Writers Conference & Runaway Dog Named Tink

I attended the four-day San Francisco Writers Conference which began on Feb. 13 & presumed I would be writing about what I learned there on my latest blog. Unfortunately on Feb. 15 I got a call that the dog that I have been fostering had cut loose only hours after I left her at the shelter where I got her. Trying to find her immediately became my top priority and while we have had some promising leads, as of this writing she still has not been found. Once the dust settles and hopefully she is back in my home I’ll come up for air and share my thoughts about the conference. Wish me luck finding Tink.

A Break in the Action AKA Time Out

I have come to the conclusion that I need to get more serious about working on my novel. Rather than being a top priority somehow in the course of a day, a week, a month it seems to be something I postpone and instead choose all too often to do something else. Granted I am happy to say that I do have a rather full life and never find myself staring into space wondering “Gee I have too much free time on my hands, I’m bored, what am I going to do today?” For a significant portion of my adult life I have been a strong proponent of compiling a daily To-Do list either late in the evening or early in the morning as I am slurping down my second or third cup of coffee. It helps me to prioritize what I want to achieve for the day and gives me a sense of accomplishment by day’s end to see the items that I have crossed off my list. Having said that I realize that working on my novel frequently gets trumped by other activities.

Writing here on my blog is one of those activities that too often seems to creep ahead of spending time writing my novel. In the back of my mind I have rationalized that no matter what form it takes, creative writing is beneficial to sharpen my skills. I think there is some truth to that but… Granted this is not something I do on a daily basis but as anyone who has followed my blog for a while knows, my musings tend to be lengthy, sometimes totaling eight hundred or more words. A while back I had set a goal of composing at least a thousand words a day in my manuscript, vowing at the time I would commit to doing that and not stop until I reached that goal each day. Initially I was diligent about following that rule but somehow fell into sloppy habits and stopped being committed to achieving that not very demanding goal. If I am ever to give birth to this baby I need to get back to making my manuscript a top priority at least five days a week. I also know me well enough that once I am regularly achieving a thousand plus words a day before very long that number will likely double or triple.

This self-flagellation is a long way of saying that in addition to making other adjustments in my life I will be writing less often here and when I do write my postings will usually be briefer. Feel free to nag me with comments like “How’s that book coming along Ed?”  “How many word did you add to your novel in the past day or week?” Or just be downright nasty and yell out “Hey a**hole, cut out the crap and get working!” Despite years of counseling long ago, it is possible to reawaken the guilt buried in my subconscious from my Catholic upbringing. End of story…for now. Thanks!