This week the craziness around our house is in full swing, starting with the kidlet's birthday slumber party on Friday, Nov. 18 and it doesn't end until the day after Thanksgiving, Nov. 25.
It isn't hideous, just busy. Much of the craziness is brought on by myself . . . for example, I asked my kidlet if she wanted me to make cinnamon rolls for the morning after her slumber party. Of course, she would have been happy with her dad's pancakes, but no, I had to offer. And she accepted.
See? Crazy.
I also had hubster purchase mini cheesecake pans and mini-tart pans so I could experiment with downsizing the desserts for Thanksgiving. Er, I don't have a handy-dandy cookbook, so I have to test everything this week.
Crazy.
I also decided to make my candy fillings, so they will be ready when I need to start making candy. Oh, and I found two new caramel recipes to try. One is with sea salt and I'm planning to make it today!
Time consuming and crazy.
I want to start on the Christmas cards, Christmas shopping, and blah, blah, blah . . .
Crazy.
All of this is in addition to regularly scheduled events that require chauffeuring, including organizing the slumber party @ 6 giggling girls, ordering the ice cream cake, planning the Monday family get-together and B-Day dinner (@ 20 people--cake and food, cooking appetizers and desserts with my SIL for Thanksgiving, etc. etc.
I'm sure I've forgotten something, but I must enjoy all the craziness because I seem to do it every year. :-) I should be blogging regularly, but I doubt if I'll get much writing accomplished, but then again, I'm only editing right now, so maybe I'll finish TWIST OF FATE and send it off to Carina Press by the end of this week.
Oh, the FOCUS STEALERS talk went well. It was a small group of ladies, about 15, and I knew about half of them. I only saw a few yawns at the beginning of the presentation and I know what slides I'm tossing out of the pile . . . *snort* fat chance anyone else would want me to do this talk again! Oh, well, who knows.
Later, Peeps! Raise your glass and toast the craziness!
Showing posts with label Focus stealers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Focus stealers. Show all posts
11/14/11
11/12/11
Focus Stealers--part deux
Today, I'll be giving my talk on FOCUS STEALERS and what to do about them.
Again, I'll extend my invite to anyone in the Tulsa area who,
1) has nothing better to do on this beautiful Saturday afternoon, (or simply wants to escape from the hoodlums that you fondly call your children!)
2) wants to see me (I'm thinking old HS friends here, stalkers are NOT welcome)
3) is interested in writing, but doesn't know how to get started (there will be a roomful of people willing to help. Okay, roomful is an exaggeration. Since I can only guarantee that I'll be there! I'M WILLING TO HELP YOU GET STARTED)
4) wants to heckle me because I never got around to timing OR practicing this program OR because you missed your chance in HS when I gave my hobbit impression by memorizing the first 3 pages of THE HOBBIT for drama class and didn't realize that I wore green and yellow (the hobbit's favorite colors) AND I took off my 4-inch wedges because my feet hurt (which took me down to hobbit-size!)
5) wants to partake in num-nums that I brought tobribe--er, yeah, I'll have to go with bribe here--people not to boo me out of the building.
6) want to see if you have perfected the ability to sleep with your eyes open!
RWI meets in Room 110, North Hall Conference Center at the OSU-Tulsa Campus at 1:00 p.m.
Again, I'll extend my invite to anyone in the Tulsa area who,
1) has nothing better to do on this beautiful Saturday afternoon, (or simply wants to escape from the hoodlums that you fondly call your children!)
2) wants to see me (I'm thinking old HS friends here, stalkers are NOT welcome)
3) is interested in writing, but doesn't know how to get started (there will be a roomful of people willing to help. Okay, roomful is an exaggeration. Since I can only guarantee that I'll be there! I'M WILLING TO HELP YOU GET STARTED)
4) wants to heckle me because I never got around to timing OR practicing this program OR because you missed your chance in HS when I gave my hobbit impression by memorizing the first 3 pages of THE HOBBIT for drama class and didn't realize that I wore green and yellow (the hobbit's favorite colors) AND I took off my 4-inch wedges because my feet hurt (which took me down to hobbit-size!)
5) wants to partake in num-nums that I brought to
6) want to see if you have perfected the ability to sleep with your eyes open!
