The Choice

Like many of you, carving out some time for myself during my manic week is a pretty difficult thing...okay to be truthful its damn near impossible - especially as of late. And on the rare occasion that I do snag some of that precious spare time, its a staggering effort to choose what to do with my time.

• Do I go out with the friends I haven't seen in forever?


• Do I go out with the hubby to watch a movie that I've been dying to see?


• Do I go out to dinner?


• Do I stay in and Read?


• Do I stay in and Write?


• If write, what story should I choose?

It's extremely aggrivating - so much so that I get to the point where I can't settle on one thing and end up not doing anything fruitful!! Aggrivation city, people. Aggrivation city. So my question for you fine peeps is...DOES THIS HAPPEN TO YOU???!

And if so how do you deal?

Escape Route

Ever have one of those writing moments when you’ve been sitting in front of your computer monitor for a couple hours or more and you’ve accomplished nothing? You keep trying to get this scene out but everything you write is just wrong so you end up just staring at that last punctuation mark without knowing how exactly to move on?

That’s the point when I need to take a step back and let my mind escape for an evening because if I keep pushing it I’ll just drive myself mad. So this is usually the point when I do one of a million other hobbies I dabbling in to pass the time. Scrapbooking, quilting, or if I just feel like vegging out – reading, watching tv, or surfing the Internet.

Anyway, last night, I while surfing aimlessly without finding something engaging on the web, I was wondering what the rest of you guys do when you need a night away from the Word document?

Keeping up the Momentum

I was thinking today about how exactly does a writer keep their momentum during the writing process. How do we keep our enthusiasm and focus when “real life” is so jam packed with everything that is determined to distract us?

When I was writing my first manuscript I had this undeniable fixation with my writing. I HAD to write. It was a deep burning under my skin that screamed at me whenever I wasn’t writing. And I absolutely loved it. It was Passion, plain and simple - a deep seeded passion for my dream to be a published writer. And I have heard of quite a few other writers having a similar feeling. But they are usually still early in their writing careers – have not yet become complacent with the whole process or jaded by the whole writing/publication industry. Their drive is still intact.

But my question is what happens when the drive dwindles a little. (I’m not saying gone completely because I honestly don’t think that someone who wants to write ever loses that drive completely) How do you keep finding time to write, keep finding those moments of inspiration that lead you to dive head over heels for the keyboard as fast as you can?

The truth is I don’t have a real answer. I have been experiencing my fair share of dying drive syndrome lately. My life has only gotten more chaotic the older my kiddos have gotten – chauffeuring to after school activities, getting what they need for this school project or that game before it’s due, making sure the kids’ homework, my housework, my errands, and everything else is done when its needed. And don’t even get me started on the laundry.

But lets face it folks – being an adult means putting all of your responsibilities before your desires. And that sometimes leads to the death of our dreams. It’s an occupational hazard. So I guess the only real answer is WANT.

If getting published is something you WANT - if it is your dream you have to fight to keep it alive. You have fight for the time, fight for the energy at the end of the day when all you really want to do is drop unconscious.

Fight or Let it Die ….who knew writing was such a Keeping up the Momentum

I was thinking today about how exactly does a writer keep their momentum during the writing process. How do we keep our enthusiasm and focus when “real life” is so jam packed with everything that is determined to distract us?

When I was writing my first manuscript I had this undeniable fixation with my writing. I HAD to write. It was a deep burning under my skin that screamed at me whenever I wasn’t writing. And I absolutely loved it. It was Passion, plain and simple - a deep seeded passion for my dream to be a published writer. And I have heard of quite a few other writers having a similar feeling. But they are usually still early in their writing careers – have not yet become complacent with the whole process or jaded by the whole writing/publication industry. Their drive is still intact.

But my question is what happens when the drive dwindles a little. (I’m not saying gone completely because I honestly don’t think that someone who wants to write ever loses that drive completely) How do you keep finding time to write, keep finding those moments of inspiration that lead you to dive head over heels for the keyboard as fast as you can?

The truth is I don’t have a real answer. I have been experiencing my fair share of dying drive syndrome lately. My life has only gotten more chaotic the older my kiddos have gotten – chauffeuring to after school activities, getting what they need for this school project or that game before it’s due, making sure the kids’ homework, my housework, my errands, and everything else is done when its needed. And don’t even get me started on the laundry.

But lets face it folks – being an adult means putting all of your responsibilities before your desires. And that sometimes leads to the death of our dreams. It’s an occupational hazard. So I guess the only real answer is WANT.

If getting published is something you WANT - if it is your dream you have to fight to keep it alive. You have fight for the time, fight for the energy at the end of the day when all you really want to do is drop unconscious.

Fight or die….who knew writing was such a transient lifestyle. :

Writing Vs. Reading

One of my biggest issues this summer is staying focused on my writing. With all the great summer books coming out I find myself looking longingly more and more often at my ever growing pile of books awaiting me on my nightstand. I'm not kidding.

The pile is about 10 stories thick right now and that doesn't even count the additional books that are attached to each series. But the one thing that keeps running through my head is that if I don't keep at it, it will never get done. And I want it done... desperately. I can't tell you how much I want to see this story completed. (But then again, those of you who write as well must know that particular feeling as well as I do.)

