I miss school vacations. Just lounging around and playing computer games, going to the library or bookstore, or traveling someplace fun takes the stress of homework and school social events away. Other than helping my parents with chores I can do almost anything I want.
Now being a parent of two boys, one of them currently at school and about to have his summer vacation, the tables have turned. My older son is the one having fun while I have to do the chores, errands, and parental duties. And I’m still getting used to it.
But the great thing about being a parent is giving my sons the opportunities to have plenty of adventures. Whether it’s traveling to the aquarium, zoo, beach, grocery shopping, participating in play dates, running in the library, or just chilling at the park, it’s great for them to take advantage of their free time.
Of course, the main downside is if they’re at home with you all day, all the time, it will drive you crazy. And without the routine of school you have to find a way to keep them educated so they don’t regress.
If there’s one piece of writing advice I can give to you and others, it’s the title above. Let’s face it, many of us writers have trouble getting past that blank piece of paper or screen. Even we if have something written, often we don’t write anything else, and progress stalls.
So whenever you’re having trouble writing something, just write one sentence at a time. If you can keep up the momentum and write more, then that’s great. If not, just write another sentence the next day.
Let’s assume you’re writing a novel, 80,000 words and the average sentence is about 17.5 words. If you only write one sentence a day it will take you about 12.5 years to complete a draft. Yes, that’s a long time, but think of how many writers you know that have waited that long and still haven’t published anything.
The lesson: Compounding works. One sentence a day produces progress. It may take a long time, but you’re doing better than someone who keeps hesitating and letting perfectionism overwhelm them.
Going to take the family out to a park and have some lunch later. Also will go to an U.S. Armed Forces memorial since I have relatives who served and no longer with us.
Whether you’re working or spending time with loved ones, don’t forget all the servicemen and servicewomen who made the ultimate sacrifice. From a veteran, thank you.
I’m a printaholic. I love printing PDFs into booklet form, folding, and stapling them. Sometimes, I’ll cut at the folds, two-hole punch them, and insert those two-prong holders if the book is too thick.
I love the way fresh blank pieces of paper is imprinted with jet ink and heated on both sides, how stacks of finished sheets are ready to be folded or sliced in half, and how freeing it is to give the middle finger to those who keep saying “we’re going to live in a paperless society.”
Unfortunately, today is a bad day in my printing world. I had to print out a lot of PDF documents for my son’s school to sign and turn in. When I tried to print them out my laptop didn’t recognize the hardware. Even after reinstalling the drivers the printer still didn’t work. My wife tried printing on her computer and it didn’t work as well.
The printer is a Canon MX-522 that I’ve had for years. After being a dedicated and reliable printer surviving multiple computers and operating systems, moving from one house to another, and replacing countless ink cartridges, it’s finally time to retire it. So thank you for your service Canon MX-522. Maybe someone else can put it to good use when I donate it.
Now the hard part is finding a reliable printer with ink cartridges that isn’t too expensive.
For sci-fi adventure fans, Novelette 1 (10,800 words) of The Package trilogy series is finally published. It’s $3 for both EPUB and PDF versions on Gumroad.
You can go to My Books at the top of my blog menu and click on The Package (Novelette 1) link.
My younger son had his allergy test a few weeks ago. Older son keeps rubbing his eyes and sneezes despite having multiple air purifiers and humidifiers in the house. Wifey and I are also sneezing. My eyes are always red (on top of my asthma and sinus issues) and my handkerchiefs are constantly wet from all the nose blowing.
This year has been terrible when it comes to allergies. Allergy medicine helps a bit but the only thing all of us can do is deal with it. The price to pay to having a good spring and summer in California.
I consider myself a field writer. There’s no dedicated wooden oak desk to call my own. The dining room table feels uncomfortable. And any cafe is a violation of my quality writing time. So I have to be adaptable to wherever writing setting I go.
One day I had an idea. My wife and I have this little table. It’s rectangular and the legs are bent and shaped so that it can slip next to a couch or regular chair. And it’s the perfect height when I have to sit on the toilet.
So, I put it in our main bathroom and it looks perfect. I have the privacy to write while doing my business, or pretend I’m doing business. You’d think this is the best idea ever. But my wife put her foot down and said no. The reason was hygiene so that idea is dead.
Hey, if you can get away with it get a small table for your bathroom and if it works for your writing, then good. I hope your spouse, roommates, or whoever lives with you agree with it. Just make sure you clean it every day or so.
Wow! Can’t believe I made it this far. All three drafts of The Package trilogy are done. Now, all I have to do is revise and edit them.
If things go well, I’ll publish the first story by the beginning of June. Maybe sooner. I’ll let you know where I’ll publish them, stilll deciding on that.
Thank you for those still interested in the series. I hope you like them.
When I used to work and had to go out of town I’d get a motel room, call Domino’s Pizza from the number printed on the motel key, pick up the pizza, and turn on the TV. Usually, I’ll choose the Food Channel to watch endless episodes of Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives or Forensic Files on HLN. It’s a great way to enjoy myself after a long day of driving and investigating.
Two weekends ago, my family and I went to Sacramento for a friend’s kid’s birthday party at an indoor playground. Before we arrived at the birthday party we checked into a nice hotel and rested after a long two hour plus drive. The only time we turned on the TV was watching Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives. I wanted to watch Forensic Files, but didn’t want to risk having uncensored footages of dead people scaring my children.
Whenever my wife and I have some alone time together at home or in a hotel room we would watch either of those two channels. It’s nice that we have that in common, among other things. I also leave Forensic Files on whenever I’m alone to write. Although hearing the word, diatoms, a bunch of times does get distracting. When my children get older and more mature I’ll introduce the show to them.
Maybe they’ll work in forensics. Hopefully, they won’t learn the wrong lesson of not getting caught.
