Short On Time

There's never enough, is there?  Time, I mean.  We're given 60 minutes for an hour, 24 hours in a day, 7 days in a week, 52 weeks/365 days in a year, and yet there's never enough time for everything.

I have a mental list of all the things I want to do "when I have time."  That list grows longer, not shorter.  It doesn't include the dreams.  The vacations in a warm spot, with a beach and sunshine.  (I'm really tired of wearing 2 shirts, 2 pairs of pants, and 3 pairs of socks to keep warm...while sitting at my desk!)  And I really should put that list in my head on a piece of paper.  The trouble is, I'd probably lose it.  One of those things at the top of my list is to declutter my office.  It's not happening. :(

The fact is, right now I should be working on one of three deadlines.  One is small, one is medium, and the other is much bigger.  The small one is due ASAP or by Friday at the latest.  It shouldn't take all that much time.  I have a Dear Reader letter to write for my August book, along with a dedication.  I know what they'll both be about, but the difficulty is setting aside the time to do it.  The medium one is to finish reading through the proofs for that same book.  It takes some time, making sure everything is as perfect as possible.  (It's never perfect.  We're human.)  I have two chapters and an epilogue left to go through.  It's due next Tuesday.  And the there's the much bigger one:  Finish the book!  Or rather editing and polishing the book.  At least the first draft is written.  February 24th--that's less than two weeks away!--is the deadline for the full manuscript (entire book) for the last book in my Desperation, Oklahoma, series, which will hit shelves sometime early next year.  Hey, I'm trying.

The above are only writing deadlines.  Then there's life.  Pay bills, pick up a washer cartridges for two dripping faucets, declutter my office...after writing deadlines are met, buy groceries, fix meals, do some laundry so I actually have clean clothes.  Just the normal stuff.  Oh, and there are still taxes to do and send to the IRS.  Add to all that the 3-4 trips to schools during the week, and two upcoming no-school days next week.  Really?  I mean, REALLY!  Can we add a few more things to the Have-To's?

So what do I end up doing?  Watching basketball games and staying up much later to work on writing deadlines at night than I should, i.e. skipping much needed sleep.  My beloved Wichita State University Shockers are 26-0, one of only two unbeaten teams in the NCAA.  Only five more games to go.  And then my Kansas State University Wildcats are a must see...even though I forgot and missed the biggest game of the year on Monday, the second rivalry game of the year, KSU v. KU (University of Kansas).  And KSU won!!!!  Even though I knew the final score, I watched the whole game yesterday online. ;) Yes, I should have been working. :(

I've already given up two of the few television shows I usually watch.  I haven't seen one episode of this season's DOWNTON ABBEY, and I'm way behind on PARENTHOOD.  Except for basketball, there are only three shows (and the one CNN: The British Invasion special) that I've watched over the past month or so.  Do I miss watching TV?  Sometimes, but I'll find a way via online or other to catch up, if I feel the need.

When time is short, we have to set priorities.  We have to give up some of the things that are important to us.  Believe me, a little down time is needed to get through life, as it is, so giving up some of it is almost painful.  Yet following our dream is important, too.  Yes, work is what pays the bills, whether we love our jobs or not, so it can't be ignored.  Those other things can, at least for a little while.  There will be time, later, to enjoy the good things, too.  Or at least I hope there will be!

I'm off to work on those priorities, those deadlines.  Hope all is well in your world and you're getting done what needs to be done, yet still having a little "playtime!"

Decide what you want, decide what you are willing to exchange for it. Establish your priorities and go to work. ~ H. L. Hunt

Do-Overs and Deadlines

deadline - the point in time at which something must be completed

We all know about deadlines.  We have at least one a year for paying taxes.  Most everything we do has a deadline, from making meals (deadline is people who whine that they're hungry!) to that April 15th one.

I knew I'd heard the back story (writers term) about how the word "deadline" came into play.  The etymology of the word.  But since I don't trust my memory, I looked it up.  It's believed the word was used and came from the "do-not-cross" line in Civil War prisons (1864), which was made known during the Wirz trial.

Here's one of the best I found that will hopefully stick in my mind.

And he, the said Wirz, still wickedly pursuing his evil purpose, did establish and cause to be designated within the prison enclosure containing said prisoners a "dead line," being a line around the inner face of the stockade or wall enclosing said prison and about twenty feet distant from and within said stockade; and so established said dead line, which was in many places an imaginary line, in many other places marked by insecure and shifting strips of [boards nailed] upon the tops of small and insecure stakes or posts, he, the said Wirz, instructed the prison guard stationed around the top of said stockade to fire upon and kill any of the prisoners aforesaid who might touch, fall upon, pass over or under [or] across the said "dead line" .... ["Trial of Henry Wirz," Report of the Secretary of War, Oct. 31, 1865]

Not a pretty story, is it?  "Under the gun" comes to mind.  I'll have to look that one up, too.

