DO-OVER

March 2018 Blog

Do-Over

I’d like this to be my last time on Earth, for I am stardust and must rejoin the Universe.

Do Over: A Haiku

I’d not wait ‘til my

Next incarnation; I’d like

To get life right now.

Can I just start the year over again? I can’t believe that two months have slipped by already.

It’s not that I haven’t done anything in two months. It’s that what I’ve done has amounted to little actual accomplishment.

Maybe this month will be different. I’m calling for a do-over.  Oh, I know I can’t get January and February back. I’m just calling for an early reset so that the rest of the year doesn’t slip away.

I think I’ll start the month with promotion. I just got this neat book by Rachel Thompson (Bad Redhead Media) called “30-Day Book Marketing Challenge.” I’m about to plunge into it.

Okay, so I got the book a couple of three weeks ago and started it once, but as usual, I got sidetracked with life and only made it through Week One – the week on Twitter promotions.

So, for my do-over, I’m starting again. I’m taking the 30-day challenge from the beginning for the month of March.

Hope I can learn to boost my sales for the rest of the year. Social Security just doesn’t stretch too far these days. My writing needs to step up and fill the gap.

I’m checking my backlist of books available on Amazon. I’m only counting seven published. (Somehow I thought it should be nine. Don’t know how that happened.) Besides promoting what I have published, I need to double my output. Actually, I could triple it with all the Haiku chapbooks I have started.

I also need to get my books on audio. I can’t believe I haven’t done that yet. So many people “listen” to books these days. It’s ridiculous I haven’t even tapped this outlet.

I may even need to set up a studio to read the poetry books myself. Although I’m sure there are some excellent poetry readers out there, no one can know all the nuances that a poet thinks into the writing of a poem.

Besides, I love reading my poems and have always enjoyed recitations of my work. Guess I’m just a ham at heart.

Lots of other things I’d like to restart this year, but life is a linear progression. Although the older you get, it seems to tend to the exponential. It will suffice if I get my “authoring” life in order. Other things may naturally fall in line.

Back to the neat book I’ve acquired from my favorite source – Amazon, of course. I bought a hard copy of the “30-Day Book Marketing Challenge” because I love to make notes and mark up the pages.

I’m glad I also acquired the Kindle version, because there are so many links to so much great information. And the links are live in the Kindle version. I’ll take a live link any day to having to type a long string of words and symbols and then getting them wrong.

My current manuscript now has the dubious honor of having taken the longest to write of any of my novels ever. I’ve done pretty well on it so far this year. I’m planning to finish it by Easter. Actually, it’s my 40-days of Lent project, but I’ve missed a few days. So, I’ll be practicing catch-up again. (When am I not?)

I’m about to get distracted again. I’m outside, sitting in the sun and the wind, watching a squirrel skitter along the fence behind the only one of my dogs who has braved the wind with me.

The squirrels love to play games, it seems. They manage to stay one step ahead of the dogs, although sometimes, just barely.

I’m also listening to the birds chirping for their afternoon offering of seeds. They (and the squirrels) have become my morning and afternoon companions. There is nothing more freeing (to me, at least) than to sit in my backyard with pen and paper and write amidst birdsong and squirrel antics.

Thank goodness winter has been cooperative. We’ve had the mildest winter in years (which probably doesn’t bode well in the wake of climate change and global warming.)

That reminds me, one of my Haiku chapbooks will be titled “Global Warning”. I’m gathering a lot of my Earth and weather-related Haiku for that one. It will come out after my next one – on writing.

I hate to think what will happen to our children’s children’s future. I’ve noticed the changes even in my lifetime. If we do nothing about it, the future will be far different from the past – and not to the good of mankind.

As I look forward to the long month of March and the beginning of spring, I would advise the writers among my readers to double down on their efforts. Write whenever and however you can. Edit what you’ve written to the eye of the reader. Publish your best efforts – cast you work upon the waters. You never know who’s going to swim by and lap it up (my unabashed cliché for the month).  And then promote, promote, promote.

Until next month, 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

All of my books are available on Amazon.

This month’s featured novel is my 1940’s noir fiction “The Seasons of Sam Rock” https://tinyurl.com/ydftx4xq

This month’s featured poetry chapbook is “Life's Lemons and Lemonade: A Collection of Haiku: Volume One: One for the Book” http://tinyurl.com/zuayqu8

Writer’s Quandary

February 2018 Blog

Writer’s Quandary

I would cast my words upon the ether and give them life more eternal than my own.

