Tag Archives: bullet journal

Feb 5 2018

Get Your Mojo On!


Monday morning, rise and shine! It’s a new beginning, a fresh start, a day for opportunities to abound! 

Don’t even talk to me before I’ve had my coffee.

Then get your coffee Ms. Crabpatch and get busy. Just take a look at the gorgeous sky.

Do you realize the temperatures are in the single digits? Maybe I’ll just crawl back into bed.

Now is that any way to accomplish your goals? Where’s your resolve for those plans you made? Are you giving up that quickly?

~~~~~

Please tell me I’m not the only one who has those self-talks.  It’s like the angel on one shoulder, demon on the other, each of them whispering into my head, but I have to make the choice.

It’s true –  the week is full of opportunities. Monday is the start of a fresh new week, a chance to have this week count as a success in my planner. Before I started using my bullet journal,  I had plans in my head.  I kept a mental to-do list and rarely got past the first two.

But then I discovered the bullet journal! This amazing tool is priceless to me.  I don’t keep it up every day, and I’m not going to stress over that.  Life has gotten pretty crazy over the past year and I’ve learned to chill out and do what I can and go with the flow when I need to.

One of the ways that I feel that my bullet journal, or bujo for short, has helped me is that I have my daily to-do list. When I first started,  I wrote out my daily wishlist as my todo list. It looked something like this:

  • Housekeeping (sweep, mop, vacuum, clean counter, clean bathrooms, dust, clear clutter out of living room)
  • writing – blog, Point #3, 2 scenes, 2500 words
  • exercise – walking, aquacise, weights
  • appointment if I had one that day
  • MLO job – correspondence with emails, check sop updates, check rates, make calls, upload documents.

Now my daily to-do list looks more like this:

  • MLO job -make calls, correspondence, upload documents, etc ( there really isn’t much I can do to change what needs to be done at a job that someone else is paying me to do a specific job.)
  • HOusekeeping: chore of the day – focused on one room
  • Writing -1000 words minimum,
  • exercise: aquacize 45 minutes
  • Scheduled appointments

At first glance, you may not notice a big difference but it’s there. realistically, I know I am not going to get the entire house clean in one day. I’ve decided to focus on one area per day. Since I’ve been doing it this way, my house is cleaner. It’s not where I want it to be yet, but that’s because of the clutter. Much improved, but still room for more improvement.

I have to do certain tasks for the dayjob, so that doesn’t change other than I don’t stress out about it like I used to. There are days when I only get a couple tasks completed, and that’s OK. Some processes take longer than others.

My daily word count used to be 2500. It will go back up to that but for now, I am trying to hit at least 1000 words daily. To be honest,  on days when I have appointments or therapy, it may not happen. Last Friday I had an appointment, I couldn’t concentrate before the appointment,  then afterwards I crashed! I didn’t realize that I had been so keyed up over that appointment,  but apparently I was. I got a whole whopping 460 words last Friday –  I still count that as a win because I got some words.

My point is, back to the opportunities; by not putting a bunch of constraints on my schedule,  I have the flexibility to adapt to those urgent things that pop up unexpected.  Before, I never allowed ten minutes downtime so if anything happened, anything,  I was stressed and freaking out because I didn’t have the wiggle room. For instance –  being stuck in traffic. I sat in traffic for nearly 2 hours on a drive that should have been thirty-five minutes. It was aggravating,  but I took the opportunity to enjoy the music on the radio.  It was soothing. What could have been a very stressful 2 hours turned out to be calming. I couldn’t do anything about it anyway but in the past I would have been biting my nails, yelling at the moron driver who caused the accident up ahead and probably using some colorful metaphors in my monolog!

We can take the opportunity to take charge of our lives,  how we deal with what life throws at us or we can take the approach that we are helpless victims being tossed about by the wind and waves. The storms are going to happen so be prepared! Some of them can be avoided. Sometimes we get caught out in the rain. Other times, we have plenty of warning.

Seize the day while you can!

By the way, I stayed up, I went to my exercise class, I did the things, and I feel better for it. Regret is a hard task master that I plan to avoid! There is nothing that can beat you down faster than a bad case of the ‘should-haves’.

Is there one thing that you can do today to improve your outlook or  decrease your stress levels?

Write on my friends, write on!

Mar 24 2017

Author Superpower #MFRW



This week’s writing prompt is “My Greatest Strength”

Welcome to week 12 of the 52-week MFRW blog challenge.  Each week I will post something about that week’s topic. Ready to play?

Welcome back to my little corner of the world. It’s interesting to me, one of the comments that is on the MFRW page; “Blogging is an opportunity for authors to connect with readers. Despite being fiction writers, blogging is an entirely different style of writing and often stumps us. Our challenge is designed to help our authors blog consistently, thoughtfully and with purpose.”

The reason that I find this interesting is that I have the opposite thought. It’s easier for me to write short blog posts than to stay focused for longer lengths of time to write a finished novel. There, I said it. My confession. It is difficult for me to focus –  hence why I have multiple unfinished and unpublished novels. I guess those earlier days of being an opinion columnist have conditioned me for the short bursts of thought, rather than to keep plugging away on one continuous thought. ADD tendencies don’t help. Anyway, moving into the focused topic for the day, my greatest strength.

Well, I can tell you ten things that it isn’t! Maybe that is a topic for another day. I had to think about this for a while,  in fact, I logged off of everything and pondered,  making a mental checklist of what I wasn’t good at. Those are easy and added to the time-wasting while my gears turned. I’ll admit it, I sulked.

My mind went down the list of all the things that I could see that my friends were good at. It’s a good thing I didn’t have any ice cream in the house or I would have drowned my sorrows in the company of Ben and Jerry’s.

It wasn’t until a phone call from a friend that I had a valid answer. I know, insecure much? She asked what I was doing and I told her bluntly I was wasting time while I was trying to think of something I was good at, something that would be my greatest strength if I even have one.  Don’t think I can’t see those eye rolls now, just as I’m sure she was rolling her eyes on the other end of the phone.

