The Gardener

Over the last couple of weeks I have been very busy, again, or is it still? I am trying to do so much and it seems that the more writing I do the more ideas I get. So in an attempt to try and increase my sanity I have hired a gardener.

‘Wow!’ you think. ‘A gardener, oh for such luxuries.’

Or did you think, ‘Yeah, right. Her dad pops round with the mower once a week.’

We have to be so careful with our words to ensure that the right message is being passed on. So that readers fully understand the story that is happening in our heads. That transfer to paper can be a real killer for any story.

The truth of the above statement about the gardener is that I have hired a company to pop around on a regular (and depends on the season as to how regularly he does pop around) to mow the lawn and trim the edges.

It may not seem like much, but it was one of those little things that were starting to tip the scale on my sanity. I was getting more and more worked up that I couldn’t get it all done on my own. So I decided to focus on what I can do, what I want to do and outsource some of the things I can’t do. And it isn’t that I can’t mow the lawn. I’m one of those fiercely independent types constantly trying to prove that I can do anything I need to. It just means less stress. And I’m all for that.

The other little bugbear over the last couple of weeks has been the state of the house. Not that it was that bad, not a call in the ‘current affairs type programs’ to look at what she is inflicting on her children type of bad; just a little overwhelming. Piles of notes, books, ‘artwork’, ‘treasures’ found in a variety of places and carried home, study notes (not always in the study), novel notes (again not always in the study). So I spent some time moving things to where they should live and ruthlessly disposing of the rubbish hiding amongst the piles disguised as useful. Unfortunately my daughter has inherited my gene for “let’s hold onto that because you just don’t know when it will be useful, wanted, needed etc”.

I am now feeling calmer, cleaner and more on top of things. Less time stressing and more time writing. It is how the world should be.

Happy scribbling.

Time Poor

Do you ever get the feeling that you have taken on too much? Don't get me wrong, I love everything I am doing at the moment but over the last few weeks I have struggled trying to get everything done that I have wanted to. And so when something had to give, I'm afraid it was the blog.
It may not have been the best choice to go. But as the assignments, weekly submissions, lectures, tutorials, exercises, quality family time and the need to write daily piles up, somehow the blog fell off the list. "No one really reads it anyway," I may have comforted myself with at one point. And the only scribbles making it to the kitchen door at the moment are shopping lists and reminders for housework, and then I'm behind with the vacuuming.

I don't want to sound like I'm whinging. Because I really am enjoying all of my writing at the moment. We have set some challenging tasks for my writers group that have been lots of fun. My fantasy novel is moving along reasonably well, despite me not quite knowing how I am going to get to the end yet. I have some small changes/edits for my first novel to complete and that can be submitted to a publisher (that in itself is scary, exciting and pushed down the list a little). My Masters course is fantastic, I'm learning so much and even though some units are a little more challenging, I am loving every minute.

So, I have a heavy workload at the moment but not only am I enjoying the work I am doing at the moment, it is what I want to do, to get me where I want to be.

Happy Scribbling

My Goal Setting

I do regularly set goals and revisit them, but I usually set more that what I can reasonably achieve. I tend to go for the top range of what I want to do rather than what I can. This may not be a bad thing. It is important to set goals that stretch you a little, you have to aim that little bit higher.

I would love to be able to work from home on my writing full time. It is my ultimate long term writing goal. But in the meantime I have a daughter (and her life), animals to feed, a mortgage to pay, housework to do, vegies to grow, fish to clean, friends and family and a full time and busy day job.

So for the moment I need to fit writing around the other parts of my life, or some other parts around my writing. Some of this is very easy to do, for example the vacuuming can wait while I draft a blog entry, the bathroom can wait while a write another 1000 words of a first draft. The one thing that cannot wait or be pushed aside is my daughter. And if she has had a bad day, or is having one of those evenings when she won’t go to bed, feeling unwell or just needs Mama, then my writing plans for the evening are shot. I just have to make the most of the time I do get.

I have refocused my current writing goals to the three most important ones. Refocusing does not mean simplifying or reducing the amount of work still to be done but focusing on fewer projects.

Blogging – to post three entries a week - ongoing.

·         To share where my writing is at, advertising, improving skills and helping other writers with tips, hints and my learnings.

·         With photos of the kitchen door.

·         Spend half an hour each day drafting blog entries, and then edit and post three times a week.

Novel 1 (HTDTN) - to complete and submit for publication this year.

·         Complete by December 2011

·         Edit for one hour every day – I need to do this properly so I’m not setting a page goal to reach each day, just a good hour and to work appropriately within that hour.

·         Complete course – using novel for course so as it gets better assignments can be sent off.

Novel 2 (Snow) – complete first draft this year. Complete by December 2011

·         Write 500-1000 words a day, aiming for 3000 words a week.

·         If I maintain that pace I could be finished by September.

This would total 2-3 hours of writing a day. I think that sounds reasonable for most days. I just need to work out how to allocate that time. The first thing is that some things are going to be sacrificed and at the moment the main sucker of my evening time is the TV.

At one point I was checking what I really, really wanted to watch and then mark it at the beginning of the week. If it wasn’t my show then the TV was off and I was doing something far more productive. I think I need to get back to that. And then when I am watching I can use that time for the mundane tasks, like ironing, and folding and packing of school bags.

I am now feeling better focused on what I want to achieve and how I can. I will need to revisit these goals again to assess how well they are going and whether time frames need to be moved or more time needs to be dedicated to writing.

Happy Scribbling.