A whole new world December 31, 2012

I feel as though I have floundered in terms of writing, and certainly in terms of maintaining this blog over the past few months. Don’t worry, I swear that I have really good reasons. At the beginning of the last round of ROW80 I set goals that, quite honestly, had more to do with non-writing stuffs than writing stuffs. In reality, I should have abstained from joining that round, as I knew what was coming up during that time period.

There has been major upheaval in my life over the last year or so, to the point that I intimated in a previous post that I would be looking to remove myself entirely from the storm that was building around me. The storm continues to roil, but I have placed myself out of it’s reach. I am well ensconced in a warm and restful home, thoroughly surrounded by folks who love me. I can’t remember a time when I have been happier or felt better about myself.

I have many stories to tell, but I am still in the middle of adjusting myself. A new time zone, proper diet, somewhat normalized sleep schedule, and a serious drop in my stress levels all combine to create a very drowsy Charis. I do intend to jump in on the next round of ROW80, but I am thinking that I may end up jumping in late.  In the meantime, I will enjoy myself as I recover from severe burnout. Right now my only writing goals are to get some editing done and try and get back into the blogging rhythm.

Leaving the city behind. November 24, 2012

I have to give kudos to Wyoming folks. I have been traveling for the last week, and being the independent gal that I am, I have no issues opening doors or holding them for others. So, I don’t usually notice beyond a passing “thanks” when somebody holds the door for me.

Today I crossed the border into Wyoming and stopped for gas. As I headed in to prepay, a gentleman in front of me (about 20 feet) held the door and waited with a smile as it dawned on my travel stiffened legs that they should move faster.  I finished paying, and turned to go and another gentleman, who was headed in, saw me coming just as somebody at his car hollered at him. He quickly grabbed the door before turning to his friend at the car, so that he could be sure to hold it for me. I reached the door as he turned back and flashed a brilliant smile.

I do love it when I know I have finally left the city behind.

I have been horrendously busy for…. well, I lost track. I do still exist though. That being said, I drove 16 of the last 24 hours, and I am beat, so not really an update. Also, the horrendously busy isn’t over… so probably not going to get to a decent post very soon. I swear, there is an end to this horrendously busy. It is even in sight… be patient my friends, I shall return.  :)

 

Snakes and spiders and wasps…. Oh my!! October 11, 2012

Wow, I keep feeling like I am overwhelmed with STUFF that I have to get done, but I was quite productive this week and am feeling really good about myself *looks away from the pile of stuff that goes on next week’s list*.

Monday being a federal holiday, I had to take care of my paperwork yesterday instead. On my way back into town, I stopped and talked to a guy about getting the appliances out of my shed, and then got that package shipped off. That was a load off of my mind, as I keep forgetting it. Since the guy is coming for the appliances on Monday, I had an extra push to get the shed cleaned out.

Today was an absolutely lovely day, warm enough to work outside in a t-shirt, but cool enough to be in the shed. I got the swamp cooler drained and made sure the pump was high and dry. Surprisingly, I did not see my friendly little garden snake. I usually see him when I am on that side of the house. I think I scared him last time.

I did get to see the wasps though… Every summer, I get three or four wasp nests attached to the front of my house. Usually I hose them down with wasp spray, but this year I just never got around to it. While I was cleaning out the shed, I noticed a couple of small nests in there, so I grabbed the shovel and went about knocking the nests loose. We had snow this time last week. The wasps are long gone right? Uh… no. I got three of the nests around the place knocked down before it happened. Yup. Knocked one down that still had wasps in it. Lucky me, the buggers were disoriented and didn’t realize I was the homewrecker…. I backed off and let them fly away before going for the next one. That one had posted a guard, and I thought it the better part of wisdom to let him win the day. I am planning a sneak attack after the first hard freeze….

Of course, what western shed is without it’s share of spiders? Webs everywhere, but I managed to sort a pile of loose wood for some friends who have a wood stove, a pile of leftover parts from when I re-plumbed my house has been set aside for Habitat For Humanity’s Re-store, and I found yet another stash of rocks from my rock collection.  The remarkable thing is that I only tried to wrap my hands around a spider once. It waved frantically at me and then scurried away.

Okay, Last weeks goals are still up, but only because I don’t want to come up with new goals midweek. The “work on alter-ego’s job” goal will remain on the list until I am entirely caught up there, although I have made headway on that. Also, the note/timeline transfer will remain until my notes are safely transferred. I really need to change my pictures, but these ones are a good visual to stay on task, so they stay until I find another. I know, they are getting boring. I promise to hunt for new ones in the next few days. I am also going to try and get a few things done that will go on next weeks list if I don’t accomplish them.

 

Now…. What have I accomplished???

First the overall goals for the round:

Complete Preparations for the BIG ADVENTURE.

Continue to make progress on Alter Ego’s Job. (one day, I will introduce you )

WRITE! Something!! Anything!! 

Last round I was frequently thrown off track by a varying work schedule and the rest of the drama of real life. This round, I intend to take those both into account. Each Sunday (possibly Monday) I will post my goals for the week, planning them around my work schedule and other anticipated life drama, and listing the goals by priority.

