writing day

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Back At IT Then…

Dreams

Dreams

My commitments for the next 3 months are…

1. Continue to take Hacked Off through Holly Lisle’s revision course HTRN – 22 weeks roughly. With the view to then formatting that and working out covers etc and getting up here as an example of my writing and as an exercise in working out ‘how to’ and to prove to myself ‘I can do.’

2. Continue to type up the long hand manuscript for Q3 and Q4 at the rate of 4 sides /day / 5 days/week.

 

I finished the first read though and first two exercises just now – I had started before the break.

 

I started on the type up Sunday – so I felt I was ahead by Monday! Which was just as well as with the horses now in I was rediscovering the joys of stable duties and realised I had not ever factored in 6 hours of that in my day – even if Rescue Time logged it under ‘Fresh Air’ – Hum – not been in many stables then.

 

I suppose it could be described as a work out and yoga with aromatherapy thrown in, the dog’s walk now consists of checking the electric fence and scaling the muck heap.

 

Hard…

 

Given how keen I was to get back to this I am finding it hard – especially the typing up – I have been leaving it to the end of the day as it is fairly mechanical – but of course I am tired – however it leaves my fresher time in the day for the reading and revision of HO which requires thought and creativity.

 

Help…

 

I have found Brendon Bruchard helpful for keeping myself focussed as he is cross denominational and up beat – he also has pertinent personal development ideas that I can learn from so he makes easy listening and good company in a phase of the year when most folk are trying to push you into goal setting/ consequences of failing to goal set or have you failed yet? Content.

My usual online mentors are still unrolling after Christmas and I have yet to catch up with Michael Hyatt or Darren Rowse, Jeff Goins course Intentional Blog Course has a busy online group so there is always something to see and do at coffee time and I did sign up for extra groups in my online writing group – Write Words.

(Not affiliated to any of these)

 

 MY TAKEOUT

– When working at home it is very important to have support  outside the place of folk travelling in the same direction as you as it is easy to get fed up and put off or dismiss all the effort as ‘pointless’ especially in areas it is hard to directly correlate time and money…

 

MY ADVICE

– Jump in and say Hi. Google your interest spectrum and see what you can join in with  – the only way this will fail to connect you is if you don’t do it.

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2015 Train Leaves Station…

What  a privilege it has been this year

Hasn’t ‘always’ seemed like it but I picked up some early architect plans when cleaning house prior to decorating that were drawn last year and as the conservatory starts to go up next week I realised that what was on the paper and then looked an impossible dream – is all around me now. WOW!

White Boarding

White Boarding

 

That is an aside really to what has happened with my writing during this time – suffering from displacement and all that goes with moving out of a home into a mobile home and then re discovering the silence and joy of being alone to work – only to find I over did it and let myself get unfit and stale.

Trying to deal with delivering a work flow to my own satisfaction in the face of being at the mercy of everyone else’s requirements either family or the guys working on the house.

I haven’t always got it right.

 

I have tried not to let it stop all work – if not typing up my main goal project then I have been thinking about websites and blogs, even if that is listening to a Podcast or joining in a webinair – there haven’t been too many days I haven’t thought or done something – and usually quite a lot – to keep me on track.

 

I have hitched my waggon to numerous big engines of influence and guidance and to some smaller ones to get me up the hills of frustration and delay but now as we chug in to the home stretch I have got off  the moving trains and am watching them leave the station without me – why?

 

I have to get out and walk a while – carry my work through to the end of the journey – no one can do that for me though some will keep me company enroute – it will be my route and not theirs – I am not a ‘good follower’ which a mentor advocated was a requirement to succeed in life the other day to me and to his ‘followers’ and he is right I am not. I would suggest that neither is he!

 

No one can do very much alone in this world

We all need help and encouragement and guidance  but we also need to fly free to achieve our dreams – we cannot live by committee nor do business that way nor write books that way – not if we want the satisfaction of skidding tattered and torn into the grave knowing we gave it our all and lived to the max – having the courage to stand alone and find your way between the sign posts and choose which route, and when to take it is a huge part of that – hitching my wagon to a Star and trailing in its reflected glory is not for me just to say I belong somewhere  – I belong in me. You belong in you.

