Archive for » March, 2010 «

Mar
29
How to Handle Deadlines
N.R. Wick

Deadlines are one of those things that are necessary and important but can sometimes make you feel rushed and suffocated. No matter if you work at home for yourself or in an office building for someone else, deadlines are an integral part of business. It’s much more difficult to get anything finished without some sort of deadline because your mind rationalises the importance of projects based on their due date and their rewards. For example, are you more concerned about a 3-day project due tomorrow, or a 3-day project due in two weeks? What if the latter project is of higher value than the former? I’d bet you are still more concerned about the project due tomorrow.

What happens if you are not given a clear deadline? Well, I have a lot of experience with this in my current job. The setting is fairly relaxed but my job is integral to the company. I write all of the website and marketing content (and sometimes write articles for the company’s ezine), create marketing graphics, flyers, brochures, etc. and I film, edit and compile video… among a number of other things as well. I do this primarily on my own and the workload is hefty. This is why it’s so important for me to know which projects are of top priority and which are not, but I rarely have this luxury. But I’m rarely given a set deadline.

In a perfect world, you would work together with other members of your team to write up a calendar and have a clear plan, but often times this doesn’t happen. Instead, you are stuck making your own calendar. Try to prioritise your projects by the ones you feel are most important. If you know they are time sensitive, then be sure to take that into consideration. The only problem I find with doing this is that sometimes it makes me lazy. I’m a big time procrastinator when the pressure to finish on time isn’t there because no one is depending on me at that moment. It gets even worse when I’m working on something I don’t like to do (like making seminar power points! UGH!).

INTERACTIVE: How do you handle non-existent deadlines and/or work you don’t care for?

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Mar
21
Book Review: The Summoning by Kelley Armstrong
N.R. Wick

Fifteen year old Chloe Saunders can see the dead. Unfortunately, after having an episode at school, none of the adults believe her. She is diagnosed with Schizophrenia and placed in a group home where other teenagers staying there are not what they seem to be.

The Summoning is the first book in Kelley Armstrong’s Darkest Powers series. I can’t lie; I love this book. I was so intrigued and interested that I read it in a day, then turned right around and read the second book, The Awakening. Also, I am DYING to read the final book, The Reckoning (which comes out in April, I believe).

Chloe is a great character who is easy to sympathise with and easy relate to. She’s a vulnerable but strong and a great character. Her flaws are natural, but she learns from her mistakes and uses what she learns to grow as a person. Even though sometimes she doesn’t make the best choices, Chloe takes responsibility for her actions and tries to fix them or learn from them. These are important attributes for a lead character in a YA novel to have.

In addition to good values, Chloe has a passion for movies. The great thing about how her passion for movies is incorporated into the story is that she does very little title dropping. Meaning, she doesn’t really try to compare events happening in the book with specific movies. Perhaps it helps that she is interested in the screenwriter and director’s side of movies, but I have read other books with film lovers who title-drop non stop and it’s irritating. (And coming from a HUGE movie fan, that says something.)

The overall story is great as well. I’m always fascinated by concepts where reality and fantasy are connected to psychosis. The adults continuously try to convince Chloe that she needs to be medicated and that she is schizophrenic, and Chloe herself even fights to understand if she’s mentally ill or if she truly has power over the dead. The way Armstrong describes Chloe’s encounters with ghosts and corpses is chilling. I’m a huge fan of ghosts and zombies and this story kept my attention every step of the way.

My final note is something I found weird. The opening of The Summoning was somewhat bizarre. It’s a great thing I read the “Twelve Years Earlier…” prologue before the first chapter because it was very well done. I understand why the beginning is so strange and that it’s supposed to be that way. Chloe acts very strange and it helps make her (and others) doubt her sanity, but I have to admit I was thrown off by the beginning.

In the end, I rate this book a 5/5 Stars.

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Mar
03
Writing Exercises: Letters, Notes and Emails
N.R. Wick

Well, I finally finished the new site design. I’m quite pleased with it, to say the least. I need to seriously work on the illustration section, and I need to add things to the writing section, but for now it will have to do. I’m mostly going through and revising some of the written articles I have done because I’d like to update them before I put them up. Also, I decided that I would not be displaying a few things that I originally was going to display because I have decided to revise and lengthen, or revise and find a publisher.

Along those lines, I have also changed a bit of my current projects. Originally, I was going to use an original story to write and illustrate as a picture book, but have since decided that I will be seeking a publisher for that story instead. So, to make up for this, I am going to illustrate my own version of the Pied Piper as a picture book dummy sort of thing. This way, I can use it as a portfolio piece and not worry about the things that troubled me with using my personal idea. So yes. Pied Piper. I’m very excited about it because the Pied Piper is one of my favorites.

I’ve also been thinking about this series of children’s stories I started a while back ago. I wrote a story for a class about a little girl who finds a key that opens a special door. Well, at the time I was considering turning the story into a series of short stories about other children who find similar keys. After reflecting on it over the past few days, I decided that I could easily fit these stories into a chapter book and add a final story to connect them all together. I instantly fell in love with this idea and am now working out details for the rest of the “chapters.”

Today, I was going through some writing exercises to see which ones work for me and which ones did not. One of the exercises I found that I liked very much and is useful to me is where you write a letter or email or note of some sort as if you were the character. I used it as an idea builder for one of my novels. It was very helpful. The note its self is NOT in the actual story, but the character names and creatures mentioned are. It was a really fun exercise and helped me get my creative juices flowing.

Adeleine,
I’ve packed my rucksack with the things listed below. Let me know what you packed as well. That way I can help you figure out anything else you forgot.

Salt

Bundles of Sage

Violet Buds

Gold Coins

Bandages

Silver Locket

Calendula Paste

The salt and sage should be enough to ward off any Wispies or Night Dwellers in the forest. The Violets will keep the Grendals away. They hate things that smell nice, so I will make a satchel for you to wear around your neck. We have to go to Oubliette for help before we get too far in. She will know what to do, but won’t help us without incentive of some sort. So, we can give her the gold coins for her help. Luckily, she’s lost her mind and loves shiny things.
The silver locket is another barter item. No one in Mora uses money like where you come from. We just barter. I am almost positive the locket belonged to Lady Lorynelle. We have to get passed The Lady to get to Duke Magnus anyway, so I’m sure it will work out.
Oh, and Saffron insisted that I pack the bandages. He even let Mint help make fresh Calendula paste, in case you get hurt.
-Ian
P.S.
Don’t worry. We will find Devkah. I promise.

If you try this exercise, please feel free to tell me about it!

[This post was originally posted on the nrwick.com blog that has since been deleted.]

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