Keeping Motivated

The hardest thing for me to do is to keep motivated. I am a little on the procrastinator side and will put things off that I hate to do. 

Lately my writing has seen a little bland. I could not motivate myself to so anything different. I didn't know what to do different. I thought I might need a break, but that didn't help, but it did prolong my sitting down at the computer.

Holidays are always good to get us out of our habit of doing something. So during the holidays when we visited our children and then had company, I was out of the habit. Now comes to the excuses.

My husband is going from a full-time job to a part-time job. My writing schedule has been to write when he sleeps during the day and now I will only have three days where I can write like I'm used to. We may have the problem licked.

He wants to put our offices together. I work upstairs in a bedroom and he works downstairs in the basement. I like peace and quiet and he likes music (and he talks to himself). I think and hope we can adjust because I would like to be out of the bedroom.

The hope of a new office has motivated me, but there is a lot of work to do to get it up and going. I'm trying to do one thing at a time and set my days/time for writing and then set a time for doing housework, laundry, etc. If I can get that accomplished I will be fine. When I don't have something pressing on me, I can work better. 

Yesterday I wrote that I had found a way to deepen my characters. That is my big motivation right now. I want them to be real people and doing that should help.

Today is Special

Yes, today is a special day for me. I am being interviewed by Tiffany Colter on her blog www.writingcareercoach.blogspot.com. 

Since I am not a published author, I was shocked and honored when Tiff asked me. I didn't think I had anything to tell anyone about writing because I am not a "success" yet. I have loved to network with other people in the career field I am in for years. That makes any career most interesting. We can learn so much from other people.

We learn each day of our life and that is why writing is a journey for me. I tell people when I stop learning, I will be six feet under the ground. We should never stop learning, it is growing.

I do hope I can help others with my comments. If you read my blog very often, you know I read a lot. By reading I learn how to write. Last night I noticed something in a book that I had never thought about before. 

I had been writing in my main character's Point of View. That would be Callie. I had never written Jacob's Point of View after a scene he had with Callie. Now, I have more fodder. The book will not be so one-sided anymore. I think it will be more interesting to see how Jacob feels about Callie. Oh, I am going to have so much fun today. I got up an hour earlier to get started on this.

It is wonderful to do something you love. I am blessed beyond measure. I am renewed each day of my life and have a desire to work harder.

Making Progress

Last night I did make some progress with my desk. My left side is cleaned off and now I have the right side to do. I'm afraid I got side-tracked with phone calls.

My novel is also making progress. Today I plan to go through several chapters and make them more readable. I forget to let everyone feel the characters as I do. They remain like paper dolls most of the time. I am trying to breathe air into them and make them come alive. It is so strange being a writer and you can let someone live or die. Right now everyone is living, but who knows how long their life will be.

My husband says all I do is re-do my novel. I think he is getting discouraged and thinks it will never be published. I'm praying there will be a contract in the next twelve months.

The people in Eastern Tennessee are so interesting to write about. The older people had/have an entire language of their own. My mind is going back to my childhood and some of the words and phrases I have heard. I remember one word "plackon" which means "play like." I have no idea where it started from, but it is interesting. Then a bag or sack was a "poke" and a soda pop was a "dope." Today we would never say, "Let's go to the store and get a dope." It has a completely different meaning. This is what makes writing interesting for me.

I'm putting some blogs on my blog site. These are the one's I follow. My daughter's is a scrapbooking blog. She is very good at it. She doesn't realize it, but she is writing.

Have a wonderful day.

Getting Rid of Clutter

Usually I read The Edit Cafe, a blog from Barbour Publishing. Today Becky Germany had written something that hit home with me.

To make it short and to the point, it was about clutter. I read and then looked at my desk. On the left side there is a stack of "things." Several that can be removed easily. I have a Bible where I was looking up a scripture to use on a lesson I wrote for Ladies Class, a sheet of questions that were asked for an interview, a calendar from DiAnn Mills, and a book I have read, Paper Roses. Most of it can be discarded, not the Bible, the calender and the book, I'll need those later.

On the other side is a stack of bills that have been paid, but need filing. Okay, I'm lazy. There is also a copy of a page from my grandparents family Bible with all the information on our family and a gift card that I am getting ready to use online.

This will probably sound crazy, but I work better without the clutter. My project for tonight is to rid myself of this clutter. I want to also rid myself of the clutter in my house. My sweetie and I are the biggest pack-rats in the universe, well not completely, I think my mother held that honor. I'm still cleaning up her clutter and she's been gone for over a year.

