Keep your goals close

I recently made this goal poster and stuck it right to the side of my computer (a couple weeks ago now I guess, as you can see I have changed the look of my blog again 😁)

Goals themselves are very important--you need something to work toward, a way to measure your progress, and hopefully inspire forward momentum.

But over the last few months, I have been trying to figure out why I always seem to circle in the not-quite-productive-as-I-could-be patterns over and over again, and it occurred to me that, though it is good to have goals and better to write them down, when too much gets in the way--family, work, health, life in general--it is easy to lose track.  Not necessarily forget, but sort of shuffle the ideas and even notebooks to the side, piled under the bills and report cards, newspapers, and grocery lists.  Know what I mean?

And that brought me to the realization that goals need to be VISIBLE, somewhere they can be seen EVERY day.

So, one of the big "ah ha" moments came when I remembered seeing this type of sheet on an Instagram feed sometime last year. (If you know where it originated or are the originator, just let me know and I will happily shout out credits and links!)  I liked the sticky-note idea so as each goal is accomplished, new ones can be added, to keep progressing and growing.  And this time, I set it front and centre.

I am at my computer more often than not six out of seven days a week as I edit at night after the day job.  Having the goal poster right in front reminds me of what I am working toward, reminds me not to overwork one area (usually editing) but instead stop and give my own goals twenty to thirty minutes a night, too.  It is not about spending gobs of hours on your goals, but simply doing something toward them every day--writing for twenty minutes while the chicken is in the oven for dinner, or for the last twenty-minutes before I shut my computer off for the night.  Getting up halfway through editing to take a walk in the lovely evening rather than "powering through" and not leaving the seat for three hours straight--my knees are NOT happy when I do that!  The goal sheet is a great reminder to put on a timer so I don't get lost in the work or in my own head, which are two of my worst habits where self-care is concerned.

And don't think you have to have something like the picture above, that's just the need of the artist part of me.  Even a simple sticky note with your goal(s) in big letters and tacked to your computer will benefit you, remind you physically of what you are working toward, and get you there sooner rather than later.

Practice makes progress, right?

Give it a try, and feel free to let me know how it works for you😉


©bystacydawn

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🙋Check out my links at the side to visit me on social media and at my website! 💟

Common Mistakes in Creating Characters

Here are a few things you don’t want your characters to be:

1) Stereotypical.

Too predictable or clichéd. Think of a strong, manly cowboy drawling all his words, scuffing his boots through the dirt with a bow-legged walk, and calling every woman he meets darlin’. Don’t fall into the trap of making your characters sound like a bad movie. It’s okay to use bits and pieces of known characteristics, but make sure your characters are unique with something different to personalize them and help them stand out.

2) Flat.

No one likes a blah/boring character. Actions and dialogue make characters who they are, so make sure you’re including strong verbs, movement, quirks, and specific descriptions relating to characteristics in order to bring them to life.

3) Too stupid to live.

A common phrase used to describe characters constantly falling into trouble and making inevitably wrong—and usually silly/ridiculous, out of character—choices. These characters are those with no validation for their actions such as dropping in a hole out of nowhere and needs to be saved, a long, lost, never heard of before past love or enemy showing up out of the blue mid-story, or characters engaging in a constant reign of miscommunication that could have easily been solved by one face to face conversation in the very first chapter. Wanting to have creative or wacky events in your manuscript can be fun and unique, simply make sure your characters have purpose and follow a thought process or action sequence that is rooted to some form of validation woven throughout.

4) Too perfect.

It is more often the flaws that endear a character to the reader than the heroics. People are not perfect. EVERYONE has flaws and THAT’S OKAY. It makes us human. These flaws can help create unique aspects to the conflicts in a manuscript, and as noted, flaws are what makes your characters relatable to your readers. And this relatability is what draws a reader to your characters, to your voice, to your books, over and over and over again.


