Running with My Hair on Fire

As you know, I've been writing like a mad woman for the past three years. Between the two kids, two jobs, two dogs, and now two books, I've averaged 4-5 hours of sleep a night. Every spare moment I've had has been dedicated to either writing or promoting. Over Christmas, my friends and family started voicing concerns that I was pushing myself too hard. After all, I'm not getting any younger. And so, begrudgingly, I agreed to slow down.

I've tried to take some time, to do something to "relax". I've slept until I woke naturally, suffered through mindless TV shows, and forced myself to go to social functions. I've window shopped until I'm blue in the face, and I've even lingered after meetings when I normally would be the first out the door. In short, this past month I've tried to live like a normal person.

I hate it.

Here's the thing: I'm an all-or-nothing kind of gal. I'm not productive when I move at a normal pace. I find that either I'm running with my hair on fire, or I'm a lethargic ball of humanity. Given the two options, I'd rather be running.

And so, I'm starting tonight. I'm turning off the blasted idiot box, I'm putting away the books I've read countless times, and I'm going back to Kailmeyra. I'll work well into the night and get up before the crack of dawn. I'll have leftovers for dinner, drink iced tea until I'm drowning in it, and get behind on the wash. I'll sit in silence, allowing the quiet to seep into my bones. I'll type until my back aches, and I am mentally exhausted ...  

And I'll love every minute of it.

KIVA--The Real Gift of Giving

The holidays are upon us. This is the time of year we reach out to others, we want to be a part of another person's joy. But in our haste to help the less fortunate, we often come off as being sanctimonious, offering a heaping spoonful of pity with our gift.

My best friend and I were talking about this very thing over the Thanksgiving holiday. I confided that this year I want to do something different, something that would go far beyond December 25th ... something that would increase the quality of  another person's life.

It was then that she introduced me to the site Kiva.org. This is a non-profit organization where everyday people can loan money, as little as twenty-five dollars, to others across the globe. When the loan is repayed, the investor then has the opportunity to help another, pull their money, or donate it to the organization to keep it running. Each person needing a loan has a profile that details their story and why they need extra financial help. 

The simple concept of allowing people to lend money without going through a banking system is nothing short of genius.

Rena and her children decided to invest in a woman in South America. She wanted to start a street vending business selling food to the local college students. She has been cooking for others for over twenty five years but never had the means to branch out and become her own boss.  With the combined efforts of small investors, she was able to borrow $450.00. Her business is thriving, and in a little over six months she has already payed half the money back.

I love that by investing, we are not only giving the gift of opportunity, but we are saying to someone who needs a hand that we believe in their gifts and abilities, We are investing in their dreams. We are investing in them.

And so this year I think I'm going to give KIVA gift cards to my children, and my nieces and nephews as part of their Christmas. I look forward to not only helping those in need, but watching my kiddo's as they experience the world beyond our own selfish borders.

To me, the opportunity to give someone a hand up, not a hand out, is the real gift of giving. 

Roll Tide!

I know I haven't blogged in a few weeks. My apologies, but life has been crazy. We started back to school, major shift in 7 chapters of Keepers, church activities have kicked back up, and my schweet baby is now eight hours away in the great state of Alabama.

If you think their first day of kindergarten is tough, be afraid ... be very afraid. This is way bigger, and so I suggest you take along a buddy. Someone who is extremely uncomfortable with tears and would rather make you laugh than watch you cry. A good friend who is willing to sip Long Island Teas and talk about anything else but the fact that you've just left half your heart three states away.

It does get easier. Kate is having a great time, and somehow knowing that her adult life is starting out the way she wanted gives me comfort. In honor of elementary school starting back up, I thought I'd leave you with this.

went to 

to study

  

and watch

Roll Tide!

                                                                  

Viva Las Vegas!

For my 40th birthday, my best friend Corina surprised me with a trip to Vegas. Needless to say we had a boatload of fun, but I soon realized that if I lived anywhere close to a casino, I'd be one of those people they'd keep tabs on. Vegas is like the grown-up version of Chuckie Cheese, and I'm a kid at heart.



There's something about pulling the lever on a slot machine, it's that anticipation ... the excitement ... what if you actually won? Two things I'll never forget about Vegas: Corina shouting "Oh yeah, baby!" Every time we won so much as a quarter, and the feel of a slot machine handle.

Thanks to my friend Megan Curd, I've now become a KDP junkie. For those of you that don't know, KDP stands for Kindle Direct Publishing. It's a place where Indie authors log in to see a live record of how many books are being purchased. With the click of the refresh button, I get an up-to-date account of how many books are sold. Needless to say, it's now permanently pinned as an app tab!

As soon as I opened the KDP site for the first time, that feeling returned in the pit of my stomach. I knew it right away. Vegas. It feels like I'm sitting on the top of the roller coaster, getting ready to careen down a hill. And every time the sales number goes up and have to shout "Oh yeah, baby!"

All I have to say is Viva Las Vegas!

Stop the madness, I need to write!

Those who know me know I have a social marketing target on my forehead. I look at sites with an exuberance that (let's be honest) sometimes is a little unsettling, and, when I find a product or site that I like, I'm extremely loyal. I'm more than happy to post, forward, or retweet any material, and I often go out of my way to help anyone who asks. My grandmother always said I had the heart the size of Texas, other relatives (who shall remain nameless) called me a cause-collector, which is a nice way for saying sucker. Yep, I'm a marketer's dream. The problem is being someone else's dream can easily become my nightmare.

I love to read and I read all the time, but it wasn't until I found out that people were following my reviews that I actually started posting them. Seasoned writers can whip something out in the blink of an eye.  I agonize over every word, every comma, writing and rewriting even the simplest of thoughts. One time I found myself running to the Chicago Manual of Style to look up a question about the use of brackets. I have no idea if anyone else is this high-strung when it comes throwing posts into cyberspace, but the bottom line is that it eats away time.

Years ago I made it a policy to reply to messages within a twenty-four hour period. I'm proud to say that, with quite a bit of effort, I've been successful at maintaining the status quo. I'm just as cautious about my replies yet again eating up more time.

I'm now following numerous blogs and am a member on Goodreads, Shelfari, Twitter, Facebook, Authorsden, Book Marketing Network, Coffee's Hot, and about a dozen other sites. I love each and every one of them, but reading, commenting, tweeting, blogging, and replying all take time.

Jay Baer posted a piece today called "Is Your Twitter Addiction Paying Off". The piece is geared toward professional marketers, but the article struck a chord with me. The first line reads, "Twitter can suck you in to a vortex of counter-productivity like one bite of that KFC Double Down sandwich."  I've never had a Double Down sandwich (looks more like a heart attack on a plate to me), but I have chunked away countless hours 140 characters at a time.

The upside to time invested on the web is that I have met some fascinating people, and I know more now than ever thanks to technology. The downside ... I have a half-written manuscript demanding attention with dwindling time to answer its call.

Last week, I actually had eleven sites open on the bottom bar with the manuscript splayed on the screen. I'd write a paragraph, check my email, write a paragraph, reply back on facebook, etc. After hours of this practice, I discovered that, despite my best effort, the writing was crap. I deleted the scene. Again, more time spent.

My days start at five in the morning and end around midnight, but it seems as if lately I'm just spinning my wheels. I took an honest look at my schedule and came up with a game plan (teacher's always have to have a game plan).I now turn the internet off when I'm working on the book. I'm allowing myself thirty minutes in the morning and an hour at night to keep up with the extras. If I write less than four hours in a day, the time is made up that night from the allotted internet time. It's a start, but I still struggle.

How do you manage keeping up with the demands of social networking/marketing and still find time to write?