V. I Will Live This Day As If It Is My Last. (part I)

I will live this day as if it is my last.
I will finish this book/this chapter/this rewrite today rather than postpone it for tomorrow.

In short, I will do today’s work TODAY.
Tomorrow’s work belongs to tomorrow.

No longer will I procrastinate, especially with my writing.

Procrastination is another bad habit of mine that I have no choice but to break if I even hope to gain success.

“I will form good habits and become their slaves.”

You never know what tomorrow may bring…
You could wake up in the morning, and be too sick to work on your current project(s).
A storm could knock the power out, and you’d be relying on very little battery juice left in your laptop/tablet/phone.
The internet could be down…
Any number of things could happen that would interfere with your writing/productivity time.

Therefore, we must do what we can to take advantage of every spare moment we have TODAY. Carpe Diem!

Carpe Diem! Gather ye Rosebuds While Ye May!

Take advantage of every spare moment that you have today! Every moment of peace and quiet is writing time, productivity time, and study time. Every uninterrupted second I will put toward work, and work joyfully.

I will treat each day in this matter.

For tomorrow is it’s own new day, and will be full of its own work and accomplishments.

Seize the Day! Live each day as if it is your last.

III. I Will Persist Until I Succeed

Some of you may think I am some “Newbie” author who had just started writing within the past year or so, with the release of Wishful Thinking.  That assumption would be wrong.  

I have been writing for most of my life; and writing has been my career choice for over half of my life.  

Always, I write under the mantra I Will Persist Until I Succeed. 

I have been persisting that long in my ongoing uphill climb to success. And my journey is not over yet. 

Sure, there were times I had to put my writing on the back burner in search of a steady, well-paying “Day Job”.  There were times when I thought I was better off writing as a hobbyist rather than a professional author.  But no more.  

I will persist until I succeed.  

Persistence pays off.  I may not be JK Rowling, or Suzanne Collins,…but I believe I will find my success–my own successs–At the end of this road of hard work, enduring sales slumps, periods where i cannot find an affordable editor and have to shell out more than anticipated or find an affordable alternative, a so-so review of a “just okay” book, and the sneers of others who for now are doing better than me.  But I will succeed.  And my success is my own unique reward for hard work. 

And, I will succeed.  Failure=giving up.  Quitting is for the weak.  I am not weak. 

Don’t ever give up your goals, your dreams, or doing what makes you happy.

Persist until you succeed, and let each day teach you something new in how to achieve those dreams.  

Persist until you succeed. 

~K. Crumley 

 

II. I Will Greet Each Day With Love in my Heart.

Why do I write?
More specifically why do I pursuit a career in writing fiction?

Am I in it to get rich and famous? Maybe even be dubbed the next J.K. Rowling? Nice dreams…but no. That is not why I write.

Quite simply, I write because I love it. I love to write, and am in love with the whole process of writing and publishing from beginning to end. It is my passion.

A very wise woman who I respect, and fellow writer and poet once told me “You have to love what you do for a living…”
And she is right. I’ve had a lot of unpleasant jobs with bad career decisions, and have learned to steer clear of those. A day job (especially for a writer) is a necessity, but the more pleasant a day job you have the better off you are.
I like retail, and have really enjoyed retail loss prevention…
But more than that, I love writing.

As I focus now (more so than ever) on making writing my full time career, I am writing with a new fervor each day for minimum 2 hours…and before I know it those 2 hours have become 4…then 5.

I Start each day doing something that I love.

And, it has changed my attitude and outlook for the better.
Suddenly, I don’t mind the rest of my tasks so much.

Dishes, laundry, even Algebra homework.

And when I’m all done with my other daily tasks, I just might find time to write again.

Start every day with love in your heart.
Do something that you love,
Spend time with someone that you love…

And the rest of the day will seem that much brighter.

~K. Crumley

I. Today I Begin a New Life.

“Failure will no longer be my payment for struggle.”
Here starts the first of my blog posts inspired by one of my favorite books, The Greatest Salesman in the World by Og Mandino.

If you haven’t read the book, I highly recommend it…

I’ve really felt the need to re-read this book, considering that my writing career has been on a downward spiral due to procrastination, lack of confidence, and paralyzing insecurities. Let alone the lack of marketing (which I think correlates to my lack of confidence, as well as my lack of money.)

Sometimes you just need to start fresh.

This is that time for me.
Do things differently–do things better. Put my days of mediocrity behind me; start anew.

It’s never too late to start fresh.

It’s not–and never shall be–too late to revive and resurrect my writing career. It’s never too late to breathe new life into old stories, long neglected and half-written on my laptop’s hard drive and on my flash drives. It’s never too late to do things better the next time, with the next book and the book(s) after that. Nor is it too late to set new goals, and work toward achieving them.

I will start by forming good habits and becoming their slaves as the first scroll instructs.

For example, getting up each morning and writing at least 2,000 words. I will make that part of my daily agenda, and will no longer slack off in doing so.

Also, I have already formed a good habit of reading each night; craft books in addition to books in my genre of Fantasy.

This is my pledge to myself, and to my writing.

I challenge you all to do the same…make a new good habit, and stick to it. Whatever that habit may be…And whatever goals you may have in your life, I wish you all luck in reaching them.

I hope you continue to read the rest of the blog posts in this series, and appreciate those of you that follow this blog.

