Friday Fiver.

1. Off for a walk-talk with my favorite neighbor. We talk as fast as we walk and since we're both C.S. Lewis fans, today we'll talk about Mere Christianity and the opening of the Kilns, Lewis' home, in Oxford. Note of interest: Our pastor, Earl Palmer, is a C.S. Lewis scholar and recently was in Oxford for the dedication. Lewis' study in his home was dedicated to Pastor Earl as a gift from our church for his 50 years of ministry at University Presbyterian Church. A few of Earl's books (he has written several) are now on the study's shelves. I would have loved to be there with them all. But I will be in a few months. I think we'll head to Oxford instead of Cambridge to see the Kilns.

2. I am turning in my W-4 form today. Today is my last official day of fulltime freelancing. I'm not done with anything I thought I'd be done with, but this is a day to commemorate.

3. Expedia.com is not the company that has the roaming gnome, ya'll. That's the other guys. I think we should think up a roaming mascot for Expedia, eh?

4. Did not buy any books this week (if we move, I must stop my usual plethora of book deliveries). Trying to spend all my gift cards and gift certificates though, still have quite a few from Banana Republic and Nordstrom. Argh.

5. If you do not use Pandora.com, you are crazy. It will change your life. How long has it been since I heard Delirious singing Deeper. Or Seal. Good memories.

A life of faith requires a continual renewal of faith. I want to say to all of those reading today who have heavy hearts and BIG issues in their lives (health of their unborn baby, job changes, home building stress), do not fear, God walks with you. No matter what you believe, just know He is there.

Keep moving forward.

End of May.

So the raccoon stayed put yesterday. I only saw his beady little eyes peeking out at me once. Need I say this coon is humongous. I just want him to stay . . . over there!

Ah, life in the suburbs.

I am buried filling out employment forms and insurance forms and finishing up multiple projects. I got so much done yesterday only to receive yet another email from a client from way back who is desperate to get their book to the printer. We've been delayed for months and suddenly there's a pile of work and it all had to be done yesterday. So I have to back off other projects yet again. I hate doing that.

I'm frustrated by my schedule in May. It has been nothing but a total disaster. Thus, I am going to have to go back to my biz plan and retrench AGAIN.

Sanity is important in this business, contrary to the stories told by Augusten Burroughs. Not everyone gets to live like that.

Snatching times to write again today.

How is your writing going?

Keep movin forward.

Hiding From the Raccoon.

So there's this rather large raccoon living in our backyard and because I opened the house up to get some cool air inside before the weather heats up, I can hear him rustling around in our back 40 (not acres, just feet, but a very woodsy 40 feet). I really don't want him wandering inside today. Hope he stays in the shade under the trees.

We got our passports yesterday (I know, how lazy are we?) and I put a rush on mine because I just know with all the people trying to get theirs before year end that I will be biting my nails with fear all summer.

I am writing essays in my free time. Very fun pursuit, helped by a great book, Oxford Guide to Writing, which I highly recommend. Decided this morning that I am thoroughly jealous of everyone going to BEA this year and I plan to be there next year . . . with bells on.

Not much else going on. Phone ringing, work to do, and here comes June!

Keep Moving Forward.

Carry On, Mr. Bowditch

You know how you get super tired sometimes. That's me. I can't figure out why either. So I am talking to myself this morning "c'mon, keep it moving, carry on, let's go" and the title of that wonderful book popped into my head. I need to read it again.

It's psuedo-Monday. Hubby went back to work after a 10-day vacation and he couldn't find his Blackberry anywhere. But last term of school is finally over and the new term (summer term) starts up now. I stood out at our annual Memorial day cookout and talked about the stresses of going to school while working full-time with a college professor. I got some great advice on my impending return to school. I think I'll take it to heart. The professor friend was really encouraging to me, especially about my accelerated bachelor's degree studies, (basically shrinking what's left into the next 12 months and coming in under 5k). Yes, it HAS been done and with all my life experience, should be no problem for me, so now I have to actually study. This summer is the first battery of tests that I can do before I even pick a college (although I have picked a college) and I'll be doing half of it with Todd. He's going to get college credit from some testing too.

I should be farther in my study book, but I'll get there.

In writing news, I'm now a member of WritersView and WVU's Persist and Publish critique group. I'm very excited about both and ready to jump in! I am using Julie Hood's Organized Writer book to plan my very altered business. I also have cleared the way for more writing to happen beginning this Friday, June 1.

WIP status is still waiting on me, but that changes today.

Keep moving forward!

The Greatest Thing in Life

I have a whole beautiful batch of pictures Todd took yesterday at Rainier National Park. What an amazing mountain. We even spotted climbers headed to Camp Muir from the lookout.

All the snow melt yesterday had the waterfalls in the streams running full! It is my favorite part of spring in the mountains. The roar of water as it thunders down from glacier ice packs. And it's clear blue water. I could even see the very old water in the glaciers glinting blue in the sun way up toward the summit. Incredible.

It was a very nice day of vacation. We drove everywhere we could in the park and then got out and hiked a bit. So much flooding damage that we couldn't go past Paradise, but we'll be back after the snow melts and they can see the total damage that happened last winter. And after the roads are repaired and reopened.

We live so close! We'll be back to hike and camp for sure.

It was a great day. Today, back to work and then tonight is Pirates 3! I can't wait.

Keep moving forward.

Hello? Anybody Home?

My writing muse is bewildered with me this week. She's trying to tell me (I picture some Julia Roberts' Tink character, so bear with me) what to write next and I'm not listening. It's one of those weeks. Everything conspires to keep me from the writing. They say taking a new job is one of the most stressful things in a person's life. Yep. I agree. But it will be so worth it!

I'm heading out today to hike Mt. Rainier with hubby. We're scouting camping spots for this summer!

Keep moving forward!

Cultural Literacy.

Thinking a lot about engaging with our culture lately. I know people who don't read fiction (who don't know the difference between fiction and non-fiction) and yet attempt to change our culture.

Please excuse me while I go laugh out loud.

This is not the way to change anything. If you don't yearn for cultural literacy, and then seek to find out how people view the world (from their viewpoint, not yours), you'll get nowhere.

Please don't settle, people. When we think we've got a grasp on our culture and don't have to read fiction (and non-fiction) in order to know how to interact with other people . . . because we know it all already . . . we need to wake up. We are deceiving ourselves. I didn't say it. E.D. Hirsch Jr. did. Read the book.

Keep moving forward.

Striving For Perfect

So, hubby is finishing a class paper for his last class and I get to edit (I'm delighted to help him in this way; his professors have no idea that he's married to a professional writer and editor) and last night I started to edit his fine writing that talks about how Henry Ford exhibited or did not exhibit the 21 Laws of Leadership in building Ford Motor into a powerhouse company. I started to developmentally advise him on how to make this stronger here, how to soften his intention here, and he stopped me and said "hey, you don't have to make this perfect. I'll take a B. We don't have to get 100% every time."

