Writing

What Are Your New Year’s Resolutions?

/ Sheila McIntrye Good, Author / 1 Comment

English: New Year's Resolutions postcard

Christmas is behind us, my tree is down, and I am beginning to feel a tiny sense of routine returning, but we still have two more day’s before all the New Year‘s festivities are over, so I won’t get my hopes too high. In the meantime, I’ll continue to debate the issue of making New Year’s resolutions for 2013. I didn’t do well with  the ones I made for 2012. It wasn’t for lack of trying, but then, isn’t that the excuse everyone uses.

Looking back over the year, I was surprised to find, in spite of all the disruptions, I’d managed to keep half of the resolutions I made in 2012. Okay, half might be stretching it. Maybe I didn’t keep half, but more than I expected. I started a new blog page, Sheila’s Morning Pages, was elected President of my writer‘s group, and kept at least one of my daily prompts (most days). In addition, one of the short stories I submitted made it to the top 40 as a finalists in the WOW, Women on Writing, Summer 2012 Flash Fiction Contest. So, 2012 wasn’t a complete washout.

Nevertheless, I’d be lying if I didn’t say this past year has been challenging for me, personally. Life definitely got in the way, as it often does. I’m a planner by nature and this year was a frustrating year for me as a writer. If  I learned anything, during this time, it was this: you can’t plan life; you have to go where it takes you.

To quote John Steinbeck, “… the best laid plans… often go awry.”

That’s not to say this diehard planner won’t make a few plans or set a few goals for 2013. But New Year Resolutions…. I don’t know. I think I’ll leave those for the hard-line resolver’s, like you, perhaps, and stick to simpler, short-term goals, more suited to my hectic and unpredictable life.

Like, “Today, I will….”

What about you? What are your New Year Writing Resolutions? Leave a comment, I’d loved to know, and please have a Happy and safe New Year’s.

“Life is what happens while you are making other plans.” John Lennon

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Pay it Forward

/ Sheila McIntrye Good, Author / 1 Comment

 

I’m surprised and  honored. My blog has been nominated  for the  Very Inspiring Blog Award and I’d like to pay it forward. 

I’m up every morning around six o’clock. The smell of hot coffee permeates the air as my oldest Bichon dances around my feet ready to start our morning routine.

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It takes his sister, Piper a little longer. She’s still snuggled underneath the covers where she’s managed to wiggle her way in, the same way she wiggled her way into our lives some four years ago. We still can’t resist those adoring dark eyes staring at us, especially, in the wee hours of the morning.

My husband sleeps while the three of us walk out to grab the morning paper. They get a doggie biscuit, I get coffee, and we settle in front of the fire to catch up on the latest news.

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But, headlines are the same they were the day, week and month before. Stories of the dreaded fiscal cliff, threat of nuclear weapons, or the ongoing clashes between the political parties long after the election, cover every page. I stop reading, and close the newspaper on the never-ending rhetoric.

It’s Christmas! Time for joy and inspiration.

Elizabeth Cutright has been a tremendous source of inspiration for me. It was through   becoming acquainted with The Daily Creative Writer, and the many other talented bloggers that Morning Pages from the Cow Pasture Chronicles, sprang to life.

My blog, Cow Pasture Chronicles focuses on the how-to’s of  writing while Sheila’s Morning Pages is my chance to share my words and stories. Perhaps, one such story, Christmas Magic, was the reason my blog came to be nominated for this special honor. It appears my seven-year-old granddaughter, Mallory, has touched many hearts and I’m happy to have shared it with you all.

I challenge you to Pay it forward. Write a good story and share it with others.

