Thursday, September 4, 2008

The Great Observer

A few observations about revisions, critique groups, tree pose, and competitiveness:

1) Routine, kids at school, and the perfect writing nook makes for great work

After three days of holding office hours at The Vault, I'm doing well! Even being productive and moving toward that goal of finishing the revision by the end of the month. Yow, yow, yow! And, I have such great support there, too. The lovely ladies of the Vault (I think should start referring to them as the LLOV) are keeping me in line. They check in on me and take the task of making sure I'm not blogging, emailing, or Facebooking while I'm there very seriously. Very!


2) Critique Groups Rock!

I love my critique group. A great one is hard to find, so I'm grateful for the group of woman that I have the pleasure of meeting with every two weeks. We all need cheerleaders and they certainly are mine. Thanks, you guys! The other night they said I inspire them. ME! Ah, shucks. How great does it feel to hear words like that from people you feel have more talent in their pinky finger than you have in your whole body?


3. Falling Over in Tree Pose is like Bad Writing


(This is NOT me, but I do do Tree Pose that perfectly, AND that is how I wear my hair when I do.)


I do yoga a couple times a week and every time I'm in tree pose (well, maybe not every time, but a lot) I think about how similar balance poses are to writing. ANY time I'm in a balancing pose and I start to think about it, not just be it, I lose my balance and fall over (and everyone sees me or at least that's how it feels). I don't know about you, but the same can happen when I write. If I try too hard, it's obvious. The writing tips, it's off balance with the truth of the story, and it's obvious to anyone reading.


4. Are you a great observer? Are you?

My very smart friend sent this clip to me so I could test my observation skills and I found it FASCINATING. Take the challenge yourself. Do! Something about me; I am a bit (okay, maybe more than a bit) ultra-competitive and I was determined to get the right answer. I'd love to hear about your experience, so leave me a comment. Let me know if you got the right answer!















I'll tell you how I did in comments, too! See you there.






















5 comments:

Cuppa Jolie said...

Grrr! The gaps...the gaps. Where do they come from? Help me, blogger friends. They are not there when I'm creating a post but as soon as I publishing...huge gaps.

Hmmm?

Cuppa Jolie said...

How did I do?
Well, I'm certain I counted the correct number of passes, BUT I did not see that gorilla. Yikes. Does this mean I'm uber focused? Ahh, the psychology of the human mind is captivating.

Anonymous said...

Ah...the gaps are a curious thing, but you've got be ready to face such things in "the mysterious world of blogging" -- quote by yours truly.
I've always wanted to get into yoga...at least until I decided bogwa would be more fun.Personnally, I can't seem to understand how putting yourself in painful, difficult positions is relaxing at all.
I wish I had a critique group!

Unknown said...

I counted 17! Although, I will have to honestly say that I didn't see the ape! Weird how our brains work? I just thought the damn black tshirted kids were getting in my way. I think I might be too focused as well! Love this one though!

Anonymous said...

I did see the ape, but I think I've seen this experiment before, probably in a psych class way back when.