Spring Weather

Here's the special spring weather can bring ~ Jill Badonsky

Spring has definitely sprung in the Midwest!  Actually, I think it’s been spring since about the middle of January, and I’m not complaining!  I hope you’ve enjoyed a mild winter as well (although  I know some of you had your share of snow and messy weather).

But now it’s time for Spring and I’m so excited for new routines, new projects, and new ideas.  In a couple of weeks I’m starting a new job with a new schedule and new duties.

Last week it felt really different, almost like I was cheating on my first project.  And now, it’s exciting to get to work on a new WIP and jump into the editing process on A Place to Call Their Own.  I never thought juggling two projects at once would be as exhilarating as it has been.

And that brings me to new ideas.  I do confess, the prospect of editing one project while starting to write another did seem a bit daunting last week.  It’s taken some time to get used to, but I think I’ve worked in my new routines to make sure the new WIP grows by at least 250 words per day and that the editing process moves forward daily as well.

I hope everyone is having a great start to the week.  Tomorrow I am closing a chapter in my career and taking the rest of the week off of work-job activities.  I’ll be working hard on the two projects and maybe some Spring cleaning.

What about you?  What is Spring bringing new to you this year?  I’d love to hear!

Everyday Magic

Here's to the every day magic of the way light looks when it is filtered through the trees ~ Jill Badonsky

Our lives full of magical moments.  Remember when you graduated high school?  Went to college?  Initiated into various clubs and organizations?  What about your first job?  Your first promotion?  If you’re a parent, most likely you repeated all those moments with your children.

But what about the magic that we experience every day, in our every day lives?  How often do we stop and wonder at the magic all around us?  It’s up to each and every one of us to make the time to understand that magic and use it on our dream journeys.

Some of the magic I experience daily is when my writing just flows.  I like to visualize the readers who will read A Place to Call Their Own.  Hopefully after they experience the novel they’ll have a renewed sense of hope and awe in their own lives.  And now that I’m even more prepared with my new WIP, I get to continue everyday magic with new characters in a new setting, both location and time.

So take a quick break from your dream journey and make sure you’re experiencing the every day magic along your journey.  I’d love to hear what you come up with!

The Best Way to Have Good Ideas

The best way to have a good idea is to have a lot of ideas ~ Linus Pauling

No matter what dream journey or task that you’re focused on, you normally have to some sort of idea how to accomplish your task or tasks.  The best way to come up with a good idea is indeed to come up with a lot of ideas and then whittle them away until you come up with the best ones for the project for the moment.

On my dream journey of writing and publishing a novel, I have found out, the hard way, the value of good brainstorming sessions before setting out on the actual writing.  Now don’t get me wrong, fellow writers, I know there were times when just sitting down and pounding out the thoughts on my mind helped me push forward and get the novel finished.  But because I didn’t do enough outlining, there I’ve had some pretty long stops because I didn’t know where the story was going.  So my lesson learned was to do as much outlining and preparation up front so that the writing process was smooth and fluid.  By knowing exactly where the story was going, I was able to easily write 1000 words or more a week, some days I wrote as many as 2000 or 3000 words in one day alone.  And the other lesson I learned is that when I do get stuck or haven’t done my outlining, that it’s OK to take a step back and do more brainstorming to get the story moving along again.

And all along the way I am gathering new thoughts for future chapters and future novels.  During the writing of A Place to Call Their Own, I came up with the rough idea for five sequels (That’s why I like writing historical fiction, there’s usually a lot of history to write around), at least two non-fiction books, another trilogy, and a standalone story.  As the ideas started pouring in around the work in progress, I found more ideas that didn’t fit.  I just moved those notes elsewhere and those WIP’s are just waiting for me to work on them in the future.  And sometimes, I work on them instead of the primary WIP because I find some inspiration that I can’t sit aside with some notes.

So if you are trying to come up with some ideas, come up with as many ideas as you can.  You’ll find as you get going you’ll just keep coming up with more.  Take the ideas from the stories you read in the newspaper, online, and the novels you’re reading as well as TV shows and movies you’re watching.  Creative ideas to help you on dream journey are all around you!

What’s the most creative idea you’ve had lately?  I’d love to hear about it!