After a stern lecture for being down on myself,  she quickly rattled off things that she saw are strengths. She didn’t have to stop and think about them, she just rattled them off! Right, add ‘quick to think’ to the list of “not my strengths”.

I recalled a list that my media coach made me put together when I was in a mood like this a couple of years ago. What did I do with that list? Add ‘organized’ to the list of ‘not my strengths’.

My husband and I went to marriage counseling, and one of the things I had to do was put together a lost of his strengths, and things I loved about him,  then put together a list of my own strengths. Compiling his was easy. Mine? Not so much.

Just a side note here, but don’t you find it ironic that karma or fate tends to throw things like this topic up in your path when you are at a low point in that area? Hmm? Just me then? Yeah, irony.

My readers don’t care that I’m a good cook – no make that a damn good cook. I’m not going to appear on Master Chef or anything,  but I manage quite well to feed my family tasty nutritious, and sometimes not so nutritious foods. None of us are starving.  You guys don’t want to hear that I am an exhorter, finding value in everyone else. If you’ve read even one of my blog posts, you probably already know that.

So as an author, what am I good at? Isn’t it sad that it took cheating to come up with something?

OK, asking my friend over the phone, going through my stack of notebooks for that list, going through the marriage counseling folder, are technically cheating. Hey, when you’re down you’re down.

In that folder, I found the list my husband made about me. I was in tears. It amazes me that he sees all these wonderful things in me.  OK, maybe I should make a run to the store and bring Ben and Jerry home for a celebration. Instead, I decided to make his favorite meal and dessert for him. ( It’s a small thing, but something I could definitely do for him!)

In the top five of both lists – the one from the media coach and my husband’s list, and one of the things mentioned from my friend on the phone made me smile and I admitted,  this could be the thing. OK, let me be honest here. There were actually a couple of things that were on all the lists, which made me smile this ridiculous goofy smile and cry happy tears.

So what is my greatest strength?

I am never lacking ideas. I rarely ever get writer’s block, instead, I have a flood of ideas and have trouble focusing on just one.

A friend will ask my advice on how to move her characters from point A to point B, and I have a couple of ideas. I don’t even have to think about it, I can rattle off a list of options for her. Another friend needs a title – BAM I give her a list of options and more than a few times, the author will decide on one of my suggestions.

I have a creative mind. I can come up with an idea from just about any prompt that you can throw at me. I can make a meal that is practically gourmet from simple ingredients. I can make an elaborate plot out of a simple idea.

I can throw boulder-sized obstacles into my character’s path to keep them from their objective. I can always think of “what can go wrong now” to avoid a straight line to the end.

My name is Ellie Mack and my super power

is my Creative Mind.

I have no problem with doubt in this area. I know I am creative. this is not an area that I second guess myself. Why it was so hard for me to see it, I don’t know.

  • Lame plot? I got a solution.
  • Flat characters? I have some ideas.
  • A new twist on an old theme? I got a million of them!
  • Wrote yourself into a corner? Did you see the loose ceiling tile?

A brilliant mind is one of the sexiest qualities a person can have.

Being smart is sexy!

It feels great to know that I can in all sincerity say I am confident that this is a strength.

Confidence is sexy!

Confidence gives you the inner fortitude to be bolder in your endeavors.

Boldness is Sexy!

Knowing that you are strong in an area is enabling and allows you to work harder.

Strong is sexy!

Being smart leads to confidence. Confidence leads to boldness. Boldness leads to being strong. Being strong builds confidence  . . . and the cycle begins to gain momentum.

I’ve got my sexy back!

*does a smexy dance to my inner music*

Yeah!

YEAH!

OH YEAH!

What does sexy have to do with strength? EVERYTHING!   Sexy is so much more than a perfect size four female body. Sexy is a state of mind. A romance writer needs to have a certain sexy state of mind in order to write those steamy hot scenes and interconnective tissue that weaves a magical story that unites two individuals within the pages of a novel. Confidence gives you strength in who you are and what you are capable of.

Just like the rock hard muscles of a trained athlete, an author’s mind flexes with training and conditioning. It builds strength. A strength that others easily recognize, even when you can’t see it. Plus, the strong sexy author can make the voices of doubt that echo through the dark corridors of my mind shut the hell up!

This week’s prompt came at a time that I was truly down and I seriously needed this to get myself back up out of the mire. Thanks, MFRW! I needed that!

What is your greatest strength? Do you need someone else to point them out for you like I did or are you confident in your own to know your strengths and value?

You can check out what these authors have to say about it as well! Enjoy!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Til next time!

Write on my friends, write on!

Ellie

 

 

 

 

Mar 23 2017

Fine Tuning the Plan


Today is a day of evaluation. It’s not a day of beginnings, but rather a day of continuance. Toady is one of those stuck in the murky middle days.

Have you ever started off with great gusto to find yourself sidelined and wondering what in the world happened? Have you gotten off course? Lost your way? Taken the wrong detour? Well, I have. I’ve done it often, and today is my “correcting my course” day.

I don’t know if any of you are like me, if so you may recognize some of what I’m about to share. If not, you may be amused or sympathetic or you might even be able to offer some insight. Grab your favorite beverage, some popcorn, and enjoy the show.

Back in January,  I was all gung-ho – this is going to be my best year! YAY! Enter the sickness. Seriously –  it was like I alerted the universe and invited all the plagues, disease, and infirmities to pay me a visit. I posted on here, so proud of myself for making a plan that I could stick to and not fail. You can read that here: The Master Plan.

I swear it was the next day that I was hit with the sick wand. UGH, it’s been a battle just to stay healthy. However, I’m not here to lament that. I’m here to discuss why I’m evaluating my lack of progress and making my quarterly adjustments to get me back on track.

