Hit me with your best shot

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Have you ever been in a position where you've gotten to exactly the point where you can take NO MORE.
No, seriously. One more assignment, problem, project...email and my head is going to explode.
I took the rather drastic action of 'restarting' all of my time management projects.
I bought myself a new piece of software, and I've found that I am actually now 'winning' the war on my email.
It did, of course, also help that I relented and enabled spamassassin on my server, but by and large, I am actually managing to work and write emails in between, instead of emails, and sandwiching work in the spare couple of seconds between it and the next PING.
I've just started a daily blog on how time management works, given I'm suddenly finding I actually have TIME (OMG, does this mean I can't procrastinate and have to finish my books!?) but I was wondering what valuable and important time management, stretching, or downright saving tips you've got.


I bet a couple of you are wondering what the tiger in the picture has to do with all of this? Well - one, its a fabulous photo - but two:
When you give yourself room to stretch or extend - life can hit you with its best shot, and you should be able to go 'and there's time to take care of that HERE' without breaking a sweat. We might all be mothers, and we might all be really busy, being full time *other stuff*, parents, carers, partners and everything else that we do, but it doesn't mean, necessarily that it has to take all of our time to do it. It doesn't mean that just because we're engaging in superhuman feats of time corralling and management that we're not capable of doing it in a way that gives us our own little pockets of time.
Now...if only I could learn to say 'No, I can't, sorry' more often....

Give it your best shot: Rewrite these cliches

There's a reason cliches (where's that accent character for the "e"?) became cliches. I posted about this at my other blog today for my newly-declared Corny Cliche Saturday.

I admit to being a little fond of them. Usually they are succintly-worded universal truths that we do well to heed. Think about the first time you heard, "Stop and smell the roses." Well? Isn't that good advice? I have a doo-hickey in my kitchen that says "Take time to smell the coffee." (I bought it as a gift for my husband who is a coffee aficionado.)

But as much as I like them, there is a good reason for us as writers to avoid overused phrases. The message that is really quite important becomes dulled with repetitive use and what was once a revelation soon becomes "yeah yeah I know."

How would you rewrite these sayings to bring life back into their meaning?

"They grow up so fast."
"On your deathbed, you won't wish you had spent more time at work."
"All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy."

And if you have some corny cliches you love anyway, feel free to post them in the comments. I'm going to need some more next Saturday. :)

Did you miss me? I sure missed you....

Image via WikipediaOne of the things that I absolutely adore about a 'regular' gig, that writing my own blogs doesn't give me, is the fact that I know I'm reaching people that ordinarily, I might not get to talk to.
But...for the last two weeks, I've been finishing up my first year of Uni (errr...didn't I start when we started this blog? That's kinda scary!), and that meant somewhere in the region of 20,000 words that makes sense to my professors...
I think you can see the problem there ;)
Mainly the whole 'making sense' thing, if I'm being completely honest. And then, last week, I caught a kidney infection, and then...I was wiped. Entirely. Which meant that when I'd only intended to be MIA for maybe a week, I've been gone for around two, perhaps more than even that.
I don't take weeks at a time off blogs normally, because one of the main points of blogging is that you have to try to do it consistently - but sometimes life gets in the way.
Writing is like that too. Have you ever sat down and thought to yourself 'I MUST...' and then, instead, vegged in front of the TV? Surfed aimlessly around the internet? Played around with things that you don't really *need* to do.
Yep - most of us do that. Its not life getting in the way, but it is our brain's way of saying 'enough already'. I've given in fighting it - I can achieve 'butt in seat' but I find it wearing if I really don't want to write - so instead, I read, I draft, I plot, I plan. I spent most of this last month reading non fiction books on the 'how to' of plot and characterisation, testing out new pens, finding things that I enjoy...
I'm currently testing out some project support programs that should help me (yes, I'm still at it - I called ceasefire over the last two months, cause Uni got manic) - and by extention, anyone interested - reorganise, reprioritise, and most of all, gain control over my time completely again. I have to stress though, and I'm not in denial - I don't have a time management problem. I really don't. There's just not enough time in the day to do everything all the time. Which is why I'm working on shifting gears, amalgamaing....most of all though, I'm trying to find a way to make sure that my writing time is truly my own again ;).
There is something you could perhaps help me with though. Do you, as a writer, collect, or hoard pens. I do. I've got about a million of them - most of them rarely used - sixteen fountain pens - thousands of ballpoints, both functional and pretty, and fineliners, hilighters, hybrid, fancy, calligraphy and other pens. I've always wondered if it is a 'writer' thing. :)
And if you DO collect them - is it becuase you like pens, or because youve never got one handy when you wanna write? :) I'm talking about this on both my personal blog (Kai's Personal space) and my professional writing blog (Ardentwriter) but I'm curious, so I thought I'd ask here too ;)

