Day 14: Making Dreams Come True

I’m a dreamer. Always have been. Always will be. I also believe that dreams can come true, but only when they transform into goals and then become actionable steps. 

One of my problems has been working straight from the computer. I’m a bit old school and I like printed paper. While I do enjoy typing straight onto the screen, there are some things that I need the feel of a pen or pencil between my fingertips and a piece of paper or fancy notebook in front of me. The same goes for reading, yes I like the kindle, and I don’t mind perusing articles and stories on the Internet, but having the printed matter in front of me slows down my reading speed and ensures that I actually read the words rather than just scan and forget. 

I’m a writer. Heck, the past two weeks I’ve written over 20,000 words. A combination of free writing, novel work, blog posts and articles. I love it. I feel so much better after having written that it seems crazy for me not to do it. But my dream is to make a good living as a writer. How do I define a good living? To earn over $100,000 per annum. 

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Friday afternoon has arrived and I’m still motivated to get the show on the road. I’m tired from the week but I’m ready to have a productive weekend too. Queries are going to be sent out. Blog posts are going to be written and posted. The novel is going to get worked on. And I’m still going to find time to relax, read, cook, and do the antenatal classes. I may even try to attempt to do some study too, and wash the carpets if I’m feeling really domesticated.

Tonight’s task is to print off markets that pay online and start brainstorming ideas. I just need to go one by one down the list. Pick a market, come up with an idea, write the query or article, edit it, rewrite, submit. Then repeat. Easy.

What are you doing this weekend?

Day 13: Catching the train

I’ve gotten so used to writing on the train that it seems to be the only place my brain functions. The writing hat is on and the words just spill onto the page. I wonder if it’s got to do with the background noise, the people, or the rocking side to side back to front. It’s become a habit, and that’s all that matters. At least I know that for an hour in the morning and an hour in the afternoon I can get some solid writing done. 

Just this morning, I was driving to the station and an idea for a blog post came to mind. I quickly locked it in so not to forget when I got on the train. I started writing as soon as I set down and switched on my Macbook Air. Twenty minutes later I had a 1000 word draft on a current personal finance topic that will no doubt affect the majority of Australians, especially those living on credit. 

Now what am I going to do when I go on maternity leave? Will my brain function the same way when I’m sitting at home with baby? Who knows? I’ll cross that road when I get to it. 

I’m still no where near my goal of sending out 31 queries by 31 March. That’s purely my fault. I’m trying to do too much at once (prepare for baby, work, do an assignment, study for an exam, stay fit, spend time with family and friends, run three blogs, eat and still get some sleep). 

That doesn’t mean I’m giving up. On the contrary. I’m going to have to work much harder over the next two and a half weeks to meet my March goal. And I’m going to meet it dammit even if it means losing a couple of nights sleep. If I can aim for preparing two queries each day for the next two weeks then I will meet my goal. 

What I do find annoying is when editors do not get back to you. I followed up last week on a few queries I sent back in January. Response? Nada, nil, zilch, nothing. I’m very annoying. Given that they’re emailed, it takes two seconds to type up a thanks but no thanks email. No excuses. Regardless of how many you get per day. It’s not that hard really. 

Last week I requested writer’s guidelines from five publications. Again, nothing. Seriously, that’s just bloody rude on their behalf. How is a writer meant to get published, get her career off the ground if editors are not willing to give her a chance? I’ll keep trying though. I’ll persevere and I will get those queries out, and those articles published. 

What are you doing this week to make your freelance dreams come true?

Day 7: On Being a Writer

What does it mean to be a writer? Is it being published in The Wall Street Journal or Cosmopolitan? Is it having multiple blogs on topics of interest in the online world? Or is it simply writing every day, be it in a notebook, on the computer or laptop, or even a serviette should the muse strike when you’re least prepared. 

I’m a writer. I can write it but to say it out loud to an audience is tricky.

And that’s the problem.

If after 20 years of writing for pleasure, I don’t take myself seriously enough to call myself a writer than no one else will either. It’s disappointing. No, I’m disappointed in myself. I’m disappointed in creating ambitious goals but not following through. I don’t call it failure, because I haven’t failed anything if I haven’t tried, but nor have I succeeded. 

