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Insights into the writing life of an exhausted mom of three 5 and under. |
Hey! You! Yeah, you! Could you bring this momma some coffee?  I'll be sharing my struggles and triumphs as I try to pin down inspiration while juggling an 2 year old, 3 year old, and 5 year old (oh, and also navigating my chronic illness). There'll be lots of humor, probably more than a little complaining, and just all around good times. I hope you'll come along for the journey! (Don't forget the coffee; I'm serious about that!  ) AlyCatAuthor
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| Howdy, y'all! *waves* So I've been a terrible writer lately. I'm not going to beat myself up too much, though, because I've got a growing belly and a LOT going on in real life at the moment. Though the first trimester blues are over and I've gotten most of my energy back, I'm still finding myself with a lack of motivation and a lot of real-life stuff that's weighing in on me. That being said, I really miss being active on here: reviewing, commenting, competing and participating in games and groups. I want to try to remedy this situation very soon, and start posting more regularly to this blog AND my site. I honestly think what's hanging me up is the massive reorganization that needs doing in my house right now, and the fact that this baby will be here in a few short months, and that I need to clear out what was once my sacred writing space to put a little human in there instead, and move all my files and computer and books out to our little living room and purchase a new desk that will fit in a smaller space and register for baby things and try not to think about the possibility that we might move again at the end of our lease... You get the idea. Anyway, I know I can't wait to start writing until I get everything done. Everything won't be done for a long time. I've GOT to start getting used to the fact that my writing time will be in spurts, in quick glimpses of time throughout the day, perhaps even juggling a feeding baby on my lap while typing a few words before dumping another load of laundry in the washer and starting supper for my overworked husband. Yep. This is the life I chose, and I love it, but it's taking me much longer than I expected to get used to just the idea of only having few-minute chunks of time to write in, and making it come second to my role as a wife and now soon to be a mother. That's not the natural way my brain works, and I guess that's stressing me out and making my mind short-circuit. All that to say, this is why I haven't been around recently, and any insight from anyone who juggles writing and family would be welcomed. Any comments are welcomed, really. I'm loving this life that's unfolding in front of me, but it's going to take a lot more strength and flexibility than what I ever imagined. AlyCatAuthor |
| +J.M.J.+ Well, here I am. It's 2017, and we're already halfway through January. But I still wanted to post my goals for this month, and some annual goals that I've come up with. Maybe you have similar goals, or have goals of your own that you'd like to share. Feel free to share in the comments below! MONTHLY GOALS  I'm part of a wonderful group of writers called the 365 Club. It's all about forming a habit of writing every. single. day. during the year. My daily word count I want to try to hit each day is around 300, which is relatively easy provided I buckle down and do it. That's a little over a page, so very much doable, even if I don't have much time to write. So far, I've had a couple of off days, but I've also had some great days that will make my daily average pretty high if I keep going steady. I'm also participating in WDC's 30-Day Blogging Challenge this month. So far, the prompts have been pretty fun to respond to. Some days I only write a paragraph or two, but other days, I feel like I've typed my hands off and come up with several hundred words of a response. Today, we get to talk about music: whether or not we play an instrument and what our favorite song is. I'm rather excited about that, being a musician and all. ^_^ A sub-goal for this month, along with my general writing goals, is to write at least a couple pages on my outline for "Sun of Truth," which is the second in an epic fantasy trilogy called "The Mending" that I've been working on for a decade now. After releasing "Kingdom of the New Moon," I've been debating on whether or not I should go ahead and make myself write its sequel, "Kingdom of the Blue Sun." I know what the general storyline is, but world-building and character arcs are nowhere in sight at this point in the creative process. And since I'm an indie author, I thought, "Well, it makes more sense to release the next one I've got ready." Which is the first in "The Mending." I had a good heart-to-heart with