Yep, that's the right word to describe my schedule these days. It seems there's always something going on. Over the past few weeks we've visited with family, visited with friends, did work on our committees at church, and cleaned house. Work is chaos with license renewals for our biggest program and the legislature making the final push to get things running before regulations time out this month and next month. This has been a brutal session because they're questioning everything with fees down to the jot and tittle and guess what? There are fees in one of my regulations.The June 7 close of the session will be a huge relief - for better or for worse. So that's meant a lot of meetings, on top of meetings I've already had.
Add to that the fact that I didn't feel 100% well with my sinuses 2 days this week but couldn't take off because I had meetings (big surprise), that our big "Share Our Stuff" spring event is tomorrow morning at the church, and I started writing my new book (Move), this week and - yea, insanity.
Incidentally, it's not really out of place for me to start writing a book when things are crazy. It seems the inspiration always hits when I don't have a minute to spare and it seems I have to sledgehammer time into my schedule to peck some research here and a chapter there. I can't explain it. Things will be calm and I'll have writer's block, but let my schedule fill up with dots on every day of my calendar in my iPhone, and the muse is firing off left and right. Maybe the high level of activity feeds inspiration, or gives me more to draw off of. I have to admit that I pounded out a chapter today durning my lunch hour with no problem. In fact, sometimes I find it easier to write scenes there that are in a work related setting. Maybe it's because I'm already in a work-mindset and I can draw inspiration from what I've been dealing with recently. Yes, it's easiest to write in the quiet with free time, but sometimes those short slices of free time feed my muse, I guess by allowing me to draw inspiration from recent experience.
Or maybe I'm just weird and have a busy lifestyle where I've adapted to being able to write anytime I can find a minute. I learned in college that there's no such thing as dead time. They taught me to be a master at handling my schedule and I learned I can squeeze things into every minute of every day. In fact, sometimes I have to plan to take time off. I guess I'm driven. It seems I always have some personal project going on top of everything else. No sooner do I finish the birdhouse village than I'm off and running on my next novel. This one should keep me occupied for a while - and there's no telling what's next.
That's all for today. Happy Friday to you. I hope you have a great weekend.
Bye!
Hi everybody! I am happy to report that Anywhere But Here is now in pre-production. I'm sure you noticed that the book cover came last week, and I changed the home page of the site to show a teaser for the upcoming release. The editor also sent me edits on the manuscript, which I'm working on now. Wow, I didn't realize it, but it seems a lot got by me on this one. I got tendinitis while I was working on this manuscript and I don't think I edited it as extensively as I should have. In fact, I set it aside and believe I forgot to do a round of edits on it before I submitted it. Oops! I'm lucky they accepted this manuscript, and that they assigned me a patient editor that was willing to help.
I've also managed to snag an author interview and guest blog spot for April, so all is progressing well with this one. I hope to find more publicity opportunities soon. I'm keeping my eyes open!
Unfortunately, it seems that everything has taken off this month. February is typically a busy month, and I'm not sure why. But this time, the month has really taken off! In fact, I had to put my schedule on lock down Thursday when I found I had been signed up for 2 things I didn't volunteer for, and had to cancel them. It's just that crazy. And really, it was completely disrespectful for those people to do that. You don't sign people up for things when they aren't there, and especially when they told you twice not to do it (which was the case in one instance). I don't feel one bit bad about cancelling on them, either. In fact, I feel I was more than gracious to even let them know. I could have done what most people do and just not show up.
Anyway, I will manage as I always do. I hope you are all doing well. Take care and have a good weekend.
Bye!
It's T-minus 10 days until Christmas and counting. Are you ready?
I'm not either. Yes, I feel your pain.
As we enter peak holiday prep time, I'd like to offer some tips on making life easier during these hectic days. These are good tips all the time, and hopefully you can implement them now to find some relief from holiday stress.
1. Follow the instructions. Even if you think they're stupid. Even if you think you know a better way. Even if you think you're better than that. They're there for a reason, and following them will save everybody time and frustration - especially you.
2. Use the calendar function on your devices. Even the most basic cell phone has a calendar feature, so there's no excuse for missing appointments, functions or deadlines if your schedule is on a device that you have with you all the time.