Edits... I love the pain....

This week I received the first edits back on my first book. It's exciting. It's thrilling... and yes, it's a little painful. But it's a good hurt.

I've always said that I think I have the thickest writer skin on the planet. Go ahead, kill my darlings.

Of course there's always the thought that I like a good editor because a good editor makes ME look better. And yet, it never seems to be the other way around. You don't hear anyone saying "hey, that writer made that editor look really good!"

Now, this is only the first bit of the manuscript. I had a great phone conversation with one of the senior editors about how to handle the edits... and I'm so psyched to get started!

I think the best part is that between submission and getting the edits back I had a feeling about something. Not necessarily something I'd done wrong. Ok, yeah, something I'd done wrong... and that was the main concern. I've been thinking about how to make it better, now I can.

Feast or Famine

Yesterday I was figuring out my schedule for the summer. What are my commitments? When will we be able to do that family vacation?

I realized when I was mapping it all out that I am going to be busy this summer. I will have three regular contracts, and they will span the entire summer -- starting next week and continuing right up to the end of August. When will I be able to take a week for vacation? It looks like no matter what I choose I will end up with a working vacation.

When you work as a writer, you cannot turn down work. It just seems that it all arrives at once. I'm lucky though because this summer it looks like I won't have any down time. Last summer was mostly down time.

How do you schedule your work? Do you ever have to turn anything down? I don't think I could do one more thing this summer, and I hope I won't have to.

What IS a bon bon anyway?

In the Northern Hemisphere schools will soon be letting the kids out to set up their sprinklers and make mudpuddles of backyards everywhere.

So we work-at-home moms will have to get up off our collective buttocks, put down the bon bons, turn off the soap operas and shuttle kids here and there to the zoo, swimming lessons and T-ball games.

Life is rough, isn't it?

Of course, we'll still have to find a way to continue to meet our deadlines and put in the extra hours of housework required when the pitter-patter of little feet and the slamming of the screen door is are nearly constant sounds.

But that's okay. We're used to juggling. And I think what I am going to do is live up to everyone's idea of work at home moms: I'm going to spend lots of time at the pool and the park and maybe, just maybe, sneak a bon bon once in a while.

I have to figure out for sure what they are, though. I assume they're things like chocolate covered cherries? MMM. Sign me up.

LOL.

My favorite writing quote (at the moment)

I've already posted my favorite quote, but what the heck? It's so good, it's worth another post. :)

Chip Scanlan is an awesome teacher. He has a regular column at Poynter.org called "Chip On My Shoulder." I guess that's better than having an evil internal editor on your shoulder, because this guy is so encouraging.

I had the privilege of meeting him at a writing conference in my town. I don't remember the name of the workshop, but I remember that one of the things he taught us was about freewriting. He had us write nonstop for oh, I don't know, one or two minutes or something like that. Said don't worry about what comes out, just write. I understood that the purpose of freewriting was to get you going, and then later you could go back and edit. Well, um, then he had us trade papers with the person sitting next to us! Ack! How embarassing! The man sitting next to me was a "real" journalist working for a newspaper. I don't think my freewriting impressed him much. It was very much a stream-of-consciousness thing.

