New Job Sucking My Writing Time

A new job, started last June, has stolen all my writing time. It's been consuming my mind and making it difficult to focus on anything else. Half learning as I go and half over thinking what has to be done next. It's more complicated than the last two jobs I've muddled through with this company, so it's always on my mind. One day I go in and think; Easy, I got this! The next I think: WTF am I doing?

Either way, my WIP sits in a heap on my desk. I look at it and have to turn away. My mind is just too full of everything I have to or want to do in the real life job. Now, I'm in September and that's four months of rocking between easy-peasey and WTF.  Okay, maybe there are more easy days now, but they bring -if it's so easy, I must be forgetting something!

I really need to start writing. I'm always calmer when working on a story. It turns on something inside me and soothes the soul.

This weekend I'm locking myself in and not coming out until my brain clears!

Wish me luck...

Failure is not an Option...

I was wandering around over at Mark Terry's blog where he said something about NASA and that their code is "Failure is not an Option".
The post was mostly about Stephen Parrish and his new book The Tavernier Stones. (Quick! Everyone needs to order a copy right now!) and how he helped nudge Stephen to the place he needed to be to find success.
This toggled me over to Stephen's blog and how he got published. He's done more rewrites then I ever thought possible. But more than that...he never gave up.
Failure was not an option.
It was the push I needed.
It's time to get back on the horse and if I can't find the old horse. Maybe I'll just have to write me a new one. I think I'm going to take back my 20 minute rule (every time I have 20 minutes I write--something) and just write. Good or bad I'm just going to write.
I think when real life throws us curves it's easy to forget our motivation and what moves us forward toward our own successes. Imagine if Stephen Parrish had given up at one of his many rewrites?
I think sometimes we need to remember that Failure is not an option we're going to accept.
The dream you hold could change the world.

Life as a challenge.

What do you want from life? Do you see this "want" as a dream? A wish? or a challenge?
I have one daughter who loves a challenge. No matter what she sets her sights on she never looks at it as a wish.
She wanted to be a lifeguard. After rigorous testing and pushing herself to her limit. Poof! She was a lifeguard.
She wanted to be drum major in the band. Work, work, work...poof! She became drum major.
Learn piano? guitar? Poof!
Although she makes it look easy I know how much work she puts into these things. I see the agony and energy she goes through for her goals. Some are harder then others, sure, but she pushed herself just as hard every single time. She seems to live for the challenge.
Everything is a challenge to be met, overcome and accomplished. She amazes me. She has also taught me a lot about challenges:
Stay focused.
Believe in yourself.
Work hard.
Never give up.
Do I want to be a published writer? Is this my dream? Or is it a challenge to be overcome, overtaken and accomplished?
J.A. Konrath once asked, "What do you call a writer who never gives up?"
---PUBLISHED!
He should know. It took him years to become an overnight sensation. His story is one of hard work and determination. (You can read his story in a book called, "HOW I GOT PUBLISHED".)
Was it his dream? Or his challenge?
What's yours?