Little Gems

I was reading an article by a professional organizer today and it was fun to see how much of her advice applied to writing. Here are three paraphrased gems:

1. Don’t begin by thinking about the entire task in front of you because you might feel overwhelmed.  Instead, begin by thinking only of what you’ll tackle that day.

2. Don’t wait for motivation to hit or you might never get started. Action many times precedes motivation.

3. Knowing when to become attached and when to let go is the difference between cluttered and tidy.

After rereading, I think these three apply to MANY things in life :).

Aghhh!

So...I thought I was pretty savvy with Word, but it turns out I have A LOT to learn :(. I still don't know how it happened, but I saved a manuscript as an RTF file, and somehow created two RTF files with the same name. I didn't think that was possible. I used to constantly alphabetize my files, but I don't anymore, which is why I didn't notice I had two identical files.  I have one folder for each ms, but each folder has many files. Some I save by date, others I save by chapter, in case I want to go back to an earlier version, etc. This is on top of relevant articles I also save for research purposes.

The mess I'm in now is...some days I opened one file and did my final edit on it, and other days I opened the other file and did my final edit on that one. I sent one of them off :(. I won't even go into the fact that I compounded the mistake before I realized I had been editing two separate files.

I'm sharing this so my author friends who read this don't make the same mistake. Maybe you're way more savvy than me, but if you're not...keep your folders squeaky clean and organized, and check for duplicates. Also, it's not enough to hover over the file with the "correct name" and to look at the date. Look at the time, too. If anyone has a tip they'd like to share, share away! I love learning from you and I hope someone learns from my mistake.  Meanwhile, aghhhhh!!!!

Is there a lesson here?

A well-known, preachy health guru recently wrote an article detailing some pretty scary facts about certain foods. He included pictures of foods we should NEVER, EVER eat. I tried to read the all the stuff about the horrific calorie count and the fat… but I couldn’t take my eyes off the pictures of the foods he was talking about. Everything looked so delicious! Those nachos! That stuffed calzone! That crisp fried chicken! I’d happily skip breakfast and lunch, and then maybe breakfast again the next day, to eat any of the foods he was criticizing.  My mouth watered for some heart attack nachos. I forced myself to read the entire article to see if it would disgust me enough to get me off evil food forever, but it didn’t work. So I started reading the comment section expecting to be shamed by all the super healthy people who agreed with the guru, except… EVERY single comment was for the evil food and against the guru. And the comments were hilarious. Guru be damned! So I don’t what the lesson is here. Don’t preach on Yahoo? A picture speaks louder than words? I think it may be: never say never, ever. Of course we know we shouldn’t make a habit of eating evil food. Just don’t tell us to NEVER, EVER eat it J.

"This Mom is on Fire!!!"

This morning, I was talking to my high-spirited, impulsive, super fun and imaginative nine-year-old son about how important it is to make good decisions. I was telling him about mistakes I’ve made, and the consequences of those mistakes. Anyway, when I was done (and feeling as if I’d been going on and on like the nagging mom I swore I’d never become), he said, “You give good talks. Can you come talk to my kids when I grow up if they do something stupid?”  

My inner self pumped a fist into the air and began singing “This mom is one fire!” (Advantage of singing in my head: I sounded EXACTLY like Alicia Keys when she sings “Girl on Fire!”).  I usually feel like 'this mom' is exhausted and ‘this mom’ doesn’t know what she’s doing, so it was a happy moment. Of course, I soon began wondering if ‘this mom’ is just really gullible. Hmm…


I will choose to believe my son was being totally sincere and not at all trying to get me to shut up.

Makes me wonder...

I remember when this song came out (feels like forever ago). It really captured my imagination, making me wonder about the story behind the beautiful lyrics. I recently came across it on Pandora and loved it all over again, so I decided to share :). Plus, the setting for the video is breathtaking.

Thank you...

A huge, heartfelt thank you to everyone who has bought a copy of STRANGERS IN THE NIGHT. Yesterday, it climbed to #15 in all Kindle ebooks, #3 in Contemporary Fiction, and #8 in Romance. It was an amazing feeling, and I really am so very grateful.
Love,
Inés

Kindle's Romance Daily Deal!

Strangers in the Night is Kindle's 'Romance Daily Deal'! Thanks to Irene Preston for letting me know. I'm very excited :): http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html?ie=UTF8&docId=1000677541