Welcome to Open Book Blog Hop. You can find us every Monday talking about the writing life. I hope you'll check out all the posts: you'll find the links at the bottom of this post.
As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?
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I'm that rare and odd creature: the person who became what they said they were going to be when they were a kid. I would occasionally flirt with other ambitions, catching an enthusiasm from a book or a movie. There was my brief affair with archaeology, and my short-lived interest in law, but I always circled back to the trinity:
Teacher-Writer-Mom
I was about 5 when I decided I was going to be a teacher, a writer, and a mom. I announced it to my family at a holiday party. Everyone nodded sagely and went back to their cigarettes (it was the 70s).
I loved school, books, and kids, so it seemed like a no-brainer to me. Of course, my vision of what being any of things was like was, well, less than accurate. I had no idea how overwhelming all three of those roles can be individually, let alone wrapped up into a single person-sized package.
I imagined that teachers got paid to play with kids, that writers got paid to make up stories. I knew moms didn't get paid, but they still got to hang out and play with kids all day, so it couldn't be all bad. I'd have plenty of money from teaching and writing, right?
With that childish understanding of money and time, I assumed I'd have a lovely country estate with a tower room to write in and someone tending my garden and horses, and plenty of energy to handle all of these things.
But I did do them all…eventually.
Just not all three of them at the same level all the time.
I got my first teaching job fresh out of college and continued to teach for 27 years before I left the career for something less stressful and more lucrative (I'm a Content Strategist for a big financial company now).
I had my first kid when I was in my late twenties, and started to scale back my teaching a little. I volunteered for fewer extras, streamlined to try to lessen the amount of work I took home every night. But then I was doing two of the three: teaching and momming. Sometimes I wrote.
I had my second kid in my mi-thirties. I scaled back my teaching even more. I gave up teaching English and began teaching beginning Spanish which had a lighter paper grading load and could more easily be forced to stay within working hours only, if I was disciplined. Sometimes I wrote
Throughout all those years, I always wrote, off and on, when the mood hit me, when I could steal the time and focus. But it took me a while to get around to finishing and publishing things, in part because of teaching and momming. There are, after all, only the 24 hours a day.
But I started taking it seriously when I was 42. And that was another rebalancing, taking time for myself, and negotiating space for a writing life with my career and family. I guess I'd built up a head of steam, though, because once I committed and focused, I got my first book contract with two years, and I've worked steadily ever since.
Here we are 10 years later, and I've got 41 titles to my name, counting all the editions: everything from short stories included in anthologies, to novellas, to novels, and even a poem or two.
Welcome to Open Book Blog Hop. You can find us every Monday talking about the writing life. I hope you'll check out all the posts: you'll find the links at the bottom of this post.
If you could live in any place, any time, any world, where would you want to live?
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Well, if I can really live in any place, any time, any world, then why would I limit myself to one? Even just the question has my wanderlust aflame. Even with the limits of time and space I currently live within, I want to go everywhere!
But for the sake of discussion, let's pick a few options.
I first became enamored of New Zealand as a child. My family and I attended the World's Fair in Knoxville in 1982. I was 11 years old. We wandered into the exhibit on New Zealand, and images like the one above adorned the walls. Already a fan of wild vistas, I gasped. This attracted the attention of one of the workers, a lovely woman who had been well-selected for her job for her winning personality and ability to wield that charming Kiwi accent to make sure that visitors fell in love with the idea of visiting the place she was from.
Later, in the early 2000s, the Lord of the Rings trilogy was filmed in New Zealand, and watching those films reignited my interest in visiting. I haven't made it there yet, though I still hold out hope. I want a Hobbiton movie set tour as well as time exploring some of the exciting scenery, like volcanoes, geysers, and glaciers.
2. Any Time: late Victorian England and between-the-wars America
Time travel is a tricksy proposition. But we'll assume that I can do so safely, and that my life won't be at risk because of my inappropriate clothing or because I was a woman or a Jewish person in the wrong place and time. I'd also want to avoid any Ray Bradbury situations, where I destroy the world by stepping on a butterfly.
Since I've got two back-burnered projects that are back-burnered because I need to do more research about the time periods before I can continue, I'd be interested in the period between WWI and WWII in Indianapolis (for my historical fiction trilogy based on a family legend, working title Cold Spring) and 1890s rural England (for my Gothic romance, working title The Architect and the Heir).
Visiting would be way more immersive (and probably more fun) then trying to glean the details I want from nonfiction books and internet research.
3. Any World: Wakanda!
If you've been reading this blog, then you already know that I'm a superhero fan.
