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! 

If You’re Going to Do Something, Do it Right

We’re moving this week. I know, I know, we just did this, right? But that's life. I was hoping to be moved in by now, or at least mostly moved in. But the renovations weren’t quite done in time to make our first, or second closing date, so we pushed forward with a third, and have still had to hang out while the last details were finished (minus cleaning, which will probably fall to us now).

*crosses fingers everything is really finished for real*

The problem we continue to run into is that some of the subcontractors have dragged their feet on making deadlines, and then been lazy about the finish work. And, these poor guys because they now have to deal with an annoyed and irritated me, who is very intolerant of lazy/messy finish work.

It’s not that I’m mean or unable to be pleased. It’s just that I have this very firm belief that if you’re going to do something, and if that thing is going to have a deadline, you should do it right and within the time allotted. And if you are not going to finish in time, communicate about why and STILL do it right from start to finish.

Writers, artists, professionals of every variety and choice—we all have projects. Our projects have deadlines, and specifications, and each of us has someone who will hold us accountable (or we should, anyway) for finishing our projects, and finishing them the right way.

I expect this of myself, though I don’t generally get paid for my work immediately after turning it in (or finishing or whatever),  so it’s difficult for me to expect less of people who are immediately getting paid. Because really, I believe we should always, always, always strive to do our BEST WORK, in everything, regardless of circumstances.

So tell me. When is the last time you pushed a deadline, and what did it take to make sure you turned in your best possible work?

The Inevitable Question: How’s Your Writing Going?

I don’t know about the rest of my writer friends, but I’ve decided it’s inevitable that whenever I end up at a gathering that does not include other writers, someone will ask how my writing is going. And it’s really obvious that the people who ask this question mean well. Most of them are truly interested in hearing news about my progress.

The problem is that most of the time there is no quick, easy way to answer this question with much detail. Am I still writing? Yes. More than I ever have. Am I still submitting? Again, yes. Have I finished another novel? Yep. A few. When are they coming out? Uh…someday. Maybe? I hope. Am I still looking for an agent? Yep.

All these answers are the same ones I’ve been giving for a while. In the eyes of the people who ask that question, nothing has really changed. I’m still chasing an impossible dream.

But in reality, everything has changed. I have more finished projects, and am preparing at least one for querying/submission. I am a better writer than I was two years ago. A LOT better. I write faster. I am more focused. My characters are more developed, my plots clearer and more compelling. Most importantly, I feel more confident than ever. I KNOW I’m making progress. I’ve come a long way since I started. And I’m so excited about this progress. About my personal possibilities.

Still, there’s really no way for a non-writer to understand this progress in the ten to thirty second question-answering allowance. So I am usually reduced to something like, “It’s going well. Making some great progress.”

For now, that answer is going to have to be good enough. And I’ll just keep my fingers crossed that someday I’ll have news they can actually understand.

What about you? How do you answer that question?

Conferences, Projects, and Insanity!

Not to brag, but tomorrow morning, I will be heading out of town for World CON in Reno, otherwise known as RENOvation. I was going to schedule a bunch of blogs to post while I'm gone, but I'm not sure I'll have time so I think I may have to take the week off.

You can survive without me for a week, can't ya? 

In the meantime, if you're feeling sad about not being able to attend a conference yourself, you can! This week is the second annual WriteOnCon, a completely FREE online event which teaches all about writing and publishing for young adult audiences. I attended last year (will also try to catch some events this year if possible) and it was fantastic. So be sure to head on over and check it out.

While I'm gone I'll also be working on some editing projects for others, and one polishing one of my own. Cross your fingers that I'll be able to be productive and learn at the same time, cuz there are deadlines coming at me from all over the place.

And, holy moly, school starts for my kids the day I get back. Yikes! 

Summer is coming to a close with warp speed, people. I hope you're wearing seat belts, because it's time to slam on the brakes and go educational or something. 

See you on the flip side! Have a great week.