As many of you know, I haven’t been around her much recently, if at all. Some of you might have asked, what happened to Lynn or even wondered why I had abandoned you and my blog.
I can tell you there were many reasons with the biggest being the time investment versus the return on that investment. It wasn’t that I didn’t appreciate each and every one of you, I did and I still do. You have to admit posting daily, even when I schedule those posts, can be a tedious thing to do. I was tired of tedium as well as writing.
Don’t get me wrong. I still wrote. I made attempts to move my career forward but I just wasn’t motivated to do so. Again, the reasons are many. I had new grandsons and needed to spend time with them. I was finishing a really big novel. I’d had personal upheaval in my critique group. You name it, I had it all in a six month span.
And I was tired, so tired of just doing things day after day for a career, which seemed to be giving me little in return. I know I’d gone through writing funks before but this one was different. Life was different.
In August, my husband came home from his Vienna trip to announce they had invited him to apply for a job. No big news there as my husband is good at his job. Then I discovered where the posting would be...Vienna, Austria...we’d known a long time it would be coming. Now, I was angry as I felt comfortable in my position: comfortable in writing, comfortable in family, comfortable in life.
Too comfortable. So much so, I made a run for it. I pulled back from a lot of my online social things. I didn’t want to blog, I didn’t want to post in my yahoogroups. I didn’t want to try any more because it would all change if I moved. A lot. Sigh.
Then I decided to go back to the account I’d started on Twitter earlier in the year. Here was something I could do. It didn’t require much effort at all. I mean, how difficult was it to type in 140 characters of good stuff?
Suddenly, I was hooked. I tweeted and tweeted and tweeted. Sometimes hundreds of messages a day. I started to follow other authors, editors, publishers. I got to know some of them. A lot of them. If truth be told, I was spending more time on Twitter but was it quality time.
Then I got my first royalties after I really put my all into the program. Wow. Sales are up. This is good very good. But now, how to make them better. I started attending Twitter classes at places like the Indie Book Collective on how to get more followers, how to turn those followers to buyers and so on. I even do Twitter giveaways. The point is, those 140 characters gave me my writing mojo back. There is just something about 140 characters that pulled me in and makes me stay.
So, I haven’t abandoned any of you. I’ve just shifted to a new medium, Twitter. You can find me there every day at @oddlynn. Come visit me and I’ll answer you. My blogs will be sporadic but I tweet daily.
Now, I just have to find the off button so I can get some real work done. LOL!
See you all next time...actually...send me a tweet!
Lynn
My DH has been gone for a week and every time he leaves, life goes in the crapper. I don't have time to do my work and the rest of my family sucks the life out of me because they can't seem to do anything while he's gone. I always realize just what a good buffer he is but this time I'm really going to suffer. I have a book due that may or may not get done by the end of the month. I have an 18 yo I have to drive to college because he and DH didn't get his driver's license before he left and it takes almost a month to get an appointment.
The oldest is only working part time because he's a surveyor and we live in the worst place in the world right now for construction, Las Vegas. I don't mind helping but they always come to me when my DH is gone. And yes, that is his Dad we're talking about. The DH told me I was much too much of a soft touch. Maybe so but I can't allow anyone to starve. Right now, I'm thinking about going back to school to get a skill in the medical field as it is the only one hiring in this area.
Then I just got a notice from a contest I entered. Close but no cigar. Sigh. It makes me wonder just what I'm doing and if what I've wanted to be all my life is worth it. I started writing when I was 11 years old and sold my first piece at 12. Didn't sell again for many, many years but the fact I did had me jumping for joy. I can understand wondering just why one sits in front of the computer writing as there are days when nothing goes right. Recently, I had someone tell me that everything I wrote was awful and it's almost made me stop writing altogether for a while. I write dirty when I write fast then I clean it up afterwards. I've always been that way as I just have to get it down then rework it. I never thought it was something to worry about until this person made me feel awful.
Add the pirates to this and it makes life horrible in a lot of cases. I don't get as many pirates as most but the ones I do get are totally annoying and without scruples. It makes me wonder just why these people think they are entitled to have things for free. People aren't entitled to anything for free, as someone will have to pay for it somewhere. Life just isn't free at all, in any way, shape or form. I do believe we need to help people when we can but there are just some times we can't. I know most of the very rich don't think about this at all. There are weeks I pray for the lottery and I don't even live in a lottery state.
