One thing I did manage to do is put together the vegetable garden I’d promised the kids. It’s not as lavish as they would have liked, but it’s doing what we hoped it would. Today we had our first harvest, and you can read about it in my Chef Lisa blog.

After Labor Day, I’ll be working hard at a bunch of stuff, not the least is which The Morgan Affair, which has languished, though not collecting any kind of dust. I’ve gotten a bunch of ideas, including the basic plots of two sequels for it. Whether or not those will get written are a different story, but at least I’ve made a start.

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Nearly End of Summer Update originally appeared on LisaHartjes.com on August 24, 2010.

Oy.

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When cooking with a crockpot… originally appeared on LisaHartjes.com on June 1, 2009.

The kids love marigolds, so we got two packs of those, along with some wave petunias. The “centerpiece” of each of their containers is a vegetable plant: Ari has a grape tomato plant, and Donovan has a red bell pepper. I got my own container garden going this year, with chives, rosemary, sage, cilantro and oregano. Oh, and thyme. Mustn’t forget thyme. The rosemary and chives are in their own pots because they’re perennials, and when we move, I intend to put them in the ground. We got a bunch of other plants, mostly perennials, to round out the garden. Matt’s out now buying the mulch because the bags are really too big for me to lift.

We planted the container gardens yesterday, and we just finished doing the two beds. I hurt now, and I’m going to hurt even more tonight and tomorrow, but that’s all good. I’m going to be able to enjoy the garden for the rest of the year (and it should help with the value of the house).

(And wouldn’t you know it, it’s starting to rain, so maybe I didn’t have to water everything after all. )

Now, I bet you’re wondering why I wrote all this and what it has to do with writing.

Getting my garden planted reminded me of the process of writing. Just like picking out plants, you pick out ideas that you think might go well together. You work with what you planted last year, just like you use ideas that have already been rumbling around in your head. And sometimes, things you’ve already done have a way of surprising you.

I love violas. Their tiny, delicate flowers make me really happy – I smile every time I see one. I planted two types of violas in the new bed we made in the front of the house last year. Now, violas are “supposed” to be annuals. The ones I planted last year most definitely weren’t. Not only have they come back with glorious abandon, but they’ve spread throughout the bed. It’s like someone took handfuls of baby violas and scattered them across the bed like someone scattering seed for chickens.

And that’s kind of the way inspiration works, doesn’t it? From one idea, a million others can spring up, often in the most surprising way.

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Why Gardening Is Like Writing (or vice versa) originally appeared on LisaHartjes.com on April 26, 2009.

I got to his school a bit early, so I waited in my car for a bit. As part of the kids’ gym class, they sometimes have them walk outside, doing laps around the school. The day of the Lunch was one of those days, and the look of surprise and delight on his face, seeing me there, was priceless. I’m looking forward to doing it again next month.

Work on TMA has ground to a virtual halt. I’m stuck on a specific scene. It worked just fine when I did the original outline and initial writing, but I’ve changed enough in the earlier chapters that it doesn’t work as anymore. I can’t just toss it, as it’s a set up for stuff that’s going to happen later.

Okay, enough with the self-pity. Time to get to work.

EDIT: Ack, that was a really bad hair day for me. Frizzy curls I couldn’t do anything with, and I couldn’t find any hair elastics to pull it back into a pony tail.Similar Posts:

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Catching Up originally appeared on LisaHartjes.com on April 21, 2009.

January 2009

• Revise TMA, one chapter per week, minimum 1k words revised per day.
• Submit minimum 3 chapters to crit group.
• Do required 6 crits for writing group.
• Start checking out agents currently accepting submissions.
• Do Create A Culture & Create A Language for Zaan for Storm King’s Eye.

January is more or less over, so let’s see how I did:

• I did not get the revisions done, but I did submit the three chapters to my writing group.
• Completed one crit. I think.
• Did not start looking for agents.
• Did not do Create a Culture/Create A Language for Zaan.

Not a very good start to 2009. A big part of not getting the last two things done on my list was, well, because I forgot about the existence of these goals. I have since found the huge planning binder – you know, the one I put in a “safe place” – and will faithfully work from it starting February 1st. After the Superbowl is over.

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Month End Evaluation of Goals originally appeared on LisaHartjes.com on January 30, 2009.

Good news on the writing front too. I figured out my problem for Chapter 11 earlier today, finished it up and posted it to my writing group. That’s another 2k words, putting the word meter at 27,000 words. Go me!

I’m going to be pausing for a bit for TMA and do some crits. See if I can get a bit ahead of the game and get some extras in too.Similar Posts:

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Maybe it wasn’t cheating. originally appeared on LisaHartjes.com on November 11, 2008.

Now that I’ve finished online stuff, time to decide if I’m going to tear my hair out over Chapter 9, or scare myself by trying to plan my writing and work projects for 2009. I’ve got my writing (as in the novel) goals all written out, but I need to apply them to the calendar and set specific due dates.Similar Posts:

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Friday Funnies originally appeared on LisaHartjes.com on October 24, 2008.

January 2009

• Revise TMA, one chapter per week, minimum 1k words revised per day.
• Submit minimum 3 chapters to crit group.
• Do required 6 crits for writing group.
• Start checking out agents currently accepting submissions.
• Do Create A Culture & Create A Language for Zaan for Storm King’s Eye.

February 2009

• Revise TMA, one chapter per week, minimum 1k words revised per day.
• Submit minimum 3 chapters to crit group.
• Do required 6 crits for writing group.
• Check out agents currently accepting submissions.
• Do Create A Culture & Create A Language for Mirander for Storm King’s Eye.

