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Welcome Guest Goddess Liz Carlyle!

Sep 29th 2009Your Friendly Goddesses
Your Friendly GoddessesGuest Goddesses & On Writing!

During her frequent travels through England, Liz Carlyle always packs her pearls, her dancing slippers, and her whalebone corset, confident in the belief that eventually she will receive an invitation to a ball or a rout. Alas, none has been forthcoming. While waiting, however, she has managed to learn where all the damp, dark alleys and low public houses can be found. Liz hopes she has brought just a little of the nineteenth century alive for the reader in her popular novels.

Oooh, I feel so vindicated . . .

I love studies, don’t you? It seems some think tank or university is forever doing one, mostly to tell us stuff we kinda-sorta already knew. Just recently, for example, I’ve learned that tanning beds can be as dangerous as arsenic (can you spell M-E-L-A-N-O-M-A?) and that certain weight loss drugs can cause liver failure, and should be used only after careful consideration. (Personally, I think weight loss should always be given careful consideration. And I’ve been thinking about it for a looong time . . . )

But there was a headline in my local paper last week that finally made me pump my fist in the air:

Study Shows Multitaskers Do It Badly

Plodders and planners everywhere, shout it out with me! Yes! We already knew that! Not since the Rutgers study showing the inverse relationship between self-doubt and good judgment have I felt so vindicated. In my past life, when I would from time to time find myself looking for a Real Job, all the advertisements would say—somewhere in the first line—must be a self-starter, capable of multitasking.

Tsk, tsk, I would say to my anal, organized self. Multitasking is just another word for doing a bunch of things half-assed all at once. Making things twice as mucked up as they would have been had you gone at ’em one at a time. (Preferably in alphabetical order.) Yes, I’m a self starter. I just can’t self-start two things at once. So what’s an honest gal to do? Well, you lie. Yes, I would boldly state, I can multitask. It just sounds way more exciting than saying, “No—but I can do one thing at a time really, really well . . . ”

So nowadays I find it convenient to work for myself. At home. Alone. Where no one can un-sort my color-coded Pendaflex file folders. And I guess I’m out of practice with my multitasking. Last time I tried it, I backed my Volvo into the freezer and ejected a Pink Martini CD into the passenger seat—all at the same time.

So what about you? Are you Boringly Organized? Or Boldly Spontaneous? And what’s the funniest thing you ever did in the midst of multitasking? And by the way—does your freezer still seal? Because there’s some funky black mold growing down one side of mine.

43 Comments »

43 Responses to “Welcome Guest Goddess Liz Carlyle!”

  1. LisaK on 29 Sep 2009 at 5:08 am #

    Welcome Liz! First, let me say that Wicked All Day is lying right here in front of me on my desk but I haven’t gotten around to reading it yet. I’m very curious as to how Zoë’s story will be.

    I, too, am no multitasker at all. Whenever I mention it I get that strange look that clearly say: “What? But you’re a woman!!!” Well, yeah, I am a woman, so what? I still can’t multitask.

    I sometimes try to write and listen to music at the same time.
    Nope.
    Doesn’t work.
    I mean, I can do that, but then I get into that state where I don’t hear the music anymore and that’s the thing in multitasking – doing things at the same time and also absorbing them.

    But, like you, when I do something, I do it the correct way. Neatly, orderly, everything as it should be, with full concentration. No half measures. I’m absolutely for the “with all my heart”-thing.

  2. Emmanuelle on 29 Sep 2009 at 5:32 am #

    Liz, very happy to see you here on Mt Olympus this morning.
    I haven’t read Wicked all Day either, because I’m in France and my book is in the mail, somewhere, hopefullly close, so I can read it soon *sigh*.
    I’m organized, but only because I have small sons and basicaly HAVE TO !
    Congrats on your new release ;-)

  3. Cail on 29 Sep 2009 at 5:51 am #

    Liz, I can multitask as long as it doesn’t involve reading/doing work. When i read, in order to comprehend what I’m reading, that needs to be my soul focus. You can ask me all the questions you want, but I’ll be answering in grunts.

    I used to walk through the streets of NYC knitting and chatting on my ear piece (cell phone). I probably looked like a crazy person.

    my freezer constantly gives me trouble. usually because it’s over packed and my fridge isn’t tilted so that it automatically closes.

