Monday Musings

Achieving goals - one step at a time.

Well, today my head is swimming with all sorts of things. But the thing that seems to be taking up the most room in there is the fact that I have finished editing and revising The Mediterranean Source. (This is proof that deadlines work!)

I didn’t manage to get any editing done on Saturday though. For some reason my head just wasn’t in it, even though I wanted to do it. This sort of thing happens to creative people all the time, and it seems to happen without any rhyme or reason. Believe me, when it happens to me, I turn into this angry little hamster, and I am not a nice person to be around. Especially now with the fact that I am an overemotional pregnant wreck half the time, who generally just needs her own space to even try and think clearly!

But yesterday, I closed the door, plugged in, and smashed through the rest of the book. It took hours and hours. But I refused to move until I had it done.

So… some of my darlings are now dead, another darling is a depressed workaholic, and other darlings get to live happily ever after. Not all is rosy in the world… but it in the great scheme of things, life is pretty good for those darlings.

So… what am I musing about this week?

• I managed to edit and revise my way through nearly 60,000 words of The Mediterranean Source in 27 days. Not to mention… there was quite a bit of time where it was down time… and I wasn’t getting through much at all. But once I found my groove, I really rocked my way through it. Now, if I didn’t moonlight in the world of Contract Management, then I probably could have edited and revised my way through that in a much shorter period of time.
• The Mediterranean Source is now out with friends to completely nit-pick the shizzle out of it, and to double check my facts. Now I guess I need to think about who it will be sent to in terms of the publishing world, and I guess I had better write up a synopsis for it etc. (I have done this many times in the past, but never have I ever been happy with them.) 
• The second book of the Talent trilogy is still waiting in the wings for its final scenes to be written. It can stay there till I’m good and ready. I don’t think it will take me too long, but in the meantime, I have to try and think straight for a few moments on real life. Lots of planning and house stuff needs to happen in a very short period of time, and at this stage, nothing is going according to plan. If things continue to slide, then I’m going to end up throwing all my toys, and I will no longer take responsibility for my own actions.
• I’m tired. It’s official. I am starting to slow down (and it’s not just because I have finished this book). I really need a break from the EDJ, but that’s not going to happen for another few weeks. I have no tolerance for anything right now, let alone tolerance for myself when I forget things. But… I am trying to forgive myself, instead of beating myself up about it all the time. This child will come into the world within the next 10-12 weeks… and then it will be a whole new ballgame. At the moment, people are still expecting things from me… but they should really quit while their ahead. I permanently have a wriggling and jiggling child in me, and I can no longer maintain any sense of focus with that constantly happening. I would much rather not have any expectations of me right now, and to just kind of bounce along with whatever. Much less stress that way, thank you very much.

I think that’s it from me for the moment. I must admit, I am overly chuffed with myself for finally sorting this manuscript out. It needed to happen, and it’s needed to happen for a very long time. I guess I’m quite relieved that this part of it is over. (Until I get all the nit-picky feedback!)

Ciao for now. Hope you all have a super duper week.

P.s. Forgot to say. On the weekend, this blog was awarded for inspiration. But I’ll blog about that later on when I have a few moments.

 

Hopes and Dreams

I have been thinking a lot on hopes and dreams recently, and thought that I would have a wee chat about it.

Some of you know that I keep a ‘Hopes and Dreams’ book, where I write down all my hopes and dreams for my life. Not just my writing life, but also my life well outside of the writing world.

Some of the hopes and dreams written down in there are very specific to my writing goals, as one would expect. Most writers I know would like to quit the evil day job with the determination to become full-time writers, obtain publishing deals, and live the writers dream. The sad fact to this, is that many writers never actually get there.

And just to show how much like other writers I am… I pretty much have the same hopes and dreams as they do.

The difference I think though, is that I like to try to turn my ‘hopes and dreams’ into ‘goals and reality’. (Not that I’m saying they don’t or anything….)

Every six months I review where I am at, and I set new goals for the next six months. I was meant to do another review of these goals back in October, but I didn’t get round to it for a multitude of reasons.  I’m alright with that though, since I haven’t met many of the goals I set back in April, that I wished to achieve by September. I think that I’m going to review those goals in December, so that I can leap into some planning for 2012. By that time – I should have ticked a few things off the list, and have a clearer idea about where to from there.

