I'm not huge on making resolutions because I know they just beg to be broken, but like the rest of the world, I can't help but think of goals I want to accomplish in the upcoming year while it's still all new and shiny. And in contemplating what I'd like to achieve in 2012 I had to laugh at myself, because it's exactly what this blog was founded on:
I'd like to write.
I'd like to lose weight.
Oh sure, there are a million other things that I'd like to accomplish, I'd like to hike more and read more, find a more fulfilling job, be a better wife and get my kid to sleep through the night. But more than anything else, I want to end 2012 weighing under 200 pounds and with a completed first draft of At Setting.
Since I found out I was pregnant, I feel like I just threw my goals out the window. I was going on an exciting new adventure into motherhood! Everything was going to change and look nothing like it did before and I would probably be so engrossed in reading baby blogs and parenting a genius child that I wouldn't care that my projects (my novel, my self) were lying half finished at the edge of my consciousness. I didn't necessarily WANT these things, mind you, I just thought they were inevitable. Well, I'm happy to say that they weren't. The way my day-to-day life looks changed drastically, but I think that I myself changed very little. I'm still Vicky, not "Laura's Mom". What a beautiful relief. However, now it's time to pick up those old goals, dust them off and cram them into my new life however they'll fit.
Showing posts with label At Setting. Show all posts
Showing posts with label At Setting. Show all posts
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Well Rounded
Today was quite a balancing act, but I’m happy because despite the day being busy, I was able to accomplish everything that I wanted to.
This is my busy time of year anyway, and that coupled with the fact that two of my bosses are going to be out tomorrow and one will be out for all next week too made my task list expand exponentially. Because of all this, the attendees of my permit approval meeting somehow unanimously decided that I was going to move my meeting up 24 hours to that afternoon. What? Is that even allowed? But I knew that if I didn’t want applicants hounding me all week that I’d better hustle my butt and get my applications together. Of course in the mean time I had other requests – some urgent enough to sidetrack me and about 20 that are now sitting on post-it notes until tomorrow – to divert my attention, but I’m happy to say that I finished up my meeting preparations and sent the agenda to the printed moments before the meeting began. Also, we finished up the meeting just at 4 o’clock – I love it when there’s exactly the right amount of day to match the work that you need to do! I felt like I had conquered the work day. I even got a really nice compliment about how attentive I was to my permits from the regional supervisor.
Even though I probably should have worked through lunch with the mess I had going, I went for a power walk with Judy and Carmen. It was a beautiful day and we walked from Broadway up to Lark Street, through the concourse and looped back down. Even though I was huffing and puffing, I was pleased that I got my workout in. I’m pretty sure that I got a boost of whatever chemical I needed to get me through the rest of the day too.
I got home and had about 45 minutes before Frank got home and I knew we had to go grocery shopping, so I relaxed outside and read on my deck in the sunshine. I’m reading Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann – it’s a little slow and the prose is a bit heavy-handed for my tastes, but I’m enjoying the plot so far so I’ll stick with it and see where it goes.
Even though I was exhausted from grocery shopping and we didn’t get back home until close to 8 o’clock, instead of swinging through a fast food drive-thru or gobbling down something easy but not so healthy, I stuck to the plan for dinner. We had baked parch with broccoli and brown rice – delicious, although the next time I make perch I’ll leave it in the oven just a little bit longer.
So now that dinner is over and even though my bed has been calling me since around 9 o’clock, I’m sitting down to write to you all and now I’m off to spend some time -- at least 500 words worth of time – with At Setting. It’s been a long day, but I feel once again like I’ve conquered the day.
This is my busy time of year anyway, and that coupled with the fact that two of my bosses are going to be out tomorrow and one will be out for all next week too made my task list expand exponentially. Because of all this, the attendees of my permit approval meeting somehow unanimously decided that I was going to move my meeting up 24 hours to that afternoon. What? Is that even allowed? But I knew that if I didn’t want applicants hounding me all week that I’d better hustle my butt and get my applications together. Of course in the mean time I had other requests – some urgent enough to sidetrack me and about 20 that are now sitting on post-it notes until tomorrow – to divert my attention, but I’m happy to say that I finished up my meeting preparations and sent the agenda to the printed moments before the meeting began. Also, we finished up the meeting just at 4 o’clock – I love it when there’s exactly the right amount of day to match the work that you need to do! I felt like I had conquered the work day. I even got a really nice compliment about how attentive I was to my permits from the regional supervisor.
Even though I probably should have worked through lunch with the mess I had going, I went for a power walk with Judy and Carmen. It was a beautiful day and we walked from Broadway up to Lark Street, through the concourse and looped back down. Even though I was huffing and puffing, I was pleased that I got my workout in. I’m pretty sure that I got a boost of whatever chemical I needed to get me through the rest of the day too.
I got home and had about 45 minutes before Frank got home and I knew we had to go grocery shopping, so I relaxed outside and read on my deck in the sunshine. I’m reading Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann – it’s a little slow and the prose is a bit heavy-handed for my tastes, but I’m enjoying the plot so far so I’ll stick with it and see where it goes.
Even though I was exhausted from grocery shopping and we didn’t get back home until close to 8 o’clock, instead of swinging through a fast food drive-thru or gobbling down something easy but not so healthy, I stuck to the plan for dinner. We had baked parch with broccoli and brown rice – delicious, although the next time I make perch I’ll leave it in the oven just a little bit longer.
So now that dinner is over and even though my bed has been calling me since around 9 o’clock, I’m sitting down to write to you all and now I’m off to spend some time -- at least 500 words worth of time – with At Setting. It’s been a long day, but I feel once again like I’ve conquered the day.
