Mar
Planning by Sela Carsen
For once, this isn’t necessarily about plotters vs pantsers.
No indeed. It’s about planning.
Some of us are natural planners. Haven is a planner. Thank goodness. She e-mailed me twice about this blogging and I’m still late with it.
In fact, most of my good friends are planners.
They’re goal setters, they’re dependable, they’re room moms.
Not me. Winging it is a way of life for me.
For instance, we recently moved. No. That’s not quite accurate. We recently turned our lives upside down.
- Dh retired from the Air Force.
- We put our house up for sale. It sold in less than two weeks and he negotiated the deal over the phone while he was at RWA with me.
- He got just the right job offer – literally – the day before the movers came to pack us out.
- He moved here and started the new job while looking for a house for us to buy.
- The kids and I moved into a long stay hotel near their school for 3 weeks.
- He found a house, so we all packed up, drove halfway across the country, and moved into another long stay hotel – not near their new school – for 2 weeks.
- We moved in with no furniture. God better love the Army because no one else does. They pulled a “we know you’ve moved, but we can’t be bothered to deliver your goods for another two weeks” thing.
But you know what? No big deal. We ate off paper plates. I went to the laundromat where, btw, I got some quality writing time. The kids like their new school. They’ve made new friends. Dh likes his job. It’s all good.
I say, embrace the chaos. Make it your own.
Because from that maelstrom springs life itself. The wellspring of ideas is no peaceful rill. It’s a raging river! Jump in and hang on for the ride, baby! Creativity isn’t a gentle rainshower. You have to stand outside naked in the storm and let it pour down – then grab what looks good.
Chase the tornado. You never know when the idea you need the most – the idea that is exactly the right thing at the right time – is going to come blowing by. Put aside those plans sometimes and…
Just live.
Sela Carsen has pantsed her way through all her writing thus far. Her first novella, Not Quite Dead from Samhain Publishing, recently placed 3rd in the RIO Award of Excellence for Best Debut Book of 2006. She has several other stories published and more forthcoming. You can find out more about her writing at her website, www.selcarsen.com
What a great post! I’m at a juncture in my life where I don’t know exactly what’s going to happen. Though I like to plan certain aspects of my life, sometimes when you plan too many things, you’ll miss out on great opportunities (including writing). Sounds like you were meant to go somewhere else in life. Congratulations!
March 23rd, 2007 at 4:54 amOh My Gosh, Sela!! I hadn’t read this before I posted it. Shame on you for telling everyone what a control freak I am hehe.
Of course those that know me, KNOW I plan everything. I’m not happy unless I have some sort of order, even in those chaos moments. Now don’t get me wrong, in certain areas of my life I do the “devil-may-care” attitude, if I didn’t I wouldn’t be married to DH. Also, I started this group with that attitude as well, but it quickly came under a control list haha.
Ps. I know this isn’t about being a plotter/panster, but in writing, I’m totally a panster, which is totally against my planner ways.
March 23rd, 2007 at 5:47 am“I say, embrace the chaos. Make it your own.” & the rain….
My God woman… you are SO inspiring!!!! & that is quite possibly the best advice I could have right now, and advice I can pass onto someone else~! Thank you!!!
I am so glad you are in a house now! I hope you feel settled soon. If you have a chance, can you tell us about Not Quite Dead? I Loooove the title.
March 23rd, 2007 at 7:13 amOT: Emily I commented on your post from yesterday, I just wanted you to check it out :).
March 23rd, 2007 at 7:14 amI try to plan but, you know, it doesn’t always work. I can so relate to your moving story. When we put our house on the market a couple years ago, houses in our area were taking a couple years to sell, so we figured we had plenty of time. Wrong…like your, it sold right away and we had to scramble to find a place to live. Talk about winging it! And then we had to sift through 26 years worth of stuff!
And wasn’t it John Lennon who said, “Life is what happens while you’re busy making other plans.” ?