My first point in the Master Plan is Be Your best every day.  I had to reread it in order to remind myself to STOP berating myself for not being able to run at 90 to nothing full throttle every single day. Let me tell you what happens when I start down that path. It’s ugly so consider this your “viewer discretion” advisory.

I’m feeling great, life is good, I can do all the things, throw sparkly glitter all around! The big bad sickness ogre sees this as a clear invitation to mess with Sasquatch aka Ellie. I get in a funk. I start the mental lashings. I continue down the berating trail eventually  botoming out in a pit of despairm feeling like an ultimate failure, ready to throw in the towel on everything. Life just can’t get any worse. This sucks. I suck. My writing sucks. When nobody comes along to help me out of my muck, I scrape off the glop, wipe my tears and go clean myself up, scrubbing until my skin and nerves are raw and flayed. Overcompensating, I push myself with new vigor and determination. It doesn’t take long for cracks to appear and the spiral downward begins anew. It’s a horrible cycle and I am tired of it. I don’t want to continue in this any longer.

Quick reminder of point 1:

  1. Be your best every day.  No matter what you do, do your very best at it.  If your best for that day is to say thanks to the person caring for you, like if you have the flu and they are bringing you hot tea then be thankful. If your best is running a marathon that day, then run like your life depends on it and give it 100%. Your best fluctuates from day to day. There are days we are unstoppable. There are days when it’s a trial to get from one minute to the next. Whatever your best is, do it. Know that it is your best. If you can’t with a clear conscious say inside your heart that you gave your best effort then do more. If you are running the marathon and you gave 100% and didn’t win then be at peace with yourself that you gave your all. If you only exerted 85% effort,  then evaluate and learn from it,  and know that you are capable of more so that the next time you will know that what you thought was 100% was only at 85%. Are you with me?

OK, I seriously need to take my own advice! Learning to function overall when those days of not being at full capacity happen, and they seem to happen a lot more as I’ve gotten older, I need to learn that ‘be at peace’ part so badly. I’m working on it. I had a good self-talk yesterday after mentally berating myself for not hitting my self-imposed deadlines, then alternately berating myself for making too lofty of goals for myself. Honestly, if this was fifteen years ago then my self-imposed deadlines and goals would be a piece of cake. It’s not fifteen years ago however, it’s now – today -and I’m older. That sucks, but I don’t have to let it suck as much as it has been. I need to come to terms with what I can and can’t do and realize that I’m not where I want to be, but that I can change that with steady progress. AAAAAAANNND  we come full circle to the crux of what set me on this quarterly check. Lack of steady progress.

Why? Because I’ve let the days that I couldn’t do my best from yesterday affect my ability to accept that my best today was the best I could manage and let it go. Then there are those days when I know I didn’t give my best, and in fact, I wasted hours sulking, or playing games, or lost in “research” down the internet rabbit hole. From this point, all I can do is count those as a loss and do my best to make every day count or at least a good 80%.

My second obvious mistake – again I should take my own advice – is not following number 2 on my master list – Make your goals crystalline. I’ve discovered that my bullet journal has a massive flaw. Yes, the same bullet journal that I’ve been singing praises of. The bullet journal that keeps my butt in line and on track.

What on earth could be such a massive flaw in a near perfect tool? Operator error.

I’m the one who enters everything into my handy dandy little book of life order. I haven’t been precise. Looking over the past three months worth of entries I notice a distinct pattern. An important part of my bullet journal is my daily todo list. Which often looks like this:

  • writing 1 hour
  • editing 2 hours
  • housework
  • resale
  • scheduled appointments, webinar, etc.
  • miscellaneous items such as groceries, get oil changed, etc.

The problem is that I need to be specific on the first two entries. I need to write specifics like 1 hour writing on chapter 12 of Roxy: scene 15,16,17. On editing I need to be specific about the book I am editing like: Malevolent Mind – chapters 12 – 15.

For someone who has been   made aware multiple times of the importance to have SMART goals, why didn’t I see  this before?

I’m disappointed in myself in the setbacks for completing this manuscript, however given the changes that I am making to it, I’m OK with this. Being behind on my plan even after the changes due to lack of focus I am not OK with.

Tools are only effective if you are using them correctly. You wouldn’t take a chainsaw to cut a couple of one by sixes to make shelves, likewise you wouldn’t use a table saw to cut down a rotten tree. The botom line I suppose is that I am once again fine tuning my bullet journal for my personal adaptation.

The objective is not to have the perfect bullet journal, my objective is to utilize my bullet journal in being a more focused and productive author. I might add,  it’s a good thing to do an occasional check to see where you are on your goals instead of hitting the end of the year and say “well, I failed that one”.  Even if I don’t hit the final mark like losing 75 pounds this year,  I will  make progress in that direction.

Have you evaluated where you are on your path to reaching your goals? If you take time now to do that, you can make some adjustments to make it possible to reach.

While you ponder what your take away for yourself is,  stop over at AuthorShout where my cover is up for vote for best cover. GO VOTE FOR RED WINE & ROSES!

Write on my friends, write on.

Ellie

 

 

Mar 10 2017

Ellie’s Guilty Pleasures #MFRWauthor


badge-blog-challenge-updated

Welcome to week 10 of the 52-week MFRW blog challenge.  Each week I will post something about that week’s topic. Ready to play?

This week’s prompt:

 Seven Guilty Pleasures

Only Seven?  Hmm, well I suppose I can go with the top ones.

  1. Supernatural –  I make myself a bargain that if I get a certain word count, or get X number of pages edited for someone,  and some housework –  because housework is the bane of my existence –  then I reward myself with some Sam and Dean time. Only one episode though, because I could sit for hours and binge watch. However, if I double the amounts above I get two episodes.