March 2009

• Revise TMA, one chapter per week, minimum 1k words revised per day.
• Submit minimum 3 chapters to crit group.
• Do required 6 crits for writing group.
• Check out agents currently accepting submissions.
• Complete Create A Plot system for Storm King’s Eye.

April 2009

• Revise TMA, one chapter per week, minimum 1k words revised per day.
• Submit minimum 3 chapters to crit group.
• Do required 6 crits for writing group.
• Check out agents currently accepting submissions.
• Do research for TMA #2

May 2009

• Complete TMA polishing – 1 chapter per day.
• Submit minimum 3 chapters to crit group.
• Check out agents currently accepting submissions.
• Do required 6 crits for writing group.
• Research for TMA #2

June 2009

• Put together submission package for agent search.
• Submit first agent query.
• Write Storm King’s Eye – minimum 1000 words per day.
• Submit minimum 3 chapters to crit group.
• Do required 6 crits for writing group.
• Start Create A Plot for TMA #2 – working title “Ravenous”?

July 2009

• Do required 6 crits for writing group.
• Start writing Storm King’s Eye – minimum 1000 words per day.
• Submit minimum 3 chapters to crit group.
• If get response from agent, act on it. If rejection, submit to next agent on the list.

August 2009

• Write Storm King’s Eye – minimum 1000 words per day.
• Submit minimum 3 chapters to crit group.
• Do required 6 crits for writing group.
• If get response from agent, act on it. If rejection, submit to next agent on the list.

September 2009

• Write Storm King’s Eye – minimum 1000 words per day.
• Submit minimum 3 chapters to crit group.
• Do required 6 crits for writing group.
• If get response from agent, act on it. If rejection, submit to next agent on the list.

October 2009

• Write Storm King’s Eye – minimum 1000 words per day.
• Submit minimum 3 chapters to crit group.
• Do required 6 crits for writing group.
• If get response from agent, act on it. If rejection, submit to next agent on the list.

November 2009

• Write Storm King’s Eye – minimum 1000 words per day.
• Submit minimum 3 chapters to crit group.
• Do required 6 crits for writing group.
• If get response from agent, act on it. If rejection, submit to next agent on the list.

December 2009

• Write Storm King’s Eye – minimum 1000 words per day.
• Submit minimum 3 chapters to crit group.
• Do required 6 crits for writing group.
• If get response from agent, act on it. If rejection, submit to next agent on the list.

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Writing Goals for 2009 originally appeared on LisaHartjes.com on October 22, 2008.

That phrase can be applied to just about anything you do. Since this blog is about writing and the writing life, we’ll be looking at it from that perspective. We all have the best intentions, and set what are achievable goals for ourselves. For example, I do some housework, then spend the rest of the morning writing. Today would be a slight deviation from that, as I had two errands in town I wanted to run before getting my day off it it’s usual start.

I got a call about an hour and a half ago to come pick up my daughter from school because she’s sick. I wasn’t at home when the call came. I was walking into Kroger to get the lemon I needed to make supper. Luckily, getting the lemon was the last errand I needed to do, so I went straight from the store to school to get her.

So, what had turned out to be a twenty minute delay in starting my writing day became an hour delay. And to top it all off, I think I may be coming down with what she’s got.

And now I’m faced with a choice. Do I throw in the towel, grab a mug of peppermint tea and join Ari under the comforter on the couch and watch Food Network with her, or do I try to slug it out and do my best to keep to the agenda I created for today? The one I really want to do is snuggle with my girlie, but I can’t do that. The Muse 2008 Online Writers Conference is kicking my butt, and I need to kick it back. I’ve got a crit for my writing group to complete, and I have to do some more housework and make supper (a savory cheesecake, which I will comment on at Chef Lisa sometime soon).

If I don’t make it, then at least I’ll have tried. And that’s really the most important thing. If you can’t write/work through adversity, then you’re greatly reducing your chances at success.

And to end this on a happier tone, here’s another quote from Bette Davis:

“To fulfill a dream, to be allowed to sweat over lonely labor, to be given a chance to create, is the meat and potatoes of life. The money is the gravy.”Similar Posts:

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When Things Go Wrong originally appeared on LisaHartjes.com on October 16, 2008.

What have I been doing during this time? Writing and cleaning. Or, as I like to say, “editing my life”.

As I’ve mentioned before, I work at home. For reasons I won’t get into, I’ve let the housework slide. Doing the bare minimum, letting things pile up until it hits a crisis point. It’s stressful on all of us, and it’s taking a toll on my writing. I’m just not happy and can’t concentrate well. When the world around me is cluttered, my mind is cluttered. To fix that, I’ve set up a new routine – I spend the morning cleaning a specific section, taking it 15 to 20 minutes at a time (with breaks so that I don’t burn myself out), and the afternoon is spent working on stuff like the novel.

The cleaning process got delayed by two days because the belt in the vacuum cleaner snapped, and the first place we tried to get the replacement didn’t carry them. So I went this morning and bought what I needed at Target. I didn’t get as much cleaning done as I wanted to, but another section of floor has been cleaned and vacuumed. Tomorrow’s job is to go through my cookbook/reference bookshelf. Figure out what I’ll leave on the shelf, what’ll go into storage, and what I’m going to get rid of. The stuff I’m keeping is going to get scanned into Readerware. I figure I might as well do that, so we can complete the inventory of our books and record which ones are on the shelf and which ones are in bins (and which bin).

Editing of the novel is going slowly. 200 words today (I lost half the day and half my evening to running errands and school related activities). I’m still moving forward, which is good. Not updating the WIP meter, though. I only do that when a chapter is completed.Similar Posts:

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Cleaning: A Writer’s Boon and Bane originally appeared on LisaHartjes.com on September 25, 2008.