3. Set priorities and organize your life by them. It's literally impossible to do everything, so you have to decide what's the most important. Take stock of your life and to-do list and organize your schedule in these remaining days according to what matters the most.
4. Be sure you get enough sleep. It's easy to skimp on sleep when your schedule is full and a few more minutes - or hours - would help, and that's dangerous. Getting enough sleep is the secret to staying healthy, energetic, and alert so you can accomplish more in the other 16 hours of the day.
5. Take a timeout this weekend. I don't care how long your "to do" list is - you need time for yourself before family descends on you for the blessed season of celebration. Don't go into the next two weeks tired, stressed out, and frazzled. Take at least a few hours to do something for yourself: Read a book, watch a movie, go out to a good dinner, or just sleep in Saturday morning. Trust me, it will give you the energy you need to cross the finish line.
And in closing, I urge you to remember the reason for the season. Christmas isn't about decorations, parties, and presents. It's about Christ and the give of our salvation. Sometimes the celebration overshadows the reason we're doing everything we're doing all of this. I'll have more on this as we get closer to Christmas.
Ok folks, there's not much time yet but we'll make it by the grace of God, like we do every year. Take care, and I hope these tips will help you preserve your sanity now, when you need it the most.
Welcome to my latest "mini blog series" on surviving the holidays! In these weeks leading up to the holidays I'm going to offer my experiences, insights, and observations on getting through the holidays without losing your sanity. I'd like to open this series with a list of do's and don'ts - basically, simple tips that will help you get through this season with less stress and more time and resources to enjoy what the holidays are all about.
DO keep a schedule with you at all times, as this is a season filled with cordial invitations to events of all sorts - and those invitations can come at any place, at any time. It's never safe to be without a calendar this time of year. If you don't have a mobile device, get a small calendar that you can carry in a purse, briefcase, or pocket.
DON'T be afraid to decline an invitation. It simply isn't possible to do everything - there's too much going on. There is a polite way to decline an invitation. Simply say "I appreciate you thinking of me and offering this invitation, but I'm afraid I'm not going to be able to attend." You don't owe anybody a doctoral dissertation on your calendar. It's perfectly ok to say "no" just because you need time to do other things, or for yourself.
DO go ahead and make travel plans and arrangements now. Waiting until the last minute is stressful to you and rude to the hosts. It takes a lot of "doing" to hosts guests in your home, so be considerate and let them know arrival and departure dates and relative times now so they can plan for your visit accordingly.
DO make shopping lists. In this season of buy, buy, buy, it's easy to lose track of how much you've bought. Do like Santa - make a list and check it twice.
DO check your resources to avoid needless spending or duplicating resources. I was fixing to buy more wrapping paper this past weekend - until I checked my supplies and discovered 10 rolls of paper from last year. People won't remember what wrapping paper, gift tags, bows, boxes or gift bags you used last year and truth be told, you probably didn't remember until you pulled it out of storage.
DON'T be afraid to ask someone on your gift list what they want if you're completely stumped on what to give them. We usually buy gifts for the same people year after year, so after a while it's hard to be original. Don't try. Just ask.
DO ask the people on your gift list if they're ok with receiving gift cards for presents. People seem to have strong opinions on this. I love them, as do most of my family members, but I've had some friends that believe giving gift cards is wildly offensive and insensitive. I actually plan to do an entry just on this topic soon.
DO regift if you got something in the past that hasn't been opened or used, but be careful and DON'T regift it to the person that gave it to you. In fact, if you get something that winds out in the "strorage" drawer or closet, it would be wise to put a note on it indicating who gave it to you to prevent such an embarassing error.
DO observe important traditions, but DON'T feel obligated to hand on to ones that don't mean much to you - or others. Things tend to pass in time. People get married, people have babies, people die. Some things stay and some things go, and that's ok. Keep what means the most and let go of what doesn't.
DO take care of yourself and mind your health - mentally and physically. Be sure to take time out for yourself, excercise, eat right, and get enough sleep. It's easy to skimp on self care during this busy season.
