The common bond between eating yogurt, pineapples, having goals, chains, and vacations wrapped in sparkles. Yes, I'm that inclusive. Don't judge.

Goals. Gooooaaaaaallllllls. GoooOOOOOoooooaaaaaalllllsssszzzzzzzz. That's a great word for a procrastinator. Even the sound of if rolling around in your mouth is enough to put you in a trance. Try it. Cross your legs, close your eyes, breathe deeply and chant: "Gooooooaaaaaallllllls." "Goooooooaaaaaalllllls."

Yep, that's what I'm saying. They put me to sleep. The biggest killer of all goals is a variable life. If you make rigid plans for something to occur then you had better count on it being knocked down, dragged through the mud, and called a sissy by the school yard bully of life. That's why they are so hard to keep. I'm not even going to pretend that I make formal goals.

I make plans. It sounds so much more like a vacation, doesn't it?

I make plans all over my calendars. I make charts of plans and lists of plans. I check off the plans as they've been successful. But I don't whip myself when they aren't reached by X date. Plans are flexible. Plans are goals on yoga and dietary supplements which eat yogurt and dream of pineapples. Don't cross your eyes at me. I'll explain.

My plans do know what deadlines are. For example, I have an absolute deadline of having one story finished by the end of August. Set. In. Stone. My brain knows it but I don't write it down. It also knows there is another granite chipped deadline at the end of September. Those are pretty close together, right? So my plan (say it with me "pllllaaaaaaannnnnn" long "a". Nicely done) is to write 20k in the next three weeks. That amount will actually finish the quota of my first deadline and begin the quota on the second deadline.

I know. You're thinking, "But sexy StealthWriterX, oh princess of great understanding and wisdom, that sounds like a goal.---No, mistress, please don't beat me for questioning your brilliance."

Oh, dear, dear, child. Rise to your feet and take my hand as we wander the path together. It is not a goal. It is not rigid. We do not fall asleep to this word. No, no, no! I have three weeks to meet my plan. BUT. If I don't get there, the deadline gods will not banish me for I have several months before which to succeed. I will plan my 20 and do more or do less but my calendar will be marked off, and pretty circles and sparkles will cheer me forth and editors everywhere will rejoice because I planned ahead of my deadline.

There is Zen in planning. Goals are the metal chains they sound like. Be Zen. Be flexible. Eat Yogurt.

Love and tree-hugs,
SWX

For Me It's About Over-Goaling

Don’t go looking it up. I made up that word for my title. I have a habit—I’m not going to call it good or bad—of giving myself extensive and plentiful goals. Often I don’t attain them all, but in general, I know I won’t. I find that by expecting a lot of myself, I get more done.

You have to be careful with this. If you’re the kind of person who feels defeated if you don’t make a goal, don’t do this. If you just see an unmet goal as a bridge yet to cross, then go for it. That’s me. Just because I might not meet a goal on the date I set for it, doesn’t mean I won’t ever obtain my objective. I just set a new date and keep trying.

Do you see a pattern above—besides masochism? I set goals. I give them dates. I make them goals attainable through my own power. I can’t rely on someone else’s whim. I have to work within a framework that’s logical. I can track my progress.

For years, I’ve used a basic framework you may be familiar with for goals in all sectors of my life. SMART goals. I make them:

Specific (I know exactly what I want to do)

Measurable (I make checklists of everything I need to do to meet each goal)

Attainable (I have to rely on myself. For editing, my goal can’t include anything that would require action from an author or my boss or co-workers. It can’t require super-human effort. It has to be something I can actually do.)

Relevant (Since I generally don’t make goals that aren’t relevant to my life, I disregard this part of SMART. Actually, I think they just stuck it in there to have a cool acronym)

Time-Bound (This is why I give my goals dates. I’ll never finish things if I give my tasks a ‘when I get around to it’ approach. How often do we finish ‘when I get around to it’ tasks? I know for me, those things are finished when they suddenly become necessary or urgent)

So back to the over-goaling. I give myself a lot to do. I find that when I have a lot to do, I get more done. When I only have a few tasks, I get lackadaisical. I’ll get it done by the end of the month…no big deal… I have plenty of time…

On the other hand, if I have so much that it will be a crunch to get it all done, I get five times as much done. The keys here are 1. the world won’t end if I don’t make my initial goal. I generally don’t leave things until completion is critical. 2. I don’t give up. I just set a new goal. 3. The goals I meet will far out-weigh the few that I don’t.

So there you have it. Over-goaling by Michele.

Hijacked Goals

I have goals...really I do.

Someday, I’d like to fit in my wedding dress again – not because I think it would be a good idea bring back 1989 bridal fashions (yeah...I said it...1989. On June 3rd, it’ll be 20 years since I wore that puffy sleeved, satin monstrosity) but because I’d like to say I could still fit into it. I’d like to accomplish the goal of losing the weight I’ve put on over the last 20 years. Yeah...like that’s gonna happen.

A lot of goals are like that – they seem like impossible pipe dreams. Five years ago, I didn’t think I’d be where I am today. I had the rather nebulous goal of wanting to become a published author, but I never imagined that I would have just released my tenth book.

I’d like to tell you that was due to avid goal setting, followed by careful planning and meticulous follow through. But then...I’d be lying. A lot.

I’m great with setting goals, however, they often get hijacked. Mostly through my own doing. I swear up and down to myself that I’m going to finish my 80K paranormal romance and submit it to the agent who showed interest.
Am I working on that book right now?

No.

Why not?

Because I’ve allowed that goal to get hijacked by other more pressing (at the time) things.

For instance, my day job is very deadline oriented. The work I do is usually a collaboration with at least two other people and even if I budget my time well, it doesn’t mean that the other people involved will do the same. So there are times that my timetable is superseded by theirs and I’m forced to temporarily put aside my goal to bring a project in on time.

There are times I hijack my own goals. Going back to that 80K paranormal romance for a moment, I recently signed three shiny new contracts for three shiny new stories that have nothing to do with that 80K book that’s patiently waiting for me to get to it. Because my goal of finishing and submitting that book has no real deadline, I’ve shoved aside that goal to finish these new goals that do have deadlines. While I’m accomplishing new goals of finishing these contracted books, I’ve stalled out on the other goal.

So I have a new goal. My new goal involves some of Kim’s rules. While I can’t apply these rules to the other people that I work with or the real life interruptions that like to get in the way, I can apply them to myself.

My new goals/rules.

1000 words per day minimum on contracted WIP on normal work days.
1000 words per day minimum on uncontracted WIP on normal work days.
500 word minimum on contracted WIP on heavy work days.
Blog at least three times a week.

I think the structure of rule driven goals will do me good. Who knows, I might even work on getting back into that wedding dress.

The Rules

I like setting goals in theory, but to be honest, that sort of thought process don't appeal to own slightly idiosyncratic psychology enough to do me much good.