And I took a breath and relaxed.

What is it with me? I am going to have to lower my expectation threshold significantly in the next few weeks due to a huge change in my business and focus. I'm going to have to calm down and quit trying to make everything perfect.

I run at such high levels that I am a bit concerned that I will know how to slow down.

As a writer though, especially one who HAS TO THINK to write, this is so vital. When faced with multiple projects and magazine queries and novel writing, it is so easy (for me) to just take it all on and try to conquer the goals I've set up by brute force. That is not the power of a writer.

Someone told me a long time ago, "If you can't beat it straight up, just be a heck of a lot smarter."

I think THAT is a writer. I can't do all the goals I have AND write amazing prose. I have to choose. Well, I've already chosen. And now in the next two weeks, I will be learning how to DO that. On a daily basis.

I learn something all the time. I'm so glad.

Keep moving forward.

A New Day.

No, I'm not singing Celine Dion songs on this blog. It really is a new day. Hubby finished the first draft of his final school paper. He's off golfing to celebrate. In the rain.

My writing work has begun in earnest again. Book reviews, essays, non-fiction, fiction. I'm excited and will be sharing more on this blog in the coming days.

Writing is thinking, you know. If you're trying to write something and you find yourself having a hard time thinking, you need to step back and think before writing. Does that make sense?

Especially in non-fiction, it's not so much about the news (I'm talking about expository or persuasive writing, not so much journalism) as about expressing your viewpoint about the subject. People appreciate a strong viewpoint that has something to say. Even if it's contentious, people would rather hear it said strong than "I think . . ." or "If I could say . . ."

So write firmly, with conviction, and keep moving forward.

I sure am.

Finally, it's Friday!

You've got to click over and see pictures of my girl, Allison Winn Scotch at her first Borders book signing. She wrote a great book! And she's a Mom! And knows how to juggle!

Allison's book signing in New York

I am so glad it's Friday. For one thing, the work is headed out of here! Woohoo! For another thing, the end is in sight.

I love the end. I love when the end is in sight and things are starting to wrap up. But, and this is funny, I also love thinking about the end when I'm in the middle of it all. You know "once I get all this done, then . . ."

I used to relish being in the middle of everything (I still do to some extent), but I'm changing. I love being in the middle of a writing project, I love the thrill of research and taking notes, but I have to have many endings. Short bursts of energy, followed by "wow, look what I finished."

It's kind of a curse, actuallyl. You see, I share Martha Stewart's birthday and she's the same way. She does projects and has short acomplishments that she calls instant gratification. When planting a new garden, painting a room, cooking a meal, when she accomplishes something, it spurs her on to accomplish more.

That's me! That's me! (waving my hand frantically at you)

I'm the same way. It's been interesting to apply that to life as a writer. I think it comes from the daily writing hour I get in the early mornings. (This week, everything is haywire!) I am already looking forward to Monday when I can get back to my WIP.

Have a great weekend! Keep Moving Forward!

Heads up!

Whew. Lots of phone time today. I'm worn out and ready to quit talking and start work. Yeah sure. It's only 2 pm already.

Anyway, lots going on, not much I can share about, but exciting and very cool prospects ahead for this girl. I'm really psyched!

Have not had writing time this week as a result of the chemistry textbook I have been buried in. Seriously, I edited all afternoon yesterday on it and when hubby came home I looked at him like "who are you?"

I'd forgotten what day it was. That's deep.

Just a few more chapters and it's outta here. I can't wait. Not that the author hasn't been a dream, but it's not my thing. Ugh.

I'll have progress on the WIP next week! Oooo, and news.

Here. There. Where?

So it's one of those days. I took a personality test that all of us writers are taking (some writer got a press release on it this morning) and I'm a full-blown visionary. Well, I knew that, but seeing it in print, knowing that it's true. Kinda takes the wind out of your sails.

I mean, it's a good thing and all, but gee, now I know why it's so hard to live day by day and to stick to a plan.

Sure, I can stick to a plan, but by this time tomorrow, I will have different viewpoints about how to go about that plan.

Being a visionary is necessary for my work: writing, planning, process management. But it's detrimental to getting that work finished. I get bogged down in the middle.

There, I said it. I'm bogged down in the middle of multiple client projects, ideas for multiple personal writing projects, and deciding the best approach to it all.

It wears me out. But this is me. This is who I am.

Today's question is no longer between a and b, but between c and d, dropping plan e, but thinking through what choosing c or d will mean to my plans for c.

Confused yet?

Me too.

This is my brain. Thus, I'm troubled by this visionary thing. It sounds all cool and inspiring, but try making decisions with this brain. Try getting ahead on your deadlines with this brain. Try keeping the plan the same from week to week with this brain. Impossible.

And they said my Myers-Briggs personality, INFP, was that of a writer who could change the world.

Inside my head is laughter. Sorry.

Keep moving forward.

Short-Term Memory

The attack of the short-term memory snatcher has begun in earnest. I am still juggling six projects, but making headway on them, finally.

However, I am working on this one project that has been going for a while and I look and can't remember why I handled those references that way, when I'm sure I knew to handle them another way.

Whatever.

The sunshine has been out now for over 24 hours and we are loving it. It feels so good to have the sunshine (warm sunshine) again.

I've been reading in snatches (just like the writing) and read Alice Hoffman's Incantation yesterday that I picked up at the Scholastic Book Fair over the weekend. Wow. Blew me away. A very short book that is packed full of the emotion of so much. A riveting and perfect coming-of-age story. Jodi Picoult reads Hoffman voraciously and I had started one of her books years ago, but never finished. I am now another voracious Hoffman reader. I recommend!

Writing is wavering between 11,000 and 12,000 words this week. We may get up past 15,000 rather quickly and end higher than anticipated. I've got to make Lenora and Cassie clash and "un-interact" this week in their peculiar mother-daughter way. I'm really feeling this story.

If you have a Twitter account, please friend me (see Twitter sidebar box). Just another thing to get addicted to, but addicted I am!

Keep Moving Forward.

Clarity.

So how come other people can point out in your life what you just can't see?

It's the theme of countless books, movies, plays (Two Gentlemen of Verona by Shakespeare), and everyday life.

I am bewildered and a bit overwhelmed with my to-do list. Six projects running concurrently and enough going haywire in them to completely mess me up on a regular basis. I keep revising my to-do list and figuring out exactly what I should do first: earliest due dates, work that I hate that is bugging me the most.

But I get into the middle of it and get muddled again. It is a hourly battle to stay on task right now and I'm not sure why.