Now to the business end of the award nomination:

  • I’m southern born and raised and I love sweet tea with lemon and lots of ice.
  • I was climber as child; my exploits included the ironing board, the refrigerator, and the top of the frame of a house being built. I was three years old. My mother and the builder talked me down.
  • I’m a Registered Nurse by profession but have long been retired.
  • I spent half of my career delivering babies and the other half as a transplant coordinator for the American Red Cross bone and tissue program, and Administration; Polar opposites.
  • One of the most beautiful places I’ve ever visited has been the Grand Canyon. I rode all the way on a mule and saw the handiwork of God.
  • I collected clowns, dolls, and figurines for years. The clown and the character behind the face intrigued me. I eventually packed them away when my daughters reached an age they found them creepy.
  • And, although I love uplifting stories, my favorite genre is crime thrillers.

Blogs I nominate: 

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Do Your Writing Goals Meet The Criteria?

/ Sheila McIntrye Good, Author / Leave a comment

While many of you have been navigating the #ds139 "Writer's Block"NaNoWriMo challenge this month, I can’t begin to tell you how many pages I’ve crumpled up while navigating my own challenges, but that’s life.

At any rate, I’ve decided to stop fretting so much and set new goals, only this time make them more sensible, otherwise, I may be the interesting story you read about in tomorrow’s morning newspaper.

In my past life, I was a nurse, and we prepared a plan of care (POC) for every patient, which included stated goals to be achieved before the patient was discharged.

Each goal had to meet the following criteria:

  1. It had to be specific to the patient.
  2. It had to be measurable-“the patient would be able to …. before discharge”.
  3. It had to be achievable – We had to be certain, based on the patient’s condition, the patient could accomplish the goal.
  4. It was a realistic goal- based on the patient’s condition
  5. The goal was attainable – based on the time frame the patient would be in the hospital.

This got me to thinking, why couldn’t I apply the same concept to writing? Life may be throwing a load of crap my way, but I could still set goals for myself based on these same criteria. Once I realized establishing goals was no different from one discipline to another and that I could use something so familiar to me, a load was lifted from my mind. It became easy to apply this to my writing, and I immediately put a POC, of sorts, in place for my writing. You can too.

 Remember:

  1. Goals are not written in stone, they can be renegotiated; don’t panic.
  2. They need to be specific. Make the goal specific to the project.
  3. They should be realistic. Don’t set out to write a novel, when you know you only have time to write a couple of short stories.
  4. Goals must be measurable. Establish a word count per day or a story per month, for example. You must be able to have something to show your goal was completed.
  5. They should be attainable. Set a time frame in which your goal will be completed and stick to it.

Make yourself accountable by writing your goals down. You can list your goals, paste them on a mirror, computer monitor, or make them your computer screen saver, whatever works as a daily reminder. Index cards work well for me.

Goals give you something to work toward becoming your own daily prompt.

Do your goals meet the criteria?  Leave a comment and let me know.

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Setting Effective Writing Goals by Moira Allen

Setting Your Writing Goals by Sharon Hurley Hall

Best Laid Plans

/ Sheila McIntrye Good, Author / Leave a comment

Typical scene at a local emergency room

I had the best plans laid out yesterday morning. I  was up bright and early at my keyboard, ready with an article outlined for Cow Pasture Chronicles, and Morning Pages was brewing in my head. I had pulled my notes and was prepared to start back to work on my novel, mid-morning, when….

Well, stuff happened… Instead of getting any of those things accomplished I ending up spending the next twelve hours in the emergency room with my daughter. It wasn’t as simple as the flu, but she will be fine. It’s going to require more family support, but taking care of family is my top priority, right now. Even, the best laid plans don’t  always work out.

So, what’s the writer supposed to do? Here are a few of my suggestions.

  1. Schedule like hell.
  2.  Make a to-do-list
  3. Use micro moments of time – use travel time to revise, or work on previous pieces.
  4. Have a notebook and pen with you at all times, even at the bedside to jot down ideas, outline notes, etc.
  5. Assign a limited time to social networking each day, otherwise you may find yourself wasting enormous amounts of time.
  6. To save time group tasks together.
  7. Learn to say,”No” to unnecessary drains on your time.
  8. And, keep on writing one word at a time.

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