Patti O'Shea's Blog, page 6

Why Is This Not a Word?

I use notebooks when I'm writing. I'm on my third book for the Paladin League series because I wrote so many notes.

Before I start writing a book, I make notes on threads I need to remember to incorporate. Notes on the hero and heroine and other characters making appearances. Notes on what I think is going to happen in this book to move the series arc forward.

I'm not a complete seat-of-the-pants writer, but I definitely lean more on that side of the line, so I've usually managed to surprise myself in earlier books. The really cool thing is when those surprises work as plot points in later books because they weren't planned. The plotter writers are probably cringing right now.

Once a book is underway and I'm actually writing it, I write in my notebook scene to scene. What needs to happen here? Why? What does my hero think? What does the heroine think? How is this moving either the plot or the romance or both forward?

I call this notebooking and when I'm messaging with my friends, autocorrect is so unhappy with me.

Notebooking totally should be a word! It completely and succinctly explains exactly what I'm doing. I am notebooking. Even as I'm writing this blog post, the word notebooking is underlined in red because it's not a word. It is to me, and I am going to use it even if those red lines make me insane. Even if I have to fight autocorrect every time I do it. Notebooking, notebooking, notebooking!

It should be a word.

Wheel, Wheel, Wheel

A few months ago, I noticed that I had to be really careful whenever I pulled out the bottom rack of my dishwasher. If I didn't take it slow and easy, one of the wheels would fall off the assembly. Every time it happened, I would pick up the wheel, put it back in place, and pop the peg back in.

Then it started happening more often even when I was careful, and this became annoying. It was just one wheel--the left front, so I assumed it was a problem with that assembly.

Then came the day that I pulled out the rack, the left front wheel fell off, but I couldn't locate the peg anywhere. I searched all over the floor. Maybe it was inside the dishwasher. I pulled the rack out farther.

Wheels from all sides started falling off!

Not all at once. First the one on the right front, and when I went to fix that one, some of the wheels from the back fell off. One of those pegs did go inside the dishwasher and I had to pull the rack out farther to fish it out. More wheels came off.

Now it's a full-fledged issue.

I little online searching turned up a video on YouTube on how to fix the wheels. As part of his demonstration, he mentioned that soap and water cause the plastic wheels to degrade over time. I did a little math and figured out the dishwasher is about seven years old.

As you can see in this closeup of one of the wheels, there is definite pitting on the little peg that holds it in place.

I located the part number, did a search, and found a set of upgraded replacement assemblies. I ordered it and they came on Saturday. I rewatched the video on how to replace them, and then I got to work. Wheels popped off just pulling out the rack and putting it atop the island.

The assemblies are supposed to pop off easily with a little pressure, but I didn't have enough strength in my hands to do it. I ended up using a pair of pliers like a wedge to force them to pop. It worked well and didn't cause any damage to the rack itself.

Here's the first assembly on the rack and the second one removed and ready to have its replacement put into position. I did have a little trouble seating them, but once I figured out how to position them, it didn't take much to force them into place.

And ten minutes later, maybe less, I have all new wheel assemblies on my lower rack.

It's going to be so incredibly nice to not worry about wheels falling off every time I pull out the rack to load dishes. It's even nicer to not pay a repairman to come out and do the replacement for me.

Chalk up another one for Handy Patti

In My Face

The picture is of the kanban board I have on my office wall. The gold word was my word of the year like three or four years ago. It is off my wall. This is an archived image from shortly after I finished writing Wicked Suspicion. So while I was late taking it down, I did get it done.

March is the last month of the first quarter of 2025, and that means I'll have to pull down all the Post-it Notes in my finished section. I do this at the end of every quarter.

I have mixed feelings about this. On the one hand, if I had left all my book Post-its on the wall, it would get pretty full. On the other, I hate when I look over at my wall and see nothing in the Finished section. Looking at the picture accompanying this post, you can see all the finished chapters from the last book.

As I glance over now, I can see all the chapters I've finished so far this quarter. I love this! And in a few weeks, they will all be off my wall and in the trash. Sadness.

My kanban board is actually one of the most useful tools I have to keep myself on track. Sure, I've got word count trackers and other a project management spreadsheet that I use, but if I don't open the files, I don't see them. And one of the issues with ADHD is out of sight, out of mind. This board is impossible to ignore. I have to look at it every time I leave my office. Which is exactly what I need.

Story of my Life

One of my annoyances with ADHD is when I know I bought something and can't find it.

It just happened recently. A couple of months back, I bought cleaner to get the ink off my stamps. I plan to do a lot more decorating using rubber/silicone stamps and I read that it's important to remove the ink.

I already had stamp cleaning chamois, or going by what was printed on the package, shammy. My plan was to add the stamp cleaning fluid to the chamois and wipe my stamps on that.

Problem: I didn't have an airtight container to store it in to keep it damp. I thought I might have an old CD case or something somewhere, but I never found one, and shortly after Christmas, I decided to order a plastic case. When it arrived, I went looking for my stamp cleaning fluid.