I have seen a glimpse of where I'm going (writing and learning and limiting my copyediting), but I have to get through this to-do list first, before I can jump in gleefully to my next thing.

I think that may be the real problem. We always think the grass is greener on the other side of the fence, don't we?

I know I do.

So my task today is to write, keep to my to-do list, and to floss. And to not pick up my tomorrow tasks, no matter how badly I want to.

Progress on the WIP continues, heading to 15k this week and beyond.

Keep moving forward.

What Fun To See Your Name In Print.

So, my copy of Allison Winn Scotch's The Department of Lost and Found arrived last night and I gleamed with delight. This book is special. Allison is cool, a fabulous person that I look up to. She is a terrific writer and her first book is no disappointment, plus I'm in the acknowledgments (right back at ya, A!), which just warms my heart.

Our novel writing group, Novel Success Team (NST) through Freelance Success is amazing. Koren, who started it, Marie, who took it to greater heights, and Allison, Jen, Judy, and Jacqui, plus everyone who continues to be a part of it has just helped me become a better and better writer.

Cheers, AWS!

(and if you haven't purchased TDLF yet, what are you waiting for? It's a great read. And an important book in the fight against breast cancer.)

It's Friday, I'm over 10k on my WIP and headed to 12k today. I am finishing up multiple projects today and tomorrow and am going to enjoy this weekend.

Todd is applying for a job in Miami. I'm freaking out.

Keep Moving Forward.

Juggling Multiple Projects.

That's a Civil War-era fort that guarded Maine's capital and Bath, the ship-building mecca during those years.

As for today's blog title, I sound like a broken record when it comes to juggling multiple projects and clients.

Perhaps because I'm learning it so much myself.

I think it's particularly relevant when one writes books. We all wish for sabbaticals or writing fellowships that would enable us to write, undeterred, for hours and days at a time.

That's the dream.

In truth, I think better writing comes from those quick moments snatched from the jam-packed schedule of daily life. Fresh inspiration, juicy dialogue, limited time . . . all these elements help to create. I think it was Annie Dillard and Anne Lamott who both stated that writers tend to start too big at the beginning. Anne L. talks about a one-inch picture frame. Annie D. talked about her time at a writing colony and how she just sat and stared out the window, or was that Flannery O'Connor? Anyway, the point is that we need to learn to take those half-hours for writing, even more so when there is just no way to take a month-long sabbatical. Some of the best prose and poetry was written in amazing situations.

How amazing is your life today? Anything like mine? Finishing up multiple projects, doublechecking and rechecking to make sure nothing is missed, and longing to just go sit in the sunshine and read.

That will come soon enough. For now, I'm snatching time to write. My WIP count is up toward 9k and will go over 10k today. I should update my WIP counters.

Keep Moving Forward.

Mid-week roundup.

A few things today. Links to books that you MUST read, interesting work tidbits, and progress on the WIP!

First up is my buddy Allison Winn Scotch's new novel that released yesterday.



What Came Down Today

From Publishers Weekly
Some side-effects of cancer treatment are pretty fabulous in magazine writer Scotch's debut novel. Natalie Miller, a driven 30-year-old senior aideto a woman senator from New York, is having a rough time: just days after she's diagnosed with breast cancer, her cheating live-in boyfriend ditches her. She's feeling gloomy, then, when she begins chemo. (Her hunky and sweet gynecologist, Zach, is a mitigating factor.) Though the election is six weeks away, Natalie is ordered to stay home, where she writes in her diary (excerpts appear throughout) and becomes addicted to The Price Is Right while an ambitious junior aide takes over her job. Natalie battles through rounds of chemo and a mastectomy until, out of the blue, an old love, up-and-coming rocker Jake, comes back to take care of her. He seems intent on making things work, but Natalie's long-simmering (and seemingly requited) attraction to Zach only intensifies. Meanwhile, Natalie's journalist friend Sally lands her first big story: an exposé of Natalie's boss. Her loyalties on the line and her cancer on the wane, Natalie makes some tough choices about the postcancer person she wants to be. Character development is secondary to the affirmative message in this bonbon of a cancer book. (May)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

I intend to post a review this month. Great book (I read an advanced reader copy) and a great Mother's Day, graduation, birthday, summer read gift.

Second item is that I have added a new author to my blogroll: Susan Wise Bauer, author of multiple books (I now work for her publisher; more about that in a minute), including world history, cultural literacy, and classical homeschooling. Her blog link is insightful, interesting, and Dr. Bauer is a writer worth knowing.

I'm currently reading her current volume 1 of her four-volume history series:
The History of the Ancient World.

For those who don't know, I was homeschooled for a while during my childhood, back in the day when it was illegal in Oregon! So my parents registered me into a Washington shelter school and I have a high school diploma.

However, I learned more during those five semesters than I did in the other 11.75 years of school. I don't think I'll homeschool my own children, but I will supplement their learning.

And I hope to never stop learning. I read voraciously (as you know from this blog) and I am beginning my studies to finish college. I don't have much to do before I can get to my goal (MFA from Seattle Pacific), but I have to study hard. Dr. Bauer was an motivating factor in my ability to start studying to return to school. Her book, Well-Educated Mind, provided the motivation, and the start of my desire to return to collegiate learning.

I'm working on a fun project for W.W. Norton (Bauer's publisher): collected plays of Shakespeare. I admit I've never read the Two Gentlemen of Verona all the way through before. It's a fun project and the Norton folks are great.

In WIP news, heading up to 7k today. I had a brainstorm (inspired by Jodi Picoult) and I know what I want to do for the next 7k or so. A very cool feeling.

How are you doing today? I hope well! Happy Wednesday!

Keep moving forward!

I'm so glad I'm well.

It's very good to be well again. I feel so much better in body and in spirit. I'm so glad to be headed away from the illness rather than back to it, you have no idea!

Lots going on around here. I keep plodding through the piles of editing. The sooner I finish my daily tasks, the sooner I can read what I want. However, multiple projects are taking longer than anticipated. That's okay. I'll just keep at it.

Wrote yesterday on Chapter 2 of the WIP. I am just now headed to 5k words because I deleted multiple pages in a quick revision yesterday. I threw spaghetti up on the wall to see what stuck and some fell down. :)

I'm really enjoying the writing on this round. I did a major outline and spent months thinking about the story before writing. There is a great difference. I know many writers don't advocate spending months thinking, but I'm still new. I've written three novels, all unsold and being such a process queen, I felt that doing the same thing over and over without changing anything was a bit insane. Actually that is the true definition of insanity. So that change this time is making a difference.

My goal is to outline quickly (within 60 days) for my first draft on the next book and then write a first draft after letting it breathe for 30 days. A first draft will probably take two to four months in all. Thus, my goal is to write two books per year beginning in 2008.

I'll keep you posted on how I do!

Keep Moving Forward!