There are a lot of cool worlds in superhero stories: Themyscira, home of Wonder Woman; Atlantis, home of Aquaman; Krypton, home of Superman. But my very favorite is Wakanda, especially as portrayed in the recent Black Panther movies. Sleek and sophisticated, efficient and beautiful, a utopia of artistry and industry interwoven.
In the films, we don't see much outside the main city, but that city is spectacular. Even a confirmed small-town girl like me would love the chance to explore it.
So, there you go, given the chance to go somewhere, the hardest part would be choosing. I want to go everywhere!
How about you? With all barriers removed, where would you choose to live? I'd love to hear about it in the comments.
Welcome to the first Wednesday of the month. You know what that means! It's time to let our insecurities hang out. Yep, it's the Insecure Writer's Support Group blog hop. If you're a writer at any stage of career, I highly recommend this blog hop as a way to connect with other writers for support, sympathy, ideas, and networking. If you're a reader, it's a great way to peek behind the curtain of a writing life.
April 5 question - Do you remember writing your first book? What were your thoughts about a career path on writing? Where are you now and how is it working out for you? If you're at the start of the journey, what are your goals?
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I feel like I just wrote my first book yesterday, though I'm realizing that it's been a decade now. Wow! I guess it's not just my kids that prove that time flies. (Let's not discuss the fact that the youngest is working on learning to drive).
But yes, my forty-second birthday was the one where I finally made a real and lasting commitment to my writing life, and started finishing and submitting things. Though I was always "going to be a writer" starting around first grade, it was always a far-flung "someday" kind of dream up until then, waters I waded into from time to time, when the weather was nice, but nothing I worked at consistently.
And here I am now about to turn fifty-two, so yep, that makes ten years.
From one book to 32 books (counting anthologies)
In 2013, I finished Going Through the Change, the first novel in the Menopausal Superhero series. It was the second book I'd ever gotten all the way to "the end" on, and the one to earn me my first publishing contract. I had pretty big dreams about the difference that writing contract would make in my life--fame and fortune looming large.
In reality, I have had slow, steady sales in the intervening years as I continued to write more books, survived the closing of a publisher and signed with another one. My biggest paycheck to date meant that my children were extra spoiled come winter holidays, but it wasn't life-changing.
But in the meantime, my dreams have changed. I don't actually want to be famous. I wouldn't mind at all if my books got famous--optioned and made into a Netflix series or discovered by Reese Witherspoon's book club or something. But the small glimpses into public life I get when I give readings or serve as a guest at a convention have shown me that I don't actually want the kind of fame where people get nosy about your private life.
I'm more focused on the joy writing brings me, and staying disciplined so that I get to tell all the stories teeming in my brain.
I'm working on the fifth and final novel in the Menopausal Superheroes series right now, and have hopes of finishing a draft by summer.
My publisher (Falstaff Books of Charlotte, NC) plans to release the first of a two-volume omnibus edition this summer, then the final novel in 2024, and the second half of the omnibus edition. Not bad for a little idea that came about because I was frustrated that superhero characters were always so darn young.
While I've worked on these books, I've also dabbled in short fiction, mostly horror, and have seen my work included in twenty-three anthologies at this point (with another one on the near horizon).
It's really nice to feel like I'm closing this chapter of my writing life and can jump into some of the other stories I haven't been able to tell--that Gothic romance I started a couple of years back, my witch-craft themed middle grades idea, the historical fiction trilogy based loosely on a family legend, etc.
So, I'm not rich or famous, but I'm happier than I've ever been before and writing is at the heart of who I am now instead of a someday-I-will dream.
Thanks to all my friends and family (and fellow IWSGers) who have traveled this road with me so far. I can't wait to see what's around the next bend!
Welcome to Open Book Blog Hop. You can find us every Monday talking about the writing life. This week, we're talking about what would happen if our books took off tomorrow, with enormous worldwide interest and sales. I hope you'll check out all the posts: you'll find the links at the bottom of this post.
That's a favorite daydream of mine. Somehow someone with a huge following stumbles across my work, falls in love with it, and uses that big megaphone of theirs to proclaim to the universe how witty, inspiring, entertaining, and life-changing my Menopausal Superhero novels are and boom! I'm there!
Now the question today asks if I'm prepared for that dream to come true. And honestly, probably not. I've spent my life somewhere between poverty and middle class with dips back and forth. I've never had "big bucks" in my life and have known very few people who do in any kind of personal way.
But you know what? I can learn.