Goals are things it would be nice to get done - they are something to aim for - something to add to the bottom of my to do list. They're pretty and shiny and probably not going to get accomplished any time soon.

When I want to actually get anything done, I don't make goals, I set rules.

Rules rock! Seriously - they do. Because, while I don't take goals too seriously, I am serious about rules - about setting them as well as following them.

I don't like the kind of mind games where one person sets another up to fail, and I don't use them on myself either. Rules have to be realistic. Doesn't mean they have to be easy to follow. They don't have to be universally fun. But they have to be possible and practical on some level.

And they have to be followed. No excuses allowed and very few reasons accepted for braking them tolerated.

Here are my writing rules as they stand at the moment:

1. Write at least 1000 words on the main WIP every day. There isn't any reason good enough to break this one.

2. Write at least 50,000 words per month. I blame Nanowrimo for this one. Fiction, synopsises and blurbs count. E-mails, blog posts, and promo don't count. Just in case you're wondering.

3. Finish at least the first draft of each project before moving on to the next one. There are only two acceptable reasons for breaking this rule. A sudden deadline on another project - If I sign up for something at the last moment and it needs to be submitted quickly, I do let it move to the top of the to do list temporarily.

The only other reason is preservation of sanity. Not enjoying it or wanting to work on something else isn't good enough - but in the last 100 or so stories I've started there have been three that I just couldn't finish the first draft of. 2 attempts at Regency Romances that I simply hadn't done the research for, and 1 BDSM erotic romance with a set up that meant it could only actually contain any sort of sex if I turned one of the characters into someone I hated. Forcing myself to finish them would have done far more harm than good.

4. Submit at least one project to my editor each month - two if possible. No excuses allowed at the moment, but if I ever move into writing full length novels, I'll let myself reconsider this time scale - maybe.

There are probably other minor rules that I've subconsciously put in place around my writing, but these four are the big ones that I rely on to keep me on track. I like my rules, they make me feel safe and secure in what I'm doing.

All that said, even though I don't find goals as productive as rule - I do set them. These are the things that would be nice in an ideal world. Things I'm working towards in a random, long term way.

Here are the main ones at the moment:

1. Work through my backlog of first drafts. I currently have 52 stories or various lengths that need work done on them before they can be submitted. Some of them need editing, some need re-writing, some pretty much need to be started again from scratch. They form the start, middle or end of at least eight different series.

The thing is, while it would be nice not to have a backlog, I know it's not realistic. I write faster than I edit to start with. And even if they were all short enough that I could submit 2 a month, it would take over two years, by which time I'd have written X many other first drafts which would form a whole new backlog. And because they aren't whole series, I'd have to submit almost as many newly written stories as backlog stories in order for the series to make sense.

So, while I'm aiming to reduce my backlog of stories a little bit each year, I'm realistic enough that I'm not going to make rules about it.

2. Keep up to date with all blogs, yahoo groups and networking do-das. And promote like mad. It would be nice, but by the time I've done the writing and the editing, sometimes there just isn't the time or the energy. So it's something I plug away at, but I don't beat myself up over it if I slack off at times.

3. Write, edit, submit and publish a full length novel. For me this means over 60,000. My longest submission for far is 35,000. I really would like to complete a novel length project. I've got drafts of stories that length and ideas for future ones. I just need find the right time (and the confidence) to tackle it. This is one of my more realistic goals, but it's something that I haven't made a proper priority yet, so it's going to linger among the goals for a little while longer.

4. Finish current series before I start any more series or other projects. Maybe I will. Maybe I won't. It's a nice idea, but I'm aware that practicalities might take over regarding publication slots or similar. So I'm not going to make it a rule just in case practicalities make me brake it.

And there it is.

I don't know if I'm the only one who finds rules work better than goals. It would be interesting to know - hint, hint ;)

Kim Dare.
Kink, love and a happy ending. Do you Dare?

Goals, goals, goals

How ironic, the topic is goals and I completely missed this week's goal to get this blog posted on time... Memorial Day, kids home, hubby home, at the grocery store until 11 pm last night, slept late, finished reading a book in bed all morning, forgot to post. That's my excuse, and I'm sticking to it.

Early in my writing career, ummm... like last year, I found the book, First Draft in 30 Days. This book has helped me to structure my life as a writer and to put structure in my stories. Whether or not you want to write your first draft in 30 days, Karen Wiesner offers great tools for plotting your story and developing characters and settings. By using the framework of 30 days, she leads you through the process of how to set goals on a WIP.

Since reading her book, I've done one first draft exactly following her guidelines, but I haven't finished writing the book. I've used her techniques to lesser and lesser degrees on several additional stories that I've completed.

Learning to make her suggestions fit my style and voice has helped my story development process immensely. I wrote an historical western using my modified method of her plan, and it is currently being evaluated by an online publisher. I don't think that story would be nearly this far along, if not for what I learned from Wiesner's book.

In the last chapter of her book, Wiesner discusses the importance of outlining your career. She gives personal examples of setting yearly, multiyear, promotional, and project goals. She also gives suggestions for getting ahead and staying there. As a new writer I found all this information very helpful.

The other source of goal setting that has helped my writing career is the monthly goal I set with my local writing group. I hold those goals most sacred, and I have never missed my monthly goals. Probably has something to do with the public humiliation at having to say "no, I didn't do that", but mostly it's the internal pressure I place on myself. If I say I'm going to do something, then I am compelled to do it. It's a great way to push myself to get further along in my WIP than I would if left on my own. My monthly goals help me to plan my weekly and hence my daily goals by breaking down the big goal into workable parts.

I'm not like Kim, at all. I greatly admire her for being able to set daily word goals, but I can't work like that. One of the reasons I love being a writer is that I don't have to work consistently on a time schedule. I need to have flexibility in my schedule. If I want to spend all Wednesday on the couch reading a book (for research, of course), then I don't want to feel guilty for not writing and meeting some word goal for the day. I've always been a bit rebellious. I don't do well being told what to do everyday.

I look at my monthly goal and determine how far I should be by the end of each week. Speaking of which, I just looked at this month's goals. After reading on the couch all week last week (sometimes it's not just a Wednesday thing), I realized that I'd better put in some serious writing time to meet my deadline. This kind of internal pressure is the motivation that I need to keep focused and working. It gives me the freedom to work at my own pace and still feel like I'm accomplishing something.

The other thing that I'm learning as a writer is that I like having several WIPs in different stages at the same time. I like to work on different stories throughout the month. I finish the goals for one story, then move on to the next story. The problem I've been facing this month is that several projects wrapped up at the same time last month. I've been flitting around, spending more time on the couch reading this month, as I exist in this empty space inbetween projects. I know what I want to work on next (ie. my goals are written down), but I'm letting myself experience this lack of directional force, almost as a mini-vacation.