I didn't find it.

I don't know where I put it. I checked all the craft supplies. I looked around the room in which I store these supplies. I looked around my office. I found nothing. I began to wonder if I only thought I ordered the cleaning fluid. Maybe I planned to wait. A search of my order history told me I had two bottles.

A second search ensued. Surely, I'd find it this time now that I knew exactly what the bottles looked like. Nope, still not bottles of cleaner. I ended up ordering another one.

This is what makes me crazy--when I know I have something but can't find it and end up buying another one. What compounds this problem is that I don't have the patience to conduct a thorough search.

I feel confident the missing bottles will turn up shortly after the new order arrives.

Planner Updates

I thought I'd update on my planner collection for 2025. I'll go more in-depth on some of these later. This is just a really general overview.

The planner I chose as my new everyday planner was one I spotted late, after I'd chosen another everyday planner. I decided to pick it up anyway, and it ended up being a good choice. It has all the features I want, or space to set them up, and it has the big feature. Full pages for both Saturday and Sunday.

This planner came in two sizes. A5 and B6. I bought the A5 because I wanted maximum space, but I might be able to downsize next year to the B6. As it stands, right now I have plenty of room to decorate with washi tape and stickers.

The other impulse purchase planner has so many cool features, but it's in two volumes so it doesn't work as my everyday planner. My big wish is that next year it is in one volume. No one buys an A5 for portability, so splitting them into two volumes was unnecessary, especially since it also comes in the ultra-portable A6 size.

My plan was to use this planner for writing-related tasks and word counts, but I haven't done that yet. In fact, the only thing I've done is tip in vellum with the names of the months. I need to figure something out before the year passes.

I'm using the backup everyday planner for journaling. Sometimes I use a prompt. Sometimes I just record what's on my mind. Not quite a brain dump, but along those lines.

My weekly horizontal planner has tasks that need to be done that week, but don't need to be done on a specific day. I bought this in B6 which means it's nice to cart around with me. Next year, I might combine the journal with the weekly because I don't think I need both.

I bought some Travelers-size booklets for time tracking. With my ADHD, it's too easy for me to think ten minutes have passed when it's two hours. I'm hoping tracking will help me stay focused. Next year, I can do that in my new everyday planner because it has the vertical weekly included in it.

Speaking of vertical weeklies, I picked up a Hobonichi Cousin to try out, too. I'm using it as an entertainment planner. Anything I read, watch, listen to, or whatever gets recorded in the planner. I've bought sticker kits to decorate it, and if everyone drops out of the boutique planner sphere (which is what my two choices for everyday planners are. Boutique planners), I know Hobonichi is big enough to still be around. The Cousin would definitely work with some sticker help.

You're probably thinking wow, that's a lot of planners, Patti. WTF?

I have struggled all my life with ADHD, although I wasn't diagnosed until 2024. I always thought I was a lousy adult until I found out it was my brain, not a failing on my part. Looking back, it's also obvious how much my parents helped prop me up, even after I moved to Atlanta, and they were still in Minneapolis. After my mom died, my dad moved in with me and propped me up even more because he was on-scene to handle things.

I took care of everything day to day. My planner helped me stay on top of those items. But things at irregular intervals? Those my dad either took care of or reminded me about handling them. After he died, I struggled badly enough to get tested for ADHD.

I bought multiple planners because I'm hoping to come up with a system to keep me on track. This year is about testing things out, hence the number of planners. As I use them this year, I'm finding ways to combine functions into fewer planners. I'll also be able to rule out the things that don't work and brainstorm different ways to stay on track.

Right now, I'm thinking I'd only need two planners for next year, but testing will continue all year.

Dublin: Done

After doing that virtual race of the Amazon and signing up for the long version that took me more than a year to complete, I wanted to do a couple of shorter races. I did Vietnam first and then it was Dublin's turn.

Dublin was 87 miles or 140 kms and I finished it in 56 days.

I like rewards. Sometimes the reward is nothing more than checking a box in my planner. Sometimes it's craft supplies or somethings else purchased. When it comes to getting steps in, it's race medals.

My entire declutter/organize the house strategy revolves around breaking things down into the smallest possible task (for my ADHD brain) and then checking off the box I put next to the item. I'm hoping this will work because I seriously need to accomplish a couple of rooms immediately. Like my office.

But Dublin was a fun walk with lots of Google Street views available. I love looking around the map every night to see where I'm at and Ireland is one of my bucket-list destinations.

Since you can see the name of my favorite company for virtual races, let me state right now that I was not compensated in any way for this post. I pay for all my races.

In fact, in December, I spent a ridiculous amount of money picking up more races. The race I was doing at the time was the last one I'd purchased, and they had a sale. I picked up a bunch of new ones for 2025, enough to last me until their next sale which I assume will be in December again. Since the races have gotten a lot more expensive than they used to be, the sale was good timing.