Writer’s Quandary: A Haiku

What of what I write?

Hidden under a bushel?

Cast upon ether?

February 2018 Blog

What do you write when you want to write: “Life sucks and then you die” And, George (the dead girl form “Dead Like Me” who was killed by a toilet seat that fell from the space station) says, “It still sucks!”

Do I force myself to write something inspirational (and against my current mood), or do I go with the flow and embrace my “Debbie Downer” side? And does it matter anyway? This has got to be the least read blog of any out here in the blog-o-sphere.

Usually, when I’m in this kind of mood,  I just work on one of my novels and kill someone horrifically. But, today is the first of the month, and in keeping with my resolution from last year, I’m blogging.

Which reminds me, I didn’t  make any resolutions this year, so I don’t have to worry about breaking them. If I had made any, I’m certain they would have been broken by now. It’s been that kind of year so far. (Can’t believe that it’s only just started.)

So here I am free to write anything I want. Guess I’ll just practice crying in the wilderness.

I am not happy. I’m not happy with the current state of affairs in the United States or in the world, for that matter. I am not happy with myself, either. I don’t see either unhappiness being mitigated anytime soon. The only thing that seems to bring a smile to my face lately is sitting out in the sun in my back yard, watching the birds and the squirrels and writing.

Wait! That’s it! I’m happy when I’m writing! Within that statement may lie the solution. I need to write more.

I need to shut out the world I cannot control and immerse myself in the worlds over which I have complete control. Worlds in which the characters do my bidding and their existence is at my pleasure. Where they always do what I expect…

Okay, that’s not entirely true. Sometimes, my characters do exactly what they want to  do and turn my tales a whole different direction. Usually it’s for the best. They seem to know their own inclinations and can surprise me at every turn. They even make my job easier.

At times I merely put my pen to paper and their words flow scene after scene. That’s part of the joy of being a writer: the flow of words that make a cohesive story that you like even when you read it back to yourself.

That doesn’t always happen. There are times (during editing especially) that a writer comes to loathe the words on the page and would like to just to ditch the whole thing. In fact, we almost didn’t have Stephen King’s “Carrie” because he trash-canned it. We have it only because his wife Tabitha rescued it, read it and told him it had merit. One “Carrie” resurrected.

I wonder how many writers out there have become unduly discouraged and abandoned their “babies” before they even had a chance at birth.

Persistence, then, is the key. In fact, it is the key to so much in this world. Without it, we cannot succeed and in fact may fail just this side of a brilliant breakthrough.

I guess that is why I’m writing this blog. I am nothing if not persistent. (although it may take me a while to persist.)

I would advise all aspiring writers to make persistence part of their makeup. Write and keep writing. Edit, but don’t abandon. Pursue publishing vigorously, and repeat and repeat and repeat.

The breakthrough (however you define that) will come, or if it doesn’t, at least you will have spent quality time away from the world such as it is. You will also have yourself to thank for your success. You know I’m sure no one is going to hand success to you. It’s a battle all the way, but a worthwhile one.

I guess I’m feeling better now, and I know what I must do – spend more time in my happy place and write, write, write. Whether I’m widely read or not, I will have the satisfaction that I have said my piece and I will have some peace because of it.

I may not change the world, but I will give it a piece of my mind.

Okay, I’m smiling now. Catch you next month, when I may have some happy news on the publication of my next two Haiku chapbooks, my next Black Oak novel and my next Sam Rock, and then there’s my Acqueria sequel and prequel.

Oh, I am going to be so busy.

Until next month, 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

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

Resolutions

January 2018 Blog

Resolutions 2018

Revived from their dis-use last year: Must Write! Must Edit! Must Publish! Must Promote!

Resolved: A Haiku

There must come a peace –

Within if not without; I

Pray this be the year.

So much for the best laid plans of mice and men. This blog almost didn’t happen – or might have been very, very late. I’ve been down with a crummy cold for the past few days.  Not much thought for the pen and paper. I’m full of Alka-Seltzer fizzy stuff, so I’m up for writing this. Should get it posted before my midnight, once again.

I’m actually looking forward to this coming year. I plan on accomplishing a lot . (See, I said plan, not hope.)  Hoping doesn’t feed the bulldog – or so I’ve been told. (Just usurped part of an old saying I never really understood, except that it fits right here.)

As part of my Writer’s Resolutions for 2018:

I will chart each part of my writing goals this year. (See, I said will, not should or might.)

