Forget About It For A Day…

You know what? I’m sick of writing about writing. I’m sick of reading about writing. I barely glance through my formerly favorite writing blogs, skimming without even really reading the words. I delete newsletters unread. I refuse to follow links to those fabulous discussions about writing that always seem to be popping up on Facebook. Those awesomely funny writing-joke pictures make me roll my eyes.

Every time I do slow down to read something about writing, I find myself doubtful and anxious: does this mean I’m doing it wrong? Is this mistake they’re talking about endemic to my own writing? Have I totally hosed it all up and I should just go work at McDonald’s?

Sooooo maaaaaaany opinions. Sooooooo maaaaaaany articles. And blogs. And discussions, and web sites, and books, and… and… yeah. So you know what? Just for today–I quit. I’m going off to sit in the sun, or walk in the rain, and have a day filled with a life that has nothing at all to do with writing. I’m going to enjoy a cup of coffee without a notebook near to hand; I’m going to drive down a long winding road without thinking about the current novel in progress. I’m going to call someone I haven’t talked to for a while and not discuss my life or career at all.

Want to play? Pick out a “forget it day” on the calendar, mark it off with a big bright indelible marker, and don’t let anything–not deadlines, not inlaws, not kids, dogs, or the Zombie Apocalypse–get in the way of that day.

I’ll see you out on the beach–and I promise not to talk about writing at all.

 

Eating a Whale

My friend and fellow writer (and fellow Broad!) Leila Gaskin has it exactly right in her post today: how do you eat a whale?  One bite at a time… however long it takes. Now insert “write a book” or “life a fully realized creative life” or “tackle enormous home renovation project” or “handle personal disaster” — how do you get through it? One small, precise, tidy bite at a time. Of course, not being a ladyish, delicate type, I generally chomp my way through the whole mess with gleeful abandon… but it’s still just one bite at a time. Even if it takes eighty-nine years, like Melinda Mae… this project will get done. So have faith in yourself, and scale the bites down a bit, and proceed with enthusiasm and joy!

 

Regrouping…

…it’s amazing how devastating losing a parent can be.

I offer sincere apologies for my dearth of posts in the last few weeks. After my upcoming weekend at the VA Festival of the Book, I will be sitting down and regrouping, developing a Plan to Get Back on Track … and just for the heck of it, I’ll let you wonderful, friendly, supportive readers in on the process. Because while blogs like Kristen Lamb’s and Magical Words (among many others) are written by folks who’ve been there, done that, kicked a few tires and won the game to some extent … my blog ain’t like that. Even with my recent GoH appearance at MadiCon under my belt, I’m very aware that I’m a teeny newbie, just starting out with a couple of promising books. Any delay in my Productivity and Promotions and Persistence makes me feel completely unworthy. 

I suspect there are a few readers out there who feel the same “who the hell do I think I am” sentiment from time to time. Especially when they’ve been knocked sideways by Events Outside Their Control. 

This blog isn’t ever, I also suspect, going to come from the “Trust Me, I’m a Professional” point of view. I’ll always be ignorant about something, I’ll always be learning something. Here’s the type of thing I mean: this weekend, I get a chance to sit down on a panel with a freaking fantastic artist, who’s done work for more clients (including Major Entities) than I can readily comprehend, and an equally accomplished, NYT best-selling author  who’s written a lot of books.

I’m a teeny little newbie nothing compared to both of these folks. I’ve just begun to dip my toe in the water. I deserve the spot–I’ve fought for the spot–but damn, it’s intimidating to sit next to such accomplished people. I have questions, damn right I do, for both of them, and I have no idea if I’ll get the chance to ask them. (I hope so!)

I’ll leave you with a link to a post by the aforementioned Ms. Lamb that says it all rather better than I can right now: Don’t Eat The Butt #4 … (totally awesome title, right? Go check it out. It’s a good article.)

I’ll post more next week. Barring more Acts of Random Weirdness. And I’ll map out my road to regrouping back into Professional, Promotional, Persistant, Productivity. Meanwhile, figure out something you don’t know — and go learn about it! Just for fun. (Of course, eventually, you’ll write about it. Just don’t think about that while you’re learning…)

 

Planning Nothing…

I’m saved from complete humiliation… apparently there was a guest post from Steven Savage in the hopper awaiting my approval. And I was able to put a post together that will run tomorrow. So I’m not feeling too bad about my unanticipated slacking… anyway, check out Steve’s post, “Plan for Everything, Plan for Nothing” and see if it helps to keep you from going late on your projects!

 

Amicable Advice

I fear clicking on links to writing-related web sites. Most of the time they’re innocuous; I scan the article, nod or roll my eyes, and occasionally post the link over onto Facebook. But sometimes… ahh, sometimes… one link leads to another, and another, and another… and I lose half my day to looking through the link trees of article after article.

I tell ya, it’s a damn dangerous place, the Internet… especially for the poor, innocent writer.

So here’s my latest source of suffering and time lost. May you enjoy it as much as I did… oh, and clear your schedule for the next couple of hours…

I started off with Anne R. Allen’s blog, which is one of the few I subscribe to (to which I subscribe? meh. Shut up, inner critic!); her post on how to query book reviewers caught my attention, as both an author and a book reviewer myself. That led me to Alan Rinzler’s post, “Good Day Sunshine For Writers“, which makes a strong case for the benefits of self-publishing–and offers an equally strong warning that self-publishing is not in any way easier than traditional:

[I]t’s just as hard as ever to write a good book that generates and sustains the buzz, a book that people want to tell their friends about, a book that produces major sales.

I also wandered off track to take a look at Ash Ambirge’s latest blog post, “It’s Okay If You Suck At This“, which offered me some much-needed perspective and which everyone should go and read right now. Even if you’ve read it already. It doesn’t get old. Really. Most of Ash’s posts don’t, for me at least…

Then it was back to Anne R. Allen’s blog and sideways from there over to Kristen Lamb’s blog, to read a post about “How to Win The Hearts of Bloggers“, which is where I started to lose some serious time. In addition to being an excellent blog post (and an extremely interesting interview of a book blogger) in and of itself, this one also sidetracked me into “The WANA Theory of Book Economics” (which is definitely worth a read by anyone even tentatively maybe possibly thinking about self-publishing or, for that matter, hoping to make a living from their writing at some point), and a discussion about spam toads (which is even more interesting than it sounds, and has some really good tips about blogging and using social media).

At that point I managed to stop the madness, because one of my dogs began insisting, not understanding Daylight Savings Time, that it was, in fact, dinner time thankyouverymuchdamnit right nowww mommmmm… and that made me look at the clock and screech a little. Just a little. Because it was a thoroughly enjoyable diversion…

…and now, set a timer… or install Eyes Relax and use it… and then go forth to learn and enjoy!