Today's Excuses

The humidity is at about 1000% outside so you know I want to be out there. Actually, by the time you read this, I probably am. I have to mow the grass today. On the best of days it takes a little over two hours. Then I'll have to get in the pool to cool off. And catch up to all my blogging buddies and then....

Yes, there are endless excuses and procrastination activities to keep me away from my first draft. But I'm fighting through. Yesterday I weeded every part of the estate except for the flowerbeds around the pool and still I wrote 2500 words on that messy first draft.

Last night I paused long enough to watch the latest Ninja Turtle movie with my youngest son. It was silly and I felt dumber after watching it, but time with my son isn't wasted. And filled in about five hundred more words in the midst of the movie.

I'm reading a really suspenseful book now, The Bone Tree, sequel to Natchez Burning by Greg Iles. I want to sit with a big cup of coffee until I finish it, but I put it down at page #285 to finish a scene. Then a book I ordered from Amazon arrived in the mail and I've been waiting nearly a year for it to come out. But I didn't open it.

I needed a few things at the store but I made it in and out in record time. All the better to get back to writing.

This Friday, I'll be skipping my usual week-ending blog post to spend more time on that WIP. Tomorrow I'll be making homemade bread and salad for dinner, but that will only take me minutes. I'm streamlining the rest of the week so I get some work done.

Did you find some good excuses this week? How did you procrastinate and what were you avoiding? Is a good book calling your name? How long does it take you to mow your grass?

On a side note, my daughter's student group in Oman voted on superlatives for each other. She was unanimous choice as Most Likely to Quietly Take Over the World. That's my girl!

TGIF

I'm almost an empty nester. My 23 year old son is living at home, but he makes no demands beyond watching really dumb shows on TV. We won't go into that.

I expected I would have lots of writing time this school year since my youngest two are away at college. And I have found more than previous years, but not as much as I expected. I am finding more time to spend on blogging and what fun it was this past week with the Did I Notice Your Book Blogfest. Between the participants and the other blogs I visit nearly every day, I commented on over 100 blogs on Wednesday. That's a record for me. But I also received a record number of comments on my own blog and found some new followers. Thank you to everyone who stopped by.

I learned something about the blogs of writers that I follow. Almost all my bloggy friends write SF or fantasy. There's a lot of variety within those two genres like YA, romance and middle grade. Some of the blogs I visited were suspense or mystery authors and one does some poetry. I wonder, how did we all 'find' each other in the sprawling universe of the blogosphere? Heck, if I know. And I wonder how I'll ever find the time to read all those wonderful books I discovered on the blog hop.

This weekend I'm back at my WIP right after I pick my son up at Penn State and bring him home for a weekend.  I'll also get my blogposts ready for next week. I'm involved in one more blogging event this month, the Monstrous Monday on October 29th. Thanks to Tim Brannan for organizing that. You can still sign up.

What are your plans this weekend? Any blog events on your horizon?

Out of Food

When do you know when you're in the zone, writing? When you're out jogging and didn't even notice what music played on your iPod because you're thinking about your characters. When you don't visit facebook for days. When you forget about lunch. When you notice there's no food in the house except for stale cereal and a jar of peanut butter.

So today we're down to about a cup of milk, four eggs and three whole wheat hamburger rolls and some frozen foods. I really need to go to the store, but I hate to stop when the words are flying off my keyboard. As of tonight, I'm over 37K into this newest WIP. I'm feeling a little pressure to get it done. I'll tell you on Wednesday during IWSG.

The Light at the End

I have managed to cook a few meals for my family's dinner the last two nights, but I've barely spoken to them. I just don't want to slow down. It's a pleasant tunnel I'm in and I can't quite see the light at the end, but there's some illumination shining through.

I apologize for not visiting as many blogs as I normally do and my posts have been a little bit sparse. In the meantime, my husband and kids might have to go out to eat.

Feeling any pressure lately with your writing? Do you wait until the cupboard is bare before going to the store, or do you keep stuff stocked up? What's the most words you've ever written in a day?

Y: Yoke

Y:  I hope participating hasn't become a burden to you over the past month. We'll all have a chance to reflect on your experience on May 7th, but we still have today and one more day to finish up.  Most of us probably had days where we just didn't want to turn the computer on and the challenge became more work than fun.

Most of us started writing because we enjoy it.  But if you're writing for publication, some where along the line, the demands of writing seemed more like a job. At some point, you might have felt guilt because you were enjoying reading a book or watching a TV show when you really should have been working on your WIP.

That guilt, that yoke, helps you complete your writing projects especially if it's tied to some personal goals and ambitions. But if the yoke becomes too heavy, you might take it off and put it aside.  Balance can be the key.  Read as much as you want, watch those great movies and TV shows, and spend time networking.  Whenever the yoke of balancing your writing life and the rest of your life becomes too great, don't let guilt keep you in the traces.  Step away from the keyboard.  Unless you have a deadline. Then you'll just have to carry on.

Are you wearing a yoke comprised of too many burdens? Do you feel guilt when you use writing time for other pleasureable activities?