Sales - Carolyne Aarsen

SALE. One word. Four letters.

Yet every time I see them, my heart beats faster, my palms sweat and a sense of expectation and anticipation swirls through my suddenly shrunken brain.

I'm an intelligent woman. I can use words that have more than two syllables and, usually, spell them correctly. I'm not young anymore and I would like to think that with that comes a certain lack of gullibility.I don't believe everything I hear or read. And I don't believe inflated claims on products. Yet, every time I get an e-mail from one of the craft stores I frequent that have the huge letters S.A.L.E. anywhere in the letter I click through. Every. Single. Time.

I love doing my crafts. And I love collecting the beautifully printed papers, the embossing powders, the pens, the stamps, the tools and the cartridges for my cricut, a die cutting machine. And almost as important, I love buying all these things on SALE. I will scour the internet looking for places I can save .04 on a piece of paper, a few dollars on a cartridge. My 'watch' list on e-bay is four pages long.

I know I would be better off, monetary-wise, not buying the stuff period. My rational brain tells me this when I am in my moments of sanity and I'm looking at my AMEX bill. I look at what I already have and think, 'Enough, woman. How much paper do you need? Your kids are going to be angry with you when they have to get rid of all that stuff after you die'. This all makes very much sense and when I have these little talks with myself I pat myself on the back for how smart I am and how much self-control I am going to have. This is just a hobby, I tell myself. Nothing more. Keep your focus, have some perspective . . . and then . . . oh my goodness . . . Custom Crops has Basic Grey paper on SALE!!!! And WOW it's only seventy nine cents per sheet!!! And before I know it, I'm clicking and checking and loading up my virtual shopping cart with virtual paper looking like a virtual idiot as I stare with ever widening eyes at the SALE prices.

And then, sometimes, my sane side takes over and I empty the virtual shopping cart and feel very satisfied with myself untilI get the next e-mail with the next SALE notice.

I know I'm not alone. I know that the word SALE can have amazing powers depending on where it's located and what is actually on sale. So Now that you've heard about my Achilles heel, what about you? Imagine the word SALE - and put it in front of your favourite store - online or otherwise. What would make your heart beat faster? What kind of sale is your dream sale? It's okay to share. We're all friends here. Unless you are bidding against me on that sale item on e-bay.

Craftie Carolyne

I know the word, Craftie in this blog is an acronym, but for me these days, it also applies to things I've been busy with. Crafts.

I have always loved making things. I used to sew everything my children wore - shirts, blue jeans, dresses, coats. I used to embroider and knit but then I discovered writing. I got published, my kids moved out and a lot of that other stuff fell aside. I wanted so badly to do the best I could with my writing that my focus narrowed down to anything and everything that could improve my writing. Online courses, writing books that fill up five feet of shelf space, writing magazines and articles. My embroidery thread and wool and sewing machine languished in various cupboards of my house. I didn't make time or feel I had time for the handcrafts. Then, one day, I looked up from another round of endless edits, weary and tired and thought, there has to be more to me than writing. I focussed so much energy on writing, I was losing that very energy and enthusiasm. My ideas felt stale and boring. So I took a break from writing romance and fell in love with writing again. How?

By going back to the other things that made me happy. Crafts. I started making scrapbooks. I started sewing for fun. And lately I've discovered a new craft, card making. At first I felt guilty for the time I was taking from my writing to do this. After all, if I wanted to be a better writer I had to devote all my time and energy to it. Write? Wrong.

Because the other benefit of crafting is I got excited about something again. I felt a little thrill of satisfaction when I finished a project. I had fun surfing the web looking for felt flowers, double sided satin ribbon, cardstock in just the right shade of green, buttons and paper and glitter and glue and a new cartridge for my cricut cutter. (I live at the intersection of No and Where so I have to have most of my crafting supplies sent my mail) And when the packages came in the mail, it was like Christmas all over again. I unpacked and enjoyed. I got another little thrill from seeing green, gold, silver, red, brown, pink and blue embossing powder lined up on my crafting desk in their cute little pots. I riffled through paper that came and oohed and aahed over the lovely colors. I discovered the fun of cuttlebugging and embossing folders and textures and colors.

And the other benefit? As I'm crafting, my mind is free to wander. As I'm enjoying the tactile experience of seeing embossing powder solidify and shine, watching my cricut make intricat cuts I start thinking in new and fresh ways about my current story. As I'm cutting and pasting, I am finding joy in my writing too.

And that to me, is the best benefit. Yes I have to find balance. Yes I have to make sure I don't do one at the cost of the other. I'm still a writer first and foremost, but if crafting helps me write, then that to me, is a huge benefit. Plus, my friends now get cards from me. And my children get scrapbooks. And my grandchildren. And doll clothes. Let's not forget the doll clothes.

What about you? Do you have a particular craft that you enjoy that expands your life in other ways than writing?

Get back to work!

I'm giving you an advance warning of the irony of this blog. Because as you are reading this blog, I am going to tell you to stop reading this blog and get back to work. Stop reading about writing and get back to writing.

If you're still reading this, you haven't taken my advice, but I'm hoping that by continuing to read, you will get a few tools that will make it easier to take my advice. Got it?

The internet is my greatest tool and my greatest enemy. Living where I do, at the corner of No and Where, I use it to connect with people I can't see face to face. I use it to brainstorm with my writing partner. I use it to discover facts that I need right now that I normally wouldn't have access too (see above) - as in, how does a doctor do a triple bypass and what is a bypass anyway?

And here comes the HOWEVER. When God sent Adam out of the Garden he put a curse on the earth. So every blessing has a downside. Every light casts a shadow. And in the case of the internet the shadow can be large, looming and hard to ignore. You'll be writing along, hit a snag and 'hey, have I gotten any e-mail lately?' or 'I wonder if anything new has been posted on that writing forum' or, my own current personal nemesis, 'how's that cricut cartridge doing on e-bay?' - which I shouldn't have even allowed to enter my mind because I promised myself I would get this blog post done before I do anything else.

These are only the distractions I could think of as I was typing this. I'm sure each of you have your own guilty pleasures. I look for distractions because writing is hard work. I like the finished product, but I don't like getting there. Even after publishing thirty some odd books, I still struggle with this. But I've also noticed that the more I force myself to stay on task, the easier it gets. I get more writing done in a day than I used to. And the reason? I've stayed away, as much as possible, from the busy work of writing. Checking e-mail every five minutes. Surfing the 'net. Do I have amazing willpower?

Nope. I have programs. Now I run a Mac so for those of you who do as well, here are some wonderful tools I use. One is a ridiculously simple program called Freedom (http://macfreedom.com/) What it does is turn off the internet for however long you decide. It's wonderful. Another one I really like is called Concentrate (getconcentrating.com) It not only shuts off the internet, it turns off any application that might be a distraction for you. Plus it sends out a message every ten minutes that you can customize. Mine is a growly voice that encourages me to 'keep writing'. Also great.

For you PC users, I can't testify to how these work, but I did find these programs.

http://lifehacker.com/245774/lifehacker-code-dropcloth-windows

Another place I found was this one:

http://www.donationcoder.com/Software/Skrommel/#MinimOther

If you scroll down and do some looking you can find programs that will shut down programs, put them aside, whatever your heart desires.

Sometimes we need willpower, sometimes we need help. I need help. However, there is a proviso to using these programs. They only work if you turn them on! And sometimes that can be just as hard to do as to get writing. But once they are on, you might be amazed at how much more you can do when you get rid of the biggest distraction for writers. The internet. Which you are using right now to read this blog.

So check out these programs and get back to work!