Wednesday, November 17, 2010

It is a small world after all!

As many of you know, I am a part of a wonderful writing group, rubbing cyber elbows with very talented writers. The down side to cyber elbow rubbing is that you may never meet the owners of said elbows. They live in Michigan, or Texas, Arizona and so on. You can imagine my excitement when I learned that one of the group members lives only a few miles away from me! Yeah! Her name is Lori as well.... so my excitement gained some momentum! 


Finally the day came for a long awaited coffee date. I had read a portion of her book Here All Alone, and was anxious to meet her personally. I had every reason to believe she would prove to be an exceptional lady. She did not disappoint, (and really, with her name being Lori, how could she?) We hit it off marvelously, laughed talked and it felt like we'd known each other for years.


It's really interesting to me to explore how other writers have gotten published, marketed and most of all how they get their support and linked in with a network. Along with my on-line author friends, I think having some face time with other writers is greatly needed. Aside from Lori, I have recently met another author that is just as excited to share ideas and support as well. 


Remember when just a few moments ago I mentioned it seemed like Lori and I had known each other for years? Well, it turns out we have. It seems like another life ago. We had met professionally and had done a couple of things socially and then life got in the way as it often does and we lost contact. I remember liking her immensely back then, and I'm happy to still like her as much now.


It surely is a small world. Sometimes it's fun to find out just how small.


That's all for now,
Till next time,
Lori~ 

Monday, November 8, 2010

The Waiting

Hurry up and wait, hurry up and wait. A watched pot never boils. Be careful what you wish for.
Sound familiar? Turns out these are only half right. Sometimes, I hurry up and I'm late (most always!). A watched pot may not boil right away, but if you let it get hot enough, science proves that it will in fact boil. Finally, most of my wishes, really don't come true, so why be careful? Right?

In general, I am an impatient person. I want it all right now! Years ago, a supervisor advised me to stop and smell the roses. Slow down, enjoy your life, blah, blah, blah. I probably should have listened to her closer. To this day I struggle with trusting the process much less allowing it to happen. This flub applies not only to my professional life such as writing, working etc, but my personal life as well. I want the house to just be magically clean without wasting my time to mop, vacuum or do laundry. I want to be able to be the perfect wife without putting too much effort in it! You get the picture.

I've waited two years to get back to work, praying every day for a job. NOT having a job, though, allowed for me to write a book and get started a few new projects too. Now, I want to see my work in book form like yesterday! Instead, I have to remind myself it's a process and if I did get my wish, it would probably be a disaster.

Currently, I'm waiting to hear about the second job I've interviewed for, which I would really like to have. I keep checking my proverbial pots known as my e-mail and my cell phone to make sure I haven't missed any important messages. It's kind of funny, how in the literal sense, those sayings are really laughable, but broken down, very wise and true. One last thing, you can't rush a good thing.... I guess while I'm not rushing God's plan and process, I can get busy and sit back, enjoy some coffee and be grateful.

Just sayin'
Till next time,

Lori

Monday, November 1, 2010

Sleep! I need Sleep!!

As I've mentioned a couple of times, my imagination can sometimes get a little carried away. I think it's genetic (thanks, mom). My short styles story group is talking about doing a Christmas themed  compilation book! Exciting, I know. The thing is, last night, every time I would convince myself it was really time to get some sleep, another fantastic storyline would come to mind! Which was great, sleeplessness aside. (Amazing to me is that none of these ideas involved murder!) The only real problem (other than how tired I am right now), was that although my mind was wide awake, my body was comatose, therefor, writing these great ideas down proved to be problematic.

What I need is a little gadget attached to my cranium, that basically takes notes for me. Driving, have a great idea... BAM! Note taken! Trying really hard to sleep..... BAM! No problem! How cool would that be? Those times when I'm pretending to listen to my husband, when in fact I'm laying out dialogue in my mind..... you guessed it! I think it would take multi-tsking to a whole other level, really.

Fortunately, my sleepless addled brain did manage to retain a couple of ideas that I think will prove to be promising. Never in a million years did I imagine I would be linked to such a great group of writers and creative minds. What has been a hobby my whole life seems to be morphing into something tangible and fantastic. As I look back on the two years I've been unemployed, I must say it was a blessing, I know I would not have taken the time to really take my writing seriously. I've even put to words a children's story my mom used to tell me, and even better, she's helping to write it!

Now that a new job is just weeks away, I will need to come up with creative time management to keep up with all of the writing projects I've got going on. So, if you see my husband looking thin and begging for food, please reassure him that once the writing is done, you're sure I'll start cooking again.

Till my next brainstorm,
Lori