Cameo of a Woman Writer

While surfing the Net, I found this picture of a cameo of a woman writer.

I think it' s lovely. I like the way she's resting her cheek on her hand, as if she's pausing to consider her next word.

Or maybe she fell asleep. :)

I haven't fallen asleep while writing but I've gotten pretty tired sometimes. Especially if I'm writing late in the evening.

I actually prefer writing at night but it's become problematic for me because most of the time, because I get up so early to go to work, I'm usually pretty tired in the evenings.

So, early morning has become the best time to write. Or at least it is for as long as I have to keep working for a living.

Now, I'm going to backtrack and say that, although I do like to write at night, when I'm not working (like on the weekends or during times of unemployment) I find that the hours between 8:00 a.m. and around noon work best for me.

Weekend afternoons are my favorite time to read or nap (yep, I love to take naps on the weekends) and weekend evenings are usually reserved to watch movies. In between running errands and doing whatever I can't get done during the work week.

So, care to share when, during the day, or night, is your best time to write? Which hours out of those 24 alloted to us each day do you find most creative?

Tick Tock

Do you feel it sometimes? That sense of time passing by so fast that you wonder if you'll ever catch up to it?

I celebrated a birthday yesterday. Another one. When it seemed like I'd already had one.

People talk about the biological clock, the one that tells women they only have so much time to have a child before their bodies will no longer easily accomodate one.

I wonder if there is a creativity clock? Is it possible that one can reach a point, after enough time has passed, that one's creativity, especially if you don't use it, dries up?

I shudder to think so.

But, I don't think there is. Oh, there's no doubt that as we get older our bodies, no matter how well we take care of them, become more fragile, more susceptible to illness and weakness and that our brains too, age.

But we can still keep those creative fires burning, still keep that creativity clock ticking.

We just have to want to do it and make an effort to do so.

Speaking of illness, I believe I've caught a cold. My throat is scratchy and I'm sneezing. Oh joy! Time to find some Cold-Eeze and start sucking on them. Actually, they also come in bubble-gum, so more likely chewing than sucking.

I hate colds!

Ah-choo!

Ciao!

1000 Word A Day Update

Just an update on the 1000 Word a Day Club.

It will be starting on September 1st. I think that's appropriate. It's back to school time for many and it will be a great time for us to start putting our butts to the chair and writing.

I'm considering not only having a blog but perhaps starting a Yahoo Group.

But I'll let you know if I decide to do that.

Again, the rules are going to be very informal. The only thing I'm going to insist on is NO NEGATIVITY.

I think we all get enough of that in our daily lives. *grin*

Positive thoughts, supporting each other and writing. Those will be our watch words.

As for my own writing, my goal is to get those 1000 words a day, and more, done this weekend. I've got to finish up a 10,000 word story that I want to submit the first week of September.

So butt to chair and fingers to keyboard!!

Ciao!

Too Much Rain Leads to Tragedy

It's been raining like crazy since this past Saturday. We've had the rainiest month on record. Just prior to this deluge we had been experiencing a drought for most of the summer. And more rain is expected today and tomorrow. We are finally going to dry out and see the sun this weekend.

Unfortunatley, the heavy rains caused a tragic accident here yesterday. A mother and her child, who were waiting for a bus, were electrocuted when lightining struck a power line. It fell into some standing water near where the woman and child were. A man on the bus leapt off to aid them and he too was killed. The bus driver was injured when he also tried to help. This all happened during a terrible downpour yesterday afternoon, a downpour I was driving through to get home.

We've had so much rain in such a short period of time that on that particular street the rain was up to the bumpers of cars. So, yes, there was a lot of deep standing water and the combination of that and the lightinting striking that pole was a tragic conflation of terrible events.

What was also sad was that the first responders to the scene could do nothing to help the vicitms until the utility people arrived to turn off the power. Bystanders also tried to help but were pulled back as they would have been electrocuted too.

All very, very sad.

Happy Hump Day!

It's Wednesday! Hump Day! So have a happy one. That's an order! From Captain Jack Sparrow himself.

