You Won't Believe What I've Been Doing

Elisa Ventur @ Unsplash

I kid you not, I am still going through to-do e-mails. 

I have managed eight blog posts since I started working on the to-dos, and I wrote a Time Management Tuesday piece for this week. But I forgot to post it until after I'd turned off my computer Tuesday night, maybe because of those e-mails I was slogging through, and Tuesday is over now. I also have a number of book posts I could be working on except there are still to-do e-mails to deal with.

I did have one humor piece published this past month, and I have another one that's supposed to be coming out next week.

But the to-do items in my email in-baskets go on and on.

Yes, yes, I have learned my lesson.

Happy Holidays, People

Clint Patterson@Unsplash

December has beaten me this year. It wins. I'll be taking a break, possibly until the middle of January.

Good luck surviving this month! 

I've Been Working On This Thing For THREE Years!

I was just hunting for my blog post on E. Lockhart's book We Were Liars, and saw that in it I mention that I was "beginning a new project, a YA mystery or thriller." That post was dated Sept. 19, 2019, three years ago yesterday.

I'm still working on that so-called new project! I've been working on it three @#!! years!

I do think I'm on the last quarter of the book, though. 

In my defense, I did spend a lot of time in 2020 and 2021 on short form work that I published on Medium.  And I'm pretty sure someone in the family had a baby in 2020 and a couple of people had surgery in 2021. 

It was well worth my time to look up that blog post, because I learned there that I own the e-book edition of We Were Liars, which is good, because I want to read it again. 

What Did You Do This Week, Gail? Feb.13 Edition

Hahahahahahah.

I had a couple of appointments planned this week, but what's a couple of appointments in a whole week, right? So Monday started off great with me working on some Goal 2 and Goal 4 and some Goal 7, which involved getting ready for Writers' Group Monday night and then, indeed, going to Writers' Group Monday evening.

And then this happened on my way home.

I was on a multi-lane highway, in the dark, when my car was hit by something. Then hit again. And again. We think from the looks of the car that I was hit three times. And that what hit me was a rogue tire. Though I didn't actually see the tire, either while the accident was happening or afterward, so it's possible that I was being attacked by a giant, invisible creature that had slipped out of another dimension and had no idea what it was doing. We believe it was a tire, though, because of the tire marks on the side of the car, where no tire marks should ever be. The very young state trooper was quite blown away by the sight of it.

Seriously, I was home an hour later, so it's not as if a car accident was all that time consuming. And it was 9 o'clock in the evening when all this first went down. Not my prime work time, anyway.

What happened the next day, though, was I had an appointment in the morning, then I go home with plenty of time to work. But I'd been in an automobile accident the night before, right? So while I did write a couple of blog posts, mostly I spent the afternoon watching two episodes of Fixer Upper, because everyone watches that,  and an episode of Outlander. I'm with Claire about the second season's Parisian setting. I'm not liking it as much as the first season in Scotland. Though I am able to understand a little bit of the French, which is gratifying.

Then on Wednesday I had to go with my husband to pick up a rental car, and then I had to follow him as he drove the damaged car to a shop for repairs. Then one thing led to another, and the only thing I did for work was buy some padded envelopes to mail books in.

And then Thursday I was on the road all day, because that's what I do on Thursdays, whether I've been in an accident Monday night or not.

So that was almost the whole flipping week.

Today is Friday, and I'm back on goal. Hmm. Maybe I'll start using that term here instead of "on task." Yeah, I'm back on goal today, specifically Goal 4.

Two Other Things I Managed To Do This Week

 

 I managed to share some tweets related to Goal 6

• 45  Books to Counter Islamophobia Through Stories https://kitaabworld.com/blogs/news/fight-hate-with-love-45-books-to-counter-islamophobia

• 5 Multicultural #Cybils Chapter Book Nominees, highlights from R1 judge Claire Noland #DiverseBooks #kidlit ow.ly/IcB8308YgzW
• Freedom Over Me  http://blbooks.blogspot.com/2017/02/freedom-over-me.html
• Strange Fruit http://asuen.com/strange-fruit/ via @AnastasiaSuen
• Coretta Scott King booklist and links http://www.hbook.com/2017/02/blogs/out-of-the-box/coretta-scott-king-booklist-and-links/

And I won a copy of Unlocking Worlds: A Reading Companion for Book Lovers by Sally Allen through the blog Book Nation by Jen. Which just goes to show that anyone can win a book at a blog giveaway.

You still have time to sign up for your chance to win Fancy Party Gowns. Go for it. Because it is good to win a book. Especially the week your car has been hit by a flying tire. And you never know when that's going to happen.

