Life is what
happens to you while you’re busy making other plans – John Lennon
Honest, I came up
with the idea for this post about a week ago. Before Barbara and Diane put up
similar essays on February 7 and February 8, respectively. Must be a trend. For
what it’s worth, here’s my take on the subject.
It was summertime
and I was going great guns on my latest WIP. Bound By Duty, book two in my
Brothers In Blue series. For about 30,000 words, I cruised along according to
plan. My heroine’s problems were set and she was working through them.
Then she hit a
snag.
Enter the hero to
the rescue—sort of. You see, he has a mission of his own that is in direct
conflict with her agenda. The hero wants to help, but has to compromise his
principles to do so. What’s more important? His reputation or the woman he’s
falling in love with?
One third done,
only 60,000 words to go. I got this. Yeah, right. Then life began to intervene.
Other writing projects, those on deadlines, took precedence. Family issues too
numerous to mention cropped up. Then there was the part-time paycheck job offer
I couldn’t say no to. None of the ‘life events’ were particularly earth
shattering, but my writing time began to shrink. My word production waned.
Time to set a
completion date goal and calculate the necessary words per day count needed to
accomplish it.
Life is what
happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.
So far I’ve set, and missed, two self-imposed completion dates. I won’t bore you with the gory details. Let’s just say a third completion date failure looms ahead and life has yet to cut me and my writing plans a break.
Granted, I may be
down, but I’m certainly not out. Through it all, I’ve been slogging along. All
the way to a good solid 62,000 words and counting. Less than 30,000 more to go
now. Definitely doable. On the up side (my new favorite term) I did manage to
complete a solid 3,000 word, chapter by chapter outline. I know who does what
to whom. Even where, when, why and how they do so. I even slipped in a few red
herring characters along with their particular who, what, where, when, why and
hows, and it’s off I go again.
Life is what
happens to you while you're busy making other plans.
Okay, this is too
– you can’t make this stuff upish – not to share. My beloved sister-in-law,
literally flying in to the rescue with some of the family pressures I’ve been
under. Read - more writing time for me. Then.....
She gets off the plane, my son meets her at the airport, they collect
her luggage and are about to head our way. Through no fault
of her own, she takes a header off the escalator. A trip to the hospital, seven
hours and fifty stitches around her ear later, she’s here, a little sore, but
doing fine. I’m more than happy to take care of her.
Life is what
happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.
Don’t worry
though. I WILL arrive at the necessary 90,000 words in Bound by Duty and
complete three and four in the series as well.
It’s just, I’ve
learned my lesson. No more planning for me, writing wise. No more deadlines,
for now.
Experience has
taught me, life just simply doesn’t work that way. Thanks Barbara and Diane. It’s
comforting to know we’ve all been there…and lived to tell the tale.
Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans.
Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans.
My days to blog
here are the 11th and 23rd. For more about me and the
stories I write, please visit my WEBSITE
BROTHERS IN BLUE - Four heroes who met at the police academy to become life long friends. The dropout, the straight arrow, the movie star and the maverick. All share a passion to serve and protect, each in his own unique way.
