Write Away

November 2017 Blog

Write Away

Today is the first day of the rest of my writing life.

Write Away: A Haiku

NaNoWriMo reigns

Supreme, demands I fulfill

Declared prophesy.

Today is November 1, 2017 – the first day of NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month – https://nanowrimo.org) for this year. I will be participating for my seventh year in a row – at least. Could be longer, but that’s as far back as their records go.  Every November since 2011, I have penned at least 50,000 words, literally, since I still write with pen on paper.

I’ve written an odd assortment of novels, some finished and published – some not. Actually 50,000 words is not enough for a full-length novel. So I try to finish in December for NoNoFiMo (National Novel Finishing Month – http://nanofimo.net).

There has even been a NaNoEdMo (National Novel Editing Month) in March. Not certain that one still exists as my attempts to access it give me an unsecure site warning and tells me I do not exist.

Writing 50,000 words in 30 days requires at least 1,667 words a day to finish on the 30^th.  I try to finish by  November 28^th , which is my birthday. Kind of like a present to myself.

I find it requires a good two-and-a-half hours of dedicated writing to accomplish. I seldom split the time up, because I don’t want to lose my train of thought and have to go over what I’ve written. I reserve that for the first few minutes of my writing session.

I pretty much isolate myself as I don’t like distractions. For background noise, I listen to classical music. I can’t have regular TV on or any music with lyrics I can understand – my mind will start to wander.

I love the idea of getting lost in my story. I find it’s the best way to write. Also, it gives my characters the chance to jump in and maybe tell me something about themselves I didn’t know.

     I usually start with an abbreviated outline of where the story should go, But I have no problems taking it elsewhere, if my characters tell me it needs to go there.

The year I wrote “The Chronicles of Acqueria: Blood Moon Treachery”, my main character, Sentia told me she had a younger sister, Petra. The sister became an integral part of the story and is featured in the sequel on which I am still working.

My favorite novel so far has been “The Seasons of Sam Rock”, a 1940’s  Hollywood detective novel that does not follow the detective genre rules, but becomes a horror showcase. In this noir novel set in sunny Southern California, I commit two of the novelist’s cardinal sin by killing a little old lady and a cute little dog. The culprits? A murder of ravens, controlled (or not) by a red-headed French woman named Marie Delacroix whom Sam Rock does not find hard to look at.

My favorite heinous killing come from my Western novella, “Black Oak: Town of Joy”. It’s a woman on woman axe murder, and I smile every time I read it.

Okay, so by now, you know I’m an introverted psychopath who loves to write horror, although I also write in the science fiction and fantasy segments of genre fiction.

This year’s NaNoWriMo will be a sequel to the Black Oak novel. If I stay on schedule, I should be able to publish in late spring. Although, the best laid plans of mice, men and writers oft gang awry. We’ll see if I can stick to that schedule.

Actually, I might be able to better it, since a novella can be around 43,000 to 50,000 words, so I might be able to publish early spring.

I find myself looking forward more to NaNoWriMo than to the holidays. I ‘ve never been much of a holiday person (any holiday) but writing in November is something special I do for myself, and of course, I love sharing my work with my loyal readers.

I will do my best post excerpts from the day’s writing on Twitter, so my readers can see what I’m up to. Maybe a sentence or two. Maybe every couple of days. Wouldn’t want to give too much away.

In the meantime, I will keep writing and posting my daily Haiku on Twitter and on Facebook, and I will endeavor to publish my next collection of Haiku before the end of the year.

Hopefully, with my computer problem behind me, I will get back into some sort of routine and start the New Year on a more productive note. Yep, I’ve pretty much chalked this year up on the non-productive side. I don’t know where it went; it just went, and I know there’s no do-overs for time gone by. It’s just gone.

So, here’s to NaNoWriMo and here’s to my mascot for the month.

And here’s a big salute to the coming year – a year of frenzied productivity.

Now y’all, don’t laugh too hard. It is possible, you know.

Until next month, I welcome your reactions and responses to my current blog. 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:

https://twitter.com/awlasky

https://www.facebook.com/ann.wilmerlasky

Best Laid Plans

September 2017 Blog

Best Laid Plans: A Tale of Gross Procrastination

Okay, the year is two-thirds over. My only accomplishments so far are my daily Haiku writing and posting my monthly blog. (And that only barely).

Best Laid Plans: A Haiku

Having spent so long

On the dreaming, I must be

About the doing.

Time groweth short, and I’ve not nearly done enough for a person whose life is waning at an ever-more alarming rate with each passing day. Maybe it’s my way of defying the inevitable. If it is, I really don’t think it’s going to work.

Okay, so I haven’t died yet. Truth be told, I’m not even prepared to die. There’s so much more I need to do. My ducks are in total disarray – and that’s all of them – my writing ducks and my life ducks. They are scattered willy-nilly across the surface of an ever-shrinking pond. They aren’t even paddling anymore, they are just floating on the surface.