my alpha reader, who told me these wise words: "If you force yourself to write a book you're not ready to write, you'll lose your passion for writing. I guarantee it." So, I'm deciding to listen. "Kingdom" is a good novel in its own right and can stand on its own without causing too much stress for its readers. The sequel is going to focus on secondary characters, anyway, so the first is a complete story of a complete character arc in and of itself. That's why I'm not so worried now about letting it sit for a while as I work on other projects that are much closer to being ready. I left no cliff-hangers, and the story wraps up quite definitively for the main character. So I'm not too worried that readers will hate me for keeping them waiting. It doesn't technically "need" a sequel to finish it, but the story came to me, and it wants to be written. Just not right this second. YEARLY GOALS I won't post all of them, because I've got several, some of which are not writing-related.  Finish the draft and first round of edits of a bookThis might end up being my first non-fiction offering, which I'm tentatively calling "Journey by Journal." It's going to help novelists power through writer's blocks and keep tabs on their writing journey by journaling. The edits might be on "Queen's Daughter," the first book in "The Mending" series. Set up email freebie and monthly newsletter for my websiteI'm not so consistent with blogging. So I'm going to try to fix that by creating something AWESOME to give away, and then curating content and updates once a month for all my faithful readers. I want to include helpful writing articles, updates on my progress, and maybe even answer some questions or feature a reader's blog/book. ^_^ Guest post twice I have not done a single guest post, and I really need to fix that. Be posting weekly to my blogCONSISTENCY. I need to work on this. I've failed so far this year, but I wanna fix that going into next month. Win a contest on WDCI've been entering tons of contests these past couple of months, and I'm determined to win at least one of them this year. Set up author fan page and get 100 likesI haven't done this yet. Why have I not done this yet? Read two books a month (24 total) NOT COUNTING spiritual reading.I do daily spiritual reading as a matter of course, so I naturally get through quite a few spiritual books in a year. Which is GREAT. But I also need to start getting back into reading fiction. That's how I learned in the very beginning, and it's how I will continue to learn. Audiobooks are my new best friend, so I can listen while I'm folding laundry/walking on the treadmill/otherwise incapacitated but with nothing for my brain to do. In fact, I might post an accountability update each month to let you guys know what I'm reading and how I'm progressing. I read a new trilogy in November and December of last year via audiobook, and now I'm revisiting a favorite author, as he's released a ton of new books since I last read his stuff back in high school. So this month, I've got "Forbidden" by Ted Dekker and Tosca Lee, and then I'll have to find another, maybe "Tales of Earthsea" by Ursula LeGuin. I've been wanting to read that one for a while. I'm also thinking of maybe splitting it up by one fiction book, one writing how-to a month. That might also be a good balance. I've got lots of how-tos in my to-be-read pile. Well, there they are. All my goals for this month, and for this year. Hopefully I can make good progress on them. But I'm not going to beat myself up too badly. After all, I now have a bundle of joy due in September. ^_^ Chat with me: What are your goals and resolutions for this year as far as writing goes? What's your plan to reach those goals? Tell me in the comments below; I'd love to chat! AlyCatAuthor |
| +J.M.J.+ I realize I haven't posted in here for a while, and I wanted to reassure those of you who read my lowly blog that I have not disappeared and I have not stopped writing fantasy. The holidays hit me hard, as well as the New Year. I now have a baby on the way, so I'm trying to keep my health in mind even as I'm gearing up to get back on track for the new year. I want to post a longer post this week about my plans and goals for this month, and I'd like to invite you to keep an eye out for that post so you can share your goals, too! I love encouraging and walking alongside my fellow authors on this wonderful site. AlyCatAuthor |
