My Rules: Part One

 I'm exhausted. I just got into Bozeman, Montana at about midnight. I was too tired to go directly to sleep. I was up at six AM because my body is still on Florida time. Jet lag is a real thing. I am in Montana this time because my eldest daughter will be starting at Montana State University in a week. We're moving her in. I'll be heading back alone to an empty house. Even the dogs are with a sitter so they won't be there to greet me. Careful what you wish for. I do enjoy my alone time, but I'm no different than anyone else in that I want everything on my own terms. My daughter finishing high school a year early and moving far from home is something to be proud of. I just wish I could rearrange the terms. I'd like her to stay home until shes ninety. Just kidding. There I go not being careful what I wish for.

I am sitting at the little desk in the room. My laptop is open. The familiarity ends there. The desk is cluttered with all kinds of stuff. An ice bucket, a small coffee pot, my backpack, a purse, a hat. I look up from my screen to see me staring back at me. If I was prettier, that may be a perk, but mirrors distract me as I am as conceited as anyone else. I wonder if I look good for my age. The light of the screen isn't flattering, and I don't. I look old. Maybe I'm tired. Maybe I'm a little sad. Maybe I should avert my eyes lest I depress myself further.

This has me thinking of my personal rules for writing. I've never articulated them. I do have them, I know I do, but they're ingrained in me. They don't require review. I don't need to check them before writing like a pilot reviews a checklist before takeoff. I just do. So, here goes:

1. Eliminate distractions. Seems pretty simple, right. I'm not just talking about barking dogs and screaming kids. If you're an insecure narcissist like me, don't have a mirror. If you're a news junkie, or a social media junkie, disable your internet and leave your phone in another room. It's not that it becomes impossible to focus, it's just that focusing in an environment littered with distractions takes energy. This energy is better applied to your writing, or painting or crocheting, or whatever. By the way, Cafes aren't the best place to write, but they are a good place to be seen, which can be a helluva distraction.

2. Make yourself comfortable. If you're chair is too low or too high or the light is too bright or too dim or the room is too cold, you're not going to be at your best. Set yourself up for success, not disappointment.

3. Schedule your workday. Writing, or any artistic or entrepreneurial endeavor that you're pursuing on spec, should have a time dedicated to it. I am a morning person. I usually wake up around five and start writing around six and go until just before nine. Sometimes I put in a little overtime. Sometimes I run out of steam early. Sometimes, I don't follow rule number one and I end up wasting two hours reading news or making sure my coffee is just right or telling my dogs how much I love them. If you don't devote time to your craft, or to any goal, it's just a wish, and a dream, and this is the real world. This ain't no fairy tale.

4. The work matters more than the title. I've met plenty of would-be writers who love saying they are writers. They love wearing turtlenecks and slurring their words a la Gore Vidal or acting uncomfortable in social situations like David Foster Wallace. They should all try to be a little more like J.D. Salinger. No one is impressed by you saying you're a writer. I could say I'm a doctor but I promise you don't want me removing your gall bladder. I wouldn't trust me to cut your fingernails. The doctor is the person who did the work. They went to med school, they did their residency and rotations and all that jazz. They've earned the title. Why would writing be any different?

I'm sure there will be more to this. Consider this essay, like its author, a work in progress. But this is just me. Write your own rules, and don't break them. Shatter them! But only if you find they are holding you back.

Adolfo Jimenez is an author, poet, and blogger. He lives in Hollywood, Florida. He has published eight books, which you can find here.

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Counting Down

In five days, my daughter will be going away to college. I am dying. I knew this day would come. In fact, I always encouraged her to look for schools in other states. I told her being away from home is a legit part of the college - learning - growing up experience. The one time the kid listens to her father!

I am happy for her and I am proud. She applied to one school and was accepted. She is the only one of her graduating class that is going to be attending college away from home. She'll be nearly two thousand miles and two time zones away. I've never lived that far from her or even from my own parents. It's scary and it's exciting. And I'm sad that she won't be here every day. I'm sad that this place, which has been her home since before her first birthday, will seem  a little emptier without her. Okay, a lot emptier. She took her first steps here. She was potty trained here. She is an enormous part of what makes this a home.