I've managed being a "Greaser" among "Socs" before--I was that one public school scion among private school graduates in grad school. I stuck it out in the Chapel Hill Mom's club for nearly a year, even though they didn't know what to do with a mom with a day job and no nanny.
The key is pretending that it's not that you can't afford better, it's that you choose what you have. No, I don't have a beach house, but it's because I like visiting different beaches every time I go. No, I don't wear designer brands, but it's because I'm socially conscious and won't wear brands that use exploitative labor practices.
See? I can fake it!
Could I handle the "fame"? I think, yes! Being a famous author isn't like being an actress or politician. Very few people know what their favorite authors look like or where they live. There are only a handful of living writers I would recognize if we passed one another on the street.
Unless I start behaving badly and tweeting obnoxious things to get myself cancelled, I could quietly enjoy the bigger royalty checks, slip away from my day job, spoil my children a little, and travel more.
So, yeah. I think I can take it. So feel free, people of the Internet, to spread the word and make me a social media darling. I promise to do more good than evil with the money, and keep on writing books!
Want to see how other writers feel about fame and fortune on the horizon? Check out the other posts in this blog hop at this link:
Two years ago, we had a plan. Mom, my sister, my aunt, and I were going to Ireland to celebrate my mother's 70th birthday…but of course, we all remember what happened two years ago. So, obviously, that didn't happen.
So, we were going to go again in 2021, when "things open back again." But darn it, that didn't happen either.
Before we knew it, it was 2022.
And we gathered at Mom's house, passports and vaccination cards in hand, holding our breath, and hoping the borders stayed open, the planes still flew, and we all stayed healthy long enough to get there.
And we did!
All four of us, on the road to Kylemore Abbey.
Since none of us had ever been to Ireland before, and one of us is vegan (always a challenge when traveling), we did a purchased tour through Brendan Tours "The Enchanting Emerald Isle Tour." It had a great itinerary that hit lots of bucket list places as well as places we didn't know that much about.
Dublin
Strokestown
Carrick on Shannon
Ballina
Westport
Kylemore Abbey
Galway
Dunguaire Castle
Cliffs of Moher
Killarney
Ring of Kerry
Blarney Castle
Newtown Jerpoint
Kilkenny
and back to Dublin
I didn't do much research. I wanted to just be open to what came.
Magic light in the gardens of Strokestown Park
I'll be processing for a long time--the pictures, the keepsakes, the memories. There are good things and bad things about being on an organized tour.
Our tour guide was charming. No one had to learn to drive on the "wrong" side of the road. We got a lot of great experiences at lower cost than we could have arranged them for ourselves. Someone else managed our luggage. My sister had vegan food at all provided meals.
We weren't in charge of our own schedule, and often I wished for more time in a location than I could have. I felt harried at times. Bus is not my favorite mode of transport. We were thrust among companions we didn't choose.
So, good and bad, just like everything :-)
I wasn't even home yet before I started plotting to go back. Heck--I'd emigrate given the chance, which is funny, given that some of my ancestors left those shores to come to mine. Maybe they'd be pleased at the idea of me coming back home, or maybe they'd just shake their heads and laugh at the irony.
I won't try to recount my journey for you here, though I'd be thrilled to talk Ireland with anyone anytime! In the meantime, I'll leave you with this collage of me and my first novel posing our way across the Irish landscape (and a couple in JFK airport).
And this one of the mortal terror on my face when I learned that kissing the Blarney stone involves hanging upside down from the top of a castle. That gift of gab better be worth it!
Welcome to the first Wednesday of the month. You know what that means! It's time to let our insecurities hang out. Yep, it's the Insecure Writer's Support Group blog hop. If you're a writer at any stage of career, I highly recommend this blog hop as a way to connect with other writers for support, sympathy, ideas, and networking.
If you're a reader, it's a great way to peek behind the curtain of a writing life.
Our Twitter handle is @TheIWSG and hashtag is #IWSG.
September 1 question - How do you define success as a writer? Is it holding your book in your hand? Having a short story published? Making a certain amount of income from your writing?
I've had some great successes in my writing life so far. There are plenty of moments in my career that feel like accomplishments and achievements. It's important to remind myself of that from time to time, because success is an ever-moving target and it's easy to feel like a failure and dismiss all the successes you've already had getting this far.
So, in the spirit of remembering my successes while I strive for new ones, here are some of my highlights (the brag book!)
I finished writing a book for the first time in 2012. That's a major accomplishment in itself. Do you know how many people want to write a book or even attempt to write a book, but never manage to finish? (Me either, but Google tells me that 97% of people who start to write a book never finish it, so that puts us in the top 3% just for *finishing* writing a book--Go me!).
