Welcome to the 2014 A to Z Challenge. My theme for this year is why I shouldn't be participating. Thank you to David for writing the post that got the voices in my head working against me.
Nose is dripping. Allergy season is just beginning. I seem to be allergic to spring summer and fall. Which sucks because I'm not a fan of winter...other than its the one season that I can breath freely.
I love to work outside in my yard, the flowers, the garden, playing with the dog. However, that means I have puffy eyes and a constantly running nose and a stuffy head. Somedays, when the pollen is really high, I can hardly breathe at all and I have to rely on my inhaler. Those days are so much fun. And yes, I take allergy medication. The nice ads on tv with all the allergy suffers gleefully playing in their yards after taking their one pill a day each day of their allergy season lie. That stuff does nothing for me. Unfortunately the stuff that does work, knocks me out for about an hour after taking it, but after a nice nap, I can breathe for eight hours without a box of tissues nearby.
Time to stock up on the allergy meds!
Wednesday, April 16, 2014
Tuesday, April 15, 2014
A to Z May
Welcome to the 2014 A to Z Challenge. My theme for this year is why I shouldn't be participating. Thank you to David for writing the post that got the voices in my head working against me.
May: when I participate in A Story A Day in May. This requires a good deal of planning...or not. I've done it both ways. Neither was totally successful, but I did get some good stories out of both years and have gone one to sell them. A few of them are right over here ----->
I should be spending April gathering ideas for May. Obviously, I'm not. So this is going to be a wing it year. Given that most of my shorts grow from a couple lines of description, a single character or one line of a plot idea, I can probably make this happen as much as I could with planning in this, the year of Jean the Zombie.
If you've tried NaNoWriMo and enjoyed it, give this a try. It's a fun month long challenge without the commitment to one single novel that may or may not pan out after thirty days. And if a novel in a month is too much to take on, how about tackling one story a day? You set the length. Make it 100 words if that suits you. And if the story just isn't working out? Jot some notes about where you'd intended it to go in case you decide to revisit it down the road and try a new one the next day.
Stop by in May and see how my progress going and share your own if you leap into the challenge with me.
May: when I participate in A Story A Day in May. This requires a good deal of planning...or not. I've done it both ways. Neither was totally successful, but I did get some good stories out of both years and have gone one to sell them. A few of them are right over here ----->
I should be spending April gathering ideas for May. Obviously, I'm not. So this is going to be a wing it year. Given that most of my shorts grow from a couple lines of description, a single character or one line of a plot idea, I can probably make this happen as much as I could with planning in this, the year of Jean the Zombie.
If you've tried NaNoWriMo and enjoyed it, give this a try. It's a fun month long challenge without the commitment to one single novel that may or may not pan out after thirty days. And if a novel in a month is too much to take on, how about tackling one story a day? You set the length. Make it 100 words if that suits you. And if the story just isn't working out? Jot some notes about where you'd intended it to go in case you decide to revisit it down the road and try a new one the next day.
Stop by in May and see how my progress going and share your own if you leap into the challenge with me.
Monday, April 14, 2014
A to Z Labor
Welcome to the 2014 A to Z Challenge. My theme for this year is why I shouldn't be participating. Thank you to David for writing the post that got the voices in my head working against me.
Labor is what I do most of day/evening. Not really a labor of love (that would be writing), and not giving birth (done that twice and, while I dearly love them, they are the source of countless interruptions), but working. But I have way too many words to use for W so we're going with this today.
I'm self employed, which seems like it should be an awesome thing, and sometimes it is. For the most part though, I never leave work. There's a big difference between clocking out at 5pm and having the rest of night to yourself and looking at the clock at 5pm, knowing you still have so much to do so maybe you'll get a few more things done while you make dinner and then answer some emails while the kids to homework, and check orders one more time before bed so you know what's in store for the next morning.
Business is good, but can also be overwhelming when customers know where you live and decide to stop over without warning on the weekend, the evening, or early morning hours to go over projects. Please don't do this. Self employed people who work at home actually would like to be at home without working just like you do. At least call first.
