I Love Canada

I love living in Canada. I do. I’ve traveled to many places throughout the world. Not to sound partial or prideful in my speech, but my Canada has to rank as the most beautiful place to live and raise a family in the world. The wonderful thing about living where I do is that lots of woods and farms surround my home. Lots.

Now, the town where I live is an old colonial town. It came to being back in the 1800’s, during the war with the States. Yes, we were the red coats. As a trading post, well-to-do’s spent much of their hard-earned cash here on business between the other towns and the city—the city being Toronto. Much of that philosophy has carried over to today. Although our town is small, it has a huge and dramatic influence throughout York Region, where many of our townships lie.

Living where I live, I enjoy the four seasons. Our summers are hot and our winters are cold. Much of what we go through as citizens in our country we take for granted. For instance, almost every family on my street has their kids in hockey. It’s the Canadian way. Another example of being Canadian is our Hockey Night in Canada program on the CBC on Saturday nights. Most, if not all the guys sit around their TV sets to enjoy the great game of hockey, with lots of beer for the taking, railing on the Toronto Maple Leafs.

I’m not one of those guys. Never been. Never will. I’d rather watch a movie on a Saturday night, with lots of action and plenty of drama to boot than watch a hockey game. Sorry guys. That’s the way I’ve always been. That’s the way it is.

Nevertheless, getting back to my town…lots of woods and farms surround my home. I enjoy the autumn and wintertime because of the joy it brings me when planning activities. I get a thrill when I’m in amongst our townsfolk. I don’t know how to describe it. There’s a camaraderie with each other, knowing that we all know each other simply by a gesture, a smile or a nod. It’s difficult not going to a grocery store, library or gas station without greeting someone I know. DIFFICULT. Equally difficult is NOT stopping for a conversation to find out how the family is doing or how nine-year-old Chester’s doing with his piano lessons or his weekend hockey games.

I enjoy being Canadian. I wouldn’t want anything else in a hundred or a thousand years. It’s who I am. I enjoy our hard, HARD, winters. I love our temperate, mild autumns. And, there’s nothing like having fun on a Saturday night with the neighbors and their kids during hockey season.

Yes, this is not a writing-centric post. But it does give you a glimpse—a bird’s eye view—of where I’m coming from to understand where I fit in the big scheme of things.

Oh, I also enjoy cooking—lots of cooking, living a wholesome life based on the principles laid out in the bible…and I take pride in saying I’m Canadian!

Die, Prograstination, Die!

Oh, I’m in a serious rant mood this morning. Hide your kids, dish out the popcorn ‘cause this will go down in the history books as a George Carlin special without the cursing.

How many of us have fallen to procrastination? Yeah, we’re talking about twenty-two days after our New Year’s resolutions going up in smoke procrastination. I have. I’m sure a number of my writer friends have too. What does it take?

Does this sound familiar? “After the new year, I’m going to rock it. I’m going to start writing my book, edit it and query it to have a publishing contract by the end of the year.” One little thing there, cowboy. You’ve got to write the thing first before thinking about that pot of gold at the end of the rainbow (yeah, it’s cliché. My blog, my rules). What’s it gonna take to get the wheels in motion so that this time next year we’re all not staring down the same black hole we call a WIP? And I’m not talking about the World Institute of Pain either. Or the Weatherization and Intergovernmental Program. There are websites for those. Go there if you still don’t get it!

What can we do to beat this procrastination bug? Besides smacking each other upside the head—here’s a list. And, guys, this is not a beauty pageant. For Pete’s sake, I could have added writing in my underwear as a point on the list. So take the points I have, add to them and write your own blog post about them. There’s no right or wrong to this stuff.

Defeating Procrastination

1. For friggin’ sakes, write the bloody thing! Ever use these excuses?
   
   
   • Oh my, I had a terrible week. I don’t have it in me to write today.
   • When I get a chance, I’ll do it tomorrow. Too busy today.
   • Too late to do anything, now. I have to get up and go to work tomorrow morning.
   • I’m having company over.
   • My dog’s having surgery.
   • You’re kidding, right? It’s grocery and laundry day.
   • I gotta feed the hog.
   
   Sit down and write. You say you’re going to do something. Do it! Don’t use every excuse thinking you can delay the inevitable. You can’t. Time does NOT stand still. If you say it—DO IT! Otherwise, it makes you look like a liar and a fool to everyone around you. Most of all, you’re lying to yourself in a big, big way.
   
   
2. Get off the social networking sites! Yeah, you heard me. Agents don’t care how many followers you have on Twitter. Or if you’re nice to everyone around you ‘cause you respond to every tweet that mentions your name. Or if you have a bazillion Likes on Facebook. Or if you get everyone from your aunt Jennie from Utah (no offense to Utahns) to comment on your blog. Agents. Don’t. Care.
   
   Agents want to see a well-written query and an amazing first three chapters to your book. That’s it. Unless you’re Brad Pitt or Lady Gaga, you’ll have to impress the agents with your writing—not your social standing in this popularity contest we all call “Social Networking” on Twitter, Facebook, Blogger, Tumbler, blah-blah-blah…
   
   They don’t care. Learn it. Know it. Live it.
   
   
3. Still not convinced?
   
   What’s the dearest thing in your life? Imagine it taken away from you. That’s what every day of procrastination does. It bleeds you until the desire you had of wanting to do good is gone. And there’s nothing left recognizable of what used to bring you the most joy in life. Scary, huh? It’s sad, too—to see that first love disappear from neglect.
   
   I’ll bet you the best ideas in the world are those ideas that never made it to drawing board ‘cause of procrastination. I don’t even want to imagine the implications that statement has to science and technology.
   
   Look out the window. Imagine where you want to be in five years and it will be so. You can’t do it without working. You gotta work hard at it. It’s not going to be easy, but no one ever said success is easy, right?

Time to kick butt and chew bubble gum…and I’m fresh outta gum. Rant over.