So that's where I am.  On a deadline.  There are all those others to contend with, too, but this one has my full attention.  Last night, I finished that "do-over," rewriting much of a book my editor liked but thought could be better.  I hope it is.  One final read-through (maybe), and I'll send it off in a couple of days.  Anything I could ignore during the time racing for the deadline was set aside for later.  But later may be just as bad.  I have another book to write with a deadline of...February 24.  Yeah, I can see those guys standing with their guns, ready to fire.

Let's face it, I'm under the gun and don't want to cross that line to be shot.

So now you know the whole story.  Or most of the high points, anyway.  If my blog is late, so be it.  Those guns are pointing at me.  Sometimes I don't know what day it is, but I keep plugging away, keeping that line and those guns in view. *shudder*

Have a great week!  KEEP WARM!!!

A deadline is negative inspiration. Still, it's better than no inspiration at all. ~ Rita Mae Brown 

Summer's End

What?!  It's Friday again?

Yes, we're days away from one of the biggies:  Labor Day, the "official" end of summer.  Come Monday, you can put away your white shoes and start thinking of the new fall fashions.  We can all sit back and enjoy the next three days, free from toil and trouble.

Right?  Uh, no.

Have you happened to notice all the Labor Day sales in the newspaper, online ads and email?  Somebody has to be in those stores to take your money or answer questions as to which kitchen faucet is best.  Police and firefighters are still on the job, around the clock.  And writers just might be spending the 3-day weekend pounding their keyboards.  Okay, we don't rank up there with police and firefighters.  We don't save lives, but we do enhance them by offering take-me-away stories to readers.  Or something like that. ;)

My plans include working on edits of the first draft of CMHM (The Cowboy Meets His Match), which is nothing more than a working title, so don't read too much into that.  The day will be (I hope!) quiet and uninterrupted.  Or maybe I'll do some mowing.  Or wishing it was Saturday again.  A seven-day weekend would be heaven...until boredom set in.

I do know where I won't be.  Shopping.  Too many crowds, too many children climbing on shelves and racing through the mall.  It's not that I don't like children.  I like them when they're relatively well-behaved.  And, no, my own daughters were not perfect.  I remember how they would race down the grocery store aisle with the basket, much to my displeasure.  They would also plead for candy and fight with each other.  Typical kids.

I won't be at one of the area lakes.

• The ex got the boat in the divorce.  
• We've just managed to get out of a 2-year drought, and every person, young and old, who believes going to the lake is the ultimate summer adventure, will be there.  Again, crowds, not to mention those who have decided to imbibe in too many spirits.  And I'm not talking ghosts. ;)  Case in point:  While water-skiing at one of the lakes, years ago, we encountered a large group of nude young people in the cove next to ours.  Enlightening.
• Every time we've camped at the lake--and there have been several--there's been a storm.  Except for one time, and the wind nearly blew us away.
• After rain, rain, and more rain--to fill those lakes, of course--we've had two weeks of unbearable heat and humidity.  Being anywhere without air conditioning would be insane.  Obviously there will be lots of insane people at the lake. ;)

Still, I support a holiday for the working people.  After all, most of us work at something.

So back to editing, which is not my favorite thing to do, but a must.  I've mentioned that I do a fast first draft of the book.  That's obvious when reading through the manuscript again.  Sometimes I wonder if gremlins have had some fun, while I've left the story to "simmer."  Even the first three chapters, which my editor has read, had some side-splitting aka groan-able goofs.  This is why I put it away for a week or two, before attacking it with edits.  And there will be a third edit.  Who knows what I might have missed or messed up even more?

Sometimes we're not sure what needs editing...other than everything.  What should we be looking for when we edit?  Kristen Lamb had a great blog post a week ago.  Six Easy Tips for Self-Editing Your Fiction.  If you're not sure what to look for, take a look at Kristen's list.  If you do have a clue, use it as a refresher.  Sometimes we become so bogged down in our story and fixing sentences that have been changed by gremlins that we miss the basics.

Whatever you have planned for this weekend, enjoy it!  If you happen to be on Facebook, extolling the holiday or just goofing off, stop by the Harlequin American Romance Authors page and say hi.  Or "Like" it.  That would be even better!

If all the cars in the United States were placed end to end, it would probably be Labor Day Weekend. ~ Doug Larson