REALLY Long Time, No See.

Wow.  It’s been awhile.  Actually it’s been 6 years, 1 month, and 3 days since I wrote on here.  A lot of life has happened, but without getting into details, let’s just say that I’ve put writing on the back burner for quite awhile.  It was fun to go back and read the posts I wrote.  One of them mentioned that it didn’t seem my season to write.  Now, it can be done, but it wasn’t a priority in my life. I thought about it here and there. 

My youngest child will be starting kindergarten next fall. For the first time in 14 years, I will be kid free for a few hours a day. I’m trying to get to a point in my life that writing can be a priority. Organizing and decluttering.  I can’t say enough about decluttering.  Less stuff means more time for the things you love.  

I’ve been writing a couple hundred words here and there.  I have tons of ideas for novels, but haven’t really given it time to develop. So to get the creative writing flowing, I’m going to try and blog more often.  When I feel like I have something I want to say, I’ll write.  Other days I want to try and do some writing prompts.  Some might be thoughts I have about life or writing.  Others might be a few paragraphs of fiction to get the writing juices flowing.  

No prompt right now, but there are a few things that have changed since I stopped writing more consistently years ago.

1. You only use 1 space between sentences, not 2.  It is a hard habit to break. I am trying to break this habit from when I was younger. Sometimes I catch it and sometimes I don’t.

2. Cell phones. I know they aren’t new anymore, but when I was writing last, it was still not quite the norm that everyone had cell phones. Years ago people would wait until weekends or after 9 for the free calling. I didn’t get a cell phone until about 4-6 years ago.  I can’t remember exactly when. So I really need to update stories that none of my characters have cell phones.  Because very few adults don’t have one.

3. Technology has made so many things so much easier.  Gone are the days of sending in manuscripts.  Printing off 200-300 pages to send to a publisher. Now you just submit your work online. You can connect with authors better through FB and Instagram. I like to watch FB live videos of authors book parties. You can ask them questions and really get a some great writing tips. 

Okay, enough for now. My 4 year old is next to me begging me to use my Bluetooth keyboard with my tablet.  He just discovered that I had this as I started typing on my tablet with it.  See?  Technology is pretty cool.

Long Time, No See

Wow.. almost 6 months with no post. Even if I'm not writing regularly (which I'm not) I would like to try and write on here more often, because it keeps me in the writing mentality.

Anyway, so what have I been up to? I've written here and there on my WIP. I've written a little on my side WIP when I feel like it. I've even written on my short story. That's probably too much to work on at once, but I get restless with my projects after awhile. I think if I just had more focus maybe I could do better.

My sister says something like "Excuses, even if they are good, are still excuses. You don't get things done." So, I do have excuses, and some of them are good. But I'm not getting the writing done. Now, I'm not being that hard on myself. I'm one of those people that believe there is a time and place for everything and when it's the right time it will happen. EXCEPT you have to put the work in at the right now. It isn't going to happen on it's own.

One kind of exciting thing that happened is I have made some money off writing. I have a Kindle and wanted a few kids stories on there. Me being the writer I am, didn't want to just buy a bunch of books. I wanted to write one. I wrote four short stories for my kids. Then I thought, why not put it on the Kindle store and see if I could sell some? So I did. I've sold 12 copies. That is in about 1 month of sales and no real promoting (except telling some friends that ended up buying a copy. Thanks friends!). I have made $4.20 from writing these stories for my kids.

I like the publisher route, because basically says, your writing is good enough we want to sell it in a book. I like the indie publishing route because it says, I can write what I want and be in charge of it. I guess I'll just keep on writing and see which route to take next.

Hitting a Writing Milestone

So far in my "writing career" I haven't gotten very far. I love to write. I make up stories here and there and usually quit writing the story because I get discouraged. But last night I hit the 39K word count. I am less than 1000 words away from hitting 40,000 words, which is roughly half a book. And not just a story that has a bunch of words, but words that I am pretty darn proud of.

I got some feedback on my first page and it just got me excited to write again. I just wish my excitement lasted longer periods of time. I've got to figure out a way to keep the momentum going. I feel like I have a better idea of what needs to be improved. I know a couple scenes that I am definitely am going to have to completely re-do, a few that I'll need to improve the quality of writing on, and I have some ideas to give the novel more quality about it.

Besides writing, I am also working on losing weight. In a year's time I have lost 27 pounds. Sadly, I still have about 25-30 more pounds to go, but now I know I can do it.

Also, having a few little kids around the house with school out makes it a little less scheduled around here. Oh, and not to mention that I am trying my hand at gardening.

So a little about gardening: I grew up in a house with 1/2 acre. We had a huge garden. Pretty much any vegetable or fruit you can think of that grows around here -- we grew it. I helped planting, picking weeds, and harvesting. So you would think I would have this green thumb. Nope.

I don't like bugs, I don't like sitting on the ground pulling weeds, and I forget to water my plants. My kids love the idea of gardening and I do also to an extent. So, we are attempting to grow: 1 corn stalk, 2 tomato plants, 1 strawberry plant, 2 pumpkin plants, and 1 watermelon plant. Last year my attempt at carrots and 3 tomato plants yielded 9 small tomatos and no carrots. Basically anything I can harvest will probably be an improvement this year. Maybe someday I will get this gardening stuff all figured out.

UPDATE: I hit 40K. 40,365 to be exact. WAHOO!!!

Summer Vacation

As for the writing: Still a no show. I've been thinking about it, but just not into right now.

