Roxann Delaney's Blog, page 4

Notes from the Queen

Yes, that's me.  The Queen of Procrastination.  I'm the one who always put off those term papers in high school, waiting until the last, possible moment to start.  They did get done and turned in on time, but the headaches and anxiety that caused didn't need to happy.

I can procrastinate with the best.  The best would be myself, when it comes to that.  It's so-o-o-o-o easy to put things off, especially the things that don't thrill me.

Sometimes that's writing.  Okay,...

It's Not What You Think

No, I was not on vacation last week, although I truly wish I had been.  Sometimes work and deadlines and family completely take over life, and other things must take a backseat.  In fact, I shouldn't even be here writing a blog.  I should be working, but my conscience is bothering me, so, well, here I am.

It's a good thing February is a short month.  By the weekend, we'll have run the four weeks of the second month of this new year and be on our way to what will hopefully b...

Halfway Through February Already?

I guess we're firmly entrenched in 2014 now.  It seems like New Year's Day was a week or so ago, when it's been a month and a half.

Yes, time flies.  I'm wondering where the first half of this month has gone.  But it only takes a few seconds to know that mine has been spent putting words on paper...and then changing them.

Author and friend Patricia Davids and I were just exchanging emails about our writing methods.  We each do our writing in a different way.  Her method...

Short On Time

There's never enough, is there?  Time, I mean.  We're given 60 minutes for an hour, 24 hours in a day, 7 days in a week, 52 weeks/365 days in a year, and yet there's never enough time for everything.

I have a mental list of all the things I want to do "when I have time."  That list grows longer, not shorter.  It doesn't include the dreams.  The vacations in a warm spot, with a beach and sunshine.  (I'm really tired of wearing 2 shirts, 2 pairs of pants, and 3 pair...

Oh, (S)No(w)!

MONDAY MADNESS aka MONDAY MEMORIES

Seriously?!

As I posted on Facebook this morning...

Dear Mother Nature,

What the ( fill in the blank )?

Yes, I know February is one of the winter months.  I expect cold and even snow.  But the past week has netted us 13 inches of the white stuff.  9 inches last Tuesday, which had not melted away, only melted a little and froze...harder and harder throughout the week.  And now another 4+ inches over night.  One sweep of the car with a broom...

Crunch Time

It seems as if I'm always crunched for time, but right now, it's at the point of crucial.  Deadline looms for the last of the Desperation books.  I'm a scene + one chapter + an epilogue from having it written.  That will be done by the end of the week, but then there's editing and polishing.  Deadline is the 24th.

This past weekend, I'd planned to be much closer to being finished.  Weekends are usually my best time to get caught up on word count.  Not this past Sa...

SMART Goals 4 - Final Friday

Today is the last of our SMART Goals series.  That doesn't mean you get a break, once today is over. :)  It means that if you haven't set a goal yet, it's time to get to work.  If you have set a goal, you should be working on it.

GOAL= I want
GOAL REACHED= I have

Between those two is work.  A person can't simply want without doing and hope for the best.  It takes work, it takes dedication, it means sticking to your goal and all the little goals that get you to have.

On th...

How to Survive Blah Season

Yes, the photo on the left is a black hole.  That's how I feel about this time of year.  You know, the holidays are over, the weather is, well, unspeakable in some parts of the country right now.  We're looking at at least another month and a half of dreary and probably closer to two months.  Around these parts, our worst winter storms tend to happen in March.  So if January is shutting down the South, I'm really not looking forward to what we'll get in the middle of...

Old Man Winter Brings a Hodgepodge of Thoughts

The weather yesterday was beautiful!  62 degrees.  Not bad at all for late January.  And then evening came and so did the cold front, sending 60 mph winds through the area.  Today's high?  24, and I'd bet that lasted the few minutes it took for the weather guys to chart it, then dropped again.

It's been a weird winter for everyone, what with polar vortexes and snow in places that rarely see snow.  Last year, we were hit with a snowstorm that dumped 20 inches in ou...

SMART Goals 3

There are three words that define the R in SMART: Relevant, Responsible, and Realistic.

All of the things involved in SMART Goals interconnect with each other, so there will often be duplications, but those duplications sometimes dig a little deeper with each step.  And sometimes we simply need it repeated ad nauseum, pounding it into our brains.  Setting goals takes practice.  Setting SMART Goals takes even more.


R is for Relevant
One key to clarifying what it is your goal will b...