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Just Writing Fiction Tonight…
The City is Quiet… My email is quiet, and I want to do some reading tonight of stories I am behind reading, and Kris’s new novel. But first I’m going to spend a few hours just writing my own fiction. To be honest, that feels weird. I normally have so many things that must be done yesterday, so much so that I work in the fiction writing late at night. But tonight I am going back to my schedule of getting to the fiction by midnight and if I can do that regularly, I will be back up to my old speed. So during this time of forgetting for most…
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Decisions…
We All Make These Kinds of Decisions Every Day… I have spent the entire day on errands and then recording some videos and then doing assignments and answering email. It’s a Monday. It is now 2:20 AM and I have not gotten any writing done. So instead of spending my last waking hour tonight doing a long blog, I am going to shut this business screen down and go to my computer and get at least an hour of words done. There, I lead by example.
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Another Day of Needing to Write
Romantic Suspense Workshop In Town… I honestly am doing nothing with them, but I am recording the study along videos and reading the stories from those assignments for those taking the Study Along. It is not many because this is the time of great forgetting.. And Allyson from WMG is here and we are having great meetings and such as well. So no long post tonight, but soon. Again, questions on the first seven parts of the series, feel free to ask. Or something I have not talked about and you would like me to, feel free to ask on that as well. Off to write.
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Memory and Perspective
The Beach Boys… Tonight I watched the first half of the Grammy salute to the Beach Boys. Some of the major artists were up to playing Beach Boy songs, some were not, but the history of the music and the writing so far has been fascinating. And seeing all five remaining original Beach Boys sitting in the same box in the theater was so cool. Especially after all they have been through. 60 Years Ago… Yes, I said sixty… I went out on a first date with a woman I now know longer even remember her name, to a Beach Boys concert being held in the Boise High School auditorium.…
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Challenges Are Battles Against Yourself…
Nothing Else Matters… Just You… Challenges have this nasty habit of quickly uncovering issues in your motivation and your consistency in writing and other life issues you are dealing with. This challenge for me uncovered that my vision stamina is not strong yet. If I spend a lot of time during the day, as I did a few days this last week, at my business computer, by the time I get to the writing computer, I am very limited in the amount of time I have. I love writing at night, and my eyes are better at night. I expected to be slow, didn’t expect that sight issue would be…
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Slow Starts Are Perfectly Fine
No Reason At All To Worry… A number of you have decided to take the writing challenge with me for the next nine months, until the end of the year. But I have gotten a number of letters worried about starting slow. And I am starting slow, as I said I would. This worry can really invite in critical voice, repeating over and over that you are failing. Not sure why anyone buys that a few days into a nine month challenge, but if you buy into it, and let critical voice take over, it sort of becomes a self-fulfilling thing. Yikes! The key is to focus on the writing…
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Got Up Very Early…
Halfway Through My Night, Actually… To go with Kris as she ran, biked, and swam in a Reverse Triathlon. She started off with a 5K run, then did 10K on a bike, and then 300 yards of swimming. I was her support staff, to hold her stuff, get her water and such and help her through the transitions. She completed it and did fantastic! She is flat amazing. Read her post on Facebook about how life conspired against her on the training and she still showed up and finished. I often get questions about what it takes to become a long-term, full-time fiction writer. My answer is never quit, and…
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A Fun Challenge…
This Is Only An Idea… Many of you know I got basically an eye infection in my only good eye back in late October that pretty much made me blind for a time and vision challenged for months now. Docs said it would take six months to get better and it has been getting better. Still not back yet, but I am getting back reading. I will be catching up on workshop stories I have let go (thanks for understanding) and even more fun I will be reading Kris’s new Diving novel that has been sitting on my table for three weeks. Damn that is exciting. But even more exciting…
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Forgot One Thing… Writing
That’s Right, But Not Really Forgot… Just left it out of that massive list of things starting the first part of the year. Writing is the most important thing, and for the first time in going on 50 years, I did not have an open lane to write as much or as little as I want starting the first of the year. Back in late October, I injured my one good eye and was basically blind for a couple of days which was damned scary. Turns out is is something that happens, has no cause (unless you are coming down with MS), and has no treatment. Basically the eyesight in…
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Amazing Power
Why Streaks and Challenges? I get asked that question a lot. Why do I pay so much attention to streaks and challenges?? I once again proved to myself tonight with this blog why. Let me lightly paint the picture. 3 am. The air outside the floor-to-ceiling glass windows of our bedroom was a cold-for-Vegas 43 degrees. Lights and computers were off in my office and I had watched all of thirty minutes of television downstairs before nodding off. I was shivering and just about to climb into bed to pull up the two blankets and two quilts to my chin when Kris rolled over and muttered the question she asks…