  2. Nancy Drew games – No judging!  I read the books when I was preteen, and I admit I am hooked on the games. I love the puzzles, having to figure out the clues, getting all of the easter eggs, . . . yes, I am a gamer nerd.  Not in the sense that others are who are playing FPS games, but I love love LOVE Nancy Drew PC games and Lara Croft on PS3. I have played every single Lara Croft game since the first including Dark Angel, up to the most recent which I don’t have yet because I haven’t beaten the last one. Danger on Deception Island, Curse of Blackmoor Manor, The Haunted Carousel, I’m stuck on The Phantom of Venice,  I have Nancy in the last chamber that I have to figure out the sequence of turning the valves so she doesn’t drown.  I’ve managed to kill Nancy probably about 35 times now. Good thing she is resilient.  
  3. WASHI tape– Hello, my name is Ellie and I am a WASHI tape addict. It’s been seventeen days since my last purchase. I own 73 different styles of washi tape and I want more. (Don’t tell my husband that number please I beg you!)
  4. BUJO – also related to the washi tape, because this is the biggest use for my washi tape. I don’t know what I ever did before I discovered the bullet journal aka bujo. I get behind on occasion when life gets busy, but more often than not it holds my daily todo lists, highlights that happen,  a record of appointments and  scheduled events/classes. It is my life blood! * clutches it close to my chest*
  5. PENS – I had an unhealthy obsession with pens before using a bujo, . . . can anyone guess what enables me to indulge in this pen obsession even more? You guessed it, my BUJO! Come on, you can’t keep a record of your life simply with black ink. Pens come in a myriad of colors and I have each month color coded. Most of the time my writing is in black because I did a whole month last Spring in hot pink and wow, was that hard on my eyes! But, the highlights of the day, a special quote, a mandala, or a scripture that had significant meaning that day – these things are set off with color and various width of pens from .3 micron to a wide chiseled edge Staedler Mars. Only a true pen junkie will understand.  I also have a couple of fountain pens . . . excuse me while I have a moment, . . . I absolutely love how they flow, but when you use a cheaper paper, they will bleed through and definitely ghost onto the backside.
  6. Dark Chocolate covered expresso beans!  Now you’re talking. Come on – chocolate, coffee, together. . . brilliant. The only thing after a handful I could rearrange the entire garage and start on five other projects before they wore off and then I crash horribly unless I eat some more and then I ‘m good to go until those wear off or I fall asleep . . . and come to with seven unfinished projects and a path of destruction in my wake.
  7. HGTV – as much as you may think I have some serious addictive behavior, . . . you really don’t know the half of it. I couldn’t tell you any of the current shows on TV except Master Chef Junior. I can’t even tell you what night that is on. However, I can tell you exactly when Property Brothers are on, Chip and Joanna Gaines – love them, ( Yeah I know that isn’t the name of the show, so what!), Love it or List it, tiny houses fascinates me but I could never live in one full time.  A few weeks ago when I was quite ill with the flu, could barely keep water down, and was buried in a cocoon of comforter and layered clothing, I had the clicker in hand – not that I was clicker happy, but to keep anyone else from using it. It was Property  Brothers back to back episodes until they got to one that I had already seen. AT which time I switched to DIY channel and bathroom crashers. I think the only reason I got away with it is that they didn’t want the germs as when I lifted my hand to my mouth to cover my cough, it was the hand that held the remote. DETERRENT FOR THE WIN.  You will be happy to know I have since disinfected the remote as well as 99% of our house. I give you a 1% error for places I can’t reach like above the cabinets.

I could go on and on with things that I really enjoy but seldom indulge in like fried chicken, chocolate ice cream, going to the theater,  going to auctions, but the prompt was for seven. Probably a good thing to limit that as I will tell on myself and share TMI!  Here’s a list of other bloggers sharing their guilts:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

How are you liking these posts? I know I’ve been awol this past week with other posts but I’m getting a lot of words down. I promise to share another excerpt soon but when the muse is talking,  I have to give my full attention as she’s a fickle thing!

You can find other posts in this series from yours truly here:

  1. Raindrops on Roses
  2. They’ll Survive – I Guess
  3. Binge Watching #MFRWauthor
  4. Thank God for Grace in Editing!
  5. #MFRW Best Friends
  6. Crafty Author #MFRWauthor
  7. Musical Mayhem #MFRWauthor
  8. A Rose by Any Other Name . . . #MFRWauthor
  9. I’ll take What is Purple Prose for 50 Alex #MFRWauthor

Til next time!

Write on my friends, write on!

Ellie

 

 

 

 

Mar 3 2017

I’ll take What is Purple Prose for 50 Alex #MFRWauthor


badge-blog-challenge-updated

Welcome to week 9 of the 52-week MFRW blog challenge.  Each week I will post something about that week’s topic. Ready to play?

This week’s prompt:  Words that make me go ick!

For me, that would be purple prose.

Do not use purple prose, euphemisms, words or phrases that make you uncomfortable. Use words that are appropriate, even if you are a little uncomfortable with them. Do not let your characters get so involved in the physical act that it becomes, quite disappointingly, mere sex. Readers do not want to hear all those cotton-soft euphemisms any more than they want to hear anything inappropriate to the scene. They want a sensual experience — seeing, hearing, smelling, touching, tasting. Do not neglect the “jarring” senses either, like talking, moving, thinking, — because that is where the sense of reality enters in.

Here is a good test of whether a word is worth using in a love scene. Say it aloud while you are in the midst of the love scene you are writing. Does it make you hot? Hotter? Alternatively, does it make you laugh aloud? If you laugh out loud, that is a pretty solid indication that it’s not a word you should use because your readers will probably do the same. Unless you are going for the humorous bit and then use it.

I have been stopped dead in my tracks many times while reading love scenes by words and phrases like “his manhood waved at me like a flagpole”, “his rod of pleasure”, “her honey pot” or “they soared on the wings of love and exploded into infinity.” “He stood over me, his eyes partially closed, his lips slightly parted, the hot breath hitching as his magnificent sword waved before me.” (Excuse me? His sword? Is he going to slice her head off?)

