This will be short. I just wanted to write and wish everyone Happy Holidays!
I will be off-line for a few weeks and won't write until after the New Year. I look forward to an exciting 2006. There will be a lot of changes going on in my career and personal life. I look forward to getting to meet and know a lot of you too.
Stay safe, have fun, and I'll talk to you after the January 1.
Til Then~

Life is what you make it. I heard that a lot when I was growing up. I've told my kids and those words pop in my head occassionally. With the holiday season come stressful times. We can make ourselves crazy by trying to do everything, running here and there or we can calm down, breathe deeply, and do what we can do.
I've tried to keep up and it's impossible. I think of all my friends through the holiday season, wish I could write them all, send them all cards, talk to them all, but it has become impossible. I know thoughts are not like actually sending them a note. I do wish positive thoughts their way and hope deep down they know they are loved.
As this season approaches, think on positive things, love the unloved, and share the Christmas Spirit by smiling to other shoppers, letting people in when traffic is tight, and relaxing.
Christmas is more than hustle and bustle. It's about people.
Til Tomorrow~

I've been reading a book on boosting and then keeping my memory. I don't know if it's my age or all the things I'm doing, but I don't seem to be as mentally sharp as I used to be. Yesterday, while I was teaching I had to really stay focused on what I was doing or I'd lose my train of thought.
It's strange in a way. Some things I can remember easily and other things are in there and gone.
Something I found extremely interesting was short term memory or STM. We've heard the saying, "I've slept since then," in regards to someone forgetting a detail. Pooh, I've even used that phrase. I found there is a reason for that and it is real.
In the daytime, we gather all this information in our short term memory banks. The info may only go in once and not be used for the rest of the day. At night, when we are sleeping, another part of our brain goes to work and decides what is important and should be kept and what needs to be deleted. If something isn't important enough to be brought to our attention a couple times in the day, then it is booted out. Interesting.
I'm thinking that is why meditation is so important. If you have information, you're holding and studying, you're telling your brain, "hey, this is important. Remember it."
I'm hoping to improve my brain power and keep the neurons I have as I get older.
Maybe you should visit here often to see how I'm doing. :-)
Til Tomorrow~

Getting ready for the holidays. I can't believe the way time has flown by so quickly. It's the end of the year and doesn't quite seem possible. It is once again crunch time. So what else is new? It seems every day I live with a deadline or some major catastrophy. Currently, the latest crisis is an article. Impossible.
I did get the one I couldn't work on Friday finally done. Couldn't come up with anything on Friday. It took me two hours just to get a lead and even now I don't care for it. Going to work all afternoon to whip that thing in shape. Then tomorrow it will be on to the other one. Wednesday I teach all day.
I don't get paid enough for what I do. Really I don't.
Better run. Have tons to do. Will try to write more tomorrow.
Til Then~

I am feeling very insecure this morning--insecure in my abilities as a writer. I have this 800 word assignment that should be a simple thing to put together. It's an interview. Done that, now all I have to do is assimilate the information. Yeah right. All I have to do....
Yesterday, I sat for two hours trying to come up with a lead. After eight or nine attempts, I took some deep breaths and thought okay, just get it out. I finally did, but the 251 I keyed in was the most disgusting pile of drivel ever written. I took a spell at yelling at myself, banging my head on the desk, pacing in frustration, that didn't help. I even went as far as to eat three carrots because I felt the need to crunch something.
All that evening, I chided myself. Yep, I call myself a writer. Maybe I can't write. Even an idiot can churn out 800 words. You're such a fraud.
I'm still there this morning, but today is d-day. I've got to get this thing roughed. I'm running to town here in a bit and when I get back, I'm sitting in this chair until it's done.
YES, I am a writer. Come hell or high water.
Til Tomorrow~

Everything's relative. Been thinking about this for some time. It's true though, the things we preceive are relative to what we are going through at the time.
For instance, it has been cold here, down in the single digits, then heating up to only mid-teens. We were watching the weather last night and it's supposed to get up to 47 on Saturday. The weatherman said it would be a drastic warm-up. I had to laugh. It would be warmer up from 17, but cold in comparison to 60 or 70.
That's the way it is in our writing lives. Having a good writing day is relative to having a bad one. Selling a manuscript is relative to finishing. It depends on where you've been, what you remember, and what's up ahead.
Everything's relative.
Til Tomorrow~

