Day: May 28, 2018

#UpbeatAuthors: Positive Indulgences

I do tend to indulge myself. I can, so why not?

That hasn’t always been the case.

One of my more recent indulgences is attending the (almost) monthly writing retreats at Thistle Dew.  For many years, other obligations prevented me from attending.  Times change. Commitments change.

These writing retreats come in handy. They’re a great way to find intense writing time. Oh, I could take time off from Day Job and stay home to “write”, but writing doesn’t get done. Floors, get mopped, errands get run, laundry is laundered, and so on.  For some reason, the writing is always the first sacrifice.

So I don’t consider these retreats “indulgences”, really. They’re more like necessity.

 

Deadlines

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“I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by.” ~Douglas Adams

I am on a self-imposed deadline. I’ve set a goal for myself, and I am a very goal-driven person, especially when it comes to my writing. (Cleaning my house, losing weight, exercising–not so much.)

Back in January, something happened at my Day Job that got me to thinking “what if.” If you are a novelist, you know that wondering “what if” is a crucial part of your toolbox. Then I dreamed about the “what if.” I woke up, scratched out the opening scene to a story then dashed off to my RWA chapter meeting, where I read that scene during critique. I received a favorable response. And, as a joke, the working title became Dysto Girl.

I spent my annual January writing retreat working on Dysto Girl. I’ve since tossed quite a bit of what I wrote, because what I thought the story was going to be and what the story has turned out to be are two different things. I am obsessed by this story. By these characters and their situation. My critique group tells me their “Spidey sense is tingling.” And I dream about the story nearly every night. Not because I want to, but because I am a writer and sometimes this happens to me.

Oh, I was distracted in April when one of my publishers put a call out for a Summer Attraction short. I even brainstormed a great idea with my editor. But Dysto Girl sucked me back in.

I have given myself until the end of June to complete the first draft. Okay, maybe July 4th–Independence Day. But after that, I must start work on a three-book series I promised one of my publishers. And I’m excited about the series. I’ve been making notes. I already had the opening line and the basic premise  in mind when I was approached to do the series. I’m not under contract, but I promised, and to me, that’s as good as a contract.

Dysto Girl is not the book of my heart, but the book of my dreams. Literally.

V-A-C-A-T-I-O-N…In the Summer Time

As we approach summer vacation time in the USA, I hear people making travel plans, bemoaning their lack of funds to do up a trip “right”, etc. Many younger people act as if it is their God-given right to get away from it all, where they spend too much money and too much energy trying to have a good time.

This is not something I understand.

My parents never took us on vacations. We’d do day trips when my dad had his two weeks off. But he was tried from his work in the factory and just wanted to spend his days off puttering around outside. Plus my folks didn’t have the money for annual sojourns to Disney, a beach house, or anything else.

When our children were younger, my husband and I didn’t often have concurrent  chunks of time off. If one of us was able to take off  five consecutive days, the other usually couldn’t. It was the nature of our jobs at the time. We took our children on day trips–the Thousand Islands, Cooperstown, Niagara Falls (the Canadian side), and the zoo.

In my current Day Job, we had a mandatory week off every July when the place shut down. And I loved it. That week forced me to take off five consecutive days instead of creating a series of long weekends. I’m going to miss that this year.

When I was young and single, I tried travelling for vacation a couple of times, but mostly ended up in a hotel room reading. I’m not a very touristy person. And I could sprawl in my own apartment with a book just as well as spend money to go away and do the same thing.

Vacations are supposed to be a time to relax. I see too many people returning from their jaunts more exhausted than when they left.

The exceptions to my missing the point of vacation are the RWA National Conferences I’ve attended. But the side trips weren’t the point of being in different cities. Yes, I loved the monuments and museums in DC. I’ve been to the Sixth Floor Museum in Dallas and the Margaret Mitchell Museum in Atlanta. I’ve trod the RIverwalk and basked by the pool in Reno. And went shopping with my mother-in-law in Manhattan.

But going away for the sake of going away? I don’t get it. My husband would love to take a cruise. I don’t get it. Lounging on a beach? I tried it. Didn’t enjoy it. I’d rather lounge in my back yard.

Our annual vacation usually consists of a long weekend in Cooperstown for the Glimmerglass Festival  and another at Capitolfest–a silent movie/early talkie film festival in a nearby city. Yes, we really do sit in a darkened theater for hours on end and watch movies. Oh, and there are the season tickets to the local Triple A baseball team. Trust me. We don’t lack for a life just because we don’t trek to the shore or go camping.

I tend to use my time off from my Day Job for writing. Or market research (a.k.a. reading).

As I’m getting older, I’m getting crankier and more reclusive. I’ve stopped trying to convince myself to do things I think I should do. Like go on vacation. And I’m happier for it.

(And, in case you don’t know where the title of this blog post came from, you can learn about it here.)

 

 

 

 

Deck of Cards

Today is National Card Playing Day.

I always used to travel with a deck of cards. It didn’t take up much space and the possibilities were endless. Now we play “card games” on our phones.

I grew up playing cards. Yes, we had board games. I recall many marathon Monopoly games with my siblings and cousins. And of course there was Barbie, Queen of the Prom.  But what I mostly remember are the card games. All kinds of card games.  Pitch, Spoons (Pig), Rummy, Gin Rummy, Crazy Eights, Crazy Canasta. We would sometimes laugh so hard we would fall out of our chairs–or worse.

We played cards in high school, too, even though we weren’t supposed to. Our favorite games was one we called Sit and Bull$#!+. When my mom taught it to us, she called it ‘I Doubt It.’ I’ve also heard it called ‘Liar’ or ‘Cheat.’ I had a deck of tiny cards we could hide in our hands. I still have most of the deck.

Oh, how we would laugh while we played. And I don’t thing we were ever caught. We weren’t gambling or playing strip poker: we were having fun.

I don’t see people laughing over their cell phones when they play games.

What are some of your favorite card games?

The Organized Writer, Part 3

If you follow my blog, you’ll know that I’m trying to get myself organized for 2017. I’m changing my calendar/planner setup. I’m looking at a variety of options.

One thing I need to consider is what I want the planner to keep track of.  To that end, I’ve started a list of things I would like to see on a daily or weekly basis.

  • Tarot Card of the Day
  • Random Act of Kindness
  • Blog Schedule
  • Brain Dump
  • Daily Hydration
  • Food journal
  • Inspirational Quote of the Day/Week/Month
  • One Good Thing
  • Promotional tasks
  • Rose Sheet (this is a CNYRW thing)
  • Weather
  • What I Am Listening to
  • What I am Reading
  • Writing Goals
  • Walk/Yoga
  • Meditation

These are just some of the ideas I’ve come up with. At this point, I’m just toying.

If you were creating your ideal planner, what would you include?