My “Must Write!” section will include the rough draft, the plotting and maintaining a bible of who’s  who and what they’re doing, as well as what they look like. That way, I catch if my heroine’s eyes change from blue to brown, or my hero’s hair from blond to sandy and back again. I might even keep a log of how many hours I spend on each. (Okay, I said might, and it might be might.)

The “Must Edit!” section on editing will include the first pass of checking the rough draft against the first printout for errors, omissions, or to make preliminary changes. The second pass is where weak dialog is punched up and story is expanded where needed (or changed if I made a really, really bad start). Then comes the final pass where all the little formatting problems are fixed and the bible is fleshed out with story and plot lines and how each character ends up, so that the dead stay dead, if I’m doing a series.

The “Must Publish!” section is relatively simple for an independent author. It is also the really hard part. I usually use a CreateSpace ( https://www.createspace.com ) template, so I can cut and paste the body of the book and the front material. But it is tedious and not everything goes smoothly. You need to pay close attention to detail including scene breaks, chapter headings, contents and index. (I try to index or at least list poetry titles in my chapbooks.)

Special Note:  It’s always best to order a proof copy of your novel before it goes live. It’s amazing the little things that pop out at you when you actually have the book in your hand. After you’ve corrected and/or okayed the print copy on line, you get to push the button to publish the book and make it available on Amazon and as many of its subsidiaries and outlets as possible.

Then you get to “Must Promote!” That’s where I still fall a little short. I’m great (or at least okay) with the technical stuff, but I’m a rank amateur at asking people to buy my book. Perhaps I should rethink that and say that I have difficulty letting potential readers know that I have something they might enjoy reading.

I believe I will find that promotion is the hardest thing of all, yet it is perhaps the most important. I don’t believe there’s any writer out there who doesn’t want what Stephen King has – fame and fortune. Seeing your book on the big screen can’t hurt either. I always picture my novels as movies. Too bad they will not get there in my lifetime.

Again, the happiest of New Years to you and yours. If you are a writer, the best luck to you. If you are a reader, please enjoy what I (and other independent authors) have to offer – our hearts and our souls on every page.

Until next month, 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

All of my books are available on Amazon.

This month’s featured novel is my paranormal Western “Black Oak: Town of Joy” http://tinyurl.com/hohuhce 

This month’s featured poetry chapbook is “Life's Lemons and Lemonade: A Collection of Haiku: Volume One: One for the Book” http://tinyurl.com/zuayqu8

All Is Not Lost

December 2017 Blog

All Is Not Lost

Although the future is never guaranteed, at least the illusion of it appears with the possibilities of redemption.

Saving Grace: A Haiku

E’en as this year is

Weighed, found wanting, the next looms

On the horizon.

Besides surviving the year (so far), on my very short list of accomplishments in 2017 have been the posting of my daily Haiku daily and the posting of my monthly blog monthly.

     As 2018 looms, I feel the need to plan for a much brighter year with a far longer list of finished projects.

    Perhaps the new year will be my “year of the charts”. Maybe such visual reminders will help me focus. I might even get some of those tiny star stickers they used in schools to reward students for their good behavior. (We were such suckers for those little gold stars.)

    In addition to making charts and schedules this month for use next year, I need to finish the manuscript for this year’s NaNoWriMo ( https://nanowrimo.org ). I managed 54,000 plus words and another WriMo win. Now, during NaNoFiMo ( http://nanofimo.net ) I’ll write another 30,000 words for a good-sized novel I can edit in January and February for publication in the spring.

    Hopefully, 2018 will usher in a kinder, more gentle world, but I hold little hope for that. 2017 has seen an incredible amount of inhumanity among humans – both toward themselves and the other inhabitants of this Earth. Actually, we haven’t been very kind to the Earth itself, and Mother Nature has taken us to task for it.

    Climate change deniers aside, even believers are not doing enough to right the wrongs we are daily heaping upon an Earth that is nearing the tipping point. Once past that, it is my understanding that nothing we do will reverse the damage we have done.

    In my lifetime, the world has gone from the brightest of all possible futures to the bleakest of all scenarios – from unlimited riches available for all industrious peoples to a dystopia where there is no hope for the future of the world or its angry, angry populations.

    We have managed (in the span of seventy or so years) to send an Earth that has survived for millions of years into a tailspin that will leave it desolate and uninhabitable for any form of life. Thankfully, I will not live to witness its demise, but future generations (and not too distant future) will experience the ravages of the sun and the storms that we have only begun to feel.

