Not Writing Has Taught Me a Lot

Firstly, I would like to forewarn: There may be typo’s that I see, but don’t see. Why? Because my brain is all awry after a migraine. This is why I didn’t post yesterday (and really, probably shouldn’t be posting today!)

Now, I have already explained yesterdays absence (migraine, come on, keep up!), so this is what I would have posted yesterday.

Some time in the last two weeks, I mentioned the Easter holidays. They are well and truly here! Someone (not mentioning any names) commented that I would probably have more time than I anticipated. I would like to know, where is it then?

Contemplating this lack of magically appearing time, I realised that not only was it the holidays but it was a brand new month. No, I didn’t conclude that it was an elaborate April Fool. It was simply this: I had no direction, goal, list.

Last month I blabbed about being more productive. On the whole, I succeeded. I had my lists. I had my direction. I had Goals! Because the first ‘work day’ coincided with the first day of the Easter holidays, I didn’t write down the month’s goals. This is totally my fault. I put importance on the house, not on the work. And now, I am totally imbalanced. Again.

The migraine I suffered over the past 2 days has, surprisingly, done me the world of good. I spent all the time in bed. When it started to ease, I didn’t get up, knowing that I may set it off again. So I stayed in bed. This led to me feeling much better and revived today, albeit slightly confused and disorientated. But I will get over it.

So, far from being a bad thing, I have learned a lot this past week.

I need to balance life more, and work out what is truly important.

Lists are good (and they need to be written, so I am still writing!)

A day off once in a while is a good thing.

And another thing that has helped kick me up the butt is a blog by a fellow writer Steven Chapman. He is doing some challenge to do with the letters of the alphabet, and he is writing about getting motivated. If you haven’t already read his blog, get over there now! Not only is it informative, it is very interesting too. And he is very clever, and knows about HTML and stuff, so it looks better than mine!

 

I am going to go and make a start on my list. Will this be my Positively Productive Month?

Doing Too Much

 

And it is Friday again.

 

Today is also the last day of the school term, and my little angel will have 2 weeks off! EEK! I’m sure I will survive somehow.

 

Now, I haven’t been as productive as I would have liked (do you see a pattern emerging?), and I know that the next two weeks I won’t get as much done as I might like. This whole unproductive malarkey is making me very miserable. I feel like a hamster on a wheel, hammering away and going no where.

So I concluded that I really am doing too much. From now, I will only have 3 projects on the go. The novel, a short story, and an article. Let’s see if that will help improve my output.

 

Something needs to change, that is for sure. I am going to be re-visiting ‘The Positively Productive Writer’ and I will read it more slowly this time, whilst bulleting steps I need to take. I hope it works.

 

How is your writing coming along?

Surprise Wednesday

 

Wow! It’s Wednesday already. I don’t know about you, but it has snuck up on me. And I totally forgot that I am adding posts on a Wednesday as well, so I am unprepared and this will be, quite literally, first thing on my mind kind of stuff.

 

So far this week, I haven’t been doing to bad. I haven’t written a word of my novel, but I have done a lot of editing. I came across the issues of copyright. When can you safely use something that another has created, after trying to contact them for permission and getting no reply? You have to do everything in your power. It is frowned upon if you use something without permission, obviously. But if they do not respond to phone calls, letters, e-mails, and where possible turning up on their doorstep, this could be seen as enough. Don’t take my word for it though! I am not a lawyer. But those rules seem pretty fair.

 

 

Also, editors! They say us writers are a bane of their life, well! They are becoming the bane of mine. I am trying to determine whether a publication accepts freelance work (I am thinking not, but still, better to ask) and they are not replying to my request! I will be interviewing a friend of mine for this publication (or another if the answer is no) so I need to know which publication to aim it at! The questions asked will be very different.

 

 

Unfortunately, I still have no work out there trying to earn some money. I hope to rectify this very very soon!

 

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Too many pies, not enough fingers?

 

The sun is shining and I am sat at my patio set in the back garden. This is the joy of working at home, right?

 

Then why do I not feel so full of the joys of spring?

 

On Friday, I didn’t get chance to write today’s to do list, so I have had to do it just now. It seems to get longer every time, and I wonder: Am I ever going to achieve any of my goals?

Is it because I am working on too much stuff?

At the moment I have the novel (and I want to edit my first novel), 2 articles, and 3 short stories to work on. Or am I just not efficient enough?

I know many writers who have lots of things on the go at once, but I am not sure I can hack it. I only have one more week left, and if I am to be on target, 2 of those stories need to be completed by the end of the month, as they are competition entries. I also know I have a lot of smaller, but nevertheless important tasks to complete at the end of the week.

 

Which brings me back to a question I asked not long ago. When to stop? Not that I have any fear of worrying about that. I have plenty to keep on with.

My house is tidy now, so I am not going to be worrying too much about stopping to get chores done. Of course, they still need to be done, if I want to keep a tidy house. But that is one less stress, today at least.

 

On another note: I planted my first potatoes over the weekend. I am a total novice at vegetable gardening, and with only a patio to grow on, I need to have bags and containers. The information out there that I have found so far seems to be geared towards people who know something about vegetables and growing them. Maybe I will create a blog about it, and maybe help other vegetable gardening dunces, just like me.

 

Enjoy the sunshine! This is England, it is probably all we’ll get………

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