We are going to be heading on our first camping trip of the summer. The kids are excited and I'm getting excited. It's hard to get excited about it when you know that you need to clean out your car trunk, gather all the camping supplies, make a list of everything you need, pack your stuff, double check the stuff your kids pack, pack the food, hope everything fits, etc. But we are only camping about 10 miles away from home, so if we forget anything, we'll just run home and get it.

My brother-in-law is borrowing our Tahoe (SUV) for a relay race. So we are packing for our family of 5 (and dog) with just my Impala. We will all probably have bags on our laps and be packed like sardines in the car. Luckily, like I said, it will only be a 10 mile ride.

When the little one takes a nap, I'm heading outside to clean out the car and pack the few things that I can get packed now.

However, I am getting excited at the thought of having things done and ready for camping. No internet, no video games, but I will have my Kindle. Reading while camping is one of the nice relaxing things.

It Comes and Goes

So my writing itch comes and goes. I wrote 15,000 words last month. I've barely touched my manuscript this month. I just need to make myself personal goals for writing more often.

Julie Coulter Bellon, a LDS author and also mother of 8 children started a new blog. She has something called First Page Friday. I decided to be bold and sent in the first page of one of my manuscripts. It's one that I put on the back burner, but still REALLY want to write. My creativity for it is worn out though. I've thought about taking the basic idea of it and completely re-writing it. I'd still use a bunch of the scenes and ideas that really seem to work. But some of it just doesn't flow right.

As for my personal life, I'm a little excited and a little not excited for school to be out. I have a routine down when my son is at school. When the baby (although she really is a toddler now, but I still think of her as my baby) goes down for a nap, I have one child home. She can stay somewhat quiet by herself. But with 2 kids home, they can make SO much noise. I will have to think of some good nap-time quiet activites for them to do.

Oh, and it's May 16th, and I am drinking hot chocolate and thinking about putting my housecoat on. My house is 64 degrees (had a window open and a fan blowing). I'm not ready for full on heat summer, but would like 70's degree Spring to stay.

Creative Juices Flowing

It has been less than two weeks since I started my new WIP. I am already at 10,000 words. That is insane to me. If I keep up this pace, I could tentatively have the rough draft done in four months. I have never written this much in such little time.

I still like my previous WIP and would like to go back to it again sometime, but I love the way the creative juices are flowing for me. It's hard to explain what happens when I get in the zone. It's like time doesn't exist. I was writing at a little after nine o'clock and now it's ten thirty. I had my headphones on listening to soundtracks and my husband put his hand on my shoulder and scared me.

My goal for the April Writing Challenge was 8000 words. And now I am 2000 words past that. So my new goal for the challenge is to get to 15,000 words. There are 11 days left in the month. That is 500 words a day. My time is going to get a little busier this week, but I am sure I can do it.

Writer's Block

I wanted to work on my current WIP (work in progress), but I just kept hitting the wall. I can feel what I want to write, but I just can't get it out on paper. So, I decided to go another direction.

I have an idea for another novel that has on my mind. I've written down a few ideas for it, but never really started writing it. I decided to go ahead and start it. I've gotten 3000 words already from 3 different writing times.

This one feels like it's going a little smoother than my last one. Of course, we'll see if I end up getting writer's block on this one. Hopefully I can get some good speed built up so I can just knock that wall down.

I've read that for the first draft to just get the story down. Don't worry about getting that perfect draw you in beginning. Don't worry about whether the scene flows right or not. Just get the story out. Then go back and reword things, find the starting point, change scenes around a little. Or even cut out parts that no longer seem necessary to have written.

My new goal for this WIP is 8000 words this month. I'm almost half-way there. Maybe I'll even "blow this thing wide open." That's for you Tristi. :)

Reading to Improve Writing

I've heard or read it somewhere that reading can help your writing. I love it when I find an author or book that just makes me want to be the best writer I can possibly be. You know the kind. The one that you get real invested in the characters. Or you love the back and forth tension of the characters. The plot line just pulls you in.
You just want more. You wish the author would write more books or longer books because you just want more.

And then I think that is how I want other people to feel when they finish reading my novel. I can look at these books and see how they "show, not tell" the story. It helps me to look at what I've written and see how to better phrase what I'm trying to write.

I'm doing Tristi's April writing challenge. So far I have about 300 out of 5000 words done for my goal. I need to get going on in. I have read 3 books this month (and it's only the 7th), so that has been occupying my time. But I finished the series and now I have to wait for more. So, it's time to write again.

April Writing Challenge

Author Tristi Pinkston is having her quarterly writing challenge. I love her writing challenges because it makes me think more about writing when I sign up to participate.

One year ago last March, my work-in-progress (WIP) was around 18,000 words. This March I am at 37600 words. I printed off my WIP so that I could mark on it and hopefully find what flows and what doesn't. Also so I can hopefully get some ideas to add to the story.

I'm still planning on writing here and there until April, but I can't wait until April to try and get my word count up. My goal for April is 6000 words. I hope I get higher, but I know that number is realistic for me right now. Hopefully I majorly exceed that number though.

New Month, New Goal

I hit my original February goal of 4000 words. I thought I'd up it to 8000 (since it was the middle of the month). Then the flu hit. I had it the worse for about a week and then my girls had it for a few days. Then I was just tired from being sick and didn't hit the secondary goal. But that's okay. Life happens.

So, for March my goal is going to be 5000. Right now in my life, I prefer to aim lower and hope to hit higher. I didn't write anything in my WIP for over about 9 months. Then this year I started writing on it again. So if my goal is 5000 words a month, then that is 45,000 words vs. 0 words for the next 9 months again. It all adds up in the end.