Enjoyed your post, Sela.
March 23rd, 2007 at 7:34 amWow! Talk about riding the tornado!
Fabulous post, Sela. And congrats again on that excellent RIO finish.
March 23rd, 2007 at 8:40 amGlad y’all enjoyed it!
Haven, people like me LOVE people like you! We’d never get anywhere on time without you to keep us on track!
Laura, Not Quite Dead is a paranormal romantic comedy about a, er, not quite dead guy (*gg*) and a high school guidance counselor looking for someone nice and normal and stable. But hey. What’s a hundred years or so between friends, right?
We finally got moved in around mid-November, but it was quite a ride. I still have boxes to unpack — thank heaven for big basements — but we’re home now and likely to stay here for quite some time. A shock to my gypsy ways, let me tell you!
March 23rd, 2007 at 8:50 am“God better love the Army because nobody else does”…ha! I love it. And how ’bout THEIR planning skills, eh? LOL
March 23rd, 2007 at 10:20 amHi Sela and welcome to RI! We’re so glad to have you with us today.
Congrats on your successful move. Moving to the next state with two little ones was tough enough for our family…I can only imagine what it would be like to move across country. Wow…God bless ya!
Thanks for the tidbits about NOT QUITE DEAD. I’m curious…What is next for you?
March 23rd, 2007 at 11:04 amNext? Well, I just sold another story to Samhain for their Celtic Lore anthology. Heart of the Sea is about a cursed Selkie who finds just the right man on the one day she’s allowed to be human again. I’m revising right now and it should come out in e-book and in paperback in November.
I also have a historical short story with Forbidden Publications called The Virgin Courtesan. And I’m part of the Freya’s Bower anthology, Dreams & Desires, that Amanda talked about here a few days ago. My story there is called The Christmas Prize.
March 23rd, 2007 at 2:15 pmBTW, I can totally recommend The Virgin Courtesan (sorry but it’s my favorite of them all hehe). See there are perks to designing websites…you get to read the tid-bits before most others hehe.
March 23rd, 2007 at 2:28 pmOh I know chaos. I live in it right now. My life has gone all topsy turvy the last few months. Everything I own is in boxes and I don’t have a proper place to live, in another week I’m officially unemployed (I wasn’t fired, I had to quit for health reasons) and I don’t exactly know how to fix it?
I don’t like chaos. I do with certain things.. like.. my desk.. with all the notes and pens and pieces of paper and everything I like to call it ‘orderly chaos’. It looks a mess, but I generally know where to find everything.
In general though I like some kind of settled environment. But with writing it’s great fun to just go with the flow sometimes and see what happens. I do generally plan my plot, but I find a lot of times the scenes don’t turn out the way I’d planned anyway, I change them as I’m writing them - going with the flow - and usually it turns out better
Thanks for dropping by today Sela and for an inspiring post!
March 23rd, 2007 at 5:03 pmExcellent post, Sela.
March 23rd, 2007 at 7:38 pmYou’re so funny. I believe I have planner tendencies, but I like to think I’m flexible.
Your adventure sounds like the one that brought me to Florida courtesy of the Air Force.
You’ve gotta love the long stay hotels. I hope you stayed at the one that serves you breakfast everyday and dinner four nights a week.
Chase the tornado is great advice.
Lara
Yes, I have to agree that some chaos is a good way to shake up things from the humdrum.
March 23rd, 2007 at 10:00 pm*snort* Lara. No. This was the kind with the kitchenette and the housekeeping that’s supposed to come in once a week, but never quite makes it.
Thanks to everyone who chatted with me! I had a great time here. Enjoy lassoing your twisters!
March 24th, 2007 at 7:10 amI am right there with you Sela. Pantser all the way. I am starting to write longer stories now and finding that I may…dare I say it?….need an outline! What will I do? I may have to make friends with a planner.
March 24th, 2007 at 11:29 pm