    I also have Wicked All Day in my TBR pile. I’m very excited about it. I’ve got your entire backlist on my keeper shelf.

  4. Bronte on 29 Sep 2009 at 6:15 am #

    Hi Liz, let me get the gushing out of the way – loved wicked all day, I think it is now my second favourite book of yours. I ended up finishing it in one hit, stayed up til 2am and was very tired at work the next day but it was worth it! The only trouble is now I have to wait for your next book.

    I have a split personality, at work I am completely anal and organised, very detail oriented and yes, I am capable of multitasking. Unfortunately at home I tend to be spontaneous and not very organised….My freezer does seal however my cat has mastered the art of opening the freezer door but not yet gained the ability to close the door. This unfortunately resulted in the entire contents of my freezer being thrown out last week.

  5. Pesky on 29 Sep 2009 at 6:18 am #

    Liz! Welcome! It was worth the wait to read Zoe’s story. :D

    I’m boringly organized and move fast because I’m efficient. When I’m on the phone with clients however I try and multitask…this never goes well. Reading glasses end up in freezer, cat gets put outside (she’s an indoor cat), paperwork ends up in the dryer…. it’s why I don’t answer the phone while I’m driving. I am driving, isn’t that enough?

  6. LoriHandeland on 29 Sep 2009 at 6:23 am #

    Hi, Liz!! Thanks so much for stopping by today.

    I think I’m kinda both. I’m anally organized in life. Lists and calendars and iphone alerts. But then I try to be organized when I’m writing and it all goes to hell and I pants it. Go figure.

  7. B on 29 Sep 2009 at 6:31 am #

    Hi, Liz.
    I’m spontaneous. Last year, I decided to have pink hair. Two days later I had bubblegum pink hair. It was awesome. :)

  8. evlqn on 29 Sep 2009 at 6:41 am #

    Welcome Liz, enjoy your day on Mt Oly!

    Multi-tasking is kinda like walking and chewing gum at the same time, it can be done but why? I don’t like gum.

    My version of multi-tasking is do everything in a circle, go from A to B to C to D and back to A. Mission accomplished. My freezer does nothing because I don’t have one; it’s on my wish list, right after the new dishwasher.

  9. Tanya on 29 Sep 2009 at 7:04 am #

    Hey Liz!!! :) Your post this morning made me laugh!!! I love your sense of humor.

    I am a planner/organizer all the way. In fact, I thought I was BAD until I met my sister-in-law who takes it to a new level! :)

  10. Margaret on 29 Sep 2009 at 7:04 am #

    I’m not sure. I can have several projects going at the same time, but can only concentrate on one at a time. I do knit/crochet while surfing the Net or listening to an audio book. But the computer keeps me from being bored by repeating the same stitch endlessly. Right now, I am making watch hats to send to The Ship’s Project. They go to our sailors/soldiers over seas. The organizer has a monthly deadline. So, I’m working against that today. I also have an afghan about half crocheted that is to be a Christmas present. ITM, I just finished listening to an Elizabeth Peters “Amelia Peabody” book narrated by the wonderful Barbara Rosenblatt. I love audio books.

    If I am driving and have the radio on, I have to turn it off when I am looking for something. Like a building or a turn somewhere. Even with the GPS to guide me, I need to concentrate in traffic. I think I must be more like evlqn. Multi-task in a circle. Yeah. I like that.

    I don’t have a freezer either except the one at the top of my refrigerator.

    Cail, one thing about looking crazy is you get lots of space around you. LOL

  11. Margaret on 29 Sep 2009 at 7:05 am #

    BTW, welcome Liz. You’ve been a fave of mine for years. I can’t wait to get my hands on the new book.

  12. KarenC on 29 Sep 2009 at 7:19 am #

    I go to extremes with both. To keep everything straight I HAVE to be organized. More often than not, I’m the leader, so it’s my job to make sure things don’t fall apart. Or if it does fall apart, it does so in an interesting way. But that’s my volunteer work.

    Writing, I’m a plotter. I actually had a footnoted outline for my vamp bk, mostly because everything had to be traced back to the natural world. (If I couldn’t find examples in the natural world, I couldn’t use it.) Of course, my characters cackle in evil glee at my outline (foolish, foolish mortal) by the mid-way pt of the bk, but hey, I DO start with one.

