IWSG: Slow and Steady

Time for another posting with the Insecure Writer’s Support Group, where writers can share their insecurities and encourage one another. IWSG was founded by Alex J. Cavanaugh and we share our posts the first Wednesday of the month.

The question this month is: If you could use a wish to help you write just one scene/chapter of your book, which one would it be? It’s not in a book (maybe it could become one someday), but there is a scene in my fantasy short story I occasionally dabble with. I have the scene building up to the climax, but I cannot seem to find a way I like to move from the climax to the conclusion. Ironically, it’s rather anticlimactic. I cannot tell if the excitement of the event died down too quickly, or if I drag out explanations too long before the end. If that bit would suddenly work itself out, that would be great!

In other news, I am still working through organizing my room. It has been a slow process because there were a lot of things going on during my days off last month. Hopefully, I will make some headway this month since I’m taking some extra time off. I did finish the first category in the KonMari Method, which is clothing. Around that time, I felt my creativity flowing, so I finally sat myself down at the computer to work on some writing, including a story I started for this month’s WEP. I cannot make any promises about getting it finished in time, but I do have that extra time off, so we’ll see.

Good luck to all the A to Z Challenge participants! I wish I could have participated this year, especially since it is the 10^th anniversary, but I still need to work on getting my life more in order. Maybe next year!

5 Weird Things About Me

            I’ve said this before and I’m saying it again: Where does the time go?! I think this heat and humidity is really getting to me. I constantly feel lethargic and am unable to focus on anything for very long. I honestly don’t think Twitter has helped very much. It’s just another distracting feed like Facebook, so I have added it to my “distractions to avoid” list, which includes most of the internet. Speaking of the internet, my computer decided to do some avoiding for me and would only load email and a couple other websites no matter which browser I was using. After over a week of being unable to visit many sites and giving up on my computer time most days, I finally researched my problem on my phone (since Google results could not load on the computer). I had to do some high tech computer manipulation with the command prompt, but I got it working again, at least for now.

            Anyway, Barbara from Life & Faith in Caneyhead has challenged me to name 5 weird things about myself. So, no Flashback Friday today, and sorry Barbara for my delay. I sort of had a hard time narrowing down my list, because being introverted and geeky automatically adds a lot of weird quirks, but here are the things I have chosen to share today:

5 Weird Things About Me

• When I was 5 years old, my dream job was to be a mom. I considered a couple other options in my teen years, but since then, being a stay-at-home mom has still been my dream.
• I enjoy playing video games. I have logged the most hours with Legend of Zelda and Star Wars: The Old Republic.
• I absolutely hate making phone calls! I sometimes have a hard time talking myself into calling my best friends, and if I am forced to call an insurance company or patient at work, I nearly have a panic attack.
• I live in Oklahoma, but I don’t like biscuits and gravy or Dr. Pepper, which apparently makes me weird in this state. I guess it’s because I was not born here :)
• I have an eclectic assortment of interests and I tend to have a hard time picking favorites. For example, if you ask me my favorite movie/book/song/pastime, I’ll ask you to name a genre, and then if I enjoy that genre, I’ll name at least three things that I like in that category in no particular order.

Since I’m joining in a little late, I won’t tag anyone else, but feel free to share your own oddities in a comment or let me know if you have already participated.

Flashback Friday: Breaking the Silence

           **It's the last Friday of the month, so it's time for Flashback Friday! Participants repost an old post that needed more attention, that you're very proud of, that you think is still relevant, etc. It was hosted by Michael G D'Agostino, but he has opted out. You can still find a list of previous and current participants on his blog. The month of May sort of just vanished for me, and it seems my priorities have been shuffled around more often than not the last few months. I thought this post was an appropriate reminder for me. When I posted this, I had just come back after not posting for a year and a half. The blogging challenge I mentioned was the 2015 A to Z Challenge. I had no idea what I was getting into when I wrote this post, haha, but I'm glad that I got involved with the blogging community. Reading this again reminds me how much I enjoy writing (and learning) and I'm sorry for my blogging negligence lately. I know that I don't want to repeat a long term blogging absence, so I'm working on budgeting my time a little better. And now, the flashback post...**

Breaking the Silence (originally posted February 19, 2015)