I'm Loving Work Right Now

Years ago, when I had littlies here, there would come a point while working on a draft when I would get very into it while family chaos went on around me. As I got closer and closer to the end of that particular project, I would start getting excited. Perhaps you recall that old saying about the workhorse who picks up speed when he sees the barn? That's how I would feel. Once I reached the barn, I knew I could take a break and do something else for a bit while the draft sat simmering or was off with my editor.  I'd be all pumped up about what I was going to do next.

Now I have elders to deal with and a wedding coming up. I'm at that point in the first draft I'm working on when I'm really getting very into it while family chaos goes on around me. What was particularly exciting yesterday was  that we had hot dogs for dinner.  I wasn't all that interested in food, and I had to do something fast and easy. That's all I could think of. Back in that earlier time I was talking about, we used to have hot dogs a couple of times a week during drafting.

I've been feeling lately as if I'm back in the good old days. I am pumped up about what I'm going to do when I finish this draft. Clean my desk. Clean up my e-mail. Do some marketing. Look at some of my short stories and essays. Get started on revising. It's all very thrilling.

Spontaneity Stinks

I was having quite a good work day today. It had the potential to become stellar. Then around 2 o'clock I got an invitation to visit someone here in town I only get together with once a year. So I dropped everything and went.

Nice time, but I lost a couple of hours of work, both professional and personal, and I'm going to be paying for it this evening. And maybe tomorrow.

Yikes.

I wonder what became of the person who came up with the "Stop and smell the roses" thought. Yes, someone made a fortune on posters in the 1970s, but, really, who thought it was a good idea to really keep stopping whatever you're doing to smell roses? Or anything else, for that matter?

I'm Finding This Overwhelming Rather Than Inspiring

Early on in my blogging career, I spent quite a bit of time stalking JaneYolen on-line. This wasn't as bad as it sounds, because she was my virtual sensei/mentor. It was no problem for her, because she knew nothing about it. No idea I existed. I  had to give the stalking up, though, not because she found out about it and called the law, but because I began to feel that spending so much time with her wasn't  good for me. She is mind-bogglingly productive, and she maintains a social life I can only dream of.

Well, after I started using Feedly reader to keep track of my blogs, I was better able to manage blog reading, so I took courage in hand and added Jane's. Earlier this week I found a great piece of flash nonfiction blog writing that she had done. But then today I found one of those round-ups she writes in which she relates info about the incredible amount of work she did in two weeks and the huge number of people she saw, people she wasn't related to and wasn't responsible for taking care of in some way. I know  I should find her inspirational, and I should make her my role model. But this is just two days after I did a whinefest here. I'm feeling more intimidated and embarrassed than inspired.

Perhaps I should  start stalking Shannon Hale. She sounds kind of worn out, and I think I might make a  better match with her than with Jane. Shannon and I could take naps while Jane's out shopping and having dinner with friends, after having done lunch with her agent.

Oh, wait. I just remembered. I'm not supposed to desire the life of others because desire leads to unhappiness. Right. Thank goodness. Now, I'm feeling better.

Off to work on an essay and an outline.

A Flash Essay On Writer Envy

For years I've been thinking about writing a memoirish book of essays about my experience as a maritial arts student. I even had a working title, Black Belt Essays. I even wrote and published two said essays. But that's as far as I've gotten with this project because of the time issues I keep writing about on Tuesdays and poor discipline and whine, whine, whine.

Just moments ago, I learned that someone else has written my book. Susan Schorn has written Smile At Strangers and Other Lessons in the Art of Living Fearlessly, which will be published next month.  #@!!  This is all because I am slow and inept!

Of course, my weak grasp of zennyness tells me that wanting, as in wanting to have written that book, as in wanting someone else not to have written it first, leads to unhappiness. Damn straight about that. But soon this moment of wanting and unhappiness will be in the past and over, and I will be on to another moment in which I will be slow and inept about other things. Yeah. I'm sitting here waiting for that. And waiting.

Oh. Here's a cheery thought. Schorn's book is about karate, and mine would have been about taekwondo. Plus, she teaches karate, while I can barely manage to maintain my own taekwondo skills, let alone teach anyone else. (I've already written one essay on that subject and am sure I can probably wring two or three more on it.) So if we both end up writing martial arts memoirs, they wouldn't be anything alike.

Now, that's a relief. I'm into that better feeling moment already.

Talk About Breaking Discipline

I have had a fantastic few days, but good times appear to have destroyed my discipline. All I've done for work since Tuesday morning is write an e-mail. An e-mail, as in one. I've spent the last couple of hours researching self-discipline fixes and coming up dry.

Well, at least we're experiencing a little drama here at the OC. Will our intrepid writer get back on task with cleaning her files, laying out her website overhaul, and developing lists of marketing contacts for the launch of the Saving the Planet e-book, just for starters? Or will she throw everything over to hunt for multiple cookie pie recipes?

