Friday, October 19, 2012

Quotes and Cookies: Be the bee, not the mosquito

I made a goal this week to write 8,000 words. And all this week, I've been working SO HARD! Seriously-- sunup to sundown, I've been working on writing-related stuff. Guess how many words I've written? 400. Not kidding. There's just been so many things that have come up! Then I came across this gem:


It is not so much how busy you are, but why you are busy. Remember the bee is praised but the mosquito is swatted.

~Mary O'Connor

Of course there are a million things that can make you busy that aren't the most important things. For me this week, the biggest culprit was something SMALL, but very HARD. The defeated perfectionist in me made me procrastinate it so much. Find all those million little things that just had to be done. And I couldn't write, because that other little thing HAD to be done before I could. So call me a mosquito. Do you ever have this problem?

Here. Have a freshly baked cookie. It might distract you from the guilt of not getting the right things done. (Or maybe you're not a defeated perfectionist / mosquito at all. In that case, you can take this as a reward for good behavior.)

By Kevin Lawver (originally posted to Flickr as Cooling Cookies) [CC-BY-SA-2.0], via Wikimedia Commons

Have a fabulous mosquito-free weekend, everyone! I'm off to write 7,600 words.



P.S. Guess what? THROUGH THE BOMB'S BREATH is going to be an audio book!!! It'll be released simultaneously with the hardback. :) :) :) And Random House is keeping it in house, which makes me ridiculously happy. And before you even ask--- I have no idea who is going to be the voice. I am open to guesses, though.

34 comments:

David P. King said...

Excellent quote, and that's super exciting! An audio book? Yes please! :)

Tasha Seegmiller said...

This is a great quote - I really need to remember that.

Voices - Morgan Freeman, Sean Connery and the guy who did Optimus Prime's voice. I could listen to any of these three read the dictionary.

Angela Brown said...

If the audio book is read by James Earl Jones, I probably won't care what book it is...I'll just listen.

Okay, that was just fan-girl and sad lol!!

Seriously though, good things happening with TTBB! YAY! And I'll take a cookie please. Doing a blogtown tour can take the energy out of a girl. Now if only it could kill a thousand calories a day the way it wipes out my energy, I'd have the perfect hourglass figure.

Now Peggy, if you can write that 7,500 words, you should treat yourself to a whole tray of delicious cookies :-)

Laura S. said...

Very cool about the audio book!! Good luck getting your writing done! Be the bee, be the bee!!

Donna K. Weaver said...

Oh, excellent. I LOVE my audiobooks. Good luck with your 7,600 words. I always find it funny how I can spend three days working on one page and then fly through several chapters in one. Ugh.

i'm erin. said...

Peggy you can do it! I didn't know that was your goal this week. I'll call you at midnight to see how you've done.

Anonymous said...

So many good things, but few are excellent. How exciting about the audio book! And all the writers said, "yeeehaw!"

Jessie Humphries said...

8,000 word goal/400 words written! That is very un-Peggy-like. You are the girl who gets it all done. But I totally understand, writing doesn't come easy when there are a hundred small things that need to be done. Like my freaking floors need to be mopped so bad and I don't want to do it!! Dang it.

Cristina said...

oh an audio book! you rock!!!!! sometimes we need to get all the little things done, so that we can fully focus on the other, bigger, more important stuff. Or maybe, it's just avoidance. And that's ok, too. At least that's what I tell myself :)

Julie Daines said...

Perfect quote! And congratulations on the audio book and stuff. That's great! And now excuse me, I have to go bake some cookies!

Writer Pat Newcombe said...

Commiserations on your word count! Joking, of course... But it is disappointing when you set yourself a target and not make it but as you say there are a million and one things to do that are also writing related and they are nearly as important and need a chunk of your time too. I am shooting for 10,000 words this week but today has been a wash with research type stuff without which I couldn't move forward on the WIP anyway... I know how it feels...

Mara Rae said...

I made a goal of writing 10,000 words this week (which is my normal weekly goal when I'm drafting) and I only made it to 3,500. What does that make me, a fly? ;) The blasted "real job" keeps getting in the way. Sigh. Good luck this weekend - I know you'll make it!

S.P. Bowers said...

Love the quote and that's how my month has been. So many things going on, so many legitimate excuses not to write. And when I could write, I made other excuses. My only defense is that I had a great months last month. Maybe I can average the two.

Good luck on your words.

JeffO said...

Great news about the book! As for the other, it's not always about how much, but how much they count, if you know what I mean.

Delia Moran said...

I am having the very same problem. Right. This. Second. Thanks for the cookie. I needed it.

Congratulations on the ebook!!!

Nancy Thompson said...

Oh man, I TOTALLY get this! I'm the same way. It's not really procrastinating as much as it is getting the little things out of the way so the big thing has all your attention. No distractions. That's not bad. Is it? Anyway, now I'm inspired to make some chocolate chip cookies. Yum-O! Have a great weekend, Peggy!

Anonymous said...

Those cookies do look yummy. There are lots of things that I let get in the way of my writing. Have a great weekend!

prerna pickett said...

cangrats on the audio book! And as long as you're trying, it doesn't matter how many words you did or didn't write.

Carrie Butler said...

Congratulations again on the good news! That is so cool. :D

And believe me, I understand your problem. I'm juggling three writing-related projects right now, and I feel like I'm spinning my wheels on all of them. Cookie time!

Kristine said...

I like that quote! A lot.

Susan Kane said...

Looking forward to its release!

Now I have to bake something..

Victoria Smith said...

Oh my those cookies... Now I must have one! Great quote to live by and I agree. Don't stress just do what you can. You never know, tomorrow you could surpass your goal twice over!!!

Golden Eagle said...

Great quote!

Awesome about the audiobook. :)

Lydia Kang said...

So psyched about your audiobook news! And hey, wordage is wordage. Congrats!

Elizabeth Seckman said...

You're moving rapidly in the right direction, so you must be doing something right!

Unknown said...

Yay for the audiobook news! I never worry about a word deadline - for me, quality takes time...lots of time. Those cookies look WONDERFUL!! :-)

Rachelle Christensen said...

Awesome quote, great news, and I must say you rock because at least you had a word count goal this week! :) Good luck!

Tracy Campbell said...

Love Mary's quote.
I can relate.
I'm a perfectionist that LOVES to procrastinate. :)
Great post, Peggy!

Unknown said...

Great quote! Yes, I hate when I set a really great goal and then the minutes, hours and days just slip right on past.

Nicole said...

Love the quote and awesome news on the audio book!

Cindy Dwyer said...

Such great news on the audiobook! Congrats.

Tara Tyler said...

fabulous news and mind bending quote! love it all!
you will be a busy bee!!

Coleen Patrick said...

I love that quote! There are some days where I feel exhausted from being so busy, but have no idea what I've accomplished. Happy writing Peggy. :)

BECKY said...

Hey Peggy....shouldn't YOU be the voice?? If not, I'll offer my services! I'm a very good reader-out-louder person!