    This is starting to sound like a dystopian novel. I’m starting to get an idea. I need another sequel to “The Chronicles of Acqueria”. I’m sure I can work in a lot of mayhem and destruction. After all, the not-so-dead volcano its inhabitants are sitting on has hinted at its own resurrection. I could have a few villains help it along.

    Oops, there’s that shiny object distracting me again. Gotta love all those shiny objects, but they do take a toll on my plans and objectives.

    I need to find a way to incorporate all my new shiny ideas into my charts, plans and schedules so I don’t have so many loose ends out there. I keep tripping over them. Then I fall down and have to start all over again.

    Distraction, thou art mine enemy. But really, where would a writer be without new ideas? I simply have to develop some discipline to keep progressing and actually finish some of these myriad projects I have started.

    So far, for next year, I can anticipate to continue my daily Haiku and look forward to publishing at least three collections of same.

    I also look forward to continuing my blogging on a regular basis. See, I have developed some sense of discipline. I must also release my darlings into the world and let them live lives of their own in the hearts and minds of my readers. My favorite people in the whole world. The people I love to share my ideas and my stories and characters with.

    I must remember that I write not only for myself, but for my readers, too.

    Oh wait, the characters in my head have just reminded me that I write for them – to give them life and being outside of myself. They are becoming very vocal. So before I’m accused of being schizophrenic, I better give them their own lives. There, that should keep me on track.

   But then, there’s…

  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

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

Stagnation

October 2017 Blog

The year is now three-fourths over and I am dead in the water.

Stagnation: A Haiku

These feet, mired in the

Muddied waters of life, long

To dance on the air.

Stagnation: #WritersBlock and #LifeBlock

Only in forward movement is there life worth living. I should think on this more often. I’m certainly not living it.

It has been a year now since publishing my “Life's Lemons and Lemonade: A Collection of Haiku: Volume One: One for the Book” (http://tinyurl.com/zuayqu8).

I should have another novel out and at least two more Haiku collections. But I don’t.

And there’s no one to blame but me. I have fallen into the rut of living day to day and expecting there to be a tomorrow, even though I know there are no guarantees.

Maybe I’m thinking that if I keep living in expectation of tomorrow, it will always come. Now, I know I’m not that delusional, but it does lend a certain rationality to my behavior (or lack thereof).

Three-fourths of this year gone. One year since my last release date. An actual dead line staring me in the face, and a nap is the best thing each day I can look forward to. I need to find the energy or at least the fortitude to start cranking out some more works I’ve had in progress way too long.

There are three months left in the year.

I’d like to see the sequel to my paranormal western “Black Oak: Town of Joy” (http://tinyurl.com/hohuhce ) on the market.

The sequel is already written. All I have to do is the final edit, format it and hit publish.

I’d also like to see two more Haiku collections hit the market. They will take a little more work. I’ve got three subjects I’m currently gathering material for. One is on writing – hopefully with all kinds of helpful hints to overcome writer’s block or lend inspiration to writers who might need that extra boost I seem to constantly need.

The second one is about our Universe and this planet Earth that we are so badly using. It is to be called “Global Warning” and I hope it serves as such, although I fear it will be but another voice “crying-in-the-wilderness”.

Another is a collection of Haiku and other poetry to be called “Dark Horizons” – a compilation of the darker side of me, the side that is closer to Anne Sexton, Sylvia Plath and Virginia Woolf than even I care to admit.

Gee, talking about them almost makes me want to stop writing this and get to work on them, but then, I’ve left writing this blog to the last minute again, so I’d best keep at it. I would like to keep this year’s blog record intact. This will be my tenth month in a row to post it on time.

So I’ll keep writing this while I’m catching glimpses of the latest episode of the Ray Donovan show, which appears to be all about the right-to-die and/or assisted suicide.

I am surprised that they did this so openly. I don’t think it would have been possible to get it aired a few years ago – even on HBO. It is surely a topic that needs to be addressed. As morbid as it may seem, it is an important subject. Something that we need to legitimize along with all the other personal rights that should be a given by now. But these rights, it seems, we have to keep fighting for over and over again.

And while I’ve gotten off topic, why does the greatest nation on Earth still not have Universal Health Care?

Really, it’s one of those things I thought we’d have before I died, along with a woman’s right to choose, racial equality, and justice for all.

I guess some things will have to wait until my next incarnation.

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

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