The Definition Of The Word "Schedule" Should Include The Words "In Flux"

For years I have believed that if I could just find the perfect schedule, I would be able to crank out work in a Yolen-like manner, live in an orderly home, and reach some kind of spiritual and physical state of satisfaction, if not bliss. Work, creating order, and training all take time. The hours in a day remain the same, so determining how to use them becomes crucial.

I have yet to find that perfect schedule, which means that my schedule is always changing while I look forward it.

This past year my taekwondo training schedule has been changing because of changes at my school. I was on what I'll call the "winter schedule" in the spring, which involved training one evening a week with an occasional second evening class added when I could. Then in mid-June I went on the "summer schedule" when one morning class was added at the school to accomodate the kids who were out of traditional school. Then I could go to the one evening class that I could tolerate, but the morning class as well. I did two morning classes a week for something like eight years, so getting back to two classes--very, very good. Next week I go back to the winter schedule.

On the one hand, I need to train more than once a week to maintain my skills, but a lot of evening classes involving heavy sweating are hard to get into when you are more than eighteen years old, which I am. This means, by the way, that I have to try to find some time at home to add taekwondo to my personal workout/training mix. On the other hand, without the morning classes that I took for around eight years, I can now do a little writing before visiting the elders, which was added to my schedule on Tuesdays and Thursdays about a year and a half ago. So we're definitely talking a glass half full situation.

I'm also thinking, as I write this, that perhaps I should think about creating seasonal schedules, with goals for the season.

Hmmm. Hmmm.

A Submission Chart Seems Like A Good Idea...

I do understand that charts can be an efficient means of transmitting or storing info. Really, I do. I've tried charts for all kinds of things. So this Writer Musings: Submission Tracking Chart calls out to me.

Here's the problem I've had with charts: I can't hold on to them. Or, when I've filled them out, I can't get around to printing out another. Truly, it's not them, it's me.

As far as submissions are concerned, I've tried keeping track of, say, short story and essay submissions on the inside of folders that contained a draft of the manuscript, back in the days when I was more likely to have a hard copy draft of the manuscript. The problem with that was that if I was being efficient, the file went into a cabinet. Back in the day when all submissions were made through the mail, sometimes a form rejection would arrive with nothing regarding what manuscript was being rejected and then I didn't know what submission it went to because I have a lot of files in my cabinets. Come on! Sometimes it would take months editors to get back to authors. How were we supposed to remember?

I've also tried keeping an expandable file with hard copies of all my rejected submissions for one particular project, which sounds organized, except I would have to keep going through all the materials in the folder to find out where I'd submitted. So then I made a list somewhere, though now I'm thinking, I should have made the list on the outside of the folder, huh?

Last summer I made a bunch of short story submissions and kept a list with dates on a white board here in the office. It's still there.

Most recently, I've been thinking about keeping track in my new journal software, because I shouldn't be able to lose that, should I?

Oh, The Humanity!

If you don't follow my personal facebook page, which is not to be confused with my professional facebook page, where all the photos are, you don't know that I was quite seriously traumatized yesterday. I realized that I had lost Chapter 11 of a fifteen chapter (to date) work in progress.

I understand how it happened. It's totally logical. A couple of months ago, I started working on the bedroom laptop for a half an hour or so first thing in the morning. This has really improved my output. But on the laptop I save directly to a flash drive (also known, I'm told, as a thumb drive, and, at our house, as a sticky thing). I also work on a desktop in the office where I save to the computer's hard drive. I save the hard drive's work to the flash drive and transfer the flash drive's work to the desk top's hard drive, thus, presumably, always having two copies of everything.

Things became more complicated about a month or more ago, when I decided to write a new Chapter Six. Each one of my chapters is kept in a separate file. So once I did a new Chapter Six, the original Chapter Six became Chapter Seven, and everything had to be moved from that point.

I am sure there is some logical, techie way to have renamed everything, but I shuffled instead. Between the moving back and forth between drives and the shuffling, Chapter Ten, which should have become Chapter Eleven was lost, and Chapter Eleven and Twelve were duplicates.

Sad, sad, sad.

Well, guess who saved the day. Yes, yes, that's right. Computer Guy. He backs up the desktop's harddrive every week, but he doesn't override past backups because...Well, we won't get into that. It is enough to say that he was able to find the missing material in the back up from a few weeks back.

I didn't work much today because am still recovering from this experience.

Can My So-Called Writing Process Get Any Worse?

I'm sure it can, because it always does.

I've bored you before with the struggle I have with work now that I've lost a couple of days a week to eldercare. Working Monday, Wednesday, and Friday means I have to lose time each one of those days getting myself back up to speed. But at least I had a schedule, even if it was one that didn't work very well.

Then I lost my Thursday and then my Tuesday morning martial arts class. On the one hand, that does free up some time for work, and it looks as if I ought to be able to do at least a little something each day. On the other hand, I'm doing the martial arts training one night a week and trying to do some training at home to compensate for the second lost class. Chaos in terms of getting my life in order again.

