With the holidays in reach, I'm enjoying a couple quiet days in my chair with my laptop. Presents are wrapped and waiting, cookies baked, house cleaned, groceries purchased, yep, I'm ready to go. And so I'm relaxing.
Because that's my one word for 2016: Relax
I don't even recall what my one word resolution was for 2015. It should have been: Survive. Because I'm insane, I chose: Write. (because 2014 failed at that word) This was a ludicrous idea considering I was still building the damn house and then there was the moving and finishing and unpacking. Ugh. If I could twist that word into: Publish, then I will say that I succeeded. Though, I did write too, but not until November. Hey, the last two months totally count for the full year, right? Sure they do.
This year I hope to spend more time in this chair writing with my feet up - not being stressed out, and exhausted. I'm sure there will still be stress, my oldest plans to be heading off to college, the younger is a teenage girl. Enough said.
Does it look and feel like Christmas by you? We're having the best winter weather ever. I'm on the lakeshore in West Michigan and should be under a couple of feet of snow by now, trudging about in my winter boots and weighed down by thick winter coat, gloves, scarves and a hat, brushing off my car at every errand stop while freezing my butt off. Instead, I wore my sandals last week and drove with my window down. Okay, this is Michigan, and it was 50 degrees and sunny, That's sandal weather. Sure, it's been rainy, but I don't have to shovel rain or pay the plow guy to do the driveway. This is awesome compared the to the last couple years of winter hell. And it totally figures that we'd have a warmer winter when I'm not frantically trying to finish a building a house during snowstorms or moving in the middle of record cold temperatures. Because that's how things work.
But I'm relaxing so it's all good.
Fun link for the week:
Our final thoughts on NaNoWriMo 2015 are now live on Lectito. In which I learn two of the other participants planned way the hell more than I did, but we all still made it to 50K.
Wednesday, December 23, 2015
Sunday, December 13, 2015
My New Chair
As a reward for finally getting back into the groove of writing and completing NaNoWriMo in record time (for me), I bought myself the chair I've been waiting for. There's been a hole in my office, awaiting it's arrival.
The issue was that I couldn't decide which chair was right for me and for writing productively, you know, meaning I wouldn't be so comfortable that I'd fall asleep. Because I do that. Yet, it had to be good for my back and shoulders, because those bother the hell out of me in my current desk chair. So after dragging my daughter around the furniture store for about an hour, sitting here and there, on black friday, no less (because: sales), I finally decided on this one.
The deciding factor? Funny thing was I'd all but paid for a totally different chair that was $150 less, but then my sister called. She was having a personal crisis, so I sat in the most expensive of the chairs I'd been contemplating, and we talked. The salesman kept not-so-discretely wandering by, giving me the 'are you done yet' eye. By the end of the conversation, my back demanded that chair. It's backrest was so tall that even I, who often towers over others, could rest my head on the chair. The arms were wide enough to comfortably allow for typing. The detached leg rest was perfect for my bad legs and still allowed me to get up without doing the awkward dismount from a standard recliner.
The only one who isn't wild about my chair? My little dog. Because she's not allowed on it. Bummer. Sorry, there's not room for a dog and a laptop. But I did buy her a new little bed so she can curl up next to my writing throne.
Speaking if which, it's time to get back to get comfortable and do some of that writing stuff.
Wonder where writers congregate online? Check out Author's Answer.
The issue was that I couldn't decide which chair was right for me and for writing productively, you know, meaning I wouldn't be so comfortable that I'd fall asleep. Because I do that. Yet, it had to be good for my back and shoulders, because those bother the hell out of me in my current desk chair. So after dragging my daughter around the furniture store for about an hour, sitting here and there, on black friday, no less (because: sales), I finally decided on this one.
The deciding factor? Funny thing was I'd all but paid for a totally different chair that was $150 less, but then my sister called. She was having a personal crisis, so I sat in the most expensive of the chairs I'd been contemplating, and we talked. The salesman kept not-so-discretely wandering by, giving me the 'are you done yet' eye. By the end of the conversation, my back demanded that chair. It's backrest was so tall that even I, who often towers over others, could rest my head on the chair. The arms were wide enough to comfortably allow for typing. The detached leg rest was perfect for my bad legs and still allowed me to get up without doing the awkward dismount from a standard recliner.
The only one who isn't wild about my chair? My little dog. Because she's not allowed on it. Bummer. Sorry, there's not room for a dog and a laptop. But I did buy her a new little bed so she can curl up next to my writing throne.
