Too much time, too little motivation

There's a lot going on in this brain of mine...a few new ideas and some strategic revamping of older stuff. I prep, sit down with the laptop, and proceed to stare at the screen. Sometimes I stare at the keys, like they will glow lightly with the ones I'm supposed to stroke first.

Last week at B&N I bought a journal, chock full of writing prompts...maybe I can hop into that a bit and bring back some of my motivation.

I know this is scattered, bear with me.

YA or traditional fiction? The real difference: YA doesn't have sex or graphic violence...but that can also be a godsend too...hmmm...I guess when I figure out which format I prefer, that will dictate how I tell my story.

Changes

Well, now that I'm unemployed and an accidental stay-at-home-mom, maybe I can try to pen some stuff...I have a good 6 hours a day of uninterrupted potential work-time, I should be able to crank out a fair amount.

O'DOYLE RULES!

I am terrible at this shit.

With that out of the way, I am going to attempt to update a little more often. Ha. Attempt.

What can I say? I have a busy life.

My writing is going freakishly well....albeit in my head...Ok...So all I can get down is the grocery list...sometimes...

It helps I am dating a man who fully supports my creativity...

Mehhh...off to my real job...

blah blah blah

I'm working on it...slowly...so don't give up on me just yet....

To be continued...

What a difference a few months make...

I have been going through some personal-crisis crap in the past few months. I still want to write but I'm lacking 95% of my former motivation. Since most of my evenings are now spent alone, I am reading more than I did before. Stephen King once said that you can't write if you don't read. Maybe this will help me. To be frank, some of the novels I've finished recently are lacking in substance *coughHollywood Wivescough*. I am actually in the middle of no less than 5 novels at the moment. What can I say, some days I'm in the mood for something different. I am really liking Alice Hoffman at the moment...

At last!

I had a surge of creativity this evening as I was closing a curtain in the window that faced my semi-new neighbor's house. This is something totally new, just a random thought I ran with. So far, I've been writing for 2 hours and I've amassed about a thousand words. It may not seem like much, but if you consider my recent track record, this is phenomenal. I'm very proud of what I've accomplished tonight. I don't want to jinx myself, but I believe this is the start of something great.

New year, new promises

I'm about a month and a half too late for the typical New Year's resolutions, however, I'll make it short.


I've screwed around too long, made too many excuses, and recently I've allowed too many distractions. I will write my book this year, even if it kills me. Seriously, it just might.

Guh.

Summer is almost over. I've wasted most of it too. Too much time on Facebook. Too many late evening naps. Not enough "me" time. September marks the beginning of the holiday season for most retail outlets, including mine. Holidays mean big $$$ in my area of the store...which also translates into bigger headaches, more tiredness, and stressful nights.

I haven't started that short story yet. We'll see.

A step in the right direction...

So I decided that I am going to enter a short story contest which is sponsored by Writer's Digest magazine. The deadline isn't until December, so I have plenty of time to bang out something in 3,000 words or less. The winner will be published in the June/July 2010 issue. And you can win a couple grand...couldn't hurt to try!

Time is not on my side

The past two months have been a blur. I have a second job now (part-time), I have been promoted to a newer, more fun position at my full-time job, and my daughter and my husband keep me on my toes to the hilt. I haven't done much as far as writing goes (can ya blame me?), although I did do a quick two-page rehash the other day while I was at Job #1 (things were really slow and I was the only one in my area of the store). I have this whole story-thing planned out nicely in my head; all I have to do now is get it down on paper. We recently cancelled our digital cable (go basic!) television channels, so I'll now have more time to do other things. Hopefully, that will include writing.

Yeah, yeah, I know...

I'm horrible at this shit. I'm lazy. I do other stuff instead of blogging. Oh well!

I had a great "first line" the other night and I literally dropped everything I was doing just so I could write it down. Maybe it's the start of something good...

A New Year, Another Promise

I vow to write more, or at least try to be a little more productive in the coming year. I haven't accomplished much this year, but I will really really work on it this year...

My poor poor hand...

I just spent the past 2 hours writing out 35 Christmas cards. I'm very positive I've forgotten some people, although I'm not sure who...I guess I'll just send out a few more towards the end of the month to make up for it. I haven't sent out cards in a few years due to me being extremely pregnant last year and just moving to my new house the year before. We got three in the mail today, so I took that as a signal to get my ass in gear and get them out. I'm proud of myself for finishing them but my hand is cramped and my forefinger and middle fingers are sore as hell.

For lack of better things to write...

five things on my to-do list:

1. get caught up on my laundry. my daughter apparently has more clothing than i do.
2. watch "american gangster". i've owned this movie for almost a month now and i haven't bothered to open the cellophane yet.
3. run the vaccum. the in-laws are coming over on saturday...
4. play "viva pinata" one more time before my xbox live gold account subscription expires.
5. eat some soup tonight? it's cold outside...

five things i like to snack on:

1. veggies & southwest ranch dip
2. doritos *salivate*
3. cheese
4. ben & jerry's phish food
5. skittles

five things i would do if i were a millionaire:

1. pay off all my debt, brad's, my parent's, and probably other select close relatives
2. buy a new honda accord, 4 door of course...
3. throw some money at CVES and CVHS...they always need new things and funds are usually pretty tight.
4. travel in europe. not backpacking, that's for dirty hippies. and i'd take a cruise ship across the atlantic, no flying for me!
5. liposuction. no matter what i do, i can't get rid of this damn sack of a stomach that kayleigh left me with 10+ months ago.

five places i have lived:

1. meadville, pa
2. conneautville, pa
3. edinboro, pa
4. toledo, oh
5. rouseville, pa

five jobs i have had:

1. drive thru, mcdonalds
2. jack of all trades, kmart
3. music department, media play
4. distribution/mail clerk, maritz corp.
5. cash office/home-mens-kids dept, the bon ton

i'm not going to tag people, i'm not really sure who actually reads my blog...