I made a change a few weeks ago that involved rolling out of bed and trying to write a few hundred words first thing. Then I'm off for the morning physical training routine and, most days, distraction due to family issues with a plan to get into real writing mode by mid-day. I think that eventually this is going to work out for me, since I now can do it on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

The last few days, though, I needed to do some home-related things here at the house. Since I'd started that do-a-few-hundred words thing and was into little bursts of writing, what I did was sit at the computer for a few minutes, go do one of those things that needed to be done. Work for a little while, do something else. Today I haven't been feeling well, so I'd work at the bedroom work station (Yes! We have a bedroom work station!), go back to bed, drag myself back to the work station, get myself back to bed.

Progress is being made. It's not stellar, but it's there. However, I am really feeling the upheaval of being between schedules and never having anything finished.

I also keep imagining trying to explain this work process to a group of grade school students. I'm hoping the process will have evolved into something else before I have to do that.

Off to bed.

The Internet Doesn't Make Me Do It

I am constantly struggling with my craving for novelty, which the Internet helps me feed. Nonetheless, I do recognize that the problem is me, so I enjoyed Stop Blaming the Internet.

You Know, I Usually Can Tell When I'm Procrastinating

When Is Procrastination Not Really Procrastination? In my experience, it's always procrastination. If it's something else, then it's something else.

I Nearly Set The House On Fire

I was roasting some tomatoes for tomorrow night's dinner while doing that last blog post. That was a long post. It took a while. Then I went to some news' sites. Then I got up and wandered toward the stairs, where I heard the oven timer going off. I'm guessing it had been beeping away for thirty or forty minutes, anyway. I went tearing upstairs where the kitchen didn't look too bad. A little steam but no real smoke. If I had just turned off the oven and left the carbonized tomatoes there to cool, everything would have been okay.

But I didn't.

I turned off the oven, opened the door, and then we started seeing some real smoke. We had to unlock the back door before I could take the pan outside, the smoke detector went off, as did a fire alarm, we got a call from the security people, and another jelly roll pan may be history. Only time will tell. And now I have to come up with something else for dinner tomorrow night.

I Felt Better For A Few Seconds

The Mystery of the Messy Notebooks made me feel better about my poor work habits until I recalled how much more productive Agatha Christie was than I am.

Guess Who Just Had The Best Workday This Year?

Last week I began revising the 365 Story Project (again), this time into a traditional novel using only one of the story lines from the original material. This week I set up a spreadsheet to keep track of various parts of the job. I used a spreadsheet while I was working on my last book, and while that still hasn't sold, I do think a spreadsheet gives me more control of the on-going work. And it allows me to keep track of word count, which is nice in terms of daily goal setting.

Today I reworked (sometimes generating new material) one thousand, two hundred and forty-seven words! Yes, I know there are writers who wouldn't fire up their word processors for that, but I am not one of them. In addition, I made a submission, which involved doing a little market research. And I continued with some research for another project I want to get started on soon. This means, I'm sort of working on two projects at once, which is a new experience for me. I'm rather liking it.

Now that I've got the spread sheet going and am working a big three days a week, I can go back to giving you training reports, which I had to give up last August. Excited, aren't you? My computer guy found the training reports mind-numbing, which I will remember the next time he gets going on the kind of mind-numbing thing only a computer guy can go on about.

What's the point of doing training reports here? It allows me to use the blog as a sort of writer work buddy. Some writers report to their writer buddies each day, which makes them work harder so they'll have something to report. Why training report instead of work report? I like the whole idea of training. Working, not so much.

That Probably Wasn't Good

Speaking of not doing everything I need to do, as I was, this at Mitali's Fire Escape nudged me into going over to Amazon to update my blog there. Whadayaknow? I hadn't updated in two and a half months or thereabouts.

I know I could link this blog to Amazon, but I want to keep Original Content totally independent. Also, I have this vague plan to make the Amazon blog about more nonprofessional interests.

I considered doing Goodreads or Indiebound, as Mitali suggested in her blog post, but who am I trying to kid? I'll never keep those things up to date.

What To Do? What To Do?

My work life involves one main writing project, historical research for another, this blog, occasional posts for an Amazon blog, occasional business e-mail, short story and essay submissions, a writing meditation thing, and professional reading. Yet I can only work three days a week. Needless to say, many things are not getting done. In fact, I have two white boards in my office, one for a business To Do list and one for a personal To Do list. I haven't had time to update either one of them since February 21.

This afternoon I had a couple of hours I was going to use for cleaning my desk and doing three submissions. I have this long-term fantasy that if I were just tidier and more organized, I would be able to do anything. I have another long-term fantasy about getting manuscripts out of my office.

What to do? What to do?

I moved a stack of books and found a file I was looking for. I made one submission.

Hurray!