©bystacydawn

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🙋Check out my links at the side to visit me on social media and at my website! 💟

The Changeover

Does anyone else find that the year is broken down into three basic sections....Christmas Season, End of School, and Beginning of School?

And with each one, there seems to be a changeover--sort of "spring cleaning" for the new time period to come.  This time it was the living room, kitchen, and especially my art desk that needed a major makeover...

Ugh, I still cringe at the before picture, only because it sort of denotes how crazy messy life got, too.  I think that is why I like to do the reorganizing as we flow into a changeover.  Gets my head back in place, a feel of control so to speak (delusional, I know, but we have to take what we can get, right? 😁).

At least the clean art desk helped me actually complete three pieces.  Two I will be posting soon to my Instagram account (and maybe here eventually), but the third one I am keeping under wraps as it is the first piece of an exciting special project I am doing.

For now, I will leave you with a Sunday Funday sum up of summer...

Yeah, that pretty much says it all 😊

©bystacydawn

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🙋Check out my links at the side to visit me on social media and at my website! 💟

To all my fellow Canadians...

©bystacydawn

Dream Big!

I, for one, know exactly how hard it is to juggle a busy family and two jobs, let alone try to find time to work toward your own goals and dreams that fill your head like an Idea Library where you need one of those cool wheeled ladders to reach some of the places you've stored them for years. 

It's hard...boy, is it hard! 

But, it is not impossible.  Maybe things aren't happening as fast as you want or on a timeline that you think they should, but that doesn't mean those dreams will never come off your inner library shelves.  Progress is progress no matter how fast or how slow.  The important thing is that you never stop trying, and you NEVER stop dreaming.

So, DREAM BIG because there is nothing stopping you! 😉

Slow and Steady, People

Do you find these days everything seems to be sped up?  Like the world is running on fast forward ➧➧?

Everyone wants things NOW...videos are sped up to get everything you need to know into 30 seconds...same day shipping...etc., etc.

The problem is that it makes YOU speed up.  Things that should be taken slow, thoughtful, and carefully, I find I am forcing through, making it work, or worse, ruining it and having to start again because I didn't just take a simple breath of pause first.  Anyone else have this problem?

More and more these days I think of the classic story of The Tortoise and The Hare, which has always stuck with me since I was a little girl--I think because my sister was the extrovert, taller, prettier, active, a real go-getter, whereas I was an introvert, short, stocky, and uncoordinated (and still am😊).  Don't get me wrong, I am not making depressing comparisons by any means--I got over that long ago when I discovered the talents I had that she didn't, and I eventually came to understand that each person is very special and amazingly unique in their own way, so if you take nothing else from this blog post PLEASE think on that and your own special talents that make you YOU--maybe it is art or writing, you clean a house to sparkling, bake a mean chocolate chip cookie, can make any crying kid laugh or any dog sit and beg for a petting from you, or simply smile at strangers on the street because you honestly believe everyone needs one.  You ARE special. Period.  

Sorry, got a bit off topic there, but that's because I also think more people need to hear that these days, too.😍

So, where was I?  Oh yes, fast forward and The Tortoise and the Hare. 

The moral of Aesop's famous story is one that often comes to mind when this world gets sped up elf-voice fast.  I find myself repeating it over and over in my head some days as a mantra to help me pull back, pause for a moment, and breath before continuing at a more comfortable pace for me.

If this world has you on the expressway when you would rather be on a leisurely country road, then just think of the tortoise, happy to take his time, smiling at his neighbors, and appreciating his surroundings and his own abilities.  He progresses at a pace that works just fine for him...that actually gets him ahead of the game. 

Winners are not always the ones who compete and get to the end the fastest, but the ones who keep working to complete their goals...no matter how long it takes or how slow they go.  I hope you keep that in mind this coming week.

Are you competing or completing?

Don't hesitate to leave a comment here or on my Instagram post @bystacydawn as I'd love to hear of your own unique, special talent(s), if you took it a little slower this week, and if you noticed a difference. 😉

©bystacydawn 2018