2015 by J Vincent

Begining Again. . . Again by Theresa Jaye

I owe a big fat apology to all my WARA friends for missing my blog posts the last few months.  I’m not going to make excuses. We all have our own hills and valleys to wade through. It’s impossible to bypass those roads that go nowhere and roads that are blocked. We waste too much time waiting for the roads that lead us to victory. I truly believe these challenges are what make us who we are.  

I’m not special or different. I’m not better or worse off than anyone else. I have hopes and dreams just like the next guy or gal. I control my own destiny tomorrow by the decisions I make today. If I choose not to write today, then tomorrow my goals will be set back even further. The only problem is that it’s easy to let those pesky excuses take over our lives and goals. We go out of our way to find reasons we can’t write right now. Time gets away from us—if we let it.

Like most of us, I’ve had this writing dream since I was a little girl. I’m still hopeful that I will be a published author someday. The one sure thing in this life is if I don’t write, it’ll never happen.  

I've set a major goal for myself and I've written more in the last week than any other week in 2014. Part of that goal was to blog again. I made that goal so who knows what I can do if I set my mind to it!

Hugs,

Theresa

On Your Mark, Get Set, Goal

It's a good thing I looked at the calendar, because I would have forgotten I needed to be here today.  I know it's January.  I know we've moved into 2014, but other than that, I'm a bit lost.

It would be nice to escape setting goals right now.  I thought I knew where I wanted to take this year.  But recently I've realized my old goals, the ones I've been making and usually meeting, aren't going to work for me the way I'd thought they might  It's time to step back, rethink, and re-goal.  Yes, a sort of New Beginning.

My writing goal in 2013 was to write 200,000 words.  I met that goal.  In fact, my WARA friends may not know, but I wrote 232,653 words, not counting blog posts.  The total for those was 49,666.  I'll let you do the math.  How did I do it?  I wrote three books.  Three and a half, to be more precise.  Half of one of those three was rewritten last month is scheduled to be released in August of this year  The other two?  That's the big question.

I enjoy writing.  I love writing.  Sometimes it's crazy, but in the end, it's satisfying.  There's very little of the process that I don't like.  But then I've written something or other most of my life.  I also enjoy reading, something I haven't had much time to do this year.

Because the majority of my life is writing, I keep an eye on what's happening in the publishing world.  If you haven't noticed--and you'd have to be a complete non-reader to do that--that world is changing.  E-books are everywhere.  Many traditionally published authors, including our own Deb Stover, have decided to explore this new experience for both writers and readers.  Personally, I haven't bought a print book for quite some time, but I've definitely amassed a lot of books for my Kindle--written by both traditionally published authors and indie/self-published authors.  If I only had time to read them!

So here are my goals.  I expect some certain people to keep me on them.  You know who you are.

• Goal #1:  Read more
• Goal #2:  Give myself permission to enjoy life more

The first goal is covered by having more books than I could read in a year.  The second will be somewhat taken care of by the first goal.  Reading to me is enjoyment. :)  

• Goal #3:  Have a more positive attitude about myself and my life

Goal # 2 should help with #3.  And I've taken other steps to achieve it.  Several months ago, I began practicing meditation.  I hadn't been sleeping well.  I'd toss and turn, unable to go to sleep.  Once I finally did fall into dreamland, I (thankfully) slept well.  I needed to turn off the worry and problems of the day, and I found that meditation before bedtime solved that.  Although doing it in the morning is probably better and helps the day move along more smoothly, bedtime was the only time I could carve out to do it.  Hey, I tried yoga a couple of years ago, but my body rebelled.  And when the body rebels, the mind does, too.  Sleep comes quickly now, no matter what problems and obstacles the day has presented.

There are more things to work out, more goals to set, but those three must come first.  Like Theresa Jaye, I need to reinvent myself.  I'm grabbing her shirttails and going along for the ride.  After raising four daughters and basically helping raise five grandchildren, it's time for me.  Selfish?  I don't think so.  Now to figure out who me is. :)  Oops!  Who I am. ;)

It all takes time.  We have to learn to know ourselves, we have to search our hearts for what we truly want.  After that, we have to go for it!  Once we do, those goals are more easily made.  I may not get as far as I hope, but I'll at least be on the road.  If nothing else, I'm stubborn.  Once I make up my mind to do something, I do it.

