Friday, February 18, 2011

Timing IS Everything!!!!

Have you ever noticed how a delay, no matter how small, or deciding to NOT procrastinate can make a world of difference?

Spending five extra minutes in the bathroom prevents you from getting caught up in a police road block. ( I swear this has happened to me before. By the time I got to the street, the police were still parked on the side, but the barricade had been removed. It's a good thing because I was riding dirty. My insurance policy had cancelled and it was going to be a few days before it would be renewed!) Or making that phone call to the electric company allowed you to make arrangements on the bill. If not, the lights would have been cut off the next day. (Again, this has happened to me!)

So it's no surprise that after two weeks of caring for my kids who've had the flu, ducking and dodging every cough, runny nose and sick induced hugging, (Mommy, I don't feel good, can I have a hug? *cough, cough*), that I have gotten sick too.

Motherhood......Should have been taking more Vitamin C.

Normally this would not be a big deal, but today it is. Why? Because I am taking a Writer's Workshop class. I have wanted to take this class for a year now. Last year other things took priority, but this year it worked out. The delay in attending the workshop was not a bad thing. It made me work to learn more about writing and prove to myself and my family that this is something I really want to do. I've read several books on writing, gone to a writer's conference and joined a Critique group and met several wonderful authors. When the class instructor, Valarie Clark, started talking about character development and how to structure plot lines and even page set up, I patted myself on the back because it was stuff that I had already learned. It wasn't until that moment that I realized how much knowledge I'd gained. Several of my classmates had no idea what some of the things she spoke about meant. If I hadn't put in a years worth of time to learn these things on my own, I would be in the same boat. It's funny how now matter how many books you read (recreational reading) you never pay attention to the mechanics. For example, one thing the instructor taught was what it meant to put breaks in between character dialogue. (This was one thing I had already learned).

Example:

"Hey, what are you up to today?" Bob asked.
               
"Nothing much. Just reading this blog by M.J.Kane. She's hilarious!" replied Jill.

Money has been paid and classes have begun. I have NO time to be sick! As of now I have a writing assignment that is due in a few days. I've written half of the chapter, now I need to finish writing and edit it and be prepared to share it in class on Sunday.  As soon as I post this blog I'm going to get back at it. I've had several NyQuil induced hours of deep sleep, and even though my nose is stuffed up and I'm coughing up phylum, I'm going to go back to it. Why? Because timing is everything! Even though I'm typing in a NyQuil induced fog...coffee hasn't perked me up enough...I will not fail! (This is my disclaimer)

If all else fails and I'm out of it on class day, I'll can always put my digital audio recorder on the teachers desk, hand in my assignment and sit in the back of the classroom and sleep.

LOL...Later!