So, by a lot of standards, I've already been pretty successful as a writer. But I'm an ambitious gal. I want more!
I want to make my living (enough to pay the bills) from my writing. I want to see my work translated into other languages. I'd love to see my work picked up for television or movies (and to receive the paycheck that goes with that). I'd like to finish the book I'm working on now, and the several other projects languishing on my back burners, and do all those stories and characters justice.
So, I think that's the trick with success.
We're always succeeding, with each teeny tiny baby step we take toward meeting our goals. But we're also always failing, because if you accomplish a goal, you tend to set a new one, further out on the horizon and start striving all over again.
Just remember that there are MANY definitions of success, and you need to define it for yourself. Don't worry about what other people are doing--they're not you, and comparing yourself to other writers and their careers can be maddening.
How do you define success for yourself? What do you do to remind yourself of all you've already accomplished?
Wow! That was fast. I mean, after nearly eighteen months of hardly going anywhere and seeing only the people in my bubble, you'd think I'd be ready for some travel, some parties and gatherings, etc. But I feel like Wile E. Coyote just after the giant rubberband has snapped, realizing that I've got no control over my speed and trajectory:
I know, I know. I'm in charge of me and I can say no, but it's not that easy to do. Can I really say no to all my family when they want to see the hubby and me and our kiddos in person at long last? Can I really turn down chances to get back out there at live-in-person author events building some momentum for my life's dream of living off my writing?
I can . . . but I probably won't.
That won't stop me from whining a little bit though. I was out of pocket 11 days in June and I'll be out another 9 in July by the end of things. Thankfully, the July stuff is a little more spread out and I'll get 13 days in a row of being close to home between things.
The tricky bit for me is that I WANT to see all the people and take all the opportunities, but I also rely on time at home during these non-school months to make some serious progress on my writing goals during days with fewer commitments than school-year days.
I'm also finding that I'm seriously out of practice. I've always need a bit of introvert recovery time after a big get-together, but my recovery period is longer now, like my social muscles have atrophied. I had barely recovered from my mother's birthday party when it was time to hit the road again to welcome a new baby into my husband's family.
Thank G-d for coffee. At least my drug of choice is legal.
As always, I'm seeking balance, because the truth is that I want it ALL but there are only so many hours in each day and only so much Samantha to go around.
So how are you guys managing the world opening back up? Is it a relief or a new kind of stress for you?
I'd love to hear about how you're doing in the comments!
I've technically had a "room of my own" for a couple of years now. When the eldest daughter went off to college, the younger daughter moved into the larger bedroom, leaving the smaller one available to be transformed into an office for me.
But the transformation has been slow. Having a room to use didn't give me time and money to make it into what I wanted it to be in one fell swoop, but now I'm on a steady trajectory to let the butterfly out of the chrysalis and I can hardly wait.
The room when I inherited it was ten foot by ten foot with two solid walls, one wall that is mostly closet, and a fourth wall which is mostly window. The first thing I did was take off all the window coverings and put up shelves across the windows (a design my father and mother came up with for me) and fill them with plants and glass objects that the light shines through.
By 2018, I had collected a few objects that will be permanent: a comic book spinner rack, a lamp my parents made for me, a footstool that resembles a hippopotamus and hides a storage compartment, some antique school desks that have been mine since childhood, a cool round shelf/table Mom found for me, that holds the lamp and my Alexa device for music, lighting control, and contact with the rest of the house.
But in 2019, the room still housed a lot of things that don't belong there and I hadn't made any changes to the walls or floor, other than a half-hearted attempt to peel off the little girl wallpaper (white with pink flowers against a pale pink wall, with a Disney princess border). I was stuck because we had to finish another household project first (the attic game storage room) in order to be able to move some things out of my office and get room to maneuver.
Luckily? (somehow that doesn't seem like quite the right word), I've had a lot of time at home since March. No conventions. No travel. No movie dates. The upside of all that "no" was lots of time at home and energy to invest in finishing house projects. So the attic project got done, and now I'm free to take on my own room!
First was a sofa. There's nothing like spending quarantine sitting on a crappy used sofa to make you think that maybe it's not that bad to spend a lot of money on a comfy seat.
It's a great sofa for the way I like to sit and write. The arms are quite tall and comfortable to sit leaning into without or with throw pillows. It's got only one cushion, so there's no "between the cushions." If I sit with my back against an arm, it's just the right length for me to stretch my legs out towards the other corner. It's also quite lightweight, letting me move it around by myself should I need to rearrange to film a reading or host a meeting or something.
