Just Finish It / Happenings In The Outhouse 13-Sept-2024

I started a short story based on a "what if" scenario a few months back.  I went only so far, then moved on when I felt stuck on where it should go.

But now it fits in with a possible publication submission that is due the end of the month, so I have been working at it.  In other words, I need to just finish it.

So many of us start projects that we don't finish.  There might've been a good reason to start it, but depending on the circumstances, we quit.  I urge you to finish those projects.  Get them out into the world.

Because this is the end of the quarter, I have not only one short story to do, but two.  The other is for another submission to Writers of the Future.

Types Of Goals / Happenings In The Outhouse 06-Sept-2024

I've touched on goals several times on this blog, and I want to enhance it a little.

If you're unfamiliar with Stephen Covey's time management system of the four quadrants, let me quickly summarize with this visual:

Now, where you want to spend the most of your time is quadrant 2.  This is where the works gets planned and executed.

For the longest time, I have planned out each quarter with my "Top 5" things to do.  But I recently discovered that this wasn't enough.  Back in college, I had a calendar where I tallied the number of pages I wrote in a single day.  I would total that number up each week, and it was my goal to make that number grow each week.

You may not have a top 5 for each day, but even a top 1-3 would make your life run more smoothly.  Set up daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, and even yearly goals.  Each of these is different, and each works a different set of brain muscles.

Identifying Weaknesses / Happenings In The Outhouse 30-Aug-2024

"What is your greatest weakness?"

This is a loaded interview question because one doesn't want to admit they have a weakness.

However, if there are weaknesses that you can overcome, all the better.  On one hand, if I had a deep passion to be a top NBA player but I'm only five foot nine and have minimal basketball skills, my chances are pretty much nil.  On the other hand, if I have a fear of public speaking, I can take lessons and work to overcome them.

Sometimes it is difficult to identify your weaknesses.  Ask for feedback and don't get upset by the results.

Speaking of public speaking, I joined Toastmasters through my employer to help with my public speaking skills.  I won't divulge the various ways Toastmasters can help with this, as there are so many aspects of public speaking that one may not be aware of.  One aspect for me is essentially troubling, but it is a task I am willing to overcome with practice.  And Toastmasters helps me with that.

When you look at your weaknesses, try and discover a weakness that is realistic and that you can overcome.  Create baby steps to overcome it, to turn the weakness into either a strength or something that isn't so daunting.

Stamina And The Genre Snob / Happenings In The Outhouse 23-Aug-2024

Today's post is going to be a bit out of the norm.  Then again, when is it never . . . ?

Last weekend, my wife, three of our girls, and myself went to the Twin Cities to attend two concerts: Friday night was Metallica and Saturday night was Green Day.  We had a blast, to put it mildly.  I may deep dive into these concerts at a later time, but I want to touch on two things this week.  The first is stamina.

Green Day played, non-stop, for roughly two and a half hours.  With very few breaks.  And what breaks they did take were a few seconds at max.  They kept playing and playing and playing . . . to the point where I became exhausted.

Green Day has an enormous catalog of songs to choose from, and they played many of them.  Last year during the Bryan Adams concert, there were so many he played that I forgot that he even sang them.  Metallica also has an enormous catalog of songs.

What does this mean for the writer?  Simple: keep writing.  Ten years ago, I had written five full length novels and maybe a handful of short stories.  Now, I have over 60 individual stories, from novels to short stories and even a few flash fiction.  I keep going.

The second is what I am calling the genre snob.  The last song Green Day played was "Good Riddance (Time of your Life)".  After the concert, I overheard someone saying they didn't like the song and that it was outside of their genre--hence the reason they did not like it.

The genre snob isn't limited to musicians.  Take Stephen King and John Grisham.  King is known for horror, yet some of his better books are the ones that are not horror.  Grisham is known for his legal thrillers, and his better books are not in that genre.  It's okay to step out of the genre you're in.  Even reading the Wikipedia page on the Green Day song "Good Riddance" they note that the song was outside of the other songs.

Yet it is one song they are best known for.

Another Short One / Happenings In The Outhouse 16-Aug-2024

I'm over 3,000 words into a new short story, to be submitted for consideration for publication in a monthly magazine that only has allowed submissions by those who contributed to their Kickstarter.  Sorry, can't disclose any more than that.

The story is going well--much better than anticipated.  I'm trying some new techniques in creating greater depth in my stories and hoping it turns out well.

12,000 Books And Counting / Happenings In The Outhouse 09-Aug-2024

I have well over 12,000 books on my Kindle.

Will I get a chance to read them all?  Not a chance.

I recently went through all of them, downloaded the ones that I want to read, and then categorized them given their topic.  I have whittled that list down to roughly 1,500 to read.  Yes, that is still quite a "to read" pile.

Now is the task of going through each book that interests me, and reading it.

Sometimes, tasks that seem daunting at first can be looked at from a different perspective.  The task may still be daunting, but not quite as much.

Battling Complacency / Happenings In The Outhouse 02-Aug-2024

It's easy to stay in one spot, be it career or job position or hobbies or place of residence or . . . well, just about anything at this point.

But what if . . . 

Now, I'm not saying that everyone should quit their job, abandon their hobbies, and move away.  But if you are given an opportunity to do something different, even for a little while, what's stopping you?