Photo Friday - Furry cuteness edition

One of my students has a sugar glider as a pet, and he brought her to school today to make new friends.  She's pretty adorable...

She has a little pouch she rides around in, hammock-style.

Who can resist almond butter?

Do you have any pets?

Twitter Chat!

Image credit

Want to talk to some of the fabulous authors who write for the Harlequin Romantic Suspense line? Interested in finding out what books are coming out this year?  Join us on Twitter for a chat!  Here are the details:

HRS Twitter Party

Thursday, February 13^th  (TOMORROW!)

1:30-2:30 EST

#HarlequinRomSuspense

Hope to 'see' you guys there! :)

Monday Motivation

Celebrate the Small Things and Photo Friday - Snow Day!

Normally, winter in Texas isn't much to write home about.  And I like it that way.  I grew up here, and am a Texas girl through and through.  This white stuff makes me uneasy.

You may recall we had a big ice storm here about a month or so ago (I know my Northern readers are laughing at me and my classification of 'big' ice storm, but when you live in a place that doesn't regularly get winter weather, a few inches of ice is a Big Deal).  I thought we were done with frozen stuff, but I guess not.  Today, we got snow:

My driveway, before I had to
head in to work.

It wasn't a ton of snow--just enough to cover everything in a soft blanket of white.  It's really pretty to see the contrast with some of our red-leafed plants:

My evening classes have been canceled, and I don't have classes on Friday, so I'm going to stay home, drink hot tea, and write!

How was your week?

If you've been reading my blog, you know that Fridays are reserved for a post where I celebrate the little things that have happened during the week.  This is a blog hop hosted by VikLit, and it's one of my favorite blogging things to do.  I encourage you to check out her blog and the full list of participants, because who doesn't love reading about good things?

IWSG - February edition: It's the little things...

It's the first Wednesday of the month, which means it's time for IWSG! This hop is the brainchild of Alex J. Cavanaugh, and it's a great way for writers to encourage and support each other--check out the website or Alex's blog for more info!

This month I want to talk about motivation and reward.  I'm on a deadline for book 3, which has provided plenty of motivation, believe me.  But as I worked, I needed to find a way to measure my progress so I would know if I was on track, ahead of schedule (yeah, right!) or falling behind.

Basically, I took the number of words I had left to write, divided them by the number of days until my deadline, and voila!  I had my daily word count.  Simple, right?  I know, I know--you're shaking your head right now, thinking when is she going to get to something good?

I took it one step further.  I made a spreadsheet that calculated the number of words I had to write based on my current day's progress.  If I had an awesome day, word-wise, my minimum number of words for the next day decreased.  If I didn't get far, the number went up.  That was quite helpful when it came to planning my writing and figuring out how I was going to fit things in with the day job.  Before, I was doing this by the seat of my pants--I knew if I had a busy day coming up, I'd have to write more on other days to make up for a loss in productivity.  But having the actual numbers in front of me made it easier to see exactly how my project was coming along in the face of a looming deadline.

Finally, I wrote down my goals.  Every day, I wrote down the targeted word count, followed by my actual word count.  If I hit or exceeded my goal, I got a sticker for that day (thus rewarding my inner 5 year old. Because who doesn't love stickers?!).  Here's a picture of what my January looked like:

Yay for stickers!

There are a few things I hope you notice about this picture.  The first is that I have a lot of stickers.  That's because I used them as motivation.  On days when I was tired, when I couldn't think of the words, when I wanted to do anything but sit in front of the computer--those are the days I motivated myself by looking at the calendar and thinking "I got a sticker yesterday--I want to keep that streak going!"  It's a small thing, but having that tangible reminder was powerful for me.  So I forced myself to write, and you know what?  The words came.  And they weren't all crap.  Yes, there will be edits, but at least now I have something to edit!

The other thing I hope you notice is that there are days when I don't have a sticker.  But look closely: I still have a word count for those days (with one exception--we all have bad days!). Even though I didn't make my goal, I put words down on the page, and it got me a little closer to the end. Every little bit helps.

So, fellow writers, I encourage you to find your own motivation, and to reward yourself when you meet your goals, even if it is just a sticker on a page (I would have used chocolate, but I want to live long enough to write more stories!).  I've told you what works for me, but now I want to hear from you.  If you have a tried and true strategy, please share it in the comments!

Are you ready for April?

I know it's only February, but April will be here sooner than you think.  I just signed up for the A to Z Challenge.  This will be my second year to participate, and I'm looking forward to it!  It's a lot of work, but a lot of fun as well.

I'm still working on my theme for this year, but I have a few ideas I'm considering.  What about you?  Are you going to participate in the challenge?  If so, what's your theme?

Monday Motivation - What are you going to create?