Wow! It is cold outside. I was thinking this morning of how warm it was in Colorado over the summer. Things have definitely changed. Such is life.
The end of 2005 is here. I can't believe it. I don't know where the year went. Looking back, I am disappointed I didn't get as much done as I wanted to, yet satisfied (to a point) about what I did accomplish. There always seems more I'd like to do, somehow life and time interfer.
No books were finished in 2005. I started two. I did write a few articles. I taught my classes and taught some more classes..and taught some more classes. I've simply got to change that.
While I was in Colorado over the summer, I wrote and wrote and wrote. I believe I was the happiest I've ever been. I truly want to get back to that.
Somehow in 2006, I've got to find more time for my writing. I think the new website and business will help. It's simply got to. If I can ever find the time to get it up and running.
I am so pushed and pulled with the kids, and running for my husband. At times, I get so depressed, it's hard to get out of bed. If I had the time, the real time, the spend on my writing--what joy that would be. I don't think it's ever going to happen, but then again, who knows.
I'm looking forward to 2006. We'll see how that year goes.
Til Tomorrow~

Times they are achangin'. I think that may have been a Beatles' song. Not sure. Anywho, things definitely are changing.
Yesterday, I was informed by my daughter that my Internet screen looked like an old woman's. She took matters in to her own hands and changed everything. Now, I can see, but the bigger, bolder was better. Next week, when she gets home I'm going to have to have her change it back.
I remember when I could see fine. That wasn't that long ago either. But I also remember when the world was a much pleasant'er' place too. In my journal this morning, I was reflecting on all that has come about in the last five years. The changes are staggering. Ten and fifteen years ago, no one would have believed I'd be sitting at my keyboard 'blogging'.
Fifteen years ago, chat rooms consisted of dark screens with basic type. One was lucky to get in and stayed connected, but what an experience. Ten years ago, ebay was just beginning. Now ebay is a household word and huge company. Five years ago, the thought of terrorists attacking New York City was not something on our minds.
Over the last five years, five relatives have died, my two kids are finishing up college, I've had books published, and we've bought a place in Colorado. Who would have thunk it?
Amazing how life can change in such a short time.
Til Tomorrow~

Amazing that I keep running across these places that give me permission to just sit and think. I believe that is the way I keep my creative engine running. Everyone should be allowed some sit and think time on a daily basis.
This morning when I was reading the Observation Deck, the card talked about 'Ribe tuchus'. It is a Yiddish phrase for rub your bottom on th chair. How many times have I told newbie writers to do just that? How many times have I known myself that is the only way to get any writing done? One has to sit in the chair and write. But what if you can't. What if one hasn't had the time to percolate and has nothing to write about? Sit anyone.
The Deck discusses Daniel Pinkwater and how he created a regime to overcome block. Everyday, he had to sit at his desk for 60 minutes. It didn't matter if he wrote anything or not. He couldn't do anything else, but write, but even if he sat there for 60 minutes and didn't do anything at all it was a successful time. Soon, he found he was writing.
I believe it probably was because after a while, he had percolated. He had taken the time to be alone and think. Then he had something to write about.
Our lives are so full today. We are in such a hurry all the time. My only wish and dream is to have time to sit, think, percolate, and write. What about your's?
Til Next Time~

In the Observation Deck this morning, I read about raising the stakes. Raising the stakes for our characters to make them reach for higher goals, go beyond themselves rather than just reporting what goes on in their everyday life.
Besides thinking about that, I've lot a lot about the email I received from Dr. Eric Maisel. I believe I mentioned it in an earlier blog. It has jumped in to my memory over and over again because it gets down to the heart of a matter for me. In this email, Eric talks about how a writer works. He doesn't sit at his computer and key away. He takes time to stare off into space and THINK. Before I read this email I felt like I was cheating at work if I just sat and stared in to space. I've wanted to, oh how I've wanted to, but it seemed as if I wasn't working. After all, doesn't working/writing require pounding the keys.
This piece gave me permission to sit, stare, think, ponder. Permission I have needed for a long time.
What do you need permission for? To write? To read? To take a walk? Have some silence so you can think your plot through? Whatever you need permission for, take it. It's okay for you to do those things.
Til Tomorrow~