Maybe that’s where the problem lies. The fear of failure and the fear of success unified. How else can I explain it. The ideas are there. They always have been. But when push comes to shove and the time is to hit SEND, I freeze and feel that everything I have written is utter crap and not worthy of wasting anyone’s five minutes. 

But it’s not fair. I’m not being fair to myself. How can I expect anyone else to give me a chance if I’m not willing to give myself one first? 

31 Day Query Challenge

2014 is the year for getting things done. For achievements that are long overdue and commitments that should have been taken seriously a long time ago. I'm going to be a first time mum in three months and I'm getting motivated to achieve my wildest dreams.

It might have something to do with the fact that I'm going to be 100% responsible for another person. One that for at least the next eighteen years will be completely relying on me. I'm going to be the role model, the person that will shape their life, their future, their beliefs in the world. Yes there's the better half as well, and the rest of society, but as a mother I know I'm going to take complete responsibility.

How can I teach my kid(s) that they can achieve anything they desire if I'm not following my dreams?
How can I blatantly tell them to believe in themselves if I'm failing to do it for myself?
How can I expect more of them if I'm not expecting more of me?

I can't. That would make me a hypocrite. I don't want to be a hypocrite.

I want to be a good role model for my child to be. I want to be someone they can look up to. I want to be a support system in any way they need me to be. I want to be the best mum that I'm capable of being. I know that's not going to be possible if I'm putting my dreams on the back burner and failing to move forward. All talk and no action just makes me look silly.

Maybe it's the hormones that are making me so much more productive, maybe it's finally growing up and realising that no one is going to hand me over freelance assignments or a book deal if I don't actually make the first move myself. Either way the year has started off with a bang.

January was all about editing the novel, which I did, and realised there's so much more I need to do. But it was a good month of editing and I'm well on my way to finishing it this year and possibly even self publishing. February was for free writing. The point was to get in the habit of writing every day, getting ideas down on the computers and working through the novel.

March is here. March is all about querying. The challenge for the next 31 days is to write and submit at least 31 queries. For some it might be a walk in the park for others it might seem extremely difficult. I think one query a day is realistic and while I'm not going to be sending out  queries every day because I work full time, spend 15 hours commuting each week, and am exhausted by 8pm thanks to the pregnancy, I can still prepare the ideas during my commute and commit to sending out around 7-9 queries each weekend starting from tomorrow.

March is going to be a good month. 31 queries. Hopefully, by the end of the month I will have a freelance assignment or two. Ideally, when I'm on maternity leave I'd love to be able to get my freelance writing business off the ground.

Join me for the next month and spend time querying publications and getting your writing to where you want it to be. I'll share with you my triumphs and failures.

What are you doing this month to get published and make your writing dreams comes true?

Lethal Disposal

How do you know you’ve got a good story?

Sometimes I get these ideas. A sentence pops into my mind. A character. A theme. A scene. A short description. I think, yeah this could be fun to write about. I start writing. One page. One chapter. I get to 20,000 or 30,000 words and I stop cold in my tracks. 

What am I doing? This completely sucks. I put the manuscript to the side, mope for a couple of weeks and start on a different project. 

Frustrating or what?

Well, not this time. I managed to finish a 90,000 word manuscript last December. Yep, that’s about a 360 page novel if it went to print. Not that it will, at least not in the condition it’s in today. It sucks. I’m not just saying that because I’m my own harshest critic but because I really know that my first drafts reek of crap. Lots of poor dialogue, scenes that are all over the place and a story line that doesn’t transition smoothly from beginning to end. 

What I have discovered from this 90,000 word manuscript is that the concept isn’t too bad. It’s a high concept idea that could work if it gets reworked. Reworked, rewritten, revised. 

This years that’s the goal. Rewrite and edit the heck out of this manuscript until it’s ready for someone else to lay their eyes on it. 

I’m not starting any new projects - at least nothing novel length wise this year. Lethal Disposal (the only working title I could come up with) is going to get pruned and preened and before the year is out, I’m going to get a second opinion before chucking it in the trash. 

