After three weeks of not being able to type due to sickness and the holidays, I have been eager to get back to my novel.  Yesterday I sat down at my computer with the intention to get back to my writing, but by the end of the day, I had not done anything but open the file.  This morning I sat down at my computer, but by noon I had still not started back on my writing.  I then realized it was fear that was holding me back.  Since it had been so long since I had typed, I worried that I could not start again.  It’s amazing what self-doubt can do.

When I finally started typing, it all came back to me, and the story flowed freely from my fingertips.  Writing is not work.  It’s a natural process for me.  (The editing, however, is dreadful work!)  I even began to feel better as a person, and it truly goes to show that writing is a sort of therapy for me.  I love it and can easily lose myself in the story I’m typing out.

In fact, I wish I was typing on it now, but as soon as my youngest son walked into the house from school, he had a complete meltdown.  I thought if I put him in my bed and typed beside him, he would fall asleep.  That, however, is not working out very well.  I can’t work on the novel with a child rolling all around the bed, in a bad mood, and fighting sleep.  Hence, I am forced to take a break and thought I’d write a quick blog post.

Fear and self-doubt have no place in our lives.  If you truly want something in life, you have to push that fear aside and go after it.  It’s hard at first, but eventually, if you continue on, it will get better.  You will be in a much better place, and you’ll be glad you pushed yourself into doing what your subconscious told you couldn’t be done.  We are our own worst enemies.

Do you like to write but the thought of writing a novel terrifies you?  Then write a poem.  After that, write another one.  Then another…  Keep it up, and eventually, you’ll have more to say.  Learn the grammatical rules, and you’ve mastered most of the obstacles of writing.

Another big obstacle is to learn to write for yourself, not for others.  I write what I want to read.  At the same time, I understand others may not like the same thing as me, and I’m fine with that.  There are many bestsellers that I have no intention of reading, because they aren’t for me.  The same goes for my writing.  Never expect everyone to relate to your emotions and style.  That’s an unrealistic expectation that will make you miserable.

Well, my son has still not fallen asleep, yet I’m now yawning.  I need another cup of tea and a change in location, because I don’t intend to stop writing any time soon.  This novel won’t type itself, and I’m getting eager to hold it in my hands.  After a slow November, I plan to push myself hard this month.

Stay tuned for the cover reveal and some short excerpts to soon be released.  I know you’re ready for them 🙂

The month of November is finally over, and it was a crazy and hectic month for most writers.  Thankfully, I did not attempt NaNoWriMo, as I knew my writing would be challenged with the amount of guests I had during the week of Thanksgiving.  My children and husband were sick, which added to the distractions of the month.  As I took care of the children and prepared for my guests, I watched as most of my writing peers soared in their word count.  Although I am happy for each of them, I do admit to some jealousy as I longed to be among them in the race.

As a writer, it is extremely hard to shut out the “voices” that call to me throughout the day, wanting their stories to be told.  As of now, I have two different novels and a novella in my head, and they are each fighting for my attention.  There’s a saying that a writer writes to forget and a reader reads to remember.  That is so very true.  The untold stories constantly consume my mind, and I can’t wait to get them written down so that I can finally stop thinking about them.  Then, another story takes their place, and it’s an unending process that continuously repeats itself.  There is no peace with a writer.  We are plagued with thoughts throughout the day and even into the night.  Falling asleep is often a battle, as our mind would rather create things than shut down.

Now that December is here and National Novel Writing Month is over, I imagine most of my peers will slow down a bit after the frenzy of last month.  As for me, I am eager to finish my work in progress, and I plan to push myself hard this month.  Although my family will have to adjust to my workload coming back, I will try to balance the Christmas season with my personal need to finish this novel.  While last month was filled with doctor appointments and organizing my home, this month will be filled with Christmas parties, gift wrapping, and so much more.  However, this month I stand firm to my writing.  It will be done, even if it is done in the late hours of the night.

There is a benefit to my children being out of school for two weeks.  I won’t have to get up at 5:50 in the morning, and I can sleep in.  It’s amazing how better of a writer I am in the wee hours of the morning when everyone in my house is asleep.  I wish I could say the same for a normal day at work.