I have lost sight of the admonition to “Do what you need to do when you need to do it, whether you feel like it or not!” I don’t even remember where I heard that, but it stuck with me. Too bad I haven’t embraced it. I could be a prolific (if not best-selling) author and the person who (if she dies tomorrow) exits this earth leaving a plan behind.

Were I to write an autobiography or a memoir at this stage of life, it would be well-titled: “How Not To Live Your Life.” Maybe it could be a self-help book. I really, really know how not to do it. Not sure at this point I’m ever going to get it right.

I get the feeling that I can’t go on as I have been, knowing that if I do, I will rejoin the stars of the galaxies with my song unsong on this Earth – not even a footnote in the annals of time.

What do I do to recover (if I can)? I need to make lists – a plan for even such a limited future – without making the plan my goal and my only accomplishment. I must plan and I must execute it.

However, I have gone down this road before and gotten lost on it. I could go without the lists, but the older I get, the less that works. I even need lists to do the little things I need to do in a day. I forget a lot, or I get distracted by shiny objects.

The only thing it seems I don’t need a list for is to take a nap. I can do that at the drop of a hat or the sight of a soft place to snuggle up on. I think it’s the fault of my dogs. Seems I’m emulating them. They love to have me take naps with them. Not sure anymore who the bed belongs to. I think it’s theirs – at least I think they think so.

But even here I digress. Back to my lists. I need one to get all my daily, weekly, etc. mundane stuff done and I need one to get my writing, editing, publishing and promoting under control. Maybe a chart that I can check off with dates (if not deadlines) on it. Oh, and I need a decent filing system. Okay, I have one, but it doesn’t help if I say “I’ll file it later” and then never do.

Have I used the “P” word before? Procrastination? I am the High Queen of Procrastination. If there is a deader-than-deadline, I will push it. I’ve always been that way. Not sure I’m going to overcome that in this stage of my life, but I’ve got to find some kind of answer, some kind of work around.

I’m even discouraging myself writing this. I hope I’m not discouraging my readers. Not sure what I’m trying to accomplish here – maybe just think out the situation and see if I can come to some kind of answer. You know, it was a whole lot easier to effect change when I was younger and closer to the sharpest tack in the box.

My points and my will seem to have dulled a little over the years – either from disuse or (probably not) from overuse. So, it seems, I need to find a way to sharpen my wits and plunge ahead.

There’s still one-third of the year to go. Surely I can accomplish something more. Of course, there’s always next year… Wait! That’s not true! There are no more guarantees. Guess I better get that file out and start – like now!

Until then, I welcome your reactions and responses to my current rantings. 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:

https://twitter.com/awlasky

https://www.facebook.com/ann.wilmerlasky

Heatwave Still Goin' Strong

August 2017 Blog

Heatwave Still Goin' Strong

I'm still melting and about to go down the rabbit hole. Before I do, I need to accomplish something, so I've set a concrete goal:

Writer's Prayer: A Haiku

As words may fail me

At the hour of my death, let

Them speak for me now.

I will publish my second collection of Haiku (Life's Lemons and Lemonade: Volume Two: The Write Life) on September 1^st.

That will be followed hard upon by the third volume – Global Warning (not a typo).

I will be spending a lot of time in front of the fan working on the formatting for the print version. Also this time, the Kindle edition will be properly formatted to retain line breaks and actually look like poetry. (I believe form is as important in poetry as content.)

At the same time, I'm still finishing the Sam Rock sequel manuscript, and I'll be editing the 2^nd Black Oak novella.

Hopefully, the weather and my heatlh will cooperate.

It somehow always amazes me at the end of the month, that I have not reached my goals. It's time for that to stop.

Actually, I'm posting this late on the 1^st of August because I almost forgot to write it.

So I guess I'm going to have to make lists and then actually look at them. There's just so much I want to accomplish before I can't accomplish anything anymore.

I frequently lose sight of the fact that I'm on the waning end of my life. The majority of my days are behind me and what days I have left are rushing past me at an alarming rate.

Another problem I face is that I'm not the sharpest tack in the box anymore. Technological advances are impossible for me to keep up with. So I guess I better get things done before I lose any more brain cells or social media passes me by completely.

I love my Facebook friends but I hardly know how to connect with them anymore. I spend way too much time on Twitter, but it is a little easier to work with (although they make changes and upgrades frequently).

I've got Instagram, Pinterest and other social media accounts also, but I have no idea what to do with them.

 In addition, I spend any more time on the computer, I won't have enough time to write. And my computer is already on life support. I have an external fan blowing on it this summer (don't tell me it isn't getting hotter out there).

As I write this, I'm listening to Al Gore on CNN talk about The Climate Crisis. He's much more intelligent and knowledgeable about this stuff than I ever realized.

I write many of my Haiku about climate change. I'm a firm believer, and I'd like to get my third Haiku collection about Global Warming out before the end of the year. I'd love to be able to change some reluctant minds with it. I'll be satisfied to persuade a few more people to entertain the idea that we need to do something about climate change now, before we reach the point of no return.

