Life in progress

Tag Archives: writing


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How Are Chickens Like Days Off?

I’m within an hour of the end of two days off. Yesterday I got a fair bit of work done on my manuscript – almost fifteen pages edited, which for me is flying through. I managed to take the evening off from everything and just watch an episode of “Breaking Bad.” I’ve only watched two so far – still wondering what all the hype’s about.

Then today I was woken up early with a phone call – Chris was sick at school and they couldn’t reach his dad. So I texted my ex, got up, delivered the papers, had a piece of toast and lay on the couch … and proceeded to sleep most of the day away. No editing accomplished.

How are chickens like days off?

Don’t count them before they’re hatched.

I need a week off.


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Of All the Things to Whine About

I’m content. Basically, I am happy with my life, and yes, I’m whining about it. Let me tell you why.

The tortured soul can write poems of epic proportions. In times of loneliness, of pain, of near breakdown, a writer can bleed upon the page. But when this writer has nothing to cause her grief, there is nothing but fluff. Lint, even.

Is it strange to wish I longed for something? To pass my finger quickly through a flame doesn’t hurt. But the flame sparkles, enticingly.

Shall I burn for the sake of my art?

flame


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Awareness

Child abuse is a subject that keeps coming up around me of late, and not only because I’ve recently re-released my semi-biographical story, “Boy Series – One through…” A few minutes ago a glimpsed on Facebook a photo which made me want to throw up. I refuse to describe it – it’s one of those things that once seen cannot be unseen, and I’m sure I will have nightmares because of it. It’s worse in my mind than anything I could have imagined by myself, and in many ways, so is my series.

I’ve made the decision for a few reasons, to reveal the man behind the story. It’s not a big secret, and I don’t claim to be the one-and-only person to know… but I think having all the information that I’ve researched in one place will make the true story that much more interesting. I’ve been working, therefore, to compile links to interviews and decide what of his work might be most relevant to the story of his life. Strangely, something he said in one of the interviews I read last night cemented the decision in my mind to do this – it was almost as though I received a sign to say that it’s okay to go ahead.

The excerpt from the interview spoke of a song that he wrote about the tragedy of war. He has written several. He said that, (paraphrased) although there is little we can do about it, just spreading awareness that it exists and what it is like for those who are a part of it, whether it is their own decision to be or not, might cause someone to act differently.

And so I believe it is the same for my story of abuse. The more we are aware that it happens, even in our own neighbourhoods, the more we may look for the signs. Though we may not be able to help all of the children everywhere who suffer, if we can be kind to a child who we think may be abused, it might mean the world to that one child.

To Nav, John, Willow, and to all the people who had a hard time reading my series, I thank you for your perseverance. It was as heartbreaking to write as it is to read, just as it was for me to hear of it originally. I hope you’ll all stick around to learn the truth; to see that the man who was the boy has done well for himself despite the odds, even though he still bears the scars of his own, wretched war.


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Missing the Magical Switch

Greater, more successful writers than myself (not a stretch) state that in order to be a writer one must dedicate one’s effort into writing: a writer must write. Here lies my conundrum.

I have no qualms over calling myself a writer. It’s what I do constantly – if I’m not physically typing on a keyboard or writing little notes, I’m composing something in my head with hopes that I’ll remember it.

But being a single mom, 80% responsible for two kids (meaning that I get to sleep 15% of the time and the other 5% is when their dad takes care of them) and having to be always within calling distance of my own mother, I don’t have time to write. What might take me three months more of full-time editing on my novel to render it publishable is, at the rate I’m going, bound to take me three years. Frustrated doesn’t begin to describe it.

I imagine there is, somewhere in the universe, a switch that can be flicked which could cause me to be able to stop merely calling myself a writer and become one. I realize that I cannot expect to ever take on a full-time job; my life is with my children, and taking care of them is apparently my job and mine alone. Would I want it any other way? Absolutely not.

Yet writing is also my life. I don’t live for my children – anyone who says they do, in my opinion, is in for a huge let-down when their kids leave home for good. I live for myself and I am a writer. I have a story that I feel needs to be told, of a world where I hope one day people will be able to escape, as I have. It’s inside me, it’s on my screen and it’s on paper, and all it wants is to be polished to a bright, shiny tale that many will love.

If only the magical switch to make it all come true wasn’t so far out of my reach.


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Stream of Consciousness Saturday Fe15/14

Whilst searching for inspiration for this post today I decided to check out Freshly Pressed. I thought, before opening the page that I would write about the first tag that came up. Surely I have an opinion on just about any subject there could possibly be to write about, don’t I?

The first tag was “Books.” What a broad subject, eh?

I could write about the state of out-of-date textbooks in schools, or the price of the one I had to buy (used) when I took my short story course. It was the size of something I wouldn’t pay more than $20 for in a book store, and yet it cost me almost $100 because it was compiled by a bunch of professors.

I’ve written a few times on the importance of editing work in these days of anyone being able to become a published author, and I’ve written about books I’ve liked and not. Right now I’m reading A Casual Vacancy by J.K. Rowling and, while it was a bit difficult to get into because of the sheer number of characters, I’m about half-way through and enjoying it. It took me a good 33% of the book to retain the information that went with all the characters’ names, however.

