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Next Year's Mantra: DISCIPLINE
Around June, I felt a twinge of guilt, but I tamped it down, being I’m a practiced rationalizer when it comes to nebulous things like “shame” and “slacker.” The fact it had been a year since I technically finished Girl on a Grecian Urn, and I had neither finished the revisions nor completed a new manuscript didn’t pang me too long. At a time.
I mean, it panged me every day. I’d go to bed, thinking, you haven’t written. If you had done this or so, I bet you could have written two pages at least. I thought about writing; but that never manifests itself into words on the page like you think it would. I reassured myself that I still had six months to get it in gear. I would surely have the revisions done by November so I could send the revised manuscript to the Golden Heart.
Between planning to write and non-writing, I sent out queries. I believed if someone asked for the book, then that would inspire me to finish the revisions for the last four chapters. I was fishing for motivation (in myself and my characters) like I was Ishmael after a freaking whale. Neither of us found any.
In September, my procrastination took a new tact. I would work on other aspects of my life instead. The Virginia Woolf procrastination epiphany. I wasn’t writing my magnum opus because I didn’t have a room to write in. All by myself. Away from awful, awful distractions like handsome men who wanted to lure me to bed with hot sex…and the internet. Call me Odysseus, stuck on this pain-staking journey of writing: shoals, hurricanes, doldrums, hot sex, you name it—I had a writer’s equivalent for it. I was in a leaky boat, sailing nowhere fast.
I consoled myself that the sex and the internet were research. I had three months to get it all done; plus I could totally do that NaNo thing.
So after three months of researching, I’m now staring at my calendar in stark disbelief. Holy hell, it’s December 30th and I still haven’t finished the revisions on that blasted novel. Nor have I finished a new manuscript! Hell, I couldn’t even tell you the idea for the new manuscript. I keep coming up with new ideas, but none of them want to stick to the wall. They’re all…blech.
I’m beginning to feel like one of those locusts who only mates every seven years. Well, I used to feel that way about my sex life too, but now I think it only applies to my writing. I haven’t found a locust I’m willing to crawl out of the woodwork for. In the meantime, I’d rather sleep until something brilliant comes to me. (Napping is my number one favorite pastime. Sometimes it’s number two, but…well, never mind.)
So what’s a sleepy, uninspired, unmotivated, and undone pirate to do? Well, lucky for me, this is the time of year for resolutions. Which is to say, I’ve found another way to procrastinate. (And I need to add: generally speaking, we all know resolutions don’t usually stick for long. There are one-night stands that last longer than most.) So how do I word my resolution in such a way that it doesn’t dissolve faster than a Britney Spears’ marriage? What do you do to put your words into actions? You know, besides the obvious action of: butt in chair, hands on keyboard? No, no, too obvious.
Then Janga did it for me. We were discussing Resolutions yesterday; and Janga listed out what resolutions she was going to implement in the next year. But she didn’t leave it at just the resolution: she broke the resolution into two or three smaller attainable goals or solutions. Simple things anyone could do to accomplish the Herculean task of overcoming procrastination. Then she capped the whole thing with a theme mantra: DISCIPLINE. All it takes to accomplish any of the small attainable tasks is discipline. Which clearly is the antithesis of procrastination.
Besides a good mantra clears your mind as you set into action into one of those smaller, clear goals. So my resolution this year is to adopt Janga’s resolutions (and concrete actions to attain resolutions and her mantra) as my own so as to not find myself on December 30, 2009, going “Holy sh*t, have I literally screwed around all year again?” (Okay, that might not be a totally wasted year in my opinion, but…I should vary it a little.) Besides, isn't stealing from your friends the highest form of flattery? Or laziness? I'm unsure which. Maybe both.
Until I figure it out (this head cold is the pits), I will add: Janga's got this figured out. I'm going to try to be a bit more like Janga this year. (And if she doesn't conform strictly to her new disciplined regime, then I'll go with the "do as I say, not as I do" approach. Whether she follows her own advice or not, it's still brilliant.)