           It has been quite a long time since I last posted anything.  I feel as though time has been against me, but I haven’t really been busy, at least not busier than normal.  I guess I’ve been sort of stumped for writing ideas and I really haven’t felt like writing a lot lately.  I have not even been journaling as much as I used to.  My creative side does not want to allow this to keep happening, so I am beginning again.  It is about time I dust off this old “pen” and take it up again.  With a new year already well underway, almost 2 months in, to be precise, I have felt inspired to make my own resolutions.  There have been many inspirations over the last couple months prodding me back to writing.  I recently finished a Bible study in Colossians which helped renew my prayer journal.  I came across a Great Courses catalog last month and ended up ordering some courses, including a couple on writing.  I’ve watched 2 lectures from one course about the way we structure sentences, and it has been enjoyable so far.  I’ve felt inspired in other areas as well.  I have always been excited about learning new things, so getting these courses has been encouraging.  I have also been studying Mandarin Chinese with Rosetta Stone, which has been tough but interesting.  I have been reading fiction on a more regular basis again.  All of this has helped me to feel renewed, inspired, and ready for some positive new beginnings/changes in my life.

This may not sound interesting to you.  Maybe reading, writing, learning, and Chinese sound too boring or too difficult.  My point is this: do whatever it is that inspires you.  Seek out ways to renew your interest in life.  Seek God above all else, because He is the ultimate source of inspiration and redemption.  God doesn’t want us to mope about in a pity parties about the state of our lives, our economy, or our country.  We need to go out and make the most of the time that’s been given to us. 

I hope to write more often.  In fact, I’m thinking about participating in a blog challenge and I will provide more details if I do decide to take part. I also hope to make a few changes and updates to this blog and those will come as time allows.  Until then, it has been nice to come back and I hope those of you who read this will enjoy whatever comes next :)

IWSG: Dutifully Determined

 

            Time for another posting with the Insecure Writer’s Support Group, where writers can share their insecurities and encourage one another. IWSG was founded by Alex J. Cavanaugh and we share our posts the first Wednesday of the month.

            I was in deep denial and disappointment about not digging in to the demanding A to Z Challenge this year. That doesn’t deduce that I can’t delight in some alphabetic drollery. So, with the dictionary as my director I shall divulge you with this month’s disquiet. My daily writing is still delayed. I’ve been too distracted and distressed by work and other duties and disciplines. Like a drawn-out dance, I dash from being deliberate in the details to diversion or disarray. My determination is often detoured and it can become downright depressing. I must decide to keep driving forward. Don’t dwell on the difficulties; instead, discover and develop different ways to reach that writing destination.

 

This post has been brought to you by the letter D.

And now back to your regularly scheduled A to Z programming...

Not This Time

            I must sadly say that I will not be participating in the A to Z Challenge this year.  :(
I put a lot of thought into this decision and I even started working on some posts, but I realized that I do not have the time for it this year. Any of my regular followers would know that I have been struggling with keeping things balanced the last few months, and since I’m still trying to manage my schedule, I know that I will not have the energy to keep up with daily blog visits and comments during the challenge.

Speaking of time and balance, my presence has not been felt in the blogging force very often lately and for this I apologize. There have been some things that have come up in the foreground of my life, both good and bad, that have taken precedence over blogging. Most of February and on into March, sicknesses have plagued my local area. The pharmacy has been bustling with endless cold and flu patients, schools canceled classes in February due to the flu, my church has had some low attendance days, and both of my parents have suffered from some congestion issues. I blame the weather. It has constantly gone up and down in temperature. On more than one occasion, yesterday's low was tomorrow's high. This instability has plagued my sinuses and I'm sure it has caused these adverse effects in others as well. Come to think of it, maybe the weather is part of the reason for my fatigue and exhaustion these past couple months. Although, I think the strain of extra patients at work has been the primary reason. I have been drained of mental reasoning and motivational energy most days. In fact, I fell asleep at 10:30 a high number of nights for this night owl, and when you get home from work around 7:30 some days, that doesn't leave much room for anything else besides dinner, de-stressing, and getting ready for bed. 

