Sunday, July 10, 2011

#ROW80 Check In #2 When Plans go Awry, You Adjust :)

I am blessed in that I have had many opportunities to travel. My mother always says it's because I was born on a Thursday (Thursday's child has far to go). This journey of writing I am on is already coming with adjustments. This non-coffee drinker has been drinking the stuff! (well, half coffee, half milk, a little caffeine goes a LONG way in my system).


The first trip I ever took that went horribly awry was a school vacation to Walt Disney World when I was in 6th grade. We went by bus from Virginia Beach, Va to Orlando, FL. On the way home, the bus broke down, stranding us at the Georgia Welcoming Center. A bus full of teenagers for 8 hours? The staff at the Welcoming Center was NOT very welcoming. But, we bought their entire supply of candy, and nearly emptied out the vending machines. And we played a good deal of card games. The center sold decks with pictures of Georgia on them.


Since then, I've gone to Paris with my husband....with him in a wheelchair. Want to know how handicapped accessible the City of Lights is? The Louvre. That's about it. Oh, and the train station in La Defense has an elevator. No other train station has an elevator, so I carried the wheel chair up and down the two flights of stairs while my husband played Hop-along Cassidy up and down the stairs. Did I mention this was our honeymoon? Yep. He broke his ankle in three places two weeks before our wedding. 


Then there was the 10 days in Japan in 2007. Going home, I didn't really consider how difficult it would be to move all three pieces of my luggage through Shinjuku Station during rush hour in the morning to get to the airport in Tokyo (I was staying in Yokosuka, where the Navy base is). It wasn't like Paris where people offered to help me. No, instead I just cried as I couldn't get all of the pieces up the stairs in time to make my train to make it to the airport in time to catch my flight. I was about to fall into despair when Eureka! I just pushed the pieces out the door and hailed a taxi. It was $150 in U.S. after the exchange rate, but I made my flight! 


Anyway, every journey I've ever made is never perfect. From the cross-country moves to San Diego and back to the East Coast, visiting my husband in Australia and Hawaii, and the multitude of times I've traveled to middle-of-nowhere Texas, I've always had to improvise. This Round of Words in 80 Days is no different.


I am sad and disappointed to say my first draft still isn't finished. However, I'm not throwing in the towel. Far from it. I have adjusted. The story planning of my next novel is going to become something I do whenever, not necessarily this week. It's not absolutely vital to me getting CANCELLED out the door. I am also very, very close to a completed first draft. 


In fact, today is Sunday, and the day I have the most time to write. Friday and Saturday I had social obligations for my husband's work. But today, he's going to watch the baby and I'm going to get a book finished!


So if your #ROW80 journey isn't going 100% to plan, fret not. This is a pretty long trip, 80 days. And if a few days aren't what we expect it will be okay. Looking back, we're going to remember the successes, and the setbacks won't matter.


"CANCELLED" arriving SEPTEMBER 2011A robotics engineer asks his business partner to marry him, but a previous one-night stand is having his baby.


Be sure to read a check-in from one of my friends also participating in Round 3 of a Round of Words in 80 Days.


11 comments:

  1. Glad to hear you are not throwing the towel in and hope you have a productive writing day!

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  2. Ah, this is such a great journey, since the goals are so flexible. Of course you shouldn't throw in the towel!

    Read mine and find out what "fiddling around" looks like.

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  3. Don't despair, this is just one week of many :-)

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  4. I'll join the chorus praising you for your attitude. Keep on fiddling with the goals--that's the basis of ROW80. Life happens. The willingness to tweak the goals, or at times, pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and keep at it is what is important. That drive is what will get us to the end of our journeys. :)
    Nancy

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  5. Lovely! I love the feel and emotion to how you write just your blog so I am looking forward to reading a book from you. Keep up the good work and the great attitude!

    KP

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  6. Thank you so much for all of the comments! They REALLY made me day. :)

    I didn't get to do any writing today. I had a major case of "can't get from Point A to Point B in my story." It was feeling forced, the last 10,000 words or so (not the ending, that's already done, this is a section right before the final crisis). I worked it out though with some friend on Twitter :) Big thank you to @Julie_Bernhardt.

    In other good news, my young daughter had major success in potty training today. 0 accidents during no diaper time, and every time she started to go pee in her diaper or pull up once I made her wear something, she stopped and ran for the potty. We're getting there. She *just* turned 2, and this is all her. If Mommy had her way, we'd still be using the convenient diapers all day for a few more months. At least until after the move in October.

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  7. The best part of this challenge is changing whenever you NEED or WANT to. In real life, priorities change, so it's great that your goals can too. Best of luck with finishing off the book and hope you have a very productive week!

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  8. I think knowing how to adjust to those life obstacles is always positive. I hope next week is smooth and productive for you :)

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  9. I think this is the best attitude to have for life in general! I've also had a number of trips and whatnot go slightly awry, or at least deviate from the plans that I originally set, and I've found that going with the flow is the best way to react. Hopefully you managed to get a bit of writing done today, and if not, good luck working the rest of the week!

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  10. Those trips sure sound like adventures! I'm pretty sure most trips have major issues (I was once stranded in Madrid's Barajas airport for 5 hours because our plane was "broke") but it just makes finally getting to see everything worth it, plus you get some good stories out of it :)

    Good luck with the rest of your week!

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  11. Excellent advice! It's so important to just get back up and try again. Plus, a lot of the mistakes we make or wrong turns we take lead us to something valuable. :D

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