Who do you admire and wish to emulate more this year—and why? What small, concrete ways will you do to accomplish your resolutions? What’s your favorite mantra/motto?
Books by the Crew
65 comments:
Hmmm, very thought provoking, Cap'n...despite all the hints of fabulous sex you're having. Even without the nasty duck, I might add!
So, I tried to think about how I want to see my way through the bit of resolutions I make. Discipline is a good word. And one I sadly am in need of. But more than that for me...I must be true to my self. So, I use this quote to say it...
"This above all: to thine own self be true,
And it must follow, as the night the day,
Thou canst not then be false to any man."
From the bard himself. I must be true to my self, to my writer, to my heart, to my life. I would add, "nor can thou be false to yourself..."
That would be my mantra for the year 2009. All else will follow, the bravery, the discipline, the magic that is writing. In being true to myself is all I need.
(And hopefully the weight loss, ridding myself of clutter, fitness routines...all of it. I'm greedy!)
How? The sitting of the ass down in the chair and opening the laptop, fingers to keys...
It's the little things!
Couldn't sleep. Dh snoring loudly and all, which is quite unusual for him. Thought I'd stop in early and beat Q. I see I've done that. But you had to use the word discipline. What the hell is that? I'm not sure I would willingly allow myself to find discipline. Besides, discipline doesn't really work for true procrastinators, does it?
I've tried. Doesn't work, not for me at least. Now the reward system, that might work.
"No, smookie sweetins, I can't have sex until this chapter is finished." tap, tap, tap "Oh, you want to reward me with that. As soon as I'm done, only 20 more pages to go." tap, tap, just keep writing, just keep writing, just keep writing, writing, writing.
Um, admiration... I so admire Elyssa. I want determination like hers. I admire y'all for different reasons.
I won't make resolutions. I'll just step forward, and keep moving until I reach the end of the road. That's not to say I won't dally along the way a bit, you know, to stop and smell the roses.
Oh, and I love this quote by Diana Ross, You can't just sit there and wait for people to give you that golden dream. You've got to get out there and make it happen for yourself.
You aint' gonna make anything happen with idle hands. Not that your hands are idle Cap'n, I'm just saying....There's still some time left, if you opened the file, if you revised one chapter, that'd be one less for next year.
Gosh, now that it's way past my bedtime and I'm silly sleepy, I probably aught to go to bed.
Renee
Darn it, Chance! You beat me. And you had to mention ridding clutter. Gor, what has this world come too?
Good Morning, Chance. Good Night, Chance. See ya on the sunny side.
Renee
I think that COMMITTMENT is better than DISCIPLINE as a mantra.
When Committed to something, deep down you really want it. Then the distractions of ducks, chocolates, one night stands etc just fade away.
The downside to commitment though is obsession. I wouldn't want anyone to become a 'writing bore', so as a supplement to COMMITTMENT I recommend frequent bursts of hot sex or whatever else turns you on.
I think it was G H Hardy, the famous mathematician, who once commented that maths required such intense concentration that he could only manage 2 hours a day. He often spent the rest relaxing at cricket matches.
Of course he needed the discipline to concentrate for those two hours.
Perhaps Janga was right after all! *grin*
Its nice to see Chance and Renee committed to commenting at 3.0 am....I can't compete with that sort of discipline....I'm having a lazy breakfast at 9.50 am here in the UK..... Then perhaps I might put in my 2 hours!
Nice thoughtful Blog Cap'n.....Lord my brain is creaking today. :roll:
All those words, Hellion, and all I can think of is 'hot sex.' What was the question?
Oh, now I remember. I once opened a fortune cookie (despite college, fortunes speak louder than philosophy classes to me)which read 'Ignorance on fire is better than knowledge on ice.' Now, I am not advocating ignorance, but that phrase perfectly describes my initial foray into writing. I knew NOTHING and didn't let it stop me. How, you ask, can a girl get into the English honors society and remain ignorant of POV and GMC? I tell you, it can be done.
