I’m re blogging for Throwback Thursday. As an update, I’ve incorporated my writers notebook into my bullet journal. It’s working out well for me and my lower back.

Hello! I know this is no surprise, and I’ve been talking about it for a very long, long time, but I am so excited to share this with you today.

Days and Other Stories, my very first collection of short fiction, is now available for pre sale! It took a lot of work, and time, and stress, but it is finally done!

I wanted to take a moment to thank all of you who read Paper Beats World every week. Without you, I don’t know that I would have the courage to have come this far.

Now, some of these stories you’ve seen here before, but some you haven’t. I wanted to keep at least a few exclusive. Here’s a list of the stories you will find.

Warm

Pedestrian

Busy Day

The Pusher and Mrs Pauley

Letter On The Bar

Family

Days

None of them are long. One of them is flash fiction, under 100 words. The tie through is that each story shows a day, or maybe even a moment in the life of a very different person. Some of the stories are literary, some are fantasy. At least one is horror. I consider this the equivalent of the sampler I never made.

Just like when I published Thirty Days, I wanted to give everyone a chance to pre order it for less than it will be after February 26, when it comes out. The offer code is dayspre. Here is a link to the sale page.

I really hope you enjoy Days, and Other Stories. I had a lot of fun writing it.

All of this planning that we do; the lists, calendars, planners, they all come down to the same thing. We are trying to not live in reaction to life. That’s what it really does come down to. When we plan, we are saying to ourselves and the universe, “I have no intention of just taking life as it comes. I know what I want, and I’m going to get it. Here, then, are the steps I intend to take, to get it.” That’s why we love planning.

And so we make our plans. We make plans based on what can we do this year, and what can we do this month, this week, today, right now! And that’s where the universe gets back at us. Right now is out to get us.

Surprises don’t wreck your plans for the year, they wreck today’s plan. (Unless it’s a pretty damn big surprise.) You’ve got this best laid plan for your time, and it goes awry.

Maybe if it happens once, you’re okay. You bounce back the next day like it’s no thing. Maybe you’re able to use the advice from last week to jump right back into things.

Or maybe not.

When life has happened too many days or weeks in a row, that’s when you need your long game plan to keep you steady. Knowing where I’m going is the thing that’s helped me the most when the days are too short by far.

Wait, you don’t have a long game plan? Well, then we should make you one.

Tools you will need

Okay, this is totally up to you. I wrote my 2016 five year plan in Evernote, but last year I wrote it out on paper and decorated it with washi tape.

Step one- Daydream. Where would you want to be in five years, if everything went just as you wanted it to. Personally, in five years I’d like to be writing full time.

Step Two- What’s it going to take to get there? Be realistic. My dream is hard. I make a decent amount of money at my day job, and I’ll need to make a lot more than I’m making now writing to even go back to part time. But, that’s why it takes five years, not one.

Step Three- Take inventory of where you are right now. Are you making any progress toward this goal? What is it? No judgements, this is just a check in.

Step Four- This is a fun step. Figure out where you’ll be in five years if you keep doing just what you’re doing now. I honestly don’t mean this to be a criticism! There are probably lots of things you’re doing now that will lead to great things in five years if you keep at it. For instance, let’s say you’re currently spending thirty minutes a day writing. Well, what could you have done in five years? Quite a lot, I’d imagine. Probably at least three books.

But take an honest look at the end result of that list. Will you be satisfied with yourself in five years if that’s where you are?

Step Five- Break down your goals over the next five years. Personally, I intend to write five new Woven novels, publish three to four books a year, and pay my rent with writing money. That’s it, just my rent. That’s the goal for the next five years.

More than that, though, think about where you really want to be in five years. Do you want to still live where you’re living? Do you want to work where you’re working? I don’t. The house is nice, but I have dreams of living in Pittsburgh and writing full time.

Step Six- What do you need to change about how you live? That’s kind of what this comes down to. Where you are now is a direct result of how you’ve lived up until today. You’re not going to get somewhere different by living the same way. Maybe you need to work harder at your writing. Maybe you need to start saving money,(me). Maybe you need to get your work out more and stop being scared of that.

