my trusty-yet-finicky fountain pen Have you ever owned a fountain pen? I always had a fascination with them since I love anything that harkens toward the past, and two years ago, I used Christmas money to buy myself one. It’s as wonderful as I thought it would be. It writes smoothly, it refills easily, and there are endless colors to choose from (and the ink pots! I use them as desk decor). However. (Nothing’s ever flawless, is it?) [...]
Just when I think I’ve figured things out, there is something that comes along to humble me. It’s a good thing, but I won’t say it isn’t frustrating at times. Last week I wrote about planning. And while I 100% believe that planning is good, there is a huge pitfall for me when it comes to planning. Sometimes I plan, and I expect my hard work, determination, and strategic planning to make all of my plans happen. It never works [...]
The moment has come that I have been dreading since the emanation of this project: I’m stuck. I’m really, really stuck. I’ve had blips here and there in the last couple of months, but I could power through them and end up with at least a scene if not two. But, the kids got sick, I got sick, I stopped writing for a few weeks, and the excuses piled up. After just a few weeks of not writing, I am [...]
I don’t see myself as a brave person. I’m not willing to skydive, I don’t want to dive into the depths of the sea, and I never ever want to orbit the earth. I would like to keep my feet on solid dry land. I’m also afraid of daily life things at times. I’m terrified anytime one of my children runs a high fever, I’m not fond of social interactions full of people I’ve never met, and driving a car [...]
Starting my serious pursuit of writing as a stay-at-home-mom comes with its advantages: I have no outside income that I have to ever question whether I should quit in order to pursue writing full time. I’m (nearly) by a computer or a pen and paper whenever I need to be (unless someone needs a nose wiped or more breakfast). But, it also comes with its disadvantages. When I started getting bolder about telling others about my writing, writers overwhelmingly responded [...]
For people who know me well at all, this will shock you (or make you laugh), but around the time I started writing my novel, I also started to exercise at least four times a week. For those of you who don’t know, I hate exercise. It’s like broccoli: I hate it, but I know it’s good for me. I found a vlogger who posts workout videos who doesn’t charge for her videos, and she has created routines that don’t [...]
When I started all of my previous creative endeavors, I always was discouraged when I hit my endpoint and gave up. I was completely burnt out on each, and the effort I put into it was not worth the results. I would look at all the other successful bloggers or makers, and I would honestly wonder what made me so lazy. Why were they succeeding in their projects and businesses? Why did I not follow through on any of it? [...]
This is something I wrote in 2011/2012 while commuting to work as an estimator in the construction industry. I still distinctly remember this conversation I witnessed. I’m including it because it summarizes a lot of my experience in the past ten years on this writing journey. I don’t still hold the same sentiments now from six-seven years ago, but it’s the raw account of how writing fit – or rather didn’t fit – in my [...]
When I was six years old, I was a first-grader in Mrs. Stamets’ class. My closest friend in class was a petite spitfire named Danielle. She had flaming red hair chopped to her chin. I was timid, and she was bossy. We worked because she liked to take charge, and I would put up with her demands to have a playmate at recess. Every girl in our class loved the swings. We’d race out at dismissal to snag the swings, [...]
When I set my mind to finally write a complete novel, I still had no idea what I would write about. So, I started this blog to at least keep me accountable for writing something. I did some research around the time I started the blog and discovered Scrivener. It seemed that most people who write long works love this computer program, so I figured if I was going to be a serious writer, I’d need it too. And, while it [...]