But again, I look at my list of June goals, and it is time for my vacation to end. There are new books to plot, old stories to dust off, and new learning to achieve.

I love this job!

FpAG. The "p" is silent. No, not that kind of pee you perve. That pee is never silent unless you like pad the water with TP.

I had a weakness pointed out to me recently. I had no idea it was something I did until I called her on the phone and she started laughing. Loudly. You see I was mad about something. Someone had said something in an email to me and I was pissed. I tend to think pretty fast on my feet and have a sharp tongue. And generally when I'm in that state I also whip out my hundred dollar words and go to town on the poor sap who dared tread on my little whimpering heart.

"Why are you laughing?" I said, thinking I'd missed the joke.

I had. Completely. If a mirror had been held up to my face, it would have shown drawn brows and a wrinkle on the bridge of my nose. I love to laugh so I was thinking the punch line would be fantastic and we could laugh together.

"You know you do that, don't you?" she said. She had the bemused mother tone. The one that indirectly says, you're so cute and so so silly but aren't you adorable.

From anyone else, that would be something to stew over. From her, it showed acceptance for me and I'm all about that.

"No." I tried to think what we'd been talking about, but came up dry. "The email? What do I do?"

She laughed again, probably enjoying the fact that I was clueless and she had a funny. "You write scathing emails and hit send, then you call me and ask me what I think you should have done."

"I do?" I think I glared at the keyboard, maybe flipped screen tabs. I remember puckering up my lips to keep from laughing. She had nailed me. "Oh. Yeah, I guess I do."

She laughed harder. I flipped another screen and chuckled a little until I saw something and my whole being lit up.

"But I didn't send the other email. I call you first this time." I didn't tell her that I was about to hit send when I freaked out and decided I needed a second opinion. Yeah, the first one was gone already, but the other one, sitting in my compose queue, waited for the send to initiate. I think I huffed a little with self-annoyance. "I didn't realize I did that."

She, being she, laughed some more. It was all good-natured and she can never be mean anyway. She is a pussycat with the biggest heart EVER, so I can't be annoyed only amused with her as she agrees, yeah, you do that all the time.

And damn if she isn't right. I don't get mad easily. I'm not Flash-point Anger Girl (FpAG for short, no I'm not offended you prick), but I do act first, then second guess myself. That's where she comes in. I have to call her because somehow I know she will know if I've just screwed up irreparably.

I'm working on it though. Twice this week, I called her first. Okay and one of those times I hovered the send button while on the phone with her and the email sent--I didn't mean for it to--just as she said, "before you send that, I'd--". Well, shit.

SWX

Weaknesses. Yeah...I’ve got ‘em.

I could probably write all day about my weaknesses, but I’ll try to stick to the highlights.

I second guess myself. All. The. Damn. Time. I come up with what I’m sure is a great story idea and intriguing characters. Then I question myself to the point where I’m positive the story is crap and the characters should all die a horrible painful death. Currently, I’m considering death by fiery meteorites for certain characters.

Multi-tasking. I wish I could manage the mental and physical juggling that Brynn does. As it is, I sort of wander from one task to another, taking five times as long to finish things because I’m so easily distracted. I can’t cook supper, work on a blog post, remember to change a load of laundry and jot notes about my latest story. If I try, the food burns and the smoke alarm goes off (for the record, my family thinks this means supper’s ready) I forget what I’m supposed to be posting about, the laundry stays in the washer long enough to get that funky smell and while I might get some notes jotted down, but they’ll likely be lost while I’m trying to air out the house from the rank smell of burnt grilled cheese.

I have trouble with blurbs. Trying to sum up an entire book in a couple paragraphs is brutal and I never feel like I get it right. I agonize over things horrible little snippets for days at a time.

Promo. I suck at it for two reasons. The first is because I find it difficult to make time to do it. When I have time that doesn’t involve the family or the day job, I’d rather spend it writing. Or watching Supernatural...but we won’t go there, today. The other is because I find it infinitely easier to wax poetic about a friend's book than my own. Some people are great about saying, "Hey I wrote this book, it's really hot/funny/wild/etc. I think you'd like it." Me? Not so much. It's more of a "Oh yeah, I wrote a book. You can read it if you want...I mean...you know...if you don't have anything better to do" sorta vibe. Yeah, I know. Totally lame. I suck at promo.

I tend to over-extend myself and commit to too many things at once which stresses me out. And I don’t handle stress well. It all comes from having a difficult time saying “no” to people. I’m getting better about it, but it’s taken a ridiculous amount of time to learn to say a simple, two-letter word because I hate for people to be disappointed or unhappy.

Like I said, I could go on for days...so I think I’m going to stop here before I start looking like the freak of the week. Too late you say?

Oh yeah, that’s another one. I’m rarely on time for anything. Two weeks late for my own birth and I still haven’t caught up.

Tripped Up Again

I figured weaknesses would be a super easy topic for this week. I talk to authors frequently and the one thing I find they’re not shy about is weaknesses. Why is it so easy to talk about our flaws and not our strengths? For some reason, we’re far more aware of our flaws than our assets. So here are some of pains:

1. I have a very common weakness. When I write I have to be uber careful about certain homonyms. You’re and your often get interchanged. So do there, their and they’re. And it’s and its. I’m forever writing her instead of he and here instead of her. Go fig. I’m exceptionally good at writing breath instead of breathe and vice versa. Thankfully, I know these and I look for them and I have a wonderful critique partner who also knows I mess these up on a regular basis. It’s not that I don’t know the different—really I do! My brain just doesn’t always translate when I’m typing quickly.

2. I have difficulty saying no. I take on a lot and I also don’t like to hurt people’s feelings—and I know saying no will do that sometimes, even if I’m super nice about it.

3. I’m a workaholic. I won’t lie. I work all the time! I’m trying to cut back, but it’s not going so well.

4. I’m fragile. You didn’t know that, huh? My feelings get hurt easily. I cover it up by being a bitch. Just sayin’. Anyway, that might be why I’m super vigilant about saying no to other people. It’s also why I sometimes need to let edits sit for an hour before I actually complete them.

5. I cry when I’m mad. You know that pisses me off. I rarely cry when I’m sad, but get me super pissed off. AHHHH!

6. I’m hypercritical of myself. I read my own work after it’s published and always think, “I’ll never write that well again.” I can be really good at negative self-talk. It’s a strange dichotomy inside me. I’m generally very confident, but there’s that voice always telling me I’m not good enough.

God…this is like a confessional… I think I better be done or you’ll know all my dark secrets.

Until next time, this is Brynn signing off.

Alright Dakota, try to stick to writing

I have a lot of weaknesses. I can't resist a shoe sale. I love key lime pie so much that I gained 8lbs in 6 days because I couldn't stop eating it. I can't resist a sale of any kind. I have bad spending habits.

