Posts tagged as:

goals

Taking the Plunge

June 5, 2010
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Some weeks ago, while reading Bit Literacy, I decided to teach myself touch typing with the Dvorak keyboard layout. Because I am 1) impatient and 2) constantly pressed for time at work (hence, my decision to switch), I’ve been taking things slow: practicing drills for an hour here and there, a few times a week, [...]

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Are You Treating the Problem or the Symptoms?

June 3, 2010
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My Facebook friends know all about my recent computer woes. They started when my computer started acting funny. Applications kept crashing. Restarting took several minutes, not seconds – an eternity by Mac standards. My keyboard sporadically stopped working. At my wit’s end, I tried to wipe my hard drive and start afresh. (This was after [...]

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Literal (and Literary) Marathons

April 12, 2010
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I recently registered to run the 2010 New York City Marathon on November 7. My reasons for wanting to run the marathon are complex, and 2010 will be the year, despite the fact that I’ve been deferring my entry for longer than I care to admit. To help me with my training, I ordered two [...]

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An Amazing Jolt

April 5, 2010
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Today was the day. Out of the blue, my husband re-entered our home, announcing that I had a package from Akashic books: advance copies of the anthology with my short fiction debut. It was an amazing feeling. In fact, I haven’t been able to focus since, and he brought the package in maybe three hours [...]

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Why Are You Writing?

March 30, 2010
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Is it the lure of fame? Fortune? An easy life of spinning tales when inspiration strikes? Seeing the country on book tours? These dreams are fine as long as you continue writing when they don’t materialize. Chances are, they won’t. Sorry. Statistically speaking, you probably won’t be the next James Patterson. (My chances are equally [...]

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Why I’m Glad Modeling Isn’t My Passion

March 24, 2010
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This year marks a big high school reunion for me. You know, one of those milestones that end in a zero? Let’s just say that it’s made me do a lot of thinking about life and my current position relative to where I thought or hoped I’d be. When I graduated from high school, the [...]

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A Spoonful of Sugar

March 2, 2010
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Writing can be a creative art, but it also requires discipline. Sheer willpower, however, isn’t a strategy for long-term success. You inevitably get tired, cranky and resentful. I do. That’s why I started looking for ways to make the writing process enjoyable. If you don’t like to do something, you won’t do it. Not for [...]

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Mind Over Matter

March 1, 2010
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Sometimes the writing comes easy. Sometimes it’s like hauling a forty-pound bag up the stairs at Penn Station. Regardless, you have to keep at it. If you’re serious about writing, you don’t have the luxury of waiting for inspiration to strike. Besides, those feelings about “good” writing days and “bad” writing days don’t mean jack [...]

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Feasting on a ‘Taste’

February 19, 2010
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You ever  have one of those days where time gets away from you? When you have ten hours’ worth of “to-do” items and maybe six hours in which to do them? That pretty much sums up life as I know it. So many grand plans, so little time in which to execute. We all choose [...]

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Writing as Its Own Reward

February 4, 2010
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Yesterday morning, I woke up at five-thirty and went through my morning ritual: brewed a pot of assam tea, wrote three pages in my journal, and advanced my current novel by another 1,000-plus words. The day went downhill from there. The fraud department from my bank, JPMorgan Chase, called to let me know that someone [...]

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