I cringe or laugh, sometimes both.  Along the same lines, certain words may be too crude, rude or shocking to use in your romance novel. This will depend on the subgenre. If you are writing a steeple hills sweet romance where they close the doors and turn the lights off, use of the words vulva, vagina, penis may be considered too vulgar. On the flip side if you are writing a BDSM erotica, using “his man-sword” instead of “cock” will leave your reader in a fit of giggles. OR maybe that’s your preferred method of masochism. If it is,  good luck with that.

If, as a writer, you are too uncomfortable to describe the scene, maybe you should choose a different genre.  Know your genre, know your audience, and don’t be surprised that someone will complain regardless.

Don’t forget this is a blog hop. Anyone can join at any point in the MFRW 52 week challenge…  Click here. Make sure you check out some of the other authors below.

You can find other posts in this series by yours truly here:

  1. Raindrops on Roses
  2. They’ll Survive – I Guess
  3. Binge Watching #MFRWauthor
  4. Thank God for Grace in Editing!
  5. #MFRW Best Friends
  6. Crafty Author #MFRWauthor
  7. Musical Mayhem #MFRWauthor
  8. A Rose by Any Other Name . . . #MFRWauthor

 

Write on my friends, write on!

Ellie

23.
Feb 10 2017

Crafty Author #MFRWauthor


badge-blog-challenge-updated

Welcome to week 6 of the 52-week MFRW blog challenge.  Each week will be a new topic. Isn’t that fun? 

This week’s prompt:  My hobbies.

I have more hobbies than I have time for, but I’ll share just a few in order of time actually spent doing them.

  1. Bullet Journaling – OK, technically this may or may not be considered a hobby. It’s a productivity tool but it’s also an outlet for artistic expression. I haven’t shared any of my pages for a while because they tend to look alike. For the most part,  my daily entries consist of my to do list, maybe a quote or scripture, and a few personal notes. There are days when I have a lot more on my mind and my journaling can be long winded.
First bujo cover - This is the 33 cent comp book. Notice the tabs, these are necessary for me.

First bujo cover – This is the 33 cent comp book. Notice the tabs, these are necessary for me.

From my humble beginnings last year, a 33 cent clearance  5 x 8 composition notebook, to the current one – a  dotted Leuchterm that was received as a gift, my bullet journal keeps me on track, allows a little artistic expression and allows a place to enter my thoughts.

A few pages are fancy schmancy, artsy fartsy but most are repetitive dailies. You can make your journal however you want. This is mine and I do what I want with it. I can color the page entirely black if I feel like it. I don’t see what that would accomplish, but I could if I wanted to.

Below is a quick gallery of a few pages. The cover is red, not sure why it looks pink in this photo.

2. Crochet – I have a multitude of projects from quick cup cozies to lengthy projects like afghans. I am currently working on 2 projects – a manghan – basically an afghan in charcoal grey for my husband ‘that is larger than a regular afghan so that it will cover his feet and still be able to tuck in  under his chin, in a basic design that doesn’t have big holes that  his toes can go through and not in some god-awful color that looks like someone couldn’t decide’ was his request, and a market bag which I am freestyling. I have to admit, I’ve ripped this one out a few times already. It’s currently about a third finished.

 

3. Furniture refinishing/repurposing. I haven’t been as diligent in taking photos of my before and after projects, but I do have a few. We find odd pieces at auction or yard sales. I can’t ay that I look for any specific style, it’s more a matter of what grabs my attention. 20160305_123147

This metal framed vanity chair was literally on the side of the road. Most people would look at that and say good riddance. No, not me. I look at that and see the bones of something more. So after a little bit of work,  and a lot of elbow grease to polish the metal, I transformed it into this:

20160314_174857I’m not a fan of orange, but the fabric popped and it sold for $40.00. Not bad for a scavenge, using up a bit of leftover padding, and a half yard of fabric.

Here are a few of my finds:

4. Crafts – all of the crafts that don’t easily fit within crocheting, refinishing, or journaling.  This includes sewing which I will do again when I can replace my sewing machine that died after twenty some odd years. As part of my office space that I am going to carve out in our basement, a craft area is going to be part of that plan.

I’ve been scouring Pinterest on the best way to handle storage in this area.  I need an area for items that will go into a resale shop, and an area for handcrafted items also. I have to admit before I can get the clean, tidy work area that I desire I will have to purge my stash and start over. It’s difficult to create a clean area when you are overrun with stuff.

5. Gardening –  I didn’t do much last year, and I really missed it. I love having fresh produce from the garden. I love planting the seedlings and watching it grow. I can’t deny I love the fresh produce that I know is organic as well. This month is the planning stage of gardening. I’m plotting out on graph paper to plan what seeds and starts I will need for my garden area. Yes, I’m a geek.

Managing time for all of these things however, that’s another story.

I wonder if there are hobbies that don’t cost money. It seems everything I do ends up costing money in some way. At least the refinishing/repurposing is getting a return! Do you have any hobbies?

Don’t forget this is a blog hop. Anyone can join at any point in the MFRW 52 week challenge…  Click here. Make sure you check out some of the other authors.

Other posts in this series:

  1. Raindrops on Roses
  2. They’ll Survive – I Guess
  3. Binge Watching #MFRWauthor
  4. Thank God for Grace in Editing!
  5. #MFRW Best Friends

Write on my friends, write on!

Ellie

 
Aug 19 2016

Time to Destress


The  local school district started back on their school year  on Monday which also coincides with my daughter returning for her college semester. I thought this was a good time to implement changes in my own schedule.

I had every intention of making a post on Monday, and on Tuesday, and on Wednesday . . .  you get the idea. Wow, cray cray comes out to play when you decide to make improvements. Has anyone ever experience this?  It’s like, as long as you exist in the current chaos karma doesn’t notice you.  Let me stop right there for a moment.