| +J.M.J.+ It’s Friday. You come home from work (or log off your work) and head straight to Facebook. You’d planned on doing some writing. Your hopes were high at 10 AM, but now that evening is here, scrolling through your News Feed, watching random YouTube videos on your phone, or even collapsing right into bed is about all you can work up the energy to do. You fall into the same old time-suck trap or shut the computer, looking guiltily at the Word or Scrivener icon in the taskbar. How long has it been since you wrote last? It asks you. Why didn’t you write? I’m just too tired, you answer. And you probably are. Believe me, this is an all-too-familiar scene for me. Being a human in today’s world is just plain exhausting. But these three activities I’m going to discuss have helped me break the cycle of exhaustion on more than one occasion. I hope they’ll help you recharge, refill your creative tank, and reclaim your time for doing what you do best—creating awesome story ideas. 1. Work a Puzzle Yes, I’m talking about good, old-fashioned jigsaw puzzles where you dump the pieces in the floor, sort them by color, or just pick a couple of border pieces and get to work. There’s something about the visual and tactile experience of rummaging through a box of colorful puzzle pieces that soothes this writer’s creative soul. It also forces me to reevaluate my ideas of how certain pieces fit together, as sometimes a simple turn of a puzzle piece makes the picture jump out and its placement obvious. This unlocks juicy possibilities for playing with story ideas subconsciously to see how they fit together—or if I’ve been “turning” them the wrong way all along. The process of putting together a puzzle takes a combination of left and right brain thinking, which closely mirrors the writing process. This gives your exhausted, drained brain a new, tactile way to creatively work out tough problems—and perhaps even work on story problems at the same time. 2. Color or Sketch Another great strategy for visual learners is coloring. Adult coloring books are soaring in popularity because of their ability to relieve stress and promote creativity. Coloring intricate designs is a great way to let your right brain enjoy a child-like playground of possibilities. Using color schemes that correspond with the mood you want to create for yourself is also a key part of coloring (e.g. red for passion and energy, green for peace and serenity, etc.). Alternatively, whether or not you claim to be the world’s greatest artist, sketching characters, settings, or objects from your story allows you to see your story in ways you hadn’t been able to before. Consider just drawing a quick sketch of your protagonist’s face. You’ll be amazed at the questions this will spark: “What does he wear?” or “How tall is she?” Soon, you’ll be compelled to fill in the rest of the details and satisfy your curiosity. Along the way, each decision you make about how to draw your character will inform the way you describe your character in your writing later on. Drawing elements of your story forces you to think about details you hadn’t considered before, and helps you learn more about your story. Note: You can see my process for drawing my characters and their comics in a future post! 3. Unclutter Your Writing Space I’m guilty of keeping a pretty sprawling, messy desk (as many writers are). Throughout the week, I move my laptop from desk to couch innumerable times, scatter handwritten pages/receipts/notebooks all over the place, and lose track of more pens than I thought I could possibly own. Naturally, when it comes time to write, I balk at the mess on my desk. Trying to write at a messy desk works about as well as frying an egg in the snow. And the last thing I feel like doing after a long day is expending more effort to focus on my writing. But for me, there’s a certain “zen” to re-organizing my desk and uncluttering. Not only does it clear my physical space, but it gives me a feeling of starting fresh. I also inevitably uncover old notes and ideas while going through my papers. This sparks my thoughts and takes me back to the moment I jotted each idea, bringing back the creative rush I’d felt at the time. Next time you find yourself “procrastinating,” try uncluttering instead. It just might be the spark you need to get your tired thoughts moving freely again. I’ve used each of these strategies (sometimes all in one night) when I just can’t seem to work up the energy to face the blinking cursor. It takes some discipline and desire to break away from the comforting monotony of your warm bed or that 3-hour Vine compilation. But even if you can’t write, you can feed your writer’s soul with these strategies, bringing you one step closer to writing than you were before. Tell me your opinion: Have you used any of these strategies to stay creative? What other methods do you use? Tell me in the comments below; I’d love to chat! |
