Ah, summer, time for rest, relaxation, peaceful long runs, and lazy afternoons!

Well, not really.

My schedule isn’t exactly R&R compatible, now that I’ve picked up two more side jobs, we bought a beach house fixer-upper that needs major fixing upping, plus there’s Camp NaNoWriMo in July. Still, I don’t want summer to sail on by, leaving me scratching my head in September, wondering where, exactly, the time had gone.

So while enjoying an afternoon tea, I thought I’d think of 26 Things I’d like to do this summer. Why 26? Because there’s 13 weeks of summer … accomplishing two things a week shouldn’t he hard, right?

Guess we’ll find out in September. [click to continue…]

I once gave a presentation where, ten minutes in, I asked attendees to do a writing exercise.

Instant awkwardness.

I could feel the groans they shifted in their seats, grimacing as though I had offered pickle juice for their tea instead of cream. Yikes. For a second, I considered saving face by saying, “Just fooling, haha,” even though the exercise was really cute: Write a Dear John letter from a fairy tale character to their significant other.

But no, it was part of my class plan. I like sticking with plans. So I had everyone put pen to paper, sensing potential presentation disaster.

They did it. I did it. And guess what? [click to continue…]

It’s been a crazy week.

Seriously crazy and while I did get some work done on a manuscript, it wasn’t good work because my mind has been pulled in so many direction. I hate not doing good work. It makes me feel lost. Chaotic. Incomplete because I haven’t been living my authentic life lately. Regretful over how much time has passed since I sold my last book. Pissed off because I know I’m capable of accomplishing more but this week, I allowed doubt, fear, procrastination, and my crazy schedule get in the way.

Okay.

Stop. Take a breath. [click to continue…]

Why haven’t I been doing more Friday Five posts? I love Friday. And I love 5’s despite my aversion to odd numbers and the fact that Novalee Nation had a deep fear of fives from one of my favorite movies, Where the Heart Is.

(Well, actually, Novalee feared #7 in the book, but this is one of the rare times I liked the movie better than the book, no disrespect to Billie Letts.)

But anyway, I’ve decided to do more Friday Fives, starting with this one about…

Five Oddball Writing Tips

… a collection of writing tips, tools, and tricks that can help you get your fingers moving, words flowing, and mind focused! [click to continue…]

Oh, LiveJournal, how I miss you! It was fun blogging with you before I went all fancy and designed my own site here on WordPress. Which, yes, does have more benefits. But there are things I still miss about Livejournal. Like the sense of community. And how easy it was keeping up with other blogs thanks to the Entries Feed for Friends features. But mostly … I miss the fun memes.

Got no clue what to blog again? Do a meme. Boom. Done.

For poops and giggles, I searched for old LiveJournal memes and seeing as how I have no clue what to blog about today, (and I need to finish packing for the Tinkerbell Half Marathon,) I thought I’d give this one a go!

A LYRICAL MEME

1. Put your music player on shuffle.
2. Press forward for each question.
3. Use the song title as the answer to the question.

What does next year have in store for me? [click to continue…]