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Hard Work
Everything worth having is worth working hard for.
A cliché, it’s true, but as I like to say -- most clichés are there for a reason. And this one becomes less cliché the more that you really consider it in your own life.
Up until recently, I knew that it applied to getting in shape. After all, I’ve traveled this road before, put in all the hours of exercise and the months of counting calories. Only recently have I realized how true this is for being a successful writer too.
It’s no secret that becoming a successful writer takes a lot of hard work. And of course, that work involves writing: completing the necessary research and outlining, sitting down and making yourself write a terrible first draft, editing that into something beautiful that people want to read, being torn down, reworking parts – or the whole thing – until it finally becomes a well-crafted and whole piece. That’s all there is to writing, right? But the work doesn’t end there. There are so many more steps after the hard work of getting the words down on paper is done. Depending on your intentions for the piece, there’s finding reliable people to critique your work, locating competitions to enter it in, drafting a query letter, researching agents, marketing yourself. And don’t forget making time to keep writing every day, because the ideas don’t stop coming.
But as the saying goes – if it’s worth having, it’s worth working hard for. It’s what I have to tell myself when I struggle to find the time to balance everything in my life – this is what I want. I can’t let At Setting go by the wayside any longer. I have to work hard, first to complete the novel and then to find out what the next stages of its life will be – even if that means that it sits, unpublished but whole, on my hard drive.
Let the work begin.
A cliché, it’s true, but as I like to say -- most clichés are there for a reason. And this one becomes less cliché the more that you really consider it in your own life.
Up until recently, I knew that it applied to getting in shape. After all, I’ve traveled this road before, put in all the hours of exercise and the months of counting calories. Only recently have I realized how true this is for being a successful writer too.
It’s no secret that becoming a successful writer takes a lot of hard work. And of course, that work involves writing: completing the necessary research and outlining, sitting down and making yourself write a terrible first draft, editing that into something beautiful that people want to read, being torn down, reworking parts – or the whole thing – until it finally becomes a well-crafted and whole piece. That’s all there is to writing, right? But the work doesn’t end there. There are so many more steps after the hard work of getting the words down on paper is done. Depending on your intentions for the piece, there’s finding reliable people to critique your work, locating competitions to enter it in, drafting a query letter, researching agents, marketing yourself. And don’t forget making time to keep writing every day, because the ideas don’t stop coming.
But as the saying goes – if it’s worth having, it’s worth working hard for. It’s what I have to tell myself when I struggle to find the time to balance everything in my life – this is what I want. I can’t let At Setting go by the wayside any longer. I have to work hard, first to complete the novel and then to find out what the next stages of its life will be – even if that means that it sits, unpublished but whole, on my hard drive.
Let the work begin.
Sunday, May 9, 2010
Small Achievements
Well, I'm not sure how I'm going to do for the weigh in tomorrow, but I am incredibly pleased with myself. Today marks my fifth consecutive day of writing on my novel, At Setting. Tonight alone I managed to write 1650 words! I knew all along that what I needed to do was to go back to basics. How did I manage to write 51,000 words in 30 days back in November? I had a plan - to write 2000 words per day - and I had a strategy that I knew worked - writing in 10-15 minute "sprints" with fellow writers in a chat room and then chat for 10-15 minutes in between. I'm fortunate enough to be part of an online group that runs sprints like these all year long and not just during Nanowrimo, so I finally tracked them down today and was welcomed back to the fold with open arms. Hopefully I will continue to write with them, at least a couple of times per week.
I've had writer's block in dealing with a particular scene for a while. In my novel, the heroine, Cora, has spent her entire life in a regulated and enclosed community. I was finally ready, after about two-thirds of the novel, to introduce her to the outside world for the first time -- but I was so overwhelmed in intimidated by the enormity of the scene I had set up that I had stage fright about it for months. Finally, this week I decided that I simply had to write it. No matter how horrible, cliched or awkwardly worded it may be, I had to get Cora's feet on the ground and let her see the outdoors for the first time. The biggest help in getting started on the scene was to simply take a notepad and write the scene outdoors. It was amazing how much easier the words came to me when I could close my eyes and experience the warm spring around me and then put it into words. Even though I only wrote about 2000 words total this weekend, and I think I can safely say that I have conquered the writer's block for now! I'm remembering why I fell in love with this plot and looking forward to continuing my work.
Tomorrow, I might have to focus on whether or not this back-to-basics idea might work with getting my diet and exercise under control. But for tonight, I'm off to bed.
I've had writer's block in dealing with a particular scene for a while. In my novel, the heroine, Cora, has spent her entire life in a regulated and enclosed community. I was finally ready, after about two-thirds of the novel, to introduce her to the outside world for the first time -- but I was so overwhelmed in intimidated by the enormity of the scene I had set up that I had stage fright about it for months. Finally, this week I decided that I simply had to write it. No matter how horrible, cliched or awkwardly worded it may be, I had to get Cora's feet on the ground and let her see the outdoors for the first time. The biggest help in getting started on the scene was to simply take a notepad and write the scene outdoors. It was amazing how much easier the words came to me when I could close my eyes and experience the warm spring around me and then put it into words. Even though I only wrote about 2000 words total this weekend, and I think I can safely say that I have conquered the writer's block for now! I'm remembering why I fell in love with this plot and looking forward to continuing my work.
Tomorrow, I might have to focus on whether or not this back-to-basics idea might work with getting my diet and exercise under control. But for tonight, I'm off to bed.
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