Third time's the charm...

So, I think it must be something MPT has about 39 Steps, but remember what I said about Masterpiece Classic back in April? Well, tonight, they're doing it again.

::chuckles::

They really love that movie for telethons, I'm thinking.

...And so do I.

The Joys of a Dangling Carrot

This week, I've been thinking about how lucky it is that I've got people to work with that understand the joys of a dangling carrot. For the last couple of years, it's been a real motivator: while I've created my own goals, I've had someone to cheer me on and offer some sort of reward for success. It never has to be something big or serious. Sometimes we send candy or cards. Occasionally we trade books. Sometimes it is something big, like a tee shirt or a piece of jewelry. But, more often than not, it's something totally funny. Among my favorite prizes are a little keychain-dangly Angel, a little knit bottle hat, and a little figurine of a woman with a sword (who is currently on my desk, wearing said hat). I'd like to hope that they've gotten the same giggle from the "Writing Rescue Dog" I sent as a trophy or the Halloween pins and stickers for goals accomplished in the weeks surrounding the holiday. Or baked treats. Or a candy they love and haven't had in a while. A little something to brighten the day and a lovely surprise in the mail. And these days, who gets good mail all that often?

And I know, that if it gives me a warm and fuzzy to see that lovely package in the mail, no matter what's hidden behind the plain brown wrapping, it does the same for my Comrades-in-arms. So, in giving there's an added and shared joy, a celebration of success for that other person and a wonderful knowledge of something wonderful is going to brighten their day, too.

I'm telling you this in part to say thank you to my writing mates, without whom this journey would be so much more difficult. While promising yourself ice cream for accomplishing something is great, it's just not as stimulating or rewarding as having a friend promise to send you stickers if you make it through another week of editing the story that feels like climbing Everest.

But, I'm also telling you this to offer you something to think about for yourselves: what sorts of dangling carrots help you move forward? I'm always looking for ways to help and things to offer as treats. Genn and I have been talking about offering prizes and giveaways here on Sea Monsters. Or even offering formal challenges to each other via the site, for all the world to see. What do you think we should do?

Your insights would be illuminating.... ;)

Thursday Tidbit: A Shoe on the Side of Time's Highway

Why is it discarded shoes are always found alone.... even ancient ones?

5k away my Slump.

So, i've read (and been told) that if you can visualise something you can make it happen. As long as you can see yourself working those steps towards whatever your goal is, anything is possible, right?

With this in mind-- I've decided to train to run a 5k. Yes, I am blogging this to the world, so I have to actually do it. Slightly terrifying. I haven't yet booked a race to run-- that's a bit too scary and ambitious for me, but I have actually printed off a training schedule and set a date to get my feet out on the street-- tomorrow. To be honest, the training doesn't look as scary as I had originally envisioned. It's only three days of actual running, two days of exercise and two rest days. Looking at the training that way, its not only doable, but it seems well, a bit crazy I haven't attempted this yet. You know, besides the fact that I don't really like running. But, as much as I 'don't like running' I've found that the more I do actually run the more I enjoy it. Weird, huh?

And this got me to thinking about my goals for 2010-- and why I've hit such a slump.

I've blogged about being unaccomplished this year and floundering, but I never quite put my finger on why and now I think i know why. I've just lost focus. I'm trying to do so many things (and do them well) that I'm just scattered all over the place. So this week, I'm going to try something else. I'm going to try to set my writing goals out onto a schedule just like the 5k training spreadsheet. Will this be just another procrastination tool? I suspect that might be the case-- but I am awake early on a Monday morning writing this blog post-- one of my many goals for the week-- so that's some modicum of success already, right?

So, today's first goal is accomplished. That's something (and done before work). My second goal for today rests on me being able to finish the scene that refuses to be written. Let's hope I'm that successful.

Unaccomplished

2009 was kind of a bumper year for me. At the very end of 2008 I switched jobs and wound up (finally) in my dream job (woot). I finished my first novel mid 2009 and successfully completely NaNoWriMo for the second year in a row. Overall, I was feeling very accomplished-- very much like everything was on track for 2010 to be the best year of all.

