Oh, the Early Work...

So lately, I've been going through some of my boxes.  Yep the ones left in my parent's attic for eight years.  And you'll never believe what I found.  Who remembered I seriously have been writing my entire life...?  Uh, not me.  I found a huge box full of journals and journals of stuff.  Diaries and stories and strange artwork.  Some from school...but a lot from I'm-a-nerdsville. 

And here is the sampling *cringe*:

1st grade:  

(This isn't so bad because it's still in the ugly-cute realm)

Apparently my teacher really liked us to make books, she typed them up for us and laminated them.  I wowed the first grade with books entitled: 

The Many Ghosts

 I Definitely Say Monsters Should Not Wear Clothes

I Like My Friends

I Like Christmas Trees

 The Ponies 

On the Night of the Blizzard

I especially liked this one, because no where in the story is there a blizzard--here is the full text:

Henry wanted to explore the mountains. He got out of his bed and made his bed. Henry got red paint and a bunch of stuff.  He got yellow paper.  He got a lot.  He told his mom that he was exploring. He walked outside.  He walked far away.  He made so many discoveries.  He explored lots of things.  He ate his lunch.  He found a lot of things.  He found a bear cave.  His mom got worried about him.  He sent out searchers.  They found his trail.  Henry found his trail.  It lead them right to the door.  

I know brilliant, right?

Another gem I found was a story I wrote in eighth grade from a boy's perspective...of course it was from the perspective of my current obsession...I mean crush.  And it was all about how amazing he thought I was...yeah that was special.  Of course I changed the names to protect the innocent.

Here's some awesome dialogue:

"Okay.  I feel stupid.  Anyway, I asked her if she would go with me to the dance before school was out because we were both in the office and the secretaries were all running around in different rooms.  She said...'No I don't think that would be possible.' It just so happened that someone forgot to turn off the intercom and the whole school heard." I said.

"I must have been in the bathroom getting paper towels for Bobbie's coke," Jennifer said.

And then in high school I moved on to the angsty poetry: 

Will I ever see you again?

I know it sounds lame,

but can we still be friends?   

A kiss on the cheek

with a tear in my eye

You're here less than a week

now I have to say goodbye.

Poetry has never been my strong suit. My high school self just got really offended that I posted that...

but I'm not backing down.  EAT THAT HIGH SCHOOL SELF AND ALL YOUR UNREQUITED LOVE!

THE END

How do you feel when you write those words?  The end.

Okay, so maybe I didn't actually write them at the end of Parasite's, but I "finished".
I'm hoping I'll feel like celebrating later, but right now I've come to the conclusion that I have to clean up a whole lotta word vomit.

50,297 to be exact.  A whole lot higher than the 35,000 goal--but what's funny is I feel like I need to flesh out a  lot--cardboard characters, scenes, pacing, the last few chapters are pretty rushed.  And then I need to take the machete and hack it to bits and get rid of all the extra words.  I guess I don't feel like partying because I HAVE SO MUCH WORK TO DO.

What I am going to do this time--I'm going to let it sit for 3 weeks like a good little writer.  Because, confession, I actually started going back and editing while I was still working on the thing, and I realize that was dumb because I need to do all my big picture first and how can you do big picture unless you have the whole thing written... but I get so dang anxious for feedback and then I don't feel like I can send it out unless I tweak it and it just goes down hill from there.

My plan for those three weeks is to pump up my word count for my other project--ya know the whole co-authored thing.  So goodbye Parasites until November 2.

Phew.  That made me smile a little.  Maybe I can celebrate--and what am I thinking? I need a new broach for the broach purse.

(Um, and side note... I'm kinda scared to tell my husband because then the WHEN ARE YOU GOING TO SEND IT IN? Questions are going to start back up...little does he realize this thing needs at least 5 more drafts before it goes anywhere.  Anyone else have relatives who can't understand why you haven't been published yet?)

