Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Reigniting the Fire: Taking Back My Passion for Writing


Reigniting the Fire: Taking Back My Passion for Writing

It’s been right over a year since I last posted on this blog and while I’d like to claim it was because I was busy writing, that would be only a half-truth. While I have been writing, blogging on other sites, dealing with a job change, handling my husband relocating for a job and other life events, I also haven’t blogged because I’d lost the fire inside that made writing burn for me.

Again, I was writing. Even writing some good stuff, but writing about writing seemed false at the time. I was still working my way through the first book so who the hell would want to hear from me. I should have remembered that I was a newbie and I would have liked to have read someone else’s posts on what those first years were like and how to find your way as a writer. Hindsight and all that.

Today I'm starting a new workshop I hope will not only get me writing faster, but will be like jumping feet first back into the fire of writing. My hopes are up that it will really get me going again and not just with output. I want to burn with the need to keep writing a story. To move my characters along and see where they end up. I’m looking for a spark on my happiness with writing. And yes, with talking about writing.

Because you don’t have to be published to have something to say about writing. Or even just to feel the release that writing about your issues with writing will give you. There’s a whole lot of meta going around in mind right now!

So, wish me luck in my new workshop – Book In A Month withCandace Havens. I’m going to need it since 20 pages a day is the goal. Holy Mackerel what did I get myself into.

Tuesday, May 22, 2012

How Do You Do It All?

We all have a million things going on in our lives that butt in on our writing time. Work, family, chores, blogging and even time we spend trying to "build a platform" as a writer. Personally, when my writing is going great it means I'm not blogging at all and my house is a mess.  


Lately, both of my blogs heave gone black for the most part. I even started thinking about letting my book review blog go. Seriously, I cannot believe I was even considering it. My book blog is something I love but the time it takes to read and review books has been taking a back seat to my writing time. 


The voice in my head is telling me I have to give my entire focus to my writing and let the blog go. Another part reminded me that there are writers just as busy or busier than me who somehow do it. So, how? 


That's when I got the bright idea to actually schedule out my days - at least 1 whole week - to see where does my time actually go and when could I reclaim time for writing and blogging. 


I put in my workout times, commuting, work hours, my Saturday trip to the Farmer's Market, etc. What I discovered is that I have more time than I thought and I'd been wasting it by not realizing how all that time could add up. 


I've now plugged in blogging and writing time during lunch and after dinner. I even scheduled time with my husband. That might sound weird, but I want to give it 2 weeks or so of following a hardcore schedule and see what I can accomplish. So, I've warned the husband that for now we have specific scheduled times for our hikes, movies, etc and that he has to work around my schedule. 


We'll see how that works. :) 


In the meantime, I've set a few goals for my book blog. If I can't hit them in the next 1-2 months then I'm going to say goodbye to it being anything other than a few times a month review post. 


Priorities. Yep. 


So, have you ever plotted out all of our "stuff" to find out where you really spend your time and where you could add in writing time? I think it was a really helpful exercise and I highly recommend it. I think you'll be surprised by what you find. 


Just sit down with a day planner or online calendar and block out EVERYTHING. Driving time, dinner, lunch, laundry. Set times for everything and then see if you can keep up with it for a week. Then look at how it might have helped your writing production. Let me know how it goes! 

Thursday, March 29, 2012

Congratulations Golden Heart Finalist Terri Osburn!


Every year Romance Writer's of America (RWA) announces the finalists in its RITA and Golden Heart contests. This year I'm insanely excited to be able to squee over my friend and writing mate Terri Osburn being nominated for a Golden Heart in the Single Title Contemporary Romance category!

If you aren't aware of these contests, check out the RWA link here.

Basically the RITA is like the Oscars of the Romance Book world for published authors and the Golden Heart is for unpublished authors. It's an amazing honor to be nominated and I'm so proud of Terri!

Please go check out Terri's blog to wish her well and check out a snippet of her Golden Heart Nominated story Meant to Be!