11 Random Monday Acts

1 - Ate half a packet of Tim Tam’s
2 - Cooked Bombay Masala for dinner – note to self: try that new restaurant on ul. Nowy Swiat 23, ‘Buddha Bar & Restaurant’ which has Indian, Chinese and Thai cuisine. Yummy.
3 - Wrote lots, well came up with lots of ideas for articles anyway – that’s still being productive isn’t it? At least now I don’t have any excuses not to write query letters.
4 - Procrastinated about exercise – maybe I’ll do some weights tonight, my planned interval run will have to be put off for tomorrow
5 - Commented on Facebook – twice…weird I don't normally do that. Could social networking be growing on me?
6 - First day of session 2 uni, I’m doing Public Writing and Media Debates and Controversies – I’m wondering if I’m going to be the endless student?
7 - Hold on I did write a chapter of my chick lit work in progress
8 - Tried to think positively though it becomes impossible every time I have contact with Poland’s health care system, in particular their hospitals. They constantly break the European Patient Laws (Prawa Pacjenta –www.bpp.waw.pl) but I suppose I did a lot of that yesterday. I’m working on some ideas for an article regarding this area. The problem is that people are afraid to stand up for themselves in case a doctor will leave a needle inside them after surgery, forget to check their blood pressure, or something much worse. Accidents do happen.
9 - Wasted a lot of time surfing the Internet. It’s research okay. I’m really enjoying going through the Matador site. www.matadortravel.com
10 – Taught a TEFL lesson, just one, it’s so lovely to be finished by 10am, than again it is the holidays so many people are taking a break from learning English.
11 – Looked for jobs in London, thought about working in Spain or Austria or maybe even China. I’d love to spend 3-6 months working in one or two more countries. What is stopping me?

Did I or Didn't I?

Lent is finished. At the start of this period I created some goals. I have to say that life got in the way. My work load was higher and there were a lot of other things in the middle that couldn't be avoided. Some positive some negative, most unavoidable.

So how did I go?

I successfully managed not to eat any chocolate, cakes or sweets during the Lent period. This was probably the most important goal because I love eating chocolate. Surprisingly it wasn't as difficult as I assumed. This morning I was reading a health magazine and there was a short filler on the benefits of dark chocolate on stress levels. Eating a small piece or two of dark chocolate every day can reduce stress levels – that probably explains me having a short fuse over the past forty days.

Exercise was overlooked a little bit. Weather and time constraints. Yes, excuses, excuses. But I have started a regular exercise regime again to stay fit and improve my fitness level, running time and general health. I've got a 10km run coming up mid April – Bieg Zoo – or Zoo Run. It's a few laps around the Warsaw Zoo.

Writing those queries. This was a tough goal. I probably overestimated my abilities and time availability. I slacked off a bit. The aim was to write and submit 100 queries. I've submitted about 50. This is still a good effort. Every extra query I send out is better than none. The results from this effort? I've had one acceptance so far and five rejections. I'll give it another two weeks before I follow up. The rejected queries are going to be sent out to start looking for another home.

Happy Easter to All!

I'm rambling

Word Count: 7629 chick lit

I'm editing. I can't stand editing. My worst inner critic rears it's ugly head and forces me into emotional turmoil. Everything I write sucks. According to me, my mother tells me. Not that she's read a word I've written. I can't let that happen. Not until there's a book on the shelf and a publishing deal.

I'm writing chick lit. It's fun. It's entertaining. It's light. Sweet. It's life. Well sort of. No it's not based on me or anything. Did I mention it's fun? Well it is when the words are flowing, a complete different story when I have no idea what to write, or rewrite!

Carnival Ends, Lent Begins

Lent starts today. Living in a Catholic country it's impossible to avoid knowing this fact and being reminded by every devout individual, usually above the age of 60 that I am not permitted to eat pretty much anything, especially meat. While for me that's not a problem because I prefer vegetables. Chocolate on the other hand is my weakness. I can easily consume a full block of milk or dark chocolate every day. Yes, it's hideously unhealthy but we all gotta have our weaknesses.

