TimeTimeTime, See What You've Done to Me

First off, let me grouse again about this time-change thing.  Seriously, Mr. Franklin, what were you thinking?  Okay, so maybe this worked in the days when most people were employed in the farming industry, but it ain't necessary now.  Almost makes me want to move to Indiana or Arizona.  (Those lucky bastards don't have to spring forward or fall back.)

Okay enough about that.  Instead, it seems almost apropo this morning to talk about time.  I mean last night we gained an hour (or did we lose one... I always get confused about that).

Everything we do hinges on spurts of time.  Do I have time for this?  We don't have time for that.  Where did the time go?  Making time, taking time, borrowing time, losing time.  No wonder the rabbit up there looks freaked out.

And in all this, we writers scramble for the time to write - when so many other things in our lives demand our minutes.  School, work, family, exercise... just to name a few things in my life using up the precious ticks of my writerly clock.  Fitting it all in can be a harrowing experience.

One thing I picked up from the diet/exercise book I just finished reading, which I feel kind of dim for not realizing on my own, was that exercise is something that can be done throughout the day.  You don't have to limit yourself to one big block of time for the activity to make a difference.  Whatever you do, whenever you do it, you're burning calories.  (I mean, whatever you do that's more active than laying on the couch - unless you exercise while on the couch.)  It might not make you lose weight in a hurry, but every minute spent burning calories creeps you toward your goal.

It's the same with writing.  If life isn't letting you have your big block of writing time, then take little chunks wherever you can.  Ten minutes while the kids are getting dressed for school or an hour when the babies are napping, or fifteen minutes when the Daughter is taking a break between classes.  Even the half-hour when the cake is baking can be used to write - if you put the timer on so it doesn't burn.

Every minute spent hitting the keyboard creeps you closer toward your goal. 

And if you're feeling really spiffy, try to write and exercise at the same time with that nifty little gadget up there.  As soon as I can pull $35 out of my a... budget, I'm getting one.

So, do you find yourself trying to squeeze in a little writing between other things?  When do you have some spare minutes to write? 

Sprang Too Soon

I woke up this morning and thought I'd be on the ball if I started changing all the clocks...  I even changed the date on my computer - because I thought my computer was off its rocker telling me it was only the thirteenth.  Silly thing.  I remember yesterday.  It was Saturday.

Except it wasn't.  And I didn't even realize until after I'd been up for almost an hour.  Ack.

I refuse to believe it's going to be one of those days.  No day should start out so early with such a weight of negativity on its shoulders.

Here's to a better rest of the day.  I've got work to do.  (Although, since it's not Sunday like I thought, I'm not nearly as behind as I believed when I woke up.)

(Clock Available for Sale Here)

MishMash

Howdy.  I decided instead of a weekly update, I'd just use today to chat about things.

First off, thank you to all the people who follow me.  I just noticed I have a few new members to 'my posse'.  Welcome to the gang.  I'll try to follow you back as time allows.  (And please note:  Sorry, but I probably won't follow you if your emails contain questionable links or if your profile looks like spam.  Just sayin'.)

Oh, and to anyone reading this blog: I don't necessarily endorse the ideas or missions of those people following me.  Click through at your own risk.

Secondly, I've been really concentrating on my lifestyle change this week (i.e. my plan to lose weight and eat healthier).  I was over poking around the library's used book sale and I snatched up a copy of something called Fat to Firm: Lose Weight at Any Age.  I started reading it almost immediately, and you know what?  It's pretty much what I was trying to do on my own - but with purpose and direction.  Eat less, exercise more, cut down fatty foods, etc.  This might be a change I can live with and continue for the rest of my life.  (I mean, rather than the yo-yo plans I've done in the past.)

And hey, any plan that tells me I don't have to forego everything I love - just cut back - is okay in my book.  It's also helpful that they tell you to give yourself permission to fail* - as long as you don't use that single fail as an excuse to go back to your old ways.  Which means that Cadbury Creme Egg I ate yesterday isn't fatal.

Another point that bears mentioning is the tendency I have to eat when I'm upset, frustrated, irritated, bored, sad...  You know, emotional eating.  (Which explains the Cadbury yesterday.)  I just have to recognize when those stumbling blocks are upon me and find better ways to deal.  Like exercising instead of eating.  (I did both yesterday.)  Here's hoping this works and my 44/41/42 measurements start heading in a more 36/24/36 direction.  For now I just want to get back into my blue jeans without squooshing my innards.

Finally, the census chick was here earlier this week with our packet of stuff to fill out.  Back in 2000, they just mailed it.  :shrug:  I need to fill that sucker out and get it back before they send goons to badger the info out of me.  (Just kidding.  My brother was one of those census goons in 1990.)  Of course, in 1990, I was the supervisor for the first ever Animal Census - in the city of Marquette, MI.  Yep, folks, my team went door to door collecting info on the city's pet residents.  We said it was so we could return animals to their homes more easily, but the real reason was to locate people who didn't license their pets.  The returning pet thing was just a side benefit.

Your turn: How's life treating you these days?  Has the census reached you yet?

*Reminds me of an important writing tenet: Give yourself permission to suck - especially on the first draft.