25 Things Update

I'm like 99% positive I blogged about my list of 25 Things to do Before 2025. I would link to the post if I could find it, but alas, Blogger search has let me down.

To recap, I made a list in the fall of 2024 of 25 things I wanted to do before the end of the year. It was actually difficult to find 25 things. I didn't want anything overwhelming, and I wanted to mix some fun things in, too. I finally scraped together a list.

I counted the number of items I completed: 14/25.

Not too bad.

One of the items was to find this awesome picture of my mom and dad that my dad showed me after mom died. I meant to take a picture of it, so I'd have a copy, but I didn't do it. I guess I thought I could take the picture of the picture later? Anyway, I did look for the photo, I just didn't find it. So while the intent was there, I can't cross it off the list.

Some of the items on my list were super easy to accomplish like read a new book or watch a movie I hadn't seen before.

Some of the things were not fun at all like get the car serviced and remove a past word of the year (like circa 2021) from my wall. I used to make a vinyl word of the year and put it in the middle of my kanban board every year. Until 2022 because I just never took down the 2021 word. Removing vinyl from the walls isn't fun. It takes a hair dryer and patience. After all this time, I wanted my old word down. I finally did it.

I moved some of the 25 things I didn't accomplish to a new list. 25 Things to Accomplish Before 2026. Other items I left off because I decided I didn't really want to do them.

Overall, I liked this list because it included fun things and little things that I wanted to do but kept putting off with a few tasks tossed in for good measure. I actually did most of the task things. I missed out, though, on coffee on the patio. It got too cold before I managed to do it.

To Sprint or Not to Sprint

I have a love/hate relationship with writing sprints.

The pluses are many. It gets me to make an appointment to write. With my ADHD, I'm not good at getting myself started, but if I'm committed to meeting up with other writers, I'll be there.

While I'm a slow writer, the sprints also force me to focus on getting my words. I'm easily distractable (ADHD), and having a sprint period helps me remain on task.

Sprinting with other writers also is more fun because in the breaks between sprints, we talk.

The sprint appointments also get me moving in the mornings. I am a dawdler and can spend forever drinking coffee and playing the NYT Spelling Bee, Wordle, Connections, Strands, etc.

The downside for me is when the time is up. Many times, I've just hit flow state, and the words are coming fast and furious and I'm totally in the zone. And then the writer keeping track of time will call the end of the sprint and I wind up frustrated because it takes me so long to get back in that state.

We've expanded out the length of the sprints, many times going over an hour, but when I'm in flow, even this isn't enough time for me.

But despite all this, the positives far outweigh the negatives. I like having an appointment to write and this works with my brain. I'm going to keep sprinting.

Wired and Tired

Wired: Getting in the flow and the scene writing itself so easily that even an hourly check in with the sprint group is too many interruptions.

Tired: Spending the next writing day staring at a new chapter and none of the characters want to talk.

I had both happen. I had a writing day where flow was intense, the words were coming faster than I could type them, and I started to get crabby about the sprint group check ins.

I ended up just writing and writing until the chapter was finished and had one of my best word count days in a long time.

And then two days later, the next day I had free time to write, I went to start the new chapter and nothing.

I know the suggestion is to never stop writing at the end of a chapter or scene, that it's best to begin the next one. I did do that!

The problem was that on the day I was so busy that I couldn't write, I realized that what I began the next scene with wasn't going to work. I needed to cut it and start somewhere else. And basically spent a few hours writing and cutting. Over and over.

I hate days like that. I guess I need to spend more time with my notebook, trying to figure things out.

A Possibly Scathingly Brilliant Idea

I maybe had a brilliant idea today for how to organize the supplies I use all the time in my planners, my notebooks, and my writing notebooks.

Rolling craft cart!

Okay, so I have one rolling craft cart already. I'm using it for knitting and crocheting stuff. I also made an error in judgment and ordered the deluxe craft cart with the hooks on the side and the rollers for like wrapping paper. I use those for vinyl for my cutting machine.

The problem with the deluxe cart is that those side attachments, particularly the hooks, are dangerous. They also fall off constantly.

When I had my light bulb moment about using a craft cart for my notebook supplies, I immediately thought of moving all my knitting and crocheting stuff somewhere else and using that cart. And then I remembered the hooks and other side attachments and went, yeah, no.

I found a regular rolling cart on sale today and with a coupon for $3 off and decided to give it a try. It's possible this idea isn't quite as brilliant as I believe it to be, but I'll give it a shot when it arrives. One of the features to this cart that I like is it has a handle to allow you to push the cart where you want it. This makes me believe it might be easier to roll than the deluxe cart I already have.

I like doing my notes and planners at my kitchen table, but I'm so tired of pens and stickers and rulers all over the place. This cart gives me hope I can corral everything on it, including my caddies with my notebooks and planners.

Hopefully, this will be easy to roll out of sight when someone comes over without me needing to make multiple trips back and forth to my office with arms full of office supplies.