I am a procrastinator. I will admit it. That is why I have such a problem with clutter. My mind clutters also, but that's a whole different story.  I would love to be neat and tidy. I really have to work at it and strive to do better. 

We're getting ready to move my office, so I will have to get my desk cleaned off. I am going to try to share an office with my husband. I don't know how that will work because he talks out loud a lot. I know I can never be there when there is a ballgame going on. I would never be able to concentrate.

Life is a journey

After several weeks in the hospital several years ago, I felt my life had come all the way around. I realized how fragile life is and how much there is to enjoy. My youngest grandson was due to be born in a couple of months after I was admitted. I wanted so much to see him. I fought to live and I survived. 

Today I think about how much there is to enjoy each day. I don't understand how anyone can be on the negative side of things all the time. I see God's wonder each time I open my eyes in the morning and I thank Him for giving me life. You only realize how much you enjoy something after you have almost lost it.

My journey has been hard at times and sometimes so easy. When I started writing, I thought it would be easy. Let me tell you a secret. It is not! It is easy if you enjoy it and sometimes you make big mistakes and realize how hard it is. Isn't that the way with life?

I enjoy a clean house, but I hate to clean it. If I didn't clean it, it would never be clean. It's mostly never clean, but it is enjoyable. 

I look at writing the same way. A finished product is wonderful, but it did take time and energy to get there. Nothing falls in your lap. You have to work for it. Writing is a learning process. I learn each day something I can do better. If I never sat down at the computer to write, I would never know how.

Most people are like me. You have to do something and learn from your mistakes. Along the way so far, I have had several good teachers and I am so proud of them for showing me things I can do better. 

My thought for today is to experience life and live it. See something good in everything. Watch the rain, smile at the sun and laugh when the wind blows.

2009

The beginning of a new year is always exciting. I enjoy trying to improve myself each year and this year is no exception.

This year I will work harder on my writing. My deepest desire is to be published, as it is for all writers. I always liked to write, even in school. I have always had a good imagination that was always allowed to run wild. My family laughs about my dreams at night. So, I guess my imagination goes strong in my sleep.

My book is improving. Yesterday I started going through the chapters and adding more things of interest. There are some parts that I realized over the holidays that I need to make stronger and better. This may take a little while to do, but I hope I am finished by the end of this month.

This year I will be trying to improve my health. One of the things I am doing is working out each day. My husband and I gave each other a Wii for Christmas. In all truth, it was before Christmas. We worked hard on the sports and we have done very well. I bought a Wii Fit after the holidays. So far I missed one day working out and it is a work out.

I never thought it would be this good. The exercises gradually build up your strength and the trainer tells you how you are doing. Right now my Wii age is ten years younger than I am. That's pretty good. I do yoga for ten minutes, strength exercise for ten minutes and aerobics for ten minutes. I only do thirty minutes at a time. I can always go back and do more in ten minute intervals. I do recommend it to anyone who is able to exercise. 

The exercise also helps me to think better. As we get older, we are more inclined to do less and our mind just does not work well. I have clearer thoughts each day and I am able to work longer at a time. By eating better and exercising, I feel I am off to a great start for the new year. Will I keep it up? I believe I will. 

Happy New Year

Happy  New Year to everyone! We did stay up until midnight, but because we had finger foods at church last night. I'm not much of a midnight person.

2009 looks promising for me. I will be making my characters stronger and submit my book to other agents and publishers. Discouragement is good for the soul. It also makes you work hard to have a perfect manuscript.

There will be more interviews on the blog with people I love. Isn't the word "love" wonderful. We all have feelings toward people, either love or hate. During the past year, I have made so many friends in the writing world and I have learned to love them. We are much happier when we love people. Our books are easier to write.

What do I look for in the new year? I am going to be pushing for a contract and I will join the many who are going to lose weight. Mine is not just a saying, it is a have-to. My diabetes is going higher, except for this morning, and I know I need to exercise and eat smarter. My husband and I gave each other a Wii for Christmas. I now have a Wii Fit. It is great. I exercise each day. This will help my weight and my blood sugar.

I am anxious to start back writing on my book. We have been gone several days and now we have company, so it has been hard to write. I decided to take a breather until after our company leaves.

I wish all of you a Happy New Year. May the best happen to you.