Category: Thoughts on Writing

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nebulous nebulas and other space oddities…

I’m not going to lie, this new job is killing me.  I haven’t written more than a few words (of course, not on any of the things I have been writing, no, Brain decided that we needed more sci-fi in our writing and has offered me space!vampire!pirates…I don’t know sometimes…) and my stress level is mighty.

Still, I have a week’s vacation looming, it’s starting to feel like fall, and this time next week I’ll be somewhere in LA.  Our Wednesday isn’t fully decided, but Tuesday we’ll be at Universal Studios Hollywood, and Thursday and Friday we’ll be at Disney.  This is the second year in a row that I’ll be at a Disney property for/around my birthday.  A year ago today, I was on a plane for Paris.

I do love to travel and I am very fortunate to make enough money to support it.  I wish that money was coming from book sales, but I’ll get there one day.  In the meantime, I’ll just write when I can and keep plugging along.

I really should get to the day-job work.  I have my coffee, I’ve had breakfast, and once I get through today, it’s only two more until vacation.  Happy Wednesday, Readers.  I hope it is kind and filled with love.

 

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axes with friends

Last weekend I was in Austin celebrating a friend’s birthday, and getting to see a cousin I haven’t seen since we graduated high school together.  It was a fabulous long weekend that started on Wednesday.

The mini-vacation included getting to hang in the pool and spend lots of hours catching up with my cousin and her daughter, then music and dinner on Lady Bird lake, Rocky Horror Picture Show with friends, a buffet breakfast, ax throwing craziness (which I did not expect to enjoy as much as I did), dinner and beer at the Family Business Brewing Company, followed by more beer and a concert.

Every time I get to do one of these weekends, I’m reminded why I’m willing to spend the money to do it.  Austin is a beautiful city and I’ve met some awesome people.  And our host’s reaction to my new appearance, after not seeing me in 3 years, was worth every penny too!

I came home to an extra week off before I start my new job on Monday, which has meant that I got a good amount of writing time this week and that has felt really good.  I’m hoping that I can continue getting at least 500 words a day, even as I start my new job, which I am admittedly both nervous and excited for.

It’s a whole new industry for me, and the learning curve is going to be steep.

But hey, we all know I love a challenge!

Well, Readers, the coffee is hot (DeathWish Valhalla Java this morning) and I need to get some words flowing.  I hope to get back to a regular cadence of posting here now that I will be settling in to a new routine.

 

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getting girly

I am, most definitively, a woman.  I have never been a “girly” woman.  The most girly I get is the treat of having someone else color my hair for me, and even then, I have a pretty straightforward cut that is easy to style (or not) to keep it all pretty low maintenance.

I am, however, getting ready to go on vacation, and I was suddenly struck with a deep desire to have my nails done, so yesterday after the gym, I stopped into a nail salon and had a mani/pedi and got my face de-haired.  I originally just asked for my eyebrows, but then decided to let her do my upper and lower lip, chin and cheeks.  Ever since I started using the Nuva ring to help control my out of control menstrual cycle, my facial hair has gone bonkers.

It’s been ages since I did any of that.  Add in the massage chair during the pedicure, and I was feeling pretty pampered.  And today I have an appointment with my amazing hair stylist who is going to re-green my hair for me.

I’m feeling downright girly!

Since today is Saturday, there’s been quite a bit of writing as well, with my focus once more on the Daughters of Morru book.  Toss in some coffee and clothing I haven’t been able to wear in years?  Yeah, it’s a good day.

How about you, Readers?  What’s on your agenda for this final weekend in July?

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combat boots and tutus

It’s little secret that my muse, whom I lovingly call Brain, has been out on walkabout since I lost my job.  Between the stress of job hunting and the stress of Pride, she couldn’t handle the pressure and took off.  It happens.  Muses are fragile creatures, after all.

There have been signs of her return, however.  A small plot fix here, a bit of dialog there.  Then there came the deluge.

It was yesterday, when I was meant to be working on an edit, and suddenly there was Brain, rattling off ideas at a hundred miles per hour, scribbling notes and shoving them at me, stamping her combat booted feet to get my attention.

It would be nice if she could focus on the stories we already have in progress, but I’ll take words of any sort after this drought.  She seems to have picked up a half an idea for a story that we started ages ago and has been busily world-building around the idea since her return.  I have about a thousand words hastily written to try to contain it.

Meanwhile, Brain is dancing through my brain in her combat boots and purple tutu, swinging her strand of cheap psuedo-pearls, painting word pictures for me to capture and put on paper.

It’s good to have her home.  And yes, I realize I am a little bit on the crazy side of normal.

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the one with a migraine

Yesterday was not a good day.  I was feeling all over aches, bloating, nausea, stiffness in my back….just yuck.  As the day went on, I developed a headache and then, shortly after I had a little dinner, I threw up everything my tiny stomach could possibly hold.

I went to bed knowing that I would wake up with a migraine, and sure enough I did.  I have medicated and had some coffee and it’s dialed back a bit, but my stomach is still not very happy with me and I don’t dare venture out into the sun or head to the gym.

That means keeping myself in my nice dark office to get some work and some writing done.  I’m enjoying this part time work lifestyle, even if it means I don’t have quite as much money.

It also means I have time in my schedule for more freelance work, so if you’re looking for a writer or an editor, hit me up.  I’ll give you a good deal.

 

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a return to “normal”

Here we are on the other side of Pride month.  My work on the anthology is complete and turned in, I have only a small amount of Pride paperwork to finish, the new job is starting to settle in.