For this week: Saturday starts a four-day weekend, so to plan accordingly…

Tuesday – Friday:

• Work on Alter Ego’s job if brain is functioning sufficiently,  did 3 pages Tuesday   
  

  Story board with notes for 4-5 books. Chaos

• if not, then finish getting the bedroom sorted and thinned. Am steadily working my way around the room. 
• Get Package sent off for repairs Complete!!
• get paperwork filed  Complete!!
• Gather/haul garbage Wednesday night. (that thinning process accumulates trash too fast!) Complete!!
• Get guest post written!! Complete!!

Saturday – Tuesday:

• Work on Alter Ego’s job That is what I am headed for after I post this.
• When a break is needed in daylight hours, begin shed clean-out.  Complete!!
• When break is needed after dark, continue to transfer story notes to timelines Nothing on this yet

The mad writer looking far too much like her father…. in the midst of transferring story notes tooooo…..

The timeline! back when there was only one piece of butcher block running down my hall….. there are two now… soon to be three…

So, I am off on this week’s adventures. I hope to maintain sanity by tackling them one at a time. I will attempt to make a midweek blog each week that is not an update, but that is yet another adventure and my plate is already overflowing….

 

Unfrazzling October 7, 2012

I read a story a few months ago that was talking about the overstressed mother of many. How many doesn’t really matter as sometimes one can be too many at that certain frazzled place in time. The story mentioned that it really wasn’t difficult to ease that stress for just a moment with a kind word.  I had fun this last week getting to be the stress relief.

A young mother came into my work the other day, a little girl in her arms who was not quite at the walking stage. She was behind a few other customers and was waiting for her husband.  I heard her say gently and politely to the folks that came in behind her “Go ahead, we’re not ready,” and then a weary and put upon directive to the three boys standing close by “get out of the way, up against the wall here with me.”

Frazzled hubby came in with wipes and a clean diaper, quickly looked at the menu and told me what he wanted, then took the little girl off to tidy her up. The three boys very politely gave me their orders, took their cups and headed for the pop machine. For a moment, the over tired mom just stood there, the weariness of three boys under the age of ten plus a babe still in arms clear on her face. You could see that she was trying really hard not to let her weariness come out as she talked to her sons and to the husband who was trying very hard to be helpful. I commented that her boys were working well together, helping each other at the pop machine. She replied “For the moment.” I pointed out that every moment that they helped each other was a momentary break for her. She obviously hadn’t thought of it that way and smiled as she agreed with me.

Later, I took a moment to go over and compliment her on her well behaved bunch of kids. She snorted in disbelief, as the kids had shifted seats a time or two and their voices could be heard from across the room. Obviously somebody made her think that kids were supposed to be miniature adults and not energetic young people. She smiled again when I told her that I knew adults that had much worse manners than her kids and that I was impressed with how polite they were.  Well fed and gently complimented she was far less frazzled when she walked out.

Some days, I really do like my job.

I am in kind of a weird place right now, as I have the better part of this week and next off from work, so I am not changing last week’s goals. Most of them I only gave a cursory touch too anyhow. I am hoping to make great progress on all goals while I am in this odd place of not having to be at work. Although, I kinda slacked off yesterday… the only thing I got done was get some stuff out of the shed.

Now…. What have I accomplished???

First the overall goals for the round:

Complete Preparations for the BIG ADVENTURE.

Continue to make progress on Alter Ego’s Job. (one day, I will introduce you )

WRITE! Something!! Anything!! (okay, so the actual measurable part of this is to complete the storyboard-timeline transfer, finish the short “Watersports”, and get another thousand or so words written on The Valkyrie and The Viking. But that looks like a lot so… this parenthesied section is gonna disappear for my own sanity.)

Last round I was frequently thrown off track by a varying work schedule and the rest of the drama of real life. This round, I intend to take those both into account. Each Sunday (possibly Monday) I will post my goals for the week, planning them around my work schedule and other anticipated life drama, and listing the goals by priority.

For this week: Saturday starts a four-day weekend, so to plan accordingly…

Tuesday – Friday:

• Work on Alter Ego’s job if brain is functioning sufficiently,  did 3 pages Tuesday   
  

  Story board with notes for 4-5 books. Chaos

   

• if not, then finish getting the bedroom sorted and thinned. Am steadily working my way around the room. 
• Get Package sent off for repairs  This is rescheduled for Monday when I don’t have to work.
• get paperwork filed  This is rescheduled for Monday when I don’t have to work.
• Gather/haul garbage Wednesday night. (that thinning process accumulates trash too fast!) Working on it.
• Get guest post written!! Not yet. 

Saturday – Tuesday:

• Work on Alter Ego’s job That is what I am headed for after I post this.
• When a break is needed in daylight hours, begin shed clean-out.  This is already begun
• When break is needed after dark, continue to transfer story notes to timelines Nothing on this yet

The mad writer looking far too much like her father…. in the midst of transferring story notes tooooo…..

The timeline! back when there was only one piece of butcher block running down my hall….. there are two now… soon to be three…

So, I am off on this week’s adventures. I hope to maintain sanity by tackling them one at a time. I will attempt to make a midweek blog each week that is not an update, but that is yet another adventure and my plate is already overflowing….

I got a midweek post up!! Look at me! This makes four posts in a week!! I am shocked!