Goals, Pictures

What Photos Have Taught Me…

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This weekend we went to Fort Edmonton Park. We arrived on Saturday, stayed the night at the hotel there and then left on Sunday. A large motivation for the trip was just to have fun at the park as a family, but staying at the Selkirk Hotel was one of those things on my ‘Edmonton Bucket List’ (for lack of a better phrase) and I also wanted to turn it into a photo safari. The idea of being able to shoot things in the park without the crowds (between closing and opening) was too much to resist.

It was very nice. We had a lovely dinner and had fun hanging out with each other, meandering around the streets, petting horses and riding trains.

However, as a photo safari it did not meet my (ridiculously high) expectations. The problem wasn’t the setting, it was the photographer. That’s right, me.

I made a series of minor mistakes that piled up to mean several shots that could have been great were lost, or ruined, or just didn’t work. That being said, I’m still counting the trip as a success — even in regard to photography. Why? Well, because while I made a whack of mistakes, I also learned from them and I’m optimistic I won’t make them again — at least not in succession like I did this weekend.

I am still learning to apply that attitude toward my writing. I know I’ve mentioned this before, but it’s true. While photography is a hobby that I am really enjoying right now, writing is my job, it’s what I do. Being a writer is who I am. So I put more pressure on myself for it than I do photography…but little by little I’m becoming more forgiving of my own imperfections, even in regard to writing.

I finished up a new chapter on Friday and within minutes sent it off to my critique group. That is not something I could have ever forced myself to do a year ago. No way. Now, granted, I sent it off that quickly because it’s part of Lost and Found which had deadlines of the looming kind and I wasn’t going to have time to let it set and revise before sending, but it’s still progress. And progress, often, is good.

So I’ll keep working on that, being forgiving toward myself and in the meantime I’ll share some of my Fort Edmonton photos here as I find time to process them because Arnold, at least, told me to keep sharing photos here and no one screamed ‘Oh God No!’

Goals

Hmm…

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Ever submit your work somewhere and then weeks later look at their website and go ‘What on earth was I thinking?’

<.<

>.>

Yeah…me either.

However, if I -had- it would certainly make me aware of the effect a bad website can have in regard to how you are perceived. I think my website’s biggest fault is that I don’t update it regularily. I’ll be working on that, right after I master my current project which is to create a writing routine. I watched this fabulous video yesterday:

Clicky, Clicky

It’s Elizabeth Gilbert (the author of Eat, Pray, Love) talking about nurturing creativity. I really enjoyed the talk but the part that hit me the hardest is where she says “I’m here for my part of the job.” She’s talking about showing up everyday and writing, even when it sucks, even when she doesn’t want to, but doing it because that is her job.

Writing is also my job and I haven’t been doing it. Not the way I should. I thrive on routine, and yet for some reason I haven’t created one for my writing. I just do it “when I can”. In between being a Mom, and doing work for clients, and schoolwork (which I’m way behind on) and gaming and…and…and.

And that’s not right. I need to have a time that is when I write, without the internet, without distractions…as much as possible. Right now it’s summer time so an actual set-in-stone routine is unlikely to snap into place nicely for me, however, I am taking two hours a day to write. If I don’t write for two hours? Well, guess what? No World of Warcraft. It’s really pretty simple. I’d been treating WoW as a hobby, but now it’s a reward. And the two hours of writing? Well, that’s my job so it is going to come before client work, before photography, before schoolwork.

Once school begins again and things settle down a bit more around here I’ll see about fitting that two hours into the same slot everyday…and I’m seriously considering taking a page from Tobias Buckell‘s book and doing it while everyone else around here is sleeping. I’ve always had trouble sleeping ‘when I was supposed to’ so perhaps it’s time to embrace that and make it work for me. I guess we’ll see.

First writing two hours a day (at least), then fitting it into a routine, and then regular updates of the blog. I hope you’ll be patient with me. In the meantime, should I return to posting photographs, or not so much? 🙂

Aphanasian Stories

Lost and Found Delay

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I hate missing deadlines, but I’m going bump the release of Lost and Found back a little bit. Not long, possibly November (it can be your NaNo reading!) but I’m hoping for October. The re-writes are going a little slower than I’d hoped because I’m actually making some major plot changes. Wheee! I blame my critique group and their wonderful feedback. The story will be better, but a lil later.