If all goes well, I will be able to possibly plan a few writing endeavours for when I’m on Maternity leave between February and July. Oh, I am more than aware that I will be introducing a child to the big wide world during that time as well, but I would like to actually achieve a couple of other things while I’m doing that enormous task. And who knows – it may not pan out. This child could be more demanding that I expect, or it might be the easiest child in the world (one can only hope and dream )… or I might just be able to achieve a few things that I would like to get done.

My goals, are smaller steps within the bigger hopes/dreams scope. So, to become a full-time writer – I know that I need to have some of my bigger manuscripts published, and preferably more than once for me to justify quitting my evil day job. If I can’t do that, I do have the potential to work part-time, which would suit me just fine… however, this loss in money would have to be offset by royalties (pfft) etc. It would need to be worth my while to take that sort of risk… and all risks in my world at the moment are pretty damn calculated.

In the meantime – I need to keep building and maintaining my networks, reviewing (been a bit slack on that lately), and maintaining/developing my authors platform. On top of all that, and most importantly - I need to keep moving forward with my writing, by editing and writing my little heart out.

So… that’s the big scope of what I would like to achieve over the next couple of years. I always said that 2013 would be the year that I went into writing full-time. This may be blown out due to Bumpkin arriving in the world. But when you set goals, they should never be concrete, and they should always be living so that you can accommodate other wonderful things that happen in your life.

Remember – nothing is ever set in stone. Here are a few of writing goals of mine that I would like to achieve in 2012 (if I can):

1. I have three thrillers that are partially written that need to be finished off. Two of them are close to completion.
2. I have another thriller planned, which is based in Mexico that is begging me to write it. I’m pretty tempted to start in January on this, actually. This is the first book of a potential character based series that I would like to work on.
3. There is a dystopian novel sitting in my head that I would really love to plan out properly. I dreamt about it once… and it’s been bugging me ever since.
4. The third and final installment of the urban-fantasy Talent trilogy still needs to be written. Once this is done, the whole trilogy will undergo some pretty serious editing and revising, and then just perhaps – I might shop it around to publishers. Maybe. Will happily wait till 2013 to do this though.
5. I would like to get a publishing contract for The Mediterranean Source.

“If you don’t step forward, you’re always in the same place” ~ Nora Roberts

Here are a few other great posts that you may find interesting or helpful on the subject:

• Kathy Steffen: Creative Goal Setting for Writers
• Terry Odell: Resolutions, Dreams, and Goals
• Michelle Muto: Goals and Dreams
• Advanced Fiction Writing: Your Hopes and Dreams file

And as a parting note – I found a couple of quotes on goals that I would like to share. Who knows – they may inspire you:

“What is not started today is never finished tomorrow.” ~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

“If you want to live a happy life, tie it to a goal, not to people or things.” ~ Albert Einstein

“You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.” ~ C.S. Lewis

So now that you have read through this post, here are a couple of questions to ask yourself:

• So where are you going with your goals?  
• What have you achieved this year so far that you are proud of?

 

Monday Musings

For some of you it will be morning, and for some of you it won’t be. This morning our power went off right before I was about to jump in the shower. Needless to say, this morning has been a bit of an upheaval with me having to get everything together to go and shower at my office. I’m sure everyone really needed to know that. However, this brings me onto the subject of organisation. The only reason why I even managed this morning (in my ‘pregnant-brained’ state) was because I had everything ready last night. If I didn’t, then it really would have turned to chaos in our household.

And because I was so organised for writing on the weekend… I managed to crank through more than 22,000 words of edits on my manuscript. Yep, I know. That’s a hell of a lot. I now have about 12,500 words remaining in this manuscript to get through. However, there is a catch. This is the ending of the book that I am readjusting. I need to blow something significant up, kill a couple of people, throw another character into an awful state of depression, and then… just perhaps… everyone can live happily ever after. And that’s quite a bit to re-write and sort out. So… it may take me this week to get my head around it.

Fingers crossed that I finish it properly by the end of November. That’s still the goal. And if I finish it early, then I’ll try to wrap up the ending of the second book of the Talent trilogy.