 

Listen. Learn. Move On.

 

So I am on the platform of life watching the trains leave and around me are the amazing and wonderful things I have in my life in all their messy stages and it IS time now to take it all forward – get the house finished, move back in, and get my series through revision and out there…

 

What is it time for you to do?

Dreams

Dreams

 

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First Go To Research When Freed From Type Up…

Results of research into avoiding the type up of 360600 first draft long hand words of Q3 and Q4 this next year

Photograph the page with phone ( I am so old I still think that is odd!)
Upload to lap top.
Open Evernote
New Notebook
New Note
Save photo to Evernote

ISSUE – have to make notes underneath it out of sight  and possibly hard on eventual type up.

Return to uploaded photo
Open OneNote
New Section
New page
Copy photo and paste to the page.

Can make notes at the side to be seen on type up – ISSUE -BUT so far can’t see how to make photo long hand larger so can decipher some bits of poor writing
– this may be rectified by viewing OneNote App on Iphone

Test Photo Taken For Printing...

Test Photo Taken For Printing…

– NO I have found the zoom! ISSUE sorted!
Taken to printers they handed me back a perfectly legible and revisable  A4 sheet.
This is the Planes Trains and Automobiles of writing!!!!!!!!!

HOLD ME DOWN  this still may be a faff to sort out but it secures the work
In two places off paper and is nothing like as awful as typing crap  first draft that won’t make it through revision – 7×160 side A4 note books will take a while to get on to the system but if I get this right then I have just gained a year and a major chance to get this show on back on the road!

I will be able to write my new stuff along side the revision of the Quest series if I feel like it and it will STOP that series from taking over my damn life – it is a YA series but I have other things I want to do so the thought of spending too much time on it have been giving me chills – how much life have I left anyway? It may sell a few copies, it MAY sell well but it is just one product and if I have learnt anything in life generally it is

DON’T KEEP EGGS IN ONE BASKET!!!!!!!!!!!!

Though this doesn’t apply to sheep who are better if they are all in one field – yours.

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And Looking Ahead – As You Do….

My Thoughts On An Editorial Calendar…

Finish type up of Q2, Scrivener file plus print out. This one I completed this week 🙂

Three Manuscripts

Three Manuscripts

 

Typed MS Q1 + Q2 + HO

 

= THREE MS ready to take through HTRN which kicks off 14/12/15

 

22 week course

 

 

Q3+Q4 Type up – Target = 369,600 words/7 black note books

 

Assume 260 days (5 day week) =1421 typed up words/day/5 days OR 7105/week

 

OR 21 sides long hand.

I would say that equates to 5 hours/week minimum if not 7 hours.

 

5 hours could be one long session  5am -10 am  or 1pm -5pm  or 5pm-10pm  one day /week

 

If this could be achieved as a priority each week then by this time next year when the others  have been through HTRN once etc and I am in a better position to get them read and formatted then these will be ready to HTRN to follow through.

 

 

I would rather try to think of doing it this way than 1 + 1/2 hours a day for 5 days which if I am revising or writing new may be distracting.

 

BUT

What if you took photos of each page and saved to Evernote and onenote – printed out from that? Turned into pdf or annotated?

 

4 sides typed every day  x 5 days/week  is about 20/week  and that means the 360600 is doable.

 

 

###TODAY I did 5 hours ?10/3 and did 12 pages – it was a BIG intrusion on the day.###

 

So  4 sides/day /5days /week = 369600 IN this next 12 months.

 

OR 20 sides /week BUT if that is 2 x 10 that is two whole  sessions each time you try

 

OR 80 sides/month over say 4 or 5 days in one week with a break from everything else. I am not drawn to that I think it gives the highest chance of giving up as once missed it is a huge cock up – one 4 side day missed is easily caught up.

 

Can you write 4 sides in one hour?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I still need to be around on social media, I need to maintain my blog and keep searching out new ideas and techniques /how to etc

 

Friday blog post needs to be maintained  as well as outposts -Make a list of topics you could talk on or each blog. But YOU must show up and do – that means Thursday or Friday am latest.