| +J.M.J.+ Well, I've really gotten behind on this whole blogging deal. I'm gonna try to remedy that here. I don't have much to share other than that good progress is being made on "Kingdom." I'm ahead of schedule so far. I think, minus any horrendous mishaps, it'll be just peachy for a December 15 launch like I had planned. I may even release it a week sooner, on the 8th, as that's a very special Catholic feast day--my favorite Marian feast day, that of the Immaculate Conception. We shall see if things turn out favorably for that. In other news, I recently reviewed two FANTASTIC books on story structure. I highly recommend them to anyone reading my humble blog. They are: -"Creating Character Arcs" by the ever-lovely K.M. Weiland. This book started as PHENOMENAL series on character arc on her blog, and blossomed into a beautiful reference which I fully intend to purchase a hard copy of. -"Take Off Your Pants" by Libbie Hawker, whom I've just recently discovered lurking in my Kindle library. Why I didn't read this book sooner, I don't know, but don't make my mistake. Go. Buy. It. It'll change your life. "Creating Character Arcs" Review I've been a follower and a fan of Katie Weiland's for a while, and I've read pretty much every book she's written on the craft of storytelling. She gets more amazing with each book, I'm telling you. She has an INSANE passion for story craft, and it shows in her down-to-earth, humorous and deeply insightful how-to books. "Creating Character Arcs" is all about, well, character arcs: postive change, negative change, and flat arcs. She also has some other fabulous resources jammed in there that I haven't quite taken a full stroll through yet, but fully intend to once I have the hard copy and a highlighter in hand. She walks you through the steps of each arc and what these kinds of arcs look like in popular film and literature examples, making it easy to understand and put into practice right away. (I annoy my husband by shouting out character arc and plot points during movies now, that's how much I've learned from this amazing woman and her blog/books.) "Take Off Your Pants" Review As for Libbie Hawker, her warm yet business-like attitude with a flair for humor drew me into "Take Off Your Pants" right away. I found myself reading her book while eating breakfast and binge-reading chapters while sitting at my dining room table, backside falling asleep on the hard wood of the chair. It's a short read, an easy read, but the information is SO. DENSE. In a good way. I keep going back to it as I'm implementing the outlining method she teaches, and each time something new strikes me and the information sinks in further. Her method is deceptively simple and shockingly fast and easy to implement, especially if you already have a thorough study of story structure under your belt. I found myself connecting her ideas to those I'd learned before and seeing how they all fit together to make her method work so well. She doesn't use the exact same terminology as Katie Weiland, nor is she as nitty-gritty or detailed, but boy, they both draw from the same amazing well that is knowlegdge of story craft. I think this book is especially awesome for those writers who like keeping their story as open-ended as possible, and don't quite find their fit with more thoroughly-detailed outlining methods that encourage exploring every nook and cranny of your story before ever writing the words "Chapter One". I fall somewhere in between, so combining a thorough knowledge and practice of story structure with Libbie Hawker's pace-focused method will really help strengthen my weak areas. I've learned even more than I thought possible, and the thought that there's more to learn and improve makes me wriggle in excitement. Well, there's my book reviews for the month. Haha. I got super excited about these books and just had to share it with you guys. With that, I wish you all a Happy Friday. Write on! Have you guys read any good writing how-to books lately? What were they? How did they inspire you to grow your craft? Share in the comments below; I'd love to chat! AlyCatAuthor |
+J.M.J.+    ~ODE TO COFFEE~  Okay so this isn't really going to be a poem. But I just want to take a minute and do a fun blog post, because I'm sure you all are getting tired of my weekly laundry lists of stuff I've accomplished (or not accomplished). So I just want to talk to you for a minute about what is perhaps the greatest weapon in any writer's arsenal: coffee. Coffee, for me, is a substance so magical, so necessary, that I literally have not gone a day without it in close to a year. I tried switching exclusively to tea for a while, but after a couple months I caught a whiff of that magical bean potion and came crawling back. Don't get me wrong, I love me a good, strong cup of tea with milk, and on nights when I'm feeling especially bubbly, I like to curl up with my husband, warm mug of cocoa in hand, and watch Disney movies. But that "mineral water" filtered through ground beans from heaven is what gives me my cheery disposition back after a short night's sleep and keeps me going through mountains of laundry and freelancing day after day. The only note of sadness in this story is that