Wylie's Words: Shoulda

Friday, October 03, 2008

Shoulda

I should have been writing.
Should have been painting the bathroom.
Should have been getting the guestroom ready for my sister & brother-in-law's arrival tomorrow.
I SHOULD have been concentrating on the Canadian election debates!

But noooo...
This Canadian gal was GLUED to the American Vice Presidential debates last night. Overall, it was an excellent exchange with no major gaffes by either candidate. Sara Palin was not the train wreck that many expected, and I for one, was relieved. IMHO, I don't believe she should be in the position for VP, but I didn't want to see her humiliated (again) either.
Again, imho, Joe Biden, with his thirty-odd years of experience in the political game, was a clear winner. His familiarity with the issues and his comfort with the discussion gave me far more confidence than the woman who was primarily forced to defend the record of John McCain.
Opinions? I'd love to hear them, whether you agree with me or not ;)

A final note on writing... I've now passed the 25K mark on my latest WIP. The story is flowing at a pretty good pace (for me!), the momentum is still there and God willing, I may actually finish this one!! I mean, look at my sidebar. For heaven's sake, I can't seem to finish anything I start. Some for good reasons (I was over my head with the historical and the paranormal) and the others just got set aside because the muse INSISTED that I move on to *insert name of current wip here*.
My fellow writers - how do you deal with this?? How do you stay focused for so long on one project?

13 comments:

J.K. Coi said...: You mean you weren't watching the CANADIAN debate? tsk tsk LOL

And congratulations on your WIP progress!; 9:01 a.m.
Leah Braemel said...: *blushes* We watched the American debate too. And I agree about Biden coming off very professionally. Ms. Palin knew how to play to the camera better at first. And that part where Biden choked up talking about being a single parent. Wow.

Now if we could just get Stephane Dion a personality.

Congrats on the WIP. As for how do I stay focused? Um, I've got a paranormal I started for NaNo last year that's yet to be finished. A sequel to a paranormal that I wrote last summer - and now I want to rewrite the first one. A completed first draft of an historical ... *sigh* I don't know. But Sam's story 'talked to me and wouldn't shut up' until I'd told his story properly.

The Nano story is still sitting there niggling at me, but I think that's one that'll continue to be shelved for a while. Mainly because I want to give it the attention it deserves and I just don't feel I have the 'oomph' for it yet.; 9:16 a.m.
Karen Erickson said...: I have to agree that Biden was the winner. But Sarah really held her own and I thought she might flop so good for her. Can't wait to see what Tina comes up with. *snickers*

You know this year I am TERRIBLE about starting stuff and not finishing it. I think it's because I've been working on longer stuff. It's easier for me to finish the short stuff. I have no tips to give you. I'm just sitting in the boat with you. LOL; 11:26 a.m.
Ann said...: I can't watch the debates, all they do is raise my blood pressure and give me nightmares (and the heebie jeebies).
Congrats on the writing, I haven't done much this year, but I'm hoping the last quarter is better (I'm revising one book and planning to do NaNo).
Have a great weekend.
P.S. I got my laptop. yay.; 1:31 p.m.
Anonymous said...: Hi Wylie I'm letting you know the new url to my blog, it isn't sunflowerwynds anymore its this:
http://writerterrakent.blogspot.com Have a great weekend
Terra; 1:45 p.m.
Wylie Kinson said...: JK -- Um, no *blush* WERE YOU?!!!

Leah -- I agree. Mr Dion just doesn't have the suave-ivity (?) as Michael I, whom I think would have had a much better chance against PM Harper. Whatever. Can't say I love or hate with either one of them.

Karen AND Leah - I'm so glad I'm not in the 'boat to nowhere' *snicker* alone. And yes, Karen - I'm doing longer stuff now too which is probably why I've got A.D.D.; 3:46 p.m.
Wylie Kinson said...: Ann - So glad you popped by! YAY on getting a new laptop. Probably the inspiration you need to jump-start NaNo :)

Terra -- hello stranger! Thanks for directing me to your new blog. I'll stop by later today, see what you've been up to.; 3:47 p.m.
J.K. Coi said...: Um, I did watch a little...; 4:38 p.m.
Shelley Munro said...: Focus on the money, baby!! You can't get royalties if you don't have a finished project. :-); 7:28 p.m.
Anonymous said...: I thought I'd watch a bit but sat through the whole thing. I plan to post about it over the weekend. Biden was the clear winner, except to people who think that winking and saying "There ya go agin!" constitutes real political debate.; 7:52 p.m.
Thomma Lyn said...: I didn't actually watch the debates, either, but I did wind up reading about them. I read somewhere (sorry, I don't remember where) that Sarah Palin was holed up with Henry Kissinger for a while, learning about foreign policy. FWIW. *sigh*

Any shuttles to Mars? I'd love to be on one.

Congratulations on passing the 25K mark! That's awesome -- keep on keepin' on! :) Re: moving from project to project, I've been there, too. I poured my heart and soul into Occam's Razors only to have nothing but disappointment -- and a very painful personal experience to boot -- as a result. My muse was pretty bruised.

So then came the Great Writing Slump of 2007, after which I wrote two novels reallyreally fast, thanks to Sven and to NaNo. But those novels really aren't novels I'm proud of or feel much inclination to do anything with. One of them I jokingly (or not so jokingly) call my Vomitorium.

Heart's Chalice, though, is different. It's another book into which I'm pouring my heart and soul (though it's way different than OR -- when you read it, I think you'll be amazed that the same person wrote both stories!). I guess my muse had to lick her wounds clean before she could get going on a project on which she had staying power.

But I'm stuck like velcro to HC until I get it honed and polished and ready to (hopefully) unleash upon the world.; 8:34 p.m.
Anonymous said...: hope the visit went well and I;ll answer your writing questions on my blog hehehehe; 10:12 a.m.
Jennifer McKenzie said...: For me, I thought Sarah Palin had been coached very badly. It was like someone said "Okay. ALWAYS bring it back to this and this. Mention "maverick" as many times as possible. DON'T deviate from the script."
And Biden did well, though he bores me to tears.
I just did a Thursday Thirteen on all the wips I don't have finished so I feel your pain.
I try and focus on one or two manuscripts at a time so I don't get distracted. Well, not too much anyway.; 9:09 a.m.