Step Seven- This doesn’t have anything to do with writing, but I’m turning thirty this year and I’m starting to worry more about my health. How old are you going to be in five years? I’ll be thirty five. I’m starting to consider what I need to do to be healthy in thirty five years. Take my vitamins, get exercise. Do yoga so I can still tie my own shoes. Attend my doctors appointments, and quit ducking them like a punk.

So, your actionable item for the week is to make your own five year plan. Don’t make it just for your writing. Make it for your life.

Then, don’t get bogged down by your weekly lists. It’s okay if things didn’t go according to your plan. Keep your eyes on the long game, because that’s the one that matters.

Science Fiction being kind of my thing recently, I found Analog while looking for something new to read. I love the covers, they’re very old school. (Yes, I’m a little bit hipster. Excuse me while I drink a Starbucks Pikes Place and write in my Moleskine.)

Genre- Science Fiction

Word Count- 2,000 to 7,000 for short fiction, but they also take novellas with word counts of 10,000 to 40,000

Sub Date- Any time

Wait time- Up to four months

Payout- Eight to ten cents per word, up to 7,000 words

Rights- Not listed

Here is your link to the full submission guidelines.

If you want even more markets, subscribe to The Road To Full Time Newsletter, and get the ever growing list of short fiction markets, updated every month.

For your Throwback Thursday reading fun!

Hey, guys. This story is another that will be included in the upcoming book, Days and Other Stories. I hope you like it. Feel free to leave a comment below.

Marcey-

It was warm out finally, and thank God for that, Marcey thought.  At 72, the cold was no fun.  But finally the winter chill had gone, the wet grass was dried by the late May sun, and she could take her work outside.  She packed up her knitting supplies, and took herself down to the park.
She bought herself a cup of coffee, and settled into her work.  She was making a little red sweater for a client who wanted something more personal for her nephew’s second birthday.  It made Marcey’s daughter laugh whenever they talked about her little ‘side hustle,’ as  they called it.  It wasn’t like she needed the money.  She wasn’t hurting like some her age.  She just liked to keep busy.
As she made her way to the chest of the sweater, a young couple walked past.  The woman was keeping up a constant stream of chatter.  The man, however, stopped in his tracks, and stared at Marcey.  Specifically, he stared at the sweater.  She was starting to wonder whether she should yell for the police, when the man burst into tears.
“Sorry,” the woman said to her, pulling the man away.  “I’m really sorry.”  She hurried away from Marcey as quickly as she could, still dragging the sobbing man along.
“What was all that?” Marcey muttered.  Since she knew she wasn’t likely to find out, she sipped her coffee, and made a mental note to tell her daughter about it later.

Jordan-

It was a warm day, but Jordan didn’t feel very warm.  There was never such a thing a good weather for a funeral, after all.
She’d put a lot into helping Paul plan it.  There was no one else around to do it, and hadn’t he always been her best friend?  So she pulled on her black dress, and went to his apartment to pick him up.
Paul was dressed when she got there.  Well, that’s a step in the right direction, she thought.  He even managed a smile for her when he came to the door.
“Did you eat?” she asked him.
“Not yet,” he replied.
“Let’s take a walk through the park, and go to the diner,” Jordan said.
“Yeah, okay,” he agreed.
Jordan felt triumphant as they started along the path.  They’d talked about nothing but the funeral for days, so she thought of anything she could to talk about now other than that.
“So that Rick guy called me again,” she said.  “Just out of the blue, like our last date went well or something.”
“No kidding,” Paul said, and actually managed a laugh.  “After spending half the date talking on his phone?”
“I know,” she replied.
They were coming up on a bench.  There was an old woman sitting there, drinking a coffee and knitting a red sweater.  When Paul saw her, he froze.  Then he started to sob.
The woman looked scared to death, which made absolute sense to Jordan.  Generally, people don’t start crying at the sight of art projects.  “Sorry,” she said, and started pulling Paul away, “I’m really sorry.”  She drug him down the path, trying to figure out what about that old woman had made Paul so upset.