Speaking if which, it's time to get back to get comfortable and do some of that writing stuff.
Wonder where writers congregate online? Check out Author's Answer.
Monday, December 7, 2015
Published: Kick The Cat
Today, I'm happy to announce that the fall issue of the 3288 Review is now available, which features my short story, Kick The Cat.
You may remember that Kick the Cat was written during A Story A Day In May. I'm looking forward to a creating a host of new short stories next spring and will again be accepting ideas and prompts in April during Blogging A to Z.
Kick The Cat is a quirky little story about a sexy sorceress, her boyfriend, and the cat who hates his guts. I hope you enjoy it.
Friday, November 27, 2015
I Feel Like A Winner
A day earlier than I've ever "won" before, I hit 50K last night on my NaNoWriMo projects! Hooray!
Yes, there were two. My bad. In my defense, I didn't drop one project and leap to the next, I juggled both. Interface is sitting over 48K (the beginning 11K of which was from 2010 and didn't count), and Trust 3 is at 14K. For the most part, I plugged away at Interface so my daughter wouldn't keep glaring at me for working on Trust 3. When she wasn't around, I wrote whichever was speaking to me at the time. I'm happy with how both projects are coming along.
Not only did I finish a day earlier than my nine previous efforts, I didn't feel like I spent every available moment having to write and stressing about it. It was great to enjoy writing again and not feel like it was an overwhelming task that loomed over me all month. While both stories are very rough, I wasn't slogging through vast swaths of suck that were never going to amount to something I could work with, which has happened twice. It was great to see that I could return to writing novels again at long last! Not focusing on shorts, and not editing novels I'd written in the past, but birthing new novels. That I enjoyed working on. I was really beginning to wonder if I'd ever get back to this point so this is especially rewarding.
This week, I even took a night and morning off and read a book. During NaNo. Yes, the whole book, because that's what I do. I slept in that twelve hours span too. Okay, I slept a little, mostly I read. Because I could. And it felt great!
What made the difference this year? In order:
Not building a house - had time to think coherent thoughts that were not house building related.
Having help at work - far less stress when I'm not days behind with work
Kids are mostly self sufficient - one is driving so only half the usual mom taxi duty for me
Fallout 4 - thank you video game makers who release games during November that keep my husband occupied.
So what's next? In no particular order:
Finish Interface
Finish Trust 3
Finish editing Sahmara
While I'm working on those three things, I'm also bouncing around on blogs. You can find me here:
Scattergun Scribblings - Nick Wilford was gracious enough to allow me over to chat about A Broken Race.
ElizaGalesInterviews - Where I answer interesting questions like which author should survive a virus that wipes the rest of us out.
Authors Answer - Where we share our other creative pursuits beyond writing.
Lectito - Week three check in for five NaNoWriMo participants.
Sunday, November 22, 2015
Writing Challenge: Where do I find the time?
I've been pondering this idea for a few years, but those years, being what they were did not allow for a day to myself, or often, even an hour. However, this year, I seem to finally have my crap (generally) together and can focus on writing. At least a mostly. Life is still there. Which brings me to the challenge.
Write fifteen minutes for each hour for one day. I wanted to see how far this would get me. Would I get burnt out? Would life happen and ruin my plans? Perhaps this was the perfect solution to getting my attention span back and improving my focus. I'm so used to multitasking that just sitting and doing one thing for more than a few minutes at time starts to make me edgy. Surely I should be doing something else, there's so much to do, and here I am writing instead of doing those hundreds of other things buzzing around in my head.
November, being deep into NaNoWriMo as we are now, seemed to perfect time to indulge myself in a day of sporadic writing. And so I enjoyed a leisurely morning (because, hey, I'm indulging myself, right?) and was ready to get the day going at 10am.
At 10am I start the laundry, wash the dishes, check my work email and make and eat breakfast with the family.
Then I slink down to my office and write for fifteen minutes, gaining 662 words.
I lose the next forty-five minutes checking my own email, texting and visiting my usual haunts on the internet. That was fast.
Time to write again. 449 words
I'm going to make an apple pie because the kids keep forgetting to put the now soft apples in their lunches. Oh, homemade apple pie! That sounds so good. I reach for my spare bag of flour, and knock a new glass bottle of olive oil off the top shelf. It shatters on the tile, spraying olive oil and tiny glass shards all over my kitchen floor. I spend the next hour and half cleaning oil and glass off my floor. Though I do get the oven preheating. There's something.