Michael Crichton

I read "Jurassic Park" when I was 10, before the movie came out. I have a severely ear-marked copy of it (white paperback, black t-rex sillouette) that I've read dozens of times. I also read "Disclosure" (didn't like that one too much) and "Timeline" (the movie was better). And of course, who isn't an avid follower of "ER"? (well, not the new season anyways.)

He had such a great mind, even if the media thought he was kooky for "State of Fear".

You say "tomato"...

I got into an argument with a coworker today about this: when you say the word "the", do you pronounce it like "thuh" or "thee"?? And when you say the word "a", as in "I took 'a' bath today", is it pronounced like "ay" or "uh"?? I've found out that I use both pronunciations of both words, mostly depending on the sentence I'm spitting out.

It's nice to know that my air-headed associates actually think of stimulating topics once in a while.

Blah Blah Blah!

I'm at a "blah" stage right now. I feel so apathetic about everything in my life at this point in time and I can't bear to try and be creative about my writing. Hell, I'm down to about two blogs a week, if I'm motivated enough. Most nights, my brain is so revved up that I cannot calm down and I resort to either a "House" marathon on USA (very serial-like, each episode is virtually the same) or playing mindless card games. Each night, I fall asleep with Stephen Colbert (when I'm able to go to sleep on time), and the next day repeats itself. I hate working weekends, it sucks the life out of me and leaves me with almost no time for my family & friends.

Blah blah blah.

I almost wish I could go back to working part-time, but if I were to do that, Kayleigh wouldn't go to daycare any more and I'd still be just as busy at home.

Blah.

I've spent the day drinking Hater-ade.

I'm a book snob. There are some books I refuse to read for many well thought reasons. Here's a short list of what I have not and will never read:

1. The DaVinci Code: I know the story. I know how it ends. I know people are so pissed off about this book and its Biblical ideas. I've seen countless hours of programming about this book on The History Channel. And I have no interest in reading this book ever. It was too hyped up back in 2003 and I simply don't give a shit about it.
2. Any of the Harry Potter books: I don't like the idea that JK Rowling was considered a literary "saviour" and she alone was the reason children read books. When I was 9 years old (and this was back in 1991), I was reading Stephen King and VC Andrews. My grade school teacher called my mom and told her I was reading books that were inappropriate for my age level. Mom didn't care, I was reading and that's all that mattered to her. And this was before Harry Potter. And I HATE how snobbish people are when they hear you aren't an avid HP reader. "You haven't read any of them?" they say with a slight curl of the upper lip. Screw off!
3. Nicholas Sparks novels: I've already discussed this one. Not going through that rant again.
4. Serial novels based on TV shows: This includes Star Trek, CSI, Buffy The Vampire Slayer (I know, I love the show but the books are lousy), and Star Wars. I'm sure there are many other crappy knock-off novels that are worth mentioning but I don't care enough to mention them.
5. Chick Lit: I read a few of these when the "movement" first started (The Nanny Diaries, Confessions of a Shopaholic, In Her Shoes). It was witty and cute for about 6 months. Not so much any more. Hell, the name alone sounds like the cutesy mint gum I used to chew when I was in grade school. Now there are so many variations of Chick Lit that it's branched out into the land of Blogs and annoys me even more.
6. Oversexed horror novels: Bentley Little, you suck. Just stop writing. Seriously. It's gross, even for my tastes.
7. Stephanie Meyer: I do believe the Vampire Romance category is out. I have no interest in her, her novels, her wholesome background or anything else that has to do with her. The fact that my Grandma H. loves the Twilight series just kills me (and she's the same woman who thought Gone With the Wind sucked). And remember just over 10 years ago, BTVS debuted with a similar premise: young girl has ancient duties to kill vampires yet falls madly in love with a super hot one. Sorry Twilighters, I'll take Buffy and Angel any day, even if it's not good in book format. (or Buffy and Spike, I'm not choosy).

There is so much more to this list, but I'll save the rest for a rainy day.

"Takin' Care of Business"

I'm having a real shitty week. To be honest, I have no motivation for anything at this point. My "real" job is not going as planned and I may be looking for a new one once Christmas is over. I feel incredibly stressed and today was just as depressing as yesterday was. Maybe my feelings have something to do with how sucky the economy is at the moment. It feels like my whole life is dancing on eggshells and I'm not sure how long it will be before things pick up again. I'm going to spend the rest of my evening watching the Great Debate on tv and playing computerized Monopoly (which is so much more fun than playing with other real people).

Untitled

I haven't had the time to do much of anything this week. Still getting over my cold, taking care of my daughter, and I slept for almost 9 hours Wednesday night. Now THAT doesn't happen too often!

I'm going to try extra hard to accomplish something this coming week. I have Sunday off, but my husband doesn't understand that my days off are days off, not "let's go to my parents for the day" type of afternoon. Gah.