November 5: – I created an editorial calendar a few days ago using Google Calendar. I have so many sites I write for now, I had to give myself four to five tasks daily for six days. My only regular Sunday task is to clear out my email; I use Outlook Express, and it gets cluttered easily. Lately it seems spam has increased dramatically. I need to set more message rules to get that under control again! I may also save most fiction writing tasks for Sunday as well.
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Horse Movies
Last night I watched two horse movies, both from Australia. The first, The Silver Stallion (also called The Silver Brumby) had beautiful cinematography, fantastic horses, and a weak, slow-moving plot. I know the Silver Brumby series of books is very popular in Australia… not well-known here in the USA. The horses are worth watching… they were incredibly beautiful creamy-silver Palominos along with a lot of other horses whose breeds I wasn’t familiar with. All Brumbys are wild horses – that’s what they call them in Australia.
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Memoir Synchronicity
I’ve been tossing together memoir notes and ideas for several years but until recently, didn’t have a workable focus for the project. Then like a flash, it came to me that I should write about my thirty years as a member of a not-well-known organized religion. I left the fold ten years ago.
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Homeless Attitude: Adventure or Destitution?
Homelessness can be adventure rather than a torment. Attitude is the key to overcoming distress.
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Amargosa
Recently I’ve been hearing about Amargosa, through my own need, the universe’s response, through synchronicity. I heard about the Amargosa Opera House several months ago, and even visited the website. A few nights ago I heard about again while watching an interview online at the Conscious Media Network. Today my partner watched it as I napped and told me later, with passion, how moving it was. That sparked my memory – of having heard of it before – and I made time to watch it tonight at Netflix. It is available for instant view there.
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Plots, Sketching, and a Query Letter
My writing as of late has been sketchy. I write almost every day in my journal – three pages, thanks to Artist’s Way training. Right now I’m working my way through Cameron’s The Vein of Gold… getting off to a slow start because I find the Narrative Timeline assignment so challenging. The focus is to write everything you can remember about your life. Well, my Narrative Timeline is slowly coming to life. I’m up to about third grade now. I wonder if I’m dragging myself through this at a snail’s pace because I’m afraid to write about my teen years.
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Places Where I’ve Lived
I wrote this list in my journal a few days ago, and hope it will help me as I write my narrative timeline (autobiography a la Julia Cameron’s book, A Vein of Gold.)
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A Decade as a Happy Camper
I’m a Happy Camper. No, not just happy or excited about something… but actually THRILLED because as of today I’ve lived in Happy Camp, California for TEN YEARS! In the same home/house/cabin/domicile! This is the longest I’ve ever lived anywhere, ever! I must like this humble little red cabin. (I do like it – a lot!)
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A Few Things I’ve Learned About Life
Here’s something I wrote in my writing practice notebook last year:
Goals Are Like Flowers, Before They Bloom
It’s that time of year when I need to think about what I can do to make next year the best ever. First I’m reflecting on what I accomplished this year. One long-time goal has been achieved – I finished the sixth revision of The Scribe of Irohila, a middle-grade novel of 46,500 words, and am finally able to send it to agents.
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Maintaining Momentum
Success breeds success, because if you do well one day you’ll want that great feeling again, so you’ll try to replicate it. That’s why I set goals and do my best to keep at them day after day.
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Corruption in the meadow!
Wildflowers are blooming though we didn’t get much lupine this year. Instead our south meadow is inundated by star thistle, an unwelcome visitor. I’m learning how to eradicate this terrible, painful plant. It started in the lower part of the meadow a few years ago and now has taken over the entire area to be stopped only by a thick and well-established hedge of blackberry brambles.
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Schedules and Flexibility
One thing I’ve learned about schedules during the last week — they MUST be flexible! My schedule, however well intended, wasn’t practicable. Not that I’m giving up on it. Oh no . . . I plan to continue with this attempt at fixing my life. In fact, there were some positive results. But perfection is impossible so flexibility is a necessity.
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