Making goals?  Always.  It's something I had to learn to do, but once learned, it's become a habit.  Reaching them--or trying to--also became habit.  I'm eager to see what 2014 will bring.  It's good to see that so many here are, too.

Happy 2014!  May your wishes and dreams come true!  I'm going to work to see that mine do.

Getting Down to Business

Pat, Theresa, and Joan have given me a lot to think about.  December was a busy month and now that the holidays and all they involve are over, I can't seem to get in gear.  I know I should.  I keep telling myself I need to at least put forth the effort to start.  But I kind of feel like that picture on the left.  It's after the party and the excitement is gone, and we're left with the empty champagne bottle and the streamers.  I feel like one of those noisemakers that unfurls when blown into, but I quit furling back again and am slowly drooping.

Pat's questions keep going through my mind.  I can answer one. I know my weaknesses.  One of them is staying on track.  I'm truly a Gemini, going from one thing to another, without mastering anything.  Another is lack of confidence.  It isn't new.  I've dealt with it all my life.  For now---if I can make myself stay with it---I'm working on it.  I'm the only one who can.

Value?  Well, yeah, I guess I have value.  I believe everybody does, just as I believe everyone is gifted in some way.  Strengths?  Well, I can be stubborn enough not to give up.  Strangely, I never believed I would be a published author, but I refused to quit writing.  It kept me out of trouble.  It still does. ☺

I love Theresa's list!  I also see myself in many of her points.  However, I can let things go.  It's a major weakness.  She may be a stuff shuffler, but I'm a piler.  It's obviously been passed down in our family, because we all are.  In fact, if our heads were flat, we'd pile things on them, too.

Joan teaches me that we don't give up.  Health issues are one of the worst things that can happen to us and cause us to see ourselves as weak...which is not true.  Joan proves that each day.  I'm in awe.

All of this reminds me that we're eight days into the new year, and I'm dragging my feet.  Why?  Gee, I wish I knew.  It's not that there isn't plenty waiting for me to do.  So I'll make a list, get a calendar, and create a schedule.  There's a whole new year---minus eight days---to get things done.  Wish me luck!

It's Almost Time...

My mouth dropped open earlier today when I realized we're only four days away from the end of 2012.  The years just keep going by faster and faster.  One of these days I expect to blink, only to discover that I'm in a new year, with no memory of the one I just left.

WARA members are probably groaning as they read this.  They know I'll be pulling out the whip soon.  You see, with only four days left of this year, we're coming to the end of our word count challenge for the year.  And that means we'll be starting a new one.

Hear my evil laughter?  Oh, wait!  That means I have to buckle down, too.  Yikes.  Hear my big sigh?

Get ready...
How many WARA members---or non-WARA members---have given some thought to new goals for the new year?  How many have actually taken steps to get ready to work on those goals?  How many are chomping at the bit to get started on those goals?  (crickets chirping)

If you've participated in this year's Word Count Challenge, it's the best place to start for setting a new goal.  Did you reach your goal?  Did you come close, but didn't quite make it?  Did you find you didn't have nearly the time--or the drive--to stick with it?

Yeah, yeah, I know.  Lots of questions, but answers to them will help.  So will a few tools.