    Otherwise…I’m so spontaneous I’m borderline neurotic. Probably because I need to be so organized with volunteering & writing. Drives dh crazy. But also why dh married me so nyeh.

    Speaking of freezers, I found my TV remote in the freezer once. Also found it in the dish water whilst scrubbing pans. I ran over my cell ph in the driveway last summer, too. (Yes, it WAS an accident.)

    When things get flaky, the remote and my cell suffer. LOLOL.

  13. Claudia Dain on 29 Sep 2009 at 7:20 am #

    Welcome, Liz!!! You are so funny!

    I’m organized. Every time I attempt spontaneity I screw up my schedule; at least that’s the way I remember it.

    Margaret, I am THE SAME WAY! When I’m lost while driving, the radio goes off and the kids must stop talking! This is such an ingrained rule that even now, when I’m driving with my adult kids and I’m hunting for the building or whatever, they all stop talking. LOL And you know what? When they’re driving and lost *they* need total quiet. Oops. Guess what they inherited.

    Funniest thing while multitasking? It involved a car, naturally. I backed into Big D’s car in the driveway, hard. Hey, it was dark, his car was a dark color, and I was turning on the radio/making sure my purse wasn’t going to fall over/adjusting my seat belt/checking my lipstick in the mirror. Yes, all at the same time. Everything would have been fine if he hadn’t parked his car there.

    My freezer works great. Because it is not anywhere near my car.

  14. Liz Carlyle on 29 Sep 2009 at 7:32 am #

    OK, with these stories, I’m starting to feel better about that freezer thing . . .

    Claudia, I KNOW you are as anal as I am. And the only person I know who listens to music and writes is Sabrina J. That just boggles my mind. Like Lisa, I would be expending all my psychic energy in blocking OUT the music in order to move on. I can do it, but at a price. And it gets worse as I get older. My husband has learned not to talk to me when I’m cooking dinner, otherwise God only knows what he’d be eating . . . Or how long he’d be at the ER getting my finger stitched back on.

    Seriously, thank you all for the warm welcome. Love this site.

  15. Claudia Dain on 29 Sep 2009 at 7:50 am #

    Oh, Liz, yeah. I forgot about the cooking thing. I can’t talk and cook at the same time. This is why the idea of a big open kitchen with everyone sitting in the room TALKING while I cook gives me the shakes. Stay out! I’m cooking in here!!

    Maybe I should invest (steal) some of those orange traffic cones and put them in the kitchen? Hmm.

    And I can’t wait to read Zoe’s book! I feel like I’ve been waiting forever. FOREVER!

  16. Karen Rose on 29 Sep 2009 at 7:58 am #

    Welcome Liz! I don’t multitask either and I was happy when I saw this study on Yahoon :-)

    My husband multitasks and drives me frickin’ nuts. Usually one of the things he has going is loud – a TV, music, a video game. But usually one of the other things he has going is making food for moi, so I can put up with the noise, LOL.

  17. JudyPatooty on 29 Sep 2009 at 8:05 am #

    Welcome Liz! I’m so excited to see one of my favorite authors as a Visiting Goddess! I am anxiously awaiting the release of Wicked All Day in Kindle format! :)

    I am one of the Boringly Organized. Multi-tasking is way beyond my capabilities. I can’t even listen to instrumental music while reading. My brain gets too focused on one or the other.

    I think the only multi-tasking I can do is listen to an audiobook while playing Bejeweled. Preferably a Liz Carlyle book. ;)

  18. Jane O on 29 Sep 2009 at 8:08 am #

    I’m really looking forward to Zoe’s story.

    As for multitasking, I used to drive my mother-in-law crazy. I would keep rading while she was talking and still know what she was saying (I could even quote it back verbatim).

    That was fun.

  19. Amy Scott on 29 Sep 2009 at 8:12 am #

    Hi Liz, you are one of my faves… I am looking forward to reading Zoe’s story!

    As the mother of 2 small kids (5 and 2 months) I find myself always trying to multi-task. It is hard to explain to a 5 year old that ‘mommy can’t do 2 things at once’, so I always end up trying, just to keep her happy.