My favorite (heavy sarcasm) was a customer who came over to go over a job on a Saturday afternoon, interrupting me mid-rototilling my garden. Also a big favorite: interrupting exercise time - I love answering the door in sweaty workout clothes.
This could be a very long and ranting post, but we'll stop here.
Labor is what I do most of day/evening. Not really a labor of love (that would be writing), and not giving birth (done that twice and, while I dearly love them, they are the source of countless interruptions), but working. But I have way too many words to use for W so we're going with this today.
I'm self employed, which seems like it should be an awesome thing, and sometimes it is. For the most part though, I never leave work. There's a big difference between clocking out at 5pm and having the rest of night to yourself and looking at the clock at 5pm, knowing you still have so much to do so maybe you'll get a few more things done while you make dinner and then answer some emails while the kids to homework, and check orders one more time before bed so you know what's in store for the next morning.
Business is good, but can also be overwhelming when customers know where you live and decide to stop over without warning on the weekend, the evening, or early morning hours to go over projects. Please don't do this. Self employed people who work at home actually would like to be at home without working just like you do. At least call first.
My favorite (heavy sarcasm) was a customer who came over to go over a job on a Saturday afternoon, interrupting me mid-rototilling my garden. Also a big favorite: interrupting exercise time - I love answering the door in sweaty workout clothes.
This could be a very long and ranting post, but we'll stop here.
Saturday, April 12, 2014
A to Z Knight
Welcome to the 2014 A to Z Challenge. My theme for this year is why I shouldn't be participating. Thank you to David for writing the post that got the voices in my head working against me.
Knight, well one of them, is in another novel I want to get back to. I talked about Bruce last year. His novel is in line right behind the one I'm working on right now. It's a wonderful feeling of accomplishment to get a rough draft completed and then to the point where I'm ready to show it to a few people. When they sit for years on my hard drive they just haunt me, crying out for attention like my dog who doesn't appreciate the peaceful zone out of my writing time. Once I get Not Another Bard's tale up and moving, then I think I'll be able to settle down enough to devote time to a few of the novel/story ideas that tried to be birthed but life had other plans. I don't even have those projects listed on the writing page of my blog because they're not far enough along. Poor things. One of these days, I'll get back to my hairy, bumbling knight.
Knight, well one of them, is in another novel I want to get back to. I talked about Bruce last year. His novel is in line right behind the one I'm working on right now. It's a wonderful feeling of accomplishment to get a rough draft completed and then to the point where I'm ready to show it to a few people. When they sit for years on my hard drive they just haunt me, crying out for attention like my dog who doesn't appreciate the peaceful zone out of my writing time. Once I get Not Another Bard's tale up and moving, then I think I'll be able to settle down enough to devote time to a few of the novel/story ideas that tried to be birthed but life had other plans. I don't even have those projects listed on the writing page of my blog because they're not far enough along. Poor things. One of these days, I'll get back to my hairy, bumbling knight.
Friday, April 11, 2014
A to Z Jerk
Welcome to the 2014 A to Z Challenge. My theme for this year is why I shouldn't be participating. Thank you to David for writing the post that got the voices in my head working against me.
Jerk is what I feel like for not being able to devote the time I should to visiting and responding to comments from all you wonderful people who take the time to stop by. I shall do the best I can with the time I have and that's all I can do. Well, I could just not participate at all, but then the voices would be angry and we don't want that. They'll stop cooperating when I need them for writing and when they do that, I become an unpleasant person and when I do that, my family and friends don't like me very much. I prefer that at least my family likes me so we'll let the voices have their fun this April so they'll cooperate in May when it's short story month. More on that on M day.
Jerk is what I feel like for not being able to devote the time I should to visiting and responding to comments from all you wonderful people who take the time to stop by. I shall do the best I can with the time I have and that's all I can do. Well, I could just not participate at all, but then the voices would be angry and we don't want that. They'll stop cooperating when I need them for writing and when they do that, I become an unpleasant person and when I do that, my family and friends don't like me very much. I prefer that at least my family likes me so we'll let the voices have their fun this April so they'll cooperate in May when it's short story month. More on that on M day.
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