Completely abstaining from different food groups like meat products, grains or fruit and vegetables is a bad idea. Our bodies require nutrients every day. Abstaining from cigarettes for smokers, alcohol for alcoholics, chocolate for chocoholics however is a good idea. Plus it's also an opportunity to purge bad habits and create good ones.

So for the next 40 days, yes, 40. I will avoid chocolate, sweets, cookies and cakes at all costs. I did it last year, so I don't think this will be a huge difficulty. Of course, it's also very likely that at the end of it all I am going to go on a huge Lindt chocolate binge. No one's perfect.

I'm going to make this Lent time even extra difficult for myself. I'm going to have to work out every single day for a minimum of 30 minutes. Ideally I would be running every day, however due to the weather conditions I could end up in hospital. So exercise can include anything from walking, swimming (indoor pool), rowing, weights, Pilates, aerobics, Nordic skiing, etc. Bugger, that means I have to start today!

My writing isn't going to suffer either during this period. It's going to improve. At least my output will. The aim is to send out 100 queries over the next forty days. This is a huge challenge for because at the moment my motivation has disappeared and every idea has melted away or seems ridiculous. Tough. Even ridiculous ideas find homes. Right?

Meditation is also important. I don't see myself as a devout Catholic, that's just something my parents decided when they had me. However, this time even for non practising Catholics is a good time to reflect on our lives, on what is important to us, where we are and where we want to go. Meditation is a good way to unwind, and take a step back.

Are you abstaining from anything over the next 40 days? Or maybe setting some new goals for this period?

Tuesday Rant

Working from home. Earning thousands a week. Loving every moment. Taking holidays twice a year and frequent weekends away. Hitting the gym most days. Running through the forest at weekends. Spending Sunday mornings reading the paper and enjoying breakfast in bed. Shopping with friends in the afternoon and trying new restaurants mid week. I would be a liar if I said I don't do any of those things.

I take holidays and I even manage a few weekends away. A quarter my time I spend working from home. I often read magazines in the paper. I go shopping with friends and often try new cafes and restaurants. The gym is a regular place to be on Saturdays, and there's a forest at the end of the street (on both sides).

So the only thing missing is earning thousands a week. But I can work on that, can't I?

So why am I still complaining?

My theory is that it's cold outside. The first week of snow was beautiful. Now it's becoming a pain in the backside. There's a heap of snow everywhere and I can't remember the last time I spent a day in a pair of dry shoes. It's impossible not to get them wet when you're constantly walking on snow. The sky is grey, I haven't been able to go for a run in the past three weeks for numerous reasons.

Is that enough reason?

I could go on but it's not going to achieve anything. Instead I'd like to think about all those positive things that are around me and should be enough reason to stop complaining. My partner, my family, my friends, my health, my job, and everything else that is in my life.
Much better now. Time to go back to writing.

How's the winter weather working on you?

Getting Organised

After a long sleep in, breakfast of pancakes with cottage cheese, jam and nutella, we spent Sunday morning cleaning. I don't mean just a dust and a vacuum and the job is done but actually going through every shelve, drawer and corner and throwing everything that isn't needed out into the trash. It feels fantastic. Now I know where my sport magazines lie,where all my writing materials are, teaching books, and wedding magazines and planning. It's all sorted and organised so that it will be much easier for me to find when I need it all.

Unfortunately I know that within a week it will all be disorganised once again. I'd love to be pedantic about keeping things clean. When I have books, magazines and everything else all over the place it drives me up the wall. My sleep is disrupted, I feel tired and unmotivated. Obviously something needs to change. I dread parting with things. This time around I am going to have to be tough on myself. Today we threw out about four bags full of rubbish. Once it was all done, it felt like a huge relief, a weight lifted of our shoulders.

The next four weeks I'm going to focus on getting a little bit more organised so that I am more productive and I'm not losing things when I need them the most. The only way to do that is go shopping. I will need to buy a small bookcase or some shelves, photo albums, three four-ring binders, magazine stacks, and a few other bits and pieces. That will be the fun part. The next four weeks I will slowly start to part with items I really know I don't need and make room for things that I do.