But I really learned something from that. I didn't die, keel over, or end my career by handing that paper over. Sure, it sucked, but what did that matter? Mine wasn't the only bad one in that room!

Then, years later, I found this quote in one of Mr. Scanlan's columns. It is now my favorite writing quote:

"Fight perfectionism by telling yourself that what I wrote today is what I was capable of at this moment."

Isn't that great? Doesn't that just make you see that not only can you only do what you're capable of but also that some day you'll probably be even better? That's what it does for me.

Thanks Chip! You're awesome.

What happens AFTER you get the Book Contract

Ah yes, isn't the book contract the GOAL? Yes, but, no. We talk a lot about what we need to do to get the book contract, how we need to find time to write, how we need to market ourselves, etc...

I sold my first book in August 2006. The same week my daughter was born. That's when I really started writing it.

My daughter is 20 months old and just today I had a phone call with an editor... the edits are coming back to me next week so I can make my changes.

I'm not complaining, not at all.... in fact I don't mind the work being spaced out like this. After all, I have kids and a job and other projects on the go. But it sure goes a lot slower than I thought it would when I signed on the dotted line.

When you think about advances... I got the first half of my advance when I signed my contract 20 months ago. The second half comes when the edits are finished and accepted. Hopefully within the next few months. That's TWO YEARS between paychecks.

Yep, this work isn't for the faint of heart. Virginia Woolf said "woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction" ... uh, yeah. Or nonfiction it seems!

One of the best things about my conversation with my editor today was her comments on the pictures. They were more than happy with them! Which is AWESOME because I took most of them! They also loved the illustrations... I had an awesome illustrator, too. Now I can justify those $$ spent on camera equipment.

We're going to have a book that has full colour photos and b&w illustrations... and it's going to rock. Or, as the GenYs at work say. It's going to be "off the hook".

My favorite quote...

So we were going to blog about our favourite quotes and then some of us, uh... didn't... my bad.

But I'm here now. Actually I'm home with a sick baby who is sleeping and an editor is calling me in ONE MINUTE.

Long ago I made a big huge gaffe, writing something I shouldn't have. I wasn't trying to be mean, but I was. So now I try to follow this:

If I'm going to write or say something, I need to THINK. Is it:

True
Helpful
Inspiring
Necessary
Kind

Now sometimes we have to say thinks that aren't all of those... but then I have to ask myself if I need to say it or write it. Sometimes I don't. Sometimes I still do.

I'm sure it has stopped me from writing some things I would have wanted to take back.

This is the life...

I have had several "dream lifestyles" over the years, including - during the 70s when John Denver was at the height of his career - living in a log cabin in the mountains, splitting firewood, hiking through the snow, and gazing up at the Elk standing along the ridge of a snowcapped mountain. Marcia's video reminded me of that childhood fantasy.

But I've already done that.

I lived in Europe, travelled by bus to Paris, ate all the Weinerschnitzel and Brochen I could possibly stand. Even had a little German "bier" and wine now and then, although I was 11 at the time, so really it was just a sip or two at a time. (No drinking age or speed limit for that matter in Germany.) We had black forest cake at a little eatery at the Black Forest.

I've been swimming in the most beautiful lake (imho, of course) in the United States. Sat outside a cottage in Northern Michigan with my bare feet in the greenest, silkiest blades of grass you ever saw. Built sandcastles, waded in muck, fished off the dock. All of that was glorious and I felt a sense of connection since my parents and their parents had been born and raised in the region.