But it hasn't been all illness, fatigue, and canceled challenge plans. I am in the process of finally finishing up some courses and tutorials over a new writing-related project I decided to try out months ago. I still have some kinks to work out, but once I get it going I will be happy to share it with you. For now, it shall remain a secret! I also hope to work on getting more blog posts written in advance since I’ll have more time than I initially expected next month. Sometime this week, I will make some visits to see what themes my blogging friends are doing, and I still plan to follow some during the challenge.

Are you participating in A to Z this year? If so, I might go visit your theme reveal and I hope you have fun!

If You Give a Page a Picture

            I really don’t know where the time goes. I feel as though I lose track of it so easily. I wanted to be more proactive with my blog posts this year, but I did not have a solid plan in place so it has fallen by the wayside yet again. I think of the quote attributed to Benjamin Franklin: “If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail.” I mean to make amends to this, so I have spent the majority of my blogging absence analyzing my goals, schedule, and time usage. I even bought a Life Planner, which has encouraged a lot of journal writing. Elsewhere in writing, I started a couple short stories. My main problem is that I have a lot of starts and few finishes.

One reason for these infrequent finishes (and loss of time) is that I tend to make things too difficult for myself. I spend too much time on tasks that should be simple. For example, a few weeks ago, I wanted to start putting up a weekly quote on my Facebook page and I found one I liked. I was about to schedule it to be posted on a Monday, but then I thought it needed a picture. So, I searched through some internet memes and couldn’t quite find the right picture and quote combination. I have been wanting to start using more of my own photography and less from the internet, so I decided I’d put the quote on my own picture, and I opened up the rarely used GIMP program that my brother downloaded on my computer. GIMP has so many functions, too many, and I don’t understand most of it (it’s one of those programs that you need to watch video tutorials in order for it to be beneficial). After changing the font size ten times and endlessly shifting the position of my quote, I saw a shadow in my picture and thought, “I could probably edit that out.” After multiple attempts at finding a function that removes shadows, I gave up and my Facebook page still lacks this new update. I don’t even want to know how long this useless process took me, and in order to gain closure on it, I am sharing that photo (with unwanted car shadow) today.

The font still looks too small...

 

Sadly, this example is how many blog posts, writings, and other projects go for me. My life plays out like a never-ending If You Give a Mouse a Cookie story. I need to add this to the goal list in my planner: Simplify things! I think I will start that weekly quote on Facebook and I'll use a less-complex program, or just share the quote and photo separately. Watch for it on my page, Monday!

Anyone else guilty of overthinking/overdoing simple things?

September IWSG and Belated Question of the Month

            Time for another posting with the Insecure Writer’s Support Group, where writers can share their insecurities and encourage one another. IWSG was founded by Alex J. Cavanaugh and we share our posts the first Wednesday of the month. The IWSG poses a question for us to answer in our monthly posts. Here is the question for September: How do you find the time to write in your busy day?

            This question represents something I like about the IWSG, because it proposes a great way for us to share advice with one another. I look forward to reading as many posts as I can get to. But, you are probably here to read my answer, and honestly, I do not make very much time for writing on busy days. I usually squeeze it in around bedtime (when most of my ideas suddenly hit) and jot down a few senseless notes before dozing off. There were a couple times when I was being a little more proactive and recorded some of my thoughts on my phone as I drove to work. I’ve been listening to The Productivity Project: Accomplishing More by Managing Your Time, Attention, and Energy by Chris Bailey, and I am beginning to see more and more that my problem is not a lack of time as much as it is a lack of energy. As an introvert working at a job designed for extroverts, I am feeling the energy drain more and more when I do not get time alone at home to recharge. When I actually do get a day off to myself, depending on how long I’ve gone without my recharge time, I can sometimes find my energy again which leads to writing motivation. I know sometimes, motivated or not, I just have to write, which I can do fairly well when I have a deadline, like a monthly blog post or an anthology contest. In an ideal energy situation, I would probably set about 30 minutes to an hour aside to write in the evenings before rewarding myself with a TV show or computer game. Speaking of technology, I often shut my computer down and write by hand because my computer is full of distractions and writing in a notebook helps me to focus better.

 

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I missed the Question of the Month on Monday. I left for a conference the day that our host Michael G D’Agostino emailed the question and I did not see the question until posts went up. The question was: What kind of music best speaks to you?