Week 1 - Organise my writing. Get folders and file ideas under categories - woman's, commercial, parenting, TEFL, education, health and fitness, travel, other. Dispose of any useless pieces of paper that are never going to be used. Bundle all the magazines that I want to write for so that they are all in the one place. Recyle all the magazines that I know I will never read again. Clean up my computer files so that everything is easy to manage, find and use.

Week 2 - Go through all my TEFL books, notes, magazines and miscellaneous items. Recycle all the loose papers that are not used. Sort through work contracts, attendance lists and other items and file them into three folders. One for each school that I am employed by.

Week 3 - Sort through all my clothes, shoes, bags and accessories. Last year I disposed of about three bags full of clothes I no longer needed. Some went to a younger family member and the rest went to a charity bin. I need to do that again, and this time be more generous with what I throw out. I can honestly say that I only wear about 50% of the clothes I own. The other simply take up space. This week I will be making more room in my wardrobe.

Week 4 - Sort through all the miscellaneous items left over. Get rid of any magazines that are collecting dust, empty chocolate containers that are never going to be used for anything, used up perfume bottles that don't need to be left as an ornament on a bookcase.

Once all that is done I anticipate being a much more productive individual. I will no longer be wasting time searching for the items I need to do my job. My living space will also become a much more pleasant and ergonomic place to be in. A couple of hours a week is all it's going to take.

Take Risks, Create Your Own Luck

Do I want too much from the very start? It's possible. Maybe if I had taken things slowly and done things properly from the start than I would be more successful now. Who knows? That's the beauty of it. Any decision we make involves taking a risk. It's one of the topics in one of my Advanced English classes at the moment. Risk is all around us. It's unavoidable. We take a risk every time we get out of the shower, get into the car, ride our bike without a helmet, light up a cigarette or avoid exercise while indulging in greasy food every day of the week. Risk is a fact of life. It's unavoidable.

Writers take a risk each time they put words on paper, write a query or full manuscript and send it out to the world of editors, publishers and magazines. They risk rejection and pain, and so much more. It's their creation that is being judged, they feel they are being judged. It's personal. But by not taking the risk of rejection, they are risking something for worse, something that will be far more painful than rejection or a template non-personal 'no thank you we're not interested in your piece' letter or email. Not putting yourself at risk of rejection, a writer puts themselves at risk of failure, at not reaching their dreams of success. That's a much more painful risk to take.

Not all risk is created equal. Some people choose to recklessly risk their lives, relationships and their world, while others choose to take a safer course of action and calculate their risks. But in truth, a successful outcome is not always due to the right calculation but luck. Others would beg to differ but sometimes even doing all the right things and minimising risk doesn't result in the desired outcome while a situation that maximises risk can have fantastic results. Luck plays a huge role. The good thing is that we can help create our own luck by putting ourselves at risk that may lead to our desired result.

How a writer can minimise their risk of rejection?
Stop writing and find another hobby or profession. Seriously the thought has crossed my mind a million and one times. Does the world really need another writer?

Seriously speaking though, it's possible to minimize your risk of rejection and the risk of not succeeding. With a few pints of luck, a sprinkle of determination, a dash of perseverance, a ton of hard work, and a bucket load of revision and your risk of rejection is minimised. But first you need to have the courage to send the work out to create your own luck while risking rejection and criticism.

I've had a few pieces published. The ones that did get published quickly were ones that didn't take too long to right. A quick 30 minute stint where I managed to send my inner critic on a break for just enough time to churn out enough words for a market that required pieces 'on spec'. Written, edited and sent out in under an hour made me a quick $100 a few weeks later. I took a risk. I quit thinking about the risk of rejection for a moment and sent the story out. Luck played a huge part I'm sure, but so did the fact that I put myself out there. In a sense, the action of sending out the article opened a window for me to get lucky. A risk that led to an article being sold.

Now as I write this, I can confidently say that each time I sent out ten or twenty queries within a few days, I scored a publication credit. Then I stopped. Why? Fear of rejection, afraid of taking another risk. And so the cycle continued. By not continuing to send out queries every day, I am taking the biggest risk ever. The risk of not succeeding as a writer. I'm not sure I can afford to take that risk.

