Monday, December 12, 2011

I'm Pedaling As Fast As I Can...

Have you ever noticed that while you wait all year for Christmas, time seems to slow down and the holidays take forever to arrive?  Then, once they are here, they seem to fly by so quickly that you can hardly catch your breath to actually enjoy them?  Christmas Day is just two weeks away and I find myself pedaling as fast as I can and seeming to get nowhere.  Is it ever like that for you?


December at my martial arts school is always a crazy time.  Students rushing to get last minute training in, instructors rushing to prepare students for the last testing of the year before their own Recertification testing seminars, office staff wrapping up the administrative tasks for the fiscal year...all those everyday events that sometimes interfere with the holidays themselves.


And then there is my writing.  As December draws to a close, I realize that the new year is not very far away and with it will come Julie's 12 X 12 in 2012 and I need to determine which twelve PB ideas from November's PiBoIdMo event I will concentrate on during the coming year.  I also have the NaNoWriMo  young adult novel I started but stalled on after 17,000 words.  I was participating in both events but PB ideas took priority over novel and I couldn't pedal fast enough to complete both.  I also have a MG chapter book where I sent the first chapter to a critique group and it came back with many improvement comments so I need to find time to look at THAT this month.  And then there is that picture book I sent to Nancy Coffelt to be critiqued and now I have a lovely line by line comment as well as a 3 page letter from her that needs attention.  Oh, how I can already feel those pedals spinning faster and faster.


And then I have to half heartedly blame Tara Lazar for my next problem...and I say this with both admiration and affection...I now have TOO MANY picture book ideas that are calling out to me.  Today I was listening to the Twelve Days Of Christmas on the radio and yet another PB idea came to mind...a twist on that old yule time tune and my fingers itch to get THAT story written down before the visions leave my mind.  And THAT idea made me think of ANOTHER PB idea about a special group of knights.  Can't you just smell the smoke coming from my churning wheels?


As you can imagine, my house isn't quite decorated for the holidays yet...I plan on trying to tackle that this weekend...and my desk at the school needs a few more things completed...maybe I can hide some of those pesky papers in a drawer until January?  But it is my writing that I want to focus on the most these last few weeks of the year.  I want to slow down this ride and take time to savor this moment of gathering my semi-creations around me.  To see my new characters dance across my mind and weave their magic across a blank screen.  But in order to do that I have to slow down, I have to make the choice to stop pedaling as fast as I can and getting nowhere.  To stop, take a breath, and simply be.  To enjoy the fruits of my labor and to give thanks for all those who have helped me so far to get to this point in my life.


There will be enough time for pedaling later.

6 comments:

  1. oh my, this is good. (I am singing "Feeling Groovy" at the moment, which dates me terribly, but... "slow down, you move too fast, you've got to make the moments last!")

    I'm rather glad I don't need to make big preparations for Christmas -- an online friend and I will celebrate "together" by email -- but I've definitely been feeling a surge of creativity as very unexpected things seem to be taking off and taking me with them! It's exciting, and I'm so glad it's all happening, but it's definitely different from the way I usually spend December!

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  2. You can do it Donna! Just make sure you scribble those ideas down so you don't lose them. You can always polish them up when you have more time - as long as you still have the ideas :) For me, the holidays are about compromising, because there simply aren't enough hours in the day for everything. Family comes first so if my writing has to take a little bit of a back seat for a couple weeks I figure it just allows me to come back refreshed and raring to go come January :) And Beth nailed it with Feelin' Groovy - it's perfect!

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  3. Beth, for the first time ever it will be just my cat and I in the house for the holidays. And my decorations aren't that much...a small "half" tree that goes on the wall above my piano and a "village scene" on top of my entertainment center. As crazy as this month has been, only the tree is up so the village is on my "to do" list for Saturday. I'm on vacation from the afternoon of the 23rd until January 2nd so I plan to devote some time to actively writing! I'm just glad I started this blog because at least it keeps the creative juices flowing! Lol...

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  4. Oh, Susanna, I scribble down my thoughts, the ideas, just working titles...anything that peaks my interest so I don't lose it! The good thing about the holidays is that my disabled sister is nearby and can work around MY crazy schedule, my son's favorite holiday is Halloween so it doesn't bother him to miss out on some of the Christmas events and my best friend for the past ten years is also my chief instructor and boss at the TaeKwonDo school so our holiday schedules ALWAYS match! That's why I'm looking forward to 3 pm Dec 23rd...I do "Christmas" with my son, then "Christmas" with my sister on the 24th with all the traditions I spoke of in an earlier blog, and "Christmas" on the 25th with my best friend's family. After that I have a week where I have time to work on unfinished writing projects...it's like Christmas AFTER Christmas!

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  5. Be thankful for your sister, I wish I had one like her. Did I say that out loud? Keep writing, I enjoy reading it. Tell us more about that saint of a sister of yours.

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  6. Lol, Janet, why do I need to shine her halo when you are doing such a fine job yourself? ;0)

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