Kickin' it old school...

Good morning!

So my book signing on Friday night was pretty great!  I'd forgotten, mostly because I sometimes avoid mass social contact, how fun it is to just talk to people, especially when I'm talking about one of my favorite topics:  My writing. 

It still amazes me, after three years of relentless marketing, just how many people that I know on a personal level do not know I'm an author.  So I guess, until every person I know owns a copy of my books, I'll be doing book signings!  (Do you hear that everyone...buy the darn books!  LOL!)

Anyway, yesterday I started yet another new job.  I have learned, in the past several weeks, that, from a writer's standpoint, I had the DREAM JOB, for a number of years.  I had a boss who didn't care if I wrote, played on facebook, built  a website, during the work day.  (Of course, he also didn't care about things like offering health insurance, giving me a raise, letting me use my vacation time, treating me with any sort of human respect...) 

What I'm getting at is that this job, more so than any other I've had, does NOT seem to appreciate computer use outside the very strict guidelines of the job.  So that's going to take some getting used to.  But what's really going to take some time for me is going back to my roots when it comes to writing. 

Yep, lunch and break times mean one thing now:  Opening a notebook and grabbing a pen.

It's how I started...back in school when I would write during a boring class, but in the computer age, I've become one of those who cannot seem to write if my flash drive isn't engaged.  I think many of us use the same excuse, don't we:  We can't write, we're not at our computer.

But that's not the case.  We can WRITE anywhere so long as we have a writing tool and something to write on.  I've written notes on church bulletins, (during the sermon...), on napkins, and once on a paper coffee cup.  Not my best edited stuff, to be sure, but writing that moved my book along.

So now, with the new job I will have to write when I have free moments and use the basic tools of the trade until I can get home and put it on the flash drive.  I'm not going to let this change in my schedule stop me, not a chance!

Now the rest of you...go forth and WRITE!

New excuses for not writing in this high tech world...

Good morning!

I know, I can't believe I'm blogging this morning either!  After a great Green Bay Packers Superbowl win last night I can't believe I'm awake!  However, real life does not stand still, as we all know.  I still have the job, I still have the kids and they still have school.  So here I am.

A couple of notes on upcoming events:

1)  I will be guest blogging at a couple of very fine places in the next week. 

2/13  Long and Short reviews I'm taking part in their Valentine's Day event.

2/13  Goddess Fish Promotion Party Pavilion  I will also be taking part in their Valentine's Day event, there I'll be talking about Ramona and Jesse's first kiss in Dream in Color. 

3/22 and 3/23  I've got my friend and fellow Wild Rose Press author  Kelly Moran doing a two day guest blog for me to promote her fantastic new novel, "Summer's Road."


So I've got that going for me, which is nice.

Now, on to to the topic at hand.

When I got to work this morning, I realized, to my horror, that I'd left my flash drive and iPod at home.  OH NO!  How shall I write?

Then it hit me:  When did I get so tied to technology?  Why am I unable to write just because I don't have my flash drive?  When I started writing, 30 years ago, I used a pen, a notebook, and, when I was really lucky, a manual typewriter.  I wrote any time of the day or night.  I pretended to take notes in class and I wrote.  Have pen, will write!

I hear writers say all the time how they can't write because, "I can't write when the kids are up.  I can't write because someone's always at the computer.  I can't write because I have so many kids' games to watch.  I can't write because I need silence to work."

I've said many of the same things...and now I'm thinking that I've become a slave to the technology of writing.  I can't possibly write unless I'm typing.  I can't possibly write unless I have my soundtrack going.

Blah de blah blah.

Let's face it...using technology as an excuse to NOT write is just an excuse.  Real life gets in the way, we all know that.  And most of us have to work a paying job, again, we all know that.  But I'm honestly letting the fact that I don't have my flash drive stop me from writing?  Not a chance!

I have a goal, a very aggressive goal for a puzzle piece writer like I am.  I am going to finish the first draft of 7/8ths time by the end of February.  It's going to happen.  I've put it out there for all to read.

That might mean I have to carry a notebook everywhere.  That definitely means I have to be more organized, watch less TV, good on Face book way less.  But I'm going to do it!

Now, what are your goals?  What do you need to accomplish those goals?  To quote one of my favorite movies, Gladiator:  Imagine where you will be, and it will be so.

But I'm betting you'll need a notebook and a pen!