The Fates must have laughed themselves sick when I posted that whine about other people not updating their blogs. Because here I am, a month after my last post, with nothing in between.
I didn't realize until I logged on that it had been that long. Yeepers! Time really does fly when you have a heartbeat. I don't even know what I've done in that month, except go to my RWA chapter's annual conference.
That was a lot of fun--Jennifer Crusie and Bob Mayer spoke, giving the keynote speech and three workshops. Jenny's such a tremendous teacher that I'd go hear her anywhere, but I'd never heard Bob before. He had some really interesting things to say, which means I'd better make a note to go to his workshop at RWA's National Conference in Atlanta this summer.
I didn't realize until I logged on that it had been that long. Yeepers! Time really does fly when you have a heartbeat. I don't even know what I've done in that month, except go to my RWA chapter's annual conference.
That was a lot of fun--Jennifer Crusie and Bob Mayer spoke, giving the keynote speech and three workshops. Jenny's such a tremendous teacher that I'd go hear her anywhere, but I'd never heard Bob before. He had some really interesting things to say, which means I'd better make a note to go to his workshop at RWA's National Conference in Atlanta this summer.
~*~*~*~
Jenny and Bob are in the middle of a book tour, promoting their first collaboration, Don't Look Down. It's an excellent book, exactly what they're calling it (romantic adventure)--well-written and strongly plotted, which is pretty much what I expected. Some readers, expecting a Jennifer Crusie novel, have been disappointed, and I have to say, if you go into it with that expectation, you will be disappointed. This is a different animal--in the same family, because it's Jenny, but not the same species.
~*~*~*~
I took the day off from work because I work two blocks from the finish line of the Boston Marathon, and it gets kind of crazy down there. Commuting is an adventure--the subway is jammed with tired-looking people wrapped in foil blankets--and there are mobs on the sidewalks. Everyone's very well-behaved--or at least they have been when I have worked Marathon Monday (Patriot's Day, which commemorates Lexington and Concord)--but it's still more than I want to deal with if I don't have to. Thanks to my co-worker, Amy, who was willing to man the phones and e-mail alone, I didn't have to.
The Red Sox play on Marathon Monday, too, with the game starting at 11:00 AM so the baseball crowds can dissipate before there are a lot of runners coming through Kenmore Square. I watched a little of the game, cutting between it and some other things I can't now remember. I still haven't gotten used to the new lineup--there are too many people I don't recognize. It used to be I knew who everyone was by sight; now I only recognize Youkilis, Nixon, Varitek, Ortiz and Ramirez. Oh, and Mike Lowell. I recognize him too.
I miss the familiar faces...but I think I'm going to love the new lineup. I'm no baseball expert, so it kind of surprises me that I can see a difference in the team's fielding. I'm seeing plays being made that I didn't know were supposed to be made. So now the complaints about sloppy defense make sense.
In other sports news, I'm sorry the Patriots traded Vinatieri and McGinest; I hope they won't be sorry too. (I'm just being sentimental.)
And, finally, Josh Beckett (new Red Sox pitcher) said something after Tuesday's opener that's sticking with me. He had a rough first inning--36 pitches--and when he was asked about it, he said you just have to execute your pitches. When someone asked him something about results, he said (as I remember it), "Worrying about results corrupts the process." I've been thinking about it in terms of weight control and in terms of writing.
My focus needs to be on what I'm doing, on the doing, and not on what'll happen because of it. Yeah, results matter, but there's a kind of assumption built into this, that if you focus on the process, the process will take care of the results. Do it right, do it mindfully (which is, really, all you can do) and the results will be as they should be.
And that's my Monday ramble.
The Red Sox play on Marathon Monday, too, with the game starting at 11:00 AM so the baseball crowds can dissipate before there are a lot of runners coming through Kenmore Square. I watched a little of the game, cutting between it and some other things I can't now remember. I still haven't gotten used to the new lineup--there are too many people I don't recognize. It used to be I knew who everyone was by sight; now I only recognize Youkilis, Nixon, Varitek, Ortiz and Ramirez. Oh, and Mike Lowell. I recognize him too.
I miss the familiar faces...but I think I'm going to love the new lineup. I'm no baseball expert, so it kind of surprises me that I can see a difference in the team's fielding. I'm seeing plays being made that I didn't know were supposed to be made. So now the complaints about sloppy defense make sense.
In other sports news, I'm sorry the Patriots traded Vinatieri and McGinest; I hope they won't be sorry too. (I'm just being sentimental.)
And, finally, Josh Beckett (new Red Sox pitcher) said something after Tuesday's opener that's sticking with me. He had a rough first inning--36 pitches--and when he was asked about it, he said you just have to execute your pitches. When someone asked him something about results, he said (as I remember it), "Worrying about results corrupts the process." I've been thinking about it in terms of weight control and in terms of writing.
My focus needs to be on what I'm doing, on the doing, and not on what'll happen because of it. Yeah, results matter, but there's a kind of assumption built into this, that if you focus on the process, the process will take care of the results. Do it right, do it mindfully (which is, really, all you can do) and the results will be as they should be.
And that's my Monday ramble.
2 comments:
Fret not, Katy darlin'. Even if you take six months to blog again, you are worth waiting for. :) But don't take me up on it cuz I'd miss you if you did.
This:
"Worrying about results corrupts the process." My focus needs to be on what I'm doing, on the doing, and not on what'll happen because of it. Yeah, results matter, but there's a kind of assumption built into this, that if you focus on the process, the process will take care of the results. Do it right, do it mindfully (which is, really, all you can do) and the results will be as they should be."
...reminds me very much of when Barbara Samuels was talking about the Zen concept of just washing our bowls. Don't look at the bowls lining up behind us or the bowls we've already washed, just focus on the one bowl we're supposed to wash and do that the best we can.
It is SUCH an important concept for me.
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