The Best Intentions

This summer life has clocked me in the head. Literally. As in, no matter how hard I think, my brain cannot compute where the time has gone and how it is not almost OCTOBER. So much for keeping up with my regular Tuesday blogs! Sigh.

But it’s okay. I’m coming to grips with a few things this month, and thought maybe I should share them with you.

1.       Sometimes it’s okay to not be able to keep up with everything you hoped to do. Life is a game of priorities, and sometimes the people in it get to come ahead of and above other goals or schedules.

2.       There is nothing in the world that will put a family of six in an emotional tailspin faster than a two year sequence that involves three big moves (not including my oldest daughter who added one more to that number) across a distance of 1500 miles. It is physically, emotionally, and mentally impossible to keep up with anything else—especially artistically, during this time.

3.       It’s important to live for life’s “ups” in order to make the “downs” more bearable.

4.       Sometimes even the best intentions just don’t add up to reality.

5.       Making my personal writing goals that involve manuscripts have become a much higher priority above blogging.

It’s that number five thing that has kept me from blogging. See, here’s the thing. I had big plans for this summer. I have books to draft and blogs to write, and conferences to attend, marketing to keep up on and, and, and… I’ve discovered that no matter how badly I want to keep up with all these things, the reality is that I can’t do everything, all the time.

So I let this blog slide a bit, and I don’t feel too bad about it because I have instead focused on other writing projects that I hope to see making important progress in the near future.

I very much hope that I am able to get back into a routine and keep up with blogging again this fall. But if I skip some weeks—if I don’t keep up the way I always have—I hope you can forgive me. I hope you’ll continue to come back and read anyway. Because I have come to the conclusion that it is more important to keep up with writing books than it is to stay consistent with this blog. (Though I truly do hope I can juggle both!)

Thanks for sticking with me, friends!

Stay tuned next tuesday for a report on the awesomeness that was the LDStorymakers Midwest Conference! 

Useful Stuff

So, I’m getting ready to move, and that means I’m cleaning out, like, everything. And we’re getting rid of stuff. So. Much. Stuff.

Guys, if you ever want to feel like a hoarder, decide to move a long distance. You go through every cupboard and closet and storage area evaluating whether or not you can live with 100 empty prescription bottles or that drawer full of mini hotel shampoos. Because, come on. It’s taken you like, nine years to amass this collection, so it’s not easy to dump it in the trash, right?

If you have to fit your entire life onto a single truck, and the movers charge by weight (or if you’re doing the Uhaul thing and have limited space) you take the time to reconsider the need for that collection you’ve been saving. At some point, you must have thought of a possible use for these things. There must have been some point in time when you wished you had a 20 year old bottle of designer perfume or a once-used fuchsia lipstick. There MUST be a reason for saving these things, right? (Don’t laugh, I dumped them. I really did!)

But the creative side of me has to take a minute to recognize that there is a use for everything. That perfume could be a useful weapon against potential…attackers. Yes, that’s it. And that lipstick could be used as, um, oh, I know, part of a disguise. Yes. And the pill bottles? You could totally build a tower out of those, or dump them on the floor in place of marbles ala Home Alone. Same with the shampoos. Slick-shoes ala Goonies.

See? There really is a use for all the crap I just threw away.

Therefore, I’m no longer going to feel like a Hoarder. Yes. Okay.

Please tell me you keep crap because you know someday you’ll use it. Just humor me, okay? 

Stick-to-it-ness

If you’ve been a follower for very long, you’ll know I’m a gym regular, and that January is the season for newbies to join, come for a couple weeks, or a month, and then never return.

Newbies can be picked out from across the room in a packed gym, and it is not because their workout attire is either brand new or inappropriate (aka jeans, flip-flops, etc.). It’s that look of panic on their face, the confusion when they look at the equipment, the indecision that causes them to wander in circles.

Sadly, by the end of February, one of two things tends to happen with these people. Either they’ve given up the idea of getting fit and have moved back into old habits, or they’ve figured out the machines, found a routine, and bought a good sports bra or compression shorts.

The same thing happens to writers who are attending a conference or workshop for the first time. From the look of panic, the confusion when trying to figure out which breakout sessions to attend, and the indecision that causes them to wander the halls.

By the end of the conference though, either they’ve decided they really don’t want to be a writer and are looking into basketweaving or taxidermy, OR they’ve taken reams of notes, broken out of their shell to make friends with other authors, and are planning to attend other conferences near them.

There’s nothing wrong with being the newbie in either of these cases. It’s a very admirable thing for people to branch out and try new things. I’m all over self improvement. (Disclaimer: some people aren’t meant to get in shape in a gym. There are other methods. Some people aren’t meant to learn to write in a public setting like a conference. There are other ways to do that, too. And I wish those people luck. Today, I’m addressing those who ARE made to do things this way. )

The only way to reach a difficult goal like getting in shape or writing a book is to stick with it. Even when it’s hard. Even when it’s so hard you don’t know why you decided to do it in the first place. Even when you wonder why you subject yourself to such methods of torture. Keep going and keep going and keep going, because eventually, you will see results. You will lose five pounds or ten, or write a chapter or an entire rough draft, or even a short story.

Once you start seeing results, you’ll remember why you started this journey, and hopefully, that will be motivation enough to help you stick through the next difficult phase, until eventually, you manage to reach that goal.

What helps you through the tough parts?