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 [...]
As a writer, I’m always curious about other writers and how they came to write and publish books. When I read through their author bios and interviews, it all seems to stem from an indescribable and insatiable need to figure out the world with pen and paper. Some of them always have written, and some seem to have fallen into it later in life. But, for every bio or interview I read, it seems that everyone says the same thing: [...]
