Transition!

 

October 2022 Blog

Transition: A Haiku

“That I am” need not

Be. if I change the story

That I tell myself.

by Ann Wilmer-Lasky

(9/30/22)

 

To paraphrase Anderson Cooper on Stephen Colbert’s late night show: “You can change the story that you tell yourself”. Thank you, Mr. Cooper. Rearranging my story now.

“That I am” has not served me well lately. Need to rethink where I’m headed and head in a different direction. The last two years have just been devastating to so many of us in so many ways. I no longer feel the need to even list all that’s driven us to virtual distraction. Let’s just say our lives have been rearranged for us whether we wanted it or not. Time has come to take back what we can – to take control of those things dangling within our reach and set out again on our own path, believing that we can make our story go the way we want it to go.

Reminds me of what we authors do. We control our novels and their characters. We forge the story to go the way we want it to. Sure, sometimes they grab the reins and force their stories elsewhere...

But wait! Isn’t that what we must do with our own lives now?

Mine, anyway, needs an overhaul. I need better organization and better follow-through – starting with “a place for everything and everything in its place”. That way, when I get around to tackling a project, I’ll have everything I need right where I need it and won’t have to spend valuable time searching for stuff – a definite waste of time.

Starting and stopping projects hasn’t served me well either. Taking too long to restart the project means I often have to “reinvent the wheel” and backtrack before I can move forward – another time waster.

I probably should limit my computer time also. I have a tendency to get caught up in Twitter and solitaire and jigsaw puzzles. It’s amazing how time flies when you’re hyper-focused on those things.

I consider Twitter my window on the world right now, so I probably won’t cut back much on that. However, the solitaire and jigsaws may demand some kind of time limit. I should start setting my timer for fifteen minutes or so, so I don’t find myself glued to the chair an hour later, having spent time that could have been better spent sparring with my characters and recording their stories for posterity.

What a great idea! I can rearrange my story in order to tell their stories! That’s the spirit! Pumping myself up now. I’ve spent way too much time being down in the dumps. I’m smiling a little bit now. Thank you again, Anderson Cooper for your enlightening take on chaning our own stories and living our lives as we want them to be.

What an amazing concept! Building enthusiasm now – and energy. Hope it lasts longer than most of my bright ideas. But then it wasn’t my idea, was it? It was Anderson Cooper’s.

If I can make it work, I’ll be releasing my Sam Rock sequel in time for Christmas, along with Steve Hamm’s brilliant audio version of my paranormal western, “Black Oak: Town of Joy”.

In the meantime, I’m jumping back on the “Fly Lady” band wagon this month to get rid of my paper clutter. Really need to cut down on the boxes and boxes of paper stuff I’ve always thought I needed to keep. Less stuff means other stuff is less likely to get lost and force more downtime searching for stuff. Love that word “stuff”! It’s so much better than the word it replaces: “sh*t”, you know.

Well all of this will start tomorrow. Tonight starts the “Svegoolie” month of horror. Gonna love every minute of it! Oh, and then there’s the season premeire of SNL – Gonna love that, too.

If you care to check out some more horrific stuff, feel free to check out my eclectic selection of books on Amazon. There may be something there to terrorize you.

https://www.amazon.com/author/annwilmerlasky

Until next month, read and write to your heart’s content and see if you need to alter your own story. There will never be a better time.

As always, 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 or look for my publication announcements. They will be forthcoming:

https://twitter.com/awlasky

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

It’s now October and the world is cooling off. Unfortunately, its weather is most unruly. Praying for all those affected by the storms. May be a good time to check out: “Global Warning: Climate in Crisis” available from Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08KWQ6SHK/

 

 

 

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 25^th 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:

https://twitter.com/awlasky

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

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

https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B003SH6HIQ

All of my books are available on Amazon.

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

https://www.amazon.com/Cottage-Ann-Wilmer-Lasky/dp/1514293870

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

https://www.amazon.com/Castleweavers-Tales-Glimpses-Medieval-Anniversary/dp/1452863326