Month: December 2018

#UpbeatAuthors: Thriftiness with Self

It’s the end of the year, which is a time I like to look forward instead of back. That means looking at my social media schedule, as well as the things I know I will have going on with my life. I also need to take other things into consideration: specifically, my elderly parents and their growing neediness. I need to look at my reality.

So there will be a few changes to my social media presence in  2019. Nothing too drastic, but changes that I hope will make managing my social media easier and quicker so I can focus more on the writing.

Happy New Year!

The Name Tag Game

A long time ago, when I was an author in search of an agent, I had a bite from a somewhat local agent. I wanted written correspondence with her; she wanted to do everything over the phone. I researched her a little more deeply than I had originally, and discovered she was not an agent I wanted. Our styles were too different. I passed on her offer of representation.

Fast forward a several months. A friend of mine invited me to the Golden Network party at the RWA national conference.  I was sitting at a table with my clique when along came another woman who asked if she could join us. “Of course,” we said. Networking is always important.

Then I saw her name badge. It was the agent. You know. The one whose offer I’d turned down. I was mortified. One of my pals who knew the whole story surreptitiously slipped me her name badge. I returned the favor. So for the rest of the night, I was “Christine Wenger” and she was me.

I am blessed to have such great friends.

Pregnancy Dreams

Back when I was pregnant, my doctor didn’t believe in routine sonograms. If something was wrong–spotting, or a baby refusing to be born–that was different. Even if you did have a sono, the techs weren’t allowed to tell you the baby’s sex.

But each time, I knew what I was going to have. Yes, I had a friend who did the pencil, needle, and thread trick. I don’t remember if her predictions were right or not. Because I had dreams. Vivid dreams.

When I was pregnant for Y-Chromo, I still had my cat. My dream consisted of tying to put blue disposable diapers on my male cat, and failing. You see, a cat’s legs only go forward and backward. They do not splay the way human legs can. That was the first problem. The second problem was the fur. The adhesive tabs kept getting stuck in the cat’s fur.  I awoke from that dream exhausted and knowing my child would be a boy.

To this day, I still cannot think about or discuss the dream I had when I was pregnant for X-Chromo. Let it be enough to say I knew she would be female.

#UpbeatAuthors: Time Has Value

December is one of those months where it seems like there is no time to:

  • A) sleep
  • B) breathe
  • C) recuperate

When you know there is going to be a stretch of time that is going to require massive chunks of your life, it’s smart to schedule down time. I have a lot of friends who are really into the holidays and who make themselves crazy with baking, decorating, trying to create perfect memories–and they’re too frazzled to enjoy the fruits of their labors.

Here are a few time-saving tips:

  • Say no. There are things to which you cannot say no, like your children’s holiday performances. But you don’t need to go to every party. If you feel you must, put in enough time to say “Hi” and “Bye” to your host, then leave.
  • Cheat. I have lots of little cheats, from using frozen chopped onions in my cooking, to buying my pies from the local bakery. I don’t need to make/do everything myself. Plus you’re giving work to someone else, helping them pay for their holiday. That’s a good thing.
  • Use a spreadsheet to keep track of ingredients for holiday baking and holiday meal planning. It really is helpful.
  • Use Google Spreadsheets for gift giving. Each person contributes a wish list, which is shared with everyone. As gifts are purchased, the purchaser deletes the wish. Still anonymous but no chance of duplication.
  • Online shopping. Amazon has to pay its employees the same as your favorite brick and mortar retailer has to pay theirs. The difference is that there are fewer employees. However, UPS, USPS, and sometimes FedEx all benefit from online shopping. You save gas and aggravation.