Hey, I thought April rain meant May flowers.

Yup, raining today in Seattle. I'm used to that, but it's been a hard winter for us, so I'm ready for sunshine.

Or perhaps the weather knows that I have too much work in May and it's saving the good weather for June when I can enjoy it.

Great quote this morning by the late, great David Halberstam (who was killed in a car crash last month) "Being a professional means doing the things you love on the days you don't want to do them."

Halberstam was a Pulitzer Prize winner and at his death was working on multiple books, I'm so sad to say. The world has lost a great, great writer.

His quote rings true today, for me. I love what I do. LOVE it. I just have had so many days of late that were like waking up on the wrong side of the bed. And freelancers don't get sick leave, mind you.

But, I feel much better after a weekend with family and friends and I feel confident that I can accomplish what needs to be done today. With joy. That's my job today.

Is there something you're avoiding doing today? Having a hard time finding the joy to do it?

Keep Moving Forward.

Update on my writing.

I wrote every single day this week (and flossed, which is a total coup).

I have 5k on the new WIP (Let Them Eat Cake) and I'm having a great time. Someone described writing a first draft as "throwing spaghetti up against the cabinets to see what sticks" and I LOVE that approach. It really makes sense to me. I'm totally exploring my story idea this week: pushing limits, testing theories, finding out how the people interact with each other. Great fun.

Next week, I'll be posting an updated Curio project space for the project and you can see how things have progressed.

Have a fun weekend. Do something creative and fun and don't forget to keep moving forward.

Busy Thursday.

I have been on the phone all morning it seems. Lots of appointments. So glad for a cordless headset.

Today I'm thinking a lot about change. As humans, we seem to run from change or we run toward change. I think everyone is a mix. Sometimes, we crave a chance to mix it up; other times, we just want everything to stay the same for awhile so life can calm down.

I'm feeling the winds of change over my business, as I've talked about here before. I've thought long and hard about it, because I would just hate to wake up one morning in the future and realize that everything is different, wishing I could turn back time. I think that's a real fear of mine. Is this the right decision or the wrong decision?

I think that's where faith really comes into play. (Faith in whatever; lots of people have faith, and not just religious faith. I do , however, mean religious faith for my particular situation.) Do I have the strength (faith) to make a decision about this issue? Do I have enough faith to trust that even if I regret it later, I can still live with the consequences? (That sounds so dire; it's just a change in my business focus, really, folks.)

So, big decisions and deep thoughts today. I'm grateful for the advice of friends and family, grateful for my own reckoning powers, and grateful that I believe that I will be guided in this decision. I'm not making it alone.

Keep Moving Forward.

Mid-Week Report.

So, this WIP is really running off the inspiration of George Eliot's Middlemarch.

I'm so inspired by Jane Smiley's example (she recently redid Boccaccio's Decameron in her recent book, Ten Days in the Hills), that I have been reading her 13 Ways of Looking at the Novel, and I realized this week that my book is going to be inspird by Middlemarch. It's about people influenced by their community and what happens as a result. I love how Smiley juxtaposed Middlemarch against Vanity Fair.

I'm on track this week. Writing, flossing, editing, making progress. I am just doing a little each day and it's keeping me on track.

Don't try and do too much this week. I really believe keeping it simple and steady wins the race.

Keep moving forward.

May Day.

They are bringing VICTORIA magazine back.

At least that's the word on the street. PRNewswire reported it yesterday. Hearst wil co-publish with a smaller Southern publishing company. Do you know how glad I am of this? I am so ready for that magazine to come back. It inspired me endlessly and was each month, without fail, a thing of beauty.

I'm writing (and flossing) and taking time out to enjoy beauty today (looking through back issues of the old VICTORIA for inspiration). It is May. The warm months are here after such a long winter and we are ready.

I have so much weeding to do in the backyard, but now that May is here, it can finally be done.

There's nothing like May. It heralds the start of a brand new season. I feel the winter illness and cold beginning to melt away.

Keep moving forward.

Simply Monday.

Keep It Simple, Stupid.

Yes, I'm learning this lesson all over again. It is so easy to get swept up into the multitude of plans and events that life brings each day. All that matters to a writer is that I write. It is not a quick writing sprint that creates a book, but a daily pace won over many weeks and months of lap after lap.

How often we forget this? You cannot build a masterpiece (book, painting, business, city, whatever) in a day. It takes consistent pacing and time to build something great.

I can't believe how often I forget this and jump ahead, determined to finish something quickly. I always regret it. Always.

My lesson for today: just live today. Write today (and, just for me), floss today.

Keep Moving Forward.

A writing plan.

I think I have a plan for my writing.

I am preparing to receive the 2006 and 2007 mp3 cd collections from the American Society of Journalists and Authors annual New York meetings and am re-listening to the 2005 mp3s. I'm working out a plan! Nothing major, nothing fancy. Just a simple way to start writing what means a lot to me and to prepare the way for my future plans.

It's a great relief to know that I don't have to have a plan just like the next writer. Although I do have a plan similar to writers that I admire. I just know I can't do EVERYTHING. I have to pick and choose.

This week, I've realized that I am trying to do too much in a day. I continually cram in more and more and I'm wearing myself out too quickly. There is a time for everything. I will probably continue to copyedit by day and write by night (contrary to my prednisone-induced announcement of yesterday; never make huge life decisions while on high-dose antibiotics, remember that) and I'm okay with it. As long as everything stays within their boundaries.

My first phase of the plan is to continue writing and publishing book reviews for multiple outlets, while finishing a book proposal or two, writing and shopping a novel or two, and preparing for the next phase, which I'll explain at a later date.

That does not sound too hard. And it's a direction, which gratifies me to no end. When I get too tired, I tend to run around without any attention span. I need to learn to finish well and to plan well and to execute well.

So that's my plan. I'm pleased with it, and relieved that I am headed somewhere at long last.

Do you have a plan? It does not have to be fancy or complicated. Just set down on paper what you'd like to accomplish and then find steps to accomplish that.

And above all, keep moving forward!

Happy weekend! I'm going to be reading and writing for the first part of my plan and hopefully I'll be back to normal health by Monday!

Changes afoot.

Spring always brings new things, new decisions, new focus.

This spring is no different. I'm playing with some major changes for my business. Of course, I'm not going to jinx it by mentioning any of those here yet, but even the prospect of change gets me thinking.

The familiar keeps us where we are. By that I mean change is hard. I am experiencing a sort of separation anxiety with two important pieces of my life: my former home in Oregon and my copyediting biz.

That sounded strange, but bear with me.

It's a whole lot easier to dream a new life up and to wish for it and to wait for it, but when it finally comes, there does come a time further down the road that you suddenly look back and realize that your life has utterly changed and you won't be going back ever again.

