Do you ever have those idiot moments that you would give anything to take back?  I had one last night.  I had my finger in the wrong place as I was setting my horse's hoof down, and before I had an opportunity to move it, he put his weight down.  OWWWWW.

You can read more about how it happened on my horse blog.  For the purposes of this blog, though, fast forward to this morning, when I started learning how to type with only 9 fingers.  It turns out the most common finger used in typing is your left-hand middle finger... the one I hurt, obviously.  (Not that I'm complaining -- I'm actually quite glad it was not my right hand, since I am right handed.)

Trying to blog on Percocet is also very interesting, by the way.  I wrote that post on my horse blog while feeling the lovely effects of that drug, and am doing so again now.

Of course, I have a due date looming, so my editor will have to be informed.  I wanted to wait, though, until I had an idea of how well I'd be able to type.  The verdict: I should be able to, just rather more slowly than usual.

I took today off from the nanny job, though I am going to try to go back to work tomorrow.  Next week, I have some plans for my blogs.  I've started slowly switching my blogs over to the new Blogger template designer, and I'm thinking of totally redoing this blog, as well.  I had planned to redo my website to expand on the services and portfolio sections a little, but since I've backed off that a little in order to focus on fiction a little more, that doesn't make sense anymore.  I think therefore that a new website might better reflect my new focuses in my freelancing.

I do plan on taking advantage of having a little extra time to work on my blogs, but I also want to make sure that I don't make any important decisions under the influence of Percocet, so I will probably wait until I'm not so dependent on it to make any major decisions!

Labels: admin

I've been terribly busy lately.  It seems that my mornings -- the time I've set aside for writing and blogging -- are never really mine anymore.  This year so far has been the year of pet expenses, as it has been one animal illness or injury after another since Christmas, but that also means lots of pet-related demands on my time: vet appointments, physical therapy, and time-consuming home care.  And what mornings aren't eaten up by our pets' needs, are quickly taken up by something else -- even if that something else is nothing more than a much-needed mental break, such as a nap or a morning at the barn.


In the last week or two, I've been able to reclaim a few mornings here and there -- anything beyond the last couple of weeks is, unfortunately, a big blur.  But on those mornings I've had to myself, I've come to appreciate something that I never even realized I had when I had it: frame of mind, or should I say, peace of mind.  I've learned that it takes a certain frame of mind to sit down at the computer and work, to feel able to write.  I had that frame of mind when I worked from home full-time, even if sometimes I wasn't very productive.  I even still had that frame of mind when my mornings were actually mine, after I started the afternoon nanny job.

But the last couple of months, when most mornings are spent busy with I don't even know what anymore, I have been able to just sit down and work, even on the mornings when I am home.  I'm so accustomed to running, running, running, all the time, that I can't sit down in front of the computer and make my mind focus on a blog post or an article or whatever I need to write.  Sometimes when I try I end up falling asleep.  Other times I get this feeling in my head like fingernails on a chalkboard, or like gears grinding -- like I'm trying to make myself do something that is, for the moment at least, physically impossible.  And even when I feel like I might, possibly, be able to pull it off, our dog Grace (the one with hip dysplasia, who has gotten increasingly more neurotic over the last year and, especially, the last few months) paces the house relentlessly, until I ready to boil over with irritation and frustration.

This morning hasn't been a good morning, so this blog post is probably coming across a little more colorfully illustrated than it would on a calmer day -- but really, how many of those do I have anymore?  In any case, this should give you a good idea of why it has been so long since I've blogged regularly.

There have been good things too, though, things I hope to blog about in the coming weeks.  Keep your fingers crossed for me that all the pets will stay healthy for a while once this most recent infection has cleared up, and perhaps I will be able to take back my mornings -- or at least most of them!

Labels: time management

It's been a long time since I've blogged regularly.  Even a couple of my other blogs that were more regularly updated than this one have suffered.  One reason is that for the last few months, I've been writing a considerable number of blog posts for a client — mostly book-themed blogs, but a few others as well, and that has cut into my time and desire to work on my own blogs (especially once you figure in my part-time nanny job, which monopolizes my afternoons).

The client recently cut back on assignments, however, and while I am a bit disappointed about the lost income, on the whole I think this will be a good thing — even as ignored as they've been, the ad revenue from my blogs has picked up a bit recently, and I think with a little more nurturing it might really take off.  And, truthfully, which is more satisfying — getting paid for blog posts for someone else's websites, or seeing my own blogs turn a profit?

Anyway, the end result is that I should have some more time in the future to update my blogs regularly again, which I am really looking forward to!

Labels: admin

I have struggled with keeping up on my blogs lately (as you probably have noticed).  The last day or two, I've actually started to wonder if I am a little burned out on blogging.

Part of it is probably that when I decided last year to shift my focus and start working on my fiction a little more, the client work I hung onto was primarily blogging projects.  As a result, I write a number of blog posts a week, and by the time I'm done writing the ones I get paid for, I don't much want to write any for my own blogs.