Lots on my plate at the moment!! (Without even mentioning the fact that I work long hours, travel a lot, have a whole life I need to live, as well as grow a child.)

So what am I a’musing’ myself with this week?

1. I’m amping myself up to finish the edits on this book, and flick it through to friend in Spain so that she can double-check me on the facts, and through to another friend who is going to nitpick the crap out of it. Then it can go out into the great world. My goodness… the nerves I am experiencing right now is beyond belief. Who knows if anyone will accept it. There will probably be a boatload of rejections come in, and many more edits to go. But at least I’m giving this process a shot now, whereas in the past I have always hidden behind my many piles of draft manuscripts. I’m actually okay with this though. Perhaps it has just taken me this long to actually prepare myself mentally for this challenge that lies ahead. I didn’t want to jump before I was ready. I didn’t want to submit any half-assed manuscripts that I knew could have been better.
2. Our new bed arrived in last week, and far out – it’s amazing. Naturally, it took a night or two to get used to, but my goodness. I wake up, and actually feel as though the sleep I have had is decent – even if I wake up several times during the night for various reasons. I’m very impressed.
3. I can’t wait to finish the second book of Talent. I just simply cannot wait to get it off my plate. The fact that I hadn’t opened the darn thing since July is really saying something. My creative brain just simply was not functioning at full capacity, and I couldn’t work myself out of the rut. It took a huge break away from it, and focussing on other tasks to actually let me work out a solution to the problems I was facing with it.
4. Christmas is just over a month away, and I’m so not ready for this. This year, I have hardly bought any Christmas presents… I haven’t even discussed it with the husband, and my head is so wrapped up in the fact that I have these books to finish, and a child growing, that I can’t even begin to think about Christmas on top of it all. Most people I know are well and truly organised, and they have got most of their presents for their family. But I tell you what…. I am seriously looking forward to paddling around in a paddling pool when it’s too hot. At the end of last week, the heat was at about 20 odd degrees at our place, and I was seriously baking. I cannot wait for the paddling pool to arrive at our place from my sister-in-laws house so I can set it up and potter about in it. It’s either that, or I’m going out in public to throw myself in the sea at every opportune moment. (And I highly doubt the public will appreciate that!)
5. I’m still trying to work out where to put our flatmate, all her stuff, and all of Bumpkin’s stuff until Bumpkin’s room is finished and organised.
   Speaking of Bumpkin’s room… within the next couple of weeks, we are going to tear apart our spare room. Yes, seriously. The walls are coming down, so is the ceiling… new wiring and lighting is going in, insulation installed, and then it will be re-built. Properly. Sigh. Big job, and I am very quickly becoming rather useless with carrying/lifting anything of significant weight. Yes, I am now becoming a stately pregnant woman who goes to anti-natal classes every week, and meets with her midwife almost as often.

After reading through that list… I really do think I’m musing on enough this week. So I think I’ll love you and leave you all for the moment. Till next time…

 

How I motivate myself to write

I have been thinking a lot about what motivates us as writers, and how we maintain our constant dedication to a primarily solitary profession. Yes, I am saying it’s a profession, although I know many people who would disagree. Some people consider writing as a ‘hobby’, since you don’t make any money for it for a rather long period of time. (Well… you don’t unless you are JK Rowling or Stephanie Meyer, anyway….)

So how do we keep up the motivation to write, and continue writing?  Here are a few things that I do to help me out:

1. I surround myself with like-minded creative people. Creativity is catching. There is a small number of writers that I stay in constant contact with based in NZ, and we are all at the same stage of our writing careers. We are all aiming for publishing, and hopefully rather soon. I am also connected to hundreds of writers and creative people on Facebook and Twitter, and many other social networking sites for writers, and I chat to them. I want to know what they are up to, and where they are at with their latest work in progress. I browse through their updates and blogs, and by seeing and celebrating their success – whether it’s big or small, it empowers me to focus on my own.
2. I write stories that I love to live in. I write protagonists that I love, and antagonists that I love to hate. I’m on a 90,000 word journey with these characters, and that’s an awfully long way to travel with people. Just imagine how long the journey would feel if you didn’t like them! As a writer, I first and foremost write stories and novels for myself. If I don’t like the story or the characters in the world that I have created… it’s not going to hold my attention or focus, and I will definitely find the entire writing process torturous.
3. Wordwars, goals, and deadlines help. Some of you may have heard of something called NaNoWriMo? If you haven’t, it’s a writer’s annual challenge to write a 50,000 word novel in the 30 days and nights of November. You would not believe how motivating this process is! Suddenly, you have banded together with 300,000 other writers around the world, all with the same incredible goal: To get that novel idea out. Even if you are not participating in Nano, just having word war challenges with your critique partners is totally invaluable. They usually happen on those night where its cold and wintry, and you are on Skype to them chattering about your book, and then the next thing you know – you’re in a word war, pounding out the next 1500 words of your novel within an hour.
4. Dedicate time for distractions. I’m talking about the world of Social Media that we all seem to immerse ourselves in. If you allocate half an hour first thing in the morning to checking through your updates and emails, then make sure you do at least an hours worth of solid writing work straight away afterwards. Do NOT get roped into the Social Media trap. The only person it will impact is you and your writing. Allocate time slots dependant on your goals and writing schedule. (I know how distracting this social media stuff is from experience. Trust me on this one… I was trying to build my authors platform, and then I suddenly realised that I had stopped writing because I was too busy with other ‘more important’ social media things.)
5. I scrapbook ideas. And this is how you do it: Find amazing images and pictures online for your scrapbook of ideas for your book. Collate them, and save them into something that you can look at… like in OneNote, or on Scrivener. Find ideal images of characters,  character profile, research amazing locations, dream up new scenarios and jot them down. This is what we call ‘world building’. And by having visual aids and notes, this only fortifies your world building even more. And it’s an awesome feeling to open those pages of research and characters and suddenly you feel yourself pulled within the pages of your book again.
6. From the images that I have found and scrapbooked, I create cover art for my draft manuscript. It doesn’t have to be good, but it has to be enough for to visualise a completed book in my hands. Work towards that goal, as there is nothing quite like that immense feeling of holding something you have created.
7. And finally… Music. I just adore music, and how creative that in itself is. I create soundtracks for characters, books, settings, and just the general feel of my book in terms of emotion. Some of the music is dark and gory, other times it is full of light and happiness. It all depends on how I want my writing to feel at the time.

There are other writers and bloggers out there that have a multitude of motivational tips as well… here are a couple of good little posts for you to peruse your way through:

• Nathan Bransford’s – Five ways to stay motivated while writing a novel
• Procrastinating Writers – 3 Easy Ways to Stay Motivated
• Grow Yourself’s – 12 and ½ Writing Rules

 

Monday Musings

An interesting thing happened the other day. I was sitting on the train on my way into the city to meet with my husband to go to a 50th birthday, and I had my laptop open on my Nano novel. But for some unknown reason, the Nano novel just wasn’t calling to me like it should. I couldn’t pull my focus in the slightest to even remotely focus on it.

So I sat there, listening to music, day dreaming. After a few minutes, I slowly started to recognise the music in my ears as part of the soundtrack I had compiled together for my Urban Fantasy trilogy. The next thing I knew, I was opening up the second book of the trilogy (that I haven’t opened since July!) and I was reading the area that I stopped writing.

The Zen of sudden clarity in my world

With a sudden smack of clarity, I knew how to end this book. This is a concept that I have been struggling with since July. I’m not kidding. But I had turned my mind from it, and had been working on other things, knowing that due to my pregnancy – my creative side of my brain wasn’t quite functioning on all cylinders.

I actually still can’t quite believe that this has happened. I can’t believe that I now know how to finish off the second book. I knew that I had to raise the stakes, and hype it up for the lead into the third book… but there was so much going on that I just didn’t know how to do it. I had spent 80,000 words maneuvering my characters into the right positions… and then I managed to get myself stuck with no creative thought on how to get myself out.

I know that my critique partners out there are going to be rather chuffed that I have finally figured this out. It has been more than frustrating for me over the past few months. So… as part of the NaNoWriMo madness, I’m going to try to get the final 5000 words down to complete book II of the Talent Series.