So I have to force myself to stick with the writing. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. Forcing the words is usually the worst thing a writer could do though. That's when writer's block hits. That's when the story comes to a screeching halt and you are left to just curse the heavens, not really knowing what's wrong.

That's when I have to take a step back and let my mind wander to other things. Freeing it from the knots that have bound up my creativity. And then start again.

Tonight I took a break and ended up finishing the bracelets that had been tugging on my creative heartstrings. It had been something I kept pushing off and pushing off because I wanted to finish another chapter or so - but the chapters weren't coming and I was frustrated. Taking a (short) break usually helps me get past those moments of writers block. But now I have to get back to work.

Its a razors edge, my friends. So I asked you, what do you do to get past your writer's block?

Finding the Time...

This post is about finding the time to write when the real world is bearing down around you. The fact is unless you are a bestselling author you probably have a real life with a few moments of author-hood (aspiring or not) sprinkled in amongst it. A job, a family, responsibilities of one sort or another that demand the majority of your attention.

Frankly, no matter when the urge to write hits you, real life usually gets in the way. You most likely have at least a few things to do before you can actually sit down at your computer and by then ...who knows? The muse might have left you in the dust. Or by the time those few moment of blissful peace and quiet finally do emerge from your chaotic life, you're so exhausted you can barely keep your eyes open. (Trust me - this aggravates me to no end.)

Take heart, it happens to the best of us. Heck even the best selling authors aren't always able to write when they want to.

I have two pieces of advice. First - everyone deserves some time to themselves. If the decision is between folding the laundry and having an hour to write. Take the time to write. The laundry will always be there (trust me).

Secondly - if the real life responsibilities take precedent and the muse strikes take notes. You might not be able to fully delve into the scene the way you want to but if the line of dialogue that's been escaping you or the image of that climatic battle scene you've been dreading finally comes - grab your writing notebook* or a scrap piece of paper and get it down. Fast! You don't want to lose those words.

I fully believe epiphanies are things that should be savored and cherished. After all, they were sent you of a reason. Fate, God, angels, muses, whoever....someone thought you needed those words exactly the way they came to you.

In the end, you find the time. You carve out a moment for yourself to do what you love. For me that's writing. I want to be an author. I want to be published and to do that I have to get the words down on the page. So I push myself to make the time because that's my dream.

But until then...


*A Writing Notebook is an absolute necessity!! Keep one in your car or your purse or in your nightstand or any other place you might be when the moment strikes. Trust me you will be very grateful to have it within reach!

Letting Go

So since today is a snow day, I decided to take some time to write about letting go. I think one of the hardest things for me was letting go of the characters and world I created in my first manuscript. They were so real and I had their voices so clearly in my head that I worried if I let them go I wouldn't be able to get them back when I wanted to write the other books in the series (which I still fully intend on doing).

However, one piece of advice Janet Reid from FinePrint and many of the other blogging agents I follow have given is keep writing. You simply can't rest on your laurels.

There's a lot of waiting in the query stage. You send out your queries and then you have to wait. Weeks at first. Then if someone requests more it can lead to 3 - 6 months (that's right months) of more waiting. Then if your lucky enough to land an agent, you're going to have to wait even longer while he/she tries to sell your manuscript to the publishing houses. Like I said, there's a lot of waiting so why not do something productive in the mean time.

Another reason to keep writing is Publishers and Agents are not looking for a one trick pony. They want someone who intends to build a career out of writing - which means more than one book. Saying you have a series attached to the submitted manuscript is far more juicy to them than a stand alone. Or having more than one story under your belt shows prospects for the future. In the end, they want clients that are going to produce.

And in truth, I haven't had a chance to go back and work on Purgatory or any of the other stories but I'm not really concerned anymore about losing them. When my mind drifts back to that world, the characters are right there waiting and the world is just as vivid as ever. I'm not saying the voice won't take sometime to get perfect again. I'm sure it will. But the components are still there. And in the mean time, I keep learning.

My writing evolves and continually improves. I find better ways, stronger ways of writing things. So when do finally go back to my first story, the rewrites are sure to be superior to the first. And that, I suppose, is the moral to the story. Keep writing. Keep practicing because that's the only way you'll get better.

Change in Perspectives

Today's blog is about a change in perspective. With my first work in progress - Purgatory - it was in the first person. It wasn't until I had written and multiply submitted my manuscript that I found out 1st person perspectives are very rarely successful.

I will admit it is a harder way to write. The first person POV severly limits how you can tell your story. You can only show what the main character precieves about the other characters, not what they are actually thinking. You can only show how certain events effect the main character personally and not how the others around them are effected on the inside.

However it also opens up a whole new aspect that you simply don't get into writing in the 3rd person. You delve deeper into the main characters feelings. You see exactly how they relate to the other characters and exactly how they see themselves. It is a more personal, inside their head story. And I truly loved writing that way.

With my second WIP (work in progress) I've decided to take it from the 3rd person's POV. It is a huge change for me, but one I have thoroughly enjoyed. The thing I like most about it is the more writing techniques I explore, the more developed I feel as an author, even if I haven't had a manuscript published yet. I love feeling of the evolution of my craft.

Oh and for the record, I will return to writing in the first person again. I love the intimacy of it.

But until then...