Life Happens

Life happens while you’re making other plans. ~ John Lennon

That quote accurately describes last week. Opportunities popped up and . . .  squirrel! I wrote my monthly post for Insecure Writers Support Group, and love connecting with so many contributors. Their responses to the question—what writing rule do you wish you’d never heard?—were so varied. Interestingly, point of view flipping and commas (my responses) were quite popular. Of course, those writers had different takes on why they disliked those rules. The only “bad” part with IWSG is the time it takes to visit so many posters. I never make it through all 218 posts.

Then, I read about the 52-Week Blog Challenge, sponsored by Marketing For Romance Writers (MFRW). Another “squirrel” moment. I hadn’t finished visiting the IWSG posters when I started visiting the 52-Week bloggers. Each week, we’re given a topic to blog about. Favorite Things was last week’s topic. I loved it. Too bad I discovered this after the sign-up had closed. But I mushed on and wrote my post. And visited the others. So far, no responses. Darn, I forgot to advertise the post.

In the midst of all this blogging, I missed the Weekend Warrior blog hop. Not good. I love reading the snippets from the others’ books. On top of that, I put out a call for guests on the Paranormal Romantics blog. Wow. What a response. But you know what that means? Answering questions, scheduling dates. While I’m pleased that so many responded, that all takes time.

While I was writing and visiting blogs and scheduling, what wasn’t I doing? Writing. I managed to write 1,500 words. That’s it! I can write that much on an average day. At this rate, I won’t finish The Case of the Meddling Mama until June.

I’ve forgotten my focus--writing my story. It’s so easy to do. Social media demands our attention. What if I miss something? The world won’t come to an end if I do. In the flurry before Christmas, I signed up for an online class (offered by Kiss of Death RWA chapter) called Everything You Thought You Knew About Cops—research for the Alex O’Hara PI mystery series. Never mind I could have invited over my friend who’s a retired police chief and picked his brain (as I’ve done in the past). I’m saving the lessons and posts to read later. I can't keep up.

Bombarded with email, Facebook, Twitter, I lost my goal to write. Promoting my books and my name recognition is essential but not at the cost of swallowing up writing time.

Last week, I said I’d keep you apprised of my progress on writing a business plan. Zip, zero, nada. That’s how far I’ve gotten.

And on the personal front, we’ve begun taking down the Christmas decorations. I hate that. The decorations are so cheery. After all the work putting them up, it seems too soon to take them down and pack away. Ah, well . . .

I hope you’re doing a better job than I am on your goals for 2017.