Weekend Update

Oh, it was a busy one this time. Our house is now officially on the market...which I hate. It's so hard to keep the darn thing clean. And before anyone says anything, yes, I know it would be that much more difficult with children. But my husband and I are not the tidiest of people. We're not slobs exactly, but we're definitely stackers. Don't know what to do with something? Just add it to that towering pile of stuff we don't know what do with. I don't know how people well and truly get organized. It's helped now that we have a centralized location for our bills.

Not to mention we have two big dogs. This week they'll have to go in their crates during the day and I just hate doing that to them : ( But it's safer for them that way. No one will accidentally let them outside and I won't have to worry, as much, about someone teasing or hurting them in some way.

Let's see what else...I attended AuthorFest on Saturday at the Schaumburg Library, which was great fun. Even bumped into someone, Kim (I think?), that had attended one of my online chats. Had a blast talking to the other authors and speaking on the panels. I love talking about writing and I so enjoy speaking on panels to other aspiring writers...because I know exactly what it feels like to be on the other side of that table, hoping for some answers to make writing a little easier. Or at least to confirm that you're not the only crazy one who keeps trying at it!

Of course, the downside to attending such an event is that I'm immediately struck by a feeling of being behind. It's best to have a book out every year. I have drafts of several books finished, but nothing ready to go out. I think this is because I've been splitting my attention. As soon as I finish a draft of something, I start something new. Well, the something new is always more fun than fixing up the draft of something already written. Using this method is supposed to give you a more objective perspective when you go back to the original draft. But what I find is that I lose momentum and it's hard for me to get back into it. I hate revising things. So stopping before that critical step makes it very hard for me to go back. So, I'm making a new rule for myself. I can't start something new until I finish COMPLETELY something on my to do list. And by finish, I mean, sending it out to publishers and/or agents.

So, now I'm buckling down...which sucks. First drafts are always so much more fun to write! Oh, well.

Another thing...I went to a corporate America lecture today on communication. The speaker was actually kind of interesting. He said that all activities in our lives, business and personal, fail one conversation at at time, slowly, not suddenly. I think that's very true. He also gave us a technique to help us communicate better. He said that a lot of our judgments about people are often based on our imagination or what our brains fill in rather than the facts. And when you test the truth of these judgments, we're often wrong. So instead you should use the I notice/I imagine theory. In other words, base it on facts and then ask the person instead of assuming. For example, if someone comes in late to work, you might normally roll your eyes and assume it's because that person overslept...yet again. But if you ask, you might find out that the person has some other obligation in the morning that you didn't know about.

I find I do this a lot in my personal life. If my husband leaves dirty dishes on the counter instead of putting them in the dishwasher, I read that as a sign of "I'm too important and/or busy to be bothered by doing this simple task, you do it." But when I've asked (*clears throat* yelled) about it, he explains that he just didn't feel like doing it right then but he'll do it later. It has nothing at all to do with me.

Okay, I've rambled on long enough but I thought it was an interesting seminar : )