So, this is what I have on my mind at the moment:

• My gorgeous sister is bringing her new dude to come and stay with us this week. Very excited to have her coming. I miss her a lot, and us siblings are very close, so I am reallylooking to spending some quality time with her. She also wants to be introduced to Bumpkin as well… so I guess now is her chance. She’s probably going to find it just a little odd that her big sister is pregnant. (I think that I would find that odd if it were the other way around.)
  

  S Dali - Persistence of Time

• I’m behind on my editing and revision of The Mediterranean Source. I really need to get through this hump that I am at, at the moment. The part that I am revising requires a crapload of focus… and I just need to really pay attention. But there are so many interruptions at the moment with everything else that’s happening… that I can’t seem to grasp a decent amount of time to pull my focus. I’m just going to have to keep trying.
• I had a big book clear out in the weekend. Boxes of them. It’s a seriously marvellous feeling to clean out your crap. I just love it. There is a lot to be said about this nesting business. I would like to tackle even more rooms if I can get the chance. Perhaps this Thursday when I take the day off. Will just have to wait and see. I should probably be ‘slowing down’ a little, but I just can’t see it happening.

I think that’s it from me at this stage. I only have three days in the office this week, so I’m rather chuffed with that. Hopefully being at home a bit more this week will allow me to sort a few more words on the page.

I hope that you all have a great week, and that those you are getting Nano’d, do so good and proper

 

Monday Musings

What is it about November?

Every year I commit myself to thirty days and nights of literary abandon, only to find that life generally gets in the way of this mission – a lot! However, we just need to deal with these little interruptions, and continue on chasing our dreams.

NaNoWriMo is an extremely hard thing to commit to and undertake for thirty days. It is basically committing yourself to writing around 2000 words per day to comfortably make it through to the end without too much stress and hassle. But 2000 words are not always easy to come by, especially on days when you just don’t feel like it! The writer really needs to turn off their Internal Editor for the period, because once that Internal Editor gets their slimy little grips on your draft manuscript, then its over. You will end up spending your month editing all the free-writing you have just managed to get down.

My friend Kim likes to send her Internal Editor off on holiday in November. She thinks it does her editor good to go and stay on a remote island somewhere to drink pina coladas.

My internal editor is really in full swing right now though, since I have chosen to undertake my NaNoWriMo duties sightly differently this year. As you would have seen from my last post about Menorca last week, I am going to find it really hard to let this book go. And perhaps that is why I have been holding onto this book for years now, and not having the willpower to deal with it properly. Well… the time has now come where I really just have to let the damn thing go into the great yonder, and fend for itself.

The bottom line is… NaNoWriMo is hard work. Some days are just full of awesomesauce. Some days they aren’t. Other days – life gets in the way, and you need to focus on something else other than your book. This can be extremely frustrating at the time, but when you look back and reflect on it – you know that it was time out for your brain – and that was probably worthwhile.

So what am I musing about this week?

• My house is still a mess, and I’m starting to panick that I’m not going to get it sorted out. I’m seriously feeling the pressure to get it back into a livable state at the moment. God only knows what I’m going to be like when my husband pulls Bumpkin’s future room apart for a bit of a rebuild. I’m going to be useless! All I’ll want to do is clean, when it will be pointless. Bugger this nesting instinct!
• I have started planning writing work for when Bump joins the world. Yes, I know that I shouldn’t be counting my chickens before they hatch, but I really want to utilise the time that I have away from work for a little writing, as well as introducing a newborn into this world of ours. Who knows what will happen. Things may not go to plan – in fact, I’m almost certain they won’t. Bumpkin may be a good sleeper, or it may not be. Whatever the outcome, a little productivity on my side wouldn’t go astray.
• Plans are going into place for who I am going to start submissions of The Mediterranean Source to for publishing. This scares the bejeebers out of me. I have been writing for so long, and I have been in my comfort zone for far too long – that I am not used to the unknown. And the publishing process and rejection process of a full length novel is really outside of my comfort zone. I always hope that I’ll just be ‘one of the lucky ones’ and get accepted straight away. (LOL  - I know – the writing world simply doesn’t operate that way!) I can always dream though… after all – its dreams that feed writers to do what they do, isn’t it?
• Terribly proud of all the ‘Wrimos out there, who are writing their hearts out this November! I have no idea how many are involved this year, but I seem to be communicating with a heap of them on a daily basis. Good fun.
  