I have stumbled around in the dark---with enthusuasm. Now that my own GMC is clearer, I see the first three years I wrote were a really long stretch of fiery ignorance. But that's okay. The important thing is to keep at it, every day if possible.
I've never really had heroes (although Janga is most worthy), but my aspiration is to be the Grandma Moses of romance writing. She lived to be 101 and painted 25 pictures in the last year of her life. With arthritis. I've only got carpal tunnel. :)
PS. I might as well have said I want to emulate Jesus. It sounds easy in the explanation but not so easy in the execution.
I completely understand procrastination. Months went by while I stalled writing my sex scene. Oye.
But I think discipline (and commitment) will get us there. This was a great blog, a great heads up.
Who do I want to emulate? La Nora, I would say. Write everyday, even on vacation. That's my goal. Write everyday, even if it's only a few sentences.
Marn all I can think about when you said you're going to emulate Jesus is Talladaga Nights.
"Eight pounds six ounce baby Jesus, wrapped in his golden fleece..."
I'm going to emulate the Capt'n and procrastinate. *g*
*ducking*
Jeez. Tough crowd today.
It's hard to be a slacker in this crowd. I think I'll go mingle below deck.
Oh geez, not the talladaga nights references....
2nd: Shakespeare has loads of those brilliant little nuggets, doesn't he? First, be true to yourself...that is definitely a wonderful mantra!
Though as a fiction writer, it's hard not to lie. *LOL* Though it helps even your lies have truth in them.
Renee: No idle hands! Another good mantra--and love the Diana Ross. Too true: no one is going to bring you your dreams; you have to go get them...
This is all great stuff guys! I might make a little collage (another procrastination tactic, I'm sure, but hey, only two days left before the new year starts so who cares, right?) with all these inspirational mottos and zen stuff...
Q, I agree: COMMITTMENT does sound friendly than DISCIPLINE. When I see DISCIPLINE, I see a Marine standing over me, shouting at me to drop and give him twenty...so that sorta unnerves me. But COMMITTMENT makes me think of weddings...and that's a good thing to think of when you're writing love stories, right? But I do think COMMITTMENT and DISCIPLINE go hand in hand. You can be committed and not disciplined. *LOL*
And I love the cricket guy. *LOL* Now if I just wrote 2 hours a day!
Maggie: I know, clearly hot sex was on my brain as well. Which considering I have a cold and am dosed up on NyQuil, I wonder how I'm having any thoughts of that kind at all.
Ignorance is bliss--that's what your comment made me think of. *LOL* I was a lot happier writing when I didn't know so much about seedy underbelly-business side of things. And that nasty GMC too. I mean, I'm *better* for knowing those things--I just don't write as well...or as often...or as blissfully. *LOL*
Marnee: you want to write on your VACATION? Are you mad? Maybe jot notes or something, but I don't think I'd want to sit and write. I'd want to be doing something fun. Like drinking a mai-tai and hang-gliding. (Not at the same time, of course.)
Sorry, Marn, the NyQui is making me more barky than usual. Writing everyday, even on vacation, is an admirable goal to get to. And I bet Grandma Moses painted on her vacations.
That NyQuil is getting vicious now, isn't it?
Oh, excellent! If we're quoting TN, here's mine--and it fits the theme too!
It's because it's what you love, Ricky. It is who you were born to be. And here you sit, thinking. Well, Ricky Bobby is not a thinker. Ricky Bobby is a driver. He is a doer. And that's what you need to do. You don't need to think. You need to drive. You need speed. You need to go out there, and you need to rev your engine. You need to fire it up. You need to grab a hold of that line between speed and chaos, and you need to wrestle it to the ground like a demon cobra! And then, when the fear rises up in your belly, you use it. And you know that fear is powerful, because it has been there for billions of years. And it is good. And you use it. And you ride it; you ride it like a skeleton horse through the gates of hell, and then you win, Ricky. You WIN! And you don't win for anybody else. You win for you, you know why? Because a man takes what he wants. He takes it all. And you're a man, aren't you? Aren't you?
