Progress…not perfection

I hope you all had some much needed R&R this weekend. Needless to say, time flew and I barely saw the light of day beyond my computer. Fortunately, I’ve got some time off coming up to spend with my son who will be visiting next week from California. We’ll be attending the wedding of one of his cousins–who I can still remember being a bit of a terror. My sisters and I had a gaggle of boys all about the same age and trust me; they were all terrors in their own rite. What I’d like to know, is how did all our boys grow up so fast, and how have they survived to become adults? And not just adults, but men who have the courage to walk down an aisle ready to say “I do”. I guess it happened one step at a time…like everything else with forward momentum.

Phil, AJ, and Jay

The groom is on the left, his big brother is on the right, and my younger son is in the middle. California boy is missing from this shot, but I’ll have new pics with everyone looking clean shaven and dapper, I suspect.

Simpler days and wonderful memories aside, time waits for no man…or woman. In the mad rush toward my next book launch in…um…less than four weeks, I came to all of you in need of some help and advice last week. I’d like to thank you all for your enthusiastic responses! Your support and suggestions helped more than you know.

PJ Sharon here, and if you click on the link to my name, you’ll find a new website–sort of. Don’t go yet, though…let’s savor the big reveal for the end of this post, shall we? The new website is almost-but-not-quite-done. I’ll be working out a few kinks–like how to create a drop down menu so my books can be listed under one heading, how to find my HOME page in my menus since it isn’t there anywhere, and how to change the blogging link from my ABOUT page to my BLOG page. I’m still not sure I chose the theme I really want, and may make some changes there as well. I did choose the WordPress.com basic Responsive template so it would show up on all devices–a problem I was having with my other site that was “flash based” (who knew?)

In spite of entertaining his mom this weekend, my rocket scientist husband was kind enough to help me set up the web-hosting and get the site up and running. I used Go Daddy since that’s where I got my domain name. Hosting was reasonable at less than $40 a year. The site has some limitations–such as not being able to change the font without using Java Script, I believe…or it just might be me. There is a learning curve. Thankfully, I had step-by-step instructions from a YouTube video guru by the name of Tyler Moore. What a God-send! In a couple of hours, he talked me through designing and creating a decent website, including a new logo. I’ve still got some work to do, but it’s coming together and I am past the procrastination and freaking out stage–classic symptoms of fear of failure. It comes with the territory of being a perfectionist. As hard as I’ve worked to eradicate those tendencies, they still sneak up on me and tend to hold me back from achieving the next step toward meeting my goals.

The second issue I asked your help with in my last week’s post was coming up with a new tagline. I think I found one that works for me! Here’s what I came up with:

As for titles for Book Three in the Chronicles of Lily Carmichael trilogy, I’m still pondering. With all of the wonderful suggestions I received last week, I’m narrowing it down to several possibilities and will get back to you once I’ve made a decision. For now at least, I feel like I’m moving in the right direction. The really good news is that I’m not the one walking down that aisle next week. I love weddings, but…talk about stress. Eeek! What big stuff do you have in the works?

I’d love for you to share your progress toward one of your big goals with us. How is it coming on those manuscripts? Anyone submitting? Have a book coming out? Building a website, FB page, Goodreads, Author Central pages? There never seems to be a shortage of things to do.

TODAY’S UNLOCKED SECRET: If we expect perfection, we’ll never finish. And like me with the website, you may never have the courage to start. As with the rest of life, if we take it one step forward at a time–eventually we’ll get to the prize.

The Buck Stops Here

Yay! It’s Friday again! Hope you’re having a good one! Casey here.

Harry Truman famously had a sign on his desk that read – “the buck stops here.” I’ve always loved that phrase.

It’s the ultimate mark of true leadership, taking responsibility for an action, even if you personally didn’t cause it. Like a good captain, you go down with the ship and are responsible for your subordinates behavior. Not an easy thing to do.

I’ve been in this position, not as U.S. president, but as a mother, a manager, even president of my sorority chapter in college. In my day job, I’ve sworn off having responsibility for others. Too much stress, too little reward. Obviously, as a mom, I can’t do that, but lucky for me, my sons are well-behaved.

However, I can’t totally abdicate my leadership role as an author because there’s only one captain at the helm of the good ship SS Writer - me.

Often times, when I attend my monthly RWA chapter meetings, I hear a common complaint – “I need more time to write.” Or “I need someone to motivate me to write.”

I’ve addressed adding more time, so this time I’m switching to motivation. And I’m not going to go easy on you. There’s a reason Suze calls me “the whip cracker.”