I...alas...suffer from a condition known as IBS. Therefore, too much caffeine can send my stomach on a whirling, hurling adventure, and make my limbs so jittery that I can hardly type straight. While I see others on Facebook groups announcing their second, third, and even fourth cups of coffee with glee, I'm reminiscing about my early morning cup, sipping boring old water to soothe my digestive tract, wondering how much time is enough time to wait between doses--I mean, warm, steaming, healthy mugs--of that wonderful stuff. I never drink more than two cups a day, never without food, and never very fast. My second (if I have it) is taken up to 5 hours after the first, and always heavily-laden with whole-fat milk and a touch of vanilla creamer to avoid unpleasant, jittery after-effects and the roiling complaints of my stomach. Aside from the fact that my consumption must be strictly monitored and limited, I'm happy to even be able to drink it at all. If anything, it keeps me from spending too much money on coffee and creamer--and forces me to stay hydrated in between mugs.  All in all, I don't know what I'd do without my precious bean potion each morning (especially since I get up with my husband at 6AM on weekdays). It's my go-to, my reward for a morning of writing well done, and my pick-me-up on sleepy days. Do you guys LOVE coffee? What's your favorite beverage to drink while writing? Let me know in the comments; I'd love to start a conversation!  AlyCatAuthor |
| +J.M.J.+ Well, another Thursday, another blog post. I hope it finds you well! I've got some updates and a few reflections on the writing craft to share with you all!Publishing Update I've got my designers narrowed down to 6 finalists, who are now working towards perfecting their final product. Once time runs out (at some point today, I think, or maybe tomorrow), I get two weeks to pick my favorite cover. I intend to do some polling among family and friends so they can help me pick the one that makes them want to read it the most. They're starting to look super awesome, and I already have a couple favorites in mind. Next week will likely start the process of formatting text files. I'll need to sit down at some point and run one final spelling/grammar check down the whole thing and make a list of last-minute quick fixes I'd like to do before I send it off for processing. All in all, things are coming together for Kingdom, and I couldn't be happier! NaNoPrep Update NaNo Prep is going surprisingly well, for all I'm feeling like I can't get a spare moment to scratch my foot. I'm working on compiling a compact outline for my YA fiction novel (tentatively entitled "A Line Through The Sun") from the extended outline I wrote back in February. I've also drafted up some floor plans of important settings, such as the high school my main characters attend, and gathered floor plans and pictures of homes and marked off their rooms/where their furniture goes. I've also drafted a messy map of their hometown and where their neighborhood is in relation to the school/downtown/etc. I almost feel like I've cheated because this story has been floating around in my head for so long, and I revisited it after a few-years' hiatus earlier this year to re-outline it, so the basic structure was already there. I'm just making it all fit cohesively and trying to strengthen a few things here and there to make it tighter and more powerful. I'm excited to start drafting in November, and I'm pretty sure I'll have time to organize all my Prep work for easy access by November 1. Pretty sure. We all know life happens, so I may end up eating my words. Oh, and speaking of NaNo Prep, I found this super neat tool yesterday that's free until the end of October. It's called Notebook, and it's a web-app that helps you world-build by asking questions about characters, items, locations, and all that. It even allows you to link between notebook entries for easy referencing like a wiki. It'll store your answers into entries and organize them under tabs. For instance, when you create a new item, it'll ask you questions such as "When was this item created?" "Who made the item?" "Who owns it now?" And if you leave places blank, it'll prompt you with questions in the sidebar to get you thinking more in depth about a character/item/location. You can visit the website at notebook(dot)ai and sign up for their "Eternal" membership, which allows you to create unlimited universes, characters, items and locations and is free until the end of October with promo code NANOPREP. You're welcome.  