Those curtains behind it, hiding the closet still full of random household goods, were once in my elder daughter's bedroom. I took them as a stop-gap, but I might keep them. They make me pretty happy. I like leafy patterns.
And finally, just this week, I got to start the walls! There was a lot to do--finishing removing the wallpaper, repairing the damage to the wall from peeling off the wallpaper, sanding, cleaning, taping, priming, re-priming, painting, touch-up, and smudging the glaze.
The end result isn't quite what I pictured, but it's pretty! So I'm calling this a win, as in "I tried something new and didn't screw it up!" I think for the next wall, I'm going to try blending it less well so it looks patchier and if that doesn't work, I'll consider buying a different shade, something that contrasts a little more.
I'm really loving that I'm doing all this work myself. It makes it that much more a room of my own!
Welcome to the first Wednesday of the month. You know what that means! It's time to let our insecurities hang out. Yep, it's the Insecure Writer's Support Group blog hop.
If you're a writer at any stage of career, I highly recommend this blog hop as a way to connect with other writers for support, sympathy, ideas, and networking.
If you're a reader, it's a great way to peek behind the curtain of a writing life.
December 4 question - Let's play a game. Imagine. Role-play. How would you describe your future writer self, your life and what it looks and feels like if you were living the dream? Or if you are already there, what does it look and feel like? Tell the rest of us. What would you change or improve?
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I've always had a lot of dreams about what my life would be like when I grew up. If you went back and talked to six-year-old Samantha, you'd have heard about the giant house she'd have on a cliff above a raging sea, with a tower room where she kept her art supplies and dancing shoes. The gardens would rival the ones I'd seen at Biltmore that one time on vacation and there would be a waterfall in my backyard.
I planned to finance all that by being a teacher, which shows that I didn't have much of a practical understanding of money, but was full of optimism. That's probably still true to some extent :-)
I wasn't much older than six when I decided I'd be a writer, too. Of course, my dreams about how that looks have changed a bit since then.
When I was a kid, I imagined that a writer spent all her time walking around in long sweeping dresses across gloomy landscapes (like a Brontë sister), then went home and wrote passionate poems (like Emily Dickinson). I didn't spare a moment imagining how this writer bought her pop tarts and hot chocolate. I probably thought my mom would keep taking care of that for me.
Now, I'm closer to living the dream of my writing life than I have ever been. I've had my first taste of success with three of my novels accepted for publication. They sell at least a few copies every month and I get invited to author events several times a year.
I'm a "real writer" by nearly anyone's estimate and I have to say it feels good. I write every single day and I get my words into print regularly. I'm more confident in my work every day, and know I'm building a career that will see me through to the end.
My imagination, at least when it comes to imaging my own future, doesn't run as wild and free as it did when I was six. Even my "crazy dreams" are a little more realistic. They are possible, at least, even if they're unlikely.
I imagine the Menopausal Superheroes getting picked up by Netflix and made into a series with Kathy Bates and Helen Mirren in the cast. It's a huge hit of course, and Hollywood realizes that there's a huge market for stories about strong women of all ages and they've been missing out on millions of dollars by only marketing to and casting the young.
(Menopausal Superheroes as drawn by Charles C. Dowd)
I get more offers than I can find time to fulfill to write more stories. I make so much cash that I send my second daughter to college without borrowing any money and pay off everything I borrowed for the eldest! I take my husband and family on wonderful trips to all the places we've always wished we could go see. I drive a car during the same decade it was manufactured!
Ellen DeGeneres calls and I charm everyone with my genuine awkwardness in my stint on her show. I use the opportunity to raise money for my foundation that sponsors women creators to produce the work they were meant to make. My foundation frees thousands of women from the struggle of making ends meet and their creations change the world for the better.
I still teach, because I love teaching, but I do it part time, only for students who care about learning what I am trying to teach. I still write every day, because that's the fun part. How about you? What do your dreams of superstardom look like?
I love my family and my teaching life, but sometimes they feel like they're going to squash me. At the worst of times, it's like people are grabbing chunks of me and carting them off, and at the end of the day, all that remains is a pile of vibrating nerves that no one else wanted.
All my life, writing has been where I run away to when there's too much. It's solitary, but creative and productive: at the end of it, I've created something. It's personal and self-expressive even when it's fiction. It satisfies something deep within me that can't be soothed by any other means. It's why my daily writing time matters so very much. Even when my writing feels stymied, it's still a selfish little moment that is only about what I want to create. It really is a mental health release valve for me, even more than walking (and walking helps me immensely, too).
