Writing Whine

Oh, for the love of God, where do I find the time? Ack! If we could just have 30 hour days.... Imagine that. I could have 8 hours of sleep and 4 hours of writing! Yeah! Uh, earth to Kim? Reality check time. (Besides, if we had 30 hour days, we'd probably work 10 hour shifts.)

Ok, so 30 hour days are not possible. There must be ways to shave off a little bit of time here and there. What I would really like is 2 hours a day to write, after I do my moderator, blog and e-mail stuff. So, I guess I'm looking for 3 hours of computer time. It sounds grand, doesn't it? It actually sounds very greedy and unrealistic. I guess 2 hours would be more realistic. One hour for e-mail/mod duties/blogs and one hour for the Work in Progress (WIP). Two and a half on good days.

So, what are some good ways to "find" time? I already try to cook 2 or 3 night's dinner at once. Actually, I don't find this saves a great deal of time since heating up various left-overs and replenishing things like salads and steaming fresh veggies still takes time. But it does cut down on the "what the hell am I going to make for dinner?" routine which can eat up a half hour of whining and rummaging through the cupboards and fridge.

Going to work on time is good. Getting home from work at 5 instead of 5:30 or 6 is very helpful.

Having my gym clothes for the week all washed and folded and bundled up is a good way to keep my morning routine speedy. If I leave the gym on time, I have time in the morning to make lunches before I get dressed for work and it keeps me on time to work too.

Weekends are good times to write more. The only thing about weekends is the "to do" list. There's grocery shopping, laundry, and all the errands. People suggest doing those things after work but then I give up my writing time at night since it pushes everything back. It really is a vicious circle, isn't it?

I know I've totally neglected this blog, so I don't expect many of my Blogger pals to still be reading, but if you are, please post your time-saving tips. It doesn't matter if you work a 40-hour week or if you're a stay at home mom (or dad) time is hard to find for all of us. I'm going to think about the topic and post anything else I can think of in a future post. Maybe if we all share ideas, we can help eachother and come up with more.

What a difference...

...a year makes! Just got the camera cord today! Yay! Here's Elise, the cutest child on earth, one year later. (Not partial. No sirree!) The other photo is Elise and her best friend Katie (at Elise's baptism party) a couple of months ago. Everyone was snapping their photo from the front, but I like the one I took from the back. So sweet.

Recycled post meme

I've been tagged by Katy to recycle a post. Here's one from last Father's Day, June 18, 2006:

To see the original post with photos, go here:
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Handsome hubby, adorable niece

We just got our first digital camera a couple of days ago. Yes, my oh so handsome husband (see photo) and I are dragging each other kicking and screaming into the 21st century! What will we do next? Turn in our pay-as-you-go old school cell phones for the modern ones that take photos and have downloadable ringtones? The mind boggles...

Anyway, this is my husband and our niece (his sister's daughter) Elise Cassandra, the most beautiful child on the face of this earth. (Partial? Who me?) We had a lovely Father's Day at his parent's house. Elise is almost walking now. She's pulling herself up on every available surface. (In the photo, she's climbed up on a little foot rest.)

We are enjoying having a new niece to play with. His brother has 2 sons (age 14 and 18) and so having a new baby in the family (and a girl to boot) has been especially great for my sisters-in-law and me who have been outnumbered for far too long. Please note that Elise is wearing one of her numerous cherry outfits (courtesy of yours truly) a little chambray dress with red cherries (::ahem::) embriodered all over it. Hey, someone had to get her started on the whole cherry thing, right?

Current Mood: pleased with myself for figuring out the new digital camera

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Observations:

Back then I always ended my pots with "current mood". Not sure why.

Elise is nearly two now--walking and talking and with the silkiest thickest straightest black hair. And gorgeous. Of course. And as soon as my replacement USB camera cord comes (any day now) I'll post an updated picture.

Thank you for tagging me, Katy. I haven't had time to do a new post. Busiest weekend ever. Happy Father's Day to the dads out there.

If you read this, consider yourself tagged!

More Witch Plot Babble

I've been a slacker here lately. Sorry. Sometimes life gets overwhelming for me when there is too much going on.

Ok, I’ve been semi-away from the project for like a month. The biggest problem I solved is that Earth finally has a name, Acacia. I don’t know her last name or middle name yet. Must get her race down.

Now more thought mulling:

Since werewolves are ancient, I want their witchcraft to be ancient too, which creates a problem. I’ve been studying Wicca, but Wicca as we know it today, pretty much began in the late 1950’s. Therefore I need to work on a specific brand of witchcraft--perhaps Druidry--to mix with Wicca. I found a helpful website that tells of people who mix druidry with Wicca and they call it Druidcraft. It’s on my list of possibilities.

Since this is werewolf culture/race of witchcraft, I don’t have to be completely historically accurate, but I do want it to have a backbone of truth. I can’t say Wiccans have been around since ancient times if they haven’t. I can say werewolf magic has, but again, I need a backbone of something that's been around that long to build on. Since I’ve made my ancient werewolves Italian, I may need to look into Roman Gods. Or at least look at what kind of witches existed during Romulus and Remus’s time.

The problem is, I don’t like studying myths or basing my story structure on them because it feels like stealing plots or characters. Years ago, an author friend of mine said it doesn’t matter if I think I’m not stealing things from myths because everything you read has mythological structure.

Anyway, I’ve blocked myths, since Mrs. Knigge’s 7th grade English class. (She’s one of two teachers I've had in my lifetime that made English class not fun--a difficult feat. I love English class.) Because of her, I have no interest in myths. Because of Ms. McKinney’s 5th grade English class, it took me 20 plus years to pick up a mystery novel. (She forced us to write a book report on a mystery and then gave me a bad grade when I said I didn’t enjoy the book in my book report. I never said I was rational.) But I like many mysteries now and I know I should force myself to study myths too.

If anyone is out there reading this--not that I should expect anyone to be. I haven't been reading other blogs--please update me on your current projects, whether it be writing, crafts, or anything else. Please share. I'm interested. :)

Dem Debate II

I thoroughly enjoyed the Democratic Debate tonight. The "top tier candidates", as they are calling Clinton, Obama & Edwards, continued to prove themselves worthy of the title. I enjoyed the looser, conversational debate format much better than the first one.

Best moments:
1) Edwards discussing his "bumper sticker" line and not backing down.
2) Edwards admonishing Clinton and Obama for quietly voting the right way.
3) Clinton's comment about Cheney not being diplomatic.
4) Clinton saying they were not going to discuss hypotheticals.
5) Obama's overall unifying theme and tone.

Overall winner? Clinton and Edwards were the best in my opinion. Obama showed much improvement over the first debate.

*Go Edwards!*