Tag: motivation

Hey Jack Kerouac

Today is Jack Kerouac’s birthday! He was born today in 1922 in Lowell, Massachusetts, which is not far from my hometown. I’m a big fan of On the Road. It was one of my post-college used bookstore finds. I think  I got it for a quarter, along with A Clockwork Orange and The Grapes of Wrath.

I found this quote on a magnet and had to buy it:

“The only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars.” -Jack Kerouac, On the Road

Those beaniks were pretty wild.

As a counterpoint to the madness of Jack Kerouac, I’m a guest on Ciara Knight’s blog today with some tips for getting myself motivated: http://www.ciaraknight.com/2012/03/12/guest-cindy-young-turner/.

Getting motivated

I admit, I am the queen of procrastination. Why do something today that I can put off until tomorrow? Life is busier than ever. The to-do list just keeps growing, and somehow writing never gets put at the top. There’s always something more pressing. Laundry, cleaning, paying bills, occupying an active almost four year old. Heck, there are times when I just want to sit and read a book, which is something I am trying to do more of these days because I’ve neglected doing that for quite a while.

I’ve come to realize that I’m happiest when I’m writing, though. In an effort to get my writing and marketing efforts more organized, I bought one of those refillable planners. It has a pretty brown cover with leaves on it. I thought it would be a good way to set deadlines for myself and maybe even keep them. Two months into 2012, I can’t say it’s been a success yet, although I have done a couple guest blogs. The beginning of the year is challenging. The post-holiday let down, the dark and dreary end of winter (or here in Maryland, the winter that wasn’t), and the feeling of wanting to hunker down and just do nothing for a while.

Spring will be here before you know it (my crocuses have been blooming for weeks now), and it’s time to ramp up the motivation and get cracking. I have some real incentive to keep me on track, I hope. I’ll be a participant at Balticon in May–my first ever convention! Wouldn’t it be nice to tell potential fans that book 2 is nearly finished?