Haven't written much about the nuts and bolts of writing this month and for that I apologize.  My mind has been wandering in the heat. Hopefully the temperatures will subside so I can feel more like doing things and spend more time outside writing which is my very favorite thing to do in the whole world – that and watch the squirrels and the birds cavort in the trees. Amazing what you can learn about their habits. Squirrels do actually play. Some of them are braver than others. They build nest in trees, too. Almost grown boat-tailed grackles chirp their little heads off and wait to be fed by their daddies, even when they are grown enough to fend for themselves.

What a shame it would be to lose all this nature to climate change disaster.

Better type this up now and get it posted before my midnight. Next month, I plan to post my September blog and announce in it that my new Haiku book has been published.

Until then, I welcome your reactions and responses to my current rantings. 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:

https://twitter.com/awlasky

https://www.facebook.com/ann.wilmerlasky

Distractions!

June 2017 Blog

Almost didn't make my deadline this month. Remember what I said about "shiny things"?

Distractions!

Well, life may not always provide shiny things, but it is always there and the living (or surviving) of it can easily distract us from our intended purpose.

To Purpose! A Haiku

The sharpest pencil

Would rather be dulled by use

Than retain its point.

This is the first day of the sixth month of the year. 2017 is nearly half over, and I am not much closer to my goals than I was when the year started. I have made virtually no progress this last month at all.

I would apologize to myself, but the apology would fall on deaf ears. I must renew my efforts or face accomplishing little this year except treading water, and I'm certain I don't have that many years left to procrastinate.

Now, how does one hold one's self accountable when there are no incentives to do well and nothing to be held back against failure?

One gets to that point when the only thing in life pending or looming is one's own demise and one seems to have a mental block against contemplating it.

True, that should be incentive enough. I must do these things before I can't do them and all is lost. Sad state of affairs, isn't it?

Okay, on a more positive note: I need to be more organized. I used to have a schedule for everything and I pretty much stuck to it (and consequently got things done). It went by the way side sometime around my bout with congestive heart failure and resting –  lots of resting. Then came trying to live life again and then came the elections (but that's a whole different story). Guess, I need to drag the schedule out and rework it – making it relevant to the now.

I do make lists (and my DH makes lists for me), but I frequently neglect to refer to them. I guess I can blame that on age (really, I think I can). The old brain is still a whiz at Sudoku puzzles, but "what was I supposed to de next?" can still be a mystery.

Oh, and distract me from my routine at any time and I'm totally shot for the day. Seems I'd rather nap than jump back into something I was supposed to do, if I remember what it was.

My excuse, if that's what you would call it, is "I can always do it later". Which in itself is a fallacy, and I know it. But at the time, the nap wins out and then later becomes later yet.

I don't suppose anyone else has these problems. In my mind, it seems everyone else has it all together. But then, over the years, I've found "everyone" else to be essentially the same as me. So I'm assuming others out there have performance problems also. (Not that kind!)

I'd be grateful for any hints. While waiting for some, I guess I'll print out my old schedule and work on it.

Shouldn't be too hard, right? All I need to do is remember to do it, may be write myself a note to do it, maybe paste it on my forehead and look in the mirror once in a while.

By the way, as I sit outside and write this, I can see rain clouds rushing my way with actual rain in them. Since I do my best writing outside, guess I had better speed up my pen. The wind is picking up, but I still don't feel like moving this inside.

I've written in the rain before (as well as bitter, freezing cold). Not sure if it's defiance or I really, really, really like to write out here where clocks don't tick and time (if not the storm itself) stands still for a little while.

Back to that unvarnished, un-shiny schedule: It has to include (besides writing) household chores and paying bills as well. The former seem to get done on an "as desperately needed" basis. The latter is done (reluctantly at best) at the last moment because, it seems, there is rarely enough money at the end of the month anymore. (I’m sure it's a situation that many seniors understand as an unfortunate fact of later life.)

Okay, none of that helps my writing, editing, publishing or promoting situation one whit, but now you understand how I am with distractions and shiny things.

Hopefully, next month, I can report on some real progress. At least I can tweet my book promotions like I did earlier this year. Sold a few books that way, too.

That reminds me, I love Twitter ( https://twitter.com/awlasky ). My husband says "way too much", but then he says that about my fan-girling Jimmy Fallon, too.

I will reach 20,000 followers soon (three years worth of work – and it is work). I will celebrate that milestone, maybe with a book sale – that would be appropriate, wouldn't it? J

I'm not on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/ann.wilmerlasky ) much, although I repost my Twitter post (Daily Haiku) there everyday. I should learn to make better use of it. (Wow, I've just added another project, haven't I?)

Too bad, so sad – so many projects in my mind, but they can't seem to translate to actions. Maybe I need to post some visual reminders of what I want to do somewhere I will actually see them. Wait! They would obliterate my computer screen, wouldn't they?

Until next month's progress report, remember – a sharp pencil writes nothing. You have to use is to make any progress. It is happiest blunted.

If you have any questions or comments on any promotion platforms or options, please leave a comment and I will get back to you. I love to hear from my readers.