Some Thoughts on Writing Processes So this week, I've tried something new for a schedule. I work part-time or less from home as a freelance transcriptionist, which sounds like a dream come true. It is, and then it isn't. Haha. While it gives me AWESOME freedom and the ability to introvert my little heart out, I suck at being my own boss. So I decided, since I have the ultimate flexibility in my schedule, I need to try something other than a set amount of dollars per day. It's true, there are hours for me that are off limits simply because my husband and I get up so early each morning. And early mornings are not the best times for finding jobs in a competitive workspace. (Nor are they the best times to expect me to keep up with a rambling speaker and not want to throw the computer out the window.) Enter my new experiment. My freelancing site puts out a weekly newsletter, and in one of those newsletters I read an interesting statistic, which I have found to be mostly true. There are more jobs available on the workspace on certain days of the week (Tuesdays through Thursdays), and at certain hours of the day (about noon to 6PM). Why not plan my days around that so I'm not sitting here, hitting refresh every ten seconds looking for jobs that aren't going to be there? On top of that, I am most creative at certain times of the day: about right now, to be exact. From about 9 AM to 1PM, I hit my peak levels of energy and creativity. Why not schedule my writing time during those hours when I know I'll be most amped to write? And why not relegate my freelancing to the days/hours it's most productive and free up a couple days a week to be completely free from its hand-cramping demands? My weekly quota is about $100. That's pretty low key, especially considering I WAS having to make between $200 to $300 a week. I only freelance during regular business days, Monday through Friday. Tuesdays and Thursdays are more difficult simply because my husband doesn't work his second job, and so I have to set a time limit to my writing in the morning to be sure I have enough time to freelance before dinner, so I can spend the evening with him instead of stuck at my computer. My goal for this week was to relegate Monday, Wednesday, and Friday evenings strictly to freelancing and see how much I could get done. Then on Tuesdays and Thursdays, I would set a two-hour time limit to my workday, working between 3 and 5 when my husband gets home and crashes after a long day substitute teaching. That kept my mornings completely free for writing. Only, Monday and Tuesday didn't fare so well. I made my strict quota on Monday, about $21, but I had hoped to make more. Jobs simply weren't coming in that I was willing to take (the horrid story of my freelancing site's penny-pinching robbery is one for another blog post). Tuesday I only made $12. I wasn't too far behind, about $7, but Wednesday proved a game-changer. I got the idea that I wanted a day off every week, preferably Fridays, as my husband works his longest day of the week by far that day, leaving me in the house all by myself from about 7AM to 2AM the next morning (give or take the hour or so my husband comes home between jobs, crashes, and eats supper before rushing off again...my poor hubby.). Don't get me wrong, I long for the day my husband doesn't have to deliver pizzas until 2AM as much as he does. But while it lasts, it creates a huge blank slate of a day, as he has the car all day (leaving me stuck at home) and I have Wi-Fi, coffee, and the whole house to myself. Usually I'll do some things around the house (which I still plan on doing even if the day is "off" from freelancing). But I'd love to just have the whole day, when I stay up a bit later than normal, to WRITE. To make a long story somewhat shorter, I ended up making about $50 yesterday (and washing ten tons of blankets) and did hardly any writing except a review and a chapter swap with my alpha reader. Today, my goal is to make $18 by grabbing little jobs here and there throughout the day, as tonight we have to head out to Sam's Club when Hubby comes home. If I can get that done, Friday will be all mine for writing, organizing this office, NaNo Prep, and perhaps a couple chores I haven't gotten around to doing this week. *sighs* I don't know what it is about the prospect of not having to freelance, but it does my heart good. Hence, freelancing most of the day on Wednesday was worth it to me. Good jobs were coming in, I was kept busy, and I didn't feel like it took me 10 YEARS to make a decent amount of money like it normally does. Wednesdays are peak days on my site, so I may continue that trend next week to lighten my load the rest of the week. I'd love to eventually take Mondays AND Fridays off, perhaps making a quota of $50 on Wednesdays and $25 on Tuesday and Thursday. Can you say 4-day weekend??? Every week!!! How awesome would that be? There'll be some weeks (week after next being a notable example) where that won't quite work. Sometimes we go out of town for Holy Mass on Holy Days of Obligation, one of which is Tuesday, November 1. Meaning I'll need to take THAT day off instead of Friday. Or work Tuesday's shift of $25 on Monday. Then come back on Wednesday, blast out $50, and make $25 on Thursday. That won't mess things up too badly and I can still take Friday off if I want to. Oh my gosh. Okay. I've written you guys a novel and I apologize. Speaking of novels, I'm definitely thinking of posting my NaNo Novel chapters up here. The story will sound familiar--it's based off of my ancient prologue, still in my portfolio: "Invalid Item"  . I'm so excited to share it with you guys! Anyway. Now that I've rambled to you all, I suppose I'll go check and see if there's any freelancing jobs.  How are you guys progressing with NaNoPrepMo? What about your writing in general? I'd love to hear from you in the comments! AlyCatAuthor |