I read an interview once about Kate Winslet and its stuck in my mind. She had said in this interview that she woke up every day thinking that someone would find out she was a fake, that she couldn't act and didn't deserve the accolades or lucky breaks she'd been given in her life. When I get this low, I think about that often because it makes me realize no matter who you are or what you have, self-doubt is part of life when you're in a creative field. Luckily for me, it doesn't come often but when it does, it's hard and bad. I just stop writing and a part of me dies.
Then something happens. I see a movie or read a book or play on line and I remember I have a story similar to what I've seen or read or done. Maybe, just maybe, someone along the way will like what I wrote and read it. Maybe they won't but surely someone will love the hunky hero or sexy heroine which is out to save the world or kickass or whatever they do in the story. Maybe my story isn't so bad and it will get out there. Just maybe. Yes, I flip-flop through the emotions of the whole thing and slowly but surely, I'll land back on top.
But the journey is incredibly bumpy and long sometimes and sad. But I always get back to where I need to be somehow and it certainly helps to know I am not alone.
Thank you all for being with me on this journey. I do appreciate your support.
Lynn
Have you ever noticed just how fast time seems to fly when you’re busy? Or how it drags when you’re doing something you hate?
Yesterday morning I woke up with all sorts of plans on what I had to do as I had a talk at Talking Two Lips site. I started with Twitter, then moved on to email. I had a fun filled two hours with the few who showed up at Talking Two Lips. Then I decided I had to work on those pesky essays of my son so he could get into the local university. Thank goodness I was only doing the editing portion but I think they are crazy to think and 18 year old kid can write anything in a hundred words or less. Who are they kidding? LOL!
Somewhere in there, I had breakfast, lunch and dinner...then..bang. It’s already eleven o’clock at night and I realized I didn’t even get my bare minimum in for writing. Friday either. Well, Friday I had an excuse as we looked at houses. Since we live in the area where the repossessions have hit the highest numbers ever, we thought maybe it was time to look at getting a larger one with a pool. This is to accommodate my family as I have an aging father as well as two grandsons I would love stay over sometimes.
But what was today’s excuse? I could have said it was the curse words that greeted me as I pulled myself out of sleep this morning. My youngest had sprained his ankle bad and that caused me to get up then call our doctor immediately. The moment his foot hit the ground when getting out of his Dad’s car, I knew something was up. It also got me to listening half to him and not enough to my own inner voice to get a few things done.
But things move quickly in this house, sometimes too quickly. As I’ve grown older, all I want to happen is for time to slow down. I want time to smell the roses, take the trip of a lifetime, and write a book in a week! And it seems to be speeding up the older I get which to me seems very, very odd.
I mean, I schedule my time to the minute some days. Others I couldn’t even tell you what day it is or what time of day. I can tell you I’ve had my head in one of my worlds and I have no contact with my real one. So I know that on days I’m writing, I lose track of it all and sometimes have to ask more than once if I have the right day or time.
My father once told me that when he reached 65 that things just started to blur together. He remembers the things from when he was younger better than what had happened a week ago. Birthdays were just another day and holidays, well, those just didn’t seem to matter much anymore. He’s 76 this year and told me if I wanted time to slow down, I needed to enjoy it more.
And here I thought I was having the time of my life! LOL! Yes, I am enjoying my writing career and the other things in my life like my children, grandchildren and husband. I’m not necessarily enjoying getting older but nothing I can do to stop that one unless I build a time machine. Mmm…maybe a future project…LOL!
Now, I’m going to write something here that I have found to be true and I’m wondering if anybody else has noticed the same. When I was young, I just couldn’t wait for time to pass. I wanted to get older, I wanted to be able to make my own decisions and I wanted to know what those older people seemed to know. Time just moved so slowly and it seemed as if I would never get there.
Today, it’s all fast and I don’t want to miss a thing.
How each of you feel about time and how it affects your life? Just let me know and you’ll get an extra entry put into the hat!
Till next week…
Lynn
All of you know by now I live in southern Nevada, which is in my mind one of the hottest places on earth. For example, on Monday we woke up to temperatures over 100 and some humidity. The week has gotten progressively worse in my honest opinion. It should be a time when I hole up in my house and turn the air on high.
The issue isn’t the cost of the power bill but the fact it doesn’t help me. I have a brick house and the bricks heat up during the day. Once the sun goes down, that heat slowly dissipates throughout my home. Thankfully, my office since I had the doors put on for my Christmas present is probably the coolest room in the whole place. I can actually feel a temperature difference between my skin and the outside air.
Now tonight, as I have been doing every night for the last nine nights, I went for a walk. About fifteen minutes in, I knew I was in trouble. The sweat was pouring down the center of my back and we all know where that ends up. LOL!
