Thursday This 'N That - 2 June 2016

My daughter made this on her drawing program (she has a thing for clocks):

Thanks to Ramona at Create With Joy for hosting this Wordless Wednesday.  Click on the WW button to go to the link-up!

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Thanks to L. Diane Wolfe, Murees Dupe, Alexia Chamberlynn, Chemist Ken and Heather Gardner for being this month's co-hosts!

This was supposed to have been up yesterday, but the day kind of got away from me.  So here I am.

I wrote 33 posts in May, which was down from my high in April of 54 ... but there's something that happens in April each year that seems to up my total of blog posts for the month.  Hmmm.. ;)

My concern is that I still haven't set aside a regular time to write, and specifically not set aside time for non-blog-related writing.  And how am I supposed to strengthen my writing chops when I don't have a regular time to work?  Y'know how they say the road to h-e-double-toothpicks is paved with good intentions?  Well, I must be on that road...it's a steep downward grade and my brakes are out.  That is what it feels like. Ugh.

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MAY 2016 GOALS REVIEW

PERSONAL

• go to the dentist (I've been putting this off because I have dentistophobia big time.)  UGH.  I totally blew this one. :/

MARRIAGE

• celebrate our 19th anniversary on the 9th! HUZZAH!

FAMILY

• trim the number of furry family members by at least 5.  FOUND FOREVER HOMES FOR 3.

SPIRITUAL

• choose one of the nearby churches to attend  LINCOLN COUNTY MENNONITES about 1/2 to 1 mile down the road from us.

PROFESSIONAL

• learn to start a virtual book tour company/site.  I HAVE BRAINSTORMED ABOUT THINGS TO DO.

WRITING

• dedicate some time to writing each day and stick to it at least 4 days out of every 7.  NEAR EPIC FAIL.

Wow...not nearly as good as I had hoped, but not nearly as bad as it could have been either.  For a first month, I'll take it.

~~~oOo~~~

JUNE 2016 GOALS

PERSONAL

• make an appointment with the dentist.

MARRIAGE

• Have a date with my husband.

FAMILY

• Have one non-computer based family get-together per week (she says while typing this on the computer).

PROFESSIONAL

• Contact one virtual book tour company each week to compare notes.

WRITING

• Write 500 words/day, at a 'usual time' would be nice but I'm concentrating on a certain volume of writing rather than a schedule this time around.

#IWSG - #WithGritandGrace - May 2016

The Insecure Writers' Support Group is the brainchild of writer Alex J. Cavanaugh and in the fall of this year, they will have been around for 5 years!  WOW!  If you click on that link up there, you will go to the dedicated site, where you can find out more about the group and see if it is something for you!  You can find a lot of writers who are also "Insecure and Proud!"

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It's been so long since I wrote anything on my WIP, "All Gallow's Eve", that I don't even remember the story line I had worked out.  I don't even have Scrivener on the computer right now, because it's been lost in one or the other reformats.  (Hubs is a computer whiz, though, so if it can be retrieved, he will get at it.)

My question is:  Should I try to find and rework what I had or just start over?

On the one hand, if I wait until I find things, I may lose writing time (assuming, of course, that I actually spend time writing) that I could be doing right now.  Or should I just start with the title again, re-outline the entire story, begin to write again, and if/when the old programs and files show up, piece those in as necessary?

Does that even make sense? *lol*

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This is my first time participating in this linkup.  Click on the button up there to go to a page where there are links to lots of other bloggers participating.  You can even sign up for the link-up yourself.

PERSONAL

• go to the dentist (I've been putting this off because I have dentistophobia bag.)

MARRIAGE

• celebrate our 19th anniversary on the 9th!

FAMILY

• trim the number of furry family members by at least 5.

SPIRITUAL

• choose one of the nearby churches to attend

PROFESSIONAL

• learn to start a virtual book tour company/site.

WRITING

• dedicate some time to writing each day and stick to it at least 4 days out of every 7.