    Just last week, I was scooping my daughter ice cream, and the baby started to scream. I quickly put the ice cream away so that I could go get the baby. My husband found the ice cream 2 hours later in the cupboard with the dishes. In my haste I put the ice cream in the cupboard instead of the freezer. However, it worked out well because my husband decided I needed a break. He took the kids out for a couple of hours, and I enjoyed a glass of wine, and an afternoon of undisturbed reading… heaven!

  20. Becky on 29 Sep 2009 at 8:15 am #

    Hi Liz! If I had to classify myself, I’d probably be Spontaneously Organized. I can multitask pretty well, like study and listen to music. I’m one of those people that if there is silence, I will distract myself. Maybe that’s an indication of underlying problems or a lack of self discipline, but oh well! And I find that writing to music actually helps me, if it’s the right song. Keeps me in the mood, gives me ideas, and I have random dance parties to break the writer’s block.
    I’m organized, but in my own special system. I know where everything is and where to find it, so don’t mess it up! When I was a kid, I’d leave something somewhere, and I knew where it was, but my mother would think she was cleaning up, and then I could never find it. Like shoes. “Mom, I left my shoes right here, but they’re gone!” “Oh, I put them in the shoe closet.” [Moment of silence, cue the cricket.] “What are they doing in there?!?!?”
    There was this one time that I didn’t get some dishes put away before a party because I was doing a hundred other things at the same time, so I hid them in the oven. And I FORGOT they were in there, and I preheated the oven for biscuits the next morning…there was fire…

  21. Becky on 29 Sep 2009 at 8:15 am #

    But my freezer is fine, thanks for asking! :-)

  22. Julia London on 29 Sep 2009 at 8:29 am #

    Hi Liz and welcome to Mt. Oly!

    I used to be a much better multi-tasker than I am now. In my fond memories of myself, I could juggle anything. Now, it seems like it doesn’t take much to throw me for a loop. For example, if I am planning to write 10 pages one day, and the pest control guy comes, forget it. I’m lucky if I write two. And he’s here for maybe half an hour. But it unwinds everything and I have to start over.

    What IS that??

  23. Madeline Hunter on 29 Sep 2009 at 8:32 am #

    Hi, Liz! welcome!

    I would describe myself as a serial multi-tasker (which probably means I don’t multi-task at all). I focus on one thing alone for a spell, then move to the next. My own experience working with true multi-taskers (the kind who are writing a report while they talk to you on the phone) is they never get MY task done.

  24. elsiehogarth on 29 Sep 2009 at 8:42 am #

    Welcome Liz! Loved WAD! Zoe is such a flirt and the troubles she gets into are really not her fault. Really. Stuart is a great hero. Very Sexy. Robert is just fun with his certain problem but I love his interaction with Zoe because they are friends or more really like siblings.

    I am an organized person but I have, in my basement, a walk in closet and I just put anything and everything in it. Right now, I am actually cleaning it out and I am finding all kinds of treasures in it. While doing that, also in my basement, I have a kitchen/laundry/living room area….so there’s a load of laundry on, the TV is on with Rachel Ray just for company and I’m defrosting a chicken for dinner tonight.

  25. amy1242 on 29 Sep 2009 at 8:45 am #

    Welcome Liz! I am an organized, multitasking, fly by the seat of my pants type of person. I love to organize, but then life gets in the way and I have to fly by the seat of my pants, which I like better anyway. I am an adventurer, so when things go awry, I put on my leather man panties (thanks KH) and jump in with both feet. Win, lose or draw, there’s always a nice bottle of red waiting for me at the end of each day. And laundry, lots and lots of laundry.
    Enjoying all your stories, ladies!

  26. Liz Carlyle on 29 Sep 2009 at 8:57 am #

    Julia, I hear ya. I had the phone repair guy in this morning, and already the day seems shot. Yesterday it was the alarm system dude. My best work days are those when no one calls and no one rings the door bell. Even the UPS man can throw off my focus. (What’s in the box? Did I order that? Is it . . . oh, God — A GOOD BOOK?) And she’s off . . .

  27. Michelle B on 29 Sep 2009 at 9:06 am #

    I guess I am a multi-tasker. Not that I do it well, it’s just I’m always forced into it with too much to do and not enough time.

