Motivation

There was a time when I didn't get the concept that motivation comes after the fact.
In other words, you must force yourself to do a chore the first time and then the, feeling of success you get gives you the motivation to do it again.

I proved it to myself again this morning.  Being obsessed with getting my book Tattered Wings published, I find myself sitting hour after hour.  I read it.  I reread it.  I make changes.  Then I send out query letters and pages to prospective agents. When I look up at the clock it is noon.  My pj's are still on and I have downed a pot of coffee.

The result of this daily behavior is stress and sore muscles.  This morning I changed my routine.  I got up, did the minimum chores I could ( no easy task on a 100 acre farm) and headed to the gym. Twenty minutes on the treadmill, ten minutes on the StairMaster and a variety of arm weights, helped melt the tension away.

Now, I find myself looking forward to going to the gym tomorrow.  When I sit five hours working on my novel,  I can smile. I did accomplish something for my health today.  Tomorrow I will work on leg machines and increase my times on the tread mill and Stair Master( I didn't want to throw my body into shock on the first day).

Do something today for yourself.  Sure, I am writing my book for me as much as anything (actually it is to get rid of those voices in my head).  But, I am not doing it as the expense of my health.
Next I am going to tackle my ice cream obsession.

Tattered Wings, off the computer and into the world

Today, I finished the final rewrite on my novel Tattered Wings.
It will go to my friend and friendly editor Marlee Yant in the next few days.
Tattered Wings is a timely story about Kenny Wallinger and Jeffrey Stainhour.
They are two strangers brought together by a vicious murdering spree perpetrated by sixteen year old Kenny.
Jeffrey, a successful middle-aged attorney, knows nothing about criminal law yet finds himself center stage when he defends the boy.
There are stumbling blocks.
Everyone knows Kenny is guilty. Even Kenny does not deny his own guilt.
Our story is about our attorneys personal life, which falls apart and his obsession with the whys and hows of the murders.
What kind of a person walks into a school and opens fire on innocents he does not know?
Does it matter if it is a shopping mall, a college or a political rally? This has been going on for years.
The first recorded mass murder was in the 1800's and was committed by a Native American.
What or who pushed Kenny?  Is he insane? Were there indications he was capable of the horrors he achieved?
We find out.
Along the way we meet the Sister he terrorized.  We meet his religiously fanatic and insane birth Mother.
Kenny's birth Father has always loved him, yet being a coward , he never stood up to anyone.
And we can't leave out Shawna, Kenny's horribly abusive Step-Mother.\
As Jeffrey pokes and prods into the case, his marriage of over twenty years falls apart.
This novel is told in 90000 words of fast paced prose.
It answers questions, but creates some also.
The characters, although fictional, are people you will care about and others you will loathe.
I had no idea when I began it, someone would take the lives of twenty beautiful children in Connecticut.
God Bless them and those left behind.
Susan.