You know what I hate? Not being able to put a page number on anything anymore. It’s all percentages when you’re reading an e-book. I think that’s what I miss most about reading a physical book. Knowing where the bookmark goes without a digital device advising me.

So that’s my stream of consciousness post for this week. My experience with books of late. Why do I have to put everything in a box? I blame it on WordPress and the damned tags. 😛


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Newspapers Hire Editors

Apparently the editors at the newspaper I deliver have a head-start on the holiday. They’re already drunk.

drunk editors

(click to enlarge)

 

P.S. Family Day is Monday February 17th.


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Adventures on My Paper Route – Strange Formations and a Pretty Bird

Brave, hardy birds, cardinals are. Today was cold and crisp – a pleasant 9 degrees C, (16 degrees F). I heard him singing first – they have a very distinctive song.

cardinal2

But the thing which has puzzled me for the past few weeks is this odd way the icicles have been forming… or leaning after they’ve formed. It seems they only do this if they begin above a window, so the only reason I can fathom is it has something to do with the heat from inside.

lean2

lean

The first is an east-facing wall, and the second is a north-facing wall, so the sun has nothing to do with it.

Any ideas?


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Seriously, I’m an Author in Real Life

There are reasons why unpublished authors don’t walk around telling people they’re writing a novel. First and foremost is the puzzled, glazed-over expression that immediately comes over the other person’s face, as they think to themselves, What kind of a flake am I talking to? Then quickly on the heels of that comes the hasty change-of-subject or the hands-behind-the-back stroll-away as they whistle and hope the author doesn’t follow them all the way home.

But it comes to something when an novelist’s family members don’t even take him/her seriously.

Are you a novelist? Do you ever hear your significant other say, over the phone, thinking you’re not listening, “Oh yeah, it’s just a hobby,” regarding your writing? Does the person supposedly looking after your kids allow them to come and ask you questions while you’re trying to work? Do people wander in to ask you if you’d like coffee while you’re trying to write?

It’s said that marketing a book is harder than writing, but on some days I seriously wonder. It takes a great deal of concentration to write something as complicated as a novel. There are many things to keep track of, characters to write and to get into, believe it or not. Getting into a character’s head so that his or her voice comes through well takes time.

So if you walk in on a working author to ask if he/she wants a cup of coffee (the answer is no) and he/she turns to you slowly and asks you in return if you’d care to have your fingernails removed with a screwdriver, chances are the author is in the middle of a torture scene and it has nothing to do with you. Still, back away with your hands behind your back and try to remember next time, IT’S NOT JUST A HOBBY!

I’M AN AUTHOR – IN REAL LIFE!

End rant.


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Made You Look!

Now that I have your attention, let’s conduct an experiment together!

Since I wrote my last article on how to get and keep followers on WordPress, I’ve been thinking a lot about what really gets a reader’s attention. Part of my musings are in light of a comment I received that many blogs attract their audience by being “acerbic, critical, cynical,” (thank you bethbyrnes) but I think that’s really only the half of it. Opinionated Man, for example, gets his following from not only writing excellent, easy to read posts, but he keeps his following by being friendly and generous with his advice. Despite what he might say about not expecting anyone to re-visit his sites here and at HarsH ReaLiTy, we do.

But what really grabs people’s attention in the first place? A little of it is site design (and that can work both ways – I rarely stay on a page that takes more than twenty seconds to load) but most of it is what immediately stands out – the post title and opening lines. Those are what people see in their reader, after all.

What sort of content attracts us? Certainly something that promises to be helpful. But human nature dictates most of what we will click on. These are the three things I narrowed it down to:

Kittens, car crashes, and nudity.

Sex has been used in advertising for around a century, according to Wikipedia. It’s almost everywhere, whether overt or subliminal. From experience I can say that erotica gets noticed.

Car crashes: rubbernecking is the number one reason for slow-downs on the highway. In the blogging world I would equate an auto accident to just about any sort of bad news that makes me think to myself, “It could happen to anyone, and that’s a scary thing,” or “I’d never do that! What were they thinking?!?” If you’re into that sort of thing–talking about the news, or just relating a story about what happened to yourself or someone you know (which is something I often do)–then you’ll probably find you received a fair bit of attention for it.

Kittens, as well as puppies and bunnies of course, are what the internet was made for, wasn’t it? 😉

I’m sure there are many more examples of things which gain plenty of attention: giveaways and contests; awards; rants; articles that deliberately make people angry or raise their eyebrows … care to add to the list?

Here’s your part in the experiment: I want you (yes, I’m looking at you) to write below in the comments, the title of your most popular post other than your about page. What was your opening sentence? Heck, go ahead and post a link to it. Let’s see what really gets the most attention, shall we?

This might be something we can all learn from! 😀

Originally posted at A Good Blog Is Hard To Find Apologies if this is a repeat post.


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The Scorecard on my Life for the Past Week

Snow – 1, BBQ – 0

Family members alive – 5, Novels edited – 0

Hairs left attached to my scalp – 100,000, Hairs in my shower drain – 99,999

Hours of sleep – 35, Brain cells remaining – 2

Icicles – 100, Buckets full of water inside the house from ice melting on the roof 20

Bottles of wine consumed – 3, Contentedness quotient – 3

Blog posts conceptualized – 21, Blog posts posted – 7

Hours worked – 133, Earnings – 0

Family members alive – 5, Laughs – countless

In all I’d say I’m doing okay.