But, I'm pretty sure that the point of this week is weaknessess associated with writing. So I will do my best to share only those things related to my chosen profession.

1. Writing - As I mentioned last week, this girl knows how to kick a word count in it's ass. The weakness comes with sitting down to actually do it. I am supposed to be writing right now. (I am ALWAYS supposed to be writing and very rarely do.) It is difficult for me to sit down and actually start typing. Once I do, I'm home free. I'll get the work done. There just always seems to be something better to do.

2. Attention span - I have the attention span hey look a squirrel. I don't do well sitting still for hours without my mind wandering. I think that's why I have to have the television or the radio on when I write. If something else is going on while I am writing I am more likely to keep doing it. But if it's quiet, I want to go do something else. I need lots of things distracting me to get me to concentrate. Clear as mud? Good. Moving on.

3. Follow through - I usually have a good idea going into a book of what will happen at the beginning, in the middle, and at the end of it. Unfortunately, it almost never works out the way I plan. My characters are living, breathing entities in my head and just because I want them to act a certain way doesn't mean I'm going to get them to do that. And that's fine, I want them to be true to themselves not me. I know how to get out of a characters way and let them run the story. (Hey, I should have put that as a strength in last weeks post. Damn.)

4. Summaries - I f*ck@ng hate summarizing a story. I suck at it. I don't like it and I never want to do it. If the story could be told in two pages I would have told it in two pages and saved myself a world of hurt and pain and time. I understand the need for a blurb, but I will never understand why I need a full summary of a book the publisher has already read and accepted. And you can explain it all you want, I will never agree to it's necessity. Hate it hate it hate it.

5. Blurbs - They are important, as I said. But I SUCK at writing them. Again, not good with cramming the plot of the story into a small space. Just suck at it.

6. Excerpts - I know that readers love excerpts. But I have a hard time pulling them from books. It's difficult to pull a scene that doesn't give anything away, but hooks the reader in, that isn't from too far at the beginning of the book and has enough story in it that the reader isn't totally lost by it. Plus, it can't be too long or too short. Bah. I hope you appreciate the work we put into finding you two pages of a book to read so you can decide whether or not you want to read the whole thing. We don't mind doing it for you, and we want you to love it and read the whole thing, but man it is a hard process.

7. Moving - A writer's job is to sit on their ass and type. This leads to a very sedentary lifestyle. It also is directly to blame for the 3 dress sizes I have gone up since I became a published author. I don't move from a desk. I work at one for the day job, then I come home make dinner and plop my growing ass in front of my laptop for more sitting time. I need to make a concious effort to go out and move around. Take a walk. Start doing Pilates again. Something. It isn't healthy for me to drink gallons of Diet Coke and stare at a monitor all day. Plus, it wouldn't hurt me to eat a salad once in a while. Not every meal needs to be a cheeseburger. Damn that sounds good. Bacon Cheddar BBQ burger on garlic bread with fries from Gatorville. Maybe with a Shipwreck on the side. Mmmm.... it's only 18 hours away. I could make it there and back by Monday.

8. Staying on topic - Even in my books I have a habit of wandering off on tangents. Luckily I catch most of them and delete them out before my editors ever get a chance to see them. I suppose this goes with attention span, but I gave it it's own section so it looks like a real list instead of last weeks pathetic strength list I shared.

9. Punctuation - I like commas. Alot.

10. Promo - I am not good at promo. I am good at BUYING things (postcards, business cards, magnets, keychains, etc) but not so good at actually handing them out. Thank goodness for RT, I was able to get rid of tons of stuff. But I still have BOXES of it in my closet and I just ordered more. But my new business cards are beautiful and I can't wait to hand them out. I want everyone to have one cause they are pretty, pretty, pretty.

So there we are. Twice as many weaknessess as strengths. That sounds about right. I didn't get them all I'm sure, but I may have at least stayed on topic this week.

Yay me! I should reward myself with a few episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

XoXoXo
Dakota Rebel

A Rookie Without Hindsight

Going through school with dyslexia, the first weakness that jumped to my mind was the obvious one. I can't spell for toffee.

I really don't understand how people hear a word and turn it into letters. My mind doesn't work that way. I have no idea how everyone works out which vowels go where in a word. When I write by hand I put the same squiggle for all the different vowels and hope for the best. (I passed a hell of a lot of exams in school due to messy handwriting! LOL.) When I type it's easier. I remember which keys make which word. Patterns of keys make much more sense to me than patterns of letters.

Next thought - energy levels, or rather lack there of.

But the more I think about it, I don't think either of these are weaknesses. To me a weakness is something you can work on - something you can do something about. Things you can't change are just facts of life.

So, real weaknesses - things I can work on:

Obsessiveness. Quite a few people keep warning me about trying to do too much too quickly and burning myself out. They're probably right. It's good advice. In theory I know that I shouldn't put all of my energy into one thing. I should put some balance back into my life. But I still haven't worked out where a sane level of writing is at the moment, so I need to work on that.

Single-tasking. It's the opposite to multi-tasking if you're wondering. I can work on one thing at a time. That means limiting myself to one editing project and one writing project at any one time. This is one of the things high on my list of things to sort out, because I need it sorted if I'm going to work on series in any sort of sane manner. As it is, I'm struggling to convince myself that I don't need to write the whole series before I can work on anything else. Since I currently have four series already on the go, I need to work out a way to alternate between them to keep momentum going on all four as soon as possible.

Release Dates. It's kind of related to the idea of keeping momentum on a few different series at the same time. I'm guessing this one is quite common. I'm in love with close release dates. I'm completely unable to resist them. It might not seem like a huge weakness, but I've been looking back over my records. I'm writing a series called Perfect Timing. The stories are all pretty much written, they just need to be edited and submitted. I sent the latest story in last September, it's coming out in July. (BTW - just got the cover art for it. You can take a peek here.)

Then I discovered that there were two ways to get really close release dates for other projects. Guess what my last nine submissions were for? I love those stories I've submitted recently, but by focusing on them, I've let Perfect Timing slide away from the top of my to do list. I need to work on making sure my priorities aren't only about release dates.

*Sigh* It's an all admin list again, isn't it?

Here's the thing - I'm sure there are weaknesses inside my writing. Just like there are weaknesses in everyone's writing. But if I knew what my particular weaknesses were, I'd fix it before I ever let anyone else read it.

When someone else, such as my lovely editor, picks up on something that I could have done better, or that I forgot to do at all, I add it to my list of things to check future submissions for before they hit her desk.

Such as - I tend to forget to let the character say that they are in love. They show it. They live it. But I tend to forget to let them say it to each other before the end of the book - which can understandably leave the reader unsure if they are really in love or not. So I check for things like that now.