And then... editing struck. My first novel had some really lovely concepts and ideas-- but the book I’d written and the book I started out writing were two very different stories. Stories that would need comprehensive months of editing to merge into one readable draft. Our writing group began to set deadlines and make up schedules to swap around our stories... At the time I was completely in denial about the amount of work it would take to produce a draft I felt vaguely confident in showing to other people (even my most trusted readers). So, when the first deadline came up, I had to admit I had failed. I was unable to send out a draft-- but I still had a draft to read from my friend. So, I was now editing a rough manuscript and reading a friend’s draft. Then, the next deadline came along and I was again still working on my novel, editing my friend’s draft and then editing a second draft. Everything had snowballed quite quickly and I was buried.

For a few weeks I felt completely overwhelmed and defeated. I made no progress on any fronts-- not my own work or my friends. I hadn’t just let myself down but now I was letting down my group. I was more upset to see my group let down, if I’m honest.

Then, I began to regroup. My first novel had to be broken before I would be able to see any real progress. I had to get through they very shaky beginning (and the eight new scenes I had to write to tie the two stories together). So, I spoke to my first friend and she agreed it was more important to get my story moving. Two weeks of just concentrating on my book meant I was able to ‘break the back’ of the whole mess. I was able to set a goal for editing my novel and working on hers again. Just taking a tiny bit more time meant I was able to get everything back on track.

Here is the big lesson I’ve learned-- when you work as a group you have to do what works best for the group, but you have to remember what works best for you. I am not great with deadlines. I usually have to set one, then push it back a few times. And as I’m not a professional writer and I’m doing everything in my ‘spare’ time this is fine. If this was my ‘day job’ then I’d just have to embrace deadlines and make them happen (I do just that very successfully in my day job). I work well with small weekly goals. A tiny checklist of things I need to do to move my work forwards. A huge looming deadline doesn’t generally work for me. Maybe it’s my ADHD-- but something so big tends to boggle my brain. It makes me only see the big end result and not the small obtainable steps I need to break everything down into to get there. Now, I’ve got the quiet confidence I was lacking to admit when what I’m working on needs more time. It’s not a race, and while I’m still working on my first novel I’ve finished editing my friend’s first novel and am about two third’s of the way through my second friend’s. I am able to get their stories back to them so that I am no longer letting them down as well. Which is beyond important to me. My work can wait-- but making sure my group is getting the support they need really matters to me. I really don’t mind being behind-- because at least being ‘behind’ I’m making progress. Before, when I was in denial and trying to struggle to stay on schedule, I was just spinning my wheels.

I will never again have the freedom I did in 2008 to just write one project. Going forward I will always be writing something and editing something (maybe not at the same time-- but they will definitely overlap). So, rather than look at 2010 as a series of failures-- or missed goals, I am looking at it as a chance to learn a new skill base. A new way of working on multiple projects that ends in good results.

16th President and Vampire Hunter...?

So, I finished up with Sense, Sensibility, and Seamonsters, a rather fast and enjoyable read and, still madly in love with his prior novel Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, decided to pick up Seth Grahame-Smith's Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter. And while I know that this behavior is *PROCRASTINATION* (yes, all in caps), I (pardon the pun) devoured it.

Yes. This book was that good. It's got such an engaging tone that I would read this even if there weren't vampires. And without the vampires, Old Abe's life is a string of sad circumstances followed by periods of shouldering the burdens of the young nation.

But, where this book really diverges from a normal history -- other than, of course, the vampires -- is that the writing style injects such life into the telling of it. I think this is more along the lines of why I love this book. Because even with the wry humor of our 16th president and the vampires, it's still a very sad story about a man who lost so much and shouldered so much and died for his belief in freedom. The same story we've all heard over many, many years, dusted with chalk, punctuated with the period bell.

I've always heard in those history classes that Abraham Lincoln had a sense of humor. Reading this book, I could actually see that sly wink.

Epic Mother's Day Fail

Okay. So, I kinda knew this was going to happen. But still. This is how far I got with my wrap for Mom:

Which, unfortunately, after about a month of work is still 5 feet 2 inches shy of the finished length.

I ended up buying presents for Mom and then missed my opportunity to get them into the mail.

Sorry, Mom!

I can't win for losing.