When you’re a mommy it’s really hard to have a writing routine. Neither job can be mutually exclusive. Nevertheless, both are important. It’s pretty much inevitable that both activities will run together.
I have two beautiful daughters that I will refer to as Princess and Peanut. The main reason for this is because my oldest daughter (Princess) would have a fit if she knew I was talking about her.
Anyway, Princess is ten and Peanut is two. Obviously, Princess goes to school five days a week, so that should make it easier for my writing. However, little Miss Peanut isn’t in school yet so she’s home with me every day. She will be attending Pre-School in the fall and is super siked about it.
Because she is home all the time, she of course demands the majority of my attention. I will say though, she is really good about entertaining herself for a bit if Mommy needs to get some work done. Now don’t get me wrong, there are interruptions… Lord there are interruptions.
I am sometimes in the middle of an intense plot point of a book I’m working on when Peanut decides she wants to take my order. This usually means I need to stop what I’m doing and tell her I want a milkshake and a carrot, or some other random combination I come up with at the time. Peanut will then rush to her pretend kitchen to fill my order. When she returns she has my delectable treat presented on a sparkling tray. Now by treat I mean Legos that she calls my food and drink. By sparkling tray, I mean one of her hard cover story books which do sparkle thanks to the glossy cover.
I then have to pretend to consume her creations and give her a rave review at which time I hand her my pretend money. After that, she takes my finished items back to her pretend kitchen and does the dishes. She’s really quite an efficient little thing isn’t she?
PS… If you ever play this game with her don’t ask her for change when you pay her. That’s where she scams ya.
Needless to say this some times makes for a non-eventful work day. For the most part I’m fine with it. I have learned to schedule my work stints in conjunction with naps, movie time or after both Princess and Peanut are tucked in at the end of the day. The only problem is sometimes you can’t schedule when an idea will take form. In order to let the creative juices flow and get the thought out, I will make a note of it on my computer or on my IPhone. For all of you sighted mommies, you can substitute computer for pen and paper if that’s more convenient.
Someday Miss Peanut will be in school full time and I’ll be able to have a normal work day with my writing. I am excited for those days but will miss my Lego and story book treats dearly. Yes writing is important and my future but it is only a piece. It’s easy to get wrapped up in writing your next book but always remember to cherish your little Peanut. They are only little once.
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Friday, March 30, 2012
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
If You Like To Write... Then Write
When you are a writer the most important part is of course… writing. You can’t be a writer if you don’t write regularly. They say to write everyday but for some this just isn’t possible. Life tends to get in the way. My only suggestion to those writers is to do it as often as you possibly can without giving yourself carpal tunnel and or arthritis.
When I was in High School, an amazing teacher named Mr. Fogus told us to write continuously without stopping for fifteen minutes. We were aloud to write anything we wanted and it wasn’t required to make sense. He said even if you have to jump from topic to topic it doesn’t matter just write.
I have to say Mr. Fogus was one of my favorite teachers. The other was Mrs. McIntyre. Ironically enough they were both English teachers.
So I did the assignment and was really excited about it. I loved anything to do with writing especially when I got to purge my creativity in any way my mind struck me. It really is the greatest and I recommend it for anyone experiencing writers block. Anyway, he set his timer and we all got started. At the end of the fifteen minutes I had written almost a complete story.
Side note: I didn’t do that every time. Sometimes my paper was a jumble of thoughts that made little to no sense.
It was a story about a family of lawn gnomes that were trying to live a normal life in the regular world. The main conflict was that a cranky old man obsessed with his yard kept stealing their son to decorate his garden. At night they would have to sneak through a hole in the fence and past the cranky old man’s yippy Pomeranian to retrieve their son. By the end of the story they worked out a deal with the cranky old man and they got to live in his garden. He promised them that if they stayed in perfect position when ever he had visitors he would keep them painted and polished. Once they had agreed the cranky old man wasn’t so cranky anymore.
Yeah I know totally silly story but I was a lot younger when I wrote it. Not to mention, people clearly like stories involving lawn gnomes look at the movie Gnomeo & Juliet that was really popular. So there!
The main point of this post is that if you love to write then write all the time. It doesn’t matter if it makes sense. Just get all of your thoughts down on the paper. Afterward, you can examine the material and who knows? It’s possible that you have a workable story or maybe even fragments for multiple stories.
If you’ve done that and still don’t know what to write then just write what you know. Starting to a topic you are familiar with is easy. You can base a character on yourself or someone you know and fill in the blanks with experiences you’ve gone through. Anyone’s life is interesting enough to want to read if it’s written well.
PS… The cover to Clandestine is coming along good. I am using a company called Dream Scape covers. The artist is super nice and does awsome work. I'm excited to see what people think of the cover when it's done. I will post it on the site when the artist is finished. I’ve also decided to tweak the ending a little bit and I’m working with someone to do a final round of editing before it’s released. As it gets nearer and nearer to being finished I can’t hardly stand it. I am so excited and I hope everyone loves the story as much as I loved writing it. That being said I hope that all of you reading this will subscribe to this site. You can do so by going under the heading followers and clicking the link. Signing up is easy and only takes a second. If you’re on Twitter you can follow me there too and get updates about the book and normal life ramblings.
When I was in High School, an amazing teacher named Mr. Fogus told us to write continuously without stopping for fifteen minutes. We were aloud to write anything we wanted and it wasn’t required to make sense. He said even if you have to jump from topic to topic it doesn’t matter just write.