 

What about batch writing? I don’t think I have enough advance stuff to do that – tends to be journalistic personal experience or reaction or breakthrough find. I can drop mention the books as I go.

 

2016 needs to be focussed on getting the books out to market Nov onwards with marketing and development strategy in place and formatting and website shop etc organised -VAT and Tax checked out and sales cart in place.

 

Advertising etc needs thinking about  if advertising in mags/radio etc

 

2017 Q2 needs to be released just before Easter and HO

 

Q3 summer half term

 

Q4  in time for summer holls

 

If these segments are broken into more books than 4 then that wants adjusting.

 

 

Evergreens and We rode For series ought to be in production by then and HA finished and under HTRN to release Easter 2018

 

Aim is to have  1 evergreen and one YA out each year – standalone Ancestrous needs writing…

And then there are those who say you cannot hit a target you can not see and that looking more than three months ahead is pointless….

I think it is good to plan but foolish to write it in stone.

 

 

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A Good Week to Give up…

If I had a mind too and I don’t.

Dreams

Dreams

The long awaited Broad Band and land line phone were finally set up by BT and so we got our WiFi back at the exact same moment as my new Lap Top declared it’s hard drive had died.

It hadn’t – but that needed several trips to the shop to find that out, meanwhile it was obvious that while the iPhone 6  has been a God send this last few weeks – nothing has backed up via the Warm Patch – all the machinery needed to back up and catch up many weeks worth and I think I made  our own Black Hole over Dorset in the Internet.

It also made me see how vulnerable Scrivener projects are between older machines and operating systems and new machines and soft ware and the fact that some back up  suggestions I had followed only backed up partially which meant had my hard drive had to be replaced I would have been in the mire…

I signed up for One Drive but realised Scrivener didn’t travel well to it so I cancelled that and enlarged my Drop Box facility for a year aprox £106 and if I make a new folder and copy a scriv. project to it and then drag that to the Drop Box it travels just fine – can’t open it on the iPhone as Scrivener isn’t fully mobile – yet.

I have done all I can do right now – given husband home with bad tooth and bad knee and house project hitting frustration it has been a tricky week to keep spirits up.

I have a feeling next week will be all but impossible to maintain my blog schedule – I see Brendan Brushard is partnering with Oprah with a motivational product and that Geoff Goins may be doing his Intentional Blogging course again – I feel I need some ‘Oomph’ in the back ground while I paint the house – I might give them both a go…

 

I have been typing when I can I still want to finish the current WIP type up quickly as Holly Lisle is firing up to launch her brilliant course How To Revise Your Novel on 8th Dec and I am looking forward to rejoining the group there and  seeing new faces  galore.

So it WOULD have been a good week to give up – but I am NOT going to – I’l just go on slowly and keep scanning the horizon as I inch towards the destination.

What ever it is that YOU are struggling with – keep going slowly- you can only fail if you stop.

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Doing Best…

Dreams

Dreams

Typed on today on my active project – Yea! As they say  – and got myself out to Chapter 9. Dropped back into the story better than I hoped I would – which always feels nice.

Spent week trying to find space to work either mentally or physically  – have moved  back into the house to write this today.

and  feel I have become a back packer again –

2015-11-03 08.16.39

 

Destination still being constructed

Destination still being constructed

No sign of new phone connection BT and Open Reach are diabolical to deal with but Mark Bede at Black and White Computers has set up my iPhone to act as a hub to include husband’s lap top as well as mine which is brilliant as so much of the official side of life is on line now – Vat, Tachograph records etc it is  very worrying to be off line for any reason – and their incompetence being the cause of this is particularly galling!