I know in the Christian community it is frowned upon to refer to karma however, for all intents, karma is a non-Christian way of explaining a very Christian phenomenon. The Bible clearly states that ‘whatsoever you sow, that also shall ye reap’. In other words – what goes around comes around. In still other words – karma is a bitch! Do good – get good. Do bad – get bad.  It’s a simple concept that is universal, not exclusive to the Christian community. So, if you are going to get all bent out of shape for using the term, I don’t know what to tell you.

Where were we? Oh yes – KARMA. The existing chaos. Making improvements . . .  well, trying to at least. As soon as you disrupt the status quo, it apparently wakes up Karma and her evil sister Fate, and they in turn wake up the third sister Destiny. In this particular instance, Destiny apparently said ‘Oh good for her. That will bring her closer to realizing her dreams’ and rolled over and went back to sleep. Karma was pissed about her reaction in addition to your changes and persuades Fate to her side by bribing her with caffeine.

Never the less,  I proceed with my  intended changes. These are changes to improve, to correct, to streamline and become more efficient with my time.  Once upon a time, I had a schedule that worked. I was doing great then something changed and I let my schedule lapse. I knew that the 15th of August was when my daughter returned to college. I knew that would be a good time  to put myself back on a schedule. Keep in mind,  I don’t do well with a rigid structured schedule.  It has to have some flexibility built in.  However, I don’t do well with open-ended freedom either. It’s all about balance.

I  was rather slack over the summer which resulted in  three weeks of a frantic scramble to make up for time that I had wasted. Since Monday, all hell has broken loose in our household. Some of you might think to throw up your hands in defeat and say why bother. Not me. Nope, this little grey duck thinks –  I must be on the right path if I am getting this much resistance. (life experience has proven this to be the case.)

Having said that, let’s do a quick review to catch up, then I’m going to share the coolness that I found online. Ready?  Buckle up, hands and feet inside the cart while it is in motion.

  • Monday – new schedule in place, honored my time breaks, was quite efficient and productive. Focused efforts on beta read for a fellow author and progress made on my super secret project. (Come on, aren’t you just a tiny bit curious?)
  • Tuesday – errands, driving,  resale business, – I fell behind and didn’t get everything accomplished which  dictates that my afternoon today is going to be completing the tasks left unfinished from Tuesday.
  • Wednesday –  finish the beta read, 3600 words towards next project, review of potential covers and logo, arrangements for Penned Con, then  the internet went kaput. sayonara! Wait – no!  NOOOOOOOO! I wasn’t done putting my information in. I didn’t . . . tech is scheduled to show up on Thursday.
  • Thursday – working offline, domestic goddess duties, resale  tasks to complete, wait on tech guy, still no internet. 5600 words towards next project  – I’m on a roll!
  • Friday –    yay! We have internet again! Make up for all the work lost earlier in the week, finish domestic duties, resale business prep for the weekend. (there is always more foot traffic on the weekend)

In all of that,  I have specific things but not a rigid schedule.  As the blog posts were not at the top of the list,  they fell off the bottom and were moved to the next day.  This is just one aspect of the bullet journal that is both frustrating and  helpful. There is no sense beating ourselves up over it, just move it to the next day and it becomes the top priority. I will be perfectly honest, if I didn’t have my bullet journal I would be lost and have given up ten times over.

So, I am going to share what I thought was a creative idea in my planner.  Bear in mind, I am not an artist.

20160815_135543 The only purpose of this page is for self-motivation, a sort of self-talk when I feel down and feel like I am a failure, which is often.  I’m thinking of adding a pop of color over the eyelashes like eye shadow, but I haven’t decided quite how to do that. Feel free to copy it make your own, make something similar, laugh at my artistic attempts, whatever ripples your nipple!

Sometimes we need to take a deep breath, slow down, and realize that there is more to life than (fill in the blank). It’s easy to get caught up in the hectic pace that we set for ourselves and feel as if we are failing at every turn. This is why I love my bullet journal, it helps me maintain some semblance of sanity.

NOW –  for the cool stuff I found online. How many of you are familiar with the Myers-Briggs personality profiles?

Go HERE to find out what yours is.

That’s not the cool part.  By understanding your personality, then you can understand why you do things a certain way and what works for you. My personality type is ENFP – a campaigner. Read the description, you’ll see that it fits. This is the cool part –  a friend shared a link with me about how the personality types reacts to stress. Mine was dead on!

What stresses out an ENFP:
– Environments where rules are rigidly enforced
– Focusing on repetitive, detailed tasks
– Having to focus too much on sensory details
– Having to focus too much on the past or present
– Not being able to use their intuition
– Constraints on brainstorming or envisioning
– A lack of outside stimulation
– Being micromanaged
– Having creativity stifled
– Having to complete projects before they’re ready
– Criticism
– Lack of appreciation
– Having their values violated
– Overextending themselves for others

ENFPs tend to overextend themselves, and procrastinate, which is often a source of stress as it complicates their lives. (It’s like they know me!)When they become stressed, their naturally charming natures become more irritable and over-sensitive. (I can neither confirm or deny that this is true.) When stressed, ENFPs feel alienated and engage in deceptions to obscure what is occurring within themselves. They will feel that they are losing control over their own independent identities and feel conflicted by intruding circumstances. During continued stress, they may fall into the grip of their inferior function, introverted sensing. When this happens, they become obsessive and depressed. They will become hyper-aware of minor bodily sensations or abnormalities and interpret them as a sign of a serious illness. They may have a hard time communicating clearly, and feel numb and frozen inside. Their thinking may become cloudy and convoluted. They will feel that there are no possibilities or ways out. (This is why I am obsessed with the self motivational talks which you read here.) They may feel overwhelmed, out of control, unable to sort out priorities, and thus become inflexible. Some become obsessive about record keeping, cleaning, or other household tasks. (I should be so lucky that I obsess over something useful like cleaning!)