So, I'm a little depressed and I am hating the march of time this week. I want my little girl to stay forever, but I know this simply cannot be. She will always be my little girl, even when she is far away. I have to accept it, but I sure as hell don't have to like it.

Adolfo Jimenez is an author, poet, and blogger. He lives in Hollywood, Florida. He has published eight books, which you can find here.

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What's easy not to do

I've been thinking of creating a new website. I've also been looking to team up with an editor who could work closely with me. I've been looking for a web designer, too. 

In this day and age there is no reason for me to be thinking about these things and not getting them done so I put out a feeler on Facebook, asking for my creative peeps to reach out. They did.

Now begins a new chapter in my life.

Follow me to Apresterra!

Adolfo Jimenez is an author, poet, and blogger. He lives in Hollywood, Florida. He has published eight books, which you can find here.

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Day Drinking

I work at home. Most writers do. I traveled last week and my homes was a cabin in the mountains of West Yellowstone, Montana. The view from the window in front of my little writing desk was spectacular, if a bit distracting.

See, I live in South Florida. What's a mountain? We complain about speed bumps. We are at sea level. Standing on a box can make your ears pop. Need I go on? Good.

So now I'm home. It's a thousand degrees in the shade. I have to work and since I am home, the bar beckons. I look up recipes. I stare at the bar. The bar stares at me. I dream of a Long Island Iced Tea, or an old fashioned or even a beer.

But I hold back. I am no Don Draper. When the drinking starts, the working stops. So I don't drink until I am done with work. I'm not telling you what to do and I don't judge, but I'm going to stick to what works for me. You do you, baby!

I'm blessed not to have an addictive personality, by which I mean I don't have addictions. Many have been addicted to me... shut up. It's my blog and I'll lie if I want to. Still, I don't want to take the chance of making drinking or drugs a crutch. Not for writing, not for life, not for any reason at all. So... I drink after I work.

There's a quote attributed (wrongly) to Ernest Hemingway: Write Drunk, Edit Sober. I would rather do the whole process sober. There'll be time to drink when the writing's done.

Adolfo Jimenez is an author, poet, and blogger. He lives in Hollywood, Florida. He has published eight books, which you can find here.

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Gathering Information

I just came back from a week in West Yellowstone, Montana. It is, without a doubt, one of my favorite places in the world. I stayed in a cabin on a ranch. I rode horses and went whitewater rafting. I went to Yellowstone National Park and to Mesa Falls in Idaho. It was a great, badly-needed vacation. As much as I love my home, my bed, my pillow and my dogs, I hated coming back.

This was my second visit to West Yellowstone. I came back from my first trip very inspired and immediately began writing a novel about the place. I hit the wall at about a hundred pages. So, I went up this year thinking I would find the spark and get the story written finally!

I skipped one of the horse rides we had scheduled so I could get to work on my story. I wrote about a thousand words. A whole new story about the same place. That was a week ago. I've given up... for now!

I think the problem is that I'm trying to force the book to happen. It never works that way. These things come when they want to come. It's not that I haven't been writing. I've been working every day and I've been editing. The story needs a little more time to percolate. Or maybe it needs to marinate. Whatever it is, it doesn't need to be forced. That's a great way to kill what could be a great story.

Gather the facts, breathe the air, feel the breeze, see the sights. Listen to the people talk and learn their stories. Their stories become yours. These people become the characters in your stories. You are not stealing from them, you are immortalizing them. Nobody wants to live forever, but nobody wants to die. And certainly no one wants to be forgotten.

So take notes and bide your time. The story will come when it's ready.

Adolfo Jimenez is an author, poet, and blogger. He lives in Hollywood, Florida. He has published eight books, which you can find here.

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A Poem Because Why Not

I normally reserve these pages for reflections on writing or my life, but today,
I decided to share a poem from my book, Scorpions for Breakfast, which was
released this week. I hope you enjoy it.

