A little of this . . . a little of that

There's a lot playing around in my head right now. If I were to throw up some "brain puke" for you (my graphic term to engage high schoolers in trying their hand at true brainstorming), here's what would come up:

1. Why am I always the youngest (or close to the youngest) of the writers at my local writers' meetings? I read a blog recently (can't find the link, sorry) discussing if $50 is too much to charge to draw a younger crowd to a writer's conference. For me, money's not the issue; it's my time. I hate hate hate paying money to go somewhere that's a waste of my time. That said, I hate going to a free meeting that also tends to be a waste of my time. It's been hit and miss with local writers' group meetings. Part of the problem is most writers are not public speakers, so they may have a wealth of knowledge to contribute, but it comes out all Charlie Brown "Wah, wah wah wah wah wah" like. 

Along this line, I'm realizing how much knowledge really is available online. You really only have to follow a few key blogs, and you can stay up on national or even worldwide news in the publishing industry. Most of what I've heard in meetings I already read on someone's blog. And, to be honest, much of what I've heard in meetings I already know to be outdated and untrue. This all goes back to the age thing. A majority of the writers populating the meetings are well on their way into retirement which means generally they don't use a computer much and surfing the Internet is very limited. I almost fell out of my chair the other day when a 70+ year old man told the group about the Kindle 2.0. The funny thing was, he was announcing the bonus that it reads the books aloud to you, completely oblivious to all the controversy for authors' rights and losing commissions for audio books. 

Where are the young writers? Are they just staying home because they know they can get all they need off the Internet? Should I join them?

2. Something's gotta give. I recently consulted one of my successful entrepreneurial moms to talk about the balance of running a home-based business and raising a family. One of her many nuggets of wisdom was that it's okay to let some things go from time to time and catch up on them later. Sometimes it's the laundry. Sometimes it's cleaning the house. Sometimes it's a playdate. I find that very comforting. I'm not the only one struggling to balance it all while trying to keep my title of SuperMom.

3. Goals: I'm already ready to review and adjust my goals for this year. Part of it is that reality has shown me I overshot a lot. Part of it is that I'm already way behind, so I need to find a way to catch up. And part of it is just going back to that beautiful word, BALANCE. I haven't figured it all out, but I do know enough that I can admit that I can't do everything, all in moderation, and even if things don't go the way I planned, they still go and good things happen. (Since I wrote this post, I found this. It resonates with exactly what works for me.)

As I've quoted before, if you aim at nothing, you'll hit it every time. Even though I may be aiming at the impossible, when I take a breath and look at all the "little" things I've accomplished along the way, I realize I'm already doing way more than I did just last year. Yay!