Staying Fit for Health & Creativity

I've mentioned that I run frequently. I find running not only keeps me fit and healthy but also boosts my creativity level. Usually when I hit the pavement or the treadmill my mind clears so that when I'm done I can get back to work without feeling overwhelmed. Plus it allows me to enjoy all the simple pleasures in life – red wine, cheese, chocolate, Italian food and curries. Yummy.
Now I'm training for the Warsaw Half Marathon in March.
Recently I've noticed that the more regular my running and training is, the easier the writing flows. I recommend any type of exercise to clear your mind and unlock your creativity.

On a more current news, yesterday, the Great Christmas Aid Orchestra played for the 18th time in a nation-wide money raising event for children's hospitals around the country. They raised over 36 million zloty, which is just under 1 zloty per person in Poland. That's not a lot to give, but when added up it can help thousands of children around the country who suffer from illness or disability. This is a non government and non profit event that is supported by millions of Poles. It's a shame that the government can't do something positive and non profit for its citizens, instead it chooses to take from them. Alone it's difficult to make a difference, together when people unite they can do enormous things.

This week's summary

I've set goals, I've written, I've taught, I even managed to sneak in two 10km runs on the treadmill as I'm not prepared for running in the snow, and I fit shopping into the week.

Am I on track with my writing goals? Well, sort of.

Five queries later I am waiting for responses and coming up with more article ideas. Instead of getting easier it just gets harder. The inner critic gets stronger and stronger. But it's important to persevere. Fortunately my partner has been very supportive and has lots of words of encouragement when I hit a slump. Or if that fails, I reread all the positive feedback I've received to boost my writing confidence.

How do you deal with your inner critic?

There's lots to do in the upcoming week. So I'm off to finish of some lesson plans, eat dinner and take the rest of the day off to relax. It is Sunday after all.

Anything is Possible...Right?

It's another cold day. On the way to work I got splashed with muddy snow all over my white jacket. The train was twenty minutes later and extremely crowded with no breathing space. I had one lesson in the morning, ran some errands and was back at home around noon.
Now once again I am wasting time, sitting on under the duvet in bed, listening to Pink's latest CD, and trying to get some writing done. I need to try harder.

Yesterday was a good day. Thanks to following up I sold an article, signed the agreement and sent off the invoice all within 30 minutes of following up with the editor. If only all the submissions and follow ups went so smoothly. A great start to the year.

Here's a crazy idea. A goal of selling one article per week. Mm, sounds interesting. Challenging and almost impossible. But is it? I've sold one for the first week of January. Can I sell another one in the next seven days? Tempting. What would I have to do? Well, submit more queries and finished articles, essays and short stories every day. That's not so hard is it? One of my goals for this year was to get at least 50 published credits to my name. One a week. With a ten per cent acceptance rate I would need to send 10 queries per week.

Scary. But hey why not? I've nothing to lose. So here goes.

Three hours later I have three query drafts that I am working on. Just a few details to check before I send them off.

And I'm done for the day. Now I'm off to relax for an hour or so before heading off to my final TEFL lesson for the day.

Bye bye '09, Welcome '10

The year has started, it's already five days in and I am falling off track. What am I doing with my writing? I've started rewriting my novel in progress and the process feels like swimming through thick mud. Every word is so difficult. There are still scenes that need to be reworked, added and deleted to make it work. During some moments it's rather depressing but I must persist. Persistence is the only key to success. Along with continuous education. Continuous education in many fields. Especially with writing, continuously writing in order to make rapid improvements.
I would like to say that persistence always pays off in the way that we want it to. Unfortunately that's not always the case. Usually but not always. Success comes from hard work and persistence, combined with talent and luck. All four are required in order to achieve. However, even hard work, persistence, talent and luck may not be enough on their own. At first it may seem like a lost cause, but eventually it does happen. In one way or another the hard work and persistence pays off. At least that's the way I see it. The people who say they fail are usually the ones that have given up without giving it an adequate go. Over the past two years there have been many times when I thought about giving up. I'm glad I didn't. I'm going to persist until I get to where I want to be and beyond.

