SEW Sunday: Boot Camp

(SEW Sundays are where I rant about discuss what's going on with the queries I am SENDING to agents, my EDITING, and my WRITING.)

Okay, so here's the thing.  I don't have much of anything going on.  I keep saying I'm going to do stuff, but the week goes by and I haven't done much.  I do have excuses as usual--such as the fact that I was insanely busy working my last week of working preschool, only to jump into house/dog/cat sitting and working my other two jobs.

And since I'm house/dog/cat sitting, I have access to more than seven channels on tv, so I've logged a few hours watching reruns of House and watching dumb movies.  I even caught an episode of "Saved By the Bell: The College Years" which is arguably the worst show ever made.  Okay, so I'm pretty sure that award actually goes to "Yo Gabba Gabba."  ...or "The Tattooed Teenage Alien Fighters From Beverly Hills" (I promise that's a real show--it's too horrible to be something I just made up).

So yeah.  I'm a loser who has nothing to show for herself this week.

OH WAIT!  I did write two songs.  Complete with music.  Yay me (not really)!  One of them I think is probably the best song I've ever written--but by next week I'll probably find something I hate about it.  I mean, that's usually how it goes.

Also, with this week being so weird and stuff, I've let my diet/exercise slip completely.  I had a minor injury to my back on Monday (leaning over to pick up a toy...I'm like an old person), so exercise has been out.  And I wanted to eat pasta and cake and ice cream...and pretty much everything else in sight.  So I did.  And my pants are very snug now...

Boot camp starts tomorrow...theoretically.  Boot camp will hopefully include a return to a regular exercise routine with lots of sweaty running (I'm SO excited the weather forecast is calling for temps in the mid 90's...ugh).  It will also hopefully include a return to a strict 1200 calories per day diet.  It will hopefully also include some actual DISCIPLINE in my writing life.  I have got to send out some queries.  I mean, it's kind of hard to find a literary agent if you're not sending them anything to let them know you exist.  I also need to get some guts and make some progress with this song project--at least I think I do.  If I keep writing new songs like this, I might need to make plans for TWO upcoming cds....

Hmm...either way, I will eventually need some guts.  Do they sell those at Wal-mart?

So pray for me as I try to get my act together.  The Ruth version of boot camp is not like real boot camp (my version includes LOTS more procrastination, whining, and general lameness), but I'm still pretty sure I'm not going to like it a whole lot.

Structure

I've been reading a lot of real blogs lately. Do you know what real blogs have that my blog doesn't have? Structure.


I'm usually not the sort of person who just follows the crowd or does things because everyone else is doing them. In fact, I'm often the sort of person who rebels against the norm just because I don't like the idea of doing things the way everyone else does them. But I'm learning more and more that if I'm going to make it in the writing industry, I'm going to have to follow the rules. If I were this great revolutionary writer, that would be one thing. I just don't think I'm fantastical enough of a writer to take the publishing industry by storm...and even if I were that talented, I'm not that spirited. So there you have it.


I don't really claim that this blog is a real blog, but let's pretend it is. What do real bloggers do? They add structure to their blogs. How do they do this? By blogging at the same time (or at least on the same day) as they did the week before. By blogging about certain topics or ideas on certain days.


I think it's clear that discipline is NOT my strong point, but I'm going to try this for a while. I might fail and have to try again, or I might just decide to scrap the whole idea. But I'm going to try to add a little more structure to this blog.



I am not going to blog here every day. That's just too much for me, and honestly, I would like spend some more time on my other blog which is hilarious and good, if I do say so myself...and I do. My Dragon-Muses would also like me to continue to help them type out their blogs (most of them don't have keyboard friendly talons). So, I'm thinking right now that I need to do about three blogs a week for this particular blog.



I want to write a blog every Sunday, Wednesday, and Friday, and all with themes. I might add another day later, but we'll see how it goes.


Sundays, I plan to give an update of what's going on in my writing world (and maybe in the rest of my world). I've been doing okayish on my writing lately, but I could do better. I could DEFINITELY do better on my querying and editing. My friend Desiree (who is amazing), has been encouraging me in all my writing efforts. She suggested the term SEW. Sending queries, Editing, and Writing. So my Sunday blogs will be SEW Sundays, you dig?



On Wednesday, I just plan on writing a blog as usual. Whatever Wednesday. It's not that clever of a title, so maybe I'll go with Writing Wednesday, but that's not that clever either. We'll see which one I go with...or if I go with something completely different...



On Friday, I plan on writing something about my favorite works of fiction, fictional characters, fiction writers, etc. Fiction Fridays. I might even start doing book reviews, but I don't really know if I know how to do that. We'll see where it goes, or even if I have the discipline to keep up with it.



So that's what I'm planning right now. I'd also like to ask if you have any suggestions. Is there anything specific you'd like to see me write about? Are there any other clever names that utilize alliteration with the days of the week? I'm trying to make this blog into a real blog--or at least pretend to. Let me know what you think!