First rule, when it comes to motivation – you are in control of you. No one else.

To use myself as an example, if I’m sitting at my computer staring into space or web surfing or avoiding writing, the first person I chastise is me. Sound harsh? You bet!

But it’s also great news. That means you can take charge and do the work.

Casey’s Whip Cracking Tips:

1. Recognize that you are procrastinating and cut it out!

2. Determine why you’re procrastinating. Maybe you’re stuck at a certain point in the plot. My advice, either skip that spot and come back to it later or plow ahead and write something (and fix it later if you don’t like it). I can tell you this from personal (and recent experience), waiting for inspiration to strike isn’t going to work!

Don’t make me send this guy . . .

3. Enlist the aid of a friend. I know I just said, no one can make you do the work, but it can help to spend time with others. Even if to cheer you up!

4. Join a writing sprint – CTRWA has them all them time on our Facebook fan page!! All writers are welcome, not just chapter members.

5. Use the carrot and the stick approach. Try to reward yourself for meeting your goal (avoid using food, otherwise you’ll be stressed about your weight too). And, sorry, but if that doesn’t work, you have to suck it up and just do it (hear the whip snap?)

My final tip, realize that tomorrow is another day. Believe it or not, there are days (and sometimes weeks) where productive work won’t get done. That’s not an excuse to slack off, but do recognize that sometimes life throws curve balls.

Now, go forth and be productive! Or I’ll find you with my whip! *snap*

What are your favorite whip cracking techniques?And do they work for you?

Do Not Disturb – Daydreaming in Progress

Happy Friday everyone! Casey Wyatt here.

Shh… hold on a moment. I’m staring out my window. Aren’t my squirrels cute? I know I should be writing but I’m vegging.

I’m not thinking about anything writing related right now either. And that’s okay.I’m remembering a recent trip to Ikea with my buddies, Katy, Suze and J. We had a lot of fun with those owl puppets.

I’m letting my mind wander while I look at this. . . . this is such a divine tree.

I’m a true believer in daydreaming/vegging out/being lazy. I can’t think of a single idea that originated from me sitting down and saying, “I will now generate story ideas.” That totally doesn’t work for me.

Here’s where my past ideas came from:

• Mystic Ink - baby name book while I was researching a totally different story.
• The Undead Space Initiative - driving my car.
• Misfortune Cookie – while daydreaming during my day job. Let me clarify – I was working on something repitive and my mind went into some other dimension.
• Ascension – during a car ride.
• Unnamed projects in the works – various places like sitting around being a couch potato, waiting in line at the grocery store, watching the news, and driving in the car (that seems to be my biggest idea generator).

The best ideas always sneak up on me when I least expect them! Kind of like those gremlins in the dryer that steal socks – no one sees them, yet the results are the same – two go in – one comes out. And don’t tell me I’m the only one with them! Either that, or I have a pocket dimension in my basement.

I have to thank Jamie for her post Monday - I don’t wanna. It reminded me that it’s normal to not do anything once in a while. In fact, I would argue that if you don’t stop and stare out the window regularly, you will never, ever have any fresh ideas again.

What does everyone else think? Can you command your mind to be creative? Or do you have to trick it like I do?

J’s Distracting Dozen

Hidey-Ho!  J Monkeys here.  Happy Saturday.  I continue to have a problem with writing procrastination and today I want to talk about the Distracting Dozen.  TV channels, that is.  Yes, in the advanced age of digital TV and 1000′s of channels, I have a whomping 12 channels.  Yes, it’s cable and it costs me $25 a month.  Yup – $2 per channel.

I get CBS, NBC, PBS, Fox, ABC, CW, ION, something on channel 11 that I never watch, TBS (it’s very funny!), FX, TVLand and TruTV

Somehow, even with those limited choices, I still find hours of thing to waste time.  You may remember from blogs past that I LOVE Once Upon A Time and I’m anxiously awaiting it’s return in the fall.  I even went out to buy the 1st season on DVD this week, but it doesn’t come out until the 28th.  I also regularly watch or DVR The Biggest Loser, Fringe, The Mentalist, Criminal Minds, The Big Bang Theory and NCIS.  When they are available, I often watch Who Do You Think You Are, Hell’s Kitchen, Masterchef and Lie to Me.

