Being Busy
We are all busy. We all have lives to live and jobs to go to and responsibilities to tend to. When we get that spark, that idea that we can no longer contain and just have to write, it is easy to do inventory on our lives and think, how am I going to bring this story to life? With what time? With whose energy?
I know I’ve struggled with this. I still do, in fact. I was supposed to write and post this blog last week. And yet, here I am. Just now writing and posting it. So, it happens with all of us. Now obviously creating a schedule is going to be super personal, but here are some things that have helped me in the past.
· Keep a notebook near as much as possible. When I’m writing on a story I seem to be always thinking and imagining scenes for it. New parts and certain lines of conversation comes to me. Having a notebook around, I can write it down immediately instead of expecting myself to just remember when I get to that part. Because when will I get to that part?
· Taking advantage of your Notes app is good for this too. As well as a good alternative for if you work outside the home and can’t always have a notebook on you at work. Plus, you can back it up.
· Speaking of phones, make a voice note! You can transcribe it later.
· Make your goals manageable and realistic. If you haven’t written in years or ever on a consistent basis, then giving yourself the goal to write 5-10 thousand words a day isn’t realistic. Start with something small and easily consumable. This can be as small as ten minutes a day for a week. And even if you exceed that every day, great! That is the point. Then the next week increase it by five to ten minutes.
· Write when you can. This may not be every day. It may not be every week. If you can only write when you’re in the bathroom, fine! Write in the bathroom! Sometimes life is like that. And it is okay.
· Write it all down. You won’t remember. You will not remember. You. WILL. NOT. REMEMBER. Write it down. Record it. Sort it out later.
We are busier. But we also have access to things that we didn’t in the past as well. Let’s take advantage. Even a little progress leads to great results.
What are some ways you incorporate writing into your busy life?
Until next time, happy writing and reading!
August Recap
Okay, so as I was looking through my planner, I realized that I may have missed up my months for my recap. The reason that I say this is because I didn’t record reading through Break My Fall but I did for August. Not that it matters, the work is the work. But if there’s some repetition, I’ll correct myself.
I worked on Arranged. I did a little bit of writing and some research for something new that I thought could potentially happen.
I continued with my read through of Break My Fall which I said I did in July but I’m not actually sure. When I’m doing a read through, I try to complete at least one chapter before I go to a different task or become distracted by something else.
I still have not started any of the last phases for Flight of Hope. And I think I also realized that I will not be having a fall release as I originally hoped. There is a huge part of me that is bummed by this decision – yes, I know it’s mine. But I also want to do this right and to make the launch/release as successful as possible. And I think waiting will definitely do that.
I signed up for a publishing course that gives the ins and outs of successful self-publishing. I went through the first module but I’ve paused for the time being because I have some things to complete in my business and I want this publishing information to be fresh in my mind. And I want to be able to see the relevancy of what I’m learning in real time, if that makes sense.
I didn’t post any blogs in August – part of the reason there are two recaps this month. So I just pushed the blog content to September though I did still post weekly prompts and did trope Tuesday on Instagram.
August was a random month for me. I’m an educator and start classes soon and I think that has been weighing heavy on my mind and brings on a lot of stress. I will be busier in September but my plan is to have a plan that I can stick to and look at every week to decide what I need to do each day. I’ve been busy before and still made writing work. I just have to get back into the habit. That’s really all I have for now.
Until next time, happy writing and reading!
July Recap
As far as writing goes, I didn’t do a lot of it. But again, progress not perfection.
I need to have Flight of Hope go through a final edit before I really dive into everything else with publishing it. I haven’t begun to research book covers, artists/designers, formatting or anything like that. Once I do begin, I may realize I need to push my publishing date back but again, won’t know until I get there.
I didn’t work on Arranged. But I did continue my read through of Break My Fall. School starts back up next month so my work schedule (daytime job) is going to be slightly busier so I’m still unsure if I’ll have both drafts complete by the end of the year.
I kept up with my blog posts. I also started an author Instagram. A lot of my author work for the month was actually with “behind the scenes”. Not as interesting as it sounds, honestly. I started my Instagram and had to figure out how to have things push to my author Facebook page. I’m still posting weekly prompts and every Tuesday I post a romance trope on my Instagram to talk about. I actually really love trope Tuesday. Discussion is light but I’m hoping it will increase. I’ve thought about cross posting it to the blog, but for now, it’ll just live on Instagram. It was a different month but still productive.
Until next time, happy writing and reading!
40 before 40
I few years ago, I was scrolling through Tumblr and came across this post of this girl’s goals. It was twenty-five things she wanted to do before she turned 25. Or maybe it was 21 before 21, I can’t remember. But I thought this was such an interesting concept for goals. Some of her goals were big, others small but all seemed to be achievable.
So, as I continued to think about this, I decided to adopt this for myself and do a 35 before 35. Most of mine were big and outrageous. If you don’t know me, do not be shocked by this. If you do know me, do not be shocked by this! There were a few smaller goals like learn to swim, eat at a restaurant with a Michelin star and finish a certain novel – we’re not going to talk about said novel, okay?! But others required a lot more out of me than I could give for where I was at that point in my life. There were a few travel goals – visit Italy, somewhere in Africa, Thailand. Actually, there were a lot of travel goals. Too many for someone who wasn’t being paid a livable wage. And someone who, you know, doesn’t have a passport. Anyway, I barely achieved any of those thirty-five things. I did take swim lessons and while I can save myself, I definitely can’t save anyone else. And saving myself – aka how to float –was pretty much the only thing I learned during those lessons. (Remind me to do a blog post on my ridiculous and slightly embarrassing experience of those swim lessons.) I attended a march because taking an active role in dismantling systems is important to me and my work and my life. I worked on my relationship with God. I continue to do the work of being a good ally and becoming a better one. I worked on being present and in the moment. I worked on saying no more because it’s a complete sentence. I didn’t master it but I said it more.