I have to say Mr. Fogus was one of my favorite teachers. The other was Mrs. McIntyre. Ironically enough they were both English teachers.
So I did the assignment and was really excited about it. I loved anything to do with writing especially when I got to purge my creativity in any way my mind struck me. It really is the greatest and I recommend it for anyone experiencing writers block. Anyway, he set his timer and we all got started. At the end of the fifteen minutes I had written almost a complete story.
Side note: I didn’t do that every time. Sometimes my paper was a jumble of thoughts that made little to no sense.
It was a story about a family of lawn gnomes that were trying to live a normal life in the regular world. The main conflict was that a cranky old man obsessed with his yard kept stealing their son to decorate his garden. At night they would have to sneak through a hole in the fence and past the cranky old man’s yippy Pomeranian to retrieve their son. By the end of the story they worked out a deal with the cranky old man and they got to live in his garden. He promised them that if they stayed in perfect position when ever he had visitors he would keep them painted and polished. Once they had agreed the cranky old man wasn’t so cranky anymore.
Yeah I know totally silly story but I was a lot younger when I wrote it. Not to mention, people clearly like stories involving lawn gnomes look at the movie Gnomeo & Juliet that was really popular. So there!
The main point of this post is that if you love to write then write all the time. It doesn’t matter if it makes sense. Just get all of your thoughts down on the paper. Afterward, you can examine the material and who knows? It’s possible that you have a workable story or maybe even fragments for multiple stories.
If you’ve done that and still don’t know what to write then just write what you know. Starting to a topic you are familiar with is easy. You can base a character on yourself or someone you know and fill in the blanks with experiences you’ve gone through. Anyone’s life is interesting enough to want to read if it’s written well.
PS… The cover to Clandestine is coming along good. I am using a company called Dream Scape covers. The artist is super nice and does awsome work. I'm excited to see what people think of the cover when it's done. I will post it on the site when the artist is finished. I’ve also decided to tweak the ending a little bit and I’m working with someone to do a final round of editing before it’s released. As it gets nearer and nearer to being finished I can’t hardly stand it. I am so excited and I hope everyone loves the story as much as I loved writing it. That being said I hope that all of you reading this will subscribe to this site. You can do so by going under the heading followers and clicking the link. Signing up is easy and only takes a second. If you’re on Twitter you can follow me there too and get updates about the book and normal life ramblings.
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
A Little About Me and A Little About Book News
I am a twenty-eight year old mommy. I have two daughters that are ten and three. They are a hand full but I wouldn't have it any other way. They are my life and without them I wouldn't be me.
I am blind. I have Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP), COATS disease, Glaucoma and Nystagmous. I wasn't born blind but I've always been legally blind. When I was a kid I could get around without the use of a cane and could do everything other kids did back then. I have only been like a bat for about ten years or so. I have another blog and it's main topic is the brighter side to blindness. It has funny stories of times in my life that I promise you are all true. It also has educational information and videos about Blind People Doing Big Things. You can find it on my profile or at http://www.playingtheblindcard.blogspot.com
I am pretty sure that I have chosen a cover designer for my book Clandestine. I never thought in a million years I'd be able to afford a designer for my first book but here we are. She is more than affordable and from what my friends say does fantastic work. I am so excited to see what she does with Clandestine's cover! Right now we are just bouncing ideas around but I hope to have plans finalized soon:)
I am using Create Space and Smash Words to publish my book in both Print and Ebook formats. I really want to publish it in audio for my blindy following from my other blog Playing The Blind Card but holy crap is that expensive! The cheapest I've found is still over TWO THOUSAND DOLLARS!!! If this book takes off like I hope it does I will look into audio options but for now there's no way I can afford it.
When you are reading a book do you ever analyze the style and development and think wow! I am currently reading the Immortal Instruments series again. I am so in love with the language of the books. It might be a young adult series but I know several adults who get just as much enjoyment out of it.
I'm excited about this new blog and hope after reading the this post you will deside to subscribe. Don't forget to click on the "Clandestine" link to read a little description about the book. I plan to upload the first chapter soon so keep an eye out!
I am blind. I have Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP), COATS disease, Glaucoma and Nystagmous. I wasn't born blind but I've always been legally blind. When I was a kid I could get around without the use of a cane and could do everything other kids did back then. I have only been like a bat for about ten years or so. I have another blog and it's main topic is the brighter side to blindness. It has funny stories of times in my life that I promise you are all true. It also has educational information and videos about Blind People Doing Big Things. You can find it on my profile or at http://www.playingtheblindcard.blogspot.com
I am pretty sure that I have chosen a cover designer for my book Clandestine. I never thought in a million years I'd be able to afford a designer for my first book but here we are. She is more than affordable and from what my friends say does fantastic work. I am so excited to see what she does with Clandestine's cover! Right now we are just bouncing ideas around but I hope to have plans finalized soon:)
I am using Create Space and Smash Words to publish my book in both Print and Ebook formats. I really want to publish it in audio for my blindy following from my other blog Playing The Blind Card but holy crap is that expensive! The cheapest I've found is still over TWO THOUSAND DOLLARS!!! If this book takes off like I hope it does I will look into audio options but for now there's no way I can afford it.
When you are reading a book do you ever analyze the style and development and think wow! I am currently reading the Immortal Instruments series again. I am so in love with the language of the books. It might be a young adult series but I know several adults who get just as much enjoyment out of it.
I'm excited about this new blog and hope after reading the this post you will deside to subscribe. Don't forget to click on the "Clandestine" link to read a little description about the book. I plan to upload the first chapter soon so keep an eye out!
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