Catching Idle Butterflies

The things I get myself into

190/50,000

This is a continuation of "Up, down, and sideways" . I'm still excited about participating, but I also realized just how many other things I need to get done. Many I had mentioned in the previous entry, but I forgot about the three other monologues I need to write within the next two weeks. Plus I've started writing the story I had mentioned in "Shining light into the Dark" .

Then, on top of all that, I heard back from my mentor about the two chapters I had sent him. For the details, see "Will this ride never end?"  in my publication journal.

I hope you don't mind me making you jump around so much with all these links, but I'm too lazy to retype it all. Plus, if you already know what I'm talking about, I've just saved you five minutes of having to wade through all the repetition.

So how do I plan to get all this done? Yesterday, I wrote down my schedule, looking for stray hours I can write in. I was amazed just how much time I had, and how much I've been wasting for so long.

That's why I love deadlines. I'm a procrastinator, a time-waster. Knowing when something needs to get done prevents me from continuing to spend my time as if I will never run out.

And in case you were wondering about the numbers at the top, that's how many words I've written on my new novel. It will be kept up to date with every new blog entry as March . . . marches along. It's a bit small so far, but then again, I only spent a half an hour on it this morning.

Change of subject.

I received another review on "Selling Me Short." I admit I hesitated to read it considering how much work needs to be done to it. I thought, "Oh great, someone else had pointed out all the flaws. Do I really want to hear it one more time?"

I needn't have worried. The reviewer enjoyed my article and even considered it insightful. I'm not intending to brag but highlight something else he (I'm guessing on the gender) said: "I am a Muslim and I could appreciate a lot of what you were saying. I found the one thing that hindered my enjoyment of this piece was phrases like this 'I think God had had enough' - those parts didn't sit well with me. In Islam we don't talk about God as if he had human qualities, and I guess the personal touch here seemed awkward to me."

I found that very interesting, and likely one of the fundamental differences between Islam and Christianity. Christians see God, especially Jesus, as being as human as we are, able to relate to even our day-to-day living, not just the big stuff we have to deal with.

But more than that, I was impressed with this reviewer's ability to look past religious differences and find common ground.

Something I know I need to work on.