Over the last few weeks, I have felt down and depressed. It got to the point I was contemplating quitting writing. There were blocks in my path every way I turned. It wasn’t any one thing but a myriad.On top of already feeling overwhelmed with not finding the time I need to write and the balance to write and self-edit other stories and market, platform and blog, I am feeling overwhelmed with the household clutter. Having a four-year-old around all day is something else I have to fit into it all and work around. I don’t see how you moms (dads) manage fulltime jobs, families and writing.
I had decided to put the writing on hold this month to declutter but that’s not going as fast as I would like, though I have gotten some jobs done. Paper bills had piled up in a box since last September and these years were on the Hubble’s desk. I took one afternoon and sorted them shredded and burned them and reorganized the desk, the table beside it. Then I had the two triangle windows that were a catch-all and piled high with junk.
BEFORE
AFTER
I sorted that, made a nice cushion and we have a window seat for the little one to play on her kindle
The multitude of cats to be tormented by Crazy Bird who is back already. If you’d like to follow posts on Crazy Bird *muse points to Facebook link and Cat’s Romance aholic’s reader’s group*
I am still having stomach issues that I have had since October. It doesn’t seem like we are any closer to the answers than we were. The good news is I haven’t been falling as much as I was in December and January, they think that was infected sinuses. I can’t seem to catch a break. Now with spring setting in it’s really acting up my allergies and asthma. Yesterday and today it was in the mid 70’s. tomorrow its supposed to be 45. and raining again. This happened last week as well with two days in the mid 70’s then a drastic drop and rain. So My sinus is infected again and last night I had an asthma attack. If you ever had asthma attacks or bronchitis you know both sucks. I felt like an elephant on my chest and a sharp blade digging into my left lung every time I coughed. and that was a lot. All night. It got to the point I could no longer read so I just lay there propped up on my pillows.
All my muses (And I have a lot of them) descended on me for an intervention. The silly things didn’t even bring popcorn, snacks or cocoa. They just gathered around and started speaking to me. throwing ideas and telling me in no uncertain terms was I quitting. We can discuss publishing and all that at a later date but for now, we were going to write. I was worried about the budget we just set and seems like everything falls at once, my website is coming due in May, My ProWritingAid that I just love is expiring next month, there is a grand offer on it that has an outlining program with it for close to the price of the editing software. I will need to hire an editor once I finish my revisions on Baseball Bats (Working Title). I was frustrated I wasn’t having luck finding publishers that take both MM and MF books or books with diversified characters in them since this series is MF in the first but a spinoff is MMM Anyway I am getting tired and my head is spitting. I will figure out a way to keep the software and if I can’t find a way to keep my hosted website by the time it’s due I will just go back to free if I have to. I don’t want to since I am not tech savvy. But I will see what happens.
They convinced me to hang in there. Over the next couple weeks, I am going to make a year, 5 years and ten-year plan . Some goals both short-term and long-term, And some scheduling. I have signed up to a learning class that I can take my time and hone my craft since I had a mind malfunction, This morning I have a training webinar on marketing and how to get a bigger punch in less time and Thursday one on how to write better hook ads and Headlines. I’ll be practicing these on my groupies (See above link if interested in joining) LOL. I have also just joined a group on Writing a romance in 30 days so I’ll see how that goes as well.
On the real writing front… I will have news to share soon ( I HOPE) I am finishing the makeover (my term for cleanup, layering, and self-edits) On Baseball bats and after that Probably the spinoff that is also ready for a makeover. I am going to toss in actual writing whether it be with the classes I signed up for online or in the group I just joined.
I am also going to be working on making maps for my stories ( settings) that I choose to pull out. I have two in mind one MM one MF both will have cowboys (I think) and I have a little series I am considering mapping out and setting up someday as well. This is just the tip of the iceberg but its a start. I am continuing the decluttering in the afternoon and will be sharing that along the way. I am also decluttering my computer files so hopefully this week I will be rearranging my old book files, setting up new ones where I can find things easier and have them organized by progress. I also need to file the junk folder so I can find deleted scenes and characters and stuff easier if I ever need them.
Do I ever use that junk? Why keep deleted stuff and cuts? Check back next week to find out.
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4 responses to “Blocks in the path #intervetion #letthecreativejuiceflow #damnthemuses”
A number of years ago, I moved from a mid-latitude rain forest, which you think would be bad for allergies, to Arizona, which you’d think would be bad for allergies and lungs in general. Although I’d never had pneumonia in Canada, I developed it in Arizona, and it damaged my lungs. I have asthma now, too. It’s sorta barely controlled with a nebulizer and Symbicort, but I can’t get an appointment to the pulmonologist for three months. I have no thought about how to control any of this. Only sympathy.
That’s terrible. Pneumonia is why I got mine as well. I too have inhalers, a nebulizer and Advair disc but the Advair is so expensive I cant afford it. Looks like I will have to break down and get it. I also haven’t been taking my allergy meds Usually Nov through January I can give them a break but now I will have to break down and get those. Thanks for the sympathy. Right back at ya! I hope it gets better soon.
Mary’s brand new book, Making Room for God: Decluttering and the Spiritual Life, was just released two weeks ago. Anyone who knows me knows that I can get quite excited about *decluttering*. ? I appreciate Mary’s perspective on the topic, and I’m happy to have her on the blog talking about decluttering in our spiritual lives.
Thanks for the information.