Doing best I can this week to do something on the writing every day – I have ‘shown up’  everyday and that is about all I can say…:)

 

 

 

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Typing On…

Dreams

Dreams

I got on with some typing up of the YA series – it was a bit awkward in 27 as I prefer to stand and type and generally it is easier in here if everyone sits still but I managed 2000 and my time management tool Rescue Time told me I had hit my 2 hour goal in my 8 hour day – which I was pleased with as I don’t type fast and deciphering my long hand scrawl is a pain – typing up huge gaffs like ‘head hopping’ also need spotting at this stage and either a note left to self to rewrite or re write it then and there…though I try not to do that and I also only do a cursory spell check etc before it is added to Scrivener and then printed off – that is the bit I most like -seeing a manuscript start to appear – reading it on paper is when the major bloops really stand out and also when I stop feeling embarrassed about the thing as if it is now an entity in it’s own right – no pun intended – and I can rip it apart and revise it without feeling a ‘failure’ or that it is ‘a waste of time.’ !!
BT say they are due here on Friday morning – an actual person !!!!! – and that the phone and BB WILL be fixed – we can’t have our old number – by midnight Fri – I have to get our electrician to swap the lines over as Mum’s line comes into our sockets and my IT engineer may also have to come if the BB extender has been compromised that shunts the BB out to 27 – I am not letting self think that it will plug and play on Friday as then I won’t be disappointed – it has cost 100’s of £ to sort this out and doing stuff like VAT which is all on line now has been made impossible – it has been a real eye opener of an experience all around!
I was sooo lucky Gordon was able to get me this Iphone to at least give us some connection this last 4 weeks – I had no idea they would run a laptop BB as well as them selves – so that is a big HUG for him dragging me to the phone shop that morning as soon as we discovered what had happened.

Tue 03 Nov 2015 at 05:49AM
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Goals…

Dreams

Dreams

Been playing with the the goal setting department on Parrelli Connect again – keeping it low key – system goal to be safe etc (!) and a custom goal to get Bud off the farm twice a week and extended the time on the working through the level 1 on line stuff. Everything here has ground to a halt the last month especially as we tried and failed to get at least my mum back in the house by the 2nd week of Oct. The fact is now at SOME point in the next four weeks that house will be liveable but I still have to paint the entire place from bare plaster up and do soft furniture and furniture etc – haven’t been setting my writing goals and daily word counts on my typing due to having to clear the table for meals now Mum is in 27 with me – I am doing web based promo and blogging and attending learning experiences when the BB allows but my whole ‘goal centric life’ has crashed.
I cannot set goals for the house because they are not mine to control and even with the horse goal I have just set I have to prioritise the needs of the workmen on the house and facilitate them getting in when they need to and despite them being very good I still need to be here at – there has been no stage in this whole project where I could be away from it actually which has been very tiring and hasn’t even guaranteed that jobs haven’t sometimes still had to be done again!
I had a second A4 note book to type Aug – Now which hasn’t been done for one of the Q series  books – I have already moved the deadline on that – I would like to get it typed by new year but it needs undisturbed space to leave it out and me turning up to do it for several hours a day and head space to stay ‘with it’ when I am interrupted as bumping in and out of ‘story mode’ is actually painful. I have to be ready to stop everything and suddenly do something to get us back in the house – what ever it is and when ever an opportunity arises – that has to be priority but the horse goals and writing goals are not going to sit with that very well – horse goals will be weather bound as well – though that frees me to write.

IT may end up being house – write OR ride depending on weather. But from Bud’s POV that isn’t what he needs to be safe out and about…. hard one this am to think through. 🙂 

It IS a bit lighter in the mornings which means working on my fitness by going for a run early when doing hay IS possible without be tripping over  in the dark and that would help everything else  – it just doesn’t appeal! I know once I get back into it  I will get a buzz from it which will make motivation but right now the ‘taking action’ bit is evading me…

Obviously I am a Work In Progress on all fronts today! :0

 

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Once You Are In The Mixture -You Are Someone Else’s Cake…

Dreams

Dreams

Once you are in the mixture you are someone else’s cake…

This applies to membership sites and advice to find ‘outposts’ to blog on . However tempting it is because it feels companionable  and you might learn something…

Beware there is conflicting advice…

‘Hang out where your future customers dangle’  – this can backfire if the membership site becomes unsuitable and when other members also feel aggrieved and ripped off by them – you  have to either speak up or say nowt – and live with the consequences for you and your work/product of which ever choice you make.