How to help an ENFP with stress:
– Give them space and time alone to sort out their feelings.
– Remind them that they are able and competent.
– Give them permission to “escape”
– Don’t give them advice. It won’t help right now.
– Don’t ask for details.
– Don’t try to “fix” the problem.
– Meditation often helps ENFPs
– Listen to them.
– Encourage them to exercise
– Encourage them to get enough sleep
– Encourage them to get a massage
– Be warm and kind in the way you speak to them
– After they’ve calmed down a little, ask them if they want help evaluating the situation.

I agree with all of those things except the massage.  Many people are all about getting a massage, not me.  I don’t like uninvited touching.  It kind of freaks me out to have some stranger touching me. Yes, I know I have issues. My issues have issues. Those issues have grand baby issues. Let it go. I have.

If you want to find out what it says about you, and possible ways to de-stress yourself and maybe how you can avoid your big stressors, go to psychologyjunkie and see what it has to say about your own personality!

You gotta admit, this is kind of cool!

I hope next week is better and things begin to flow like a gentle stream. No Karma, I did NOT say like a stream overburdened with rains from a thousand storms that  threatens to destroy everything in its wake.

I hope your week goes well for you! Are you making changes for the better? Trying to be more efficient? Leave a comment and share the changes that you are making.

Write on my friends, write on!

 

Jun 17 2016

Unwritten


Life is constant chaos.  It throws curve balls at you,  it throws spit balls at you,  then when you’re expecting a  curve you get a speedball.

Do you ever wonder if  there is someone up there dropping trouble into a machine like they use at a batting cage?  NO? No one but me?

I tell you what, sometimes it seems  that would be more logical than what is truly going on.

I was expecting to dodge, parry, thrust and  my thrust was misdirected due to a secondary dodge and pivot. I try to anticipate, but more often than not I end up on the defense instead of offense. This is where that part of me that likes plan and order goes nuts.

Enter the magical powers of the bujo – my sanity keeper. Well, attempted sanity keeper.

For this month, I tried a new thing.

20160527_062525A weekly spread seemed like a good idea at the time.  It’s all right there and I wouldn’t be redundant in my daily to do lists.

20160610_110429

 

 

 

 

 

 

But no.

As it turns out,  this wasn’t such a good idea. I entered a few things,  but for the most part, I  ignored it and fell into old habits.  Those habits that I worked so hard to break. The ones that kept me  in the same  loop time after time.

One feature that I do like however, is that little box in the middle of the right-hand page.  See that space called word count?  YES!   My weekly total for May 30 through June 5th – 7,321. For the week of June 6 thru June 12 however,  my word count for the week went up to 10,083 with a whopping 6352 for one day. This week I had one day with a word count of 6214, and a total for the week of 12,608. Do you see the trend?  Do you see the increase?  This part is working much better for me than the graph chart for the month.

Next month I’m going back to daily entries,  but I am going to figure out a way to incorporate this little gem. I like the freedom to doodle when I want. I like the idea of order and structure. It seems like the right thing to do but I find it inhibitive.  I would rather have the same to do list practically every single day, because face it –  life is routine most of the time and days blur into each other out of routine – than  have a sterile planner that I don’t use.

I think most of my friends would agree, this isn’t me.  The previous pages I’ve posted are more me. A little messy, a little artsy, a little order, . . . but all me. This is an idealistic  outline, sort of what I do with my books.

This is the backbone – the place to start.  Then we build from there. Will it have long legs? short legs? Will it have a tail?  domestic or wild?  Who knows what  it may morph into, but I can guarantee that it’s not  as simple as  this weekly layout. If you notice,  I had to  jazz it up a bit with a couple of flowers.

The section for Funky Junk –  that’s our resale business. I like that as well, as this past week I have some  great tips written down there.  I am considering  making a single page entry for our home business instead of just a little box. That way,  I can write down all those little tips and tricks and business ideas in the same place.

A bullet journal is a personal tool that can be adapted to meet your needs.  You don’t have  to do it the same way I do. Which is a good thing,  because I don’t have it all figured out yet either. I’m still molding mine to fit my hand.

Adapt, overcome, improvise!

You know the best part about a bullet journal as opposed to a preprinted planner?  It’s changeable. The outlines are unwritten. Nothing lays before my eyes but blank squares on a page, waiting to be transformed into a bright future.  You should write that down, that’s good stuff right there.

That’s all each of us have, each day of our lives –  blank squares  waiting to be transformed.

I should use that in a book!

Write on my friend, write on!

Ellie

 

Mar 4 2016

BUJO Reflections


You’ve heard me sing its merits, er uh,  maybe not sing.  That would be bad. Anyway, I’ve been talking about the merits of using a bullet journal. Which got me thinking . . . .

Oh yes,  you know that’s bad right?  The gears started grinding,  the smoke was getting thick.

I joined a group on Facebook called Bullet Journal Junkies, it seemed appropriate.  I enjoy seeing the shared images of different bullet journals,  occasionally glean an idea here or there, and the enthusiasm is contagious.

After looking at the lovely artwork,  the page layouts,  the trackers, the beautiful calligraphy I began to feel overwhelmed and outdone. In fact,  my meager chicken scratch seems like a grade schooler attempt next to a master.

Goal setting is an important aspect of my planning.  I set goals at the beginning of the year,  at the beginning of the month and at the beginning of each week.  What do I need to do in order to reach the goals that I have set? What priorities are assigned to which goal?  I have to know these things in order to accomplish anything – honestly.  I am definitely the free spirit,  but I know for certain I absolutely need some semblance of a schedule and a deadline.  Without a deadline I drift aimlessly, distractions take up my time, and I never make progress towards my goals. OOH SHINY!

So back to the Junkies group,  most of the pages that are shared are absolutely beautiful. I don’t have time to make each page a masterpiece.  Some write in pencil first then go over it ink.

