I've Been Away, in Disneyland!

I haven't posted in quite a while. I didn't really get on any social media last week either. Why the silence? My family and I went with my in-laws to Disneyland! It was really fun. We had five days at the Disney parks. We got hopper passes so we were able to go to both Disneyland and Disney's California Adventures. One of the coolest rides was the new Radiator Springs Racers in Cars Land in California Adventures. You get to ride through Radiator Springs, see the characters talk to you, and race a car full of other visitors to the park. We were a little bummed out our 2 and 3 year olds weren't tall enough to go on the ride but now we know why. Those six passenger cars go really fast and bank some hard turns. It's more of a thrill ride than we were expecting which was awesome and made for a really fun ride. Cars Land itself was awesome too. It's like walking into the movie. You get to walk down the road that Lightning McQueen fixes in the first Cars movie. Everything is there including all the shops of the different characters.

Another awesome thing in California Adventures was the Disney's Aladdin - A Musical Spectacular. We went because the kids like the movie, but it was actually really entertaining and surprisingly funny. The actor playing the Genie was cracking funny jokes time and time again and you even got to see the villain Jafar turn into a hugh snake and the famous flying carpet scene. Two actors sing as they are flown overhead on a carpet swinging from wires. It was impressive. Also, there's a water and light show called World of Color. This was a pretty amazing show at half an hour with smoke, fire, and fountains of water with color and scenes from favorite Disney and Pixar movies playing out on them at huge sizes. It was a sight to see. So was the fireworks show in Disneyland as you can see in the first image in this post. But the best part of all of this was being there with my family. It proved difficult at times standing in line with a 5, 3, & 2 year old but many special memories were made. Leading up to our trip we watched a ton of Disney movies and so going through Fantasyland in Disneyland was fun too, were you can go on rides like Peter Pan, Alice in Wonderland, Pinocchio and ride through classic Disney films. 

I'm sure many of you have been to Disneyland so I wont keep listing all the fun rides and shows we got to experience as a family, but it was really fun. We're all exhausted now but glad to be back home. Now I need to get back to writing, blogging, and podcasting. My Workflowy is full of tasks for these things. I have another flash fiction story to podcast, a novel to finish, and a novella to revise once I get some notes back from a few alpha readers. I'm way off track now for my word count on finishing my novel before NaNoWriMo starts, but I'm hoping for some epic sprints where I splash thousands of words on the screen and get back on track. It would be so awesome to start a new novel right on the heels of finishing one. Well, that's what I've been up to. Time to get back in the saddle. What projects are you working on? Thanks for stopping by!

Writing Every Day & Future Plans for My Fiction

I've heard a lot of writers say in interviews how important it is to write every day. I've always thought, well that would be nice, but I just don't have the time. This month I've been doing NaNoWriMo and its shown me how great writing everyday can be, and that for the most part I can make the time most days. I still don't think you need to write everyday to become a pro, but I do think it helps a lot. It's so much easier to stay in the story when you approach it again every day. Also, I am able to chip away at writing a novel. Even if I only get 500 words in on one day, three more days of that is 2K! I think this method will work much better for me than waiting for free time to sprout up, where I can feverishly write as much as possible in 1 to 2 hour spurts every other week or so. So moving forward, I am going to try and write, or edit, something every day. Once I finish this nano novel, I'm going to start editing the first novel I wrote, get it in the hands of readers, get feedback, heavily edit it multiple times and then podcast it! I can't wait to start that process, it will be very exciting. I have a lot of experience recording voices and instruments, as well as editing audio from going to art school, being in bands, and I've edited audio and video professionally at work as well. So it should be something to listen to once it's out there, though I know we'd all rather have decent audio with a great story, than a crappy story with great production, so I hope the story is what will keep people coming back for more. I'm going to say it will be late 2010, but we'll see. My wife is gearing up to coach a lot of away gymnastics meet and I might find myself with a lot of freetime on the weekends, I know exactly how I'll use that time!