I kept trudging away because if I didn’t I would not have accomplished the goal I set out for myself. Eighteen days ago, I made a commitment to me and that commitment included a nightly walk with my husband and our dog. We didn’t start walking until I knew I was comfortable with my very calorie diet as it can be a shock to the system. Believe it or not, I don’t miss the food...yet...LOL! If you want to know more about me and this new diet, go to my other blog, Journey From Fat 2 Fit, and you’ll get the full scoop. Find it here: http://journeyfromfat2fit.blogspot.com/
So here I am walking and I suddenly feel this cool, cool breeze. I look ahead and see the sidewalk covered with water. The sprinklers are still going in this particular yard and the dog right along with me frolics in the decreased temperature. We both try to get ourselves as wet as we can before we move on. Granted, these were not high-powered waterspouts but enough was deposited on my shirt I kept fairly cool the rest of the evening.
Now the dog on the other hand went berserk in this yard and the next one we found. He tries to drink the water from the spray and then he immerses himself until he has to shake the water off. Once it’s all over, he gives us his goofy smile and wants to find the next wet yard. Sometimes I wish I was as carefree as my dog, going from wet yard to wet yard, making sure my immediate need of being too hot was taken care of as quick as possible.
But alas, I’m human and I have deadlines and family and a life very rich in personal as well as professional things. As I look back, wondering how I got here some days, I know I wouldn’t be anywhere else. It’s a great time in my life. The youngest is getting ready to go to college, the oldest is a father and I get to travel with the DH when everything lines up properly. Vienna isn’t going to work this summer because I’m not going to spend $2K for a ticket and that’s the going rate. It has been for almost nine months. Sigh. I know I’ll get there.
Just like I’ll get out of the hot southwest sometime. I want to go somewhere like here
Yes, that is me walking away from the camera is a cool and very green countryside.
Or how about here. Aren’t both places very gorgeous? Guess where they are and let me know. If you get both correct or even one for that matter, you’ll get a special gift!
See, I know dreams come true. All my life I dreamed of being an author, a published author who saw their books in print, who had many releases and became a bestseller. Well, three out of four isn’t bad and I am working on the last one.
So...how have your dreams stacked up to your reality? Let me know and I’ll throw an extra entry into the hat for this month’s contest.
Till tomorrow...
Lynn
When trying to think about what I wanted to talk on today, I have to admit, my mind was blank. As I’m writing this, I realize my mind is mush because I’ve been writing so much. See, today alone, I’ve written on two shorts I’m doing, started the awesome letter to an agent, tweeted a few times as well as answered friend who are at various places as well as figured out I’ve lost over ten pounds on the current diet I’m using. Add this to the fact I had to take my youngest to his class because he doesn’t have his driver’s license yet and a visit to the grandsons who cried because I wasn’t Mommy today.
If those things all together weren’t enough to make one’s head spin, I don’t know what is. So in light of that, I thought I would actually write down how it is for me. Here’s what I usually do in a typical day...or not so typical...you decide.
7:30 am – My puppy Jasper has decided it is time for me to get up. Sometimes he barks at me, sometimes he licks my face but he just loves sitting on the couch watching TV with me. Today I just want to sleep.
7:35 am – Start coffee and turn on TV for mutt. Cut my breakfast apple. The dog is sleeping soundly on the couch with the TV on. Darn mutt.
7:40 am – Open email and start reading one of the nearly a thousand emails I’ve received over the day. I belong to 167 yahoogroups, a few Google groups, Twitter and Facebook as well as MySpace and a few other things.
9:00 am – Another round of coffee because now the work begins. Start writing.
10:00 am – Dog wants out so this is a good time to get up and walk around for a stretch fest. More coffee.
10:15 am – Back at desk. Have to put out one fire before I continue on my new story.
12:00 noon – Geez, didn’t realize I hadn’t moved in almost two hours. Another fire to put out and only about 1K so far as I’m tired and groggy for some reason today.
12:05 pm – Get youngest up to take shower for his chiropractic appointment. Realize I haven’t showered either and do so once he’s out.
1:00 pm – Shuttle him to Dr. while I stay and write in the car with the dog. Get quite a bit done considering Jasper wants to be in my lap.
1:30 pm – Done with Dr. so head home with minor stop for food for Kyle. Oh, yeah, I am hungry. Have to cook when I get home.
1:45 pm – Whip up a fantastic Asian inspired style soup that I let cool to room temp. Lots of broccoli, egg and chicken. This is great!