I'm so glad it's Wednesday. That's a few days closer to the weekend.

This new assignment is the pits!

Nobody tells me anything but they expect me to know everything! And if one more person talks to me like I'm stupid just because I'm doing this kind of work I'm going to.....well, probably nothing because I need the darn money, but it sure makes me mad when they do that.

Makes me want to invite Captain Jack to pay them a visit! Grrr!

Thank the Muse for writing. It's the only thing keeping me sane. I have a story that I will submit the end of this month and I have about 2500 more words to write to get it up 10,000 words.

Oh, and don't forget if you're interested in joining the 1,000 words a day club I'll be starting on Septmber 1st just leave a comment stating that. I'll be sending out invites to the blog when I get it up and running.

The club is very informal. The object is to help each other meet that 1,000 words a day quota. And you can write anything. New stuff, revised stuff, practice writing. The idea is to get into the habit of writing every day. You don't even have to do 1,000 words. Just gotta do something.

Okay, speaking of gotta do something I've gotta get ready to make my daily trek to that pit of an assignment.

Yo, ho, ho and a bottle of rum!

Yeah, I wish!

Ciao!

The 365,000 Word Finish LIne

Joely and I have been talking about starting a 1,000 Words-a-Day Club. In a previous post I talked about how much writing one could achieve in a year by doing this.

The object would be, of course, thus the name of the club, to write 1,000 words a day. Now, the setup of the 1,000 Words-a-Day Club would be a very informal one.

I'd create a specific blog for the club and the idea would be that you would let us know, if you want, whether you reached your goal of 1,000 words for that day.

You could also talk about how you got your 1,000 words done. What methods or tricks or inspiring tools you used.

On the other hand, if you had difficulty reaching your goal, you could talk about that also. It would be a way to see what works and what doesn't work for you. What days the writing seemed to flow and what days it didn't. And perhaps the other members of the club could help you find ways to meet the goal.

Again, it would all be very informal. No deadlines. No pressure. Just do your best to hit 1,000 words a day.

I've already started keeping track of my 1,000 words a day but I won't officially start the club until September 1st.

So, if anyone is interested in joining my little club just leave a comment here.

Ciao!

Don't Quit

Just a little inspiration for anyone out there (like me) who's thinking about giving up or throwing in the towel.

You know. Quitting.

I don't mean quitting a job or anything like that.

I mean qutting your dreams, your hopes, your joys.

And check out the link below too.

The Don't Quit Poem

1,000 Words a Day

Writing goals. Setting them, keeping them.

I've been struggling to set the right writing goals for years.

Should I do a page a day? Or how about two?

No, maybe a paragraph a day. Or would word count work better?

So, maybe, 1500 words a day. Or a thousand? Stephen King is said to write 1,500 words every day except his birthday, Fourth of July and Christmas Day.

Now, I know for a fact that, even with having to work full-time, I can get at least a 1,000 words done a day. I can even push that to 1,500. And on the weekends, for example during NaNoWriMo, I can do 3,000 to even 7,000 words in a day!

So I know I can do it.

But, as always, it's the doing. In all the hurly-burly and hustle-bustle of life in the 21st century, those words you mean to write that day never really manifest.

But, dagnabit, it can be done. Even with a full-time job or whatever responsiblities one is saddled with we all know that it can be done!

Then why, gosh-darn it, is it so gosh-darn hard!

I grind my teeth everytime I go a day without writing. I know for a fact, Jack, that the days I write I'm less stressed than the days I don't. Yet I can go days, even weeks without writing.

Am I just lazy? Well, no. I mean, I've written loads of words. I used to write fanfic back in the day and I'd write pages of that stuff.

Is it fear? Fear of what? Looking like an idiot? Writing caca? Or maybe it's the fear one feels if suddenly faced with your heart's desire.

Maybe it's just a huge, noisy carnival of fears.

1,000 words a day.

Now, let's think about this. Write 1,000 words a day and in a year you'd have.....ta da!....365,000 words.

That's four 80,000 word novels.

Three 100,000 word novels.