TRIPPING THROUGH THE GARDEN

We go tripping though life

Socks covered in thistles

Bug bites on exposed skin

Sun coming down

Heat coming up

Here comes the rain

Here comes the night

Here comes the snow

Tripping through another day

Every minute a trek

A lost moment

A dandelion

Pistils

Petals

Pedestrians

Petunias

Peonies

And we go tripping through the flowers

We romp through roses

We gather among gardenias

We hibernate in the hibiscus

We ogle at oleander

We trip through the garden

We snort the pollen

We eat the seeds

And kill the future of the garden

We let it rain and watch it grow

Lay in the sun and let it burn

We are the wicked gardeners

Tripping through sacred gardens

Sleeping on the lawn

Tripping on a blade of grass

Tripping after dawn

We are the landscapers

Cutting trees

Killing them to make them pretty

Beauty in death is the only beauty for those who kill

Tripping on beauty after dawn

Tripping on broken limbs

Of trees

Of men

Of women

Of children

Tripping on one another as we dash

To kill the trees

Tripping on the carcases of trees we killed

Tripping on roots

We wait for the flowers to bloom

We wait for the fruit to rot

We wait for the seed to sprout

We wait for the trip to begin

We wish for the trip to end

We are tripping through the garden

We are tripping through the world

We are tripping on each other

Adolfo Jimenez is an author, poet, and blogger. He has published eight books. He lives in Hollywood, Florida with his family.  He published four books in 2019, which you can find here.

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The New Guy

On Thanksgiving day 2019, I left my house, planning to go to the grocery store. We have a tradition in my house. My wife will always forget at least one ingredient for the feast and I will brave the wilds of the local Winn-Dixie to procure said ingredient.

As I went into the front yard, my daughter in tow, I saw a little dog in my yard. Alone. Long story short, we rescued him, tried to find the owner and couldn't so now he is part of the family. He was sick and underweight when we found him. He seems to have been abused and is suffering from trauma around food and being crowded. Sudden moves will startle him. The people who owned him were bastards. It's taken time and treasure, but Maximus Achilles Jimenez is close to being a normal dog. He's still a jerk sometimes, but so is everyone else.

Then, last Saturday, I got the news that a new dog was coming to join the family. His name is Mason. He is a Golden Retriever mix and outweighs Max the chiweenie by about 40 pounds. Max is under five pounds. Not a fair fight. Still, Max is pretty fearless and stands his ground, even if Mason swats him around like a rubber ball, in a friendly, brotherly way but still... it has to be hard on the little guy's ego.

These dogs are a distraction. They are a severe pain in the ass. And, please don't tell them, I love them very much.

Life is better with a dog. Of this, there is no doubt. I am actually allergic to dogs, but it's worth it. The happiness outweighs the itchiness. I can scratch.

The challenge for me is fitting the extra responsibility in with my work. I work at home and I need something near silence. It's hard to get that when I have two yelping madmen losing their minds every time a cat, duck, squirrel or pedestrian dares to walk past my house.

It's only been a few days so we're all getting used to a new routine. Soon, we'll be all right and when we are,  the fun will really start.



Adolfo Jimenez is an author, poet, and blogger. He has published eight books. He lives in Hollywood, Florida with his family.  He published four books in 2019, which you can find here.

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Happy New Year

I'm not Barbara Walters, but this is still 2020.

It's been a long day after a long night, but I wanted to jump on here and wish you all a great New Year.

Got any goals?
Any big plans?

If not, get some. Do it. Do it now! It's that simple!

I'll be back soon with something (hopefully) worth reading.

Adolfo Jimenez is an author, poet, and blogger. He lives in Hollywood, Florida. He has published eight books, which you can find here.

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Embracing Change

I am not a full time writer. I write every morning and sometimes in the evenings. I have a day job. It's a stressful job. It pays well and I make a nice living.  My job demands a lot of me and I have to deliver or I won't have it.

I have a mortgage, a car payment and two kids in private school. I am not a popular enough writer yet to support all that. So, I work.

I just started working from home. Same job, same responsibility, same goals. No suit and tie! Life is good.