But part of it is also just that I've been busy, and that is contributing to my feeling of not wanting to blog even when I have time to do so.  I have, however, been doing some research for the second draft of my novel — there were things that weren't researched properly the first time around (no time to do that during NaNo), and some changes that I decided on for the second draft that require some additional research.

In fact, I've been working so much on the novel recently that I started wondering if I should cut back more of my freelance work, or perhaps reduce my blogging responsibilities by dropping one or two of my blogs.  Not any of those that are earning income from AdSense, obviously, and none that have other importance (such as this blog and my novel website), but maybe I'd feel less burnt out if I wasn't trying to force myself to do more blogging than I actually have time for!

Some things to think about.  In the meantime, stay tuned — I do have a post planned for later this week on something I discovered recently that makes organizing my research a lot easier!

Labels: blogging

I debated for a long while as to whether to set any New Years resolutions.  They don't usually turn out so well for me, and last year I don't believe I really set any, at least not any that were work-related.  But this year I think I'm going to try setting a few that are designed to be accomplished in the the next couple weeks or months, so that it's more likely that they'll be successful.

1) Establish a new daily schedule.

I was looking through my old files, and came across a couple of daily schedules I had made back when I first brought Panama to Denver.  I had blocked out time for horse stuff, and time for work stuff.  I don't remember how long I stuck to it, but it occurred to me that maybe I should do something similar to help me adjust to my new schedule and its limitations, now that I'm working a part-time nanny job.  It'll have to be a flexible schedule, to take into account things like our dog Grace's weekly physical therapy appointments, as well as less frequent appointments (vet and farrier for the horses, doctor for me, etc.), but I think it might help to see it laid out on paper how much time I have to work, and how much time I have for other things.  I also want to try to start getting out to the barn at least three times a week, twice on weekdays and once on the weekends, which a schedule should help me to do.

2) Clean my desk.

I think I usually start out the year by cleaning my desk, actually.  I'm hoping to do that, plus a bunch of filing to finish up 2011, this weekend.  My desk in particular has gotten a little out of control once again.

3) Revise my NaNo novel.

It's January now, which, if you'll remember, is when I said I was going to start work on the first round of revisions to my novel.  First I have some more research to do — I want to tie the planning of the second novel in with the revisions of the first, to make sure I keep everything straight.  Therefore revisions will have to be pushed back a few weeks, but hopefully not any longer.

4) Read a few classics.

Actually, I have a very specific list of classics I want to read in 2012.  I even created a shelf on my Nook for these books, so that I won't forget (since this is my only goal for the year that extends past the next couple of months).

What about you?  Any goals for 2012?

Labels: goals

It's been nearly a month since I last posted, thanks to an extraordinarily busy holiday season.  I can maintain my new schedule under normal conditions, but I totally underestimated my ability to deal with it when I have extra things like holiday shopping to do.  Adding to the chaos was the fact that I worked different (and increased) hours last week, since the kids I nanny for were out of school.  I was contemplating increasing my hours over the summer too, but I may have to reconsider that — or at least how much I'm going to increase them!

This week, luckily, I have off, as the family I nanny for is out of town.  It's a relief to have an entire week to get caught up on reading, writing, sleep, and other things, but already two of those days are gone!  And the rest of my week is destined to be spent at home, rather than at the barn as originally planned: Our dog Emma was diagnosed with pneumonia yesterday, and needs to be watched closely (and fed lots of fluids) for the next few days.

 Aside from the pneumonia, we had a pretty good holiday.  I got a Nook Tablet for Christmas (though Michael gave it to me a couple weeks early), and I love it.  We had a fairly quiet holiday — my mom was sick, so we didn't have dinner with my parents Christmas Eve as planned, and Christmas Day we had to ourselves as well.  We did go to a late showing of War Horse Christmas Day, and we spent the following day shopping — some remaining holiday shopping for his family, and some shopping for our house.  The day after Christmas is the perfect time to decide to buy all new window treatments for your living room, didn't you know?

What about everyone else?  How have the holidays been for you so far?

Labels: holidays

I had a revelation over the weekend that may have changed my mind about how soon to start on the next book in my series.  I finished a book I've been reading for about 2 weeks — a ridiculously long time for me — and started reading a back issue of The Writer that I'd never gotten around to reading.  And I realized, Wow, I have time to read again!

What a concept.

So I might take the research for the second book a little slow, like I did with the first one (except maybe not quite that slow), to give myself a chance to catch up a little on my reading.  I have quite a few books that have been on my "To Read" list for a while now, and the thought of curling up with a book in the evenings instead of my laptop sounds downright luxurious!

What hobbies or pastimes are you rediscovering now that NaNoWriMo is over, and you suddenly have all this time on your hands?

Labels: NaNoWriMo 2011