Friday, July 13, 2012

Where Did the Week Go?

Wow. It's Friday. TGIF and all that. But...well, the week's almost gone and I planned to get so much more done that actually happened.  Again.

Things started off well. I got almost everything on Monday's do-list done.  Almost.  Just a few things that rolled to Tuesday.  Which meant a few more of the things on Tuesday's list rolled to Wednesday.  Yeah, there were a few things that popped up that weren't on the list but really not that many.  Everything just seems to take longer than I plan for it.  Poor planning?  Or maybe poor execution.

It wouldn't be so bad except I always get the things that other people are waiting for done first.  Makes sense, right?  Get those critiques off to the crit group, take care of those committee e-mails, get the correspondence and blogs and all that stuff out of the way first and then do the non-deadline items.  Except right now, one of those non-deadline items is my WIP.  Nobody waiting on those re-writes but me.  Easy to let it slip to the bottom of the list.  To roll over to the next day.  And the next.

I know what I need to do, of course.  Change my priorities.  Set a writing scedule and stick to it.  Put my writing first. I know this.

I know it.

I just need to slap myself around a little and get back on track.  Anyone care to jump in and add a smack?

Hey, remember the grandson who lost his glasses in the lake at Scout camp?  He's doing the responsible thing and told his dad he'd pay for the new glasses, but he'd have to do it in payments.  Well, I'm doing my part.  I hired him to cut down some of the broken branches left by that big wind storm we had a couple weeks ago.  He did a lot of the work today.  Guess how much writing I got done while waiting to see if he was going to fall out of a tree.

Actually, I was proud of him.  Worked like a dog all day for money he knows is going right to his dad.  He's growing up. Nope, I'm not ready for that either.

Okay, I'm going back to work.  But please don't forget to give me a smack upside my head, or a well-placed kick, or something.  Sometimes I need a little push.

Trivia Questions for Today:

1. Two of the longest-running musicals in the London West end theater scene opened in 1981 and 1984 and feature the music of Andrew Lloyd Webber. What are they?

2. Born in 1847 in Hungary, he grew to become an American journalist and publisher who eventually purchased the New York Sun and the St. Louis Evening Dispatch newspapers. Who was he?

3. Near what body of water, not far from what town, did Henry David Thoreau build a cabin in 1845 and live for more thatn two years?

Do you know?  Give them a try.  I'll post the answers on Monday.

20 comments:

Maria Zannini said...

The older I get, the longer it takes me to get things done. It's an act of nature (sticking her tongue at me).

Ref: Nobody waiting on those re-writes but me.

Smacks the flat end of a pointy stick against my hand.

Ref: trivia
The only one I know is #3--Walden's Pond

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

First one is Les Miserables and Cats.

Stacy McKitrick said...

SMACK!
Now get to writing!
You're just as important (if not more so) than every one else.

Of course, I find critiquing helps me tremendously in my own writing. Still, you should write FIRST, then do that other stuff. Treat it as a job.

Don't know the answers to any of the questions (without Googling). Oh well...

Linda G. said...

Smack! (I'm good at it, because I have to smack myself all the time, for exactly the reason you do.)

I know Walden Pond, but not the others. Unless #1 is Evita and Cats, but that's just a stab in the dark.

Carol Kilgore said...

Smack!
Write or edit first. At least one hour. It's. The. Law.

The 1981 musical is Cats. I think 1984 is Les Miserables. Don't know the journalist. Thoreau = Walden Pond.

Happy Weekend :)

Arlee Bird said...

You and me both. I need to do some better scheduling and stick to it. Problem is every time I start, something new pops up to interfere. Now I'm about to engage on 2 1/2 weeks worth of road trip. That wasn't in my original plan.

Week? Where did my life go?

Well, as long as we're having a good time, right?


Lee
A Faraway View

LD Masterson said...

Maria - I knew I'd hear that point stick wacking.

Re. the Trivia - but do you know the city and state? :-)

LD Masterson said...

Alex - It's intersting how many people think Les Miz is an Andrew Lloyd Webber musical. It's not.

LD Masterson said...

Stacy - Ouch. Thanks.

LD Masterson said...

Linda G. - Ow. Okay, thanks.

I'll give you a hint on the musicals - you have one right.

LD Masterson said...

Carol - I think you guys are enjoying this. But I did ask for it so thanks.

Ah, another one who thinks Les Miz was one of Webber's. It's not.

LD Masterson said...

Lee - I hear you on that life thing. Zip.

And with all this smacking, I'm fired up and ready to write. Right? Except I promised the grandkids I'd take them to a movie today. And tomorrow I'm working on the house building mission trip. And Sunday...

Mary@GigglesandGuns said...

My week always disappears. In summer I get sidetracked easily. I love to play!

DL Hammons said...

*Smack* SNAP OUT OF IT!

Great...now I'm going be trying to remember the name of that Cher movie all afternoon! :)

LD Masterson said...

Mary - Easily sidetracked. Yup, that's me.

LD Masterson said...

DL - I can help you with that. It was Moonstruck. Cher won the Oscar for Best Actress and Olympia Dukakis won Best Supporting Actress for that film. One of my favorites.

L. Diane Wolfe said...

I tend to push the writing back further and further. And further!

E. M. Prokop said...

Here are my guesses at the trivia questions:
1. Cats and Phantom of the Opera
2. Josef Pulitzer
3. Walden Pond, Near Concord, Mass.

I LOVE Moonstruck! It's one of my favourite movies of all time!
Entertaining as always LD..
Now..get back to work!

LD Masterson said...

Diane - Exactly my problem. How do you get yourself back on track?

LD Masterson said...

Eve - You nailed #2 and #3. #1 is half right. It's Cats and Starlight Express. Starlight ran much longer on the West End in London than it did on Broadway.