Day: January 30, 2020

Office Update

I have big plans to renovate my office. Huge plans. The idea came when I saw a rug online. My soul insisted I needed this rug. So I bought it. The rest of the room will transformed around this

The first step involves getting my husband’s two bookcases out of my office. I already know where they are going to go. It’s simply a matter of making the time (and recovering from a knee injury) to unload the overloaded shelves, then moving the furniture. One is going into my son’s former bedroom. That will be the first one moved. The second one is going into the hall where I currently have our printer set up. The printer will move into my office. I’ve measured. This will work.

Paint (I have colors in mind), new blinds, new light fixture, dry-wipe calendars I can reach. A white board. An altar.

I am very excited by this project.

MJ Monday: MJ’s Motivation-2020 Vision

It’s that time of year again, when people make their New Year’s resolutions. My friends and I continue to set goals for the coming year. How could I not play off the year and call my plan for the next twelve months my 2020 Vision?

Pulling together an action plan for the next year requires thought and reevaluation.  I study my successes from the previous year. I envision what I’d like to accomplish. I re-prioritize my weak spots. I have combined or deleted categories until I now have only four:

  • The Writing Life
  • It’s All About Me
  • Maintenance
  • Miscellaneous

Some things never go away: a monthly date with my husband, regular contact with my elderly parents, server maintenance.

Some things I simply stopped doing this year. Time became a precious commodity, and I was spreading myself too thin.

The Writing Life continues to be my largest category, because there are specific steps that need to be taken. I have definite ideas about what I want. I try to recognize my missteps and take action to correct them.

I have two new biggies for 2020:

  1. I want to transform my office/writing room into my own space. Yes, I have a room. But my husband has bookcases in there, eating wall space where there should be white boards and planning calendars.  Nothing has been painted since we first bought the house several decades ago. I’ve been making lists, then breaking the lists into steps I need to take. I plan to blog about my progress in months where there are five Mondays.
  2. I need to focus on professional development. I’ve already taken steps to implement this. I have taken one on-line class and have registered and paid for a second one starting in January.

Taking stock of my life matters to me. I think it helps me be a better person.

 

 

MJ Monday: MJ’s Motivation: Happy 100’s Update

Only eight days remain in the current Happy 100s Writing Challenge. We write 100 words a day for 100 days. I’m still hanging tough. I haven’t missed a day of 100 words since November 30, 2018. That’s new manuscript words. It doesn’t include blogs or revisions or rewrites. Simply 100 brand new manuscript words each and every day.

I took my small laptop with me when I went to my film festival. Another participant has something on her phone that allows her to get in her 100 words. Another participant claims it’s only 15 minutes. Some days that is true. Other days, not so much. But words are being written, the mind is immersed in the story at least a little bit every day.

That’s what counts.

MJ’s Musing: Road Rage

A few weeks ago I had a terrifying experience. I was driving to a critique partner’s house. Rush hour was over, but there was still significant traffic. I was in the single lane for a right hand turn, and when the green arrow came up, I made my right turn.

All of a sudden, there was a car on my left with an irate driver. He was beeping, flipping me the bird, and yelling at me. I have no idea where he came from. There was one lane for a right turn. I was in it, making my turn on the green arrow. All legal. He shot past, and went to the right of, still beeping, yelling, making obscene gestures.  I gestured to ask him if he wanted to get in front of me. He thought I was offering to fight him. “Come on!” he yelled. “I’ll take you on!” Then he reached over to his passenger seat, and I was terrified he was reaching for a gun. Instead he picked up a piece of…something and threw it at my car. It hit my car. He opened his car door, but then the light turned green and off we went.

This happened for several blocks. Finally, he vanished. Then I noticed a sheriff’s cruiser in the left lane, which may explain the disappearance.

While it was going on, I was trying to think of places I could go that would be “safe” should he decide to follow me. I knew people at several businesses. I did not want to lead this crazy young man to my friend’s house.

I later learned there is a sheriff substation just off the road I was on, but I didn’t know it at the time.

My guess is that the young man was on drugs.

Texture: It’s the Details

My brain has always focused on the details of a scene. The minutia. I remember the wallpaper of my bedroom when I was two. It was tan with cowboys and lassos on it. My grandmother wore my favorite apron the day my parents brought my baby sister home from the hospital: white, with blue tea kettles on it. The kitchen was yellow, and the bassinette was next to the stove.

I think putting the details into a book adds texture. The details reveal character. Susan Elizabeth Phillips is a genius at doing this. What I Did for Love is full of texture, and that’s why it’s one of my favorite books. Jennifer Crusie does it in Bite Me.  The books I go back to and re-read  all the time have the little details that appeal to me.

I need to remember to add these things in my own writing.