~K. Crumley

Good Morning World! “Today I begin a New (Writing) Life.”

Last Lenten season I read The Didymus Contingency by Jeremy Robinson.  Quite an enlightening story.  I really enjoyed it.

This year I’m re-reading Og Mandino’s The Greatest Salesman in the World.  I will also be blogging about the 10 principles of success, and showing how they are applicable to writing (and whatever your career may be). 

The first post in this series will be tomorrow…I hope you’ll check I out.

What a stupid question…

You know, I really hate when people say “are you working hard or hardly working?” It’s not funny…it’s almost insulting. It’s like people want to hear you say you’re doing bad…so they can feel better about how they are doing. And, they use that cliché little jibe to cover their true intentions.
Alright, alright. I know it’s really an old joke, and maybe my recent job situation has just made me oversensitive. But, I have always hated that expression, and never found it amusing.
However, I have the perfect comeback…sad to say, it is actually true.
So, from now on when people ask me “Hey, Karen! Are you working hard or hardly working?”
My retort will be,
“Hm. Let’s see…I’ve got two novellas nearly completed; each part of two different fantasy series. I also have a poetry anthology to be released, a new short story, and a Young Readers adventure series on the back burner. I also just started a new epic fantasy series for NaNoWriMo…all while working a new full-time retail loss prevention job, and going to school online for Web Design. *deep breath*
Does that answer your question…?”

But maybe the late, great Donna Summers said it best…

Writing is hard work, especially working on multiple projects at once.
My day job is mentally and physically exhausting. Plus, going to school online…?
I just wish the world would slow down a little bit…

I also wish that people wouldn’t ask such a stupid, unfunny question.

Wednesday Poetry: Grace (another WIP)

~Grace~

Someone once said
that I’ve fallen
Fallen from grace.

That person
Never knew
The true definition
Of Grace,
Nor did he comprehend
the meaning of compassion,
redemption,
And God-like Forgiveness.

He sat in his chair
His Throne
judging us all.
Judge, Jury,
Proclaimed our Sentence.

High Inquisitor…
Headed for
A very humbling fall.

He’d learn that lesson
In later days,
by others who pointed
sanctimonious fingers
and redefined
the word
Grace
for their own
needs to feel
Superior.

Angry, bitter tears.
He let them
Take his throne
of sanctimony.

He sits on the grass,
Contemplating…
the meaning of the word
Grace.

~ K. Crumley

Character Connections: Tryna (a Mer-Witch)

While at work the other night, I had a brainstorm for a new character in The Corithian Saga inspired by an image I saw at dreamstime.com (I would post it here, but unfortunately the site is down today.) The picture was of a young girl with long, black hair and a mischievous smile. She was wearing a gold torc around her head, and a long, blue velvet medieval gown.

The character’s name is Tryna, and she is a mermaid. A rebellious, willful teen who is jealous and resentful of her two cousins Raphael and Celyndra.
She runs away to join a coven, “Sisterhood of the Sea.” She lived with the sea witches for nearly two years, before returning back to the castle at her uncle’s request. And, despite her rebellious attitude she uses her gifts of magic to pull through, and help the Royal Family in time of need.

That’s what I have planned so far…
I’m sure that some of these details might be tweaked, and altered…and maybe a few new ones
added.

~K. Crumley

Wednesday Poetry: Wingspan (WIP)

Wingspan

Reaching out,
Grasping hands.
Holding on
To each other tight.
Let lose..but just a little.
Let go…but just enough…
to spread our wings and fly…
but soar back to each other.
Land in each others arms.

We have confidence, security, strength.
No need to cling, hold on too tight.
We know how
each other feels.
Trust it,
Know it’s right.

When you’re not here
I can still feel
Your caress
Arms around me.
Still feel your lips
upon mine,
Kissing passionately.

When I need you,
Crave your presence,
All I do is call,
You fly back
to me.
Our wings
Envelope each other,
Comfort, peace.

When you are weak,
Down trodden,
Fear you’ll fall
From these Heavens
Trust in me.
My wingspan is wide,
This wings are strong.
I’ll lift you up.
I’ll comfort you,
Never let you down.

As always,
I trust
You’ll do the same
For me.

I find comfort, protection,
And love
in your wings.

~~~

K. Crumley

Writing ADHD (part 1)

I think I have a rare condition known as writers ADHD. Or, simply put “too many good story ideas, to little time.” I tend to have difficulty staying on one project at a time…I kind of bounce around a lot.

For instance, I will be working on something for a while, and then get revisited by the Muse, and have to write some new story ASAP while it’s still fresh in my head. For this reason, a lot of my stories wind up on the back burner…sometimes indefinitely.

I’m try to remedy this situation. What works best for me is to create a spreadsheet with charts for all my current projects.
Divide it up into 2-3 tiers, creating deadlines for “top tier” projects as well as (hopeful) release dates. I find putting that kind of pressure on myself keeps me focused. LOL

Second tier: Older first drafts I really should finish. This tier also includes all the first drafts that I finished and left on the “pre-revision back burner” for far too long…

Third tier: all those new idea brainstorms I have.

So now, I jot down those ideas I get struck by and label them as “future projects.” Then, I go back to my First-tier WIP’s.

Well, that’s just how I get myself off of this “too many projects” never ending treadmill. Feel free to share your own!

~K. Crumley

Disclaimer: This post is in no way meant to offend those who suffer from ADHD, or their families.