This past weekend I was lucky enough to get run away from my regular life for three days for a writer's retreat. I spent those days in a lovely mountain house with six other writers, writing, talking, walking, reading. I didn't make a meal, wash a dish, wash anything, or give ANY of my time to something that wasn't about my writing life.
I'm discovering that short bursts of focused time like this are essential to my writing life. I can't always take a trip and surround myself with like-minded folks, but at least during summer vacation, I'm fortunate that I can arrange a few days during which I am only a writer, during which I can bring the full force of my considerable concentration to my current creation and push the rest aside, just for a little while.
I send the youngest to camp or to visit Grandma. I tell my family that I'm off the grid. I cash in all those gift cards I received for teacher appreciation day on take out meals. I prep ahead with snacks and tea so I don't have to go anywhere. I don't answer the phone.
I don't think I'd fare well if this was my life all the time. I am a writer, but I'm also a teacher, a mother, a wife, a friend, a sister, and various other kinds of human and even though I run towards introverted, I'm not willing to give up all my other loves JUST for writing. Even Emily Dickinson had people visit and wrote letters, after all. I do need and want people. I'm not really a hermit, even though the idea is tempting sometimes.
But as a respite, it's wonderful to run away from everything else for a little while and give myself over completely to my life of words. May you all find a respite like this when you need it, an oasis that lets you refill your well and gives you the wherewithal you need for harder times.
A writing life is a lot like a teaching life and a mom-ing life, in that there isn't really an end to the work.
Sure, you finish things, but there are more things. It's never really done. I'm bad at stopping to celebrate my successes sometimes, just swinging to the next trapeze and holding on for dear life instead.
So, here's a look back at 2017 with an eye to what went well in my writing life. I gotta say, looking back on it feels pretty dang good.
First some statistics:
I wrote 324,751 new words as of December 27. I'm hoping for a few thousand more before the calendar flips.
I revised 434, 532 words. I'm pretty sure some of these words were revised multiple times :-)
On December 31st, my daily writing chain will be 1,556 days long.
I read 58 books.
I attended 6 conventions as an author guest.
I judged 5 writing contests
I taught 1 new college course
I had 3 new releases: a novel, a collection of short stories, and a short story in a multi-author collection
I spent most of this year finding my joy in the words again, after three years straight of nose to the grindstone had left me blistered and grumpy. And I can definitely say I am loving my life of words again, so that's the most important win of 2017 right there.
Here are some month by month highlights from my writing life in 2017:
January: Illogicon! This is my backyard convention, held only a half hour away from my doorstep in Cary, NC. I love being a guest author at this welcoming and friendly convention. I'll be back again this year. It's always a good sign when you get invited back :-)
February: I finished first round edits on Face the Change, the third of the Menopausal Superhero series, keeping on track for my scheduled release date. This was especially important as I'd had to do a revise and resubmit after sending in a rushed draft that wasn't ready for prime time.
I also go to Mysticon as a guest for the first time. It's exciting to get new opportunities to meet with
readers and get my geek on in a new venue. (I can look forward to returning to Mysticon in 2018, too). I took my sister with me and found out she's a wonderful companion for convention fun.
I hosted and provided feedback for the Son of a Pitch contest, which is always great fun and lets me help other writers along their journey the way I was helped and continue to receive help. It's a lovely little circle of the writing life thing.
March: Yay for finishing edits! Face the Change made it through second round edits and I didn't hurt anyone in the process. (Even a non-traumatic editing process is still kind of painful, though necessary and helpful).
April: I got a convention for my birthday! Ravencon invited me to be a guest author and I had a wonderful time. It was on my birthday weekend, too, so I took my husband with me and we had a geektastic romantic weekend together. (And I'll be back for more spring geekery in 2018).
I also got to try out a new event: a science fiction and fantasy festival at a library.
May: I began writing something completely new, at the prompting of a writing friend who was putting together a book bundle of post-apocalyptic, young adult, romance novellas--for the record I'd never written any of those things, let alone the three combined, and I *adore* trying new things in my writing.
I didn't finish it in time to be included in that project (hoping to finish by the end of January, and it'll be a full-length novel), but starting it was a joy, and a first step on my road to recovering my joy of writing. With luck Thursday's Children, will be available for you to read in 2018.
June: Another first time convention for me: ConCarolinas! This is one of the bigger cons in my geographic area, and I was super excited to be included. It was in a lovely venue and let me meet in person some writers I only knew online, fellow members of Pen and Cape Society.