I spent 29 years in Oregon, my home state, amongst family, friends, heck, I'm related to a lot of people in that state, and I was more than happy to leave it behind when I married Todd and we moved to Washington. However, in the past nine months, a sort of anxiety has reared its head in that I'm jealous of my family and friends there who get to live and work and play and stay there. It seems a bit ridiculous to me because I am very happy here in Seattle and I don't want move back. I know it's an estrangement of sorts, something I have to go through as I enter the next phase of my life, but all the pulling up of roots and long-held emotions is painful. It's the strangest thing I've ever gone through. (You also have to understand that my siblings and parents are my best friends and I do miss them daily. But I can't live there anymore. I know that.)

I am in a wilderness because of it. I am looking out toward the future, a bit apprehensively, and trying not to look back at Egypt too longingly. I know my life has a purpose and a plan and I know I'm headed somewhere. I think it may be a delayed reaction too. I don't let go quickly. Thus, I'm having to let go painfully.

As to the copyediting, I've done it for twelve years, going on thirteen years. I'm good at it; I get multiple job offers each day and turn most of them down. And I know that my copyediting days are coming to an end quickly. I'm being called on to a writing career. I can feel it. The entire idea of a writing business makes my eyes cross and confuses me to no end. I don't know how to run a good writing business. i don't know how to plan my day in order to get the most writing out of me. All this for copyediting, I know, and so I put one foot in front of the other and take one step at a time. (Lately, I've been going backward, however.) Again, I don't let go quickly. I'm having to let go painfully.

These are hard lessons to learn and they've got me tied up in some knots this week, especially because I'm still recuperating from a rather intense viral infection. But I'm going to post it here, send it out, and trust that just saying it publicly will enable me to do it. I know God will bring me strength to keep walking.

Thus, Keep Moving Forward, means quite a lot to me today.

How about you? Is there a change coming that you are dreading?

We're zooming to May!

Can you believe how quickly April flew by? I half-expected it to move just as slowly as March. For me, March was a perfect month. April has been too fast.

But one good thing, spring is here. The birds and the flowers and the sunshine! I am loving it.

Lots to keep me busy around here. The fiction work continues in earnest. I've been reading again in Jane Smiley's "13 Ways of Looking at the Novel" and soaking up Jane's descriptions of her reading 100 novels in 3 years time. Doesn't that just sound fantastic? It can be done. Once May sweeps are over that is. I plan to read this summer just like I did as a kid in summers. When I'd clear off entire shelves of books in the library and have them mostly done by that evening. Those were the days. Draped sidways across a wingback chair, a pile of books at your side, just reading and reading.

Reading is so important for fiction writers too. I hear horror stories of aspiring novelists who say they've not picked up a novel in a decade. It almost makes me want to run and hide. Don't fall for that purist trap. You will never publish if you do not also read and read voraciously. Poetry, plays, novels, non-fiction, cereal boxes.

A writer does not write from an empty space in one's head. It comes from literature. It comes from cultural literacy, knowing about things that can only be found in books. It comes from dreaming through another person's creation. It comes from being swept off to another world often and quickly.

Don't be a purist. Read and read well.

Keep Moving Forward.

Still here.

Who would have thought being allergic to sulfa drugs would bring on such reactions? Still delerious at night, even with prednisone and Benadryl. Still feeling under the weather and very drugged, but other than that, I'm doing great.

So, I've been thinking quite a lot about England lately, probably because I'm headed there with a friend in the fall for a week. We're set to spend time mostly in Notting Hill and Soho, and will definitely waste a day in Harrod's (I am so excited!).

It's a dream come true for me to go (for my friend too) and I'm pleased our schedules are finally aligned so that it can happen. Todd is a bit bummed he doesn't get to go, but once he figured it he could call it a scouting trip for the "big trip" he and I will take later on, he was okay. Plus, I think he's relieved to not having to shop with two girls (shopping with just me is enough for him!).

I've been ruminating on sense of place in fiction. Where a book is set often sets the mood, tone, theme, and ultimately believability of a story. I mean, had Daphne du Maurier not set her book at Manderley, would we really believe that a mere housekeeper could frighten the second Mrs. de Winter quite so terribly? Or the setting for the new very "Rebecca"-esque "Thirteenth Tale" that came out in 2006. It is a delicious setting: another fine house, where the story of a crumbling old house is told. I get goosebumps even now and my sisters have borrowed the book from me. I may have to get another copy soon! in Elizabeth Kostova's "The Historian," her descriptions of Europe seen first through the eyes of a young girl and than her father years before just melt off the page and into your senses. You feel that you are there. I knew I could smell the dirt in the climactic scene when they climb down below the church, creepy and delicious as it was. Often, writers don't spend enough time luxuriating in a place so that their readers are drawn to spend time there. Even Janet Evanovich makes you feel the New Jersey heat rising from the asphalt roads, and you feel as if you too see the tired 1950s homes in her parents' neighborhood rising from your own imagination.

A good writer gives her readers just enough to dream for themselves. Thus, movies will never replace books. They'll just be a perfect complement for us book lovers who want to discover if what we dreamt matches what others imagined.

Keep Moving Forward.

A New Day

After a long weekend of extreme illness, I'm back. Whew. I'm surprised I'm still here. I do have a doc visit follow-up today to make sure I'm a-ok, but I feel so much better. I had a sulfa drug reaction, high fever, full-body rash and hives, itching, delirium, swollen ears, noses, fingers. So strange. First time ever I've reacted to drugs like that.

Thus, not much done on the writing. Could barely focus on my hours of movies that hubby kept putting in the DVD player to keep me busy the past three days like the BBC Pride & Prejudice.

I don't remember much of anything either, I was boiling at such a high temp (101.4 most of the time). Love aloe with lidocaine. It's my new favorite thing. And water, blessed water. I love it!

Thus, today is going to be spent putting things back together again and getting caught up with my clients. The writing work will commence this evening.

I have to say, however, three days on the couch did wonders for me. I feel so invigorated! I definitely needed time off. Now to do the laundry and the dishes that stacked up while I was sick. :)

Keep Moving Forward!

Juggling Illness and Projects

So how do you juggle being sick and taking care of multiple projects (with multiple deadlines). The answer? Keep the amazing clients, of course!

Don't be too quick to get rid of clients who understand that life is hard and things can change quickly, especially in spring, when allergies and colds are flying around. I usually don't get sick working by myself at home, but this time, a visit to the dentist and the clinic just exacerbated the situation.

But I try to work a week ahead at all times, so today, only two projects are imperative. And not a big deal. I have an author waiting to review his chapters and I need to clean up another few chapters for comp. I can do that! But know that this gal is spending the weekend on my couch. If I don't get better this weekend, then life won't look so good next week. :)

Thanks to Katharine O'Moore-Klopf of Editor Mom for her really good article on EFA members who blog (not a blog post, Katharine wrote an article for the print edition of the March-April issue of the EFA newsletter). She mentioned this blog along with several other worthy blogs in a great round-up of the multitalented people of EFA.

