Sunday, April 30, 2017

Monthly check in – May we look forward to May?

It’s hard to believe we’re at the end of April already…I hate to say it, but where the heck does the time go?

I haven’t offered an update on my monthly intentions since February, and I thought now would be a good time to check in.  So where am I with my tasks and expectations? When I review the words that came to mind when I thought about 2017, there are a number of them I’ve been working on the past few months. 

Instagram post for my idea of Serenity
Reading and writing – I’ve been reading pretty much every day, whether fiction, magazine articles, writing books, whatever I have on hand at the time I have the time to read. With my writing, I’m taking some time to continue to review, edit and make changes to the fourth book in the series since I still have some time before my scheduled professional edit. As long as it’s in my possession, I’ll probably continue to find something I can correct…or change…or add. In the meantime, I’m also working on my young adult novel. And of course, I’m always journaling. 

I’m also planning on which writer’s conference(s) I want to attend this year – one for certain I’m already signing up for, and the other I’m still thinking about since it’s a 4-day commitment. Whether I attend just one or both, I look forward to the continued learning opportunity and meeting other like-minded individuals.

Less clutter – I spent a couple of weekends going through closets and drawers and boxes until I finally had enough items to stuff my SUV and then I donated everything. The amount of clothes and household items we were able to donate was incredible. We just don’t need that much stuff! I’m still working on clearing out some other areas and items, as time permits, and I’m hopeful by the end of the year I will finally feel free from the clutter. 

Reflection – I’ve been doing a lot of this lately…and it’s still a work in progress. I don’t know what answers I’m looking for, but eventually I believe some changes will be necessary and for someone who isn’t terribly great with change, this can be a scary concept but I’m working myself up to appreciate it can also be exciting.  

Be present, find beauty, create – I took part in a photo challenge during the month of April, and I really enjoyed finding different ways to take photographs to show my point of view or my interpretation of what it was we were supposed to be sharing with others. 

Because I really enjoy monthly challenges, I’ve signed up to begin a new challenge tomorrow – it’s a routine & habits challenge. I’m interested to see what I might learn about my habits, or about myself.  If the challenge proves to be useful, I’ll share what I learned.

Travel, adventure, family – I recently took a trip to Vegas and had a terrific time with my family; I’m now planning and looking forward to my next travel adventure. If I’m going to spend money on anything, besides books, I’d much rather spend it making memories with my loved ones, instead of buying stuff to add to the clutter.

Movement, strength – I enjoy Yoga, cardio and other attempts to stay active, and I’m still really enjoying my new Fitbit, as it continues to remind me to move my butt every hour throughout the day, which is so very helpful when my day job has me sitting more than I’d prefer. And there it goes…I just received my notification that I need to get up and move to reach my step count…

...I took a quick walk to reach my goal.  It’s always nice to be rewarded when I reach my step count – the little dancing person icon on my Fitbit is cute – it would be fun if I had a similar little writer icon who could jump with happiness while throwing pages in the air when I reach my word count.

Now that’s an idea…  J

The past few months have been encouraging as I continue to work on my intentions, and besides giving me a sense of accomplishment, I enjoy moving into a new month with a renewed interest in upcoming expectations.

Hello May…let’s do this!



Sunday, April 16, 2017

The Easter Bunny didn’t visit today, but my Muse did.


Today was a special day for many. Easter Sunday is a day for church goers, family gatherings, and fun times for children as they search for colored eggs, whether real or plastic ones filled with treats.  A time for visiting, taking photographs and relaxing on a nice Sunday afternoon.

This is likely the first Easter Sunday, ever, that I haven’t had plans for a family dinner or gathering. It left me with the feeling that I had forgotten something, that I should be someplace else or the sense that I should be doing something.

I did get to spend some time outside. We’ve had a break in the weather and it was nice to just get out for some fresh air while I tackled a project. Once I got myself planted again at my desk, I decided I had to make good use of this holiday if I was just going to sit around at home. I used the rest of the afternoon to review the earlier chapters of the story I’ve written for my young adult novel. This is a novel I’d like to publish later this year, after the fourth novel in the Jorja Matthews’ mystery series is finally released. The fourth Jorja novel will be edited soon by my editor, but she has a very busy schedule and that edit is still a ways out, so I’m taking the time in between to work on my YA novel. My expectation is that the fourth in the series will be published before the end of summer, and if my young adult is ready and gets on the calendar for a professional edit, it will be published before the end of the year.  It’ll be a challenge but very satisfying to publish two full-length novels before the end of the year. 

