I spent years in the Army, years in a corporate cubicle, a stint in a classroom, a non-profit, etc. My time was mine to manage inside my employers’ bubbles. In fact, I was a project/program manager for years, and I planned work for others. None of that really prepared me for being a self-employed, full-time writer.
Most days, I happily hit the keyboard. I’m enthused about my story that has a drop-dead date to complete or I’m staring at a deadline to return a set of edits. Deadlines do help with motivation. However, there are days when I have my lovely month-ahead calendar sitting in front of me, with all the work parsed into numbers of pages to get me to the finish line within a very doable timeframe, when I look at it and think: But I don’t wanna. Not today.
This week is soooooo hard. It’s the last week of school for our four online students. Their mother and I have been their support/mentors/tutors all year long, bending our work schedules around theirs to make sure everything gets done.
Online schooling is hard. But we managed to help all four kids, 7 through 16-years-old, get through it. And we managed to have fun along the way, with family movie or game nights and special dinner rewards, and with limited excursions to the park or the flea market (large areas, few people). We’ve followed the rules and kept everyone healthy and happy for 14 months. We’ve drawn closer as a family because we had to be each others’ friends and playmates.
During all of this, I have managed to write. Not as prolifically as I did maybe eight years ago, but more so than I did three years ago. I carved out hours in my schedule to retreat to my “mole hole” and write.
So, why am I dragging ass lately? We’ve made it through a huge commitment. Next year, we’ll only have one child staying home because the rest have been vaccinated, and all of us have learned how to use a mask. Next year, should be easier, right? A cakewalk, really.
So, back to why I want to blow off today… There’s not anything special happening to draw my attention. I simply don’t want to open the files I need to open and bury myself in another world. I want to drink some coffee, sit on the back patio, and play some Charm King on my phone. Something that will add pages to write to all the days that follow.
In my brain, that seems like a wonderful tradeoff—until tomorrow morning comes.
I love this quote…
My answer today is tomorrow!
Contest
For a chance to win your choice of a download of one of my books, share a motivational quote or tell me how you deal with self-motivation. Are you a Last-Minute-Mary or do you do today so tomorrow is free?
This is still one of my all-time favorite music videos. Who knew Christopher Walken could dance?! It’s weird (which I love) and makes you want to move! So, this being Saturday, I know I need to bust some moves and get my space clean. Ugh, isn’t housework the worst? The weather is warming up the pool. Slowly. We’re going to try to swim late this afternoon. The pool is still a bit cloudy, but we’re tired of waiting for “perfect.” It’s so much better than the sludgy black-green it was a month ago. Sounds nasty, right? It was!
So, here’s the contest. Share the title of a music video you love. That’s it. Up for grabs is a $5 Amazon gift card.
And if you’re needing suggestions for what to read this weekend, here’s one…
That’s how I feel about Mondays! Of course, when I wake kids for online school, singing the Mamas and the Papas “Monday, Monday”, they all groan. I like getting up early, looking at a fresh To Do for the week, and hoping I keep to the plan. So many things to accomplish, and it all feels doable on Mondays. By Wednesday, I’m already playing catchup. And I’m about to blow my Monday plan this morning by sneaking out to head to the flea market. LOL
How about you? Do you love Mondays? Do they feel like a fresh start?
Comment for a chance to win your choice of one of my downloadable backlist books!
Here’s me beaming—as I look through the hundred pics their mama took before they headed out to the prom. I chose my two fave photos so I don’t bore you too much! Here’s the 17-year-old and the 16-year-old, stepbrother and sister standing in our driveway.
She didn’t want a typical prom dress–you know, with lots of tulle and sparkles. Said she wanted to look fierce. And add a black mask with rhinestones that she wore in the larger group, I bet she did look fierce and mysterious! Wish I could show you with their prom dates, but I figure that would be a privacy issue. Suffice it to say, they were just as gorgeous, just as fierce–and appropriately goofy!
Ah, good times. The kids bought that pool thermometer for me because they thought it looked like me.
We’ve had an in-grown pool for at least ten years (I think). I can usually count on getting into the pool sometime in April—the earliest date was April 12th one year. Not that the water was comfortable, but it wasn’t so cold I’d break out in welts (I suffer from cold urticaria if the water’s cooler than 76 degrees). It’s April 22nd and the outside temp the night before last was 35 degrees. The pool hovers around 60 degrees, and the weather might warm up next week, but we need several weeks of the high eighties to heat the water.
So, while I’m still wearing sweatpants and sweatshirts, I’m dreaming about better days.
In the meantime, I have a book coming out. If you love a print copy rather than the ebook, the print version is available now! Just click on the cover! If you want to pre-order the ebook, head to my book page to pre-order the version you need: In His Memory page. It releases next Tuesday!
The story is emotional, very hot, and you’ll want to order the other books in the series! It’s a military romance, features a SEAL hero, and a friends-to-lovers romance! Do you have your copy reserved?
I’ve shared photos of my favorite fur babies before. Here are Phil, Lil, and Kimi the goats, along with Brandy the horse. Not shown in the picture is the other horse, a 35-year-old Appaloosa pony named Kansas. Our inside animals include 9 dogs and 5 cats. And yes, we have too many animals, but we’re not giving them away or dumping them on the road. They have forever homes with us.
For a chance to win a download from my backlist of books, tell me about any pets, past or present, that you’ve loved!
I hope. I’m still writing it! I’ve been making progress, but I know I’m cutting it close. Have you already pre-ordered the next Hot SEAL, Holiday Edition story? It’s filled with tears and laughter. It’s possible to have both, I promise.
You can read a short snippet from the story and find all the buy links here!
It’s Sunday, and as happens all too often for me, it’s another workday. Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about the fact that I’m constantly chasing my tail with writing and editing. I’m of a “certain age” now and think more about what I might be missing out on with my family. Does that mean I plan to quit doing either? No, but I’m lucky that I have options. I already have two retirement incomes (one is very small—but every little bit helps!), and I’m eligible for Social Security. I can afford to take it a little easier, but I still have all these stories I want to write. I don’t need to earn so much money now. My priorities are shifting.
I plan to enjoy the summer with the kids. The pool will be my daily highlight. We plan for early morning walks along park trails. There will be flea market hunting—although our dear governor has removed the mask mandate, so those excursions will require extra planning, like trying to arrive before the unmasked hoards are out and about. I’ve had both injections, but we have little ones, including one who’s a two-time cancer patient who has another tumor we’re worried about. I wish people would be more considerate of others. Wearing a mask isn’t a big-ass deal when you consider the risks to the vulnerable. *sigh*
I want more time to play with my paint and beads and yarn. I want to create things for my family and friends. I am more than just a writer. I want the kids to remember me for being more than the weird relative who writes all day in her office. They’re such a joy. Did I ever mention that they give me toys to display in my office? They love to collect things for me. Once, they talked their mom into weekly runs to McDonald’s to collect all the How to Train your Dragon dragons that came in the kid’s meals. Yeah, I have every one of them. They didn’t care about keeping them for themselves because they knew I’d love them.
Okay, I’m rambling. These are the things I’ve been thinking about though. Maybe I’m just a bit aggravated with myself because of the self-inflicted time crunch I’m under.
Anyway, for a chance to win a FREE book from my backlist of books, let me know whether you’ve given much thought to your golden years and what you’d like to do!
