Best Time To Prepare / Happenings In The Outhouse 26-July-2024

There is an adage that says (I'm paraphrasing here): when is the best time to prepare?  Let's take retirement saving for example or career advancement.  Answer: five years ago (or some time in the distant past).  When is the second best time?  Today.

Obviously, no one has a time machine to go back, to give yourself financial or career advice years ago, knowing how it all ends up.  But preparing for whatever change is taking place, the best time is now.  Not tomorrow.  Not next week or month or year.  Now.

If you do not, then you'll look back five years from now and wish that you had done something different.

How is the world changing?  What can you do to study now that will pay dividends down the road?

Moving Forward / Happenings In The Outhouse 19-July-2024

This will be another short one.

Last weekend, my wife and I had our wedding reception, open to the public.  It was a fun time seeing family and friends, and some I have not seen in a long, long time.

Now it's back to writing.

Still working on my fun short story, and I have just backed a Kickstarter that will allow me to submit new stories to another market that isn't normally open.  I'm optimistic that my chances of landing a coveted spot are extremely low, but it's the feedback I'm looking for mostly.

Of course, publication would be amazing too.  Overall, just looking to be a much better writer.

Pay Attention To What You Are Learning / Happenings In The Outhouse 12-July-2024

Pay close attention to what you are learning.

I had a meeting with one of my colleagues and they were asking what they should be doing to prepare for an upcoming leadership role.

This is an interesting question, and can be applied to many jobs or learnings as there is a multitude of information out there.  Take leadership for a moment.  There are a ton of books, and they run the gambit from dreadful to spectacular.  Okay, so how do you know?  You don't.  And here's the caveat: what one finds no value in, others do.

I have read a lot about time management over the years, and there are good ideas and there . . . well, mediocre ones at best.  But what one finds that works, others do not.  And vice versa.

It's easy to get caught up in the soaking up of knowledge.  In the end, the best way is to actually do the job.  Take writing.  The best way I have found is to sit down and write.  Read too, but also write.

Laser Focus Goals / Happenings In The Outhouse 05-July-2024

Last week, I wrote out my "Next 5 Things" to do for the next three months.  I have been doing this for a number of years now, and it is important that I do this, to focus my energy on what needs to be done in the near future.

I will not share what I wrote, but I am determined to laser focus my goals and achieve as many as possible.  I am utilizing Heinlein's Rules of Writing.  Of which I have utilized before but am becoming more intentional now.

The rules are:

1) You must write.

2) You must finish what you start.

3) You must refrain from rewriting except to editorial demand.

4) You must put it on the market.

5) You must keep it on the market until sold.

Seems simple.

But you would be surprised at how few writers actually do this, then wonder why they aren't successful.  Not that I'm a big name author with big name money.

But at least I'm working at it, and having fun.

Something Fun / Happenings In The Outhouse 28-June-2024

Last Saturday, I had quite a few hours to just sit and write, and as I have hit a few roadblocks with my current two works-in-progress, I decided to start something new.

Something fun, in other words.

I grabbed a title out of the air, wrote the first fun line I could think of, and close to 1,800 words later I got the start of a cool story.  As of this post, it is still not done, but I'm having fun writing it.

Twelve Stories And Counting / Happenings In The Outhouse 21-June-2024

I currently have twelve completed short stories that I have finished, waiting in the wings to be sent off.

One was just submitted to the Writers of the Future contest (it's a quarterly contest and the deadline is the end of this month) and three others now are out into the universe, making their way for possible consideration for publication.

Now, I am in the process of figuring out the best places to send all of the others.  This activity eats up a lot of time, but it is time well-spent because I'm educating myself on the short story market.

Not Getting Your Hopes Up / Happenings In The Outhouse 14-June-2024

There are lessons to be learned with most everything that doesn't go right--and lessons even when it does.

This past weekend, my wife and I and three young girls went to the Twin Cities, leaving earlier than the chickens Saturday morning and coming back Sunday.  The reason for the quick trip was that her youngest child told us about a meet and greet by two paranormal YouTubers, who were also promoting their clothing line at a store in the Mall of America.

My wife and I knew the girls shouldn't get their hopes up about meeting them.  Even though we were arriving at the MOA hours ahead of time, the chances of her and her two friends getting a place in line were slim.

It turns out they never had a chance to meet them because there were close to 4,000 people already in line and the store cut off the number as they found the end to it.

I try to maintain a positive attitude and a positive outlook on life in general, so we made the best of the time we were down there and went to a water park instead.  Got a little burned, but it was relaxing.

What's the lesson?  You don't always get what you want and it's a good thing to not get your hopes up.