I don't get much vacation, Hells. And when we go places I still have to take the two year old so it's hardly a vacation. The only place I went without him the past couple years was the NJ RWA Conference and I wrote then. How can you not when there are all those other writerly folks around, writing and being creative? LOL!
What, Marn, you don't want to hang-glide with a toddler? Where's your sense of adventure?
Okay, sure, when conferences are your vacation--and I count them as that--of course, you're going to be writing. Best time to write, really.
Painting seems like it'd be a lot harder on vacation. That's a lot of supplies. All I need is a pen and paper (or my laptop). All relatively small and less bulky, I say.
Hang-gliding in general. I'm a wuzzbag.
The mai tai sounds fun though.
Oh crap. TN has begun. Where's terri to help stem the flow of insanity?
So, can I do this?
It’s because it’s what you love, Hellie. It is who you were born to be. And here you sit, procrastinating. Well, Pirate Hellion is not a procrastinator. Pirate Hellion is a writer. She is a doer. And that’s what you need to do. You don’t need to procrastinate. You need to write. You need DISCIPLINE, COMMITMENT. You need to go out there, and you need to kick your muse in the ass, or yourself. You need to fire him up. You need to grab a hold of that line between sanity and chaos, and you need to wrestle your muse to the ground like a demon cobra! And then, when the fear rises up in your belly, you use it. And you know that fear is powerful, because it has been there for billions of years. And it is good. And you use it. And you ride it; you ride it like a skeleton horse through the gates of hell, and then you win, Hellie. You WIN! And you don’t win for anybody else. You win for you, you know why? Because a woman takes what she wants. She takes it all. And you’re a woman, aren’t you? Aren’t you? Well DAMN IT! I Am WOMAN HEAR ME ROAR! Let me hear you ROAR, Hellie. Let me hear you!
I'm flattered that my comment resonated with you, Hellion. :)
Our years sound remarkably similar, except I can't claim hot sex as a distraction. :)
I can't speak for anyone else, but I know discipline is what I lack. I have the desire to reach my goals, I have the ability to reach them, but I stumble over the follow through. I don't know the source, but I remember a quote that seems apropos: “It was character that got us out of bed, commitment that moved us into action, and discipline that enabled us to follow through.”
And now Helen Reddy's going to be my soundtrack of the day. LOL!
Renee - that was HILARIOUS!! You are a pirate!
Renee is the winner of the Undead Monkey today! That is the best comment ever--I'm so copying and pasting that above my computer. Hell, I might get it tattooed. *hands her the caged undead monkey which is screaming* Enjoy!
Awwww thank you. :) I always wanted an undead monkey. It doesn't bite does it? I bet it'd love to go hang gliding with Marn.
I feel like I already own an undead monkey and I already declined to hang-glide with him.
LOL!
Janga, there is a lot you say that resonates with me--and all in good ways. :)
I am really thankful for my online group of writers and readers. Each and everyone of you are an inspiration to me. (And that's not just the NyQuil talking.) So sure, I can't account for a lot of "tangible" things I did this year (other than the hot sex, naturally), but I had a great time--and I spent it with some of the funniest, smartest, most eloquent people I know. And really, that's what matters.
*LOL* True! But you can't cage your undead monkey. Well, you can, I suppose...we won't tell....
No, he doesn't bite. He's messy though...and has a frighteningly accurate aim. (I think the monkey would enjoy the hang gliding more than Marn. It'd be a contest to figure out who was screaming the loudest.)
LOL! No HANG-GLIDING!
Now, bungee jumping is another story....
No, see, bungee jumping frightens me more. I've listened to that Jeff Foxworthy joke too much about how they know how long to make the cord. *LOL* I'd rather take my changes with the glider.