Welcome to all the EFA members who are surfing blogs as a result of that article. If you have a blog and want to trade links, just leave a comment. I'd be happy to link to you. If you're interested in joining EFA, visit here.

Hope everyone has a nice weekend.

And . . . yes.

Keep moving forward!

Bye-bya Sanjaya.

I don't even watch American Idol, but you could feel a palpable sense this morning that he got the boot last night (okay, so CNN told me). Talk about outrageous. When it's only your hair keeping you on in a singing competition, methinks the singing competition might be on its last legs, hm?

In other news, the writing is coming along nicely. In between planning a new book club (starts in May and our first pick is Allison Winn Scotch's The Department of Lost and Found; ff you want a really good read that's uplifting and fun, check it out!) and juggling clients, I'm able to sit down for at least a few hours each day and tap out ideas and other thoughts about my WIP.

Jodi Picoult said that she doesn't ride a word on her books until she hears the first line in her head. Then she starts and she's quite serious about writing. She researches her next two books while she's still writing her current WIP!

And Jenny Crusie juggles multiple WIPs and even has a fun book that she works on each Sunday.

I have multiple WIPs, but I'm the process queen and until I figure out a quantifiable process to this fiction writing, I'll stick with one WIP at a time.

But I'm writing each day. And that's how I keep moving forward.

Writing Is a Journey

Not a sprint race.

I'm reminding myself of that as I have another crazy week that just keeps handing out interruptions and non-planned events. I am so grateful for good things happening, but know that I have to stay focused on the work today, or I will melt down.

How come we think that writers just sit down at their computers and unstop a vein and voila, they get a book? I don't think even writers realize how hard writing is. Sure, anyone can sit down and put words to paper. But how about when you're creating something new and you don't know exactly how it should look, sound, or feel?

That's hard. Inspiration and creativity are blessings and when they strike, I often take them for granted and get upset when they don't give me a book . . . complete, incredible, brilliant.

So, this week, I'm pacing myself. Every day I spend time on the WIP and every day I let myself disappear into that world, if only to catch a small glimpse so that I can take a few more steps forward.

Writing is hard, but if you inch along, you ultimately will make it to where you're going.

Keep Moving Forward.

Keeping a Schedule

Lest you think I've moved on too quickly from the tragedy at Virginia Tech yesterday, please continue to send good thoughts that way. So many people are afraid today and that is not good.

I was afraid last week. Overwhelmed is more like it. I didn't feel well, my work was piling up, and things got a bit dark.

I know the reason for it now, after the fact. It's all a scheduling mishap.

I work really hard to make sure everyone gets everything on time, on deadline, exactly how they want it. But life gets crazy and I have to push back somewhere. The first thing to go is usually my well-oiled and streamlined schedule, which is such a bad idea.

How many of you have a schedule for your writing and your publishing each year?

If you do, do you stick to it? If you stick to it, how many times do you go back and review it to make sure your schedule really works for you?

I needed to reconfigure after last week. Spent the weekend resting and listening to my baby niece cooing over the telephone (she's so cute!). And I reconfigured.

I can't produce top-quality writing and editing continually. I need rest time and a lot of refueling time. (How come the rest and refueling always get pushed to the back of the priority list?)

So I came up with a plan. A series of ten ebb and flow cycles that will take me into 2009, but will ensure that I rest and refuel regularly.

I was raised pursuing goals and I love making lists, but nothing felt so good as this reconfiguration over the weekend.

Cycle 1 Feb/March
April Rest/Refuel
Cycle 2 May/June
July Rest/Refuel
Cycle 3 August/Sept
October Rest/Refuel
Cycle 4 Nov/Dec
January 2008 Rest/Refuel

and on it goes.

I encourage you to take stock of your writing and goals and to make sure you keep the "threshold low" so that accomplishment is ensured.

Keep Moving Forward!

Shock.

I am having a day of quiet prayer and sorrow for those affected by the Virginia Tech shooting, so this will be brief.

I did hear from a colleague that her son, a student there, is okay, although he was outside the building where the shooter was and heard multiple shots being fired.

Please practice gratefulness today wherever you are for life, for love, for blessing.

And please keep the people who now face uncertain futures because of today's events in your prayers and good thoughts.

Don't Push Me Around

I hate confrontation with a passion. I will work very hard to avoid it when I can. I'm not weak, I just don't want to spend energy on it. I'd rather be creative.

But . . . there are days when I willingly use some of that creative energy to create boundaries in my life and push right back.

Like today. On the phone with my urgent care nursing service to get a script. All is well until I say something he (male nurse) doesn't like, or that reminds him that I'm just a stupid patient who knows NOTHING, and then all **** breaks loose.

I sit there for a minute after I hang up and then I hit redial. And ask for the charge nurse.

It was worth spending another 30 minutes on the phone to get a human being who actually has a clue. And, male nursey, if I'm in that much pain again, I go to the ER whether you think I should or not.

The charge nurse agreed and thanked me for standing up for myself.

I'm a healthy early 30s adult woman, but occasionally, I have issues, and the health care team is there to help me, not scold me.

So, lesson learned. When pushed a bit too far, I muster my creative energy and push the **** back.

Is someone moving in too close today? Push right back.

And keep moving forward.

Do You Live in Fear Or Hope?

That's Maine by the way. Isn't it gorgeous? I just got a file full of pics that my husband took on our visit back there in October 2006.

The weather was amazing for early October; warm enough for two outdoor weddings, and because I'd never been to New England, I soaked it up!

I chose this picture because it reminds me to go forward with hope today. I'm a little stressed out. Too much to do, too many things to think about, too many people trying to get my attention. Too much of that, and your friendly blogger turns into something else.

But, I've been talking about approaching life with fear or hope with a good friend this week. Actually, she's one of my best friends. True, we don't talk everyday, but we've been friends for our entire lives! Since childhood, and that ain't no small feat. She has a fantastic view of life, always upbeat (we were raised by mothers who were best friends), and our families just relate on that level. There is no reason to sit and whine about this or that. There's always more to do! Onward, onward. That's the sense I get whenever we are all together. Sure we enjoy just goofing off togther, but we're all so full of plans and dreams that we inspire each other most of the time.

Gee, now most people reading this think I had a perfect childhood, so thus, I'm upbeat and happy.

Nah. Not perfect, but I got handed hope, not fear.

My parents were often fearful, but it never lasted too long. They always tried to hand me hope, even during the ten years that our lives got very dark in a religious order. Now that we're out, they look for ways to encourage me and they always are ready and willing to be hopeful for things in my life that I'm just not sure about. (I'm also trying to return the favor now that I'm an adult.)