2:00 pm – Back to writing. Youngest keeps interrupting me and I just want to find him his own place.
4:15 pm – Another long writing stretch broken by Kyle needing me to take him to class. Thank goodness, it’s at a place only ten miles away.
4:45 pm – Traffic horrible. Drop Kyle off, watch him a little then head to my oldest’s to see the babies.
5:00 pm – Grandsons smile at me since they recognize me but it’s short lived as they want Mommy more.
6:00 pm – Leave older son’s place, head to pharmacy to get youngest one’s diabetic test strips. Need moisturizer so look for new brand since this one is breaking me out. Yeah, such a crappy thing at 52 too.
7:00 pm – Pull into driveway to hear the chorus, ‘what’s for dinner?’ more than once. I want stir-fry, they want sandwiches. I fix my own then watch the DH burn the pan I’m planning to do stir-fry in. He says it’s an accident but I think he put too much oil in it myself.
8:00 pm – Have to watch the DVR of Warehouse 13 premiere since I missed it for critique. Fantastic! Watch a couple of House Hunters as well then ready for my walk.
9:50 pm – Walk with DH and dog. Don’t know which is worse, the one who walks to fast or the one who wants to smell everything including the evil cat from next door’s butt.
10:20 pm – Back at my desk and realized I missed placing a call today. Yuck, have to kiss some ass tomorrow. Check email once again then start writing.
11:48 pm – Finishing this blog so I can post it before I go to bed. Wow...I’ve been up sixteen hours...no wonder I’m ready to drop. Sigh. I did manage to get 2K done today. Hope tomorrow is even better.
How does your day shape up? Anything special you all do besides work? How do you fit it all in?
See you tomorrow! Have a great day!
Lynn
Well, here in amazing Boulder City, we never celebrate the 4th on a Sunday except this year, they are doing the fireworks tonight.
However, everything else associated with the 4th happens yesterday. There is an annual parade that constantly has over one hundred entries every year. This year was no different but what was different is the fact they separated the water versus no-water portion of the parade. What that means is there is a section where chaos reigns and there is a section for the more dignified of the group. It seems that every year we had complaints about people getting wet who didn't want to and considering that at 10 am this place has been known to get a sweltering 100+ degrees, I don't know what their problem is as here wet clothes can be a lifesaver.
My DH and youngest went about twenty minutes before me because I had some last minute writing to do and once it was done, I was off and out of here. I arrived at the best part. It didn't take me long to find the DH as he's stood on the same corner almost every year for the last twenty. And I should have known. LOL! They were next to the people with the water cannons. So I walk over and he promptly tells me he can't get wet because he has his new work phone in his pocket. I quickly reminded him that he was standing in the wet zone, which he knew. The youngest also had something in his pocket, which he didn't get wet. I just laughed because if that were the case, they picked the worse corner ever.
Boy, was I ever right! LOL! The cart designating the two sections of the parade went by and chaos ensued as the water started to rain down on us from every direction. I can remember the fun we had as kids at the park with silly string and confetti eggs. All our friends gathered from school and we had a great time. Even today, all high school reunions are centered around the 4th. Each class will stake their claim in the park and have some sort of entry into the parade. All in all, it’s a great family time.
Tonight we have a bunch of firsts. My twin grandsons will be attending their first fireworks show. I’m hoping the noise won’t scare them too much. I know they will be interested in the actual show, as they always love to see what’s above them. It was discovered today that Joseph is teething so that might give us a little headache. Still, I can’t wait to see what fun we’ll have. The other first is for our puppy. We’ve only had him since September and while he has had a 4th before it wasn’t with us and he’s freaked about the firework noise. We might just take him with us so he won’t be so scared. We’re not sure yet.
One of the best 4th of July’s I’ve ever attended was in Scotland. Yes, Scotland, as we did our own special celebration. Our oldest called us during the fireworks and we celebrated with him. But we did the annual barbeque and sat on the porch at the farm looking out over the fields. It was a wonderful day especially when Henry came a shot off a few fireworks just for us. It was grand!
I also can’t forget what this day means. Two hundred and thirty four years ago, special men signed a piece of paper, which decreed we were free from the bonds placed upon by the king. We were free to make our own decision, free to live our lives as we deem fit. As we all know, freedom isn’t free and the cost is high. I send my heartfelt thanks to each and everyone insuring I get to participate in all the fun of the day. Know I am thinking about you all as I look up to see the red, white and blue of the flag and the fireworks.
I am hoping your 4th is as wonderful as ours has been so far. What do you all do special for the 4th?
See you all tomorrow!
Lynn
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