How To Stay in the Desk Chair Saddle

I spent years trying to figure out how to keep my butt in my chair and my hands on the keys (also known as BICHOK). Somehow I finally stumbled on the secret—at least for me. If there's a rule in this crazy writing business, it's that nothing works for everybody. This thing I figured out, it wasn't about tricks and self-discipline. What it is about is motivation—and to get myself motivated I had to do some serious self-searching. It wasn't easy, but it worked for me.

The basis of this self-searching toward motivation starts with some questions:

1. For you, is writing a hobby, a part-time job, a career, something else entirely?

2. Looking at your answer to the above, decide how much time, money, effort you are willing/able to put into writing to make it what you want it to be.

3. Depending on your answer to the above, decide what you want to achieve over the next few weeks, months, years. Set a goal that seems reasonable to you, then add more time to that to leave room for things taking longer than you think they will, and for the inevitable delays.

These questions and answers will change over time, so be sure to reevaluate frequently. Now you know if what you're currently doing is too little—or too much—time, money, effort to get you where you want to be.
Now you have what you need for self-motivation. Look at your goals and what you need to do to reach them. Each day you can evaluate how you're doing and if you need to maybe get your BICHOK going. It's much easier to get yourself going if you have a clear goal of what you want to achieve and the time frame in which you want to achieve it.

Have a happy and successful holiday week!
Cheryel
www.cheryelhutton.com

Freedom - Oh yeah, I'm all over that!

When I think of Freedom as an individual - much of the concept revolves around Financial vs. Self and the conflict between the two.  Having been raised by children of the sixties, my parents wanted nothing more for me than to be happy.

Well parents - Mission accomplished! 

Now I'm not saying I don't have problems like the rest of the world.  I have illness, bills and some debt.  I hate when simple decisions are made by financial need.  Things like going to a movie, taking a trip, or even picking up a good book.  :(

Considering these items, I'm overall happy with my life. Why? I have the freedom of writing - an opportunity to escape, to a world I love, and make some money along my journey.

These days I tend to be more of a Hobbie Writer - doing it in my spare time when I'm not working the M-F gig to pay the bills.  However, I have big dreams - I plan to gain my financial freedom with my writing.  I don't need millions of dollars, though that would be nice. :)   Thanks to said hippie parents, I've never been one to live much beyond my means. 

My husband, finally achieve his freedom to do and be what he loves.  He went back to school, and now is an instructor to student pilots.

This brings me to the second part of my Freedom concept -self.  When you have to pay bills and meet financial obligations, this requires you to have money.  For most authors this means you have to either, make enough money writing, or keep a job. For most, this tears us between writing and work.  A rock and hard place.  We need to work to make money, but sometimes a job inteferes with our creative process by consuming our time, energy and resources.

What's a writer to do?  There is a school of thought that in order to "make it", you need to focus only on your writing.  Quit your day (or night) job and treat writing as a business.  This might work for some people, but it would not work for me.   I think if I treated my creative process as work, I might not enjoy it as much.  

In order for me to achieve results as a writer, I need to achieve a sense of self.  Who am I?  How do I want people to remember me? If you're not sure, imagine introducing yourself at a community cocktail party (not a conference, not the company Christmas party, and maybe not necessarily your own community).

"Hi my name is Tina."
"Hi Tina.  What do you do?"

There it is- what do you do?  How do you answer this question?  Are you an author?  Do you get into specific genres or only when prodded?  Do you identify more with a title you have at work?  Do you identify with being a parent, spouse or some other connection? 

To say,  "I'm a parent putting two kids through college," does not make me less of a writer.  It's simply my sense of self - right now, at this time, in my life.  As I go on, I will talk about the books I write, and the fortune 500 company I work for.  Identifying my sense of self, helps give way to my goals (where I want to be), and give me a sense of achievable Freedom in my future.  

"You have freedom when you're easy in your harness."  ~Robert Frost

Happy Birthday to Me!

