Changes are hard, and the older we get, the harder it is to make changes. But let's face it. Trying to fight change is an effort in futility. It's much better to roll with the changes and make the adjustments needed.
That's where I am. Rolling. Making adjustments.
We're finishing up our second week of school today, so life is getting a little smoother. I have four trips each day to two different schools, so I'm on the road for short periods of time. When I head out on the two afternoon trips, I leave early and take something with me to read, edit, or sometimes I even play games on my Kindle, if I feel I need a real break. It's quiet time for me, something that's in short supply in the summer. I like quiet time. ☺
We're even having to adjust to weather changes. We started the summer with hot and dry. In July, we finally had rain to ease the drought of the last few years. That rain picked up and ran into August. At the halfway mark of this month, we'd had two days when it didn't rain. It got a bit soggy. Now that we're nearly done with August, it's hot and dry again. I have no doubt that will change.
While we don't always like changes, we'd get bored without them. Beginning something new, finishing something old, and looking forward to more new things keep us going. And isn't that what we want? To keep on going?
Have a blessed end-of-summer, and roll with the changes it brings.
The only way to make sense out of change is to plunge into it, move with it, and join the dance. - Alan Watts
It's official. Yesterday was the first day of school in my little corner of the world. Okay, in my little corner of the prairie. With it comes changes. No longer will I be chasing children up and down the street or climbing on the trunk of my car with a tree limb in my hand to knock down a pair of tied-together tennis shoes, stuck high up in a tree. Yes, sad as it is, the tennis shoe incident may have been the highlight of the summer.
Last week's blog went unwritten. It wasn't the best week of my life. The deadline to write book #9 in the Desperation series continues to move forward each day, even when I don't get to write. The insanity of the approaching first day of school had g-kids acting out, as if it were the last week before life in prison. Pushing the limits, until limits lay shattered on the ground, seemed to be their goal.
Mothers, whether stay-at-home workers--because there's always work at home--and those who go to a job away from home are celebrating.
But with school in session, adjustments must be made. There's more time, but it's interrupted time. Not as interrupted as summer days with nothing for kids to do except find trouble, but interruptions, nonetheless. While last previous academic year included dropping off and picking up g-kids at one school, this year is up to four trips. Taking the Pre-K'er to half-day morning school, picking up Pre-K'er from school, picking up elementary kids from school, and picking up one at the middle school now, along with the neighbor girl across the street. It's a circus, all this juggling and running. I've become the driver of the clown car. ;)
One of our writing group members asked how the published authors among us make time to write. The answer? We give up things others might normally do. We get up early or stay up late. We forego large chunks of television time. We don't have the world's neatest and cleanest homes. Laundry piles up, dishes pile up, but eventually are cleaned and put away. We set goals and we work on achieving them, because as one published author put it, this is our job. This pays the bills, puts food on the table, clothes on our bodies. What? You're not published yet? Okay, start making writing a habit, so that when you do get that first contract offer, the transition won't totally blow your mind and freeze your body, keeping you from doing the job.
Writers write. We either write or become monsters.
I wrote 67 pages during our most recent BIAW that ended this past weekend, in spite of the shattered limits and insanity around me. After that, from Sunday through yesterday, I haven't written. Not a blog post, not a manuscript page. I did not write. Today I blog and will begin the last chapter of Erin and Jake's story. By the end of the upcoming weekend, I hope my goal is to be finished...ahead of schedule. That's the rough draft. Editing, smoothing, changing, are on the horizon.
Life happens. Adjustments in life are necessary. The unexpected comes along and ruins our plans and goals. Yet we continue. There will always be a way to adjust, to conquer. Find it.
Never. Give. Up.
Never give up, for that is just the place and time that the tide will turn.- Harriet Beecher Stowe
You know when the beginning of a new school year is just around the corner, when school supplies start appearing in stores. Because I'm big sucker for all things that can be stuffed in an office, I've been scoping out what's available in the Back-To-School aisles for a couple of weeks.
Grandkids have spent the summer confiscating my pens, so trying to find a tool to jot down a note or make a simple list has become an effort in futility. I've already replaced two of four of my favorite pens that "disappeared" and decided to buy a pack of ten inexpensive ones for .99, hoping they'll last more than a week. Use a pencil, you say? Have you tried to sharpen a wood pencil lately? The lead breaks off before it can be used. I suspect they've been made less sharpenable so people buy the more expensive automatic pencils--the click kind. I've managed to hang on to a few of those--nice ones--but it's time to buy more lead.
Then comes all the rest of the wonderful things that can be found. Not that they'll always be used, but what the heck! If it fits in a drawer or a plastic bin--don't get me started on those--I "need" it. I use plastic sleeves in my 3-ring notebook "bibles" to keep book information in one place. (see my blogpost Taming the Series Beast) Because I ran out a few weeks ago, a trip to Wally World down the street was a must. I did get a good deal on them and will have enough to last a while. Unfortunately, the notebooks I use aren't on sale right now, but I did pick up a nice 1" 3-ring binder in purple, although for the life of me, I don't remember what I planned to do with it. Last night, in addition to the pens, I found plastic pocket folders with brads for 50 cents. I bought purple (yes, I like purple---Go K-State!), blue, neon orange and neon green. I had a purpose for one. The rest? I'll find a reason. ;) I controlled myself and didn't buy dividers, although it was tempting. Oh, yes, there's also a new ream of copy paper. I'm a bit OCD about printing, evidenced by the need to purchase a new printer cartridge two weeks ago when I ran out of ink while printing 3 copies of a 20 page contract. And before anyone asks, I recycle paper.