And since I neglected the 31 days of Halloween for so long (because I was so busy word spewing...) here are some more awesome Halloween costumes for your viewing pleasure.

I would be the center witch.  

Bucket head. Woot.

My husband was like, 'What? You were a nun for Halloween?' Uh, no I wasn't--that was for Sound of Music, and technically it's just a dress up picture.

This is obviously a Christmas pic, but is that Santa massively creepy or what?

*Shivers*  

Getting rid of writer's bum

Phew, so I'm know the size of my rump isn't completely attributed to writing, but every time I sit down at the computer (okay maybe not every time) I think about how sedentary this hobby of mine is...which is why it is good to have other hobbies.

I got on the scale this morning (which doesn't always make me happy,but today it did) I have eight pounds to go before I'm at my pre-baby weight.  Huzzah!  That calls for an ice cream sundae! jk.

Anywho, my success is attributed to the two things above--and the pulling out of the double stroller.

Man, the 30-day shred (maybe if you were in shape already you'd scoff at this) holy crap for one who was looking to get back in shape, this kicks my writers bum.  The best part about it, the workout is only 20 minutes, which means I don't really have an excuse not to do it.

The Good Mood Food diet (which I tweak because I am nursing my kiddo) is awesome.  It's all about what to eat.  Which is good because when I have a list of things I shouldn't eat, all I do is eat them.  I don't follow it perfectly, but I've been eating way more vegetables consistently than I have my whole life, and I like vegetables--so that's saying something.  

My double jogger--I found this puppy at a consignment shop before my second kiddo was even a twinkle in my eye, because it was $60 and they can run hundreds of dollars.  The Bob double jogger is $500 bucks. Ouch.  Anyway we've been going on walks after dinner, and it is so nice--hopefully the weather will stay good for a while.

  Okay, guilty, this wasn't Halloween either, it was however a dress up day at school, and I was so exceedingly nerdy I took every opportunity to not be myself.  :) I got over that.  Although I still love dressing up.  

Ghost of Halloweens past

Wow.  Yes, I am the kid with the dreads.  I'm  not really sure what I was going for here.

  

Day 2

So the following isn't a Halloween pic, but it's kind of scary that Mom let me run around the backyard like this... and what's weirder is I have no idea who the kid next to me is...probably one of the neighborhood crowd that hung out with my older brother, that or some lost jungle boy who popped out of the bushes.   

This was my room last night. One box down... three more to go.  

(I knocked three out pretty easily at my parents house, now I have the hard ones left.) 

I found this gem while sorting:

My best friend wrote that in the 9th grade, in response to something I must have slid across her desk.  I laughed out loud at that one, seeing as I became a Spanish teacher.  

Would you change anything?

I'm a future person.  I don't really enjoy the past, or at least I thought I didn't.  Let me clarify--I love history and all things old, but my own history and memories--I don't relive/revisit them.  When I move on, I move on.  Period.  I never visited old teachers, and when I left for college, I didn't keep in touch with my friends back home.  I made new ones who I didn't keep in touch with when I left again.  I don't visit old jobs, I don't like seeing people in Walmart I haven't seen in forever.  I like keeping people in these little boxes in my mind, where they stay in the time they should.  When I've completed a chapter in my life--I shelf it and don't look back.

Do I think this is a good thing? Not really.  
Did I have some horrific childhood/teen/young adulthood?  Nope.
So what's my problem?  I have no idea, other than I love reaching forward and trying to figure out what I'm going to do next.
Do I want to be stuck in the past?  Not at all, but remembering, cherishing, learning from it--that would be a good thing.  

I just pulled out the boxes I'd left in my parents attic eight years ago--when I moved out and went to college.  Basically my childhood in seven boxes.  I'm still sorting through everything deciding what's worth hanging on to.

And I realized I'd forgotten.  So much.  So many friends, so many memories.
As I showed some of my high school pictures to my mom, she asked me: Would you change anything if you could do it all again?