I’m going to try to keep this answer condensed, it usually depends on my mood. My music collection is very eclectic, but most of it falls into three different genres: classical, Christian, or soundtracks/musicals. When I’m feeling sad, I like softer Christian artists like Selah or Casting Crowns. When I want something more upbeat, my favorite Christian bands are Audio Adrenaline and dc Talk. When I’m feeling reflective or need to be calmed, I enjoy classical music, and I shared many of my favorites during the A to Z Challenge this year. When I’m in the mood for some fun (or sing-a-longs in the car), I listen to my soundtracks. I own the movie soundtracks for Phantom of the Opera, The Music Man, Les Miserables, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, and a collection of Disney songs.

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*As Chris Bailey would ask, how do you balance your time, energy, and attention?
*Does your music vary with your mood?

Flashback Friday: Deja Vu

            **This post is a part of the Flashback Friday series. Participants use the last Friday of each month to repost an old post that needed more attention, that you're very proud of, that you think is still relevant, etc. It is hosted by Michael G D'Agostino at A Life Examined. I had to laugh to myself when I came across this post titled "Not Again" from September 30, 2011. I forgot how often my life would veer off course from my blog back in that first year of blogging, and sadly, still today. I actually will be addressing my unforeseen time away and making some very long overdue visits in the next week.**

Not Again

 



           I cannot believe another month has passed by and I haven't managed to get a post up. I have got to get myself on some kind of schedule. To all of those potential readers out there who have probably given up on me: I have ideas...I really do! The problem is getting them out of my mind and into words that make sense to the rest of the world. I can't believe that it has been a year since I started this journey. I was rereading my post and I remembered how enthusiastic I was. I had (still have) so many ideas of stories and topics to write about and I was ready to share them...or so I thought. I guess the past year has been kind of like a long distance race and I didn't pace myself the right way. I started out as fast as I could, I posted twice a month and at least one of those posts was something new. Then, I started losing wind and started searching for diary entries or poems I had already written. Now, I am barely moving forward and only trying to keep pace just to get my monthly time stamp. My last entry was in the middle of August and it was an obituary for my dog with mostly pictures. Look at me now, I am sitting here summarizing my blog...The motivation has disappeared and I am trying to find my second wind. As the Bible says, “...let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us."(Heb. 12:1, KJV) Ok, so I guess I'm taking that verse a little out of context, but in this race that is set before me, I have been weighed down. Instead of writing for fun and inspiration, I have only been writing out of obligation and thoroughness. I have allowed my enthusiasm to dissolve into the pool of all my other thoughts and tasks. I want to get motivated again, so, I know I've said this before, but don't give up on me yet. I still plan to keep this going. I hope that stories and poems from my past are at least mildly entertaining, and I do hope to get some more intriguing new material out in the future.

Here's a past post about getting motivated in a race (maybe I should read it again): Attaining the Prize

Throwback Thursday: Pets

            I don't know about you, but June seemed like it just disappeared and July isn't looking much better since we are already about half-way through the month. Wal-Mart put out it's back-to-school displays on July 2nd or 3rd, and I'm not currently going to school or teaching at a school and that sight still makes me feel squeamish! I'm still trying to work on that whole time/balance thing with work, church, writing, blogging, etc. and I have been absent from online communities a lot lately. I think I forgot how quick and busy summers can get! And the internet around the lake community I live in can get really slow at times, but thankfully it seems to be working ok at the moment. So maybe these pictures will upload quickly. Without further ado, here are some older pictures of my cats and some gone but not forgotten pets.

Kitty was fairly content as a solo cat

 

 But, she seemed happy to gain a new friend in Sawyer

 

Even though Sawyer was quite the mischief-maker!

 

This was Zoe playing with her favorite ball

 

I miss her so much!

 

 

These were Zazzles (black) and Link (orange), they were indoor/outdoor brothers who made a great addition to the clowder (group of cats) for a short time

 

And finally, here's Sophie as a kitten right after hearing the vacuum for the first time :)

 

Imbalanced Interview

I was searching the internet for blogging prompts, and I came across this page that I thought was fairly appropriate for my current situation. This Blogher Writing Lab had a theme of balance for the month of January and they had a prompting question for each weekday. I decided instead of using each question as a prompt for an entire post, that I would just give short answers to a select handful of the questions on the imbalances within my life. I also apologize for my absence in commenting during the last week, it was another one of those off-weeks for me, hence the perfection of finding these questions about balance :)

Do you think you have a decent work/life balance?

