Lake Atitlan, Panajachel, Guatemala

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Reflections of a Tree Hugger

Hope you all enjoyed the Blog BBQ, got full on calorie-free virtual yummy-ness and picked up some new followers. Thank you to everyone who stopped by!

The weather turned cooler on Sunday and season changes always make me reflective. So let's call today Truth Tuesday.

1. I'm not a very organized person. I spent a lot of time on Twitter this weekend, I don't know, just hanging out and tweeting nonsense that came into my head  snarky comments timely information about the publishing industry. And I noticed that I've sent over 3300 tweets since I began my account last year. Only get this-- I read it without my glasses as 33,000 tweets. Which freaked me out, thinking I had tweeted half of a novel in one year.

I even sent out a tweet about it:  Once I double my tweets I will have tweeted a novel. And I'm thinking, what the heck am I tweeting and posting and commenting with the words adding up by the thousands, when I should be writing novels? Anyway, not that I'm withdrawing from social media or anything drastic, but it was an eye-opener to analyze how I spend my time. I really must get more organized.

2. My husband and I don't work together very well. This is due to communication problems. I say, "What do you want me to help with on the website?" He says, while carrying the food scales, "I'm going to use these to weigh books."  I say, "I asked you what you want me to do, not what you are going to do."  And he responds, "But these scales are used for food so I thought I should tell you." See? Communication issues.

3. I love trees, I am a tree-hugger.  I miss the trees at our old house. There were 30 trees on that property, two-thirds of which we planted ourselves. The new house has too much grass, not enough trees.  Saturday we went and bought two 12 ft. red maples to plant in our yard. Now I only have to wait twenty years for them to grow as large as the trees at the old house. Sigh. 

What my new trees will look like some day.

4. Sometimes I get jealous. And I want to throw my laptop across the room when I read about yet another self-published e-book author selling hundreds of books a day on Kindle.

So that's me. Got any truths you want to share?

46 comments:

  1. Hi Karen .. fun .. you could have bought a few shrubs to fill the plots while the 20 years pass? Though the red maple looks spectacular!

    Enjoy your tree hugging while you calm down ..

    Cheers for now .. you don't want me to start my litany of truths! Hilary

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  2. I love trees too. My hubby and I often seem to talk at cross purposes like you & yours.
    I hope you get to see your novel published successfully like them someday too. I'm researching a new WIP because I lost impetus with the 1st one :O)

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  3. Hi Hilary, Yes I will get some shrubs too, excellent suggestion. Probably those red ones, can't think of what they're called. And yes, I would LOVE to hear your litany of truths!!

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  4. Madeleine, I think it's a man/woman thing. Wonder how any of us stay together at all sometimes!

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  5. I procrastinate.
    I research things randomly when a headline or a word catches my eye.
    I used to be decisive - now, all to often, I dither.
    I love trees, though:-)

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  6. My thoughts are as scattered as my tweets. ☺
    I love the trees until I have to rake them in Fall. We have about 12 oaks and a hickory tree.
    Loved your post, and would be so happy if you joined us next week for Monday Facts at Seams Inspired. ☺ Happy Tuesday!

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  7. Why does your husband need to weigh books on a scale? I think he's obviously got a good reason.

    I hope you get your tree someday.

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  8. Fantastic BBQ. Serious food.

    Truth today. I turned on the air conditioning again. I hate it. Makes my head swim but humidity is 100%, air temp is 85. I feel like I'm swimming outside.

    I'm sorry about not having trees. I have six, which is why I don't use the air conditioning all that much. I pray every time a tornado runs through -- don't kill my trees!

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  9. Even those little trees will put on a glorious fall show for you. If not so much this year, then next year for sure. :)

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  10. I'm sorry I had to miss the BBQ! It was so much fun last year.

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  11. I love trees!!!! And yay for your amazing BBQ!!! Thank you KarenG!!

    My honest to goodness truth as I type this: I have my word doc opened - my story (for a competition) needs editing badly but instead I am blogging! LOL! Secretly I am begging: Please someone edit my story! LOL!!

    Ok, I shall slap myself out of my procrastination - just after I visit one more blog....!!!

    Take care
    x

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  12. Laughing about your "communication issues." In our house, sometimes I think there are two entire separate conversations going on. Odd how we do that and yet occupy the same space.

    Confessions -- hmmm -- I am really scared to submit my finished manuscript. Will it be good enough? Can it ever be good enough?

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  13. I get a little jealous too. I won't lie.

