Monday 31 March 2014

Leah - March; Line Up, Line Up!

My blog has imploded. Not in a bad way, but in a kind of have-too-much-on-my-plate-so-need-to-roll-things-back sort of way. It's okay though; Ileandra and Raven have a handle on what I need them to do.

But with this blog being the 'Subs Club' I thought now is as good a time as any to stop, take stock and re-evaluate.
Tomorrow is 1 April, after all. That's the first day of the second quarter of the year. ^_^

I want to make submissions. I want to self publish. I want to maintain my blog. I want to do all sorts of things that all come back to the same core thing; I want to write.

I think keeping hold of that is important and remembering that everything around that is all part of it.

I'm babbling a bit, sorry. Let me try to reign it in.

Projects On The Go
Credit: Openclipart.com
Those of you familiar with my blog know that I write erotica and fantasy. You'll know that I have simultaneous projects on the go all the time and that some move faster than others (if this is news to you then I do encourage you to visit the blog; it's nice there. There are cookies*).

Enthusiasm Takes Over
I have several projects on the go because I have so many ideas that I just can't decide which one to go for first. As a result I try to do everything all at once.

You don't need to be a genius (lucky for me) to know that doing things this way just won't work.

Pace Yourself
My blog imploded because I forced myself to acknowledge that despite my goals and lists, I still have too much happening. Not that it's impossible for me to work simultaneous projects, but only that these particular projects are too large to split my attention on.

And this is a message for all of you guys. There will always be time to work on the next project. Chose one thing, work on it, then do the next one. Don't cripple yourself by trying to do too much at once.

Accept That Plans Change
Credit: Openclipart.com
And I don't just mean the fact that your intended evening of work (with the internet turned off, of course) turned into a Facebook and YouTube marathon. I mean that sometimes, despite your best intentions, your carefully crafted lists and sticker charts (yes... I have sticker charts - they help!) you sometimes have to change things up a bit.

I had three projects on the go. Now I have one. The other two I have put to one side for the foreseeable future. In fact, one of these I might not pick up again until September. But that's okay, because that's what happens.

The ability to roll, flex and except change is what keeps us from going insane.

The Point?
Just as I told you last time that you're awesome (you are, by the way. Have you been saying it?), I'm telling you this time to cut yourself some slack.
I know for a fact that you're hard working and driven but balance that with actually doing things. Working blindly, without a plan or a goal, or with too much on hand only leads to difficulties later.

Yep.
There we go.
I'm going to bed now. Every now and then I take my own advice and, frankly put, today has been a wicked-productive day.

Kisses!
Leah x

Twitter: @ileandraXraven
Blog: www.ileandraXraven.co.uk
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/illyandraven






*Cookies may not actually be real. ;-)

Friday 14 March 2014

Sheila - Read The Rules!

Image Provided by Duncan Hull - Flicker Commons
Today’s inspirational quote from my book of  “Mottos for Success”, (a Christmas gift from a friend) is: There is always something to be thankful for. This is particularly apt as for the last two months, I have been especially thankful for two members of our group (you know who you are girls) who have given up their time to do two fantastic edits of competition entries.

        Today, 14 March, was the deadline for the latest competition I decided to enter.  By Tuesday evening, 11 March, even after hours of rewriting, I found that my word count was still too high.  This was because I had not remembered the entry requirements properly and my original word count started off much too high. Note to self, print out entry rules and keep them by the computer.
     Anyway, by the time I realised my mistake, I was exhausted with the piece and couldn’t see where I could get rid of at least another three hundred words. So, I sent the final version to my two editor friends to show them at least what their first edit had produced, but with regrets that I couldn’t send the piece as the word count was wrong etc.

      Imagine my astonishment when the following morning, a severely edited piece came back, word count correct, with the instruction to enter it. Him indoors couldn’t believe it, but then said, “Well, I suppose that’s what you do in writing groups, support each other.” I told him that a lot don’t, but that the Phoenix is special. Even so, I couldn’t believe that someone had gone to so much trouble. So, yes, thankful for the unselfish members of our group who take pleasure in helping others to succeed and who believe in you when you don’t believe in yourself.


     The piece finally went off on Wednesday morning, but not before I’d spent a traumatised hour, trying to negotiate the website and method of payment. There didn’t seem to be an alternative way of submitting an entry, which makes me think that there could be any number of people out there, really good writers,  who could be well capable of winning, but aren’t computer literate.  Ummm a rather specious form of pre-selection!

Stick To The Plan


Bill Holder

Time I posted an update. Spring was often about new beginnings for POW escapers in occupied Europe. The snow had started to melt, tunnelling could resume or begin afresh, and suddenly the open country outside the wire had lost its white blanket and looked inviting again. Blogging about escape tunnels can make you feel like you’re in one, especially when it comes to the Subs Club Goals Lists.

There might be a hundred and one reasons why you didn’t push on that little bit further, why you didn’t shore up the excavation with a few more bed boards to stop the roof falling in and why you didn’t carry on chipping away at the face and baling out the water through the winter months.

But that’s past and it’s what you do next that’s important. The last month there's been a bit of lying and sitting down, so they can haul me up and down the tunnel on castors to do my digging stint. No better time in the quiet hours than to plan and adjust my targets.
 
 
Short term goals are measured by output and long term ones by results. With a bit of slide rule deception, here are my new ones.

Long Term Goals

Escape Line Blog to reach 60,000 hits by 31 December 2014

Publish my book

Win Prizes in Flash Fiction competitions

Win a Short Story competition

Short Term Goals

Complete final edit on book manuscript by 19 April 2014

Submit to agent with letters and enclosures by 9 May

Blog weekly

Enter 4 Flash Fiction comps by 31 December 2014

Enter 2 short story comps by 31 December 2014


Must go - I’m on stooge duty and there’s a goon in the block.


Keith