This month should be exciting.  I hope to finalize the cover soon, and I plan to have a cover reveal coming your way.  Stay tuned and get ready to find out what’s happening with Alissia.  Book two is very different from the first, as she is in a completely different situation.  Will there be answers to some of the mysteries revealed in Unexpected Metamorphosis?  Some, but not all.  The Alissia Roswell Series is an adventure, and I have so much awaiting her.  New things will be introduced, answers will come, but most importantly, Alissia will grow into the woman she needs to become.  These things don’t happen overnight.  Her story is complicated, which you’ve already learned if you’ve read the first book.

As always, I truly thank you all for your support.  If you haven’t left a review on Amazon and/or Goodreads yet, please do so.  It would help immensely in getting the word out.

How exciting it is to finally get to a scene I’ve had in my mind for a long time!  My fingers can’t wait to type it out, and it’s hard to focus on anything else.  That is how I felt about a week and a half ago.  My daughter was at a birthday party, and I spent the afternoon in my vehicle in the parking lot of the party place doing research for the big scene.  Around 6:00 p.m. I ate some dark chocolate and continued with my research.  By the time we got home that evening, I was no longer hungry, and I was ready to do some writing.  I grabbed some lemon water and went to my bedroom to type.  That night I went to sleep with a smile on my face, because the following day was Monday.  The children would go back to school, and the hubby would go to work, leaving me an entire day of silence to type out my big scene.

At least, that was the plan.  That night I experienced extremely vivid dreams and woke drenched in sweat.  When I awoke the next morning, I was too drained to get out of bed.  It was the first time I was not able to get my children off to school.  My hubby had to do it.  My entire day was wasted, and I got nothing done.  It seems, I erred by skipping dinner and had a sugar drop during the night, which left me without any energy the next day.

That Tuesday I went to a doctor and had tests done.  Then two of my children got head colds (one is VERY cranky while sick), and there were routine appointments throughout the week.  I’ve also got a lot of company coming in for Thanksgiving, so I spent my weekend trying to get caught up on housecleaning.  This week has been spent with more doctor appointments.  (Everything came in normal, and I’m healthy, just won’t be skipping dinner any time soon.)  Last night I had to cook for a brunch at my son’s school I attended this morning.  I also found an email last night reminding me that one of my daughters will be on stage singing tonight in choir.  I also need to bring cookies, separately wrapped (which means I need to bake some quickly).  I’ll add that since I’ll be having two Thanksgiving meals at my home with many guests for the entire week, I need to have a lot of desserts and meals made and in my freezer before they get here.  (Two pumpkin pies are in the oven now and will go straight to my freezer.)

What happened to my writing?  I was so close to an exciting scene, yet it still sits there waiting for me.  It’s not one that I want to start and have to walk away from in an hour.  It’s one of those I want to be able to focus on to get it right, and it won’t be easy to put down until finished.

The rest of my week is packed, and I have a conference to attend this weekend before my family gets here right when I get home.  Although I knew this month would be busy and I did not sign up for NaNoWriMo, I’m watching my fellow authors zoom through their word count, and yes, I’m jealous.  I keep reminding myself that life happens, and this month I just have to go with it.  Next week I will enjoy the company of my family and friends, and my novel will be waiting for me once it is over.  Life will return back to normal, at least until Christmas.

Until then, I have to be content with knowing I’ll get back to Alissia’s adventure soon, and I will also be starting a new stand-alone novel also.  It’s a story that came to me back in October, and it is demanding to be typed out.  It won’t go away or leave me alone.  I guess it needs to be told, even if it is not in the fantasy genre or something I had expected to write.  But, Unexpected Metamorphosis was not planned either.  It just came and demanded to be written.  I guess that is how it is to be then.

Well, I have pies to put away, laundry to finish, and cookies to bake.  Sadly, I wish I was writing today.  It truly bothers me that I can’t type 🙁

Thank you for all the support, and I hope you’re enjoying your week.