But what if your parents don't do that? Is there hope for you?

Of course. Especially then. My parents didn't have perfect childhoods. Actually, they had tough childhoods, both growing up in single-parent homes, experiencing a lot of rejection during their pivotal years, but look how they have encouraged me.

I say the worst sort of life you've had, all the more reason to be hopeful. It can only get better.

Is there one thing you fear today that you are allowing to control you?

Name it, face it, and do one action to take it down a notch.

Whether that be typing a title of a book you want to write, studying for 15 minutes for that test you have to take, or answering the phone when you're expecting a terrible call. But do it with hope that things will work out. Things will be okay.

It's not a life change, it's a mindset change.

Keep Moving Forward.

How to Have a Good Day

So, people ask me all the time: why the heck are you so upbeat and cheerful?

There's only one reason. Why not?

Sure, there are days that just get to me, but from a very young age, I have always enjoyed the little things: a good lunch, a sunny day, fresh drinking water, even that I get to stay home without going anywhere makes me delirious with joy.

Not delirious, but I do enjoy a day at home.

My glass is half full. That's just the way I am. And it does drive some friends and colleagues out of their minds, especially when they don't ever see me complaining or whining or making mountains out of molehills. One thing they still don't understand is that I don't get angry, I get motivated. I make mountains out of every single molehill in my life, but I just have decided to work double hard to get past 'em. I don't get depressed, I crank up my adrenaline, thus frequently you'll find me levitating a few feet above the ground on a perfectly normal Wednesday morning, my adrenaline flying because of small things that mean a lot.

Like today.

Hubby's at the job fair, wearing a tie!; I edited his resume and he printed out neat copies on linen paper last night. He went to work and his boss edited it too and I think he's going to rework it yet again. Oh well. I don't feel so hot today, but instead of spending the day on the couch after I call the nurse for some meds (it's a chronic issue that shows up every six months or so), I'm going to see how much of my to-do list I can get done before those same meds put me into a couch potato stupor (they always make me sleepy).

It's a waste of my time and precious energy to complain or be depressed because of how I feel or how nervous I am for my hubby today. (He'll do fine.) I just have to quit cranking up the pressure (the reason I don't feel well) and calm down. I need to take some adrenal support medications, and relax, and breathe, and not try and add much more to the schedule.

I think that's as normal as anyone else. I just don't feel like whining about it.

In Curio news, wow, it is really coming together. One of the things I aim to work on today is pacing how much information I tell about the major hurt in my characters' lives. Slow, slow, slow peeling of the layers to show their secret hurt. I may not even tell all of the secret hurt, but I want the audience perplexed as to why this character acts like she does.

How is your day going?

Keep Moving Forward.

Lost in Another World

Do you ever get to writing on a WIP (especially fiction) and forget about reality?

I sure did yesterday. I expanded my Curio project space for Cake quite a bit and literally am juggling two completely different people who are at extreme odds with each other and their surroundings. I need to create a space for the hero (shapeshifter character) and then start writing. It was an amazing transformation to watch a one-dimensional character space suddenly come alive with energy and I swear I could hear the two characters arguing already.

Cool.

In other news, I'm swamped today with projects and plans. My phone is ringing off the hook with jobs and I'm really happy and really blessed to be able to choose the client that fits me the best. It's becoming more and more regular in my business and that's exactly what it needed to be for 2007. I spent most of 2005 and 2006 working on what OTHER people thought I should be doing. No more of that.

Also, I'm currently watching (for the tenth time) The Power of Myth with Bill Moyers and Joseph Campbell. It includes an interview with Stephen Spielberg and because I am so not a Stars Wars fan, I usually skip it. Well, not this time. I'm watching it and enjoying the example of the Hero's Journey archetype explained to me in this way. I love learning the rules, just so I can break them.

And, I was once again reminded of how well I stayed true to my calling last year while purchasing references and software and tools to expand my business. I expanded too quickly, took a giant risk, and it didn't work in 2006, but I'm back on track for it to work in 2007. After listening last evening to Alice Seba and Kelly McCausey from WAHM Radio talk about taking these kind of risks for your business, I'm so glad I did it!

How's your day going? Are you pushing the limits, taking risks, and trying new things? How about just one thing?

Keep Moving Forward.

A bit o' wisdom for Monday.

I had to just cool it this weekend. I was so tired I coudn't keep my eyes open on Saturday, and yesterday, I felt terrible and just had to read and not try and think too much (which wasn't bad punishment and I still got through several chapters of the book edit on international relations, which by the way is totally fascinating and well-written).

Todd suggested we go see "Meet the Robinsons" in 3D. It seemed silly and totally juvenile, but what the heck? Why not. So we did. Wow. What a great movie. I don't usually wax poetic over animated movies, but wow. A great personal lesson for the both of us, as we move on from disappointments (things that looked incredible and were unreal opps that just fell through recently). The theme of the movie was Keep Moving Forward, a quote from Walt Disney himself. Again, wow.

It shows me again how easy it is for Resistance to come in and steal your energy. I could have stressed yesterday that I didn't get farther in that book edit, but the editor is a reasonable person and I'm on schedule for the amended deadline. I could have spent the day being reminded again and again of how my disappointment has set me back (in truth it set me on another better pathway), but the reminder to keep moving forward kept me doing just that.

Sometimes it only takes a animated movie to show us the truth.


We can do it.

Keep Moving Forward.

Quiet contemplation.

With most of my Christian colleagues still silent because of Lent (which I don't observe literally), I've kept talking on this blog, but decided to go contemplative today. Why Good Friday?

Gratefulness.

I'm not a peer-focused Christian (I could care less what man says is the right thing to do) because I focus on following God. (And I love saying it again, because it freaks out some Christians I still know.) Also, Christianity/religion doesn't hold a monopoly on rigid, legalistic Bible-thumpers who only know how to say "no"; I know a ton of those same kind of people who don't celebrate any religion at all.

My point is that I celebrate Good Friday and Easter not because everyone else expects me to, but because I yearn to. My relationship is a personal one with God. I don't talk about it much with others and I don't even attend church on a regular basis (for reasons that are beyond this conversation). My life is still healing from some big betrayals by religion. I still get angry, I still cry, and I still don't want to see certain people ever again in my lifetime.

But all that must never get in the way of gratefulness to Jesus Christ for what happened in Israel a long time ago--the reason I observe these holy days.

Even if one doesn't believe, one can still admire Jesus for the things he did while on this earth. And I do. I'm in awe of him.

But I'm also so very grateful for what I believe he did to save my life. He showed by his actions on a cross and rising from the dead out of a dark tomb that I could have hope in this world that makes no sense at all, and that things like a child needing surgery before the age of one year because of a cephalohematoma incurred by a traumatic birth are just as important to him as peace in Iraq, help for Darfur, or the lives of 15 British sailors.

