Procrastination

I’m getting to be a master at procrastination. I love naps but now I’m pretty sure the reason I’m so ready for one is I don’t want to do anything on my to-do list.  Years ago, when I worked full time, + family, + activities, I didn’t dare put off things. If I didn’t keep up with what I had in my life it would soon bury me.  When I retired, I sort of continued on with more and more things I wanted to do.  In fact, my ex-co-workers told me that when they retired, they weren’t going to take lessons on how to do retire from me. 🙂 

Okay so this isn’t new. From time to time I become overwhelmed and I know how to get out of it. Like take it in small bites. Don’t multi task to the extreme. 

********** Now for the grumble part.  I really try to bring a positive attitude and experience to share over the backyard fence but ************

Monday, I decided to get one thing off my to-do list and work on the auto pay for my iPad Apple Care. I’d gotten a new credit card that replaced the one I had been using for it. Not too hard, not too much time. ha ha ha  

First, I tried to log into Apple on my computer. I couldn’t find where, let alone how, to edit the payment. Finally, after more time that I like to think about, I gave up and decided to call them. Now I couldn’t find a phone number that got me to a live person.  After again, a lot of time, I finally got someone on the phone and explained what I needed. They put me on hold and transferred me to another number. I was waiting to connect with the 4th contact when the call ended. Okay, not all lost. They had in the process, pointed me in another direction. It seems the best way to edit a payment is through the device the apple care was for. In this case the iPad. Plus, I wasn’t sure in the 3 different people I’d talked with, that the problem wasn’t corrected so decided to wait until the next day. 

Next day! The problem was still there no coverage by Apple care. After going into the settings in the iPad I still couldn’t take care of it so now I have an appointment with a local store for tomorrow. One thing I did take into consideration was that I wasn’t, no matter how much I wanted too, procrastinate, so I did call for the appointment instead of maybe putting it off for a day, or week or. . . .

To end this on a positive note!  Every person, real and robot was courteous through this event.  Including me. Yayyyyy

When it feels like another day…

I seem to be saying this kind of thing a lot lately. “It doesn’t feel like a Monday, it feels more like a Thursday.” And it got me wondering, why do days of the week have certain feels to them?

When I used to have a day job, I understood the whole Monday-blues feeling, and the Friday-elation feeling, but I wonder if there’s more to it than that. Mondays and Fridays are just days, so what makes a Friday feel like a Monday, and vice versa? Why does a completely different atmosphere or feeling surround a particular day? Why does it feel different to any other day. It’s fascinating, isn’t it?

One theory is the relationship of the planets to the days of the week, and how the energy of those planets interact with our own personal energy.

We have the ancient Babylonians to thank for the seven-day week. They divided the 28-day lunar cycle into four weeks of seven days, the number relating to the seven celestial bodies they observed: the Sun, Moon, Venus, Jupiter, Mars, Mercury, and Saturn. Each of these planets they assigned to a specific day of the week: Monday (Moon), Tuesday (Mars), Wednesday (Mercury), Thursday (Jupiter), Friday (Venus), Saturday (Saturn), Sunday (Sun)

The days of the week are said to carry their own vibration influenced by the planets, and that this specific energy/vibration links with our own personal energy on that day. Monday is ruled by the moon which influences our emotions. Tuesday garners the energy of Mars, the planet of action, and is said to be a good day for getting things done. Wednesday is about communication, a good day for making that important call. Thursday is about productivity and helping to finish things we started at the beginning of the week. Friday, ruled by Venus, is about love and creativity. Saturday relates to getting organised, and Sunday is a day of rest and relaxation. I found a fascinating website that goes into this in much more depth. Check it out if you also find the subject interesting.

So, I wonder if when we feel we are out of sync with a specific day, the answer really does lie in the influence of the planets over us. It’s food for thought. So next time I have that “It doesn’t feel like a Monday” feeling, I reckon I’ll be checking in with the planets 😉

Faye

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October Warm Feelings

Chatting yesterday with my mother, she asked what I’d been doing these past few weeks. “Nothing exciting,” I told her. “All quiet and much the same as usual here.” After I put the phone down, I realised this wasn’t true. Looking back at what has been happening, this past month has been anything but.

First, I’d managed to finally get my latest novel to the stage it was ready to be sent out to my beta readers for comment etc, and breathing a sigh of relief, I began work on the next book.

Second, came a lovely day out with a long lunch and tea meeting up with writing friends at a garden centre. Always a pleasure and always so enjoyable and inspiring. That alone would be a highlight of the month but more was to follow.

Writing aside, I’d also managed to finish a large painting to order which is now hanging on our lounge wall. Dave is well pleased with it. So he should be, it was his idea! It took a while for us to agree on the colour scheme, needless to say he won, but it has given me inspiration and ideas to do more statement art pieces in the future.

On top of that, I was elected as Vice Chair of my art group. The current Chair is retiring at the end of the year due to ill health, and it was deemed by all 59 members I would be a good candidate to take over. Time will tell whether they are right. My first task was to present gifts to the current committee at our AGM. My next will be introducing our guest demonstrator artist in November, a professional portrait painter I’ve never heard of, so I need to do some reading up on him.

Still on the theme of painting, I had been approached back in the summer by a beautiful UK magazine called Landscape (“Life at Nature’s Pace” as they style themselves) requesting to include one of my paintings in their November edition. Of course I said yes! That edition was published recently. It’s not a large feature, but that doesn’t make it any less special, at least not for me.