Each of Us Has a Spark

Each of us has a spark of life inside us and our highest endeavor ought to be to set off that spark in one another ~ Kenny Ausubel

I love to share ideas that have been successful for me with others in a the same or similar dream journeys.  It seems to be part of my nature.  My dad was a high school teacher and is currently and adjunct professor at a community college.  I worked for U.S. Bank for nine years in a culture of idea sharing and cross-pollination across the company.  I’ve also been involved in various direct sales companies; anyone who’s been involved in any of those knows that idea sharing is critical to one’s success.

The whole point of my blog is to share with you, my readers, my hopes, my fears, and my struggles as I set out to get my first full length novel written and published.  If you’re a writer yourself, I hope you identify with some of my own struggles and inspiration. If you are not a writer, but on your own dream journey, I hope you’re easily able to draw parallels to your journey.

Has one of your “sparks” inspired anyone to action lately? I’d love to hear about it!

A Plus Name for Regular Activity

Creativity is merely a plus name for regular activity.  Any activity becomes creative when the doer cares about doing it right, or better ~ John Updike

Any activity does become creative when you try to do it right or better.  I have spent the last year at my current job figuring out ways for my team to do things correctly 100% of the time and get better at doing it.  All we’re going to taking messages for doctors and paging them out.  Now that work has turned in to a new career opportunity which I get to start in April.

In the last few months I switched all my cleaning products from expensive brand name products to a very effective and more cost effective replacement.  I now use white vinegar for all most of my cleaning needs.  By mixing one part vinegar to one part water, you can clean just about anything:  appliances, counter tops, glass, bathroom fixtures.  Believe it or not, the vinegar smell rarely lingers.  And a small bowl of vinegar placed strategically near the cat box has helped to neutralize odors there, too.  Cleaning was so much more fun those first few weeks than it had been.

Is there some day to day chore you can figure out how to do better, which in turn might help you reach your current dream goal?  I’d love to hear about it!

Major Milestone Achieved!

For those of you that have been following me for the last two years, I am happy to announce that I reached a major milestone in the writing of my novel, A Place to Call Their Own.  I finished the rough first draft of my manuscript!  It currently sits at 64,000 words and I can’t be happier to have achieved this goal.  I have been dreaming and goal-setting and blogging about accomplishing this for over two years and the day is finally here.

Now, don’t expect to A Place to Call Their Own available through Amazon or Barnes and Noble any time immediate.  This is a rough, rough, rough draft.  I have a lot of editing to do:  I know there are inconsistencies where I changed character names, traits, background info, etc that I need to go back and change.  Since it’s a historical novel, there are a few facts I need to check.  I am excited to be at this point with the work.

This has been one goal for that I’ve set that I’ve never questioned whether I would achieve it or not.  My mindset has always been, when I get the novel completed.  This was just like setting the goal to quit smoking (which by the way, I celebrate 15 years smoke-free this April) and going back to school to complete my bachelor’s degree.  It was a never a question of if, but a question of when.

I’ve been reminded of many things about goal setting and dream chasing along the way.  It’s taken many different incarnations of routine and schedules to get the writing done.  I might even put out there, it’s taken a change of work schedule to accommodate writing and productivity.

And I’ve learned a lot about the writing process as well.  I’ve learned about story structure and how to write effective, interesting dialogue.  I think the most important thing I’ve learned recently is the need to have a well developed outline ready to go.  It seems that most of my stumbling blocks came when I wasn’t sure where the plot was going.  Once I figured things out, the writing just started flowing.  I’ve probably written more in the last three weeks than I had written in the previous six months, seriously.

Thank you for all your support and wish me luck in my editing process.  Have a great day everyone!

Try Something New

Everybody who has a creative mind should try something new ~ Nat King Cole

Whether you consider yourself a creative/artist type or not, try something new is advice anyone can take.  For many folks in Corporate America, annual review time has either just happened or is in the process of happening.  Many of us get advice from our bosses on trying something new at this time of year.

Are you trying something new on your dream journey this year?  I went so far as changing work schedules that has helped me be more creative during a time of day when I have more energy.  I also have more time to work on my novel and I’ve even had to create a new boundary for myself so I’m not so wiped out before I go to work and have to concentrate.

Another something new I’ve learned recently is that I need to do more brainstorming, story planning, and outlining up front.  If I would have done that earlier in my process, I don’t think I would have had as many stops and stress and blocks in the process.

What have you tried new and different recently to help you on your dream journey?