If that weren't enough, Curiosity Quills also released Friend or Foe and Other Stories, a collection of side stories from the Menopausal Superhero series.
July: Hurray! Book release month! Face the Change came out just in
time for Con-Gregate, for which I was a return guest. I got to bring my sister again, and we celebrated my new book release with a great group of friends and fans.
I was invited to be on a panel about Love stories at my library.
I finished out the month with a three day writing retreat with my critique group in the mountains. A few days freedom from my other responsibilities where I get to be "just a writer" and leave my other hats on the rack is a luxury I wish I could offer to all the writers in my life. I'm so fortunate to have my husband and family who are willing to give me that space and time to pursue my other passions.
I finished my short story for our group anthology and made some serious inroads into Thursday's Children.
August: I began this month at the beach, thanks to my generous parents who rented a condo for a week and invited us to come share it with them. It was a productive month despite being the one in which school starts and balance of where the hours of my day shifted back to teaching over writing. My third release of the year came out: The Love Unlimited anthology included a short story for Jessica "Flygirl" Roark, "Flygirl's Second Chance." This one is still free on Amazon for a few more days if you'd like to check it out.
September: Another round of Son of a Pitch during a month with huge family and professional (teaching) obligations reminded me that I needed to keep control of my time and balance or I was going to crash and burn. I made it through and lived to tell the tale and that's something to be proud of.
October: Halloween is my family's favorite holiday and I was thrilled to be invited to tell my real life ghost story at the Burwell School, a local historical site. If you want to hear about my spooky sleepover, you can watch the video here:
November: I finished out my year's conventions with a trip back to Atomacon. Atomacon was the first convention to accept me as an author guest, so they have a special place in my heart and I was happy to be back (and not just because it's a quick jump to the beach from there, though that is a perk). I tried out a brand new event: a book fair in Charlotte. Given the chance, I'd do it again. I judged another writing contest, this one for Legendary Women. I tried NaNoWriMo, but 50K just wasn't in the cards. I can't complain too much about that, though, given all the blessings of friends and family that filled my month. My parents visited for Thanksgiving and our annual Extra Life fundraiser/gaming party was a success.
December: I finished out the year with a sale on all my Menopausal Superhero books, which has already netted me a few new readers and newsletter subscribers. Just today, I had a planning meeting with another writing friend about a nonfiction book we're going to craft together. With just a few more days left in 2017, I'm hoping to finish the chapter I'm on in Thursday's Children, and maybe one more. I'm looking forward to another busy and productive year in 2018 doing what I love. Here's hoping it's the same for each of you.
Tuesday, September 26, 2017, is a landmark in my writing life. It's day number 1,460 in a row in my writing chain. That's four years of writing every single day. (cue the fireworks and confetti, please)
I've written before about what a game-changer a daily writing habit has been for me: here, here, and here, most recently. It's not for everyone, of course. Creative process works in mysterious, highly individual ways, and every day is not feasible for every artist. But for me, it meant steady, forward progress, finishing things. Even more importantly, I stopped wasting time floundering around and trying to remember my own story.
I've written a heck of a lot in four years. According to Magic Spreadsheet, one of the tracking tools I use, I've written nearly two million words in that time frame. (When I'm editing and revising, I count 10% of the words I process in that session as word count). My school-day nightly goal is 800 words, my vacation-day goal is 2,000 words. A day still counts as a writing day so long as I make the rock-bottom minimum of 250 words.
(It's best when it's not just "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy" over and over).
I've seen three novels, a collection of short stories, and seven short stories in multi-author anthologies onto bookshelves during that span. I swear, I look at the pile of books and I feel like Ozymandias: "Look upon my works, ye mighty, and despair!" (though I hope that doesn't leave me crumpled in the desert with dried up pages blowing by in the wind).
I still want to be more productive.
I'm a twenty-first century girl after all, and I want to make sure I live my dreams to the fullest.
I have too many unfinished projects and too many still waiting for me to develop them.
As I move into my fifth year of daily writing, I plan to be a little harder on myself. Up until now, I've counted all writing: blog posts, articles, book reviews, marketing plans, synopses, journalling, etc. I still plan to keep track of all that work, but for a day to count as a writing day, it must include at least 250 words of fiction.
After four years of building this habit, I'm not willing to let myself slack off. My expectations for myself will continue to rise.
But right now, I'm just breathing a moment of satisfaction, sticking out my chin and spreading my prideful feathers. Look how far we've come!