No, I think if I could work part time, I would achieve a lot more in what I actually want to do, like writing, sewing, and organizing the house. And financially, working part time would still be reasonable for me, if only my manager would agree to it…

What helps you stay focused on work while you're at work or home while you're at home?

Honestly, when I’m at work, I’m usually thinking about being home. But my job is just a job, it is not a career that requires projects or meetings to prepare for. One of the few good things about my job is that I can leave without having to worry about “homework.”

Do you feel you have to be available at all times? How has this affected your down time?

I think I may lean too much in the opposite direction. I feel the need for a lot of down time and turn down invitations more often than not.

Do you set conscious limits with your personal screen time in order to balance the online and offline world?

Oddly enough, I do set conscious limits on my Facebook time, but not really in other areas of the internet, such as blogging (in which I’ve developed a sort of all or nothing habit) or YouTube, Buzzfeed, etc. (where I spend entirely too much unmonitored time).

If time and money wasn't an object, what would be your chosen form of exercise?

I would swim all the time if I had a huge, indoor pool with a diving board and a slide. I would also like to go canoeing or kayaking on a regular basis.

Do you prefer to work out alone or with a friend?

I would definitely prefer to run with a friend, but I don’t mind cardio alone.

How do you balance taking care of your health with all the other stressors of life?

I do not balance out my own health as much as I should. I think about it once in a while when I buy groceries or choose not to eat out. I have been slacking off on running and I should probably consider signing up for a 5k again. When it comes to my spiritual health, I find that starting the day with prayer and Bible study helps me to feel better throughout the day.

“So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.” 1 Corinthians 10:31 (NIV)

“Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is.” Ephesians 5:15-17 (NIV)

IWSG: Finding the Next Step

            Time for the first post of 2016 with the Insecure Writers Support Group, where writers can share their insecurities and encourage one another. IWSG was founded by Alex J. Cavanaugh and we share our posts the first Wednesday of the month. The co-hosts for January are: L.G. Keltner, Denise Covey, Sheri Larsen, J.Q. Rose,  Chemist Ken,  and Michelle Wallace.

            I took writing up as a sideline project nearly 20 years ago when I was in the 6^th grade. It usually took a backseat to school, friends, family, and work. It still does, minus the school. I want to write more and do more with my writings. I was going to call this post “Finding a Starting Point,” but I have already started. I wrote for many of my classes, I’ve journaled for years, I write for this blog, and I submitted a short story for the IWSG contest. It’s not a lot, but it is my two-decades-long point of entry into the field of writing, lol. I guess I find myself asking: Where do I go from here? I want to make my writing more than just another hobby and blogging on a more regular basis since April last year has helped me a lot. Joining this group has also been encouraging. I have read so many great posts full of writing advice and experiences from my fellow bloggers. With a New Year upon us, I am feeling slightly inspired and slightly scared to make new goals in my writing. As I said in my last post, I don’t really make resolutions because my circumstances could change and hinder me from completing them, but I will make some intentional goals to work on this year. My first goal is to set more time for writing, even if I don’t feel particularly inclined to do so, I think that just having a designated time each day for writing would help make it more of a habit. Another goal I have is to write more short stories. I really enjoyed creating the characters and setting in my story for the anthology contest, and I think it would be fun to write more stories of similar length. I also want to look into magazines or devotional journals that accept submissions and enter more contests. Finally, my last goal has been on my long-term list for quite some time now, but if I manage to get into a better writing habit, I think I can take my book ideas out of the brainstorming phase and actually write one! I will probably try a few more short stories first, though :)

 

 

December IWSG

            Time for another posting with the Insecure Writers Support Group, where writers can share their insecurities and encourage one another. IWSG was founded by Alex J. Cavanaugh and we share our posts the first Wednesday of the month. The co-hosts for December are: Sandra Hoover, Mark Koopmans, Doreen McGettigan, Megan Morgan, and Melodie Campbell.

