Playing the Waiting Game

Waiting...for something or someone.The writing life is one of patience, a fact with which I struggle. I am not a patient person. If I see that something needs to be done, I do it. I don’t play games. I don’t wait around in hopes that someone else will do the task. I get the job done and move onto the next thing.

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Returning to the Rough Drafts

What rough draft shall I visit today?I have a simple process for filing my in-process work: I name it by the keywords found in its title. If the work is on its way to the final stages in my editorial process, those keywords serve as a reminder of the topic and help me to figure out how it fits into my editorial calendar. If the work is still in draft stage, i.e., it isn’t ready for another stages besides the initial writing one, the file name demarcates that: word-word-draft.

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Should I Have a Blog?

I'm not a player, I just blog a lot.I can’t answer the question “Should I have a blog?” in a resounding affirmative. That may be a strange answer to some. I think, though, that many people and businesses have blogs because they feel or have been told they should have one. They then stumble their way around blogging because they don’t know why they have a blog or what to do with it.

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How to Overcome Distraction

I am distracted.It’s difficult to write today. My mind already is cluttered. I haven’t slept well. I am distracted and distractible: the bill that requires a phone call, emails that require replies, people who need to be contacted, the lunch that needs to be made, the insulin reservoir that needs to be filled and replaced in the insulin pump, the conversations that have happened and have yet to happen. My mind is not quiet. It’s already churning with the things that need to be done and the things that await.

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The Writing Basics: A Seven-Beat

Writing is like salsa. It has a basic.I dance salsa. At least, I try. I wouldn’t say I’m very good at it, but I enjoy it. The trick with dancing salsa, as with any dance, is never to forget the basic. In this case, it’s a dance based on a seven-beat step. No matter how complicated a turn or shine (footwork) is, it’s based on that basic seven-beat.

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