I've lived among the rednecks and among the elite. Been in the suburbs and spent time in the cities. I've ridden in the subways of NYC and D.C. Strolled along the walkways of D.C.'s grassy mall and the, erm, colorful streets of Greenwich Village. (To be clear, I didn't live in either place, but spent enough time there to feel satisfied.) Got lost in Radio City Music Hall. (There was this elevator - my friend and I lost our group and got in the elevator - it had no buttons. It must have had a camera though, because a stern-looking, uniformed security guard sent us back down where we belonged.)

I've plowed my way through cotton fields (shortcut on the way home from school) and meandered on horseback through parts of the Blue Ridge mountain range in Alabama. Rode the rides at Opryland in Nashville and waited in lines at Disney World in Orlando. I vaguely remember going to Busch Gardens too, but they didn't have many rides. (I was a kid, so this was a disappointment.) I stayed with my grandparents in their little Florida retirement neighborhood, played shuffleboard and rode on an adult-sized tricycle (very cool!). Stayed in one of those little houses up on stilts on the beach of the Gulf Shore. Squinted at the white, white sand beaches at Pensacola. Spent Spring Break at Panama City Beach (not the college-kids' spring break, thank heavens.)

I've eaten steak, had tequila and purchased handmade wares at bargain-basement prices in Juarez. Spent the night in El Paso. Drove past what looked like a huge fire in the desert (it was Houston). Luxuriated in a hotel in Dallas. (There was a phone in the bathroom. I guess you could do business while you do your business, if you know what I mean.)

Drove through Missippi on a motorcycle in the rain in springtime.

Took the streetcar to Fisherman's Wharf in San Fransisco.

Danced in the ballroom at the Chicago Hilton and Towers.

Witnessed birth. Gave birth. Walked down the aisle. Mourned death. Trained a puppy. Trained a child. Said goodbye. Introduced myself to strangers. Survived perils. Rejoiced in victory.

But in a few minutes, I'll close this laptop, greet my sweeties at the door, crank out some supper, watch Wheel of Fortune or America's Funniest Home Videos, pray with my daughter before bedtime, and spend some time reading my Bible before I go to bed. Because writing this post has reminded me that I have a lot to thank God for - including living my ideal lifestyle, right now, at this moment, in an ordinary house in an ordinary town.

Marcia tells it like it is...

If you're tired of the "internent marketing gurus" giving you the Big Sell, you should watch Marcia Yudkin's video on what her life is like in the internet marketing world.

But this isn't an internet marketing post... I think what Marcia is saying about marketing, we could say about writing. (I haven't gotten that quiet and spacious office... but give me a couple of years!) This would be very close to my ideal life!

So this week, I'd really like the MNABC writers (and our readers) tell us what the ideal lifestyle is for YOU!




And you can visit Marcia here.

Seven Things

1. I think that life is a lot more terrifying, horrible, sad and unfair than any fiction writer could ever imagine. But I also think that it's more beautiful, touching, heartwarming and amazing too.
2. I am a Christian, but I think that if God wanted me to worry so much about homosexuality he might have put it in the top ten. I have enough trouble following those each day.
3. We are moving in six weeks. I don't know where yet. But I know I hate moving. I hate it, yet it continues to happen. How often? In my life I've lived in over 30 different houses. No, we weren't a military family.
4. I AM the world's wimpiest Canadian. I hate snow. I also hate hockey.
5. My new passion is Saving Money! Being Cheap! and also Using Coupons! For three years I've been asking DH to help me make A Plan for our money. Finally he has, now that we're on the same page I'm Excited!
6. Secretly? Secretly I'd love to live in a motorhome and travel around North America for a year. Then on to Europe.
7. I read the obituaries every chance I get so I can remember what's important while I'm alive.

