Friday, February 8, 2008

Day 8

I'm back. Sort of. In a just-getting-over-the-yucky-bug kind of way. Glad to hear that you guys have been getting a lot done. Congratulations to Llama Mama for sending out a sub this week. :~) I'm rooting for A Musing Mom to reach her goal of sending a query by today. And Donna Alice--what can we say? That girl was born to multi-task!

For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. -- Sir Isaac Newton

Poor Isaac is probably turning over in his grave, because I'm going to take one of his "laws of motion" and apply it to real life. It seems to me that when you set out to accomplish something, you're going to meet resistance.

Peaches said it was "bad timing" for the bug to hit me now. I couldn't agree more. . .but let's face it, how we deal with interruptions and bad timing can ultimately make or break us as writers. No, I'm not beating myself up for not writing this week. That would be dumb.

But now I face a choice. Do I say, "Oh, what's the use? This didn't work. I tried to start this writing in February thing and whine, whine, whine. . . . ." Well, yeah, I could. That's the way several Great Projects have ended for me. Diets. Exercise programs. New Year's Resolutions. Will FEBO be the latest victim?

Honestly, I don't know the end of the story. I'm going to have to write this adventure one page, one day at a time by the choices I make now, after the interruption. It helps so much knowing that others are making the same journey.

I'd like to close with a message from bbear. Her FEBO goal is to write an encouraging word to someone every day--so I asked if she would like to write a word to the FEBO writers. Here's what she said. . . .

Persistence/endurance (keeping your commitment to your goal) is a difficult thing, but consider this, you may have already passed the hardest test/done the most difficult thing. Making a commitment to FEBO was wrung from me, not at all a glib reaction, and perhaps it was the same for you. Pause to reflect on the successes you've already had since Friday, including deciding to DO THIS THING, and continue to write.

Thanks, bbear! Yes, we need to focus on the successes. And begin again after the interruptions. :~)

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My apologies to NancyE, who asked me to make a post for her on February 6th, Ash Wednesday. Sorry, I was too out of it, but today I am adding her comment to Day 6. It is worth reading. Sorry for the delay.

4 comments:

Llama Momma said...

I'm glad you're feeling a little bit better, Patty.

Your advice reminds me of my weight watchers leader...she always says, "If you drop an egg on the floor, do you turn around and dump the whole carton? No. You clean up the egg and move on."

The analogy being, if you eat an oreo don't feel defeated and eat the whole box.

Or if you miss a week of writing, don't give up and skip the rest of the month! :-)

Patty Kyrlach said...

Wow. . .you guys don't dump the whole carton?

So that's what I've been doing wrong. . . . . . ;~)

Donna Alice said...

I love the analogy about the eggs too, as well as Nancy E's post about doing a special Lenten project.

Well, I have slowed down a bit and hit some snags but feel revitalized today. Managed to do more edits on my ms. (one of my FEBO goals) and put 50 more pages up for my crit partner. Got discouraged today thinking of all that still has to be done on that ms. (and I wanted to finish in FEBO) but then I thought, well, I've got more done than needs to be done. That's gotta be good right?

The Word Place said...

I hereby resolve NOT to dump the whole carton of eggs!

Glad to see you back, Patty!