I've always written at home. I have a small desk in my bedroom. I wake up early and get to work. In the old days, I worked until it was time to shower and shave and head to the office. Now, I write, then I walk my new puppy. I come back, shower, maybe shave, and I get to work... in a different room in my house.

It's important to separate my creative life from my commercial life. I don't like to think about writing when I'm doing anything else, and I don't want to think of other things during my writing time. I get better results this way. The point is that you should compartmentalize. You'll get better results.



Adolfo Jimenez is an author, poet, and blogger. He lives in Hollywood, Florida with his family.  He has published eight books, which you can find here. 

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The Business Part 4

This is the fourth part of a series on the business of writing. Click here to go to Part One.


I am not a full-time writer. I have a career and I own a business. All things being equal, though, I'd rather earn my living as a writer. What I am is prolific. I am a very productive writer. I put words to paper (or processor) every day of the week. Sometimes, they're good, sometimes they suck. The important thing is to do the things that must be done.


A DAY IN THE LIFE

Monday through Friday: I am usually awake by 5:00AM. This is not to say I am always out of bed by that time. My wife usually wakes up a little later. She and the girls are out the door by 6:30. I usually start working by 5:30, pausing to say goodbye to the family and make coffee. I usually put in anywhere from 1-3 hours of work in every weekday morning. I then shower and shave and go to work. I try not to think too much about what I'm working on when I'm not actually working on it but sometimes an idea pops in my head. When this happens, I usually write it down.

I sometimes have creative bursts throughout the day. I carry a pen and pad around for just such an occasion. If not, my iPhone has a nifty little notepad feature.

I rarely work on my main project at night. This time is usually reserved for reading, sleeping, and the making of the love.

I dedicate some time to social media but I am no expert. I am trying to learn how to promote myself. Once I master this, all bets are off.

See, writing is the hard part, because it is lonely and exhausting. When I tell people I write but don't make significant money from it (yet) they ask me why I bother. The truth is I do it for me. I do it because I love it. When it eventually becomes my living, all the better.

Follow me on this journey. It ought to be fun.



Adolfo Jimenez is an author, poet, and blogger. He lives in Hollywood, Florida with his family.  He has published eight books, which you can check out here. 

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Who matters as much as Why - A Quickie Post.

Why are you writing?

Who are you writing for?

If you are writing for anyone other than yourself, you are writing for the wrong reason. You are the only person who will definitely read every word you write, so make sure they are words you love and can be proud of? Or, at the very least, make sure they are words you can live with.


Adolfo Jimenez is an author, poet, and blogger. He lives in Hollywood, Florida with his family.  He has published eight books, which can be seen here. 

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The Business Part 3

This is the third part of a series on the business of writing. Click here to go to Part One.


Too many wannabe writers are in love with the idea of being known as a writer. They are not in love with the lonely drudgery of writing. Singers and actors get on stage and are cheered and adored, or jeered and booed. But at least they are known. When Andy Warhol promised those fifteen minutes of fame, he excluded most writers.

My point is that you have to write if you want to be a writer. You have to put out a page a day. I don't care if it's a good page. Ernest Hemingway said the first draft of anything is shit. He was right. Sometimes it's better quality shit than other times, but it's still shit.

So you sit down and write a page a day. You do this for 200 days. You have a first draft. Guess what? It's shit! Let it go for a while. Put it out of your mind. Think of other things. Get drunk. Get stoned. Get laid. Definitely get laid if possible.

After you've done other things and taken your mind off the work, come back to it with fresh eyes. It's time to write. Remember that words are cheap. A word means little by itself. It's when we put it in the right place with other words that it starts to mean something. What I mean to tell you is that you shouldn't be afraid to delete a word. Or a sentence. Or a paragraph. Or even an entire chapter. Don't be afraid to replace words or move them around. Ditto sentences and paragraphs. Nothing is  sacred. Don't be a little pussy. Just edit it.

So it's been a year since you started this book. You've done your first re-write. Are you ready to send it to the publisher? Hell no. Put it away. Get drunk. Get stoned. Get laid. The manuscript ain't going nowhere.

Come back to it a couple of weeks or even a month or two later. Rewrite it again. Be ruthless. Words mean nothing until they are put in the right order.