~~~oOo~~~

So, are you insecure and proud too?

What are your goals for the month of May?

#ISWG - Insecure Writers' Support Group - March 2016

Rules (from the ISWG site):

Purpose: To share and encourage. Writers can express doubts and concerns without fear of appearing foolish or weak. Those who have been through the fire can offer assistance and guidance. It’s a safe haven for insecure writers of all kinds!

Posting: The first Wednesday of every month is officially Insecure Writer’s Support Group day. Post your thoughts on your own blog. Talk about your doubts and the fears you have conquered. Discuss your struggles and triumphs. Offer a word of encouragement for others who are struggling. Visit others in the group and connect with your fellow writer - aim for a dozen new people each time.

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I start out projects like gangbusters, but fizzle out before the end.  It's like I go through all the training for the Olympics and then stop just before the finish line.  Not all the time, of course, but often enough to be a cause of concern.

Someone in my area who knows my struggles, asked me to write a one-page 'story' and give it to her the next week.  I thought about it every day, but only forced myself to sit down two days before we were to meet again.  I wrote it in cursive, and my daughter complained that she could not read my handwriting.  (She should have seen my mother's...who wrote like a doctor.)  So I typed it to her in an email.

On the upside, a quote from my review of a recent read was featured in several other stops on the tour, so I gave myself a small 'woohoo' for that one.

Motivation has been harder than normal this week because between last Wednesday and Thursday we had to bury two family pets.

Chilihead was a kitten.  She used to stick her head into chili cans to get a little taste and because of her fur, had trouble getting the can off again, so she would twist and turn, and the effect was quite comical.  My daughter (12 yoa) found her.

Mac was born to another dog of ours, and was about four years old.  He was sick two days before (Tuesday), was ok on Wednesday, and woke me up at about 4am on Thursday.  Within about 10 minutes he was gone.  We are all stunned right now.

I've done some writing on the blog this last week and had better motivation.... for writing and just about everything else.  So that's another plus.

Take care, y'all, and happy writing! :O)

BES - #ISWG - Write Tribe

Click the button above to be taken to the main challenge site, to sign up, and/or to visit the other participants!

Today's Question:  

What's the one luxury you can't live without?

Being either both students or living on one income for so long, I've learned that there is nothing money can buy that I can't live without.  Having said that, there are some things I'd rather not live without unless I had to.  But then, I wouldn't necessarily call them luxuries (tp, microwaveable food).

Probably the closest I could come on this would be these little dark chocolate sea salt caramel candies hubby brings home every once in a while from the store.  I used to get them all to myself, but now my oldest son, 17, has developed a 'taste' for them.  Rats!

I'd like to be like my mother-in-law who raised h-e-double-toothpicks at the airport once because the car rental place did not have the Cadillac she had reserved.  She didn't want the Oldsmobile.  She said she could only drive a Cadillac.  Must be nice, eh?

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Do you write?  Are you insecure about it?  Click the button above and get more encouragement that you can shake a pen and some looseleaf paper at!

Someone just needs to tie me to the chair and not let me eat, drink or smoke (yeah, I know it's a bad habit) until I've written something.  I don't know if it's more my fear or my tendency to procrastinate.

And that's all I'm going to say about that.

~~~oOo~~~

I lost my early childhood friends when we moved from Cumberland, MD, to Salt Lake City, UT, when I was 9.

I lost my best friend in college because of some crazy people I thought might try to harm me and my family and friends.  So I stopped contacting my friends and family.  I know, not incredibly bright.

I lost my theatre friends when I moved to Fort Worth, TX, with my husband and then 9 month old son (he's now 17 years old).

Now my step-mother-in-law (my father-in-law's second wife), thinks I'm strange because I don't have one or more female friends with whom to pal around.  I'm a mother with three growing children, a beginning farmer and a writer.  What the heck is 'time' anyway?  Let alone time to run around.

I will be a better friend than I have been.