Aw, come on, Marn, live on the wild side.
And Hellion is on the coin. There is so much said amongst writers (here and elsewhere) that resonates. It inspires. I've sat in my stagnant life for a lot of years. Not that I was unhappy, I wasn't content. Dh and the kids had nothing to do with it. I wasn't content with myself. I had had hopes and dreams and somewhere along the way I gave them up. I don't know why. Maybe, it was the fear of being a disappointment, so I never tried. Then one time about thirteen years ago, I shared with someone that I wanted to write. I really, really wanted to write. Their response was, "They say you write what you know." Totally blew the wind from my sails. What did I know? I didn't know romance, I had more black moments than the romance section at the library, but never romance. I loved history, but I didn't know how to incorporate the two together. And, hell, I only had me an high school education with 9 weeks of grammar. I definitely didn't know grammar.
I'm very thankful for the encouragement I've received from the writing community. The mentorship has been beyond awesome. And when I hear of author's struggles along with their victories, I know I'm not alone.
I think I need a bit of both discipline and committment. I know I let myself procrastinate way too much, and that if I feel stuck, I just leave it alone when I should push myself through it. But it's weird because sometimes I can and other times, I'm like um, no. So I have to push through the pain and just write the damn first draft of this book and then revise it once I'm done.
But I hate revisions!
As to inspirations . . . Nora Roberts and SEP, definitely. I think NR said something along the lines of I can't fix a blank page. So wise, so true, and sometimes, so hard to do---to fill a page up. LOL.
Btw, where is Terri?
Her little pirate had surgery yesterday. I'm guessing she's taking care of her.
3 am! I don't write at 3 am! I live in California and I write near midnight. It just looks like 3 am to you, Q!
I was watching a bio on John Mellancamp a while back and he said, to paraphrase, "Too many people give up too early on their dreams. You have to keep going..."
Crew, don't give up too early! Yes, Grandma Moses is a good example. So is Julie Child... This is our year! I mean, next year is our year!
Or something like that. Hand me that mai tai and the let's set up the parasail, push those sails and do some flying!
Hmmmm. For those interested in visiting with the makers of my nasty duck... http://bigteazetoys.com/content/view/81/166/lang,/
LOL! That's hilarious! :)
Ely, Nora is wise, isn't she! (Though sometimes I do look at my filled pages and think, God, a rainforest in the Amazon is cursing me to hell.)
That is SO going on my birthday wish list. *LOL*
Cap'n, be like the left coast, use recycled paper! Every little bit 'elps.
Curious, why do ya print it up? Nothing a' mine goes inta print until the submission process...
I'm here! *waving madly from her couch* I was here earlier today too. Left a really good comment. Then my pooter locked up and it all went to hell. Grrrr..... Back on track now.
Kiddo is doing better. Doc said her tonsils were the size of golf balls. Crazy! Pain is managed for now, we're working on the fluids, and the ex is long gone. It's a good day.
The only resolutions I remember from this time last year were lose 20lbs by Nationals and finish the damn WIP. Well, lost the 20 but not until after Nationals. Kind of a victory. As to the other *hangs head in shame* not even close. Not even the first third! LOL!
So, in 2009, I need to find everything mentioned. Discipline, commitment, dedication, and definintely that roaring thing Renee mentioned. (And maybe Chance's duck...) This is the year I finish my degree and my WIP. By golly.
2nd: I don't print it alot, but during the final edits, I print, edit, then revise. There is just somethings you don't catch until it's in paper. I don't get it, but it's Murphy's law.
My mantra is
There are plenty of Reasons. But there are No Excuses.
What I mean by this is: do not fall into the trap of allowing the difficulties of life to become an Excuse for not living life to the fullest. Yes things are hard. But that is not an excuse. You are not excused. Not from a task that must be completed. Not from a life that must be lived.