Take the Time To Slow Down

If you're like me, your life is really busy, and at times a bit stressful. Do you feel like you're constantly going, or even constantly in a rush? I wanted to hit on how helpful it can be to take little breaks in your life to chill out and let yourself wind down. I've got a few ways to do this that don't include drinking alcohol, or anything else like that! So I hope they are helpful to you, and can in some way enrich your life, and help you to slow down every once in a while. A word my brother came up with that I think describes this well, is chillax. For the writers, try these when you get writers block.

To the guys reading this, you may call me metro, but I dare you to try this first one out, then come back and leave a comment and tell me what you thought. I learned this one from my wife, trust me, the candle really helps. Take a good half hour or so from your evening, kids are in bed, the house is quiet. Draw a bath, and also put a candle somewhere in the bathroom. When is the last time you actually took a bath? If you’re like me it’s been years; I'm a shower man myself. Seriously, draw a hot bath, light a candle, turn off the lights in your bathroom, close the door, and soak in the tub. Let the hot water and flickering flame melt away all of your thoughts towards things you need to do, problems in the story you're writing, or situations that are stressing you out. Try it, and I bet you'll feel unwound and relaxed afterword. I bet you'll even have more energy to go deal with those things that were bothering you.

Here is another great one. If there is a thunderstorm going on, and you have a space outside which is covered, take your wife, or go yourself if you're single, and sit under that space watching the storm. Don't let it go by while you sit inside surfing the web or watching TV, go outside. My wife and I were able to do this recently, we sat next to eachother, enjoying the sights, sounds, and eachother's company. We didn't even talk much as we watched the sky light up, and listened to the thunder rumble. We sat on our porch together, which is very small, but it was really fun. It almost felt like we were camping together, or on a date, and we were just sitting on our porch. I highly recommend this one, though you must rely on the weather for it, so you can't really go out and try it at anytime.

Another thing you can do, is purposefully take the long way round. Like me, you may feel as though you're constantly racing from one thing or place to the next. Sometimes it's nice to force yourself to slow down and relax. Take a different way, one that offers a better view. Or drive down the main roads, avoiding all those hairpin shortcuts you usually take. Use the time to enjoy the ride, music, and/or company you are with.

Here is one I know will be hard, because I've never done it myself. A friend told me that while in the grocery store, he will sometimes choose the longest line to stand in. He does this to remind himself to slow down in this very busy life. Perhaps someday I'll give this one a shot; if I ever find myself not in a hurry to get somewhere.

This one, I know you can do. Watch a movie that moves at a slow deliberate pace. I'm not talking about a boring movie, but one that's done with purpose, so that you'll pay more attention to the subtle things in the film. I recommend Capote, with Philip Seymour Hoffman. If you listen to the commentary, they say that the opening shots were designed to slow down the audience, from their busy lives. It's a shot of wheat blowing in the wind, and a train rolling down some tracks. The shots last much longer than you would expect them to, see if it doesn't slow you down a bit. 7 Pounds, K-pax, and Doubt are also good movies for this.

Finally, one of my favorites! Find a place where you can sit around a fire with friends, or even alone. You'll tend to watch the flames dance, and hear the wood crack as it burns. It a very soothing event for me. I bet you'll have much deeper conversations with your friends than you're used to. You will also probably remember that night, and keep it as a fond memory.

Personally I like the thunderstorm, sitting around a fire, movie, and bath things the most. Even though I still find the shortest grocery line, while waiting I sometimes think of the guy who stands in the longest one and am reminded to enjoy the small break, and use it as an opportunity to mentally chillax and realize that life is good, and I should take the time to enjoy it. For the writers reading this, lots of story ideas can come to your brain while you let it slow down; which is much better than getting all of those ideas at 3 in the morning, trust me!

I hope this is helpful, thanks for reading it. I will relish any comments you leave.

P.S. Listen to this sermon on sleep by C.J. Mahaney, it's really good.