Grumble as I write 480 words
Actually make the apple pie, steam clean the tile, clean up the kitchen, put away the now dry dishes and the laundry.
Write 550 words
Take the pie out of the oven, and make up the fifteen minutes I lost when taking too much time to clean up the olive oil the first time around.
Write 349 words
Take a deep breath of the warm apple pie and drive off to visit with family who live seven minutes away. I can totally squeeze this in. But the quick visit turns into hours because: talking. Check the clock when I get home and swear a little.
Write 368 flustered words while thinking of all the make up time that I now have to do.
Play one quick game on my phone
Write 312 words
Damn, time to do my regular writing fifteen minutes again. 457 words
Write and submit content for the December Authors Answer blog posts.
Another make up session 471 words
Take a break and play on my phone for ten minutes, notice time ticking. Grumble again.
Write 315 words
Check work emails again
Write 399 words
Wander the internet. Yawn and realize now it's after 10pm
Write 430 words and call it a night.
Adding up my efforts, I realize I managed to write 5,242 words without any mad scramble during my fifteen minutes (which was interrupted with phone calls and dogs demanding to go out on a couple occasions). I also still managed to do everything non-writing related I wanted to do for the day.
I'm quite happy with how the day went and how much writing I got done. Would I want to do that every day? No. Forty-five minutes goes really fast when you're watching the clock. However, it feels good to know that I can make the time to do it if I really need to.
Good luck to all you seekers of 50K this month! May the words be with you.
Write fifteen minutes for each hour for one day. I wanted to see how far this would get me. Would I get burnt out? Would life happen and ruin my plans? Perhaps this was the perfect solution to getting my attention span back and improving my focus. I'm so used to multitasking that just sitting and doing one thing for more than a few minutes at time starts to make me edgy. Surely I should be doing something else, there's so much to do, and here I am writing instead of doing those hundreds of other things buzzing around in my head.
November, being deep into NaNoWriMo as we are now, seemed to perfect time to indulge myself in a day of sporadic writing. And so I enjoyed a leisurely morning (because, hey, I'm indulging myself, right?) and was ready to get the day going at 10am.
At 10am I start the laundry, wash the dishes, check my work email and make and eat breakfast with the family.
Then I slink down to my office and write for fifteen minutes, gaining 662 words.
I lose the next forty-five minutes checking my own email, texting and visiting my usual haunts on the internet. That was fast.
Time to write again. 449 words
I'm going to make an apple pie because the kids keep forgetting to put the now soft apples in their lunches. Oh, homemade apple pie! That sounds so good. I reach for my spare bag of flour, and knock a new glass bottle of olive oil off the top shelf. It shatters on the tile, spraying olive oil and tiny glass shards all over my kitchen floor. I spend the next hour and half cleaning oil and glass off my floor. Though I do get the oven preheating. There's something.
Grumble as I write 480 words
Actually make the apple pie, steam clean the tile, clean up the kitchen, put away the now dry dishes and the laundry.
Write 550 words
Take the pie out of the oven, and make up the fifteen minutes I lost when taking too much time to clean up the olive oil the first time around.
Write 349 words
Take a deep breath of the warm apple pie and drive off to visit with family who live seven minutes away. I can totally squeeze this in. But the quick visit turns into hours because: talking. Check the clock when I get home and swear a little.
Write 368 flustered words while thinking of all the make up time that I now have to do.
Play one quick game on my phone
Write 312 words
Damn, time to do my regular writing fifteen minutes again. 457 words
Write and submit content for the December Authors Answer blog posts.
Another make up session 471 words
Take a break and play on my phone for ten minutes, notice time ticking. Grumble again.
Write 315 words
Check work emails again
Write 399 words
Wander the internet. Yawn and realize now it's after 10pm
Write 430 words and call it a night.
Adding up my efforts, I realize I managed to write 5,242 words without any mad scramble during my fifteen minutes (which was interrupted with phone calls and dogs demanding to go out on a couple occasions). I also still managed to do everything non-writing related I wanted to do for the day.
I'm quite happy with how the day went and how much writing I got done. Would I want to do that every day? No. Forty-five minutes goes really fast when you're watching the clock. However, it feels good to know that I can make the time to do it if I really need to.
Good luck to all you seekers of 50K this month! May the words be with you.
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