And honestly no I wouldn't, except one thing.

I'd appreciate it more.        

When I got home with the boxes, and I had to rush around putting the baby to bed and getting big girl a snack and doing all the 'mom' things.  It hit me.  I need to appreciate it now, because this will be gone just as fast.

That is one gift writing has given me.  I'm starting to remember.  High school and middle school and growing up and how hard it all is, and yet how carefree.  All these pictures and memories are a boatload of inspiration I'm so grateful to have.

I have to say that there is hope for me yet.  I had one of the best friends I've ever had move away in June.  I know it's only September, but we call each other about once a week.  This is the longest I've ever really kept in touch with someone (I don't count facebook...) so wish me luck. :)

P.S. In honor of reliving memories...I'm going to post a picture each day this month.  31 days of Halloween.

coauthoring a book...

It's half the work and double the work at the same time.
Brainstorming is fun with multiple minds.
The story takes on it's on life...really.
It's way exciting to get an email with a scene in it for the book and inspires you to write one back to send.
I don't think I could coauthor a book with someone who wasn't related, because the inside jokes from growing up are hilarious.

So far that's what I've learned in the week I've been coauthoring a book with my older brother--aka not the one in my vlogs...

I'm excited to see what next week will bring.

Anyone ever tried or thought about coauthoring a book?        

Awards...

So I've been neglecting some awards for awhile...



The versatile one I got from Jeigh and then because I neglected to post it forever, I got another from J.

Haha...Jeigh and J...okay moving on.

I really have no idea, because I'm being lazy, but I think you are supposed to write stuff about yourself and then keep giving it away... here goes.

1. Dark chocolate with Chile in it rocks my world:

You have to eat it with your eyes closed, while swaying.

2. I hate cooking, but love eating. I'm sure many of you have seen this floating around the internets:

STORY OF MY LIFE

3. I have a stick thing that glows, has a flashlight, and a rape whistle that I take running at night (and 99.9% of the time I go with other people)

Yes, you do want one.

4. I don't watch TV, except for the occasional movie with Hubby or five minutes of Go Diego Go

 

My daughter tells me I'm Alicia, she's always Diego, and little sis. is Baby Jaguar.  Then I proceed to throw stuffed animals across the kitchen while I do the dishes so she can "rescue" them.

  

5. I love the smell of limes.

Hmm-aww... (that was me sniffing) Limes.  

So yay and now for the winner of my triple combo award:

RAVEN BLACKMANE 

CHECK OUT HER NAILS--they are seriously awesome (and from the future), so get your bum over there and check out her blog (and the rest of her amazing nails, I'm so jealous).  

Talent

Musical talent is something I lack.  I've come to terms with this.

My little brother on the other hand, is a rock star.  Sometimes we just make him sit and play, the guitar or piano, as we shout out requests.  Here's one of his latest:  Meant to be Stolen 

Side note: my husband uploaded it from his phone, I don't know what is up with the tiny sliver of a screen...

And in other news, my older brother and I have decided to coauthor a book, should be interesting, we'll see how that goes.  I'm way excited.

Waxing Poetic

its days like these 

my heart hurts

when the stacks of bills

and the dishes

and the floors

and everything

clamors for my attention

and all i can think about  

is being carefree

feeling pretty

strumming a guitar

a trove of opportunities

at my fingertips

i swallow the lump in my throat

and realize this is my life now

this is what i want

as much as i miss my life before

on days like these

A chocolate cake kind of day

I had a really good day, there is no reason I should be feeling so...ugh...right now.  The problem is when I feel mopey, my sweet tooth kicks into high gear.
For example:
THIS is what I should be eating right now, or at least that's what my brain is telling me... YOU NEED CHOCOLATE CAKE, YOU NEEEEEED IT.

THIS is what I am eating right now... What is wrong with the world?


What do you crave when you need "comfort food"?