…I think I'll celebrate by adding 250 words to my newest novel.
This summer has been all about short stories. That's a real change of pace for me.
I've been pushing myself to put out a novel a year since 2015, when my first novel debuted. The up-side of that has been building my catalogue. I have three novels and a collection of short stories out in my Menopausal Superheroes series now. I've built a bit of a following for the series and am working towards a real career in writing. I'm proud of myself for that.
On the down-side though, I was getting cranky. A book a year is a difficult pace to keep up alongside my family and my teaching work. I was feeling burnt out, and losing my feeling of joy in the work.
So, I decided to slow down. In 2017, I decided, I would not write book 4 of my series, but would give myself a little room to play around in other areas, to take up opportunities I'd been offered and write some new things.
I'm so glad I did! There's a freedom in writing something new that is revitalizing. While I value the opportunities my Menopausal Superheroes have brought me, there are other stories I also long to tell. I can start to feel a little stifled, even if the person putting limits on me is me (by having to work within the universe I created).
So here's what's been going on in my writing life
June:
Finished edits on Friend or Foe short story collection
Monthly word count: 25,822 new words written: 21,174 revised
July:
Completed, revised, edited "Flygirl's Second Chance" which will come out in August in an
anthology called Love Unlimited. It's a wedding story for Jessica and Walter :-)
Monthly word count: 44,061 new words written: 30,933 revised
August Plans/In Progress
Hoping to finish my novella (first draft)
Hoping to plan a local launch party for Face the Change.
Will revise Ash to Ashes after receiving critique from my group
Hoping to finish H.O.A.
Hoping to update my submission tracker and submit all my unpublished work before school starts again
Already read 1 of at least 3 books I'll finish this month (one of them is Moby Dick, which is why I think I'll only read 3).
As summer comes to a close, I'm nearly always overwhelmed with feelings of regret about all the things I didn't get done, so this post is for myself as much as anything: a list of what I accomplished for the days when I'm feeling like I let summer slip by without accomplishing anything. Look at all that stuff! Go me!
It's convention time! I'm heading out to ConCarolinas this weekend. ConCarolinas is a multi-genre multi-media convention held in Charlotte, North Carolina since 2003 or so, and pulling together a little more than 1300 area geeks and creatives to talk, play, and laugh together for a weekend.
I'm going as an author guest this year for the first time. It's been a big year for me in that way. I added Mysticon, Ravencon, and ConCarolinas to my plate. I really enjoy participating in conventions. It's a chance to connect with readers and other authors and just to indulge all my geekiest loves for a few days.
So, if you're in the Charlotte, North Carolina area, come and talk menopausal superheroes and other geeky joys with me. Or if you just want to see the fun you're missing, here's what I'll be up to. You can find my schedule and those of others guests here. Friday 2 June @ 3:00 Writers Groups: Pros
and Cons: Some writers swear by their writing group, some just swear. What should you look for in a writing group, and should you look for one at all?
Synopsis: Almost as bad as the query letter is the synopsis. Our authors will go through the process they follow when writing a synopsis, including differences in techniques used when writing the synopsis before the manuscript versus after the manuscript. I'll be participating in this panel discussion with moderator Rick Gualtieri,Quincy J. Allen, David B. Coe, Jason T. Graves, and Gray Rinehart.
Friday 2 June @ 7:00 Broad Universe Rapid Fire Reading: Join our authors from the Broad universe as they read from their latest works.
Broad Universe is an international, non-profit organization dedicated to promoting, encouraging, honoring, and celebrating women writers and editors in science fiction, fantasy, horror and other speculative genres. A Rapid Fire Reading is an event where you can hear several members of this organization read from their latest releases. It's a great way to get to hear from several writers in a short amount of time and find you next read! I'll be there, along with moderator Gail Z. Martin, Alexandra Christian, Melissa McArthur Gilbert, Nickie Jamison, Emily Lavin Leverett, and Margaret S. McGraw.
Saturday 3 June @ 9:00 a.m. When Does it End?: Are you writing a stand-alone, a trilogy or a multibook epic? How do you know how long your series should run?
Saturday 3 June @ 7:00 p.m. Sexual Identity in Speculative Fiction: Have we finally reached an era when the protagontist's sexual identity has no affect on the book's readability? Or do queer characters still run the risk of marginalizing the book into a "niche" shelf?
Sunday 4 June @ 12:00 p.m. What Good is the Library?: With books being cheap and easily ordered online, what does that mean for libraries? Do they still have importance to today's writers and readers, or are they big brick dinosaurs?
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