‘Don’t build your house on a rented lot’ – this generally means self host your blog – a must if you aim to be commercial. Even if no one reads it for years…

‘Make your self useful on other people’s platforms’ – this one is a tricky one – we all want to belong and be useful – on someone else’s site – it can only be with their permission and not used as an excuse to blog about your product on their platform or against their ethics. You can also end up feeling used and fed up if your unsought efforts are unappreciated or feeling you are in the ‘hot seat’ if they cock up.

This Weeks Take Out…

Keep your best work on your own site and always link back to it.

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The Courage Of Your Convictions…

Sometimes it is necessary to say things to folk we admire when we think they are wrong – however Great And Good they may be – they have feet of clay just like the rest of us and constantly agreeing with folk doesn’t lead to the development of good relationships nor future strategies.

Advice on doing this –

Image0138

Keep eyes on the horizon over rough country.

Courage comes with action.

Be brave – nothing ventured nothing gained.

Be respectful – after all no one is always right not even you and certainly not me.

Agree to disagree and move on to the things you do share.

Be prepared to leave if necessary.

All relationships are give and take  –

Customers and Service Providers,

Mentors and Mentees ,

Group Members and Group Leaders,

and even Business Owners …

Just because you ‘follow’ some one or join in doesn’t mean you have no view – especially if you have parted with cash.

As Business Owners, Service Providers or Group Creators it is wise to remember that the customer is always right and can always leave if your message isn’t one they want to hear and you ignore them too long or demand money back if your content is worthless or becomes useless to them.

A mentor of mine when asked what a definition of authorial success was said

‘When you sell a book on line and they don’t want their money back…’ ( para phrase Holly Lisle) It seems to me this applies to most things.

As customers we need to be able to give constructive feed back and be brave enough to do it.

If it falls on closed ears, closed minds or automated software – so be it – but have courage – it isn’t always that way. Most of us need each other – dialogue is always best.

 

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‘Mommie’s Ho – ome…’

I have no doubt that this will be so!

I suspect my Writing Week will consist of little more than endless rewrites of To Do lists and To Do To lists which obviously may involve wax and pins if we haven’t managed to get The House out of Recovery and it isn’t breathing on it’s own – or She Who Is Returning doesn’t have floor boards in her room still.

I am taking the cowards way out and writing this a head of time  – despite my dislike of all things automated – because then I will be looking forward to the next week and getting back to work.

I am always optimistic – and I have seen a bean bag chair that will ‘just go’ in my new writing cell and may by the time this posts I will have recovered from the white paint ‘snow blindness’ I suspect I am about to be inflicted with.

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Mixed Bag Of Take Out…

I read a lot of what might be called Happy Clappy Mumbo Jumbo  – it keeps me semi sane and stops me boring the backsides off my neighbours and friends when I am having a Bad Day.
The joy of the internet is now that you can sign up for all kinds of Mumbo Jumbo stuff  free  or other wise – Yummy – It is better than chocolate and cheers me up and isn’t fattening – sometimes it even gets me off my arse and back to the writing or out side to run or ride.

There are some lovely kind people Out There.

They are often incredibly generous with their ‘Free Stuff’ and in exchange for an email contact usually provide a magazine of delight to pass the coffee break with or to get me running with gusto after my obligatory 2 x treble shots of caffeine on rising  – so I don’t smoke – but I am not a saint.
I have read stuff from folks all over the world, chatted to them and joined their groups for a few hours or a few days – or taken up residence and rented space.

I am quite happy joining in and Having A Go.

But  I wish The Marketeers on line would work out that the common type of launch process is getting boring and that automated and outsourced stuff and staff and over delegation deadens the user experience.
When I need a shoulder to lean on and I pick up a Happy Clappy Book I know it is a book – if you choose an on line source of inspiration, kindness and friendship – community even – it is fairly rough when you work out it is an auto responder that just called you a ‘Gorgeous Chick’ and that your series of welcoming and warm emails are pre programmed to draw you deeper, depending on your preferences, whilst rifling your wallet and trading on your misery.
If I am starting to notice this then it IS time for a change…

Hot Rox or C Weed?

It is a bit like lying on a massage table blindfold and wondering  … because with coaching, support, mentoring and spiritual guidance you are baring more than your back side – you may even be baring your soul – to all and some of that may come back and bite you.

My Take Out Recipe?

