It hasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t been easy to keep up a daily blog. On December 18, 2007, I announced that I would attempt to post a new blog entry, not weekly, but daily. I didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t think it would be too difficult. I figured that, if I came up against a time crunch obstacle, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d just write a quick \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Howdy-do\u00e2\u20ac\u201dKeep writing,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d message that day and call it good. <\/p>\n
As those of you who follow my blog know, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m not good at brief blog messages. I still manage to fill more space than some readers like. I mean you all have lives, too. There are other blogs to read, research and writing to do, book promotion going on and you need time to sleep, right? So far, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m failing in the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153brief\u00e2\u20ac\u009d department. But, you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll have to agree that I am bringing you some good information, right?<\/p>\n
This weekend, however, I almost failed in my quest to write and post a blog-a-day. And it was due to rats and rain. I mentioned (read whined about<\/em>) having lost our Internet during the recent California rain storm. Well, guess what? Another storm hit yesterday and the Internet failed again. After hours in the rain working on the problem, a lone telephone man announced, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s rats and rain.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Yup, the rats had chewed into the cable and then the rain did the rest of the damage. <\/p>\n The good news is that we are up and running again (big sigh of relief). And what\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the lesson in this latest setback? I found out one thing\u00e2\u20ac\u201dI need an indoor hobby.<\/p>\n I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m a big outdoors gal. In California, you can garden year round, for example. I walked with my daughter and my grand Beagle (her dog, my grand dog\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6) on the beach in a tee shirt on New Years day. But yesterday was not an outdoor day in California. <\/p>\n After the Internet went down, I did just about as much work as I could do in my office without Internet. In fact, I eventually became frustrated because I had so many reasons to use the Internet during these projects and couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t. Finally, I gave up, finished folding a couple of loads of laundry and then boy was I bored. <\/p>\n I love to do needlework, but haven\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t had the time in recent years. This Internet glitch reminded me that maybe I should get involved in a needlepoint or knitting project that I can pick up when I want a distraction or need something constructive to do. In fact, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve already put this on my \u00e2\u20ac\u0153to-do\u00e2\u20ac\u009d list. <\/p>\n Do you sometimes get reminders that you need more balance? Are there rats and rain incidents in your world sometimes? How do you handle life\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s glitches and obstacles that keep you from your writing path? Do you have mechanisms set so that when your interview is canceled, the editor doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t get back to you about changes or you find yourself stranded without a computer, you have something else constructive to do? Maybe you write poetry when you have some down time. This might be a good time to study that book on marketing or to outline the screenplay you want to write.<\/p>\n I used to carry a notebook with me everywhere I went and I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d write down article ideas as they came to me. I might see a mom crossing the street with a couple of toddlers in tow and imagine an article featuring safety tips for traveling with kids. A greeting from a cheery waitress might spark the idea for an article on attitude in the workplace. Sometimes I would formulate articles in my mind while listening to talk shows on the car radio. <\/p>\n When my focus shifted from article-writing to writing books, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d fill my notebook with book promotion ideas and resources. <\/p>\n Well, I plan to do better the next time I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m thrown off my carefully planned schedule. How about you? What is your rats and rain backup plan?<\/p>\n If you live in the San Diego area or near Atlanta, be sure to sign up for my upcoming appearances in those cities. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll be presenting 5 hour-long sessions on article-writing (including how to promote your book through articles) at the San Diego State University Writers\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 Conference January 25-27. http:\/\/www.ces.sdsu.edu\/writers<\/a> I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m conducting a 3-hour book proposal seminar at the Spring Book Show in Atlanta March 29. Register at http:\/\/www.springbookshow.com<\/a> For more information on the seminar, http:\/\/www.anvilpub.net\/spring_seminar_2.htm<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It hasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t been easy to keep up a daily blog. On December 18, 2007, I announced that I would attempt to post a new blog entry, not weekly, but daily. I didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t think it would be too difficult. I figured that, if I came up against a time crunch obstacle, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d just write a quick […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t