The other reason the re-writes are going slower than I’d hoped because I’m failing at monotasking. I’m working on it. Honest.

I’d like to do a blog post that isn’t all ‘Me, me, me enough about me, what do you think about me?’ but I haven’t any good ideas atm.

Personal, Pictures

The Difference Two Weeks Can Make…

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When Danica left here two weeks ago to enjoy a vacation at her grandparents without Jo or I she looked like this:

When she returned today, she looked like this:

I very nearly didn’t recognise her.

Don’t judge me 🙂

The important thing is she’s home and she had a good time. I guess that’s two things…

Incidentally, I never know if I should share these things here, or just keep them for my livejournal. Anyone care to offer an opinion?

Goals, Newsletter

Um…Delayed Newsletters and stuff…

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I’m on vacation. I’m actually doing some work while I’m on vacation, but not a whole lot. Nope, not a lot at all. I did find an old story in one of my notebooks that I’d started and stopped a couple/few times. I took it out and wrote it to submit as my final Whittaker story. The results aren’t out yet, but I’m happy. I met all my deadlines except one, and that one was a result of a brain fart about time zones (I was out at the time I should have been emailing my poem to beat the deadline). So yay!

I’ll definitely do the Whittakers again next year. Deadlines are win when it comes to productivity for me, apparently. I got several good pieces out of this year’s and that makes me very happy. Shame my brain doesn’t assign the same degree of importance to deadlines I give myself which don’t affect anyone else… Maybe someday.

~*~

I made a newsletter and went to send it out, but then I found that I couldn’t quite do it. Why? Well, lemme tell you.

The newsletter had a zombie poem and included a retelling of an incident that happened to my family and I when we were in San Francisco. That incident involved a very angry man wearing woman’s clothes stomping around a McDonald’s and shouting at everyone in there that we were “all a bunch of faggots”. It was so bizarre that I filed that man away to be used as a character at some point, and Jo called me on it after we left the McDonalds. So why not share it?

I find that I’m incredibly uncomfortable sharing it, actually. I define myself as ‘mostly straight’ but I haven’t a homophobic bone in my body. Still, I can’t bring myself to share that story in its entirety because I’ve learned that it’s impossible to overestimate people’s ability to misconstrue your words. I’m SO not looking for that to happen.

Hopefully I can find another short worth sharing and send out the newsletter before the end of the month is completely over. Wish me luck!

Just Stuff

Oops…

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I went to the Whittaker website today to see how I’d done overall and blog about it (my goals were not result-based) and discovered it isn’t over.

Wow. Oops?

Somehow I thought the last round was the final one, but I was wrong. Now, I need to come up with a story and a poem to submit before tomorrow evening. That leaves not much time for blogging.

I have a poem I editted the crap out of for the last round’s entry but because of another brain fart about time zones I submitted it an hour after the deadline and it was disqualified. I can send that for my poetry entry…but I have no such easy save for fiction.

This will be interesting…

Just Stuff, Personal

School’s Out!

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I’m supposed to write a blog today. It’s something I told myself I would do. I even, at one point, had a little list of possible topics. Unfortunately I’ve lost my list and my mind is totally drawing a blank. I’m going to blame it on the fact it’s the last day of school. Really. It’s fantastic for kids but it’s also an important day for we parent-types.

Today is my daughter’s last day in elementary school. Come September she will be in junior high.

Man, I remember being both excited and terrified to start junior high… it doesn’t actually feel like it was -that- long ago, but apparently it was long enough that now it’s my daughter’s turn.

Oh see? I just got a good blog idea, but one that deserves a post of it’s own so it will have to wait until Thursday… unless I take Thursday off (it’s a holiday in Canada).

I’ve noticed a large number of my LJ friends aren’t using LJ these days. I think it’s time I spread(ed?) my wings a little bit and made some new friends. What livejournal users do you follow you’d recommend I check out?

In writing-related news I’m slowly extricating myself from my self-doubt and other emotional baggage and will be putting pen to paper on this draft of Shadows again very soon. It’s about time, frankly.

/rambling

I write, I edit and I take a lot of naps.

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