Adolfo Jimenez is an author, poet, and blogger. He lives in Hollywood, Florida. He has published eight books, which you can find here.

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The Business

This is a confession.

Too late. You're here now. You must listen to my tale of woe. To do otherwise, to turn away, would be indecent. You are a decent person... aren't you?

There are two sides to being a writer. There is the hard part, which is the actual writing. Then there is the harder part, which is selling yourself. I like sharing my experiences. I really do. What I don't like is the business of selling those experiences once they are bound in a book or put in an e-book.

Don't get me wrong, I want to sell the books. I want to sell millions of copies of my books. In my other life,  I sell for a living. I understand the science and the art of sales. I've just never learned how to sell myself and my creations, and that is exactly what selling books is. It is an author selling bits of himself.

Every story I've written is personal, even if not autobiographical. They came from inside of me. It's easier to write about these things than it is to talk about them.

So, I've spent the greater part of the weekend, studying and creating a marketing plan. I am all over social media and I am compiling a list of independent bookstores and book clubs that I will be visiting. If you're reading this, and I am ever in your neighborhood, please stop by and say hello.

I think I may continue the theme I've started here. It ought to be fun. Who knows? I may end up not hating the business of selling my writing after all!

Adolfo Jimenez is an author, poet, and blogger. He lives in Hollywood, Florida. He has published eight books, which you can find here.

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Dogs Matter

My dog Baxter, who was the most bestest goodest good boy ever, died about six months ago. He'd been with us most of his life and we got to enjoy his yodeling (he didn't really bark) for 12 years.  I am not one to say that dogs are equal to kids, but I understand why people fall in love with them. Losing Baxter was a very painful experience. I sat up with him all night and held him when he took his last breath. I hope I was some comfort to him. He was my best friend.

I decided that I didn't want another dog. Too much heartache. Then Fred came along. Or are we naming him Gus? Or Max? Not sure. He is sort of a Chihuahua, a breed of which I am not a fan. I have a very personal Chihuahua trauma that I may choose to write about someday. Today is not the day.

He's a cute guy. He spent the day with us yesterday and he's sweet and a little territorial. My daughter and I found him and took him in. We walked him around looking for his owner and found nothing.  Our neighbor posted an ad. No answer yet. It's only been a day, but it's looking kinda permanent. He is sitting on the floor next to me as I write. He is a distraction. I am easily distracted.

Dogs are calming forces in your life. So are cats and goldfish. Dogs especially love us. They look up to us and make us feel good about ourselves. If Gus (or Fred or Max) sticks around, I will be reading my work to him. I will be able to take pride in knowing that I have a number one, super-loyal fan, who looks up to me. That's a win in this dog's life.


Adolfo Jimenez is an author, poet, blogger, and bank robber living in Hollywood, Florida with his wife, his daughters, two guinea pigs, a cockatiel, and now Fred or Gus, the Chihuahua-ish dog.

He has published eight books, which you can find here.

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Is It Worth It?

What an odd question? Is it worth it? Without knowing what it is or what the other it is, the answer must be yes, it is worth it.

When you wake up in the morning, as I do, and sit at your desk and write, pouring your heart and soul and mind onto the page or into the word processor, you are not doing it for anyone else. You are doing it for yourself. Why? Because the words you write may never reach another soul. Sometimes you erase them. Other times you decide to let them die of neglect. Some make it, some don't.

There's also the risk of rejection. What if no one likes what you wrote? Is there anything worse? Of course there is. But for the purposes of this discussion, we'll pretend there is nothing worse than someone not liking your work. So what can you do?

Simple. Just keep doing it. Do it and do it again. And when you're done doing it, you guessed it, do it some more!

It's worth it. Not because people want to read your work and not because it can make you rich and famous. It's worth it for its own sake. There can be no other reason. Any other reason is wrong. Do it because it was what you were born to do.

If that's not reason enough, you're in the wrong business.

Adolfo Jimenez is an author, poet, and blogger. He lives in Hollywood, Florida. He has published eight books, which you can find here.

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A Little Self-Promotion

The cover of my latest book.