    Funny you should mention the freezer. Today is the first of three days of packers/movers in my house. They are everywhere in our house (I’m on a break, deserve one after the all nighter I pulled) and I am here alone with them. Oh yes, the freezer…it has to be defrosted, not much frost mind you. I’m waiting for tonight because tomorrow morning is trash day so no smelly stuff from throwing it all out.

    DH is a serious multi-tasker and loves it that way. We don’t always match up on moves. He like to go through a room take care of the main stuff and leave a ton of little stuff all over the place while he goes onto the next room and repeats. Drives me crazy because I like to finish a room before I move on. Unpacking goes the same way. After 25 years of marriage and 19 moves we have learned to work away from each other, territories so to speak.

  28. Suzanne Enoch on 29 Sep 2009 at 10:21 am #

    Welcome, Liz!

    I’m a successional tasker. I’ll work on something until I need a break, then go work on something else, then go back to the first thing, etc, etc. So I have many projects, none of them finished.

  29. Margaret on 29 Sep 2009 at 10:30 am #

    Julia asked “But it unwinds everything and I have to start over. What IS that??”

    It’s called too much river has passed under your bridge, Julia. Trust me on this as I know for sure.

    Here’s a multi-tasking no-no for you all. NEVER EVER read while in the bathtub. The resulting fire from trying to dry out a book in the microwave isn’t pretty It stinks up the house fiercely and the firemen will laugh at you.

    Plus you will always drop the book just when you get to a really good part. Like who dunnit or the first really hot sex scene. Enough to make a grown woman cry I tell you.

  30. Sabrina Jeffries on 29 Sep 2009 at 11:18 am #

    Okay, I’m a multi-tasker, not entirely by choice. When you’re ADD, your whole life is multi-tasking, because concentrating on one thing for too long makes you crazy. So I do the circle thing–I get everything done, but I flit from thing to thing in a circle until I get it done. I used to do true multi-tasking, where I talk on the phone and do something at the same time, but the older I get, the harder that gets. I guess that’s a good thing, but it complicates my life. When I was young, I would crochet and watch TV or stuff envelopes and watch TV … stuff like that. I can’t do it as well anymore. Everything takes me longer now. Sigh.

    I DO write to music, but only because it sort of forces me into hyper-concentration, which allows me to work hard-core instead of being distracted by every random sound in the house. It’s sort of necessary sometimes. If it’s really quiet in the house or no one’s here, I can write to silence, but I do better when I have music.

  31. Sabrina Jeffries on 29 Sep 2009 at 11:19 am #

    P.S. My freezer needs to be defrosted. It ALWAYS needs to be defrosted. But that’s because I bought it used for $150 about 4 years ago. It freezes great–it just needs to be defrosted from time to time. What do you expect for a cheap, used freezer?

  32. Liz Carlyle on 29 Sep 2009 at 12:56 pm #

    Yep, I’ve got the same kind of freezer. The non-self defrosting kind. The CHEAP kind. LOL. I vent my frustrations twice a year by hacking it off with a plastic ice pick thingie.

    Suzanne, you sound like a task grazer. LOL. I’m getting like that, too. I have about four half-done projects around the house right now. And a book to write . . .

  33. Janae on 29 Sep 2009 at 2:08 pm #

    I’m an occasional multi-tasker. I can’t not talk on the phone and not do something. On the occasions I do watch tv, I have to be doing something else – flipping thru a magazine, making or designing jewelry, etc. I have found a way to read and fold laundry at the same time, but it’s not really that efficient. It’s easier to chuck the clothes in the dryer whilst reading than fold and read at the same time.

    I’d be more organized if I didn’t have to worry about my dh. He just has a way of messing up thing, whether it’s covering nearly every flat surface with something; or putting something in the wrong spot, even though, we’ve lived in our house for 11 years; and I really could go on and on about it. Our children get on his case for putting things in the wrong spots.

    I really liked to be organized because it makes being spontaneous easier. And you don’t lose stuff if you’re organized.

    My freezer shuts with some difficulty. It’s hard to fit everything in a side by side. It’s like the space is smaller on the freezer side. I’d like to get deep freeze, but my dh would have to organize his stuff in the garage, so we could have the space for one.