2009 has finished. Last year was a tricky year for many people. It was a difficult year. One that many will want to forget and move on from. It is also a year that taught many lessons to many people, including me. Lessons in love, life and finance. Lessons in friendship, trust and education. Last year I spent too much money, didn't laugh enough, didn't learn enough, went out to little, spend too few moments with my family and friends, wasn't thankful enough, and didn't bite my tongue and keep my mouth shut often enough, nor did I write as much as I wanted to or was as active as I hoped to be. All my fault of course.

2010 is a year I hope to do the right thing, whatever that is. My goal is to be a better writer, friend, partner, daughter, teacher, athlete, person. I'm not sure how that's all going to work. I do know that it's not going to be smooth sailing. There will be difficult moments but there will also be moments I won't want to forget which will push me past the tough times and get me through it all.

What do you want from yourself in 2010?

Back on the Gold Coast

I love the Gold Coast. It's got to be one of the best places in the world. The sun shines, the people are friendly and it's such a relaxed atmostphere that there's no better place to be. I'm back. Back home in Australia and loving it. While for now it's only for a three week holiday, it's a much needed break. Two days in I'm already red and sun burnt. The weather is great and there's so much to do and see.

Already been out for a delicious pizza at Alto's in Broadbeach, yummy. And ice-cream at Baskin & Robbins. I've caught up with my best friend and relaxed on the beach. Three more weeks of sleeping in, swimming, sunbathing, eating delicious food, and having a great time - and hopefully coming up with article ideas. Gotta love holidays.

So what keeps us motivated?

I have friends who are self motivated, and others who have no idea what they want to achieve in life. While we all go through phases where we don't have goals or we're not really thinking about anything ambitious, but then comes a time when it's necessary to shake things up a little bit and go further. Achieve something. Do something that matters to you. That's why I find it difficult to understand how someone doesn't have goals, the only thing that explains it is that they haven't yet found what they're passionate about.

How does one get motivated to do great things? To set goals and work to achieve them? Keep going even when faced with obstacles that appear impossible to overcome?

The things that motivate me might not be motivating for you or someone else. On the other hand your own motivations may have little or no influence on me. That's fine. We all have to find what works for us.

My goals motivate me because they are my own. I've always wanted to be a writer. This fact alone makes me want to keep writing, keep sending out queries and working towards a career as a freelance writer. I've made a few mistakes this year and I hope to amend them and become a successful freelance writer. This motivates me. When I see my name in print it motivates me. When someone says something positive about my writing, it motivates me. When I make some money from my writing, it motivates me. When my writing touches someone, it motivates me.
At the beginning of the month I had a goal to complete 50,000 word novel for NaNoWriMo. How have I stayed motivated? Well, the goal is important to me and I want to prove to myself that I have it in me to achieve the 50,000 mark and beyond. If I don't finish I know that I'll be kicking myself. My motivation is the desire to make a full time living from being a writer. I know that if I don't do it, no one is going to do it for me. The same goes for your own goals. No one is going to achieve them for you. But the best thing is the sweet feeling of success in the end. Nothing in the world can buy that. Unfortunately throughout the past couple of weeks I've had limited writing time and lots of wasting time. Now I'm playing catch up.

Another thing I want to do is run a marathon. How do I stay motivated to train and actually do it? Yesterday I tested myself whether I was capable of running for over an hour. I am. I managed ninety minutes and 17.5km. That's the most I've ever run. This also tells me that I am capable of running the half marathon. I've set myself a goal to run one in March. My motivation is that I've set a goal, I've made it public and now I got to do it. It's also a way to keep me in shape and allow me to eat reasonably what I want without worrying about weight gain. It's something I always wanted to do because it's within my control. Once I complete that I'll start training for the full marathon.

It's important to have goals that mean something to you personally in order to stay motivated and keep going with something. These goals also need to be achievable. Thinking that you'll write a novel in a month when you've barely finished a short story isn't going to keep you motivated, it's going to look overwhelming and impossible. Writing five hundred words a day on the other hand may be achievable. The same goes for running a marathon. To stay motivated for the long term it's vital to have short term goals. Run three times this week. Include interval training next week. Start in a 5km or 10km to practice running in large groups. These goals are less overwhelming but they bring you a step closer to the final goal. Running a marathon. Writing a novel. Or achieving whatever else you want to achieve.