            There have been a few note-worthy milestones and accomplishments for me the last couple months:

·         I wrote and submitted my first 5000 word short story to the IWSG Anthology Contest

·         I actually have a potential follow-up and/or extension in mind for my short story

·         I shared an excerpt from one of my potential books on November 2

·         I published my 100th blog post on November 18th

·         To celebrate 100 posts, I created a Facebook fan page for my blog and writings, and someday I hope to change it to an author page

·         I also decided to host a blog hop!

Those last two points lead me to my insecurities. I feel like my promotional efforts are a bit inadequate. I am not always the most prompt, reliable commenter with my fellow bloggers. My pharmacy job (another insecurity I will not bring up here) has kept me busy and on edge for the past few months and I don’t always feel motivated to read and comment on the blogs I follow and those who leave comments on my posts. I eventually get around to many of you, especially those who visit, but I feel like I’m so late sometimes :( I apologize for my tardiness and I really do appreciate those of you who continue to follow my blog or visit and leave a comment. One day, I will find that window to escape my current job and embrace writing on a more full-time basis, but until then, I will still have those “off” weeks once in a while.

 

                I hope that I can still have a good turnout for my blog hop, so if you have some Christmas memories you would like to share on December 14, please feel free to sign up. I am reposting the linky list sign-up below. It’s called the Christmas Joy Blog Hop. Share your favorite Christmas memories and what makes Christmas special for you. We even have a nice badge that my brother made :) For more information visit my previous post. 

 

Have you ever had insecurities with staying connected?  

Feeling a Little Crafty

            This past weekend I attended a Women in the Outdoors (WITO) event. This was my third time to participate and as always, it was a lot of fun. The only downside is that something stirred up my allergies and sinuses and I am still trying to clear my head congestion :( So, with the weekend activities and the need to sleep more the rest of this week, I have gotten behind on comments again. One of these days I will get myself on a decent blogging/community schedule. I enjoy hearing from all of you (Facebook friends included). Just hang in there, I will return your visits, eventually :)

            Without further ado, here are some pictures of the crafts I made at WITO. Yes, we pick the indoor crafting classes at an event that includes the word "outdoors," lol. Although, one class was outside under a canopy.

Cords on Gourds



Medicine Bag



Paint and Bake Tiles



 

As an added bonus, here are some of last year's crafts:

Antler Jewelry

 

Corn Husk Doll

 

Finger Weaving

*** Stay tuned next Wednesday for a special announcement! Does anyone want to guess what blogging milestone I'm reaching next week? ***

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August IWSG

Welcome to my August post with the Insecure Writer's Support Group!  For those of you who don't know, the IWSG was founded by Alex J. Cavanaugh as a place for writers to express their worries and doubts and to encourage one another.  We post the first Wednesday of every month.  Feeling insecure? Join us!

This month I'm still feeling insecure about time, and I don't think that insecurity ever goes away.  In relation to that, I feel insecure about networking and keeping in touch with people.  Time has not always been the underlying issue.  As far back as my teen years, when I had plenty of time to squander, I have never been very good at correspondence.  When I moved from Arizona to Oklahoma at the age of 13, I had a lot friends' addresses (back in the age of snail mail) and I only managed to keep up with one friend for about two years.  I email my closest cousin about once a year.  I sometimes manage to call or text one of my best friends who lives far away once a month if she doesn't contact me first.  The only people I keep up with properly are those I see in person on a regular basis.  This "problem" does seem to be spreading into my blogging and social media habits and I feel bad for not responding as quickly as technology would allow me to.  I think it's a mixture of time, procrastination, and perfectionism that hinders me in this area.  I do want to make kind, informed comments on the blog posts I read, so I feel the need to read others' posts thoroughly, which takes time on some of the longer posts.  I don't allot myself much time beyond writing my posts and there are certain times of the days when it's easier to concentrate on what I'm reading.  As I look back at what I'm writing today, it does look like one big, long excuse, ha ha.  But really, this is more of a self-evaluating psychoanalysis.  If I could just get to the root of this problem, I could better myself and my relations with other people, and ultimately, be better prepared for networking and marketing my own books someday!

FYI: This has been more of a rant on myself and my own habits.  It's not exactly an insecurity as much as it is an annoying habit that I want to work on changing.  I will strive to utilize my time more wisely and stay a bit more caught up this month.  I will tell you how it goes in next month's IWSG post :)

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What are you insecure about this month?  Do you ever have a hard time keeping up with people?