  34. Jessica on 29 Sep 2009 at 3:15 pm #

    I’m so excited to see here you! You are one of 3 authors that are auto buys for me. Loved the way Stuart and Robert both called Cole “papa.”

    When I worked on my master’s thesis, I listened to music while doing research. When it came to writing, the tv was background noise. It was my way of trying to keep busy and push myself into doing the work since I only had 3 months to research and write.

    I’m not really spontaneous, but the one thing that was really bold was applying to one graduate school and getting in. I packed up and headed to Scotland where I had never been before and didn’t know anyone. It was tough the first couple of months, but then I settled quite nicely and now I’m dying to go back since I miss it so very much.

  35. evlqn on 29 Sep 2009 at 3:15 pm #

    It took me an hour and an assist by my neice but I got online with my new laptop. Hurray for me!! That’s as multi-tasked as I got today.

  36. Rachel Gibson on 29 Sep 2009 at 4:11 pm #

    Hi Liz and welcome. I’ve been gone all day and am late welcoming you to mt. Oly. I’ve been out doing one errand at a time. No multi tasking for me.

    The most bone headed thing I’ve done while attempting to multi task was talking on the phone while loading grocery bags from a shopping cart into my car. I drove all the way home before I realized I’d left my purse in the cart. I wish I could say I’ve only done this once. But it’s happened to me twice. Both times I got my purse and all belongs back. Thank God.

    rachel

  37. Liz Carlyle on 29 Sep 2009 at 5:04 pm #

    Jessica, funny you should mention going to school in Scotland. I just got back from dropping off the kiddo for fresher’s week. I did worry. But by Sunday it was kind of like, “Don’t let the door hit you in the a** on the way out.” So I think he has adjusted nicely.

  38. TinaLouiseF on 29 Sep 2009 at 5:48 pm #

    Hurray for Liz.
    I used to be organized. Now I’m lucky if I find anything.
    I’m planning to start “Wicked All Day” this week.

  39. Pesky on 29 Sep 2009 at 6:46 pm #

    Listening to music is multi-tasking? Kewl. I guess I do multitask. :D I’ll have to tell my sister, it will give her a good giggle for the day.

  40. Karen Hawkins on 29 Sep 2009 at 7:49 pm #

    Hi Liz! And WELCOME! I’m so excited you are here! If you guys haven’t read Liz’s work, by all means, DO SO. She’s phenomenal.

    I’m a lousy multi-tasker … if the phone rings, it’ll take me two hours or more to get back on task. My kids are the same way, so we’re always brainstorming ways to get organized and STAY that way. So far, we’ve got three things that really work — Daily To Do Lists, An Overall Organizer, and Turning Off The Electronics. I’m good at one and two, but three … nope. In fact, just watched an entire season of The Office in four days. Page count? Not tellin’, but it isn’t pretty. :(

    PS Can’t listen to music when I write, BUT I can write at a coffeeshop where there’s a murmur of voices and no-to-really-low music. That doesn’t bother me for some reason, probably because I grew up in a house full of kids and I learned to tune out the human voice, but not a pan flute.

  41. Jessica on 29 Sep 2009 at 7:54 pm #

    Liz-my parents were with me for about 3 days to check out Glasgow and to get to know the area. I got a phone call from my mom everyday for 9 months (despite being 27 and having lived on my own before) until I began to work on my master’s thesis. They weren’t there for Fresher’s Week and I have a feeling had they been there, they would have partaken in activities. LOL! You know it was nice having my parents there for the first couple of days and knowing they did care enough to check out the area.

    Honestly when Jonet tells Mercer how they are a clan and therefore responsible her and Mercer for the family-Mercer asks her how, by wearing a kilt, etc-I cried. I cried for a full hour with an intense longing.

  42. Nicole Jordan on 29 Sep 2009 at 9:42 pm #

    Yay, Liz!! it’s great to see you here on Mt. Oly! So sorry I’m late… been running all day and just got home. Congrats on WAD, it sounds great. I plan to pick it up tomorrow.

    As for multi-tasking, I read that article too. I know one person who mt’s very well, but I’m so ocd that I fixate on one thing till I’ve beat it to death. That’s probably the opposite of mutitasking, and I’m really good at it!

  43. Liz Carlyle on 30 Sep 2009 at 1:23 am #

    Thank you all for having me here. It has been great!

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