Paul-

If it had only been Maureen, Paul thought, maybe he could stand it a little better.  He dressed in the bedroom they had shared for three years, where her side of the bed still smelled a little like her.  He had loved her since the first day he met her, and when she died it broke his heart.  But if it had only been her, he supposed it would have healed.
Jordan was pulling up.  She’d been so great though all this, the only person he’d had to rely on.  He had put so much of this on her, even though he knew she must be hurting too.
So when she suggested a walk through the park and breakfast at the diner, he gave her a smile and said yes.
And at first, he really did feel better.  Listening to Jordan babble, walking with her in the sunlight, he felt warm for the first time since Maureen died.
Then he saw the woman, knitting a sweater with red yarn.
Maureen had laughed at him when he brought her that red yarn and a pair of knitting needles.  “I hope those are for decoration,” she’d said, “because I don’t knit.”
“Yeah, but you’re going to be a mommy now,” Paul had told her with a laugh.  “Everybody’s mother should knit.”
He couldn’t help it.  He started to weep.
If it had only been Maureen, he supposed he could have healed.  But knowing there would have been a baby, and now there never would be?  He didn’t believe he would never be warm again.

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Before we start, I would just like to say a few words about the loss of Alan Rickman. He was a great actor, and I adored him. He was in so many things I loved, like Dogma, Alice in Wonderland, Die Hard, and Harry Potter. Unlike some actors and comedians we’ve lost in the last few years, Mr. Rickman was young enough that I feel sure we would have seen more characters come alive through him, and I am truly saddened by that loss. Rest in peace, sir. I’ll always be thankful for what you gave the world.

I’ve always had a hard time making my mind up about anything. I get bored easily, and it’s hard for anything to keep my attention for very long. This might sound like a really stupid thing for me to say, because I’m writing a fantasy series with an estimated fourteen book story arch. But it’s hard to keep focus on a project for that long!

One of the ways I keep the focus is by not keeping the focus. I work on shorter projects while I’m working on Woven, unless I’m writing a rough draft.

The problem comes, sometimes, with transitioning. I really do want to work on something different, but if it’s another fiction piece I too often find myself writing from the point of view of a Woven character, even if I’m calling them by a different name. Now that I’m working on a novella that’s a totally different genre, it’s something I needed to get under control.

As usually, Writing Excuses saved me. I was listening to one of the last episodes of Season 10, Moving On. (click here to listen to it.) They were talking about transitioning from one piece to the next. They talked about different lighting, moods, and locations. What struck me as the best idea, however, was music. I’m sure I’ve mentioned before that music is important to me. It’s a mood elevator, a distraction, a way to block out that chewing sound Oliver drop that! So, I decided to take their good advice.

I jumped on Pandora, and made a channel for Woven. If you’re wondering, I started it with Lindsay Stirling and NightWish. Then, I made one for the new secret project. It’s playlist was inspired by Linken Park, Limp Bizkit and Orgy. I’m interested in seeing how this will inspire me over the next week.

What rocked last week

• I’m kind of loving Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson this week. I’ve been listening to it on Audible. It’s nice to be able to listen to a book while my hands are busy. I’m anticipating a lot more reading now.
• My anniversary with my darling husband was on Friday. We went to dinner at the same place we went after our ceremony, and took our picture at Diamond Park, where we were married. Oh, and we went to see Star Wars, because we are nerds.

What I’m looking forward to this week

• There’s only one real thing I’m looking forward to this week, and that’s the launch of my first book, Thirty Days To Thirty Ideas. I can’t think of a better way to start my year than by publishing my first book. I hope that all of you get a chance to get it, because I wrote it for you. That’s why I’ve offered it free to pre order with offer code 30one. If you haven’t ordered it yet, please click here to do so now.

Let me know what you’re excited about this week below. I hope you all have a wonderful week.

I would like to take today to remind everybody that the number one killer of New Year Resolutions is to have a day when life happens and get discouraged.

We got a new puppy. In unrelated news, I’m behind on everything.

It’s not because he encourages me to play with him instead of writing. Okay, it’s partially because of that. But it’s mostly because he needs attention or he’ll shred the damn house. It’s like having a kid all over again, except he won’t watch Baby Einstein so I can get something done for ten freaking minutes!

