My Blog's Worst Enemy

Yep, that says it in a nutshell. You see, yesterday I accidentally submitted to Blogger that my blog was spam. What I thought I was doing was listing my blog as one that was receiving spam. Oy!

I was then frantic to undo what I had done. But, apparently I'm okay, because my blog is still here, and I am able to post. Of course, then I wonder--has it just not come through yet?--or perhaps it went through but because there were no more reports, my blog is fine.

Wow, what a way to sabotage myself. But you know, we do that with our writing, too. We think we're being clever, but in actuality we are shooting ourselves in the foot. You know, that extra bit of description that leaves your reader's yawning, too much dialog (yes, that can happen) that leaves your reader wondering what is in the head of your protagonist, and so forth.

When I was in Chautauqua last summer, my mentor wanted me to write a bit more on my story, starting it at a different page. So, I did. Then I reread what I had written, and decided I needed to add a couple of things. I should have left it with my original instincts. Everything I had added, he pointed out and said it didn't ring true, or didn't need to be there.

So I'm learning to trust my instincts, and not be my own worst enemy. What about you?

How organized are you?

I discovered, when I left town for nine days, that I wasn't as organized as I thought I was. I had scheduled blog postings ahead of time. The wi-fi that I had counted on at the hotel where I was staying was down almost all the time. I couldn't retrieve emails or post. Later, I found a different area of the conference center where I could have gone, but by the time I found out about it, it was too late for that week.

Now that I'm back, and have been back for a week, I find that although the organizing for the week I was gone was sufficient, I neglected to allow for the time that it took for all the work that piled up during the week I was gone.

So now, I'm still behind a few days, but I've managed to clear hundreds of emails, and worked on some editing of my work in process. Friends who attended the conference have already found me on Facebook. I have to admit, I haven't had the time to search for all the conference attendees there or on Twitter.

So here's what I should have done: Be organized enough to schedule events while gone, AND for the week following. I should have checked ahead of time at the conference center as to the availability of wi-fi for computers and how to print things out. I had a writing assignment from my mentor, and I had to put it on my computer and not print it out!

Because I do the household budget, much of it online, I was up the proverbial creek without a paddle. I ended up calling my husband and telling him over the phone how to take care of the bills (I had the budget on an excel spreadsheet on my computer). That was interesting and took up all my free time for that day.

It would have also been good to really check out the conference schedule to realize how little free time I had. The Highlights Foundation people were good about scheduling every moment of our busy days chock full of learning opportunities. If I had realized, I would have made more arrangements before leaving.

Check out my blog on Friday to see what I learned from one of my classes!