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.