And if you don't crave anything, I might slap you.
(My husband doesn't eat when he's feeling down...if only that were my lot in life.)

Is today really Wednesday?

Wow.  Monday being Labor day really threw me off this week...

Here is part five of the Becoming a Better Writer w/o Writing Series.

It's about making goals and rewarding yourself for accomplishing them.  I'm happy to say this week has gone much better than last week as far as keeping things in balance.  No I haven't gotten as much writing done, but I've still been productive, met my goals, and haven't gone crazy, or run away--so things are good.

Here's the video:

YAY! and Spy

So I officially met my 35,000 word goal!  Huzzah!  I'm guessing I'll need another 10k to tie the loose ends together but I think that's okay, my drafts are a little heavy when I finish them and this will give me some room to cut things out.

My new goal for September is to finish writing this first draft and then as hard as it will be for me...I'm going to take the advice that I haven't had to guts to use yet.  I'm going to let the manuscript sit.  And then I'm going to read it cover to cover and see how it sounds...

In the meantime, I have so many different ideas I'm just itching to start, hopefully this will keep me distracted enough to leave Parasites alone.  I have two ideas that have floated to the top, I'm not sure which one will win, but I'm excited to find out!  Yay!

So here's this weeks video...  (and in case you are left wondering we did eat the entire bunny in the process of filming and no it wasn't hollow)

BECOME A BETTER WRITER W/O WRITING PART 4--SPY

p.s. I know you have to write to become better at it...

Balance

I ran away tonight.  I'm not proud to admit it, but it was Mommy meltdown time.  I shared some choice words with my husband that my kiddos witnessed... about wanting to be treated like a human being--you know actually get to check my email or not constantly be getting something for someone or using the bathroom by myself (it's the little things in life).  Which is okay to talk about, as long as you can spare your family the explosion that goes with it.

So I laced up my shoes, told my husband to put the kids to bed, and I took off.

Taking off might have appeared to be a waddle jog, but it got my heart pumping and my lungs burning, which was key.  I was feeling so ticked.  About everything.  Being a mom is hard.  I just wanted some time FOR ME.

Sometimes you wonder if it's too much to ask to shave your legs every once in a while...

But on my run, I cooled off and realized some things.

I've had this calendar of goals this month, I've been really trying to stay balanced in my life.  About a month and a half ago I was feeling super out of control, like everything was just swirling around me and I couldn't get a handle on anything.

I decided it was time to get some balance.  No I wasn't perfect, but it felt good to be working on things in different aspects of my life.

As the month started winding down, I realized I wasn't near my writing goal, but that if I wrote 1000 words a day, I'd make it.  So I did it.  I wrote and wrote and wrote.I had to sacrifice more time than normal to get this goal accomplished.  I had to stay up later or let more house work go than usual or turn on another TV show for the kids.

Back to my run...  I realized things shifted out of balance again.
When things get out of balance...Mommy melts down.

So even though I'm happy I've written as much as I have...I realize it's not worth getting this out of whack.  I need to exercise, I need to spend time with my kids, I need to clean my house (even though I try to convince myself not to...), and I need to write.

But I need BALANCE.

This next months goals are going to be scaled back accordingly.  And even though I ended up back where I started, with things getting out of whack, at least now I realize what I need to do.

As I finished my run, there was this woman walking up the other side of the street at a super quick pace.  I could hear her cry/yelling something like:  "He just won't listen!  It's like he didn't even care!"  She was so upset she didn't care who heard her phone conversation.  And I wanted to hug her.  I didn't because that would have been freaky-weird and she probably would have maced me or something.

But I knew exactly how she was feeling...and that once she finished her walk, she'd feel a whole lot better.
          

HELP! What do you write and how do you know it's a good fit?

So I've been writing this middle grade book... (it's called Parasite's Don't Wear Pink--about an only child adjusting to the idea of having a sibling)  and I love it.  The word count over there is creeping up and I'm almost done with my first draft!  Huzzah!    