Stick to the free stuff and put your credit card out of reach before you start to get drawn in by the seduction of a launch you may not notice is aiming for you – when you are vulnerable spending money on rubbish is worse than eating too much chocolate and can do you a great deal more harm.
Any thing that makes you feel good can be addictive – even things you don’t ingest.

Trust me

 You can do this if you just take the next step – just do something towards your dream – think how much you can achieve without spending another penny or wasting another second…I could even finish the series I am writing.
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Research Week Or The Best Of The Rest…

Thought provoking week this week – been researching and setting up a practise ebook down load to exchange for starting an email list.

When I do this ‘for real’ it will likely be based about the fiction I am writing but just for a change I thought I would go for a non fiction – I researched on line and following the collective advice I chose a subject that people ask me about – how do I cope with change? Probably as badly as most other folk TBH but according to Guru’s, Mentors and Coaches, Course Providors collectively that doesn’t matter because it doesn’t have to be perfect it just has to be Out There…

I have watched and read blogs and Pod casts, Periscopes and Blabs and free give away 54 Easy Steps To Get Your X Out There material all week.

I signed up for a lot of ‘Good Stuff’ and now I feel I was led by the key board into the back allies of Information and Knowledge as far from the highway of Education as I ever want to go….

My Take Away?

  1. Did these people train in Peckham Market with Totter’s Independent Traders? It is the impression they give.
  2. A money back guarantee is not a guarantee of standards or quality – or qualification – either on behalf of the provider or for the student to take away.
  3. I felt I was in a wagon train, having paid to be taken where few have successfully been and that the glint of their easy won gold was pulling me in.

    What happened to my practise  e book?

    Not a lot. I decided I didn’t want to set the thing up half researched and poorly formatted and that my experiences of change are just that – at best funny and worst painful – but egged on by all in sundry I was sorely tempted to stick it Out There, as proof what happens when you flock to other folk’s calls and don’t heed your own mind. I haven’t spent any money on this – that I haven’t had refunded.

    My Advice should you need it…

    Gang warily! There are solid folk Out There.

    Stick to a subject you know or the work in hand and do your best to make the product worth having or you will be asked for money back and your News Letters will hit the Junk box.

    Another Idea?

    This doesn’t help me at all with my own E Marketing that I will need at some point in the future but then by then I might have had another idea…

 

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Little Bit Of Heaven.

Amidst the craziness of living next to a building site – my once and future home – while now living and working in a mobile home – is the fact that the situation is pure Heaven – perched in my orchard next to the horses’ summer field and yesterday I took my desk out side and worked with the horses all day- me writing and them getting on with being horses.

The sky was intensely blue and the’ greens’ this side of the farm still intensely green – the bleached out tips of long grass on the old fort on the horizon cannot be seen from here, neither can the ripening wheat and the start of harvest. Here it is green and blue.

Husband prepared Ghost for the show this weekend – washing and polishing and all the usual pre show stuff – only advantage of showing trucks is no plaiting! Hoof oil is replaced by ‘Tyre Black’ – really:) But they still park in lines and sit next to them and then go for a trot up before the judge in the main ring. It is all huge fun and I kinda wish I was going – but I don’t like ‘visiting’ – go for whole weekend and join in is one thing but to ‘drop in’ feels naff…

They left and the stock, horses, dogs and I settled down to what I HOPE will be a peaceful weekend to write – and between you guys and I – I might get Buddy in tomorrow and ride. I will get the tack out for a check over today and if it doesn’t get too hot  give his mane and tail a brush and get him out on a rope to play- then see what tomorrow brings…

It is probably Buddy’s and mine anniversary weekend come to think of it, I must have had him a year exactly – having said I wouldn’t get another one – and he and I are the most unlikely pairing of the small writer and the tall racehorse who hack alone for miles – we get on very well – well we did till he had to have a tooth out and refitted and then I hit lambing and the house project kicked off in April – so I think we have had three rides since New Year…. But he is right there – here – now head and lips resting on the mobile home window giving me that  ‘Get up and let’s go somewhere!’ look or it could be ‘Where’s my hay?’

I hope Husband and lorry have a great time polishing at the show but I think on balance I have my prizes here and I very much hope this weekend I can chill out a bit and enjoy them.