The sun is shining, the weather is warming, and it's a bright day to mark the anniversary of my birth. Not that anyone is really doing much to mark it, there were no presents beyond hand-made cards from the kids. The agenda holds nothing auspicious - just hauling the kids to a pumpkin patch to get pumpkins and the resulting chaos of that trip.

But the one thing I do around my birthday is look back on the past year. I'm a goal-oriented person. In the past few years, I look on my goals sheet and am disappointed at how little I accomplished. This year is different. Unlike previous years, I actually lost the targeted amount of weight, finished the troublesome book on the docket, and marked off all but one item from the household section of the list. Of course, most of that portion involved a move to Japan that didn't happen, but still - it's progress!

So, now I'm optimistic. :) I've scribbled down a new list of goals. This year, there's not a weight goal. Yes, I heard that shocked gasp. Instead, I've started running again with the goal to finish the Disney Princess Half-Marathon in February. Anyone want to join me? A trip to Disney is always a motivating carrot. I was shocked at how easy it was to fall back into training runs. The body remembers some pretty amazing things.

I'm still waiting to hear about STEALING GRACE, that troublesome book, but am now wrapping up a St. George novella. I'd love to do another St. George book by the end of the year, so that's on the list with a question mark beside it. I've got some big plans for 2012, but those are waiting on the St. George outcomes.

Personally, now that we're not moving to Japan, we're slotted for North Carolina - the Cherry Point area. Although our transfer date isn't until August, the kids and I will most likely move over the summer to give them a chance to settle in and make friends before the school year starts. Since we've already done most of the pre-move purge, getting ready for the move is a simple process of staying on top of the clutter. I'm super-excited about the change of scenery and am really looking forward to house-hunting in the area. I think I'm most excited over the fact my children will go back to school leaving me time to write that isn't between nine and midnight!

What about you? Anyone have any great goals they'd like to share? *throws confetti*

Inspiration: Get it Where You Can

Writing a story can be...oh, what is the word?...HARD!

I mean, seriously, creating a brand-spanking new world with sights, smells, tastes, and sounds? Developing new people with hearts, guts, skin and bones that readers want to fall in love with? Delving into conflicts that are believable and strong enough to grab the reader by the collar and propel them into a story they don't want to put down? AND digging deep enough to make it all fun, emotional, awe-inspiring, and completely satisfying?

Dang, it is hard.

There are times, I will admit, when it all seems impossible. On those days I look for inspiration, something, anything with a boot to kick me in the seat of my pants. I find inspiration in all sorts of places and here are a few:

1) My boys are the first to tell me to stop being a wus. Just do it already, Mom. Plus, they are super good to bounce ideas off of. They have no qualms in telling me if something sucks. But they are also great at telling me what rocks. The best thing is they keep me grounded and remind me what's really important--when's dinner?

2) My hubby is an athlete. He challenges his body and his mind on a daily basis. Men fifteen years younger than he is are jealous of his accomplishments. I see how dedicated he is, how motivated, how he keeps going when his body hurts, or when he is tired. The man is a living inspiration.

3) My parents, sisters and brother all lift me up. They've suffered through my growing pains and rejections and never once suggested I quit. Encouragement from people who love me no matter what? Priceless.

4) My friends have always been there (in good times and bad) with kind words, hugs, jumps for joy, rejection condolences, chocolate, coffee, and money to buy my books.

5) Authors who have gone before me and who are struggling beside me are inspirational. A great book lifts me up, gives me hope, and turns the light on at the end of the tunnel.

6) Artists, athletes, and anyone who has set stellar goals for themselves and have worked their fannies off (for years, usually) to reach them.

7) The Bible. I can always find inspiration in there.

8) Me. Looking back at how far I've come, helps to move me forward.

9) Inspirational Quotes. I love them and collect them. This week I found one from Muhammed Ali that really spoke to me, "I am the Greatest. I said that even before I knew I was."