So the other day, I was hard at work editing, and Oliver was going insane. I was going a little insane, too. I didn’t like the chapter, but I wasn’t sure what to do about it. Then, I had a spastic dog to deal with on top of that, so you know nothing was getting done. I wanted to work, and it just wasn’t going to happen until I did something about the damn dog! So, I took him for a walk, in the hopes of getting his energy out a little.

That didn’t work, but something else happened. I was walking around my neighborhood, which I don’t do a lot. We just moved in a few months ago, and I’m still not familiar with the place, yet. So because I don’t want to get lost, I pay attention to where we’re going. I wasn’t paying attention to my story, and how stuck I was on this sucky chapter.

I met a neighbor I hadn’t yet. We saw another dog, and he and Oliver made friends. And when I finally got back to my desk, I had a solution for my chapter.

Basically, if I had tried to stick to the plan, I would have had a frantic dog, a chapter I still wasn’t happy about, and probably some puppy pee thrown in there for good measure.

I’m sure I have a thousand stories of kids who needed attention, medical emergencies that required a total shift of plans, or any number of things that might take my lovely time blocked day and toss it on its ear. These things are never going to go away. I will never write in a bubble, so I must learn how to deal with life in a sensible way. Here’s what I do when life gets in the way of my to do list.

Plan first to avoid it

I have done post after post about how I have taught my monsters to honor my writing time. My husband is the homemaker, and knows that my writing is for the better of us all eventually. (He also knows I get grouchy without some writing time.) I have a job I can’t get emergency called in on. I do my best to plan my productive hours for times I know the distractions will be limited. School hours, time the kids are playing outside, that sort of thing. A lot of this comes under common sense. I’m not getting any writing done while the monsters are getting ready for school, or while we’re making dinner, or during Steelers games.

React with understanding

But when something does happen, I have to be cool about it. First off, I’m a mom. While the kids need to respect my time, I need to respect that they can’t always. At eleven, there are still things they need me to do for them. There are always going to be times when they are just freaking out and need their mom.

If you’re not a parent, though, there is still no reason to throw a hissy fit because you didn’t get the productive time you thought you were going to. First off, you’re probably a grown up, and hissy fits are beneath you. Second, it wastes energy that you could be using to fix the problem. Third, and most importantly, you’re guaranteeing that you will have no happiness from whatever has distracted you from your writing. More on that next.

Savor life

Yeah, I know what you’re thinking. Savoring life is all when and good when your distraction was a puppy that needed love from his new mommy. Or when your daughter’s internet boyfriend broke up with her and she needed to be distracted with Jenna Marbles videos. Except that you didn’t get those moments if you did your best to just deal with the situation and move on. Band aid solutions, or pawning something off on someone else will not give you a happy moment.

But what if something actually bad wrecked your day?

I might have mentioned before, my husband has some health issues. Sometimes that means he isn’t feeling well, so I’ve got to take over household stuff. Sometimes that means we’re going to the emergency room. Let me tell you, the first time you’re trying to entertain your kids in the emergency waiting room while your husband is maybe dying I don’t know and what if he dies, what the hell am I going to do, am I going to have to quit my job, holy crap I’m going to be a widow I’m not even thirty yet! (Gasp!) it’s sort of stressful. The last time, I was amused by the fact that the vending machine gave me dollar coins back.

That point aside, you have got to learn to take the bad times and make something good from them. If that means health concerns or just a busy day, it makes no difference.

Come back and regroup

If you can, come back to your desk. If it’s only been an hour or two, you will probably just have to kick it up a notch. However, you might need to take a look at your to do list and re prioritize it.

If you’re coming back the next day, take a deep breath and forget it. Just make a new to do list and move on.

Time for something classic, I think. Tin House is a classic literary magazine, and they like to do themed issues. The issue that they’re collecting stories for now has the most classic theme imaginable. Sex.

The issue will be titled, Sex, Again? which I have to tell you, made me laugh.

Genre- They, being a literary magazine, are rather anti genre. So don’t worry about it.

Word Count- 10,000 limit.

Submission Date- February 28

Wait time- Six months

Rights- Not listed.

Payout-Not listed.

Here is your link to full submission guidelines.

Want even more markets? Subscribe to Road To Full Time to get the ever growing list of freelance markets.