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Busy week.

Change is good – just tiring…

Busy week  checking out and or moving to new writing groups that seem to have more bells and more whistles than I will ever discover and also new blogging sites and one I have been meaning to check out for a while.

At the moment it looks like Scribophile for the new writing group and Haynet as a new blogging space as I have enjoyed reading that one for years but not added to it.

As usual when doing something new I have to pretty much hold nose and jump in – however many bloops  I make – often the fear of changing things is so much worse than actually doing it. I am not sure that you can ever get so used to change it ceases to bother you though the great thing about the internet is friends and colleagues need not be left behind nor lost touch with.

I have managed to hit my typing up of the MS targets for the week and was amused to see another Author informing her followers via email that by publication she could virtually recite her novels – I am with her on that one – though sadly this skill in me doesn’t extend to dictation via Dragon as this week late one night I fired it up only to have my text turn red and be highlighted in green – when this happens I check the room for hidden cameras 🙂

On the horse front this week my farrier re shod a fully rugged Buddy while we braced ourselves against in horizontal July rain. Rufus and Flax used the mud creatively to decorate the fly rugs and style their mane dooz

I escaped to my bolt hole this am – the pier at West Bay.

It is nice that some things never change.

West Bay looking east

West Bay looking east

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Knackered Tonight!

Knackered tonight! Yesterdays research and activity surrounded interesting blogging sites and today’s has been all about researching  on line writing groups – many of whom I have joined over the years and not used in favour of one I very much enjoyed – but sometimes wings need to be spread and so I am checking out these others – what a selection too!

Horses have come up and stared at me through the office window a couple of times and I took my tea out and sat on the trough scoffing cheese on toast while they snuffled about me, inhaling mozzarella and pulling funny faces.

Tonight I need to be back in the office typing up for my two hours of ‘daily typing up’ I will get this draft ready to revise by the end if the summer – I hope.

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Need To Pull Out Of A Tail Spin?

When nothing else matters and nothing else comes close…?

But suddenly you are falling through your dreams immobilised by some thing or other you never saw moving and the ground is coming up to meet you?

Ask your self one question –

Why Am I Doing This?

Hang on to the answer to save yourself.

Today life gave me a good poke off a cliff and as I tore my nails off on the ever shifting ground I heard my self shouting –

‘WHY AM I DOING THIS?’

‘I am writing for my life.’ The answer came back. Nothing else comes close.

Writing = Freedom.

Avoid Falling Flat

Avoid Falling Flat

This in turn reminded me

‘If you fail to plan, you plan to fail…’ I don’t plan to fail this side of hell.

So am back riding the desk horse and chasing my dreams across the page and the shadows from my soul.

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‘What Would You Give Up For Your Dreams?’

 

Such an innocuous question – implies all kinds of things you should and shouldn’t do…

Freedom to roam?

Freedom to roam?

  1.  If you really believed in your dream you would do anything to get it… Hum but then there is the Zen thing and the Karmic thing … Will you care who you squashed when you look back? Will you find your self alone and wonder why?
  2. Then there is the whole health issue – one of my mentors right now is poorly and has been trying to ‘do it all’ – the evidence of potential burn out is right there for us looking in to see.
  3. Another mentor has been talking of getting enough sleep – which turned out to be pertinent to me – but freely admits at his stage in life he can design his own day every day – no boss, no kids etc etc.
  4.  Another talks of hating to be told to ‘slow down’ but at the same time goes on to point out that doesn’t mean at the expense of accuracy  or health…

Me?

 I have been working 17 hours + a day on my stuff and been proud to do it – except I look pale and chubby now and I am making mistakes and having to do things twice – in the end I made such a big mistake I lost the use of my series data on a piece of software and had a 24 hour day  – and then a 24 hour night to recover – when I woke up and took a look at self I realised that all things being equal giving up my physical and mental health ultimately means failure to achieve my goals of publishing the books any time soon – illness and accident can strike us all – deliberate self sabotage is stupid – but we do it all the time without even noticing.

You?