This summer, I’ve discovered a previously untapped addiction to Storage Hunters and Lizard Lick Towing, both on TruTV.  What’s better than a coupla good-ole-boys (as they call themselves from time to time) repossessing folk’s cars?  If you haven’t see it, you’ve got to check it out.  Lizard Lick Towing is a real-life style show (who’s to say what’s actually real and what’s fiction these days on TV?) about a guy (Ronnie) and his wife (Amy) and his buddy (Bobby) who repo cars from an incredible group of characters.  When I found out that Ronnie is not just a repo-man but also the mayor of Lizard Lick NC (I swear to God that’s the name of the town!) and an evangelical minister while  his wife is the office manager of the company, a wrestler (or some kind of fighter) and a mortician, it really only made me like them more!

I’ve checked with the cable company, and sadly there is no package that offers fewer channels than my Distracting Dozen.  I’ve tried losing the remote – the dang thing keeps reappearing on my sofa.  I suppose I could unplug the TV, but then the children would just plug it back in and I’m always telling them not to put things in the outlets.  What kind of Mommy would I be if I set them up to fail that way?  

Today’s secret: No matter how few TV channels I have, there is always something on.  Or I might watch a DVD – I have LOTS of them.  Or read a book – I have WAY more books than DVDs…

Today’s Question: How do you maintain writerly focus?

My To-Don’t List

Thea Devine here, back from my refreshing electronics-free week

My Maine View

(my husband’s challenge) in Maine where we wandered into a local gift shop and in the course of my browsing I found a pad on which to keep a To-Don’t List.

Now you may think that after more than 25 years, I’ve got my writing act pretty much together, and I’m chugging along daily full steam ahead, productive, goal-oriented, and everything running smoothly under my strict managerial thumb..

You would be wrong.  I am a world-class procrastinator. I am scattered, easily distracted by bright shiny things, always behind and ever scrambling. Which is why, when I discovered the To- Don’t List pad, I immediately thought it could solve all my problems.

Don’t get me wrong. I do try to list things and get them done. Especially in my writing life, and you know how hard that can be.

I even know people, who when they get things done that they haven’t put on their list, write them down just for the satisfaction of crossing them off.  But me, I’ll make my list, and maybe accomplish the tasks three days later.  If I remember.  If I look at the list.  If I feel like it.  Or maybe not.

But the To-Don’t List, which is divided into four categories of Don’t-ness (avoid, delay, pawn off and sabotage) frees me from all that:

Write 20 pages                            Check (avoided) (wrote 5pp)

Work on other mss                      Check (delayed) (no due date, no rush)

That heroine’s name??                Check (delayed) (research needed)

Prep for upcoming workshop        Check (delayed) (still time to do that)

Rethink goals                             Check (sabotage) (what goals?)

It’s amazing what I didn’t accomplish today. How much I managed to delay and avoid. (I’m also good at sabotaging.)  I didn’t have to remember or give up anything or make a decision.  And I don’t feel guilty,

Heaven.

Hey, I made a list, people.  And everything I meant to do is crossed off.  I feel good.  It’s been a really successful day.

(Um — you do know this is tongue-in-cheek, right?)

(Or is it …?)

Writing Secret:  forget lists;  keep writing, writing, writing.

Do you procrastinate?  Do you make lists?  For  writing chores:  plot lists?  Timelines?  Story arcs?  Character traits?   Do they work?

Thea Devine is working on Beyond the Night, the sequel to The Darkest Heart, which will be an April 2013 release from Pocket Star.  And look for the reissue of His Little Black Book from Pocket/Gallery in September.

Missing: Motivation. Reward if found.

Sigh ~ Hidey Ho, Scribblers.  J Monkeys here.  Sigh.  Have any of you seen my motivation?  It went missing last week and I haven’t been able to find it anywhere.  I had a very productive writing week last week: 7500 words.  This past week: 0 words.

While I haven’t been able to get much work done, I did come up with an impressive list of reasons why I must procrastinate.  So for all you writers out there failing miserably at procrastination…here’s my list.  Feel free to borrow.

Monday: The tax man was after me.  I spent all of my writing time getting my taxes in order.  A task that had me procrastinating for months because I didn’t really know how to do it.  These would be the new quarterly sales tax filings I have to do as a small business owner.  It cost all of $47 and a day of writing, but now I’m caught up until Halloween.

Tuesday: Record heat and no air conditioning.  I lay in the basement being blown on by a fan and watching several hours of a Hallmark TV Miniseries from the late 1990′s.

Wednesday: Still wicked hot.  Balanced the checkbook, paid bills and watched the last couple of hours of yesterday’s miniseries.