I like to write about writing. I'm not proud of it, but I do enjoy it. I won't try to pad this post since the title tells you exactly what it is. I won't insult you by pretending this is about anything other than selling a book. 

I just published Dogs, Drinks, Women and Me, a short story collection. Please go out and buy it. If you don't I will be forced to continue working for a living. Not that writing isn't work. It's the hardest work I've ever done. It's also my favorite thing to do.

It's available as an e-book and as a paperback. Just in time for Christmas, hint hint!

Thanks for your support, and keep writing. Oh, and keep reading, especially my stuff.

Thanks!

Adolfo

Adolfo Jimenez is an author, poet, and blogger. He lives in Hollywood, Florida. He has published eight books, which you can find here.

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Your Audience

I write every day. Writing is a lonely life. I start work about five o'clock most mornings. Sometimes, I start a little later, waiting until my wife and daughters are gone. I usually do very little on Saturdays for some reason and on Sundays, I review, edit, and write.  This is not a strict schedule. It's something I try to stick to. I have a day job and this is always in the back of my mind so I work with a very specific sense of urgency. I have to shower and shave and get to the office. I have only so many hours to invest in writing each morning.

So, it's a lonely life and of course, I am the worst audience. I am the most biased of judges when it comes to my work. I hate every word of it.

But every once in a while, I read some of my work to my wife, or to my guinea pigs or to myself, and I am pleased with myself. I am reminded of why I take the time to do this. I remember why the isolation and the frustration never seem to be enough to scare me away. I remember why I write.

Adolfo Jimenez is an author, poet, and blogger. He lives in Hollywood, Florida. He has published eight books, which you can find here.

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Change of Scene

Last night, I stayed out until past midnight. Wild, I know. I am a madman. Am I really? As Salvador Dali said, "The only difference between a madman and myself, is that I am not mad!" Well, he said something like that.  A friend of mine moved into a new apartment and had a little housewarming party and invited some colleagues over for dinner and wine. I had a little of each. We talked shop, of course because this is what humans do. Humans suck, don't they.

All but two of the people who were there were people I am around over fifty hours per week. We talked about what we do those fifty-plus hours, and yet, because we were in a different environment, or perhaps because of the wine, I picked up subtleties in their manner of speech, in their expressions. I don't believe they were any different. We've all known each other for a while and have no need to pretend or put on airs. They were the same. I was the same. I was looking for different things. I was with familiar people in an unfamiliar place.

The job of a writer is to notice those subtle changes. The color of the walls or how comfortable the couch is or isn't is of no importance. Those details will not change the story unless something related to those things happens during the party or if you imagine something funny or tragic relating to those inanimate objects, like someone fat sitting on a chair and it collapses, etc. It's the people that matter. Stories are always about people, not about things. Even when a story is about a thing, you don't care about it unless you understand how that thing relates to a person. It's always about the people! And you learn about people when you observe them in their natural environment. You learn something different when you see them elsewhere. Pay attention. You will learn something.

Adolfo Jimenez is an author, poet, and blogger. He lives in Hollywood, Florida. He has published eight books, which you can find here.

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Inspired by Fools

Maybe the title of this post is unfair. I am a lover of people. I love meeting people and talking to people. I love making friends. I love fools because I am a fool.

I was at a cocktail party last night and got into some great conversations including one with a man who kept looking at my name tag, which read Adolfo and still managed to call me Alfredo. But he was a nice man and we made friends. He can call me anything he wants. I guess as long as my wife gets my name right, I have little to worry about.

I met this man and he made an impression and I have no doubt that I will see him again sometime in the future. But even if I never see him again, he was a hell of a character and it wouldn't surprise me to see him pop up in my creative work some day in the future, knowing him for a few hours was worth it. He was great fun.

As a writer, every experience is potentially part of a story.  Everyone you meet can be a character. Every place you visit is a setting. All the better if they manage to entertain you.


Adolfo Jimenez is a writer living against his will in Hollywood, Florida.  His latest release is Scenes from a 1979 Ford Fairmont, a short book of poems. Get it on Amazon!

Check him out here!