Really? You have that kind of time on your hands?  You probably scrub your baseboards too, don’t you? 

Artistic doodles, lovely drawings, perfect mandalas, gorgeous script writing . . . and I feel more and more deflated.

Why do you bullet journal in the first place?

I was ready to throw my feeble attempts in the trash, only  . . . it had all the important stuff in it.  Then I thought about it, about the question above. I put a poll on the group asking how they use their bullet journals. I gave four options, whether it was a hobby, for organizational purposes, for fun, or a bit of all three.  The results were astounding! There are a lot of liars! HAHAHAHA! I’m going to go with that because it’s too depressing to think that they have it all together and I am fumbling so badly. Do NOT leave me a comment and tell me I am fumbling I will hunt you down!

I sulked for a couple of days, not keeping up with my bujo, but then, the light bulb moment. What difference does it make  what anyone else’s looks like?  What difference does it make whether I write in  fancy print or  crayon? It doesn’t!

IT DOESN’T!

The reason I started using a bullet journal was  because I was impressed with Ryder Carrol’s video of his system. I needed a system.  I needed a way to organize  my four planners,  my multiple sticky notes, notes scribbled on scraps of paper, and the stack of notebooks that grew at an astonishing rate.

For me, it is an organizational tool. I decorate with some doodles and sketches, mostly when I am on the phone because that is when I doodle. Or when I am daydreaming I sometimes make little sketches. My journal contains a lot of notes, questions, like – What was the motive? Why will the killer kill the second guy? Why is (s)he going after the MC? Layout my breadcrumbs.  Research about the nail gun –  is it feasible?  What about the red herring?

You know what? It works for me! It’s mine! Personalized tailor suited to me by me. I don’t need anyone else’s approval on how it looks or how it is laid out.  I’ve shared my images here in my enthusiasm for finding a tool that helps increase my productivity! If you want pretty, go look at BOHO BERRY.

I don’t need another distraction in my life, and for  a time there, I was distracted  by all the prettiness that others incorporate into their journals. For pretty I bought WASHI tape. OK, a lot  of WASHI tape. That’s another matter.

My point is this: the reason I was so excited and still are about the bullet journal is that in its flexibility I can tailor it to suit my needs. This is a tool! A fun tool but a tool never the less.

What anyone chooses to record in it is their business. For me, it’s  the perfect planner/calendar/notes/tracker/catch-all organizer. Creating order from the usual chaos is a total win for me!

THAT is why I recommend it to my friends. THAT is why I dedicated  several posts to bullet journaling.

A tool is only as effective as how you are using it. Mine is  a one of a kind original masterpiece.

I hope  it works for you! If not,  then find a tool that will work for you.

Write on my friends, write on!

 

 

Feb 24 2016

Be Authentic


How many of you feel the pressure to conform?

Perhaps it’s the pressure to be like your group of friends. Maybe it’s felt from your family. Or maybe it’s the office index set by the management that really doesn’t care about individuals but  the widgets that are produced.

I’ve often felt the pressure from all of the above at various times but I have to admit,  most of the time it comes from within me. I suppose it stems from feelings of inadequacy growing up that I have often compared myself to those around me.

Don’t!  It’s a dead end street.  We should not compare ourselves to others.  My writing is not like anyone else’s. My bullet journaling is not like anyone else’s. My daily agenda is not like anyone else’s. There are similarities, but  they are not the same. For instance, a couple of years ago a friend linked me to a site called I write like. I plugged in a couple of passages into their program and it came up that I wrote like Corey Doctorow. Hmmm, I had never read that author so I plugged in a different passage.  That one came up that I wrote like Anne Rice. Wow!  I know her work well! So what does that mean?  It means that I have the potential to be a great author but it’s still up to me to tap that potential.

So what does that mean?  It means that I have the potential to be a great author, but it’s still up to me to tap that potential.

I’ve been looking at Youtube videos of  what other people do with their planners and feeling grossly inadequate. I don’t make pretty little doodles or have fantastic handwriting.  I  have trouble drawing a straight line and my writing is a mess. I spent the better part of yesterday feeling like a complete failure because my bullet journal wasn’t as nice as so and so’s, my writing was lackluster after making an attempt to focus, and my to-do list was growing at twice the rate that I was completing tasks.

Hello darkness my old friend, (admit it, you sang that  didn’t you?) oh hey self-doubt! Decided to drop in and pay me a visit, eh?

OH, I see you brought guilt along to join the party.

OH, this isn’t a party?

My bad. It’s a board of interrogation and accusation?

So . . . . not a party?   I’m sorry, you’ll have to go.  I don’t have time for this nonsense. Did you not read my most recent blog post?

I am me! A one of a kind original with a unique voice that needs to be heard!

And this is the method that I have chosen to express my creativity, give my two cents worth, and offer encouragement to others!

This applies to my bullet journal as well.  The whole point is to help me be more productive and organized. It’s not about  what other people are doing. It’s not about what other people are writing. It’s not about what other people have as hobbies, or how they cook or eat or pursue their happiness.

My natural bent is to be an encourager. Sometimes my approach may be of the “suck it up buttercup” variety, but that’s what we need from time to time. I’m not a plasticine Barbie dream. I’m not  any sort of fashion diva. I like my jeans, my yoga pants, and leather jacket. I adore high heels but rarely wear them because they hurt my feet. You wear what you want and I’ll wear what I want.

I don’t really have anything against anyone with blond hair, my sister is a natural blond and I love her dearly. I have friends that are blond and have no problem with them. It’s often just a joke. I have a wry sense of humor and the snark flows freely. If it offends your delicate sensibilities, perhaps what you really need is a good belly laugh.

Thank goodness that I have friends that remind me of my worth on occasion.

One truth that should be remembered each and every day:

BE AUTHENTIC!

Whatever that looks like for you, BE IT!

Write on my friends, write on!

Ellie