I am truly my father's child, this Father's Day. I know exactly how he felt, all those years working on the railroad, when he had to be away from home and alone. There were a few years I had to be on the road for a job where I spent a third of my life traveling. I feel him when we walk into a Rural King or Office Depot. Cleaning out the old house, I saw dozens of folders and organizers he would use for a few months and then abandon.
This one made me smile--you can see Mom in the mirror behind him taking the picture. She had issues getting things done too. I remember her rushing around cleaning before the pinocle club took their turn at our house.
They are laughing at me. Dad passed in 2001, Mom in 2004. They are both asking me:
"Why don't you get to work so you can have the success you deserve?"
"Why are you still putting things off, when it would feel so much better if you do the work rather than sit and play your games?"
Don't have any good answers. It helps me to know they are egging me on in my thoughts, apologizing for bad habits from childhood, confident it can get done and done well.
So, here are a few things to help you and to help me get going. This one is my new desktop background:
Yes, Lord Vader. If you will let me continue to breathe, I'll get right on it.
Right? Keep plugging. Get it done.
I started physical therapy this week for a shoulder injury that involves a schedule of exercises every day. I'm thinking I will put specific times for me to check each email/Facebook/Pinterest account. It's got to help, right?
I know part of my problem is that I want to edit/rewrite as I go. So many professionals say you need to get the story down, then go back and seriously edit. As Christina Dodd says, "I can't edit a blank page."
I had several instances at my job outside the home last week where I had Learning Experiences. Yes, that's where someone points out I was wrong. It's okay. I long ago realized I wasn't always going to be the smartest person in the room. I believe a good part of my procrastination is a fear of making a mistake. I need to get over that, don't I?
This has been a real problem lately. With my shoulder injury acting up, I haven't been able to do even my minimal cleaning and organizing. It means, I have hundreds of magazine articles and pictures I want to scan in boxes in the office. It means, I remember writing that scene in a notebook years ago, but I can't find it in the notes I've transcribed. It means, I get discouraged and end up playing Jewel Quest III instead of recreating the scene and getting on with it.
I did work on about twenty pages of a story about a daughter of the two main characters of my second novel in the series. Reney and Carter's story is basically written, but I have it in third person. I'm putting all my novels in first person, because the stories seem more compelling and cleaner. When I mentioned I was working this other story, my husband gently nagged me to finish the book I'm almost done with first. He's right.
How many of these sound familiar? Number ten is hitting particularly close to home for me.
But this is my truth:
My characters have lived with me for almost seven years now and are as real to me as my local friends. I have almost thirty notebooks and boxes of files of ideas, research and snatches of stories that need to get put in some sort of order. Rather than saying, I'm going to work on something today, I need to break down specific, doable goals. And get writing that story that Mom or Dad would love to read!
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