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 And, to be honest, much of what I've heard in meetings I already know to be outdated and untrue.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!

Well on my way

I have read the experiences of many an author. I have concluded that there is no set way to get published. The only commonality I find among all successful authors is that they wrote something and stuck their neck out and gave it to someone else to read.

So, maybe I should par my resolutions down to this. 

1. Write something

2. Submit it

Sounds easy enough, but others' experiences tell me that there's a writing demon out there that does his darndest to make sure one or both of those things don't happen. And I'm pretty sure his major weapon is busy-ness. Keep people busy with "important" things, and neither of those two will happen. 

Inspiration

I just stumbled upon this blog from another writermama blog. Inspiring. This will be me this year.

Resolutions

As promised on my facebook, here are some of my 2009 resolutions and strategies to make them happen. I've always been a believer in not only writing goals, but writing HOW I'm going to accomplish them. 2008 has been a big year of, excuse the now-cliche phrase, change. Becoming as some bloggers term themselves, a "writermama" has been more difficult than I expected. It started with everyone telling me to "nap when she naps" and "give yourself time to adjust," and it continued with justifications to put all of my writer career pretty much on the back burner while I figured out this whole mama thing.

Well, now that we've established a semi-routine, and now that the proverbial fire is once again lit underneath me, here are my goals for the new year concerning my writing/editing career.

1. Write 30 minutes a day, five days a week. The one thing that has had the most influence on my writing career and actually getting it started is what I learned from Peggy Fielding in a free class she offers locally, "You're not a writer unless you write." Simple. Profound. Rocked my world. I must be a writer.

2. Submit a query to a magazine/publisher/agent 3x's a week. Mainly magazine. Am actually planning on applying at a local magazine, and I'm on the hunt for community-based writing jobs. Of all I've read, the people making the big bucks started local. I wanted to skip local and go straight to national and then universal! But, it turns out, the local community is not to be overlooked and many times provides steady assignments.

3. Read 1-2 books per month. I know, that's not a lofty goal for a writer, but I must read. I read slowly, so this is a realistic goal. If I made it more, I wouldn't accomplish it. Granted, this goal's focus is on novels. Picture books I will read ad nauseum (is that spelled right?) with my baby girl.

4. Go to a major national writer's conference this year, fully paid for with my business money. When I go, I want to have at least 3 manuscripts and 5 agents that I've researched and am ready to pitch to.

The resolutions continue to include health resolutions and spiritual, but we'll stop here.

Now, the plan of attack. 

I find that I get the most accomplished first thing in the morning. If I don't do it first thing, I generally don't get it done. With this in mind, I've also noticed of late that I have two "first thing in the morning" opportunities per day. My hubby works two jobs, bless him, so I can stay at home. I usually wake up to see him off to his first job, then spend 40 minutes lying awake in bed wanting to go back to sleep. Then I wake up again to get ready for the day. Why not take advantage of both wake-up times?

So, for 2009, I will get up and do all writing during my first wake-up moment. Then I will either work through to my second, or I will snooze and wake up again an hour or more later. During that second wake-up time, I'll work on health and spiritual goals.

That leaves the rest of the day to focus on my daughter, and maybe, just maybe, I'll try that "nap when she naps" theory. We'll see. Housework has to fit in somewhere. . .