Friday, February 1, 2019

Push Me – Pull You


February 2019 Blog

I have been running late of late. It is time for me to not let things pile up anymore, lest I die upon the pile.

Running Behind: A Haiku

by Ann Wilmer-Lasky

I would be late to
Nothing more, except to the
Time of my demise.


I have decided that what I want more than anything else for the rest of my life is “autonomy”.  I want to be self-directed.

I haven’t been accomplishing the things I really want to for quite a while.  Or, if I do accomplish something, it seems to take forever.

Last night, in the middle of the night, this quotation occurred to me: “If we are not self-directed, then we shall surely be other-directed.”  Don’t know where that’s from, but it sure does fit.

By-the-way, I have a lot of thoughts during the middle of the night. I’ve learned to keep a pen and paper handy. I’ve also learned to write decently in the dark.

Back to autonomy. There is absolutely no reason the 25th Anniversary Edition of “The Castleweaver Tales: The Madness Continues” has not been published, except I have been dragging my feet on it.

I did have to write some new material for it, and I did have a miserable time formatting it. But it should have been done two weeks ago (let alone six years ago). Now it will be mid-February before I can hit the publish button.

I’m not offering any excuses. Naps and TV and puzzles aren’t nearly as important as getting these things published before I can’t. I’ve already lost the ability to match my cover with the first book. Create Space has been replaced by Kindle Direct Publishing and they are slightly different, especially as far as the covers go. So, there will be differences. Had I published when I should have, I would have had a neat set of books.

Well, that’s water under the bridge or over the dam or whatever.

Time to just move forward.

Which brings me to “Push Me – Pull You”. Actually, “Pushmi-Pullyu” from Doctor Doolittle is a unique animal with two front ends. Kind of hard for either end to make much progress.



There’s even a “Push Me – Pull You Syndrome” which makes a lot of sense to me.

It works like this: I know I want to do something, but I don’t because….” (You can fill in a lot of reasons and/or excuses here.) The result is the things you want to do don’t get done, and in the end you are not happy about it.

Taken to the extreme, it affects so many facets of life. Books aren’t published on time. Bills are paid late or are forgotten to be paid at all. The house doesn’t get cleaned and things pile up and soon you can’t have the plumber in because you don’t want him to see the house.

It’s called “C.H.A.O.S.” (Can’t Have Anyone Over Syndrome) and thank goodness “The Flylady” http://flylady.net/  can help with that. That’s if you remember to use the system, instead of just saying “I’ll catch up later.” That doesn’t happen.

So, how am I going to claim and/or implement my new-found autonomy? I’m going to have to think about that. Maybe I’ll post self-directed affirmations where I can see them, especially when and where I’d rather do something less productive.

Maybe I’ll go back to making lists that I can actually use and don’t lose before I cross everything off as done.

Whatever I do, I need to do it soon. I’m not getting any younger, and the accumulation of things I need to get done is not getting any shorter.

Also, the more I avoid doing stuff, the less time I have to write, and writing is what makes me the happiest. I certainly deserve some of that at this stage of my life.

So maybe this year will be my year to get it all together and not forget where I put it. Just maybe this will be the year I finish those works-in-progress and finish off my series and triologies , so I can move on to new flights of fantasy and horror and sci-fi exploits.

Speaking of which, “The Orville”, a Seth McFarlane creation is a brilliant TV show. I have a new-found respect for the man and his body of work. This new show is what Star Trek was at the  time of its inception: cutting-edge and non-formulaic. No episode ends the way you expect it will. It ends honestly, the way life really works. (Kudos to Seth McFarlane!)

As a writer, I can only hope for such an accolade for my work, and I will strive for it with each new offering.

Now, to get back to work and actually do .

By-the-way, I had no takers on the book giveaway last month, so I think I will shelve the contest until I have a new novel coming out.

Until next month, keep the faith and keep writing (or at least reading). Hopefully, I’ll see you then with more updates from the “Garret of AnnNoE”.

Until that time, I welcome your reactions and responses to any of my blogs. I love to hear from my readers. Also, here are links to my Twitter and Facebook accounts, if you care to share your thoughts with me there:


I’m also including a link to my Amazon’s Author’s page. Feel free to visit me there also:


All of my books are available on Amazon.

This month’s featured novel is my contemporary paranormal “The Cottage”



This month’s featured poetry chapbook is “The Castleweaver's Tales: A Dozen Glimpses of Medieval Madness: 25th Anniversary Edition”