| +J.M.J.+ +Happy Fatima Day!+ Publishing Update It's so weird to be able to give my post that headline. O.o Anyway, I just wanted to drop by and chat about what's been happening with Kingdom. I started my cover contest on Monday, and so far it's gotten 47 entries. I've only kept about 30 of those to actively look through and keep working with, but that's still a significant number of designs to work with. I've already got a couple of finalists in mind, who I'll choose at the end of this first round and continue to work with until I get a set of nearly-perfect covers. And then I'll have to choose one design. Which is where you guys might be able to help me. I'm thinking about posting a link to my poll in my notebook so you guys can help me if you decide to drop by and have a look. I'll be posting the same link to some writing groups on Facebook and to some friends and family, but the more the merrier. The draft is finished, as finished as it's going to get. Next week I anticipate starting the process of getting the text files formatted and making sure my covers are the proper size/format/color and can be uploaded and printed correctly. O.o So that will factor into my decision to choose a winner-- who understands these specifications and can make my covers meet the technical specs of each website I intend to upload to for distribution/printing. Good thing I have a coach walking me through all this, right?  It's just so insane that next month before the launch, I'll have held a copy of my book in my hands and have seen it the way my readers will. It's getting way too real, guys. I'm about to release my first brain-baby into the world, hopefully with an AMAZING cover I can be proud of and a pretty interior design for the chapters. Today I'm getting coaching on my back cover copy so I can revise it and upload it for the winning designer here in a few days. I'm so excited and so nervous and anxious. I just hope nothing will go wrong technically (although it inevitably does) and that things can go as smoothly as possible for this launch in December. How are you guys progressing in your writing goals? Any struggles or triumphs you want to share? Let me know in the comments! AlyCatAuthor |
| +J.M.J.+ Weekly Update Well, 'tis Friday, and I'm staring down the barrel of finishing up edits on my manuscript, drafting up some copy for the back cover and about page, and hopefully some other sorts of relaxing things to get recharged for next week! This week was my husband's fall break (he works as a substitute teacher) and so he's only been going to work in the evenings to his second job. Tonight is his closing shift so I'll be in bed before he gets home, but I plan on staying up a bit to finish up this manuscript and get everything ready for next week (and maybe organize this office that's gotten out of hand). I have some reviews in the wings also that need finishing, so I might work on some of those tonight if I have some time! And then tomorrow night, I want to start looking over my outlines for NaNo to see if anything needs to be worked on before November. I think my new writing schedule will really help things out, especially since my portion of the income has been able to go down considerably. I'm restricting myself to freelance work ONLY in the evenings, and using my mornings and afternoons during the school year ONLY for writing (and perhaps a couple loads of laundry lol). This is because I used to try to freelance some in the morning (because I wanted to just get it over with) and ended up wasting my whole morning just looking for jobs that weren't going to come in until later anyway. It divided my focus, made me waste precious writing time hitting 'refresh', and made me become more and more frustrated with the lack of work until I just didn’t have the drive to do much of anything. With the new schedule, I HAVE to focus on writing things at the beginning of the day to ensure that they get done. Each week, I'll come up with a list of things I'd like to get done writing-wise, and I'll see where I can fit them in each morning. This way I should get a solid 5 to 6 hours of focused, quality