Counting Blessings

I've been thinking this morning about blessings - and how to celebrate them.

I realized, thanks to a blog I read this morning, that I'm very good at counting the blessings in most of my life but not so good about counting the blessings in my writing life. When I talk about my writing to others, I tend to focus on the lack of time and organization in my writing life - on the fact that because my day-job schedule changes sometimes from day to day, I always feel as if I don't have a handle on a writing schedule, as if I'm being tossed from pillar to post (and what does that mean, anyway?). I have too many other things to do - blogging, promotional things, my commitment to my writing organization, reading work of friends (which I love and would never give up).

But in many ways I'm incredibly fortunate. How? I'm just now thinking about that:

• I have terrific and supportive writing friends, who listen to me when I whine about time and energy and motivation - and I promise you, I'm going to stop doing that. Because having you in my life is a huge blessing.
• I write fast and relatively easily once I get started - don't get jammed up too much - this is definitely a blessing.
• I DO have time to write. So what if it's scattered? I like to write in short blocks so this can be a blessing.
• I like writing short - novellas and short fiction - and those are making a comeback, especially on e-sites. That, too, is a blessing.
• I can write anywhere because I like to write - at least part of the time - by hand. When I'm stuck, when I'm not sure what comes next, I take out my pen (a blue Uniball Signo 207) and my yellow newsprint lined paper, and I write. I love the feel of the pen against the page and I can lose myself in it. That ability to write anywhere and losing myself in the writing are both blessings.
• Almost anything I do, anywhere I go, anyone I know or see, anything I read, is research. The blessing there is that I don't think of it as research, it's just life. And how wonderful is that?
• I have a lifetime of experiences, of people, of places, of things, of reading, to use as fodder for my work - I don't do it consciously, but when I think about it now, I know that's a big part of where my fiction comes from. So my long and healthy and exciting (both good and bad) life is a blessing.
• I get to write off the books I buy - and I'm an avid reader - and that's a blessing. They ARE research in one way or another, either about the skill of a writer or the ideas, or just simply the immersion in the art.
• I get to go to places - the art gallery, the aquarium, the beach, the park, the streets of the city, or the woods, or the mall - and all of those places give me ideas. I listen to people on the street or the bus or in the elevator, on my way to and from work, which is all part of the scattering of my time - and I often get the beginning of a new story. Definitely a blessing. I can't tell you how many of my stories have begun with an overheard phrase.
• I can sit on a bench or in a coffee shop and simply contemplate the world and it's about the writing. How many people are that blessed? 
• And most of all are the mornings like this - when I read something and it brings me to a realization about life, or love, or writing, and I can share it right away. Right here. It makes me articulate my thoughts, it makes me a better writer, it makes me happy. So this blog - and the others I contribute to - are blessings. So thanks to all of you for that.

There are likely many more blessings in my writing life - but that's enough for this morning. I'm going to work on my current manuscript for a short block of time and then I'm going to work. Oh, yeah, and there's a huge blessing - I have a great job, with great people, which pays me enough money to live on and leaves me enough time to write.

This morning I'm definitely counting blessings.

Kate

The no routine routine

There are often weeks (sometimes months and even worse, sometimes years) when it's all you can do to keep your head about water. One thing happens, then another and then another. Some of the things that happen are good things but that doesn't make them any less complicating.

It's kind of like building a house of blocks. It all goes along very well - you have a plan, a routine, you stick to it, and then someone - or something - comes along and adds another block. And then someone else does the same. Or someone takes one away.

And then your blocks collapse, all is chaos, and you have no idea what to do next.

You can manage one of those things happening, sometimes even two, but the third and fourth and fifth things completely throw you. You lose whatever rhythm you had going - you know, work and writing and family and friends and... All those other things that we either have to do or love to do have toppled whatever control system or routine you had in place.

My life is like this ALL of the time. Every day or week or month or year I try for a new routine, one that will work right through the addition or subtraction of blocks. It works for a few days, sometimes even a month, and then that darn block too many topples my routine. Or that darn invisible hand (of fate? of chaos? of life?) takes away the block that was the cornerstone of my routine.

I've realized that the only routine that works for me is to have no routine. Oh, I'm going to try to have things that I accomplish every day - but those things are going to be done is very very very small blocks so no matter what happens, I can still do them. Every week is going to be different and, although I can create a new routine each week, that's a whole lot of work for a short period of time.

So this week I'm creating a whole new system for organizing my life. I'm calling it the no routine routine. There are a few things - writing, friends, family, work - that have to into my routine but I'm going to be flexible about all of them. If I have to write in half blocks, that's what I'm going to do. But I AM going to write every day. If I have to see my friends for breakfast instead of dinner and wine, that's what I'm going to do. If I have to exercise - ewwwwww - at 6:30 in the morning, that's what I'm going to do.

It's going to work. I know it.