I know that I have some social media connections with other authors living in the Atlanta area, and I’d like for us to get together as a group.  I’m not thinking anything formal or classes.  I would just like a night out so that we can meet and do some fun networking.

One of the greatest joys of doing what I do is when I’m around other authors, talking about the industry and writing process.  Although my friends and family are great supporters of what I do, there’s nothing like being around those that truly “get” what I’m saying.

So, if you live in the Marietta, Roswell, Cumming, or Woodstock area, maybe we can find a central place to meet for dinner one night.  Contact me if you are interested, and I look forward to meeting you.

So, you’ve read a book, and you loved it.  What should you do now?  Well, that’s easy!  After a long exhale with a smile on your face, you should let the author know that you enjoyed his/her writing.  After all, a novel is a work of art that took countless hours to write, and in the end, almost all authors question themselves.  Sure, we know we have an amazing story to tell.  We wouldn’t put it out to the public if we didn’t believe in it.  But, we are also human, and deep within every one of us, there are times of doubt and confusion.  On a great day, we are excited about what we do.  On a bad day, we question our sanity and wonder why in the world we do what we do.  This is especially true for the more unknown authors, which is the majority of the market.

So, how do you speak to an author?  That’s simple.  Leave a review!  Leaving a positive review on Goodreads, Amazon, etc. is the best gift you can give to an author.  Those reviews are more important than you may know.  On Amazon, reviews push the author up in ranking, as well as help potential readers decide on whether to purchase the novel.  As for Goodreads, it’s all about potential readers deciding which book to read next.  They may have thousands of books on their ‘to read’ shelf, but in the end, most of them look at reviews to decide which one to actually read.

What I’ve learned so far, is that most readers don’t leave a review.  Yes, they may love the novel, follow the author on social media, tell all their friends to read the book, and even be kin to the author, but in the end, they don’t leave a review.

I’ve even heard a story about an author that gave out 500 advanced copies of her novel so that she could get reviews in before the book was published, yet not even half of the readers wrote a review.  Ouch!

I don’t blame the readers.  I, myself, never left a review until becoming an author.  I never knew how important they were until now.  Our society has just recently become dependent on reviews.  I mean, there’s not many purchases I make without looking at the reviews.  I even have a scan code on my phone to help me while at a store.

So, if you love a book, leave a review.  All the authors I know read their reviews.  They will get your message.  If you want to get even more personal, you can also see if the author is on social media.  Although some authors have other careers and don’t do much online, the majority of the authors I know are online, and they listen and respond to their readers.  You can find me on almost all the social platforms, but I am most active on Facebook.

Oh, while leaving a review on Goodreads, you can also become a fan of your favorite author.  Same goes for Amazon.  It only takes a second to click on the button.  It’s just another way to show your support to a writer you enjoy.

Although I said I’d never put those painful purple contacts back in, I procrastinated too long and had to quickly find a costume for this year’s party.  The good news is that the contacts did not hurt like they did in Las Vegas.  However, I lost complete vision in my left eye about thirty minutes into the party.  Everything became a total blur, so I took them off and went on with the fun of socializing with my neighbors.

My husband went as Willie from Duck Dynasty, and he tried to talk me into buying this ridiculously huge duck costume that looked beyond horrific.  He even begged, but that was never an option.

This will most likely be the last time I dress up as Alissia.  I don’t have the jewels she had, anyways, and I don’t compare anything to the description in the book.  I tried though, and it was fun.  I especially enjoyed it in Vegas when Melissa dressed as Anika, Alissia’s close friend.

I will say that I am very blessed to live in a new neighborhood where just about everyone knows each other, and we even like each other.  Parties and gatherings are always enjoyable where we live, and after moving around for most of my life, I believe I have found my home and am settling down.

I’m curious to know if anyone else has ever dressed as a character from a novel for a costume party.  If so, I’d love to hear about it in the comments section.  Dressing as Alissia is my first time, and it was fun.

My daughter believes in sideways shots.  Last year my husband and I dressed in Roman outfits.  My hair was so short back then, and Daryl needed to smile.  I think that was his first time dressing up since childhood.  He’s getting the hang of it now.