Jordan Castillo Price's Blog, page 57

Gratitude #15 - Writing Pals

I love talking shop! Special shoutout to Sam Bradley on my Yahoo Group for wonderful writing-stuff discussion, Val Kovalin for recent help with my upcoming release Fire Thief, and Andy Slayde for beta-reading my next hunk of Magic Mansion.

Gratitude #14 - lynda.com

I could go more general and say I'm grateful for learning opportunities, but the Lynda.com site rocks my world so hard...when I watch it, I cheer. I literally cheer, in the way other people cheer when they're watching sporting events, because every time I watch I get to learn something that will make my vision of my typography, cover art, or whatever, that much closer to the way I see it in my mind's eye.

It's like the best college course in the world for a couple hundred bucks a year, but in my bedroom and on my treadmill.

Gratitude #13 - subconscious

I was wrestling with a story edit that didn't make any sense today...and I even got pretty crabby about it to the point where it wasn't fun anymore, I was disgusted the story existed, etc. But I decided to freewrite about it longhand answering the question, "What would be a good reason for this situation to be happening?"

And wouldn't you know, I just wrote it down easy-peasy. A really compelling thing that will pull the whole short story together.

Man, I LOVE it when that happens.

So, some part of my brain (I'll call it my subconscious for lack of a better word) that's not directly connected to my typing hands was happy enough to comply through my longhand-hands.

It gives me some interesting dreams at times, too.

Gratitude #12 - pool

It's a swimming night! I can't even describe how much I LOVE my water aerobics. There is laughter and camaraderie, and it's wonderful exercise. We were close to not having enough attendance this session but at the last moment a fifteenth swimmer signed up. YAY!

Gratitude #11 - luck

I'm so lucky I can win a prize just by walking into a room! Today I finally remembered to bring a coupon for a free Twix bar that I won somewhere to the store and get my candy. I noticed a game code on the one I chose, so I just plugged it in...and won another Twix bar! Woo hoo!

I think luck is all in your attitude. I know so many people who repeat things like, "I just can't win," or "Everything always goes wrong," or, "I'm just unlucky." Please don't think that way, that's just something a sad sack told you a long time ago and I don't think it's true. Don't let it stick. The universe wants good things for us all.

Gratitude #10 - flow

Just a short thought today. The writing's been going awesome. I love that feeling.

Favorite m/m Author

If you're so inclined, I'd appreciate it if you head over to Reviews by Jessewave and vote for me in the "Favorite m/m Author" poll. It's located in the sidebar.

Thanks!

Gratitude #9 - generosity

A new bakery opened in town, so I thought I'd swing by and say hello and buy a little treat once I mailed my mail at the post office. The shortbread looked good, but a little pricy...but I figured they seemed nice, so why not indulge? So I bought a little piece, then got to chatting with the owner, and then out of nowhere he asked if I'd like a treat to take home. "Sure," I said.

And then he had his helper load up two bags full of bagels and focaccia for me to take with me.

Wow! What a nice surprise! I'm grateful for the baker's generosity.

(also...it appears it's rather chewy, which is good...it means I won't just scarf it all down in one sitting.)

Gratitude #8 - music

It's a simple appreciation today. I don't usually listen to music while I write because the words distract me. It's too hard to hear words and think of what words I want in what order at the same time...though there are a few ambient stations I can sometimes get away with on soma fm, particularly "Secret Agent" when I'm writing a thriller, or "Drone Zone" most anytime.

So if I'm listening to actual music, it means I'm taking a break, I'm done for the day, or I'm working on art. Right now I'm done for the day. Yay!

Anyway, I stopped buying discs and opted to just subscribe to my music, which has worked out well. Then Napster got absorbed my Rhapsody this week, and I notice my playlists seem different. Or maybe their "randomize" just works differently and I'm hearing things that never got shuffled to the top before. I like it! (And I can now stream to my iPod, which is very nice!)

Gratitude #7 - focus

I ran into someone from my old day job yesterday who let me know how much she missed working with me.* She says my replacement takes forever to get things done and seems to fritter away all her time chatting with co-workers. Being an only graphic designer is a very self-directed position. (As opposed to being a designer in a firm where your boss is a designer too, and would give you specific tasks and tell you how long it should take you to do each of them. When you're the only one you can choose which projects get a "quickie" and which to delve into more deeply so you can manage your time.)

I'm pretty focused. I appreciate that when I see lots of people aren't. Even though I had a day this week where my attention kept wanting to wander, I managed to keep consulting my to-do list and encouraging myself to work on "just one more thing."

*wouldn't it suck to hear "glad you left...the new gal's ten times better than you!"