Thursday: Ran errands.  Semi important things like getting home-owners insurance at the very last minute before my old one ran out.  Visited my town tax collector (wow – I’ve been WAY lax on my taxes…eh?) to chip away at my absurdly huge property tax bill.  Things like that.

Friday: It was cold and rainy today (apparently, I’m unhappy with the weather no matter what it is) so I read a book for an hour which turned into a 3-hour nap.  Then I rushed to Niecey-Poo’s Summer Camp Weekly Talent Show.  That’s 2 hours of torture just a bit worse than it sounds.  I’m looking forward to next week’s show.  Not.

So, what happened?  I was writing gang-busters and all of a sudden I completely fell off the wagon.  And the wagon left town without me.  For me, this is the worst thing about being a writer without an agent whacking me with a deadline.  Self-motivation is hard to come by.  My very favorite thing to do in this entire world is to be sucked into someone else’s fantasy by reading.  Without children to feed and the very real threat of ants, it’s quite possible I wouldn’t do anything else.  But there, it’s the children and the ants motivating me, really.

When it comes to writing, that’s me doing my own thing because I want to.  And I do want to.  So, come Monday, I’m going to pick myself up by my imaginary bootstraps (I’m envisioning Charles Ingalls’ boots with the little dohickeys dangling off the sides) and get back on track.  Fifteen hundred words a day.  Maybe I should get up a little earlier and get a jump on that count before the kids get up and demand food and things. 

And if you happen across any extra motivation, feel free to send it me.  I can use it!
Got any tricks of the trade?  How do you motivate yourself after a slump?

 

The Procrastination Monster

PJ Sharon here with your Tuesday dose of writerly advice. DON’T PROCRASTINATE! If you’ve got something that needs doing, take a page from “Earl,” and “get-er-done.”

I’m generally not known to be a procrastinator, but when the to-do list becomes a bit…let’s say…unwieldy, it’s easy to let things slide. With my next book, SAVAGE CINDERELLA out this Thursday, I’ve been flat out with last minute details and will readily admit that I’ve dropped a few balls. Things like this blog post, which I am speedily writing at 11:30 P.M. after spending the past four and a half hours with my husband, formatting and uploading my book to the KDP Select program through Amazon (more on that when I guest blog this Saturday at Jennifer Fusco’s MOD site).

Oh, yes. Do you remember me talking last week about Proofreading? You were all so quick to praise me about my process and how diligent I was. Ha! After both my editor and I went through the proof copy yet one more time, I made final edits and uploaded to Create Space yesterday. Tonight, while formatting for Kindle, my husband found an interesting error. I have two chapter twenties. I know! Right? Didn’t I have a similar problem with my first book? How could I miss that again? It’s not like the chapters are duplicated. It’s just the heading “Chapter 20” two chapters in a row. Since my DH found the error, it won’t be in the Kindle version, but there will be fifty copies of the book that have this quirky little detail that will make those rare copies…uh…collectibles.

Speaking of CreateSpace, it usually takes them twenty-four hours to approve my upload and then I can either order another proof, or bypass that step and order copies, which I did. I was informed today that my hardcopies won’t arrive until next Tuesday. I was like…um…noooo. I need them this Thursday. You know—the  15^th—release day? Not that anyone is pounding my door down waiting to get their hands on a signed copy, but I expected to have them, and I like to be a woman of my word. It’s not going to happen. Apparently, just because I can get a proof copy in three days, doesn’t mean the final print copies can be done that quickly. Somehow I forgot that minor detail between now and last December when I published my previous book. Sigh…

So it’s down to the wire and I’m waiting to hear back from KDP that all went well with my upload to the select program. I’m anticipating that the book will go live just in time for my release date, but I hate to jinx it by assuming anything at this point. I’ll try to stay positive and remind myself that in the big picture of life, all these details are merely flies in my Chardonnay. I’ve learned to measure everything on a brain tumor scale of life. It keeps me sane and grounded when all hell is breaking loose around me and nothing seems to be going as it should.

As for the Procrastination Monster (the ugly third cousin of the Doubt Monster), he has bitten me in the butt yet again. I’ve missed the submission deadlines for the Romantic Times Booklovers Convention, which is rolling up on me like a bowling ball on a center pin. I’m hoping someone there will take pity on me and let me submit the things I signed up for. It’s my first time there and I haven’t found their website to be very author friendly or easy to negotiate. Or maybe that’s just me. I’ve had a lot on my plate lately.

How about you guys? Have you been procrastinating? Meaning to send out those queries? Start that exercise program? Please make me feel better and share your latest battle with the Procrastination monster.