And it didn’t end there. As a direct result of that feature, someone I know who ran a magazine on writing contacted me asking if I would like to provide some of my artwork to use as covers on two new magazines being launched at the end of the year. Wow! All Your Stories and All Your Poems will be published in print and online bi-monthly, one featuring short stories and articles on any topic, the other poetry. There is no payment for this, but I will have a full-page advert in each edition my work appears on. I have this morning sent off a raft of what I hope are suitable images of some of my paintings. Whether any or some are used remains to be seen, but it has certainly given me a boost. Thus, as much as I hate this time of year, especially as this weekend we have experienced our first frosts of the autumn, I have a warm cosy glow inside, one that isn’t because the central heating has been turned on.

So sorry, Mum. I’ve been exceptionally busy this past month, and I wouldn’t want it any other way.

Kit Domino’s websites and blogs

I Can Do This

Could someone please pinch me and tell me I better not be dreaming we are in the middle of September already. Our week-long summer has gone, the nights are drawing in and yet I feel I have achieved nothing this year, and certainly am nowhere near completing tasks I had planned to finish. Yesterday, doing our weekly supermarket shop, the first items seen stacked by the entrance door were mince pies, lebkucken, stollen, and boxes of Christmas cards. Either the world has gone topsy-turvy or I have. Okay, I know this happens every year, the moment the children return to school after the summer break, the shops gear up for Christmas, but I’m simply not ready for it yet. 

It’s because it’s autumn here, a time of year I do not enjoy. Being an artist, I know I should for the glorious colours that nature provides and the bountiful fruits of the countryside, but it’s the season that always makes me feel down. The thought of long cold winter nights and foggy grey days makes me want to pack my bags for warmer climes. If only I could hibernate for four months. Yeah, like either of those is ever to ever happen.  So I just have to make the best of things. With no sun and cold weather, I can’t spend all afternoon in the garden. With rain and snowy days outside, inside I can paint those colourful landscapes and flowers I crave. I can curl up by the fire with a book. Better still, I have no excuse not to sit at my desk and write my own stories. Positive thinking is the only way I can cope with the months ahead and come out smiling at the end. 

That week of summer seems so far away now. The garden is still looking glorious and the new large painting I’m doing is coming along nicely – nearly finished. My latest novel is on the cusp of going to beta readers and critiquers (bless you all and thank you for helping to keep me going). There’s nothing now to stop me, only my own … what? Fear of failure – yes, that is what I’ve come to realize holds me back. As it does with many of us creative creatures, be it writers, artists, dancers, wannabe chiefs, ballerinas etc and so on. We always doubt ourselves and our abilities. Why do we torment ourselves like this, or is it only me? I don’t think it is.  

I’m trying hard to look on the bright side, I have much to be thankful for even though it has been a difficult year family wise not only for me, but for many others too. I’ve lost friends along the way this year, sad anniversaries coming up, but it’s no excuse to mope about. Life’s for living, life’s for making the most of every day, every hour, every moment. And that is what I intend to do. Starting right here, right now.

I only have to look out of the window or over the backyard fence to give me inspiration.

Success is…

It was fascinating reading Lavada’s recent post about an author who, after numerous rejections from publishers, decided to self-publish and her book became a huge success. A New York Times bestseller.

It’s Interesting how we define success though, isn’t it? For many people just writing that book would have been success enough, and the authors on this blog know only too well how hard it is to write, get to the end of a story, and then make sure you have all your ducks in a row and all the ends tied so the story actually makes sense (says she, who is currently trying to make sense of a messy first draft).

I love quotes and found this one by Maya Angelou on just the subject of success:

How simple is that, and how incredibly profound. Of course, learning to like ourselves can be a lifelong endeavour, but liking what we do and how we do it is a choice, isn’t it? It’s having the integrity to be true to doing what you love and not be swayed by anyone else’s choices for you. Don’t know about you, but I’ve allowed myself to be persuaded (by well meaning people) out of doing what I really wanted to do many times in the past and have always ended up regretting it. This is still a work in progress for me, but I find that every single time I stick to what I believe deep down is the right thing for me, I end up feeling profoundly satisfied, and there’s a deep sense of rightness about it, even if it doesn’t end up working out the way I anticipated.

Hope that makes sense, and I’ve gotten a little off track about what this blog post was originally about. Success and how you define it. I’m not saying I wouldn’t like that New York Times bestseller tag at some point in the future, but as long as I continue to do the things that make me happy, write the books I want, and write them to my liking, then I’m on the right track.

And I couldn’t possibly end a post about success without possibly my favourite quote of all time by Ralph Waldo Emerson. AJ read this at my mum’s funeral, a fitting tribute to a wonderful lady who lived life to the full:

To laugh often and much;
To win the respect of intelligent people and
the affection of children;
To earn the approbation of honest critics and endure
the betrayal of false friends;
To appreciate beauty;
To find the best in others;
To give of one’s self;
To leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child,
a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition;
To have played and laughed with enthusiasm and
sung with exultation;
To know even one life has breathed easier because you
have lived –
This is to have succeeded.

So how do you define success? What does it mean to you? Do you like what you do, and how you do it? I sincerely hope so.

https://fayeavalon.com