11/7/11
Focus Stealers
Almost a year ago, Susan Shay invited me to give a talk at the RWI--Romance Writers Ink--meeting. She vaguely mentioned the words, "talk about REJECTION." I take offense at the R word, especially in relationship to the publishing business.
Being rejected makes me sound like I'm a total loser, because, yes, I have gotten a lot of rejections over the years. But dwelling on the negative doesn't do anyone any good. Rejection happens in this business, but that shouldn't be the focus of a talk. Shoot, I've thrown writing craft books away because they talk about nothing else except the negative, "don't do this" or "don't do that".
And besides, what would I say about rejection?
"Get over yourself." That's it. Trust me, I've cried, complained, whined, etc. over each and every rejection that I received. And what has it done for me? NOTHING, except make me want to give up.
But real writers are nothing if we aren't persistant. Learning craft, learning the business, writing and moving forward are what real writers do. We take those rejections, learn from them and move on.
Fast forward to August 2011, Susan wants a bio. So I write a short and long one. She tells me the topic has something about writing through adversity. And I putz around for another 2+ months (Halloween) before I hop over to the RWI site, and find out the topic is really called, WRITING THROUGH THE TOUGH TIMES.
Oh, fizznuts, now the topic is so broad that I don't know where to even start. I knew I needed to organize my thoughts before I settled down to design a talk, but how?
Every Wednesday I eat lunch with the hubby, so I asked him. He suggested I use the term used by managers, called FOCUS STEALERS. I started thinking about this and how it could relate to writing.
I could do this.
What are FOCUS STEALERS and how do we learn to refocus on our writing. Okay, got it.
Now all I need to do is figure out power point. Insert super fast tutoral by my hubby and I'm on my way. I now have some slides with the points I want to make.
Is it perfect? No.
Is it finished? No.
Is it organized? No.
Have I timed it? No.
But I have the main points down and all I have to do is tweak them.
Shoot, I have plenty of time. I don't have to speak until 1 PM on 11/12/11.
So, if you are interested in meeting me, or listening to me talk, or even be in the same room with a bunch of introverted writers, or if you simply have a Saturday afternoon in Tulsa, OK, please stop by. The talk is free. And no, I'm not even pimping my books.
RWI meets in Room 110, North Hall Conference Center at the OSU-Tulsa Campus at 1:00 p.m.
Being rejected makes me sound like I'm a total loser, because, yes, I have gotten a lot of rejections over the years. But dwelling on the negative doesn't do anyone any good. Rejection happens in this business, but that shouldn't be the focus of a talk. Shoot, I've thrown writing craft books away because they talk about nothing else except the negative, "don't do this" or "don't do that".
And besides, what would I say about rejection?
"Get over yourself." That's it. Trust me, I've cried, complained, whined, etc. over each and every rejection that I received. And what has it done for me? NOTHING, except make me want to give up.
But real writers are nothing if we aren't persistant. Learning craft, learning the business, writing and moving forward are what real writers do. We take those rejections, learn from them and move on.
Fast forward to August 2011, Susan wants a bio. So I write a short and long one. She tells me the topic has something about writing through adversity. And I putz around for another 2+ months (Halloween) before I hop over to the RWI site, and find out the topic is really called, WRITING THROUGH THE TOUGH TIMES.
Oh, fizznuts, now the topic is so broad that I don't know where to even start. I knew I needed to organize my thoughts before I settled down to design a talk, but how?
Every Wednesday I eat lunch with the hubby, so I asked him. He suggested I use the term used by managers, called FOCUS STEALERS. I started thinking about this and how it could relate to writing.
I could do this.
What are FOCUS STEALERS and how do we learn to refocus on our writing. Okay, got it.
Now all I need to do is figure out power point. Insert super fast tutoral by my hubby and I'm on my way. I now have some slides with the points I want to make.
Is it perfect? No.
Is it finished? No.
Is it organized? No.
Have I timed it? No.
But I have the main points down and all I have to do is tweak them.
Shoot, I have plenty of time. I don't have to speak until 1 PM on 11/12/11.
So, if you are interested in meeting me, or listening to me talk, or even be in the same room with a bunch of introverted writers, or if you simply have a Saturday afternoon in Tulsa, OK, please stop by. The talk is free. And no, I'm not even pimping my books.
RWI meets in Room 110, North Hall Conference Center at the OSU-Tulsa Campus at 1:00 p.m.
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