As for larger scale weaknesses - I have a horrible feeling that they only become apparent when you've got a bit more hindsight to work with than I've got at the moment. In ten years time, I'm sure I'll look at what I was writing now and weaknesses will jump out at me.

For now, that's it from the rookie.

But if you see a weakness in my writing, feel free to let me know (seriously - I'm really hard to offend!) - I'll add it to my fix it before I submit it list :)

Kim Dare.
Kink, love and a happy ending. Do you Dare?

Making my characters sweat

I would say the most difficult thing for me to learn as a writer is bringing conflict into my characters' lives and making them suffer. I don't have a problem making things tough for them, but I always want to rescue them by the end of the same scene. This does not make for a very interesting story, so I have lots of sticky notes above my computer reminding me to make my characters really suffer.



..... Ummmm, ran out of things to say here.

See?
I talked about the conflict and the resolution and now this post is over. Not very interesting.
I'll set a goal to do better next week. I'm REALLY good at goal setting, which happens to be next week's topic. (Like the tie-in?)

TTFN!
Happy Monday.

PS Today, Mr. Dickinson and I celebrate our 13th wedding anniversary. I wuv u, honey!

I have many strengths but I don't want all of you to feel badly so I'll only mention a couple of them. Stop laughing.

According to a famous song, I am strong, I am invincible, I am WOMAN (how many of you will be singing that all day, now? You're welcome.) By the way, that symbol up there says, "Strength". At least, that's what I Googled. They could be lying to me and it actually says, "Insipid pot of cranberries being stewed over an ogre fire".

Well, it could. I don't read symbol.

But for the sake of this post, it is very strong looking so I'll go with that. Sooo that worked for a full paragraph and plus. Let's see if I can pull off another one.

I exercise and that makes me strong. Um, stronger than I could have been. I can totally open a jar of jam... if it's loosened first. Quiet. I have a point in here somewhere.

Writing is like that. You exercise your writing muscles (called fingers) in order to keep up the strength of your writing skills. Because my writing is driven by characters, I have to say that I practise the skill of characterization daily. And it IS a strength of mine. I'm good at characterization. I'm a strong dialogue writer, too. It goes with making believable characters. Frequently the characters get away from me (you are so freakin' surprised, aren't you?) that the dialogue and scenes take off on their own and have me chuckling before I realize where the conversation is going.

I love that. I love being surprised into laughter by my characters because it is the first sign of them becoming not only real to me, but believable as heroes. It tells me I'm doing something right. So, yeah, I'm good at characterization.

And you can't argue because you don't know who I am to pick at my work and tell me I'm wrong. Technically, I could say I'm good at whatever I want. Like, "Dude, I'm EXCELLENT at the." And you'd be all like, "The, what?" And I'd be, "THE. Dude, you are so dense." And you wouldn't know if I was good at the or not. I could totally be pulling your chain but you'd have to believe me.

Why? Because I'm strong like that. Chains, *finger snap* they're easy.

The

SWX

Strengths

You know, I picked this topic. I thought it would be good to talk about our strengths. Then it got to be my turn. OMG! I have to talk about my strengths?

I don’t think anyone on this blog thinks they’re ‘all that and a bag of chips’, but every one of us has a wealth of strengths we tap into for our own writing and to help others. It’s pretty important to know what you can do. As far as strengths for me, I swung away from the writing genre and found a few I use in everyday life as well as in my writing life. I know I can construct a sentence, make compelling plots and interesting people, but there are some other things I’m good at.

1. I can multi-task better than a Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey juggler. Make dinner, do edits, write a chapter, instant message, talk on the phone, play social director for kids. It’s not unusual for me to be doing most of those at once. Right now I’m listening to stand-up comedy and writing this while I’m stirring dinner.
   
   
2. I like to help people. It’s not uncommon for me to help other authors (or people in other parts of my life). I like to offer my knowledge to other people if they ask for it—and it does usually help them, lol. I do know how to keep my mouth shut and not be a know it all. Who wants to be that?
   
   
3. I’m really good at research. Really good. Give me a topic and I’ll give you information. One of my friends calls me Web, because as she mentioned earlier this week, Brynn knows damn near everything. No I don’t. I just know where to find stuff.
   
   
4. I’m serious about everything I do, but I have a sense of humour that will take you by surprise when it comes out to play.
   
   
5. I have an appreciation for potential, flaws and beautiful men. Do I need to explain that? It means I’m not all about the “it” people. That I like quirky, flawed people and people who’ve fought to get where they are, and these are the people I write about and the people I hang out with.

That’s about it for today. I’m gonna go call one of my quirky friends and make some lunch plans…’cause eating…yeah, I’m good at that, too.
~~ Brynn

The Hardest Post Yet

Okay...so here's the thing. At the risk of sounding incredibly fake and self-effacing, I've always been one of those people who sees my faults far more clearly than my positive traits. So, I'm gonna pull a Dakota here, and share some of the nice things people have said about my writing.

I've been told that I have...

fun and quirky characters that would make interesting dinner guests

vivid descriptions

clever dialogue

and

satisfying emotional conflict

Also, there's Supernatural.

Okay...yeah...it's a TV show that I didn't write...but...um...it's still a strength. Because it's all inspiring and stuff. Yeah...that's it. Inspiring. (Please note: this will likely be listed as a weakness next week.)

Even though I only feel confident about my writing skills about 15% of the time, I guess the fact that I'm still trying to improve with every book means that I also have persistence which has to be a strength.

So there you go - two strengths that I'm sure of and a few more that make me feel warm and fuzzy when people say nice things about them.

Be strong in the word and the power of its might...

Or something like that. Damn, The Exorcist was a great movie.

Anyway, it was hard for me to come up with strengths. I don't have a lot of confidence when it comes to, well, anything really. But I am especially hard on myself when it comes to my work. And while I considered it extensively, I finally decided my unerring skill at being hard on myself didn't really count as a strength, so there was an hour wasted and I had to start all over again.

I suppose the easiest thing to do will be to take what others say about me and share them with you. Then I'm not bragging myself up, it's from the mouths of others so it's all good in the hood.

1. I write quick - When I actually sit down to write, I can pull 10k in a day no problem. I've dropped 40k+ in a single weekend. When the ideas are there my fingers fly over the keyboard and I get my word count up.

2. I type very fast - Last time I tested myself (Thank you Mavis Beacon) I was at 103 words per minute. And my accuracy is pretty darn good.

3. I give good title - I have a list of titles for books on a board and some of them are pretty good. The title very accurately describes the point of the book, but it's cute and clever and not hit you over the head blunt. I like titles. Generally though the titles for the books I actually sit down to write aren't as clever as the ones I plan to write. I think that To Hate and To Hold is probably my favorite published title. The title itself I mean. Obviously it is my favorite book of all time that I have produced.