I know a lot of Reasons for Not Doing. They are… this is
hard
painful
time consuming
embarrassing
stupid
silly
frightening
Pointless ... Yes, I can come up with a thousand reasons for why not. So can you. All of which are probably very Good Reasons. So WHAT. That doesn’t mean that you should allow yourself to use them as an Excuse. No. Because there are no acceptable excuses for people who want to succeed. Not in My World. And certainly not in the real one.
Say the word “succeed”. Go on. Let it roll off your tongue. Enunciate each syllable. “Succeed… Suc-ceed… Suc-ceed” Then ask yourself this question: What is the difference between a life that “suc-ceeds” and a live that “sucs”?
Literally it is the lack of “ceeds” of course. Say this out loud: “The difference between a life that suc-ceeds and a live that sucks lies with how I deal with the “ceeds”.
It’s interesting. When you say that sentence out loud the word “cedes” take on a new meaning. Ceeds become cedes… and seeds….
IMO to be successful the first thing you must do is learn to cede. Cede … Surrender …. Relinquish … Let Go. Give up on trying to be something that you are not. Accept yourself. Work with your strengths. Quit worrying about your weaknesses. Cede. And embrace your uniqueness. Utilize the resources that are within you. The Seeds that are within you. Plant them. Nurture them. Give them permission to grow ... and you will grow too.
Embrace your cedes/seeds. Learn when to surrender. And when to persevere. Sow your seeds in fertile fields. Work hard. Be disciplined. Be a patient farmer. And be accepting and grateful for the success that comes your way. Often times I think that people have too narrow a view of what success is. Last year a neighbor planted a garden. They watered it, and weeded it, and they feed it compost. The garden flourished under my neighbor’s care. It was a beautiful garden. All neatly laid out in long organized rows. Except… well … there was this strange looking plant thingie growing among the tomatoes. It was the oddest looking thing. Personally I would have gotten rid of it. But my neighbor was curious. So she let it grow. Weeks later the strange plant bore fruit … cantaloupe to be exact. The seeds must have been in the compost. Most of you reading this are writers. Most of you want to write professionally. Like my neighbor you work hard at your craft. You plant seeds. And you wait for your seeds to bare fruit. Except maybe the fruit that you get is different from what you thought that you were planting. What happens if you don’t get a contract? What happens if your writing leads you down a different path?
What if You are the cantaloupe among the tomatoes?
My mantra, my motto
There are plenty of Reasons. But there are No Excuses. Be grateful for the compost that life heaps on you. Accept yourself for who you are. Then you can tell the world “I am a success. I am unique. I am a cantaloupe among the tomatoes”. I am …. uuhh…. Finally done!
Sorry about the length of that post Hellion. You did say “small & concrete”. And I was Long & abstract.
Julie, if I had another undead monkey, you'd definitely get it. Though I have to take issue with the "be grateful for the compost that life heaps on you"--I'm to be thankful for the SHIT life heaps on me? Are you a sadist?
Though most of my life I wanted cantalopes but got tomatoes instead. Small plum tomatoes...so I'm probably more a tomato plant among cantalopes.
Shit is SHIT. Compost is something else altogether. It is “the surprising” things that happen in life. The things that stink in the beginning but ended up working out. Just ... Not the way be thought they would.
I have seen compost. It might comprise some other surprising things, but one of those things is SHIT. *LOL* But I guess that just proves even the shit in your life has a purpose.
That’s why they call it compost, not compoop.
Am I a sadist well...
When my son was in junior high he complained about being “small”. What was I supposed to say? I don’t to pregnancy well? So I said: “There are no excuses.” Then I said one name: Jack LaLanne OMG
Now the kid weights a sold 170 & he trains UFC fighters. So you tell me. Am a sadadist?
Terri, I hope that your daughter feels better Soon!
And
Janga on the subject of how your year was different from Hellions:
Didn’t I send you Writer’s pep talk #37? ;)
Oh, so profound, Julie! It's all shit, one way or another...which means its all compost. You can make magic out of the dark moments... Crew! I almost died! Maybe I did, I just don't know...but I rose from it determined to start doing what I'd always wanted to do, write, be published, be read...
