesday

This week...

My Current WIP (Work in Progress): I made some revisions/changes to the next two chapters from suggestions I received from my critique partner. This week, I'm working on rewriting a scene from a different point of view. I'm not if I will like it or if it's better the way it was originally written. I'm going to have my critique partner look at it and see what she thinks.

Quote of the Week: "Be faithful in small things because it is in them that your strength lies." ~ Mother Teresa (This is a repeat of the quote from last week. I think the quote is something we need to be reminded of.)

What I'm Reading: I started reading Bleeding Tarts by Kirsten Weiss last night. It's the second book in the Pie Town mystery series. 

Random Thoughts: Monday was National Iced Tea day. I'm a big iced tea drinker during the summer months. When I was a kid, my mom would make sun tea. I remember impatiently waiting for the tea to steep as it sat in the sun. Now I use cold brew tea bags so I can make it and drink it within ten minutes or so.

Random Photo of the Week:

                                      Iced Tea in honor of National Iced Tea day.

One Thing We Never Have Enough Of

I think everyone will agree the one thing we never have enough of is Time. Time to do the things that need to be done, time to do the things we want to do, time to spend with loved ones, friends, and family. I could go on and on.

Having enough time to get everything done is something that can be elusive. At least for me. I'm forever trying to "find" time to get things done. I live by a daily To Do list. I do accomplish the things on each day's list the majority of the time, but not always. Someone said to me that you can't find time to get things done, you have to make the time to get things done. I know what they were trying to convey, but I wanted to respond you can't make time either. Time is what it is, you can't make more of it. We all only get 24 hours in a day. If anyone knows how to get more than that in a day, I'd love to hear how to do it.

It's how we use the time we have that's important. Along with the things I'm trying out to help me get more writing accomplished (see Last Monday's Post), I've started keeping track of the time I use doing things that aren't on my daily To Do list. I'm looking for time wasters, though I hate to use that description. For example every Saturday afternoon I play a game on my Kindle Fire for an hour. Is it necessary that I do that? Of course not. Can I use that time doing something more productive? Definitely. You might be thinking that it's only an hour one day a week, which is true but I'm thinking how can I better use that time. I didn't play this past Saturday and used the hour to work on making some thank you and birthday cards so they would be ready when I need them instead of having to rush to get them done at the last minute. I don't want to give up the game forever, just for right now.

I don't plan on giving up all of my leisure activities. We all need some down time to decompress and recharge. I am still going to knit for an hour every evening, at least until I finish the blanket I'm making. I'm also going to continue reading for an hour every night before going to sleep. But I'm going to work hard at getting more done and wasting time less.

 

This I know for sure...

My cat, Mrs. Green, who will jump 2 feet into the air trying to catch a fly when one makes its way inside, spilled her kibble all over the floor this morning trying to get away from a small beetle that somehow found its way inside.

I told her it was okay because I react the same way to spiders. Then I gave her a treat because I always need a cookie after a spider encounter. I figured she felt the same way about the beetle.

What's Up Wednesday

This week...

My Current WIP (Work in Progress):  I made some revisions/changes to the first two chapters from suggestions I received from my critique partner. It was a busy week so this was something that needed to be done and that I could fit into my crazy schedule.

Quote of the Week: "Be faithful in small things because it is in them that your strength lies." ~ Mother Teresa

What I'm Reading: I started reading Fatal Identity by Marie Force Sunday night. This is the tenth book in the Fatal series. I really like this series and am glad to get back to it.

Random Thoughts: It is taking much longer to knit the panels that have the colored triangles in them. I can knit a cream colored panel panel in one to two weeks, but the colored triangle panel takes about four weeks. When I first started this project I was thinking I would have it done in about three months. Now, I'm thinking I might be done with it by September. Hopefully.

Random Photo of the Week:

                           Mrs. Green likes to sleep in any empty box she can find.

Ways to Write

Every author has their own way of getting words on the page, ways that enable them to write and complete manuscripts on a regular basis. As anyone who reads this blog on a regular basis knows, this is something I struggle with. I have the best of intentions at the beginning of each week and at the beginning of each day, but most days something invariably happens that steals my writing time whether it be scheduled or pop up appointments, something my mom needs me to handle for her when I get home from work, or my family member who likes to drop in to visit during my designated writing time.

About a week or so ago I asked my fellow authors for ideas/advice on how to get my writing accomplished on a more consistent basis. I received a lot of really good ideas. I've decided to try out a couple at a time and see which ones work for me and which ones don't.

One of the suggestions I tried out last week was to work in smaller time increments. Instead of blocking out a full hour and a half at a time, use whatever free time I have even if it's only 10 minutes here and 10 minutes there. I guess you could say it's the equivalent of sprinting but without the timer. This worked much better than I expected. I was able to get 45 pages revised which is more than I've gotten done in a while.

The other suggestion I tried out was typing one sentence relating to my current manuscript into my phone before I went into work. I did this in the parking lot just before I went into my office building. Doing this seemed to keep my story at the forefront of my mind. I quickly jotted down notes about anything that sentence triggered - part of a scene, dialogue, etc - that popped into my head while I was at work so I wouldn't forget it and have it disappear into the ether, never to be recalled. Yes, that has happened to me in the past when I didn't write something down because I was so sure I'd remember the scene/dialogue/setting detail the next time I was able to get to my manuscript.

I'm going to keep using these two methods and am going to try two more suggestions this week.