    I'm trying to be organized, but it's just not happening. I'm wondering if I should just embrace my clutterness.

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  14. LOL, husbands and communication do not mix.
    I would love one of those trees in my garden. I have fruit trees who need a few more years growth.

    Confessions? I have been a little envious of folk holding their books in their hot little mitts lately. I am not normally green-eyed but it is creeping in slowly. *sigh*

    I loved the BBQ, Karen, thanks for hosting. I have a few new Important Ones and love their blogs.

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  15. Yes - I do. I'm jealous, mean-spirited and often grumpy. I'm scared, hopeful and big-hearted. I need to sit more (as in meditate) write more and organize my chaotic life.
    love you darling!

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  16. I missed the barbeque! Doh! I was madly typing all weekend... and filling out forms... bloody, stupid forms... I hate forms. I definitely think though, we can all get sucked into other stuff besides writing if we don't segregate the time. I try to be disciplined there, but it is a huge part of why I still write a lot long-hand--no computer/no temptation.

    I love trees, too... One of the reasons I love my city--Ann Arbor may have sucky weather 9 months of the year, but we GOTZ TREES! I worked on the 5th floor my first four years we were here and the city is a virtual sea of tree tops from up there.

    As to those sellers--I can feel that way. keep in mind there is the reason we hear about the successes--they are newsworthy because they are rare. Go on the Amazon discussion groups--far more people are talking about selling 'dozens' of books in a few months, rather than hundreds a day. There are exceptions--quite a few--but they are still newsworthy, which says something.

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  17. Thank you for hosting the BBQ! It was great! The red bush is called "burning bush" or cork bark euonymus and yup, it is pretty in the fall...but just so you know...the sale of it has been outlawed in several states because it is an invasive species. And my truth...well, I feel a little lost today...

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  18. LOL! I don't know if any husband and wife can work well together. Communication issues seem to be the norm. Have a great day!

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  19. I think your husband understood you just fine - he just didn't want to help! (We are the master avoiders you know.)
    And wow, I don't think I've even sent out five hundred Tweets yet...

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  20. Karen, thank you again for the BBQ! Have fun planting those trees :)

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  21. I can relate to some of your truths--Hubs and I don't work well together. There are communication issues with us too--he doesn't listen. I'm not very organized, I love trees and I get jealous when I see that someone actually finished a novel! LOL

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  22. My husband and I work well together because we try to keep it goofy. All it takes is for me to make a really excited comment about something simple and he laughs.
    And organized? I have lists for my lists. Sometimes I scare myself.

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  23. I am a tree-hugger too, Karen :) I love trees and I don't have any of my own because I rent and I own no land. But I sure as heck love looking at them. I get jealous of other people's success in the book world too. I think it's natural.

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  24. I could have written all four of your points! So funny. Unfortunately, I spend too much time on #4 ... and then dislike myself for it. I need to tattoo Hart's reminder on my brain.

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  25. After reading so many Blogs about writing, I get the itch to get something done. After about a dozen Comments, that would have been half a page, right?

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  26. Thank you for hosting the weekend blog event, Karen. Picked up many a new and interesting follower.

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  27. It's okay to love trees, I love them too. Life is cooler with trees.

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  28. Confession for the day - I ate three chocolate doughnuts and feel guilty about it. However, if I left them there, hubby would eat them when he got home and I wanted to save him from those calories.

    I love trees also, except when I have to rake up the thousands of leaves in the autumn. Oh, my breaking back!. I wish I could have someone come over and crazy glue them to their branches.

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  29. Starting over, So you made the sacrifice for the greater good. What better reason is there to eat 3 chocolate doughnuts?

    Amy, It's ok to hug them too, but best to do it at night when the neighbors can't see.

    Donna, Glad you enjoyed it and same here on the followers. I found a few new blogs that I know I'm going to love.

    Will, Interesting how those words add up. Seriously, I just throw them out there when I really need to be organizing them into something I can sell.

    Linda, Yeah, me too, and Hart's comment is the best. Why didn't I think of that before? But it makes so much sense! Hart, you are brilliant!

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  30. Love the red maples. They are my second favorite, first being sycamore's. The sycamore's around here all seem to have extreme character in their growth pattern, gnarly with lots of twists. The whole white, peeling bark thing is eye catching. And they have ebil little pricker balls once the seeds scatter. Lots of character, Sycamores.