So now I'm going back to my writing, I've got a goal to reach and story to finish.

Plain or Sophisticated?

There's something relaxing and motivating about sitting in cafés and writing. They're one of my favourite places to write. The only prerequisite is a comfy table, good coffee and quality sandwiches. Whether what I write is legible, decent or crap is irrelevant. The most important thing is that I manage to put words on paper. I can worry about coherence later.

In one of today's TEFL lessons my students and I discussed the issue of communication. For writers communication is very important. That's what we do. Our purpose is to communicate information across to our reader in the most comprehensible way while trying to avoid jargon and verbose prose. Instead we want brevity that will transfer all the information necessary as quickly and painlessly as possible.

Should we use plain or sophisticated language?

I found there's a mixed argument when it comes to deciding on an answer. It all depends on your audience. Are you going to communicate with doctors, lawyers, and business professionals? Or students, housewives and the general public? If you have a look at most consumer magazines, they are written in plain language that a primary school student is likely to understand. Trade magazines on the other hand use more technical terminology. Once you're clear on that you can safely decide whether throw in a bit of sophisticated jargon or stick to the plain, intelligible stuff. My language use is usually very plain. I talk to people who sometimes try to throw in fancy words to sound intelligent but unless it serves a larger purpose it downright sounds silly. Personally, I don't see the point in using terminology that makes you sound smart but no one understands.

So the conclusion I've come to is;

- avoid rambling
- limit the use of jargon because it's likely you won't be understood
- use brevity to get your point across effectively
- verbose prose with technical terminology will not necessarily make you sound more intelligent
- effective communication is important whether you're speaking or writing
- in the end do what feels most comfortable for you

For me this shows that I need to be more aware of my audience, and keep jargon, buzzwords and slang to a minimum. Yes, sometimes it's nice to use fancy words, just make sure they work with your topic and its purpose. In the end, which you choose to use will depend on what you're writing, who you're writing for, and your personal writing style.

Evaluating Ourselves

Once again it's grey outside. The sky grows darker with every minute and at about 5pm it's going to be nightfall. While it isn't as cold as usual for November, about five to ten degrees throughout the day, it's been a wet month so far, and I can't remember when I last saw some sunshine. Two weeks ago, maybe three. The only thing worth doing when it's like this is snuggling under a warm blanket with a good book and a hot cup of tea. Sounds lovely, if there wasn't so much work to do.

Yesterday's post left me thinking about a lot of things in my life. This morning I stumbled upon an interesting post from Scott H Young about failure and success (www.scotthyoung.com/blog). He talks about rushing for our goal, but not being patient enough to get a taste of success. While we underestimate what we are capable of achieving, when it comes to time frames we're always rushing and wanting immediate results. We want everything right now. It's like that with money. It's like that with success. We want it all at electrifying speed. That's how I've always wanted things to happen too.

I've been writing since I was a little girl. I recall writing short stories at school, a small illustrated children's book at age ten. Poetry later in primary school, and lots of journal writing. At about twelve or thirteen I began writing longer stories, then I attempted numerous novels which ended up in the trash can. I wanted success quickly. I wanted it right away. What I didn't realise though was that I could be a writer. Even when people didn't take my dream seriously, I knew that it was possible. What I didn't know was how long it was going to take me.

Sixteen years later I am still writing. My apprenticeship continues. I have learnt a lot but there's still so much that I must learn. Only two years ago did I build up the courage to send my writing out to magazines. And guess what? I got published. Not right away. Not always paid. But I got published. My only regret is that I didn't start out sooner. That I was afraid of showing anyone my writing. I suppose this blog is also helping me over come that fear. That's why it's important to follow your dreams, work hard towards success and don't just think about the end result, enjoy the progress and sooner or alter success will follow.

It's still grey outside but I'm inside doing what I love doing most. Creating stories, coming up with article ideas and writing away. It takes time but it does happen. It's one step closer to making a living as a writer.