So, with 35 a couple of years in my rearview, I’ve decided to do another round with 40 before 40. Now I will say that I came up with this list at the end of 2019/beginning of 2020. I’d just had a kid, and while I had a few things to catch up on, I was focused and motivated. What I had not anticipated was a global pandemic. With certain travels being restricted and just the personal decision not to especially with a baby, some of my travel goals might not be achieved. I’m okay with that. With concerts being the way they are, those have obviously been put on hold until things get right. But even after, the point is that I’m much more intentional with my time, money and energy. I don’t need to knock out all 40, but I need to be well lived in these next few years. And that is my ultimate goal and these are some of the things I want to knock out to show just that.
I’m not going to list all forty but some of the things listed are the same from the previous list such as being present and saying no more and better allyship. Some are new such as learning to code and visiting 15 MLB stadiums and seeing Beyoncé in concert. I also have perfecting my signature dish, host a dinner party, become a butcher, start a garden. And there are still probably too many travel destinations on my list but oh well. A few countries I hope to hit on one trip via train.
Let me know if you set goals between birthdays or just yearly ones. Also let me know a few things on your list!
Until next time, happy reading and writing!
Authortube and Writing Background
So, this was supposed to be uploaded a long time ago. I’ve had so many issues with my computer and editing software so it’s a little rough. But I don’t mind that. I was going to write a bit about how I discovered “authortube” and some of my writing background, but decided to piece this together since I had everything already. This is not all of my writing background so I’ll definitely discuss more of it later as well. Enjoy! Until next time… happy reading and writing!
Pen Names
I can’t remember when I became aware of the concept of pen names. As a writer, it never occurred to me to consider it. As a reader, I just always assumed that it was said author’s given name. But now that I think about it, it was probably around middle school when we discussed Mark Twain. And even when I was younger and in school and I learned that an author had a “different” name, I just always assumed they legally changed it. Again, I have no clue why this was my thought process. It just was. So, when I got into my twenties and I started to discover that some of my favorite authors use pen names, I had a bit of confusion. “Why wouldn’t you want your name on your book?” Was always my thought. It wasn’t just an ownership thing, but a pride thing as well.
Now, there are a number of reasons why someone uses a pen name. They write in different genres and want to keep things separated. They want that anonymity. Living in the information and technology age that we do, this can be a bit harder but still doable nonetheless. Some need privacy from their creative life and their professional life in their real life. No matter the reason, it is all valid.
I used to be against pen names. This was like a five second period in my life. Honestly. It did not last long. I quickly saw the joy in it. I’ve had several pen names; most didn’t last too long. I used to write fan fiction under a pen name – real person fan fiction. When I first decided to use a pen name for my fan fiction, it was because I thought I’d keep my real identity anonymous. I was writing interracial fiction and didn’t want to be accused of self-inserting myself (I’m black, my guy is white and most of fandom is white). This lasted only a few months. There were several people who I met in real life because of this fandom and whom I still associate with to this day. And I’m actually quite pleased with these connections. I’m sure there are a few downsides to using a pen name. But that would probably be my number one is that you lose or miss out on the potential for real connections with other people (and I would consider this to be fandom specific, honestly). This obviously isn’t a hard or fast rule. It is all about what you want to achieve. I have found that the closer to my actual name my pen name is the easier time I have with connecting with people and sticking with it. I am glad I chose to use a pen name. I will probably always do so.
No Blog Today
I’ve got a sick kid on my hands so I’ve been unable to finish writing up my blog post that would go out today. No worries. I’ll be back next week. Thanks for your understanding.
Love and happy writing!
Book Boyfriends
I’m going to be super honest right now. As a long-time reader of romance books, I was never one to have book boyfriends. In fact, I thought the idea of such was somewhat… juvenile? Silly? Stupidforagrownwomantodoafterabookcharacter? So, I was judgmental. I was a yum yucker. I was a literary killjoy. That was who I was. I own it. But, thankfully, with some personal growth and maturing of my own I realized that even if something wasn’t for me, didn’t mean it wasn’t for someone else or make said thing invalid. And it’s all okay. But even after I shed my judgmental clothing, book boyfriends still weren’t my thing. But I appreciated the concept a lot more than I had earlier in my life. It just wasn’t for me. I *personally* was not meant to experience such a thing.
Until one day… I read a book… and I experienced such a thing…
And WOW.
Mind blown.
I figured out I was a woman who could have a book boyfriend. And this discovery opened something up inside of me. If I could have one book boyfriend, could I have two? Or five? Or seven? An infinite number? Could I? I could! And I would! But because I am a grown woman, these book boyfriends would not be based on potential, but only who they were and the true joy they brought to my the heroine’s life.
As I sat and thought about what exactly I liked about these men…er, characters. It was something actually quite simple. They were “normal”. They had regular jobs. They were hardworking. They loved their family and actually valued these relationships and maintaining them. They were intentional and compassionate. They were understandably flawed but were working on their shit. And listen, don’t get me wrong. I love a secret billionaire or an unknown prince just as much as the next person. When it comes to my book boyfriends though, my suspension of belief is limited. I can suspend belief for a great many things when it comes to writing and the liberties writers take. Just not with my book boyfriends.
So, tell me, do you have book boyfriends? If so, who are they?! (I can’t promise I won’t try to steal them though.) Have you always had them or did a writer and their writing of a character change your mind?
Until next time, happy writing and reading!