I may chat about my books, what I'm writing or reading, or just general thoughts. You may read posts about my cats or just my crazy life in general. Comments are welcome, if anyone wants to interact with me. Maybe we can share war stories, whether it's writing related or just about life in general.

Thursday, April 7, 2016

F is for A Fart in a Whirlwind

This is like my brain with a million thoughts going on all the time


Boy, my day is like this a lot of the time.  I have way too many things on my plate and too many projects going at one time in order to accomplish the completion of everything on my list at any given time.

It seems a “monkey wrench” gets thrown into the middle of things and soon I’m off on a different path fixing a different problem.  Perhaps I lack the focus I need, but I always have good intentions and am an eternal optimist.  I ALWAYS think I can accomplish everything on my list when in reality I know I never can, however I never throw in the towel and admit defeat until the end.  I’ll stay up until past midnight trying to finish a task.  I’m not sure why I’m this way over everything in my life.  Who do I get this from in my family?

I don’t know the answer to that, but everyday I wake up with the same optimism as the day before.  I’m not sure if that’s a bad thing, or a good thing.  I do accomplish things everyday, but not all I want to.  That rarely happens because I get sidetracked by unexpected things that arise that have to be dealt with NOW.  However, the list is still on my mind and I get back to it as soon as I can.  Staying up until the wee hours to accomplish something has never bothered me.  I’d much rather go to bed exhausted and know I finished the project than go to bed and think about it, letting it keep me awake.

So am I an odd duck, or do more of you think this way?  Yes, I realize there’s always tomorrow and another day to work on the task at hand, but it really bothers me to leave something unfinished that I think is important.  Maybe I need therapy.  Who knows?  All I know is once my mind is set on something there’s no stopping me, unless the situation is beyond my control.

I’ll tell you a story.

I really wanted to enter the very first ABNA (Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award) contest that Amazon held in 2008.  I had worked five years on my novel.  The deadline was coming to have the book finished so I could enter.  I was very determined.  That was the first time I stayed up three whole days without sleeping.  I’ve done it a few times since then, but always when hubby is out of town.  He’d have a cow because he sees nothing more important than “keeping a normal schedule” for everything.

I did get the contest entered, but I was delirious from lack of sleep.  I ran the coffeepot nonstop.  Paper adorned the floor of my office like it had been hit by a whirlwind.  I wore my sweats and didn’t bother to shower, or clean up the entire time.  I worked frantically on my novel to make sure it was formatted correctly and there weren’t any typo’s, etc. 




Of course, at the last minute there was a snafu, which is the story of my life.  First, I couldn’t find the CD I needed with all the entry instructions.  It was buried somewhere on my office floor under that paper stack.  Then my internet went down.  I rushed to my neighbors and luckily they hadn’t left for vacation yet.  He was nice enough to let me use his laptop to submit my entry.  I felt bad about holding them up, so I worked as quickly as I could to enter all the information they needed and to upload my manuscript.

Once I was back at home, I felt great—mission accomplished.  I collapsed on the couch for some much needed rest.

I only tell you this story because that’s how dedicated to the cause I become about everything I undertake.  Sometimes this attitude can really be a situation and cause all sorts of problems in my personal life.  But I am what I am and not likely to change after six decades.

10 comments:

  1. That was quite a story about your work on submitting your book for the contest. I'm not sure I would have been as dedicated. I have kind of a routine of what I want to accomplish in a day. If it works out, I'm okay with it. If something gets postponed a day or two, I'm okay with that too.

    betty

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    Replies
    1. Betty,

      That's a true story about my book. Not too many people would be that driven - or maybe stubborn is a better word. My husband says I'm the most stubborn person he knows. But sometimes that's what it takes to accomplish something I feel is important and there are always deadlines when it comes to writing.

      I think I'm too keyed up by nature to let anything wait until the next day, if I can help it.

      Thanks for reading and your comment.

      Sunni

      Delete
  2. I'm very similar to you Sunni. Once I start a project it's very difficult for me to leave it until it's done. I too have lists of things I'd like to accomplish but I always overextend myself. I can drive myself crazy with this. Maybe we should go to therapy together. :D

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    1. Vashti,

      It's nice to know there are others like me, but maybe we should attend therapy together.

      Thanks for reading and leaving a comment.

      Sunni

      Delete
  3. the title kills me! i knew what this post would be about the moment i read it. I was right. i feel like this sometimes as well.

    i'm glad things worked out.

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    Replies
    1. djinnia,

      It's a relief to find other people out there like me! I guess I'm not the only one who acts crazy like this. That's funny that you guessed what this post would be about. I guess it takes one to know one.

      Thanks for visiting me during the challenge and leaving a comment.

      Sunni

      Delete
  4. You stayed up for three days?!? Wow, that's dedication. When I'm ready for bed, whatever I haven't done gets pushed to the next day. I've learned to break projects into manageable chunks (sometimes) and work on them that way. But we all function differently. If we were all the same, life would be boring.

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    Replies
    1. Yes, Liz, as crazy as that sounds, I did stay up for three days! Call me crazy, I guess! But in writing there's always a deadline and I always seen to run up against it all the time. So stretching my hours is something I do if that's what it calls for. On other things, I'm pretty normal. I think.

      You're right. Life would be very boring if we were all the same.

      Thanks for reading and leaving a comment.

      Sunni

      Delete
  5. I tend to work until I crash and just can't stay up another second. I don't always managed to get everything done but I keep going when I can. I tend to forget what time it is so that's a typical occurrence. lol

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    1. Anna,

      I HATE watching the time! My husband is a real clock watcher so I put a sign up next to my computer (on the wall) that says "Watch the Time," so I can glance there and see it if I'm writing. I don't like to STOP anything until I'm finished, or have come to a place that I'm ready to stop, but that's usually not the way it is at my house. I can be fifteen minutes away from stopping anything and I have to forego those fifteen minutes. Maybe someday my life won't be like that. It can be frustrating if you're on a role.

      Thanks for visiting my A to Z and leaving a comment.

      Sunni

      Delete

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Sunni