  Golden Blood, Time Spirit Trilogy, Book One

• Something else happened today as well! The release of my friend Melissa Pearl’s book! Yep, I know… nothing like discovering new reading material to sink yourself into. Pick it up from Amazon for just 99 cents. Personally – I can’t wait to read it. This is one I have been waiting for. Big congrats, Mel!

I really did have a lovely weekend spending time with my family, extended family, and my brother and his partner. It was awesome, and I wish that I had more time these days to go and visit them all. However, that just isn’t the way that life has dealt its cards. It just means that I appreciate them all more and more whenever I get the chance to see them and spend time with them.

Okay, I think that’s the lot from me today. I have somehow managed to catch up on three days of NaNoWriMo this morning. Do not as me how – I was already ahead to pick up some of the slack that I was going to incur. Thank god for pre-planning.

Have a great week everyone!! Oh… and Write On ‘Wrimos!

 

Menorca – Everything under the sun

Since I have been editing and revising my novel The Mediterranean Source (working title), I have been mentally travelling back to Menorca every day. And it’s been amazing. Almost like a mental holiday. It just seriously beds in the fact that I would love to live on that incredible little island one day. My husband knows how much I want to spend some time there, and you never know – if we win lotto – perhaps I might just get there to live for a wee while in a little cottage on the coast and spend a few months writing.

What amazes me though, is that this island is a hidden gem in the great scheme of things. It is not a tourist destination, even though its neighboring islands are. One island is the party island of the Mediterranean, and the other is a place where lots of sun-starved British people go to get a little bit of Vitamin D.

I know that once I finish all the revisions on this book that I will once again be sad about leaving this treasured island. I remember when I first finished writing it years ago – I got really upset. I missed my characters, and I missed the island. Thankfully, I launched into work on another her book within a matter of weeks to distract me, but there is something about this story of wreck-diving in a serene and beautiful place that warms my heart.

I think that when it comes to writing, setting the scene is so amazingly important. For me as a reader, and as a writer – this is the core element that makes the story real for me. If I can walk down the cobbled streets of Mao/Mahon in my mind with the characters, that brings the story right to the forefront of my mind, and I become completely immersed. I think that as a reader I need this imagery… and as a writer – I like to provide it.

I’m not far away from finishing the revisions and edits of this book. A part of me does not want to ever let it go. I don’t know why, it’s just the way I feel about it. This isn’t even the first book I have written, and nor do I consider it my ‘baby’. But there is something about the characters and the place in time that they exist in.
Menorca Island is a dream for me. A place discovered by the spin of the globe. The characters were created from my mind, and they have developed into such a realistic fruition, that I am going to find it hard to let them go off on their own publishing journey. These characters are so different from each other.  They all have lead very different lives, and experienced different things. But they all have something in common – the love of beauty and life. They just see it differently from one another.

I was actually going to blog about something totally different today… but as I was sitting here thinking about The Mediterranean Source, I started reminiscing about the book, the story, and my character’s lives. This is a special story that is close to my heart, as it is the book I wrote after a close friend died in a diving accident. Maybe that is the reason why I never really want to let this book go.

But as my friend Tee says – the first draft is the writer’s own. The other drafts are for the readers.

 

Additional note:

I wanted to post a picture of my freshly painted kitchen yesterday, but due to some severe Omega-3 deficiencies in my brain (thanks Bumpkin!), I forgot my phone that had the photos on it. (Amongst other vitally important things and information!)

So – anyhoo. Here is a photo of my freshly painted kitchen for you to all ‘Ooooh and Ahhhh’ over. As you can see – I don’t even have all our crap in the shelves yet!! I imagine it will start looking a little more cluttered once that junk reinstalls itself. Oh – and just to give you a little idea about the colour the walls were before we painted? Check out the plastic bag colour hanging on my pantry door. That precise colour. Oh yes – it was that attractive.

It seems that at the moment – if I am not painting our unborn child little canvases for it’s bedroom, I’m painting kitchens. I do have high hopes of possibly painting the hallway over the next week or two – but we’ll just have to wait and see.

In the meantime, it’s now November and I should really forget the whole painting buzz, and focus on gettin’ Nano’d instead.