As I was reviewing and editing the first chapters in my YA novel, I was once again enjoying how much fun it is to review what I’ve already written. To get back into the story from the first day of my characters’ lives in the world I’ve created. To reacquaint myself with them from the beginning; it’s something I just never get tired of. I find little snippets and trinkets of special details about the characters or details about the story that I may have forgotten about until I read back through it again. It’s always a lot of fun and still one of my favorite parts about reviewing my work. The review went so well, I was then able to add additional details and answer some lingering questions I still had with some of the plot points in the story. The Muse was a chatty Cathy today and I took advantage of it.

So today wasn’t my usual type of Easter holiday; it wasn’t really a day off either. But that’s okay. I was able to make good headway on reviewing and editing my YA novel, and adding to the story, as well, so that soon this novel will also be ready for a professional edit. It feels satisfying to know that this will be a productive year. 

However you spent this Easter Sunday, I hope you also had a wonderful day doing something that brought you joy.

Have a great week!


Sunday, April 2, 2017

When childhood memories come calling


I’ve been thinking a lot, lately, about my childhood, or just what it used to be like to be a kid in the midst of all the grown-up stuff we were ignorant of or allowed to pretend we knew nothing about.  Why the nostalgia about the past?  It’s not nostalgia really…I don’t actually wish to be a kid again. It’s just memories about the way things used to be, and what it was like to grow up as a kid in a small town.   

Maybe it’s due to the preview I watched recently of Stephen King’s novel, It, which is about to make its way on the big screen in a few months. I have always enjoyed horror and suspense novels and I’ve been reading King since even before I became a teen. Like many of his stories, the novel, It, certainly struck a chord with readers, as many could relate to having some sort of childhood fear. I remember my biggest fear as a kid was that something was in my closet, or under my bed. I couldn’t sleep without the closet door being closed, and when I went to bed I would run and jump onto the mattress, rather than risk getting my bare feet too close to what might lie beneath it.

Thankfully, I’m not afraid of clowns, or I probably wouldn’t have been able to make it through the book King wrote about Pennywise and the children who met him, but there is one thing I’m afraid of, which I won’t mention for those who plan to see the movie but haven’t read the book (and if the movie sticks to the script). I just know it’s one part of the movie when I’ll likely be closing my eyes, or at least peeking through my fingers.

Aside from the childhood fears, there are days when I miss what being a kid was all about – when all you really did was live in the moment. I’m talking before we learned to dread Mondays and wish for Fridays. Before cell phones and video games, before there were more than five channels on the television (oops, I’m dating myself!). There was no whole day spent inside the house in front of any kind of screen. That just wasn’t allowed, or you’d likely get put to work. I grew up on a family farm with hardly any neighbors other than nearby family and with many acres available for us to explore. My brother and I would take off, even as fairly young kids, to go for a walk through the woods, hang out at the creek all afternoon or ride our bikes down the road to our cousin’s house.  Obviously, these days, letting your kids just roam around like that isn’t really advisable. 

But that’s the adult in me talking.

The kid in me didn’t think like that. 

Instead, we followed where our curiosity led us. We’d catch frogs or, even better, find frog eggs before they hatched, put them in a bucket and watch them for days until they finally hatched and we could dump them back in the creek. We’d find logs that had fallen over the perfect spot on the creek, and lie on the log with our hands stretched out towards the water, waiting patiently…until a salamander finally came up for air. We’d use our hands to catch as many crawdads or fish as we could, and see who could finally find the biggest one. We meant no harm to anything; everything we caught, we threw back to be caught another day.

Those are memories I enjoy when I recall what life was like as a kid. We didn’t think ahead to what the day might have in store for us, we lived in the moment, enjoying nature and letting curiosity drive us.

My childhood fears had no basis in fact; there was nothing in my closet or under my bed. And, like most children, even if I knew this to be true, I still thought it was possible, and nothing in the world was going to make me look to make sure nothing was hiding from me. I just jumped in bed, pulled the covers over my head and willed myself to go to sleep quickly. I feared monsters that did not exist but never thought about how I could have very easily run into a bad situation any of those days I played as a child in the woods. 

But that’s what being a kid is all about – it’s letting the imagination roam and the curiosity drive you.  And if you’re lucky, the adult in you will remember how to do that again, even if it’s only every once in awhile.