That must mean it’s time to get my “normal” life back, right? For some value of normal anyway.  My current schedule is still a bit all over the place, in part due to the holiday this week and trying to sort out the best way to work my twenty hours at the job while also getting other stuff done.

I’m hoping this will also encourage my muse to return.  She’s been AWOL pretty much since I got laid off.  But, I got a glimmer of plot resolution the other day while I was crocheting and if I finish up my work early enough today, that should mean I could dust off that story file and make some words happen.

Exciting, I know!

For now though, I have a few hours to finish for the week and a project that needs doing, with a stiff deadline, so, I’m off to deal with that.

Hope y’all had a great week, Readers, and that this coming week is fabulous!

 

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stress is the muse killer

There is no denying that I am super stressed out about finding a job, and that stress has sent my muse packing on what I am hoping is just a quick get-away to someplace nice and warm.  Otherwise, she’s just running from the stress, and who knows when she’ll be back?

The truth is, everything I’ve written in the last two weeks has been forced and stilted and just straight up bad.  I even tried working on new short stories in the hopes that it would kick me out of the funk.

No luck.

I have an editing job to do, and the promise of a few more on the horizon, I have posted on fiverr.com to try to bring in some more work, and even on Craig’s List.  So far no bites.  I may have a one to two month contract job, which I should know about this coming week, and I have been requested to interview at a company in Oakland this coming week as well, though I don’t have a date and time yet.

In the meantime, I am working on keeping myself busy and with Pride just around the corner, that isn’t really too hard.  Maybe I need some inspiration.  I have tomorrow set aside as a day to write…maybe I’ll pull something out of the partially written ideas file and try something new…or maybe try something completely out of the norm for me.

At any rate, it’s Saturday, so whatever you’re up to today, Readers, I hope it’s a good one!

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the politics of an angry female

I got an email earlier this week from someone who advised me that as an author who wants to “make it big” in the world of books, particularly as a woman, I needed to take the politics out of my books and focus on writing better.

This gentleman told me he had read the Shades and Shadows series and thought it would have been improved by not making the politics so pointedly directed at the darker “underbelly” of the USA.  He told me it was “unseemly” for a woman to display her anger so prominently in her work, and that I should “dial it back” and “focus on the actual plot” which he apparently thought had nothing to do with the politics.

He told me he didn’t mind the prominence of a homosexual relationship, though he thought that too should be “dialed back” and not so “in the face” of the Reader.  He said I should remove all references to Muslims because it was too controversial to say that discrimination against them was wrong.

He closed the letter with what I suppose was meant to be encouragement for me, telling me that I was a “fairly good writer” who could do well as an author, provided I stopped showcasing the “politics of an angry female” and embraced the softer, more accepted kinds of stories written by women, you know, the kind with no politics and no bad words and filled with plots driven by men and the women who need men.

I haven’t responded to this email.  In fact, I nearly deleted it out of hand.  In this political climate here in the United States, how are women not angry?  For centuries, we have been silent bystanders, watching the politics of old men regulate our rights, our bodies, our place in society and allowing ourselves to be marginalized out of jobs, out of careers.  But the world has changed and we have found our voice, we’ve come out of hiding.  We’ve shaken off the dust and stepped out onto the stage.

And yes, we’re angry.  And yes, we’re political.  It isn’t going to change anytime soon.  So, if you’re reading this, Sir of the Email, sorry you aren’t happy with my politics.  I probably wouldn’t be happy with yours either.  Sorry, not sorry.

Happy Wednesday, Readers!  I’m off to poke some more job sites in hope of finding a new job sooner, rather than later.

 

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words, words and more words

I’ve written a lot of words this week, though almost none of them have been on any of my current writing projects.  No, I’ve written exercises for job interviews and I’ve written thank you emails.  I’ve written instructions for Pride training sessions and I’ve written a lot of emails to do with Pride or job hunting.

I’m hoping today I get to focus a little on one of the novels currently in progress, or maybe the short story I started last week.  I have lots of ideas for fleshing out characters that are currently sort of cardboard cut outs waiting to be dressed in backstory.  The book I’m furthest along with needs some work on the culture and religions of the world, and some dressing up in the descriptions of people, places and things.

The short story I started is tentatively titled “The Accidental Assassin” and begins with a young woman killing a man who attacked her.  Ultimately it’s the story of a woman refusing to be a victim and embracing what she is good at, even if that puts her on the outer fringes of society.

So I’m dedicating this weekend to words.  All the words.  Words all over the place.

Hopefully before the weekend is over I’ll have actually accomplished making some of them good.

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so many irons in the fire

This time of year is my busy season.  Being out of work hasn’t eased any of it, in fact, in a lot of ways it’s made it harder, busier.  Looking for work is a full time job, as they say.  Add in the work I do for SF Pride, and some freelance editing, not to mention my own writing and you get one busy little author!

I have an interview today for a job I’d really like to get at a company in San Francisco that is working to change the landscape of finance for those who are un-banked or under-banked.  It’s a wonderful combination of work that I love and a cause I can get behind.

Yesterday, I spent most of my day working on Pride stuff…paperwork that all needs updating to 2019, contracts and acceptance letters…all kinds of fun stuff, then I cut out about two hours of my afternoon to read, an indulgence to be sure.

I recently won a leather bound edition of The Song of Ice and Fire, and have paused in my Sirens reading to start reading these.  I’m not quite two thirds of the way through the first book.  I’m interested to find how the books differ from the TV show.

I’m up early this morning, and hope to work on a short story that I’m writing before I have to start getting ready for the interview.  It’s a sci-fi piece about a girl who accidentally becomes an assassin, first out of necessity, but then discovering that she is good at it.

Right then, I should get to those words, and my coffee while it’s still hot.

 

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