 How are you doing?
          It seems none of us take advice or learn from the mistakes of others before we have too. – the blogging world would have fallen silent by now if that were not so – if you drive your self mad, lay waste to your body and soul and do it at the expense of those around you then what will you really achieve?

Will I take my own advice?

 Well I have stuck to a daily word limit on the typing up and a couple of days this week I didn’t do any but worked out side on the farm without beating self up for abandoning my calling…
 I haven’t had a headache this week yet or a neck like an iron bar – both of which have been constants this last few months.
 I cleaned out my area where I keep my exercise bike etc and found a carpet for my outdoor yoga.
Yoga mat, boots, old bike, rope and diving weights...

Yoga mat, boots, old bike, rope and diving weights…

I started each day with ‘putting in the big rocks first.’ In my case checking the sheep with the dogs on foot which will build up into my  running routine.

Will I stick to it?

Don’t know.

If I start dreaming of also riding my horses regularly again as well?

Desk top hprses only possible right now...

Desk top horses only right now…

 I start to tense up – this place IS a building site right now and being away from the daily Open House Surgery drama is not easy – so I have to think back to ‘put the big rocks in first’  and take action on the things I can do – the house IS still in NECESSARY surgery, and recovery time will be months – but there won’t always be so many people working at once and then I can be free to come and go.

 

Open House Surgery

Open House Surgery

If I stick to the things I can do now then when I get to the
point I can ride away I will enjoy it as my body won’t fall apart or the horse buckle at the knees…September is such
a nice month for riding anyway.

So this week it is ‘big rocks and baby steps while reaching for the stars’ 🙂 Or it will be seeing stars…

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The Joy Of Writing Software…

The Joy Of Writing Software.
Not. Like a horse that drops a shoulder ‘for no apparent reason’ and sends you flying because it can so writing software can cause painful landings, loss of function and total debilitation ‘for no reason’ because it can. In the same way it makes everyone else wince and say ‘Ooo Nasty…’
Having been pitched into the black void by Ywriter once before I always do everything twice and use Scrivener as well – even when I am tired and it seems silly – after all will anyone ever read this stuff? Will I ever finish the projects? Well not with Ywriter I won’t. This time it is being turned out to grass – those projects of mine it hasn’t scattered this time I can still use – but not add to. Scrivener and I will carry on alone – yes I could likely get my stuff back together if I take a few weeks out or give it to some one to sort out for me but really why would I bother? If I don’t know why it did what it did or if I did or didn’t do something – how will I ever be sure it won’t do it again? Scrivener is much more user friendly and is happy to be saved and copied and backed up and carried around – if it was live on line like Evernote and could sync it would be perfect – but it will do till Holly Lisle gets One Stop up and going out of Beta.
The work of typing up Q2 moves on despite the hiccup above – pick self up get back on horse – put lemonade in the glass half empty and type on… Happy days:)
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White Boarding And Other Torture

White Boarding

White Boarding

 

White Boarding

Where am I? What am I supposed to be doing? Eventually boils down to white boards for me and pulling in the various strands of my writing work to form some sort of coherent structure and provide proof of progress and future direction at a glance with or without Broad Band, paper To Do List to hand is a must have for me – pref’ screwed to the wall – but as I am in a mobile home right now propped up on the mega soffa is just fine.

The Torture
 Today this came from Eban Pagan’s launch of The Start Up Club – I dare say it wasn’t meant to be torture but that is how it turned out – email arrived pre dawn and I thought I could give it a go – then I lost the link – and America was asleep. Then I tried the help desk – no dice. Then Live Chat and just as they were sorting me out The Nat West bank Fraud team shut my account and then a blip on the US end meant I got locked out and felt as if I was banging on doors and windows and folk were hiding – they might have been. Strangely the ‘closed’ Facebook group was accessible and soon offering help – I have no idea if I now have access to The Start Up Club  or not – I lie – Or They Are Listening – the email just told me I am in! Whoop pee.  12 hours later. First question was what is important about launching business? Make sure the links work! Also to those in The US please remember we get up way before you do so if you want Wide World business – staff all help desks over 24 hours – Please:)
The torturous experience above meant failure to get out riding  but I did get the white board sorted  so another Good Day In La La Land.