The Voices in My Head

So, I'm editing along and like, my characters are having a three-way discussion of some important matters.  Not easy to write considering that in a multiple character conversation, pronouns are problematic, but that's not really the issue here.  The issue is that I've got my MC talking to a Cossack and an Englishman.  All three have their own speech patterns and two are very distinctive.

Last night went sorta like this: "Okay. who's talking here?" and then once I had that settled, I proceeded to talk out loud like whichever character I was writing.  My husband had to think I was nuts - especially when I was doing the Russian accent.

And for some reason the blasted Cossack was taking over every time I tried to write the Englishman.  Today I have to make sure I didn't have B talking with D's speech patterns.  (And no, I'm not getting insane typing out the accents - except for the occasional dropped H on the Brit's part.)

Anyway, these different people are driving me crazy.  I don't even want to think about the meeting scene where there are characters from all over the globe talking over the top of each other.  Ack.  I mean, I guess I could wimp out and have some of them keep their mouths shut, but it wouldn't be real.  These aren't the type of folks to just hold their tongues - about anything. 

:shrug:  I'll figure it out when I get there. 

How do you handle scenes where multiple characters are talking?  Do the voices in your head ever have an argument?  If so, who wins?

Huzzah!

I've been dragging my feet on editing.  I mean, I'm chugging along on the little things - change a word here, delete a phrase there - but I've been skimming over parts I know need some major remodeling.  Case in point: Chapter Five.  I did the superficial edits and Mam'selle Doubt kept whispering in my ear.  She can really be a bitch sometimes, and more often than not, she's wrong.

This time?

As much as I hate to admit it, her snotty comments do occasionally turn out to be right.  Something was off with the flow, and the writing felt stilted, and...  let's just say this is the reason I keep her around.

Anyway, I tackled Chapter Five - determined to fix it once and for all.  Within moments, everything was falling into place.  Huzzah!  Take that you snooty French trollop. 

"You sheet.  Ah steell theenk you're a hack.  Go ahead, spend your day wasteeng time on your seelee storees.  Ah have shoppeeng to do."

;o)

Have any huzzah moments lately?  How are things in your world?

Stupidity Alert

This afternoon I heard a snippet of news that really deserves a Stupity Alert.

A certain celeb - who's already gotten more press than she deserves - has started a lawsuit against e-Trade.  She believes one of the babies was modeled after her, and wants blood.  (Or the 100million dollar equivalent.)  According to the actress's complaint, the online brokerage firm is guilty of using her "likeness, name, characterization, and personality". 

The really stupid thing is...

By suing this company, the actress is basically admitting she thinks she's a ditzy, man-snatching, chemical-dependent bimbo.  Either that or she thinks she's just a big baby.  :shrug:

Personally, I never saw the resemblance.  I don't see one even now.  Too bad this actress has such a low self-esteem that she does. 

Ever seen the commercial?  I love the e-Trade babies, and this one just kills me.

"Duh... Milk-a-what?"

Jack of All Trades - Master of Some

Strolling through the blogosphere this morning, I noticed a bit of a trend.  Several authors were mentioning the jobs they used to have before they made the leap to writing.  Add to that the arrival of my yearly Social Security thing-a-ma-bob (if I die today, my daughter gets some walking around money - whoopee for her), and I got to thinking...

I started working for real in the early '80s.  Like most girls my age, I took my first step into the workaday world by babysitting...  Pause.  Scratch that.  I remember now...  I earned my first income picking garbage out of the neighbor's field for a dollar an hour.  (Or was that a dollar a bag?  I forget.  I mean it's been like thirty years.)  Around the same time, I got paid to do some data entry work in my mother's office.  Oh, and I made a little scratch sticking labels on electronics literature for Dad's company.

I've held so many paying jobs over the years, it's a wonder I can keep any of them straight.  By the time I was thirty, I'd held thirty jobs*.  (I know. I did the math - and even then, I know I forgot about the garbage detail and the label application.)  Of course, in college I held a couple jobs at the same time.  PBS in the morning and telemarketing at night with class time in between.  Yay.

Even now, when writing is my day job, I still have a second job - because it's the only one making moolah - and that's running my online bookstore. 

Anyway, over the years I've held a lot of jobs in a lot of different fields--sales, clerical, management, farm/agriculture, manufacturing, technology, training...  Jack of all trades, master of some of each.  Heh, I guess I do know Jack.  ;o)

What's this got to do with writing?  Well, I guess I'd say it's got a lot to do with writing because: every single experience we have contributes to our knowledge base.  Write what you know... and the more you know, the more you have to write about.  Right? 

If I ever need to write about telemarketing, mucking stalls, computer training/consulting, sticking little widgets on the ends of alligator clips, picking jalapeno peppers, assisting the president of a company, sales training, dog washing, selling capacitors, handling irate customers...  Well, I'll be ready to do it.  Not that you have to work your way through every job in the Occupational Outlook Handbook to be a better writer, but I'm trying to put a positive spin on a negative looking resume.

And if nothing else, I'll always have something to fall back on, if this writing thing doesn't work out.  And I can still do better than to work for the stinking cow place.

What about you?  Do you find your experiences helping your writing or are you making it all up from scratch?  What's the weirdest job you ever held? 

*Doing a count just now, I'm at 37 different jobs over my 26 years in the workforce.  Ack.