Just a Quick Word (With Cats!)

            Wow! I don't know where the last week went! I wanted to do another picture post sometime this week, but the week seems to have almost escaped from me.  I would also like to tell my fellow bloggers that I'm sorry for getting behind.  I truly do enjoy reading your posts, but this month has just been more hectic that I thought it would be, and I hope to catch up with you guys soon. 

            Just for fun, I thought I would introduce everyone to my cats.  They have made some appearances in post pictures before, and I thought they deserved a proper introduction!

 

Here they are:

 

 

They're pretty lazy

 

 

 

This is Kitty:

 

 

We wanted to come up with a great name for her when she was a kitten, so we waited for her personality to develop.  But the next thing you know, we just couldn't come up with anything more fitting than Kitty or just The Cat since she was our only indoor cat for a while.

 

 

This is Sawyer:

 

 

He's my lap baby and a great comforter after a long day at work.  He also likes to sleep in a lot of strange positions, so he ends up in more pictures than the other two.

 

 

This is Sophie:

 



 

She is the bratty, "little sister" of this clowder.  She sometimes ninja-strikes all, whether cat, dog, or human, who cross her path.

 

 

            That's all for now, I hope you have enjoyed meeting my cats.  Do you have cats?  Are you a cat person or dog person?  Or neither?

 



IWSG: Time is Ticking Away

            Has it been a month already?  It seems like only yesterday that I put up my first post for the Insecure Writer’s Support Group!  IWSG was founded by Alex J. Cavanaugh for writers to share their insecurities and encourage one another.  Group postings occur on the first Wednesday of each month, click the link above if you’d like to join us.

             Right now, I’m insecure about time.  It seems as though I am constantly trying to perform an impossible balancing act of working full-time, church activities, spending time with family, spending time with friends, taking advantage of a business opportunity, writing, reading, hobbies, unwinding on Netflix, and most importantly (although often most ignored) Bible study and prayer.  Whew! Can you imagine if I had kids?  At the end of each day, I try so hard to be positive and think about what I accomplished, but more often than not I end up staring at my never-ending to do list and feel like I’ve failed.  I question my writing capability sometimes and wonder if I will ever take the time to put my ideas into sensible words and stories.  Prioritizing has never been my strong suit, so I end up trying to squeeze as much as I can into whatever time I have.  But I want to concentrate on the tasks that need my undivided attention and that is hard to do when there are so many things I’m trying to get done at once.  I wish I had some great go-to solution for this time conundrum, but all I can really do is take each day as it comes and make the most of it.  I recently read (source: Get Organized Wizard Blog) that it helps to just focus on a few items each day that can help you reach your long term goals instead of trying to mark off as many to-do list items as possible.  Of course, having the right attitude helps as well.  Do you feel like you’re constantly chasing time?  How do you manage your priorities?

 

Insecure Writer's Support Group

            Well, here it is: my first post with the IWSG.  This will be my first regularly scheduled post among my updates and changes to my blog.  Every first Wednesday of the month, you get to hear about my writing insecurities, yay!  Of course, I have many insecurities with my writing, but one of my first concerns with joining this group was whether I was willing to share those insecurities with the world.  Showing such vulnerability and continuously putting these insecurities into words each month sounded a bit daunting at first.  I have realized, though, that this is called a “support group” for a reason.  It is nice to have accountability and encouragement once in a while and the only way to find that is by sharing my uncertainties with someone else. 

            Something else that I was a little unsure about is that it appears that most of the people in this group are published authors, or at least the handful of random pages I clicked on from the list.  I have a lot of crazy ideas floating around in my head and a few pages worth of notes.  That’s it.  I also have a full-time job that drains my energy, so I do not know when I will be able to focus on the great undertaking of book writing, but I do hope to someday.  Until then, I still have plenty of insecurities to share and there will be many, many more when I take on that task, so I’ll keep you posted.
 

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That's my job in a Death Star-sized nutshell

            Speaking of my job, I have been working more the past few weeks due to one person quitting and another on vacation, and so I have not been able to read or comment as much as I would like on most of the people I have been following.  I’m hoping to get back on my normal work schedule next week, and I will try to catch up with those I follow and get back on the road with the Post A to Z Road Trip.