    As for bothersome truths... 1)Procrastination is a big one. 2) Disorganization is another big one. 3) The one people rarely believe: I can't read out loud, it's an aspect of my dyslexia I never conquered. Silent reading/writing are no problem, but something happens when I try to get those words I read to come out my mouth: word salad.

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  31. Thanks for hosting a lovely party! Truly enjoyed meeting new blogging friends!
    My husband is working from home these days and boy, is it tough! Hard truth: I was thinking about renting him an office space anywhere! Love that man, but it is hard working together, for sure! Learning a lot about myself these days through it. HA!

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  32. Communication with your hubby: so funny. I could probably think of some stories, but I'm glad I don't have to. No husband means peace!
    Ann Best, Author of In the Mirror, A Memoir of Shattered Secrets

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  33. Ann, LOL to this comment. I have two divorced sisters who would agree with you most heartily.

    MaDonna, My husband has worked from home for the past 15 years. And for the past two, we have worked together. We are both learning to hold our tongues, some days easier are than others.

    Amalie, We had some neighbors with sycamore trees and they were way too anal about the pruning, trying to keep them all straight and avoid the gnarly-ness that is part of the tree's character.

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  34. I'm glad other couples have communication problems. Well, not glad you get frustrated, but glad we're not alone.

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  35. My husband and I have a big problem when it comes to the remote control. I disocvered this problem when we were at college but I thought we'd grow out of it. I'd never had to fight with someone for the remote before. Alas, eight years later and we still can't agree on what to watch at night. Good thing we agree on the bigger issues though...:)

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  36. Awe man, I missed the blog bbq? Now that school's in session I can get back into the routine of blogging again. I really missed it.

    I can relate to your tree problem. Just built my house and the trees look like a bunch of sticks. Doubt I'll live long enough to see any of them grow into the beautiful, mature trees in your photo.

    As for the jealousy...I think it's normal to feel that way. The one thing I see is you seem to have control over this emotion. Otherwise, you wouldn't be able to admit to feeling it.

    Instead of letting other people's success get me down (and I have to fight for it not to), I try to let it motivate me to do better. Use your emotions as a spring board to create. You're a good writer, Karen. No doubt you'll be one of "Those" successful authors one day. Best of luck.

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  37. Your BBQ was a blast, Karen. Thanks again for hosting!

    I can so relate to the need to get more organized. I've been going off in too many different directions lately and need to get my focus back. Social media is fun but definitely distracting sometimes!

    Loved the conversation between you and your husband LOL. :D

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  38. Glad you enjoyed the BBQ, Julie, and sorry you missed it, Andrea :(

    I'll do it again next year at this time, I like the idea of having an annual tradition to help kick off the fall blogging season.

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  39. Hey Karen. Lol I can so relate to number 2. Definite issues with communication.

    My truth? I'm a disorganized procrastinator. My notes are all over the house (surprisingly my computer is organized-I don't know how this happened.)but I actually know where everything is.

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  40. Oh, yes... I have many truths I'd love to share. I'm winging it now as my book prepares to launch into public and I have no idea what to expect. I'm scared!

    As I'm writing it's sequel, I'm freaking out because, of all the years (20+) of writing, I've never ever written a sequel!

    I'm lonely for a writer buddy who is as crazy as I am over writing. Lol...


    ♥.•*¨Elizabeth¨*•.♥

    Can Alex save Winter from the darkness that hunts her?

    YA Paranormal Romance, Darkspell coming fall of 2011!

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  41. Trees are old souls :)
    I had a giggle at your many tweets.

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  42. I'm always telling my wife what I'm doing, narrating as I go along. Sometimes its step by step. I'm not even aware I'm doing it. This annoys her. She's like, "Just do it, okay. You don't have to tell me."

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  43. I can so relate to misreading things without my glasses. 33,000 words-LOL!

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  44. I miss my tree at my old house too. His name was buddy. My daughter named him. He was a beautiful red bud.

    Wow...33,000 tweets! I've only got around 400. :(

    Truths: I tell then show in my first drafts...I have to do one review to check this on everything I write. The good thing is I know this is a problem...

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  45. oh that's a coincedence I never heard of kindle before but my friend introduced me to it today and I already ordered one A marvelos invention.
    I love trees too. Here in the park in chch we have enormous trees which are hundreds of years old and you can feel its energy.

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  46. Thank you, Karen, for hosting the BBQ. I ate ever morsel *burps* and made some new friends. Sorry I couldn't stop by sooner to thank you but tropical storm Lee's given us a few too many raindrops - and, for us, power outages.

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