4. My soundtracks are awesome - I think we've talked about book soundtracks before. Mine are great. Of course, that one is mine, no one has ever told me that before. My music tastes are eclectic but the playlists always help me get through tough times in my books.

5. I have cute shoes - What does that have to do with writing? Not a damn thing. But I do have some kick ass shoes.

I'm sure people have said other nice things to me, but I think the list is sufficient enough for now. Wait till next week, my weaknesses are off the chart. That's going to be a great post.

Damn it, now I've just set myself up. I am going to have to start working on that thing NOW so that it is the best post I've ever posted. I have created hype. What the hell was I thinking. Obviously I wasn't. As usual.

Crap.

XoXoXo
Dakota Rebel

Work In Progress

You'll hear a lot of writers on the net talking about their wips - their works in progress - the stories they are writing or editing or planning etc.

The more I think about this topic of strengths and weaknesses the more I'm inclined to think that I'm the biggest work in progress on my to do list - I'm working on lots of different stories, but I'm also persistently working on my abilities as a writer.

If I'm honest, I'm not sure what my strengths are. I'm still new at this. But I do believe that if you're working on improving your writing, you need to know which aspects of your writing require the most attention at any given time. Really, there's not a lot of point working on your editing skills if you haven't written the story yet!

So, rather than my strengths, I'm going to share a list of the things I'm not worrying about fixing at the moment.

Here we go:

Writing every day. This might not sound like much, but it's something I've found very useful. I have to write 1000 words a day on my main wip - and that means I don't have to worry that I'll somehow get out of the habit of writing

Plenty of ideas. Lots of time to make up stories, combined with a spreadsheet full of story lines waiting to be written means I seem to be one of the few writers I know that doesn't worry about writers block *touches wood just in case, lol*.

Finishing what I start. This is one of the things I'm pretty proud of if I'm honest. I spent a lot time bouncing around never finishing anything. I made a rule with myself that I can't work on anything new until I finish the first draft of my current project. Before that I worried that I wasn't capable of finishing things. I don't worry about that at the moment.

Prioritising. I've also got myself into the habit of working on what needs to be worked on. I might really want to work on story A, but if story B needs to be handed in first, I know which one I'll be working on. I know I can be practical if I need to.

Keeping momentum. I've been lucky enough to be able to submit quite a few stories, in quite quick succession. So I've been able to get release dates that are close together and lots of nice things like that. I guess it comes down to knowing that I can be prolific when health, life and everything else cooperates - I find that reassuring :)

But when push comes to shove, that's all admin really, isn't it? When it comes to the actual content of the stories, that's far harder to talk about. In that context, what one reader sees as an authors strength might make it to the top of their list of weaknesses for another reader.

Still, I promised myself that I'd do this topic properly and honestly, so here it is - if I were to pick one thing I think is my strength as a writer - it would be able the way I like to write kink.

I'm a firm believer that there is no one true way to kink (beyond keeping things SSC - Safe, Sane, Consensual). That means I'm happy for my characters to reflect BDSM ideals and ideologies that aren't my own. I like it when different characters in different books contradict each other.

I like having one dominant who insists on being called sir, and another dominant who thinks honorifics are pointless. And I like having one submissive who thinks his submission should be reflected in every aspect of their life, and another who thinks the collar comes off when they step out of the bedroom. I like it when one of my characters likes safe words and another character in another story likes to keep no as meaning no.

I've read too many stories by too many BDSM authors who end up writing exactly the same story over and over again because it reflects their particular kinky fantasy and they seem to think that their way to kink is the only right way.

Perhaps some people might think of that sort of consistency as a good thing - a much better strength to have. Maybe they are right. I don't know - I'm a rookie after all, a certain amount of cluelessness is to be expected!

I like giving my characters the freedom to explore their kinky side without me butting in to tell them they should be doing things the way I would enjoy. I like showing the full range of BDSM practices.

Maybe I'm wrong and everyone else sees my strength as a weakness? What do you think?

Kim Dare.
Kink, love and a happy ending. Do you Dare?

Here comes the muscle...

Strength, right? This week's topic.

UGH! Isn't it hard for just about everyone to talk about their own strengths? Next week is weaknesses and I just know everyone here will be flinging out loads of self-deprecation with no hesitation. So why is thinking about our own personal strengths so hard?

When I asked my mother for her thoughts on this week's topic, she was oh so (not) helpful. Her suggestions were: 1. you talk loud 2. you laugh loud and 3. you have strong opinions you aren't afraid to share. Okay, that was pretty damn honest, but are those really my strengths?

Maybe it is all how you look at it.

Above my computer a quote by Goethe says, "Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it."

According to my mother, I have some of that 'boldness' in me - I talk loudly, laugh loudly, express my opinions loudly. My hubby sees that boldness, too. When I asked him if I was bold. He said, "Hell, yes. You've got balls of steel." *Gulp* "What do you mean, honey?" His answer, "When you want something, you're not afraid to go for it."

So now it is up to me to channel that boldness into something good. Use the force, Luke. (Sorry channeling a little Star Wars there.)

If I've got the dream and I begin it, and I let my boldness do its stuff, then genius, power and magic will take over. YIPPEE! That sounds like a good deal.

Okay, so to wrap my strengths in a nutshell.
I'm bold.

Writing is because writing does... sorry Forrest.

I became a writer because I didn't want to do a real job but preferred staying at home all day doing nothing in particular but pretending to live in quiet angst. It provided ample time to avoid housework, neglect my cooking duties, allowed me to sit on my a$$ all day and play on the computer. When anyone asked me what I worked on, I could say "A book" and sometimes I would be but mostly I was taking naps and not driving to a building somewhere downtown.

Or that's what some people THOUGHT was going on. Don't give me that look. You've been on the receiving end of, "But what do you really do?" and "It's so nice that your husband let's you (those two words make me squiggy. Don't get me started on be "let" to do anything. I'm a grown woman and can make my own choices you moron from the 1950s throwbacks) stay home with your hobbies."

Writing is part of you. I think we'd all agree to that in some form or other. It's part of our make up. Part of the way we see the world and internalize details. Part of how we remember things or wished things could be remembered differently. It's a beautifier, a coloring book of life, a protective coating to our psyches when things are rough and we need to gentle the harsh realities. Writing keeps us busy, keeps us occupied in waiting rooms and traffic lights. It entertains us with a story perfectly sculpted for our own tastes and whispers its sleeping sand until we drift off to sleep. It amuses, terrifies, arouses, breaks our hearts, heals them back up, touches, reaches out, embraces, and links arms with us in every situation. It's the best friend who is never seen and never leaves you. It giggles with you over random thoughts and understands when you can't form a coherent sentence but the emotion is draped around you in curling wisping color of feeling. It consoles and sometimes it pisses you off. But it's there like a child's security blanket. Always.