Scissors, Sharpies, white board markers, highlighters, index cards, paper clips, binder clips, rubber bands, push pins, magnets, sticky notes and non-sticky notes, scratch pads, legal pads, notebooks, spiral notebooks... The list is endless. A few years ago for Christmas, a friend gave me a set of binder clips in different colors that say crap on them. I love them! I blame my mother for all this stuff. She owned her own business when I was growing up, and she always had all kinds of things I could use to play "office."
I'm in heaven at this time of year. No need to make a stop at Office Max or Office Depot. A good thing, because when I drop in to buy one, small item, I end up spending $50 or more. "Oooh, look at this! I need it!"
What are your must-have office supplies?
The best part of this time of year is that school will start. Thirteen days and counting. Quiet time, at least for a few hours each day, meaning I don't have to stay up until the wee hours of the morning to make word count for the day.
Oh, and that 20-page contract? It's for the last of my Desperation, Oklahoma, series. For those who have asking if Erin, the sister of the two heroes of A NANNY FOR THE COWBOY and DESIGNS ON THE COWBOY, will have her own story! Then one more to wrap up storylines and answer questions--Just why is Esther chasing Vern all over town? and Will Aggie and Hettie have their own HEAs?--and then Desperation and its characters will ride off into the sunset. Or will they?
"Dream on, dream on, dream until your dream comes true..." --Aerosmith
The first three-day weekend of the new school year has just passed, and I'm still scratching my head over what happened to all those best laid plans.
Yes, I know. Three-day weekends are supposed to be wonderful. This Labor Day weekend was not. At least it wasn't wonderful in the sense that it went according to plan, that I was able to scratch things off my list and enjoy the days.
Scarlett & Allie with Darth
On Saturday, my plan was to write the last chapter of Designs on the Cowboy. Instead, #3 daughter Chelsea (#3D) decided to take me, #4D Mallory, and her two nieces Allie and Scarlett to the Star Wars exhibition in town for the final three days. Yes, I could have said no, but miss seeing all that great Star Wars stuff? (Remember, I'm old enough to have seen Episode IV in the theater when it first came out.) So the hour or so that she assured me was all the time it would take became the whole afternoon. That included about a 1/3 round of mini-golf in the upper 90s heat. Evening was spent at #1D Sabrina's for dinner and insanity.
Saturday was blown, but worth it.
On Sunday I finished writing the last chapter aka the book is finished. First draft, anyway. (By the way, it went on and on and on and will have to be severely cut before calling the whole thing "done".) Monday was spent trying to figure out where I lost control of my weekend and life. Nothing that I'd planned, except the finish of that last chapter, was accomplished over the three-day weekend.
So here's how it went down:
Monday (Labor Day) was a non-day. No blog post even considered, since I was trying to discover where the weekend had gone.
Tuesday was, well, it was Monday, but it wasn't Monday enough to blog about.
Wednesday was Tuesday, and there's really nothing to a Tuesday, so I worked on websites due at the end of this (insane) week.
Thursday (today) is Wednesday, so I'm writing/typing this blog.
The question now becomes: Is tomorrow really Friday?
Next three-day weekend? Sometime next year. Maybe that's a good thing, after all. :)
I could easily escape to a hotel for a weekend and do absolutely nothing. ~ David Boreanaz
My favorite season is just around the corner. In fact, if this morning's low temperature of 63 degrees is any indication, it just might be here in time for September. I won't hold my breath on that, though. This year has not been a model for seasons.
Fall (aka Autumn) has always been a symbol of new beginnings for me. While New Year's Eve/Day is the traditional time to make changes and set new goals, mine has always been that time when the new school year rolls around. And while it's been (mumble, mumble) years since I've attended school, I haven't been able to shake that new and exciting feeling when Back-to-School time rolls around and the promise of a new start is in the cool, crisp air.
Back-to-School for me now means fewer small people in my home, and this year there'll be four of the five grandkids heading back on Wednesday. Only one--3-year-old Payton--will be here.
While I would love to say that I'll be looking into that fresh start this week, I can't honestly do that. I'm in the middle of a deadline and halfway through finishing the book. It's been a wild ride this year. One would think that as the g-kids grow older, the watching-over of them would be easier. No, it's more like the older they grow, the bigger they get, taking up more space that the year before. It's getting crowded in here! Writing during the day used to be doable. Now it's become impossible. That means less gets done, and that leads to getting behind on goals. When I get behind on goals, I'm more easily distracted. That's cause for trouble.
I have a long list of things I want to do--office rearranging, bedroom fixing up, movies to watch, a new season on TV--but I have to tell myself to be patient. I can meet that deadline if I stay on track. It's only a month away. All those things can wait for a little while. Come Wednesday, my schedule will change and I'll be making adjustments, but I'm looking forward to it. There may be a switch in the track, but I'm staying on. After all, there's a promise of a new start in the early morning air.
Are you setting new goals or are you working on current ones? If neither, why not?
If we don't change, we don't grow. If we don't grow, we aren't really living. ~ Gail Sheehy
Yes, that's how I feel at the moment and the reason this week's blogs are started but not finished. There are other things taking precedence, including looming deadlines and the last few days of insanity before school starts.
I'll be back next Monday with motivation tips and again on Wednesday with a new writing tip, this time about Turning Points. What are turning points? Stop in next week and find out!
One cannot manage too many affairs: like pumpkins in the water, one pops up while you try to hold down the other. ~ Chinese Proverb
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