Monday Check In

Last week...

Writing Related:  I didn't make much progress on my revisions of Garrett's story. I found a major plot issue that is going to require major rewriting. I'm torn between leaving it for now and doing the other edits first or doing the edits until I get to the area that will need the complete rewrite then going on to finish the rest of the edits. I'm worried if I do the other things first, then the major rewrite, that the rewrite might cause other things to have to be changed or rewritten as well. I'll have to think about it for a bit, but honestly, it makes more sense to do the big rewrite first then fix/edit anything that comes after that.

Motivational Quote:  "Even if we are busy, we have time for what matters. And when we focus on what matters, we can build the lives we want in the time we've got." ~ Laura Vanderkam (American speaker)

What I'm Reading:  I started reading The Summer that Changed Everything by Brenda Novak on Friday. It wasn't a book I had on my To Be Read list, but I saw it at the library and the cover caught my eye so I added it to the small stack of books I was already going to borrow.  

Random Things:  I came across the motivational quote above in mid-December. It almost seemed as though the Universe was trying to tell me something as I had been complaining to a friend how I never seem to have time to do everything I want to do or need to do without feeling like I'm always falling behind in something. As I mentioned in last week's post, I'm trying to be more intentional in how I spend my time. It's too early to tell if the changes I've made are working as it's only been about 2 weeks, but I am feeling less stressed. 

Random Photo:

I didn't get a chance to post photos of the coffee cup I bought to use in the month of December so I thought I'd post it this week before I put it in the back of the cupboard until next December.

 

This I know for sure...

Isn't strange that we always find the time to do the things that have to be done i.e. go to work, pay bills, make meals, clean the house and do the laundry, take the kids to various school related events, etc? The list goes on and on.

Yet, there are very few of us who find the time to do the things we want to do, not just for ourselves but for others as well. There are so many "unimportant" things I'd like to find time for, but even if I put them on my To Do list, they always seem to fall to the bottom and get pushed from one day to the next because I just don't have time to squeeze them in between the full time job, writing and promotional time, and family/household responsibilities. 

It's been said time and again that we all only get 24 hours in a day and it's up to us how we utilize that time. Even writing daily schedules as I've mentioned in a previous post, I rarely have time to do those things I'd like to have time for. A friend suggested getting up earlier in the day and taking advantage of the extra time. Considering I already get up at 5:00am six days a week, that's not something I really want to do so until I figure out how to fit more things in my day, that list of things I'd like to do will have to wait a little longer.

Advice To My Younger Self

(Orginally supposed to be posted on Leanne Tyler's blog on 3/3/14 but due to technical issues wasn't posted.)
    
 In the December 2013 issue of the Romance Writers Report (RWR) there was an article titled, “What Advice Would You Give Your Younger Self” that started me thinking. What advice would I give my younger self if possible?

     The first piece of advice would be “Don’t let anyone tell you you’re wasting your time pursuing something they think you don’t have a chance of attaining.” I stopped writing for ten years before I gathered the courage to try again. Oh I still wrote here and there – snippets of dialogue, bits of scenes, things about characters that wouldn’t leave me alone until I put them on paper but that’s all they were – random thoughts that languished for too long in a hanging folder in the back of a desk drawer.

     The second piece goes hand in hand with the first. “Don’t waste time.” Write every day or if you can’t, write as often as you can even if it’s only in 10 or 15 increments. I lost those ten years that I can’t get back. Who knows where I’d be in my writing career today if I hadn’t put my dreams on hold.

     My last piece of advice would be to soak in all the advice and all the how to’s you’re given by those writers who’ve already been where you are now. Don’t be afraid to ask questions. When other writers offer to share their knowledge, take them up on it and then pay that generosity forward by helping those who ask questions or advice of you.

I practice the second and third pieces of advice daily. They both have made a world of difference in my writing and my attitude toward it. 

What advice would you give to your younger self?

A Progress Update

I mentioned in a previous "This I know for sure" post (8/9) that somehow I'd started treating my writing as a hobby the last few weeks, but had gotten back on track and turned the corner so to speak. I wanted to revisit that and let you know what changes I've made and what's working for me.

I realized I was spending a lot of time doing things that weren't moving my writing career forward. For example, if I didn't feel like writing on a particular day because I was tired, or had a miserable day at work, or whatever other reason I could come up with, I wouldn't write that day. I'd tell myself I'd make up for it the next day.  Sometimes I did, but more often than not, I didn't. This explains why it's taken me roughly eight months to write two-thirds of the first draft of my work in progress (WIP).

I knew I needed to stop doing things that aren't helping me work toward the goal of writing full time. Since the beginning of August, I've stopped watching television during the week except for the local and world news broadcasts from 6:00pm to 7:00pm. Do I feel out of the loop when the other ladies in the office are talking about the latest TV program? Sometimes, but then I ask myself what's more important - keeping up with what's going on on Burn Notice (or any other show) or working toward the goal of being a full time writer.  On Saturday evenings, I watch a movie on DVD with my family. Within a half hour from the time I get home from work, I'm at my laptop and writing until I meet my daily page goal, no ifs, ands, or buts. I'm doing it every week day even if I don't feel like it or had a craptastic day at work. The strange thing is on those terrible work days after I've finished writing, I feel so much better than when I would come home and dwell on what happened at the office.

So if you find yourself in a similar position and think you don't have enough time in the day to accomplish everything that's important to you, re-evaluate how you're spending your time. Are you watching two, three, or more hours of television every evening? Try cutting the time in half. Do you say Yes to too many activities? Begin saying No to some of them. Guard your time so you have the time you need to do what you want to accomplish, no matter what it might be.

Time is a precious commodity. We all only have a certain amount of it. I stopped writing for nearly ten years due to family and life responsibilities. I look back now and think of all that time I lost and can't get back. Even now, I think of the time I've wasted just this year alone. Make the changes you need to. You'll only be happy you did.  I know I am.