A writer cannot not write. Whether someone ever sees her words or they are kept in a journal, they live in the writer's experience. I write because I have to. I'm filled with it and it leaks from my ears and my fingertips and not writing means they stay up inside my head until the fiction becomes almost as real as real people. Not insanity, but blessed with friendships of perfect proportion in male and female with challenges of their own in which I am not helpless.

Writing is a forum to work through personal crisis. It's the ultimate therapy without judgment while you are processing it, and laid out on paper as an experience after the fact, when you are strong and can bear up under the scrutiny. It's the rebel and the lover and the explorer, and the scientist, and the artist, and the musician of dancing and intertwining plots.

Why do I write? How can I not?

SWX (who's feeling a little poetic akshully)

Reasons to Write

Much like Kim, Brynn and some of the other authors, I too wove elaborate stories around my Barbies as well as the dolls people brought back for me from their travels to foreign countries.

I won't lie, it was really tough to work a storyline around the beautiful doll from Vietnam because she had tiny nails in her feet holding her to the block of wood that she stood on - not to mention the fact that she was three times the size of the rest of my dolls. Working in the nails and the size made for some awkward stories, but I couldn't leave her out, because then I'd have guilt.

Yes, I know it's probably not normal to experience guilt over the imaginary hurt feelings of a large plastic doll, but I think we've all pretty much established that writers aren't normal. At least we're not in terms of how we see the world or the mental and emotional connections we make to what we see.

I think I write for a couple different reasons. The first and most obvious reason is that I've always had stories in my head. As long as I can remember, there have been people wandering around in there who want to be heard, so I tell their stories.

The other reason I write goes back to the idea of how I see the world, or more importantly, how I'd like to see the world and the mental/emotional connections I have to the things I see. For instance, bad things happen in life all the time - injury, death, loss, abuse, assault, abandonment, the list goes on. Sometimes, I'll hear a dismal story about something awful that's happened, and my mind immediately begins scrolling through the options of what could have happened rather than what did. Or what could happen in the future.

These things take on a life of their own. Almost immediately, characters are 'born' along with a story that becomes a method of creating a happy ending for a story that began with tragic circumstances. Best Laid Plans was one of those books that evolved because I wanted a happier ending instead of the one that occurred in the events that inspired the heroine and storyline of that book.

Ultimately, the main reason I write is because I believe that everyone deserves a happy ending - even an over sized doll with nails in her feet.

Why Do I Write?

Sometimes I ask myself that very question. I write because I’m into insane mental torture, anguish and angst. I like people to consider my job a lucrative hobby. It’s a convenient reason to drink. I could consider myself amongst the greats: Hemingway, Poe, O. Henry, Fitzgerald, Williams, Capote…

I’m only partly joking. Writing ranks up there as one of the most difficult jobs. I mean, you can work like crazy and produce an awesome product yet get no recognition or appreciation. Months or years of work can be relegated to trash with one short letter from an editor or one critical paragraph of a reviewer. All this for one of the most difficult jobs in the world to obtain. I sent out my ‘job applications’ for eight years before my first work was published. And every time, I’d leave the post office feeling sick. And wait…and wait…and wait…

The task of writing can be grim. More times than I can count, when I’ve been frustrated, overwhelmed, pissed off, I’ve vowed that I’m going to stop writing. “I will never write again! I’m done! This is IT!!!”

The longest that vow has ever lasted is a day. Not even a whole day. Before I know it, my pen is scratching over paper, ideas are flooding out of me… Is it easy? Is quitting a ploy to get more ideas or get going again? No. But I can’t imagine not writing. I guess that’s what it comes down to. I’m a writer. I can’t be anything else. And if the day comes that no one wants to read my work, that I’m relegated to the writers of the past, it won’t stop me. The words will still come. They’ll still drive me. The need to create stories won’t go away.

So, why do I write? Because it’s as natural to me as breathing. I’ve always done it and I always will.
~~ Brynn

I write therefore I am...

a nutcase.

Wait a minute, wait a minute, that's not what I meant to say.

What I meant was that I write so that no one will think I am a nutcase and house me in a mental institution without a laptop.

I have often thought we writers should start a charity called "Laptops for Lunatics." I believe that there are many people with voices in their heads holed up in padded rooms because they could not afford a laptop. If they were able to get these voices on paper then they would be authors too! Just like us!

The only reason I haven't gotten off my ass to work on this charity is really because I can't handle competition. Shh, it scares me.

Now you all know that isn't true. I love when new authors get books out because then I have new things to read. I LOVE new books to read.

I'm off topic again. I swear, I'm shocked most of you still come here on Wednesday anymore. Unless it's just to see what crazy Dakota is going to blather on about this week.

On a serious note, (shut up, I'll go back to stupid and charismatic in a second.) I write for the pure joy it brings me. With the exception of my Mr. and my child, nothing brings me more happiness than sitting down at my computer and telling a story of love, friendship, and the struggle it takes to get/keep those things in place. I was born to be a story teller, I honestly believe this. I have been weaving tales since I was old enough to hold a pencil and I will tell them until the last breath has left my body.

The people in my books are fiction, but in my head and in my heart they are real. Their triumphs and hardships and anger and joy are mine as well. While the books are not based on me, every story I share goes out into the world with a little piece of me attached. I adore writing and cannot imagine living a life where I couldn't.

Okay, enough of that sappy shit. For a minute I almost had a serious post going. We couldn't have that! Sheesh, dodged a bullet there huh?

Thank you for tolerating my irreverant posts. I do love coming to this blog and sharing my scatter-brain with you all. And if I can make just a few people laugh once in a while I honestly think I've made the world a better place.

Damn, I did it again. I'd better go before I turn into Oprah or something.

XoXoXo
Dakota Rebel

Doing what comes naturally

When I was growing up, I was very lucky. I had lots of dolls and teddies to play with. And what did I do with them? Well, I’d line them all up, or I’d form them into little groups, and I’d make up stories about their lives.

Let’s be clear from the start. I was a bit of a weird child. I remember quite clearly that I didn’t play with Barbies and baby dolls at the same time like the other children did, because they were out of scale with each other. (It’s probably not a great surprise that I didn’t like other children a great deal, is it?) But even those toys who were deemed to be in proportion with each other didn’t tend to get played with the way other children play with toys.

From all accounts I generally used them as starting points for stories – as characters I could slot into my imagination and base plots around. The toys never did the things in the stories. They very rarely moved from where I put them when the first came out of the toy box. They sat there all nice and neatly while I made up stories about their lives inside my head.

I can still remember the first “real” story I not only made up, but wrote down start to finish. I don’t chuck things out, so it’s probably lurking around in an old note book somewhere – although I’m not organised enough that I actually know where it is.

Anyway, from what I remember, I was pretty damn pleased with it. This one wasn’t based on any of my toys. It was a werewolf story.