Eighteen 20,000 word novellas.

Forty-eight 7,500 word short stories!!

Adds up, doesn't it?

Maybe I should start a 1,000 Word a Day Club or something. Everybody commits to writing 1,000 words a day.

You'd think anyone would join?

How about you? *grin*

Duel

How would you like to see that in your rear-view mirror, closing fast at 90 miles an hour? Well that's what Dennis Weaver is faced with in the movie Duel.

Duel is the movie Steven Speilberg made a couple of years before he hit it big with Jaws. It was a made-for-tv movie that came out in the seventies, so it's a bit dated but not in its classic tale of David and Goliath.

Dennis Weaver is a businessman taking a normal business trip in his car. He happens to pass a huge semi and whoa, do things get nasty after that!

The rest of the movie is a thrill ride of Weaver trying his best to stay alive as the trucker is hell-bent on making sure he doesn't.

I watched this over the weekend and I never cease to enjoy it. If you get a chance, check it out!

Riding the Bus? Nah!

I'm going to be starting a new assignment on Monday. Thank goodness it pays more because it's on the other side of the town. Which means more money in the gas tank.

I briefly considered taking the bus. Now, where I live, it's a fairly populous city but it's not what I'd call a huge, spread-out city. The city itself is actually pretty small, geographically speaking, so when I say the other side of town that not's terribly far but it's far enough for this town. And it's definitely far enough for me, considering how much I love to drive. Which is not that much.

Anywho, I decided to see if I could maybe take the bus. Well, the trip one way is about 11 miles and would take about 25 minutes by car.

The trip by bus, however, at least in the morning, would take 2 and half hours!

Yes, that's correct. An additional two hours to travel the same distance. It wouldn't take as long in the evening for some bizarro reason I haven't yet figured out. (Reading this burg's bus schedule is like reading Ancient Akkadian.)

It doesn't take me that long to visit my Mother and she lives 70 miles away. In two and a half hours I could drive to Chicago, for goodness sake!

Look, I want to do as much as anyone to help the environment but the idea of having to get up at the crack of dawn to spend 2 and half hours on the bus when I can travel the same distance in 25 minutes?

Sorry, can't see it.

And they wonder why it's so hard to get people to give up their cars?

Now, I have to say that where I live, it's really hard to set up efficient bus routes. For one thing, it's not a grid city, it's bisected by an isthmus, in the center of which is the state capitol, and the streets wind and twist about it each other like a snake orgy. Trying to set up a straightforward bus route is a challenge.

Now, if I worked downtown, no problem. A straight shot. 15 to 20 minutes tops. But this new assignment is in one of those office parks that are springing up on the edges of cities. Treeless lanes, wide paved streets and boxy modern office buildings with those huge blank windows.

Yeah, I know. But it's a job and I need the money.

As for riding the bus, don't get me wrong, I rode the bus for years before I got a car. Got no problem riding the bus. I get lots of reading done while riding the bus. I listen to my IPod while riding the bus. I leave the driving and the getting around those orange barrels marking road work, and dealing with inattentive drivers to someone else while riding the bus.

But 2 and a half hours every morning!?

Oh, I've put on the comment moderation. I apologize for doing this but, unfortunately, when you write erotica it appears to make you a magnet for spammers. Again, sorry for that but I really want to have the opportunity to screen out the spammers.

Ciao!

Happy Friday!

Happy Friday!

I don't think I need to say more than that!

Ciao!

Job Interview

I have a job interview this morning and another one on Friday.

Have I mentioned I hate job interviews? My head always hurt afterwards and my jaw too from talking so much. And that feeling of being evaluated and scrutinized and judged?

*shudder*

But, at least they don't last forever. People always ask me afterward how did the interview go? Do you think you got the job?

How can I possibly answer that! You really never know until they call you and offer you the job. I've been on interviews where I was absolutely certain I got the job and I didn't. And, vice versa, interviews where I was pretty sure I'd make my self look like the worst jackass in the world and nailed the job.

So, once the interview is over, I try not to think about it until I hear something.

Ciao!