• You'll need a calendar.  I like this one to start with.  It's printable and all of one year is on one page for a great overview.  It also has the option of the availability of more than the current, next and previous month.  And the holidays are listed on the bottom, so I don't have to look them up somewhere else.  Mark off any important dates, such as family birthdays, vacations, times you know you'll be otherwise occupied with life things.  Then transfer that information onto a calendar that gives you space to write on and where you can jot down word count.  (MS Word has calendars and calendar templates that you can print, if you want something plain or don't want to bother with buying a calendar.)  
• Take a look at your 2012 goal (if you had one) and use it as the basis for planning your 2013 goal.  If it was a good year, do it again or maybe even add more words to your goal.  Maybe it was a bad year for you.  Maybe things happened that you didn't know about, but were big enough to put your goals aside, at least for a little while.  Ask yourself it it's possible those same things could happen again.  Or something similar.  If tax time is busy...  If summer leaves you with little time because of little ones...  You get the picture. :)
• Keep Murphy's Law of Goals in mind.  Never heard of it?  It goes like this: When working on a goal, especially a year-long one, life will always intrude.  Don't fight it.  Don't let it beat you.  Deal with what needs your attention, then when you can get back to your goal, do so.  And don't beat yourself up, either.
• Any forward motion, any progress is a +.  The saying, "You can't fix a blank page" has been attributed to Nora Roberts.  Whether she said it or someone else did, it's the truth.
• Just write.  When you find it difficult to put words on paper, don't give up too quickly.  Sometimes getting started is slow going.  Very slow going.  But once started, no matter how slow and painful, it can and often does pick up speed.
• Plan ahead.  It really does help to have some kind of idea of what you'll be writing.  This doesn't mean you have to have a book fully plotted or a synopsis written, but knowing your characters, their GMCs and what the story will be about is a huge help.  Ideas often come at strange times, so try to always have something handy where you can jot the ideas that come to mind.
• Don't quit.  Of course there are times in life where you aren't given the choice of moving forward, but too often people give up when the going gets a little rough.  Lost time can be slowly made up over a longer period of time.  If it isn't, it's okay, as long as you don't give up without giving yourself another chance.
• Take stock .  If you've fallen behind for any reason, rethink your goal.  There's nothing wrong with making an adjustment, no matter how small or large.  If you find you set your goal too low, smile.  Next time you can set it higher.
• If you need some help with setting goals, check out Diary of a Mad Romance Writer.  Yeah, that's my blog, and I have more blog posts than what's probably needed on the subjects of both motivation and setting goals.  And I have LOTS of links for extra help.

I'm tired just thinking about it, but knowing  that working toward a goal is doable, I'm ready to start.  I know what I want to accomplish, I know how I can accomplish it, and I plan to start 2013 with determination and the will to finish.  I hope you all will do the same.  See you January 13!  And Happy New Year!!!

Cheers to a New Year and another chance for us to get it right. - Oprah Winfrey

Motivation Madness

Congratulations to WARA member Fran Fowlkes for placing 2nd in GRW's Maggie Award!


One of the hardest things in life to learn is that sometimes we have to do things we don't want to do or just don't feel like doing.  I learned, my kids learned, and my grandkids are now learning that, to paraphrase the Rolling Stones, you don't always get to do what you want.

Procrastination lives and thrives on the absence of motivation.  In fact, the two are pretty much polar opposites.  I don't remember a time when I've been motivated to procrastinate.  So how do you  motivate yourself when you're stuck in procrastination mode?

SET GOALS
Yes, this is a hard one.  Most of us tend to overdo and set goals that are too difficult, and then we give up before we make much progress.  When setting goals, make sure your goal is reachable.  There are a few things to keep in mind that will keep you from giving up before you barely get started.

• If you work a full time job, you don't have hours and hours to devote to your goal.  Add a family to care for, and the time gets smaller and smaller.  But you don't need a big block of time.  Lunch time can often net you a small block.  Driving to and from work is a good time to do some brainstorming or listening to motivational tapes/CDs.  Can you give up one television show a week?  What about computer games?  I'll admit that Spider Solitaire is one of my big downfalls.
• Discover if you're an OWL or a LARK (a night owl or an early bird).  Once you learn which one you are, you'll be able to pinpoint your peak times and can put them to good use.  Larks can get up earlier in the morning when the house is quite, while owls can set aside time at night, often when everyone else has gone to sleep.
• Make a pact with a friend to work on changing your routine to allow for more time for your goals.  Or maybe work out a schedule with a friend where you'll watch her kids, giving you some extra time, and then you do the same for her.
• Use goal-setting tools such as NaNoWriMo (next month!) or WARA's BIAW.
• Break a large goal into smaller ones.  Do you have a goal for the year?  Break it down into months, then weeks, then what you need to do daily to reach that big goal later.

REWARD YOURSELF
One big reward is always nice when you've reached that major goal, but what about the getting there?  Have you been working hard and reached one of your smaller goals on the way to the bigger one?  Or maybe you've finished that big goal and need to celebrate.  Incentives and rewards can help keep you on track.  Here are a few suggestions to get you started, but be sure to add your own!

