Michaeline: Under Pressure

two people in pressure suits showing oxygen tanks.

Under pressure, we use a lot of weird defense mechanisms, but the best one is often the old-fashioned one: love. That, and remember to breathe!

End of February, shortest month of the year, and one of the most stressful times in Japan. Everyone is under pressure. It’s smack in the middle of exam season, and for my daughter, the really important one is coming up next week. Kids are graduating in a few weeks, people are moving. Everything turns over between March 31 and April 1, but now is the darkness before the dawn. Nobody knows anything except “maybe.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YoDh_gHDvkk

(a mashup of concert footage from Queen and David Bowie at the Freddie Mercury tribute concert; the mix is pretty close to the classic Queen/Bowie song, the description says)

It’s like the beginning of the third act in a novel. Continue reading

Elizabeth: Motivation Under Pressure

diamondimageIn my blog post a few weeks ago I talked about a variety of ways to keep motivated during the writing process. As the comments on that post confirmed, what motivates us varies from person to person, and sometimes even from project to project.

My stated goal at that time was to finish revising my manuscript so that I could send it off to the folks at RWA to qualify for “PRO” (professional writer) status.   The deadline to submit a PRO application in time to have it processed before the start of the upcoming national conference was July 1st. I’m happy to say that I was able to meet that deadline with hours to spare. 🙂 To do so, I got more than 15,000 words down on paper in about 2 ½ weeks time.

I was thrilled, naturally. Continue reading