DON'T go off your medications now. I'm not being a smart alec. Money is typically tight this time of year, and often people decide to skip the medication refills to save a few bucks. Don't do it. Your doctor put you on your medication for a reason, and you feel better because of it. If you go off now, you will suffer. This is no area to skimp on ever. It's for your better health. You have enough on you without having to battle your body as well - and you will if you go off your medication. So don't do it. And if, by chance, you do feel it's ok to do so, I urge you to do two things: Do it under doctor's supervision, and strongly consider waiting until January and making this a New Year's Resolution instead.
DO realize that there's no such thing as a perfect holiday. As much as we'd all like our holiday to look like a Norman Rockwell painting, realize that's art, not reality. We live in an imperfect world and it shows that every day, in every way. It's extremely rare for things to go as we planned, and they never go perfectly, People get sick, cars break down, things get sold out, casseroles burn, wrapping paper tears, turkeys don't cook right, gift bags bust, the milk goes sour, people fight, shipments get delayed, bad weather hits, somebody moves and the Christmas card is returned on December 26 leading to misunderstanding and hurt feelings - the list can go on and on.
So there you have it - a few simple, common sense list of suggestions to get through the holidays. I believe that's a good place to end this entry, as well as a perfect lead in for the next entry in this series.
Next Time: Can't We All Just Get Along - It's The Holidays! (or, Reality 101)
Hi folks; I hope you're having a good week. It's been really busy the past couple of weeks, and not just with writing. It seems everything in life has exploded recently in every area. It's like that sometimes, and I should have figured. The summer was relatively sedate - as sedate as it gets in my life, anyway - so I guess it was bound to happen.
*Sigh* It seems that the older I get, the more complicated life gets. Everything keeps growing. Don't get me wrong - of course, we all want to see the fruits of our labor and to see things grow in our life. I'm very glad to add "independent author" to my life, and I've worked 10 years for this, and hope it keeps moving forward. That's the whole purpose, after all. Life in the 21st century seems to be a complicated web of activity. Everything's always in motion.
Or perhaps that's just the nature of life. Maybe it's always been that way.
The ironic thing is; I don't want to give up anything..(Well, if my writing did well enough to not make a full time job necessary, I'd gladly let that pass out of my life :) But seriously, my point is that I wish everything would take it's proper turn. It seems everything happens all at once. Does my work schedule HAVE to fill up with meetings right when I'm trying to get publicity stuff done for my writing? Do things have to take off with church committees when friends are coming in from out of town to visit? Do people addicted to drama have to start acting up (or rather, acting like themselves) when all of this is going on at once? Does Chloe's neck spasms have to start back up when there are things at home that need immediate attention?
And yet again, I say it's probably the nature of life. I hear others complain of this problem. The fact is that the world keeps turning, and it doesnt' stop because it would be convenient to hit a "pause" button for a while. Each and every one of us must find a way to cope and to keep on moving. Because life does, whether we feel like it or not.
So I suppose the point of this blog is to say that my life is rolling along, just like everybody elses'. Life on Planet Earth is progressing as it always does. We're all still here and alive, and by the grace of God, we'll make it.
That's all today. Happy Friday to you. Hang in there and I hope you have a great weekend.
Bye!
Hi all; I hope you're doing well and having a great weekend. It's been full
of the unexpected for me. My old Toshiba laptop bit the dust yesterday. Funny
thing is, I've been expecting this to happen all summer. I'm not sure why -
maybe because it's been running like crap - but I've suspected it was on it's
last days for a while now. People thought I was being paranoid, or just spoiled
and wanting a new laptop, but yesterday my fears proved true. We went to Best
Buy to get a new hard drive, but found a great deal on a Dell, so we got that
instead. We got the display model so they had to keep it until today to clean it
up and make sure it was alright for personal use. Today has been spent setting
it up.
I'm glad to have a new laptop, but the problem is that I had grand plans to
work on my writing this weekend. Well, the only thing I managed to squeeze out
was the website update I planned, as you can sere. Everything else - no. So I'm woefully behind.
Oh well. I hope you enjoy the redesign, and I hope to have a few more extras added later in the week, God willing.
So that's been my weekend. I hope you're doing well and that the new week
starts off well for you. Take care.
Bye!
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