Meme answers and my favorite writing (related) quotes

Carolyn's posted a Meme (and funnily enough, I always read the 'meme' thing as 'me - me'. A friend of mine used to debate the whole concept of 'meme' because, even in the broadest sense of the word, viral quizzes and other things that pass on via blogs aren't - technically - memes. That's probably a rant for another time though ;)

So, without further ado, seven things...I'm more self indulgent that Carolyn, so don't mind talking about myself :D.
1) I'm writing a set of books based around a pattern of seven. Its a police/thriller style book, and my MC, Elliot Peters, is visually based on Chris Meloni (from Special Victims Unit, Oz, and a guest appearance in Scrubs).
2)I've just finished my first year of Uni with what I hope to be a 2:1. I've done really well on most courses, which I'm very proud of.
3)I am genuinely flummoxed by the need that most women I know (please note, not all) to have more than a minimum amount of shoes. I've got six pairs and that feels like about three too many.
4)I've written close to 40 novels. Now to sell them...
5) at one point I owned 500 websites. I'm cutting it down rather rapidly, but I still own a huge amount. I wish I could find someone to take them off my hands, cause all that most of them need is a little TLC.
6) I am 30 this year. I only just discovered I like spas (I went for the first time last night) and I play roleplaying games at least three nights a week in person and once or twice a week online on World of Warcraft.
7)I hate letting people read what I'm writing, as I'm writing it, which, in part is why I won't take part in LiveBlogging events. I LIKE time to think about how silly I'm looking.

And some favorite quotes:
"If you don't know there's a trampoline in the room, you're not going to dust the ceiling for prints." - Captain Craigen SVU
Now, before you wonder what this has to do with writing, that's the easy bit to explain. No writer should ever ignore the angle that everyone else has overlooked - its our JOB to show people that there was a trampoline in the room, and to go ahead and dust that ceiling. In other words, we're here to give a perspective that people understand and relate to.

'Genuine poetry can communicate before it is understood.'

T S Eliot

I love this quote, because it lines up with something that slid into place with one of my lectures. My lecturer had been ranting about how 'soul' means something different to each and every person we encounter. He also told us that poetry should leave 'gaps' for the reader to fill in. My brain somehow rearranged it to 'poetry leaves gaps for readers to fill in with bits of their soul'. And I think that's a great way to be with ANY piece. We're supposed to leave enough room for people to understand - to fill in with their experience, their imaginings, their loves and hates.

'Writing a novel is like driving a car at night. You can only see as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way.'

E L Doctorow

Again, this is great. And its totally true, though in my case, I've got deja vu when I get to certain bits. Been there before. Oh gods, I know what happens now, do I really want to watch?
LOL.

And finally...

"Are you going to come quietly, or do I have to use earplugs?"
Spike Milligan

Sometimes its not about doing it right, or politely - or within reason. Sometimes its about shouting from the top of the roof, at the top of your lungs, with that huge loudspeaker - when everyone else is being quiet. Sometimes - just sometimes - its about doing it my way. And that one line from Spike Milligan, whom I share some similarities with, reminds me every single time that writing isn't about doing it any other way than loud, proud and in as many faces as possible.

So, enough about you...

The word "meme" means something, but when I see it, I always think of "Me, Me."

And since I was tagged by Amy at MindoverMullis to tell seven things about myself, I think it fits.

But it seems a little self-indulgent just to talk about myself, doesn't it? So instead I'm just going to tell you seven things. A mixture of mom-advice and deep philosophical thought. (After all, I'm a writer and I'm a mom and that's what we do.) So here goes. Seven things:

1. Wash your hands. The correct amount of time to spend scrubbing is long enough to sing "Happy Birthday" two times through. A nice side-effect (besides clean hands) is that you feel like it's your birthday. Not bad.

2. LOVE is not a feeling. It is an act of will. Not mushy and sentimental enough for you? Just think back on the people who loved you when you were awful, and you'll get to feeling warm and fuzzy in no time. And there is a warm kind of fuzzy kind of thing that comes along after you make the decision to love. Deciding to love selflessly is really cool, heroic, and well worth the effort.

3. I have a written contract with God, and it's certainly better than anything I've gotten from editors. I get rewarded for eternity and I get to keep all rights to my work. I'm feeling pretty good about signing this one.