Small, inexpensive, and even free for the small goals:

•  An ice cream treat.
• A trinket from the dollar store.
• An extra hour of television
• Window shopping
• A long nap
• A trip to a park

For those big goals when they've been met:

• A movie with friends
• A new hairdo
• A spa day
• A manicure
• A new book (and the time to read it!)
• A weekend away

WRAP-UP

Once you've set your goals and are ready to begin, ask yourself these questions:

1. Have you set goals for the week, whether writing or life?
2. Are these goals part of a long term goal you're working toward?  Or simply a stand-alone goal for something special?  (Don't worry, it doesn't matter.  It only needs to be specified in your mind.)
3. Have you chosen a reward for reaching a goal, whether a mini-goal that's part of a bigger one, or a single one?
4. If this is a must-reach goal, have you alerted friends and family that you will be unreachable during specified times?
5. Are you prepared to force yourself to work toward your goal, when every fiber of your being cries out, "I just want to have fun!"?  (Yes, this is here because of personal experience...every day.)

If you still not sure or if you need a little push to keep you going, try MOTIVATION MONDAYS at my blog Diary of a Mad Romance Writer.  Together we'll set goals, keep the motivation going when times get rough, and celebrate the journey.

Goals in writing are dreams with deadlines. ~ Brian Tracy 

REFILLING THE WELL or FILLING the PAGE J Vincent

Water well’s run dry for many reasons:  overuse, poor structure, careless use, obstruction, and drought are a few.  When the water well runs dry we call a professional to come and fix.  Water, after all is life.  We cannot do without it.

Some of the same problems can happen to that well of words we draw on to write our stories and tell our tales.  And words, the flow of them onto monitor or paper, onto whatever medium we use, is life for the writer.  We cannot continue to exist without that flow.  When the words start to stutter, to hesitate, to refuse to drop onto that blank page in our minds we seldom think to call a profession.  We may try to ignore the problem or more likely try to fix ourselves--write in a different place, write on another topic.  Then I hear, think, or say “write” and I sigh.  The sigh summons distractions easily latched onto and I avoid facing the problem.  But sooner or later, a I come face to face with that blank unyielding page.  But the page isn’t really blank.  Let’s look at mine.  The words aren’t listed in any sort of order.  I just wrote word associations after thinking about why my well went dry and how to refill it.  
 

Schedule.  There are only so many minutes in an hour, hours in a day.  At times I have scheduled almost every one of those and not with writing activities.  My fix for this one is to evaluate my priorities, and writing isn’t the only one on the list.  One of the most important items is often not on any of our priority lists and that is SELF.  A worn out, over-worked, ill-fed, poorly rested person will have difficulty writing--or more succinctly, cannot write well.

Goals:  How long would the Jews have wandered in the desert if they hadn’t been headed to the Promised Land?  Probably more than forty years.  I do not have that kind of time.  Success breeds success just as failure does the opposite.  When I’m stuck writing I start with a tiny, cannot fail goal and work my way up to larger ones.  A goal gives a target and I’m always more libel to reach it if I have one than if I don’t.

Nurture/Freedom:  These two are parts of many of the other.  For example, one of the best ways to nurture your writing is to read and read a lot.  Take time to do that, to marvel at other author’s, to let their enthusiasm renew yours.   Or give yourself the freedom to cultivate your writing by not writing.  Take some time to let go.  Any repetitive act makes one weary; a forced repetitive act leads to dead ends.  Not that there isn’t a time to push through no matter what but that is for another blog.

Stimulate/Relax:  Again this is bound with others and it’s also a two-head coin--one  where you won’t lose the toss.  Many things can stimulate but also relax.  A visit to the art gallery, a day of browse shopping, a favorite restaurant with favorite friends, travel.  “Travel?”  You read that and think, I wish or Get real.  No time, no money--go on a YouTube trip.  Browse YouTube inspirational videos--here are just three I find refreshing:

Gregorian Chant with Scenery,  Cathedral of the Pines  or  Flowers in October

Create/Fun:  Bake a decadent cake.  Color a mural with a child.  Play hopscotch or run through a fountain.  Write a limerick, a pun, an impromptu paragraph about bats in the belfry.  Arrange flowers, quilt, sew, crochet.  Lay back, close your eyes and dream.  Think of the most carefree, non productive activity you can conjure and do it.  Just do it.

Reward:  All of the above have rewards built in by their nature.  They may or may not be directly writing related but anything that renews the spirit, refreshes the soul, and revives the will has a blessed way of planting seeds of growth.  A word, a phrase, a sentence.  Bit by bit, filling the well, filling the page.

For a wacky fix to refilling your will visit  Recharge your Magick.  It’s for witches who need help refreshing their spells.  Writing is sort of witch/spell/magic-like.  Get a chuckle while you get inspired.