Thanksgiving

It's that time of year again, where amazing food and the people you love come together for a memorable day. Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays because it's about spending time with the people you love and giving thanks for the blessings you have in your life, both big and small. I have a lot of things to be thankful in my life right now.

This is the first year where I am responsible for the Thanksgiving meal. My kitchen is small as is my dinner table but it will work out somehow. I'm particularly excited about the turkey that's currently roasting in the oven. I decided to go bold and tried for a whiskey, maple brine that I got out of a magazine. It'll either be amazingly delicious or frighteningly horrible. That's what's so fun about cooking for me. The adventure. You never know if the end product is going to turn into something that will make your taste buds scream in delight or if it's going to be an epic fail your family will be ribbing you about ten years from now.

Along with the turkey, I am doing mashed potatoes, another thing I don't have a lot of experience cooking, corn bread spoon bread, roasted mushrooms and pumpkin pie. All of my favorites.

Now I think I will stop typing and get back to cooking! Hope everyone has a memorable Thanksgiving.

When your brain doesn't want to work

Writing can be hard. It often feels like an uphill climb on a never ending mountain. Today, I'm reminded of just how hard it can be. I've stared blankly at my computer screen for the past half hour, willing my brain to churn out something, anything and haven't written a single word yet. At times like these, I'm stuck asking questions like 'Do I give up and hope it comes tomorrow or do I push on and force the issue?' My writing goal was high today as it's a Saturday. I even cleaned part of my house yesterday and dodged plans with a friend so I could concentrate on writing. I don't want to walk away from my desk with nothing to show for it.

I've learned over the past few book that a large part of writing is discipline. It's pushing through the initial brain soup and persevering on yourself. If I waited for inspiration, I'd still be working on my first book. There are times, though, that it doesn't matter how I push and pull on my imagination, nothing comes. I really hope today isn't one of those times.

Sometimes I can jump start my brain by distracting it with social media, goodreads or checking out other author blogs. Sometimes the process of brewing loose leaf tea with its precise measurements and methodical preparation relaxes my brain enough that the words inside can escape. Also, I just like using my really pretty cast iron tea pot. Other times, I switch my writing hats and work on something writing related (like this blog) before going back to the book.

Hopefully, complaining on here will have gotten the gears turning so I can achieve some progress today. Wish me luck.

So excited for December

I've already got my tickets to see Star Wars: The Force Awakens on Dec. 18. As you can guess, I'm pretty excited about this. It's the first time I've actually bought tickets in advance of a movie. Usually, I just show up on opening night and hope for the best. That's how I did it for all of the Lord of the Rings, Harry Potters and any other popular franchises.

I saw the original trilogy when I was on summer break in high school. My dad knew I loved Sci Fi so after I worked my way through the Aliens movies, he talked me into borrowing the three Star Wars movies from the library. They were amazing and totally opened my eyes to a whole new universe. I have to admit that I never cared for the prequels and didn't come even close to this level of excitement when they first came out. Some of that is because I don't really care for prequels that I already know the ending for. The other reason is that J.J. Abrams is directing the new trilogy and I love what he did with the most recent Star Trek movies. He's a very talent director and I am waiting with baited breath to see what he does with the Star Wars universe.

The only bad thing about this is I still have nearly a month and a half before the movie comes out. Ah well, patience is a virtue.

Ghost, Goblins and Witchs

It's that time of year again. Halloween. Where you get to dress up and pretend to be any sort of creature or thing you want. The more creative the better. I think that's why I like this holiday so much. It's such a rich holiday for the imagination whether that be creating a costume or decorating your home. That's why, for the second year in a row, I'm throwing a Halloween party.

My slight obsession with Pinterest has come in handy lately as I've managed to source a lot of great ideas for do it yourself decorations. It's also where I'm getting all the ideas for spooktacular recipes. Since I'm not made of money, I thought I'd think outside of the box and try to create several things from relatively inexpensive materials.

The below were created with construction paper and a stencil I created by printing the outline of a bat off my computer.

Poster paper and tracing my hands.

And the last image - streamers, poster board and tape.

I don't know why but it gives me an awesome feeling seeing the things I created out of such simple materials. Maybe it's because I've never considered myself particularly crafty. I'm excited for the party and hope everyone has a happy and safe Halloween!

Back In the Writing Seat!

I know I've been out of touch for the past year or so on this blog. Oh wow, just checked and it's been over two years. Way longer than I thought. How time flies when you're busy working, writing, and living. My only defense is I've been hard at work at what matters. Writing.

In that time I've managed to finish the project I was working on, edit it, and start querying potential literary agents. I've recently started a new book and have made decent headway in the narrative. My goal is to finish the rough draft by the end of this year. Don't know if I will make it but need to challenge myself. I'll never get all of the ideas cluttering my head space down on paper if I don't start writing faster.

Right now my progress feels strong and I'm getting word count most days but the real test comes when I get to the middle section of the book. That seems to be where I usually get bogged down. This time I have a new plan of attack and have created an extensive outline that should help me find my way again.

Wish me luck and stay tuned. Below is a video I found that made me laugh. Enjoy!

Back in the Groove

1265 words today! I know it doesn't seem like a lot, especially considering not too long ago I was doing close to 2000, but I've been a bit stuck. I'm hoping this means I've unblocked whatever plot point has been tripping me up.

Some of that writer's block has been me just being plain lazy, but some is an honest problem in the structure of the story. That problem has made itself more and more clear the as this story draws to an end. I had hoped to just finish the ending and then go back and catch the issue in edits. Unfortunately for me, my subconscious refused to move the story forward until I had addressed my problem in some way. (It's difficult to be so close to the end that you can almost taste it and then be utterly unable to reach it.)

This meant writing a short scene earlier in the book that in no way fully takes care of what was wrong, but it at least gives me a place to start when I do the rewrite. It looks like that little band aid actually worked too as this was the first time I've come even close to achieving word count in weeks.

This next week will be key in determining whether I can keep this forward momentum going. Wish me luck!

For my fellow writers out there, or anybody who has faced getting stuck on a project, what do you do to get yourself back in the groove of things?

Oops, I went on hiatus

So, I now understand why they say balancing your work and writing life can be difficult. Between starting a new job and buying my first home, it has been difficult to carve out time to get a few words on paper every night. As a result it has been awhile since my last update to both the blog and the book.

Hopefully, now that I'm settled I will start getting back to my normal routine.

As an apology here is a brief excerpt. Enjoy.

Note this hasn't been through final edits so is subject to change and grammar errors :)

For a long moment Shea thought Witt and Dane had abandoned her. Left her to face the mob on her own. Her eyes lifted briefly to her goal, the platform, and were caught by the fierce whiskey colored gaze of the stranger.

She was caught by the arm and spun around, breaking the moment. Her eyes were wide with fear as the man who’d yanked her around raised one heavy fist, his face a mask of hatred. This was it. She was dead.

The ground shook slightly under her feet. At first she thought it was a tremor in the earth, like the small quakes that occasionally plagued the area. Then a scream rent the air.

“Stampede!”