writing work in before I ever start my freelance "work" day. It also takes advantage of the time when I'm naturally most productive and creative, instead of relegating it to later at night when I'm already exhausted from getting up at 5:45 with my husband and just wanting to do something mindless and entertaining. Enter another resolution: I need to read more. Ever since leaving high school, my fun reading has been on a downward spiral. I have plenty of books to read--I just need to take the time to sit and read them. What better time than after my freelance work is done and I have a couple hours left until bedtime? I can relax with a cup of tea at the end of a productive day and read guilt-free, knowing my writing work was accomplished already. It'll be a nice reward to look forward to after the day’s work is done, and something to help wind me down to sleep so my husband and I can get into bed at a decent time. So I’m looking forward to that as well. Especially on Fridays, since Hubby doesn’t come home until 2 AM or later, I have PLENTY of time to dig into a good book (and maybe even finish it) before he comes home. All that to say that things are looking both busier and freer than they have in a while. I suppose being able to give more time to writing is what’s giving me this sense of freedom. I’m no longer tied down to a high weekly quota for freelancing, and I have designated times of the day to work on it, so I don’t have to feel guilty about leaving it for the end of the day anymore. I’m really looking forward to this new phase in my life (for as long as it lasts) and I’m grateful to have the support of my hard-working, hilarious and creative husband through all of it. We’ve made a lot of changes and sacrifices to get our situation to where it is now, with me working from home and not having to contribute very much to the family pot, and this was a desire on both of our parts. We’re grateful to God for giving us the means to be able to do this, and I intend on taking advantage of every spare moment to give my writing and my service and love of the craft to the world. What do you do to stay creative and refill your writing tank after a long day/week? How do you unwind creatively? Let me know in the comments; I’d love to hear your stories! AlyCatAuthor |
| +J.M.J.+ Editing Update So today is Friday, and also the last day of September! I've accomplished a lot this month, most importantly editing and adding in a couple new pieces that I think will really strengthen some minor character arcs in Kingdom. The next line item is to let it rest a while (meaning a day or 2), come back and do my final round of stylistic edits before spending all of next week compiling, proofreading and spellchecking the thing so I can call it clean. Then "Kingdom" will be officially FINISHED! I can't tell you how excited I am for it to be done, and also how much I'm going to miss working on it. I still have a long road to go with getting it ready for publication in December, but just having the manuscript itself DONE will be such a relief. In other news, I've decided to do NaNoWriMo this year for the first time ever, to celebrate finishing Kingdom and give myself something creative to do while dealing with all the marketing hullabaloo of launching a book. I think I'm going to be working on an updated version of my "Lion's Heart" piece, which is now tentatively called "Enough." It'll be a YA novel about overcoming self-harm and I think it'll be one of my most raw and realistic novels yet! I'm really excited to work on it, as I get to delve back into my high school days and also incorporate some personal experiences into the writing that I haven't otherwise been able to do. Stay tuned for chapters of that to start circulating as well! Hopefully next week I can start reviewing more frequently--I've been sadly absent from the site while editing and laundry have slowly taken over my life. It's been busy, and I know things will stay busy in different ways as the launch date for Kingdom approaches. But I've signed up for a winter writing activity here on WDC that will hopefully keep me churning out writing and keep my creativity flowing during the winter months after Kingdom's release! I'm excited about that because I'll probably get into other types of pieces that I would have never thought to write before. And you know what they say. Practice makes perfect! The more I write, the better I'll get.  So between NaNo, my ongoing projects, Kingdom's launch, and that activity, I'll be kept hopping! I'm loving every minute of it though (okay, not EVERY minute but you get the idea). I hope you guys are doing well in your projects and endeavors! Let me know how things are going in the comments-- I'd love to hear from you all and help encourage you in your writing! AlyCatAuthor |
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