Camp NaNoWriMo in review

This year's first Camp NaNoWriMo (there's another session in July) was a bit rough, but I probably should have expected that, considering I hadn't touched my novel since November 30th -- after writing the last 10,000 words on the last day of NaNo '13.

Productivity and being mobile

One of the things I've always liked about being a freelance writer is the ability to work wherever.  Of course a lot of experts recommend creating routines and sticking to them for the best productivity -- including where you get your work done -- but of course life doesn't always cooperate.  And I actually find that sometimes I work better if I change my scenery, especially if I am feeling stuck for some reason, or if I've lost momentum on a project.

Birthday wishes

The past week has been rough, thanks to some upheaval in my personal life.  I didn't get anything done Easter weekend as I'd planned, and then I was highly unfocused all week long.  Around the end of the week, I finally felt like I was getting some of my productivity back, but then my birthday was yesterday so I (understandably) didn't do anything productive whatsoever.  Instead, I went to the museum (the Denver Museum of History and Science gave me a free day for my birthday!), one of my favorite restaurants for dinner, and then out to the barn for a late evening visit with my horses.

Happy Easter!

What most people consider a holiday, I am planning to use as catch-up time.

This weekend is a quiet one, at least compared to the last few weeks -- this week especially, when you consider my mad rush to finish taxes Monday night and Tuesday morning, plus book club and an unusual amount of babysitting sprinkled in on the side around my after-school schedule with the kids I nanny for.  This afternoon and evening I had six whole hours to myself at home (shocking!) which I used to get laundry and some other chores done, along with a little work.

Tomorrow, though, I should have virtually the entire day.  An entire day.  It feels like so long since I've had such a thing, that I almost feel overwhelmed just thinking about it.

Tax returns recovery and revised goals

Two days later, and I'm finally feeling like I've recovered from staying up all night Monday night to do our taxes!  Even though I wasn't that tired on Tuesday, I was exhausted yesterday, so I guess it just took a day for the lack of sleep to catch up to me.  This morning I slept later than intended, so I skipped my riding lesson, but I know I needed it because I have felt very rested this morning.

I've also been making stellar progress with getting organized and meeting my goals for the year, so much so that I've been thinking of revising one of them.

Blood moon and taxes

At this point I'm not even sure how I am still awake.  Since I woke up a little after 9 o'clock yesterday morning, I've gotten less than four hours of sleep, and all of that was around midday today.

I'm sure anyone who realizes today was Tax Day can figure out the reason for my lack of sleep.  I used to be so much better organized, and even used to get my taxes done early, but the last few years I've been catching up on my bookkeeping for the year and working on taxes all in the last few days before Tax Day.

The importance of good grammar

The other day on Facebook, I came across a very well-done infographic about 10 common writing mistakes that bloggers make.

(Disclaimer: Like many things you find on Facebook, this infographic is an advertising gimmick, so be warned that you'll end up on a grammar checking software website.  I have nothing to do with the company, other than liking the infographic that they put together for Facebook.)