I like writing from this eighth grade perspective, because it was a big year for me--I think it was the first time I tried to figure out who I was/wanted to be...(this happens every few years or so).

I'm enjoying it so much, but I don't know if I'm getting it right.   So how do you know?

Here's what I've done so far...

1) I have read a million middle grade contemporary books. I love upper middle grade, it's just fun.

2).  Researched writing MG through blogs, etc.

3.) I'm trying to find a few MG crit partners... (If you need a CRIT PARTNER and you write or read MG, let me know, because I'm still searching...)

When I wrote Etched in Glass...I thought I'd always do YA, but I've had so many ideas lately that just seem like they'd work better for an MG audience... the problem is...I've heard so much about nailing an MG voice and how hard it is... so how do you know??

Why did you pick what you write?

Do you switch it up?

How can you tell it's working?

Seriously I need to know.

Become a Better Writer without Writing PART 3

Hey guys,

I know you've been dying to know what's next in our video series, so here goes:  

Become a Better Writer W/O Writing...Live (PART II)

Hey guys,

Here's the video of the week.  Again, YOU HAVE TO WRITE TO BE A BETTER WRITER...but sometimes we need to procrastinate in the name of writing.  (Which is kinda why I've been making videos about writing :) )

5 ways to become a better writer without writing

My little brother likes making movies.  So we made one.  Just a few things before you actually watch the thing.

First off:
I KNOW you have to WRITE to be a writer or even to be a better one.  Just wanted to make that clear.

Second:
I'm not sure you'll ever think of me the same after watching this.

Third:
For better or worse, this will be a five part series--so stayed tuned for part II, coming next week.

...I guess I can't stall anymore...

Happy Birthday Squirrel

I couldn't resist posting both pics.  It is impossible to get them to look at the camera at the same time.  Believe me, I've tried. 

Today is my first born's b-day.  Three years old.  That, to me, is amazing.  Sometimes I'm not sure where the time goes, and other times I know exactly where it's gone--but I wouldn't trade these three years with her for anything.  Being a mom is the most challenging thing I've done in my life (and if you think that's pathetic, your kid doesn't have the spunk mine does).  

She is wonderful, brave, outgoing, an awesome big sister, scary smart, super girly, stubborn as all get out... I don't know how all that personality is packed into that tiny body, but it is and I love her for it.     

Her third birthday made me realize something crazy...I've almost been writing for three years.  Holy Cow.  No wonder my husband said:  Shouldn't you be published by now...

So if you're reading honey, uh yeah, not how it works--at least not for me. 

The reason I started writing though, is because someone gave me advice and it's, hands down, the best advice I've gotten about being a stay-at-home-mom, and now I'm passing it on to you:

Get a hobby. 

And not because you'll have loads of time to do it, you won't.  But you will live for those moments.

The days you spend cleaning, changing, washing, sorting, cooking, when you work all day and never get anything done--having a hobby gives you have something measurable to accomplish.  Something to run to do during nap time.  

Maybe I'll never be published, maybe a hobby is all writing will ever be for me, but I love it and that's what matters.  

If anything, it keeps me sane, which I'm sure the kids will appreciate someday.  

So, Happy Birthday Squirrel.  You brighten my life more than you'll ever know.  Thanks for helping me find my passion. 

-Mom  

    

A query contest

Hey guys...I've crawled out of the baby cave to tell you about an awesome contest from:

Becky Wallace on What's Your Thought on That--the following is from her blog:
Post the synopsis from your query letter (that's the most important part anyway) in comments (include your name, genre and word count).

The ten best/most interesting queries will receive a ten page critique and line edit.
For three of those ten, I'll read, edit and critique the next fifty pages.
One writer will receive a critique and line edit of their full manuscript.
Isn't that awesome?
The contest ends tomorrow...so go enter!