It was called “The Pack”. The main character was called Silver. It was set in a wood on the side of a mountain. Silver fell in love with the alpha wolf and they lived happily ever after in the end of the story. And, Heaven help me, I’m also pretty sure the story had a whole wolf pack hierarchy of dominance and submission front and centre of the plot.

I was nine.

I’ve never stopped making up stories or writing them down. If it comes to that, I’ve never got over my fascination with werewolves or that sort of hierarchy either, lol.

Even when I didn’t write them down, I still made up stories – a lot of stories. It was an instinct that seems to have come built in. So I suppose it also forms a large part of the reason I became a writer.

Anyone who makes up that many stories has to get them out of their head sooner or later or their head will explode. And we don’t want that, do we? We’d never get the stains out of the carpets.

Kim Dare.
Kink, love and a happy ending. Do you Dare?

To write happy endings

UGH! I just finished watching Masterpiece Theatre with my hubby. It's our Sunday night date at home. That's not the UGH part. We really enjoy watching classic literature pieces brought to life by wonderful British actors. The UGH part was the not-so-happy ending.

I am so disappointed in Mr. Charles Dickens. I have been on a few rides with him and he's given me a happy ending each time, until tonight. I must warn you all not to watch The Old Curiosity Shop unless you like your endings mixed with tears. I'm so upset! How could he!?!

Oh, and if you don't like unhappily-forever-after, then NEVER read Edith Wharton. I took a whole semester course of her works in grad school. It was utterly depressing. She is a master at the downward spiraling storyline.

I want to read happy endings and I want to write happy endings. I read to escape to a place where all the loose ends can be tied into a pretty bow before I turn the last page of the book. Of course I want to write those type of stories, too.

I became a writer because I finally listened to one of my dreams which was compelling me to write the story down. It wasn't the first time a dream had stuck with me through the day and I'd played with the storyline, but it was the first time I felt driven to write it down.

After I began to consider the writer's life, I realized I'd had the desire floating around in the back of my head nearly my whole life, but I'd sublimated it. As an online dictionary definition says: To divert the energy associated with an unacceptable impulse or drive into a personally and socially acceptable activity.

I didn't consider writing to be an acceptable choice for a career so I looked to other things, but nothing I worked at felt right. I was constantly looking for the job/career that was going to fit my personality and make me happy. And I tried A LOT of different things.

So why did I sublimate this passion for so long? Because I didn't think I would ever be "good enough". I thought it was presumptuous to think that I, me, little Andrea, could ever be a writer. But when that dream happened two years ago with the story idea for my first manuscript, I didn't think of myself as a "writer". I only knew that I had a story that I felt driven to put on paper in book-length form.

When I wrote, I felt lit up from the inside out with a focused passion that I've never had for anything else. I'd watched my hubby in college focus on his mathematics with that same focused energy and I was so envious because I hadn't found my passion. While he studied for his exams, I reread most of Jane Austen's works, which was not related to my undergraduate coursework at the time and did not prepare me for my exams.

As my first story developed and I became more comfortable seeing my words on the page, I began to think about publishing and I learned more about what it meant to be a writer. When I questioned myself and the huge amount of time I was putting into this "writing thing", my mother assured me that it was not for waste. She said I was an artist, dedicating my time to my art, my talent, regardless of whether I was compensated for it. I was greatly surprised by her answer. She could see something in me that I couldn't see yet.

These past two years have been an incredible journey of self-discovery and I have enjoyed learning about the craft and art of writing. I am still so new and there is still so much to learn, but I have seen my writing mature as I write, revise, write, revise and revise some more. And I am confident that I am on the right path in my life.

Writing fits who I am, and I am grateful to know that today.

And my stories ALWAYS have happy endings.

Climbing through windows for pie because some dude in leather pants shut the damn door on me and told me to write, but here's what I do instead.

Seriously? There's a freakin' mosquito buzzing my ear right now. I didn't even know mosquitoes where out, let alone hungry enough to dive bomb me. Meanwhile there's something snoring over there by the window like she's got all day to sleep, but then I guess she does cause it's not like I've employed her to be anything other than be a foot warmer from time to time or randomly purr at strangers who come in my house. She's taunting me, I know it. She's laying over there all toasty and thinking, "This will totally piss her off. THIS sleeping while she's supposed to be working will completely irritate her so that's what I'm going to do. Then I will strategically lift my leg behind my head and clean myself. *snort* She thinks I'm cleaning but dang if this don't pass the time nicely."

Have you ever noticed that when you hear a mosquito, and swat at it but miss, you think you hear it still buzzing by your head and get all paranoid by scratching and waving your hand around your ear or something and then when you get a twitch or imagined itch on your arm you have to scratch it now now now now NOW? Ever do that? Okay, just checking.

So this writing thing and what we do when we aren't doing it. Those two paragraphs up there are totally it. I obsess about writing when I'm not writing and while I'm obsessing I get deliberately distracted by anything and everything else. It's my form of procrastination. My pie. My man in tight leather Kim Dare pants. My Facebook--oh wait, no, I do that too. Facebook but especially Netflix instant watching. Cause I suck that way. And then while I'm watching Netflix, I think about how I should be writing instead.

I do this all day, everyday. And blog. Yep some of that too, but not as SWX unless I'm here then of course I do because I'm assigned to this day and it would be just rude of me to avoid my responsibilities when I don't have an excuse (seriously, no slam on blogger at RT who didn't have internet access-SWAK). I blog elsewhere places with other diverse and elsewhere type names. And usually not so random as I am here. Cause here I totally have a mouthful of marbles that continuously cascade when approached with a topic.

I know. You had no idea, right? I always seem so SWX-y organized.

You should try it. It's like non-offensive Turret's in an ADD bowl (do NOT send me mail).

With marbles.

And pie.

SWX
(who isn't writing right now)

When I'm not editing

There's a lot of 'not editing' going around today. I managed to fry my computer yesterday so I'm waiting for a repair guy. Fun fun. And what am I doing? Twitching. Seriously, my laptop is like a third arm. I've tried to be calm but it's like I'm missing something. It's a good opportunity to engage in some of the things I like to do when I'm not at the pc.

1. Clean. Okay, not going to lie...I don't mind it too much, but saying I like it might be going a little too far. I do seem to do a lot of it.

2. Read. I read all day long, right? When I'm not working, I like to read for enjoyment.

3. Go to the Y. There's nothing like an hour on the treadmill followed by a dip in the whirlpool.

4. Watch Supernatural. Yeah, I'm an addict. I also have a ginormous movie collection.

5. Nap. Don't laugh. Most nights I sleep about 4.5 hours. So I really love to get in a good nap once in a while.

There are a bazillion things I like to do, but those are probably my top five. So now, I'm off to look for the repair guy and give this computer back to my husband. Have a good week and I'll see you in two :-)

Michele