4. Picking up your room is not punishment, nor is it a chore designed to make you a better person. It is simply a method of ensuring that you'll be able to find both purple socks on the same day your outfit requires them.

5. The Borg had it wrong. The only time resistance is futile is when you're trying to maintain some semblance of modesty in the hospital delivery room. Otherwise, fight like crazy if you have to. Resist!

6. "Refrigerate after opening" is not a suggestion. Neither is "use before March 13, 2008."

7. A kiss on the forehead is a reliable method for diagnosing a fever, but it does take practice, so give lots of forehead kisses. It's the most fun part of having a sick kid. :) Probably the only fun part. Also, take advantage of the fact that your kid is too sick to run away and give 'em lots of squeezes while you're at it. Don't worry about a little bit of snot. It washes.

Thanks for listening. Tagging the other Mamas at Mama Needs a Book Contract.

My Niche = Reining Horses

I'm late, I'm late, I know, I'm sorry!!

And I swear, I'm the queen of niche writing, so I really should have a lot to say on the topic, right?

Here's my backstory. I was a horse crazy teenager living in the city. I had a single mom who definitely couldn't afford a horse. Or even riding lessons. So I found an instructor who would let me wash her truck and trailer, polish the silver and clean stalls for lessons.

My brother did the same and he was a total natural at riding. Me? Not so much, but I loved the horses.

After I graduated from high school and all my friends were deciding which college they would attend, I went to the school of hard knocks. I started training horses over in Europe and here in Alberta. By the time I was 22 I was riding for Canada's number one reining trainer.

(insert stupid mistakes here)

By the time I was 25 I was divorced and a single mom of a toddler. Horse weren't in my future again for a long time... assistant horse trainers were paid about $1000 a month. Day care cost $900. Yeah.

But I had one other talent. Writing. I'd always written, but I hadn't written with a purpose. Now I had a purpose, to write about the horses I loved. So that's what I did.

My first article was in a horse association magazine. I volunteered with them and this was my contribution. I also did some editing and proofreading and helped to sell ads in the magazine. My second article came a couple months later when the editor of a horse publication in Canada emailed me to ask me if I wanted to write for her. And she paid me.

And that's how it started.

I have had about 250 articles and original columns published. I'd guesstimate that 225 of those were about horses.

Even more specifically, my articles were about reining horses. If you Google "reining horse writer", I'm the first link that comes up. My niche is so specific that I'd probably guess that there are far less than 100 writers specializing in it in North America.

And it was the mastering of this niche market that got me my book contract. Don't think for a moment the publisher didn't say "OK, this writer wants to write a book about reining horses, let's see what else she's done" and Googled my name. There I was.

I wasn't a reining horse trainer any more, I wasn't even riding at the time, I had the experience of being THE WRITER for THAT NICHE.

So, how can this help you?

Think of your niche. Now drill-down three or four layers. Get specific. Here's how mine works:

Horses
*
Riding
*
Western Riding
*
Reining Horses

This can be done with any topic. Parenting, Olympic Sports, Cleaning, Religion, Writing... Drill down into the topic and find a niche inside of a niche inside of a niche and become THE EXPERT on that topic.

Then start your way UP that ladder, next I'd focus on Western Riding (other sports like Cutting, Working Cow Horse, Western Pleasure, Trail) then Riding.... soon I'll be Queen of the World considered an expert on a much broader topic. The Martha Steward of Horses. (Incidentally, Martha has some really nice horses and even she has written about the topic!)

Here's an example:

Parenting
*
Life Stages of Children
*
Babies & Toddlers
*
Challenges
*
Sleep Issues

I have a difficult time when writers say "I want to write about X" and it's a broad topic like religion or parenting or health. You can call yourself a writer of "X" and that's fine, but don't you want to conquer the whole topic? Don't you want to be well-known as an expert in your topic? If so, then you absolutely have to conquer it one corner at a time.

Pick your topic, let's brainstorm your niche!