There are always reaons to fear, but they aren't all good ones. In fact, very few of them are good.
I do love the idea of cedes... I'm gonna copy that post and print it up, keep it where I can read it. Like Cap'n Hellion's compass post. Love it!
Cap'n if you don't mind, I can pass the undead monkey to Julie. She made me cry. Mostly because I had a shit afternoon and everything she said made me feel a bit better.
Julie, did you say your son trains UFC fighters? Or did I miss read that?
Terri, glad to see you are in such a good mood and the dd is on the mend. All my kids had their tonsils and adenoids out, two before they were of the right age, because they were so big. The doc said my son had the biggest tonsils and adenoids he'd ever seen even on an adult, he wasn't even two when they came out.
Renee
Julie definitely deserves some kind of award. That's an awesome comment. And so true! Thanks for the get well wishes, ladies. She's doing better than I thought she would, but it's weird not to have her talking 90 to nothing. LOL!
Renee - You went through this how many times? Gosh, I'm not sure I could do this again. And this was minor!
LOL, Terri, it doesn't get easier. Well maybe it does, a little. Four tonsils and adenoid removal. One had to have those done separately because she was 7 or 8 months old when they took her tonsils out. one who had to have tubes 4 times. One appendectomy, this child was fun. We almost lost her to some rare strep when she was two. She had kidney stones when she was three. She's allergic to every environmental thing in Kansas except cockaburs, yes even the sun would cause a reaction, she couldn't be in the light even five minutes without having a severe sunburn. She's allergic to a lot of foods. The doctors thought she had leukemia or lupus, tested her and found nothing. Now that she's in her teens, she's miraculously pretty much cured, which leads me to believe it's Celiac, which is sooo sooo much easier. She's also been in the er more than once near unconscious because of asthma attacks that came on suddenly. Oddly enough, she hasn't had an asthma attack since she was a teen either.
Living through it all, priceless. Let me tell you though, all that crap, every bit of it was so much easier than what some parents have to go through.
TMI? I didn't even go into the oldest and her issues. Or the boy who refuses to believe his anaphylactic shock stems from an allergic reaction to cats, rabbits, and hay. He's tough you know and has no problems whatsoever. LOL.
I've been through enough with my kids I should have an LPN. The good thing is, I can stand my ground most of the time with the doctors. I learned a hard lesson there by almost losing a child.
Julie, LYG! I did get the pep talk, and they do help. It's just that my expectations of myself are always greater than my production. Keep those pep talks coming, my friend.
Renee, I salute you! Writing should be an escape for you. At least in your stories, you can control the crises and their outcomes. Nothing is as scary as being a parent.
Thanks, Janga! It's also the most rewarding.
Renee - You remind me again how lucky I am. I realized it when I was answering all the pre-surgery questions yesterday. It became abundantly clear I have an incredibly healthy child and am therefore extremely lucky. She's a little ball of strength even if she is a drama queen. Forget the LPN, I say you deserve sainthood.
Nah! No sainthood here. Drama can be good as long as it's not over dramatic. I can't decide if I have a drama queen. My oldest is like a drill sergeant. The next very quiet, the boy, maybe. The youngest, is whiny. I think I'd rather a drama queen. :)
Renee
You read that right Renee. My son is an Interesting Person. Just imagine someone with my… umm … quirky personality. Then add a very strange sense of humor, Kevlar, four guns, a really bad singing voice and a talent for Performance Art.
He trains fighters for “relaxation”. His word.
Janga said “Keep those pep talks coming, my friend.”
First of all, don’t I have Nerve sending you advice about writing? And second … has it occurred to you that perhaps the reason you haven’t finished your MS is because you’re getting advice about writing from someone who doesn’t know how to write?
I found romancewritersrevenge.com very informative. The article is professionally written and I feel like the author knows the subject very well. romancewritersrevenge.com keep it that way.
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