So here's to being the greatest! I wish you inspiration and joy in your journey to reach the stellar goals you have set for yourself. If you have quotes, or inspirational stories to share, I'd love to see them.

Kimberley Troutte
www.kimberleytroutte.com

2009 Goals

It's that time of the year. Again.

Goals.

Resolutions.

Call it what you like, its the month we all look forward and say to ourselves, "What am I going to do this year? What can I change to make myself/my life better?"

I stopped resolving a few years ago. What did it matter? I never met my resolutions. But this year I resolved to resolve and sat down and wrote out some things I would like to accomplish.

I read this great blog post by JA Konrath on resolutions. Basically he said you can't make goals that are out of your hands. For instance, I can't say I want to sign a multi-million dollar deal with Penguin by December 31, 2009. That's unrealistic and something totally out of my hands. I can, however, tell myself that I will submit to Penguin by December 31, 2009 (not that I'm really going to submit to Penguin, but that multi-million dollar deal does sound nice, doesn't it?).

I've also discovered that if I make my goals public, then there's more pressure on me to meet them. So here they are, for everyone to see. And I beg you, hold me accountable. Throw tomatoes at me if I don't at least give the appearance of working toward them.

1. To finish/polish my RS and my paranormal and submit them to my editor NO LATER than March 1st.

2. I would like to sell to Silhouette Romantic Suspense so my goal this year is to finish revising an older RS I wrote a while ago and submit it to Silhouette Romantic Suspense (sometime between March and June 1)

3. Write Shane's story and submit to editor (after June 1)

4. LOSE WEIGHT! I know this is a cliche for this time of year, but I really, really need to lose some weight. I'm keeping my goal small - 10 pounds. Just enough so my clothes fit better and I feel better about myself. If I achieve that, maybe I'll set another, smaller goal. I won't set a time limit on this one.

5. Earn enough in royalties in 2009 to buy an elliptical machine. I'm hoping by June. And just as an added incentive I have this picture posted on my iGoogle page so I see it every time I log in.


So. What are your goals for 2009?

A Few Parting Words About Keeping Your Dreams Alive!

Isn't that a cool house in the photo at left? It's my parents new farm house which should be finished by January.

My parents are 70 and 65. At their age most people retire and move to town. (At least that's how it works with the farmers around here.)

...well, my folks have other plans. My father is raising natural beef cattle on this farm place and has no plans to quit anytime soon.

...so at the age when their peers are calling it quits and settling on their duffs in town, my parents are packing it up and moving back to the country. It's "back" to the country because in 1984 my parents had to quit farming and sell their home & farm, move to town, and find jobs in our small town.

Then in 1990, after years of saving and working off-farm, they started renting and feeding cattle at my grandfather's farm (Gramps semi-retired at 80). For the past 17 years they have been driving back and forth keeping their dreams of being back on the farm alive, plus my mother worked herself up from secretary to manager at her difficult job, and they cared for their ailing parents until their deaths.

They've been working their asses off for 24 years to see their dream become reality. TWENTY-FOUR YEARS!

And my parents did it their way. Others told them to just remodel the old (firetrap) house that was on the place. Some told them they were crazy to move out on the farm to deal with hot summers and harsh winters at their age.

I'm jumping for joy. I see hope in what they're doing. I see dreams becoming reality. I'm proud to have their blood running through my veins!

Today is my last post on Beyond the Veil. I'm changing up some things in my life. I'm taking steps to make sure I'm doing what I need to make my dreams come true...dreams about my writing career, but about some personal visions as well.

I'm confident I can make them happen. I hope it doesn't take 24 years...but so be it, if it does. I'm going to follow my parents example:

• Work Hard
• Ignore the Negative Nay-sayers
• Decide Your Own Dream
• Get Back Up and Keep Going...and going....and going...and going :)

Wishing my fellow writers and our readers the strength to follow your dreams, I bid you good-bye...for awhile anyway :)

~Margo Lukas

http://www.margolukas.com/

I Want My HEA!

HALF MOON RISING, in print at Amazon now.