You don't have to look too closely today, but is there something you're grateful for? Is there something that is weighing on your heart that you are so afraid of?

Christians observe Good Friday and Easter because of the fact that our Lord Jesus Christ, by his action and example and self-sacrifice, took responsibility for exactly those things.

Everything Has a Purpose

After reviewing receipts for 2006 yesterday and discussing taxes with my CPA, I realized that I really am focused. I buy books, reference materials, and supplies to truly support my writing and editing habits.

That sounds straightforward enough. I'm sure you're thinking, "how hard is that?"

Let me explain.

A year ago, I attended a seminar about using the Internet to sell books effectively (self-publishing, infoproduct marketing, list building, blogging, etc.) and some of the stuff was pretty new. I mean a year ago, podcasting was new, blogging was relatively new, and self-publishing still had that tarnished "are you sure about that?" look. After Pete Bowerman's latest book, and twelve months later, self-pubbing and infoproduct launches are so common that entire neighborhoods on the Internet are devoted to them. And people are making fortunes.

But a year ago, when I first heard it all, it blew my mind. I had no idea Web 2.0 was going to be so . . . intriguing. But I was afraid. The dot-bombing of the late 1990s and early 2000s did leave me holding the bag, especially because as a writer, I provided content for many of those sites.

Thus, my brain was so not wired to keep up with these "info-preneurs," so I began buying reference materials and books and listening to tapes and cds and dvds to try and figure it out. I got so many emails launching this product or another that I spent one entire Saturday unsubscribing from all those email lists. It was like the waterfall above--masses of information continually streaming into my computer--and I got overwhelmed. I got pulled in multiple directions. I launched an infoproduct section of my corp (it's doing quite well, thanks), started blogging more regularly, and began to draw up plans for more Web 2.0 expansion. I was trying to stay one step ahead of all that information.

Then about last August, I got really tired. I was going in too many directions. I was confused. I left my office and went camping over Labor Day weekend (all those pictures of my beloved House Rock are more than just pretty views) and without Internet and phone, I read David Allen's Getting Things Done. It wasn't really Allen's book that got me back to reality, it was just the fact that I sat that week, in the sunshine, on vacation, smelling the late summer breezes wafting over me, and I was able to put things into perspective. I knew where I wanted to go and how I would end 2006 and begin 2007. I put together a plan.

The plan completely changed course a few more times (what's new) and I had to respond quickly and with decisiveness.

And when 2007 began, I found myself back again at pretty much the same spot an entire year later, wiser, slower to respond to the "infopreneurs," but with a greater understanding of my goals with this business.

And my receipts prove that I kept the course and only bought what I really needed. And I'm really glad. And grateful. There were a few opportunities that came up last year that would have been utter disasters, not because of anyone else involved, but because of me. I had to spend 2006 processing and figuring out what I wanted my business to be. And it paid off. True, 2006 doesn't look very impressive on paper and 2007 and 2008 will be spent expanding and making that year worthwhile, but it was worth it. It really was.

Sometimes to take risks, you have to walk the edge, and that's really scary. I know. But how else are we going to know what we're made of? We owe it to ourselves to step out and try.

Fighting Off Resistance

Yes, still here and still battling the Resistance.I even had to dig out my copy (well-worn by now) of War of Art to remind myself (for the thousandth time) that all this (making wide circle motions with my arms and hands) is normal. And probably just how it's supposed to be.

Get used to it.

Remember Laura Bennett of Project Runway Season 3 fame?



She started this intense fashion design contest only to find out in the first two weeks that she was expecting a baby. And not just her first baby, her SIXTH! Yup, she had a grown daughter at school and four boys at home with her husband and she was expected to compete against other designers and also get through her first trimester.

To me, that's Resistance. It happens, constantly, even when you think you've done everything under the sun to make sure it did NOT happen.

Get used to it.

Learn to write, create, design, and walk through it. Learn to be resilient no matter what is happening in your life at the time. Learn to fight it off and win anyway.

It all comes back to Tiger Woods and his 25-second decision to forget about the camera-wielding interruption (stupid, stupid golf fan) and to hit that ball straight down the line.

Get used to Resistance. It's here to stay.

So what are you going to do today?

Computer anxiety.

The computer (Word more specifically) decided to throw us for a loop.

It's all about the macros. If you haven't ever taken a look at Editorium, you're in for a treat. Jack Lyon has created a handful of excellent macros for editors, writers, and publishers to help conquer Word's exceptional ability to format everything in sight. (You know, when you try to create your own numbered list and Word automatically types the next number or you apply formatting, but whoever had the document before you chose to use another font and another color and another size somewhere in the middle of that paragraph and as soon as you click in to begin typing you see that your text is baby blue, Courier New, size ten, not Times New Roman, black, size 12.)

Jack's macros save my bacon and actually help me make a living. No longer am I doing things by hand, I'm pressing a few keyboard keys and voila, I can pull all formatting out of the file, or specific formatting out of the file.

Well, last night at about 9 pm, my stripper quit. LOL. (I've been dying to say that for YEARS! Trust me.)

Actually my macro called NoteStripper, (available at Editorium) just conked out. It started messing up my files, made my computer crash, crashed Word, you name it. I called my techie hubby in to check and we uninstalled and reinstalled the macro, then Word, then decided this morning to reformat my hard drive. (Which we are still doing, because it needs it anyway.) But I came downstairs and turned on the computer (and installed all the Office updates) and decided to disable a macro set (at hubby's recommendation) that also runs at Word startup. It's named differently than the Editorium macros and I think it's from another project. As soon as I did that, I ran NoteStripper on both the files that needed it and boom, it worked.

My Stripper quit because other macros were in its way! Just shows you can get too many tools and end up ruining your productivity in the process.

It's so similar with writing. New writers anxiously ask me all the time, "What kind of computer do I need to write? Who do I need to meet in order to get published? What kind of books are agents and editors buying? Is it double space or single space for fiction?"

My reply is frequently, who cares. Write by hand, on a typewriter, or your neighbor's rusty Apple Macintosh or PC. Don't meet anybody yet, just write. Write the kind of book you believe in and love with all your heart. Double space, please, from an editor's perspective.

If you don't believe my answer on the "what kind of books are agents and editors buying?" question, check Kristin Nelson's posts from last week. She covers it better than I ever could.

And in writing news: I'm making progress on my Curio project space for Let Them Eat Cake. Lenora is not the star of this book, but she impacts her daughter Cassie's life and goals very much. My goal is for my readers to yearn for Cassie to get free from her mother's sad shadow of a life without me overtly telling them to. We'll see if I can pull that off.