Writing About Writing

As you may have noticed, I spend a lot of time posting updates about the collection of stories I'm working on. I call it "writing about writing". It's not the most productive way to spend my time when I'm trying to get the collection done, but posting gives me a break from the hard work of writing fiction.

I was talking to my best friend today and had to tell her how I am almost literally eating and sleeping this book. Well, at least I sleep with it...

Presenting the "boudoir-office":

I don't like my living room messy so...

Seriously. I can't risk jump starting my brain back to task every day so I just leave my notes and copies of the manuscript in place every night. Last week, after taking my meds, I almost got sick on one of my notebooks. That was an especially bad day. Still, I sleep with my work spread out from one day to the next.

See, I have this cognitive issue that make it hard for me to focus. When I am able to focus on a task, I struggle with a lot of fatigue and confusion. The first draft of my book was done to the point of polishing up a proof copy. There were major problems with that proof though so I ended up almost reworking the entire manuscript. And then my move happened.

When you have almost constant "brain fog", it's hard to work on any project. With fiction writing there is the issue of continuity. When I was moving to this new location, I had to shelve the book. Once I got settled in the new place, my laptop went into a coma. Ask me how fun it's been to retrieve files from my online storage cloud. None of my work is as familiar to me as it should be.

Long story short (or shortened), I am back working on the collection. What I mean by that is, I am piecing all my completed files together and trying to flesh out a couple of unfinished stories. Sometimes, I feel like I'm swimming through an avalanche of words. There are days when I have cried and wanted to give up on the whole project. But I won't because my writing is the one good and uplifting thing going on in my life.

So.

I am going to finish this book if it kills me. And it might,

Peace
--Free

Writing in Recovery Mode

This dang book! You know - the one I've been working on for forever and 10 days...

Writing is difficult enough, then there's the whole sarc-brain thing I have going on. Then I've had to take more than a few 'pauses' in the writing process. Let's see - there was getting ready to move, making the move, getting to a new town and, finally, getting set up in the new apartment.

So I am settled (mostly) in the new place. Then my laptop fell apart. I mean, this thing literally fell apart!

The TSA people were a little suspicious of me!

 Talking about "She's come undone"!

Believe it or not, laptop STILL works!

My beautiful computer, which was a gift from one grown nephew (and was dropped, TWICE) by my younger nephew. finally gave up even trying to hold together. Let me tell you something though: if you can afford one, get a Toshiba. Talk about taking a licking and still ticking... After all the damage inflicted by a 5 year old (and an inattentive auntie), the computer still works. The only problem is that the touchscreen is no longer functioning. That didn't faze me. The worst thing was this:

And it's NOT a flip type PC

So yeah. I will be trying to find someone to repair this one because it's too good of a computer. And it was a gift. In the meantime, I had to get back to work on the book.

~sigh~

I managed to scrape together enough of a balance on one of my cards and got a refurbed replacement laptop. Thank God I found a great price and used the perks of my credit card to get an even better deal. I couldn't afford another Toshiba Satellite ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ but this ASUS is okay, I guess. On the Plus side, it has a ton of disk space, The big downside? It lacks in speed. I've been told that's an easy fix but it costs and I'm not spending another unnecessary nickel that doesn't have to to with food or shelter!

Back in the day, I'd have had to spend a lot of time transferring files to the new PC. Luckily, I learned how to use cloud services so I only had to do a little bit of downloading.

And... I said all that to say that I'm back to work - finally, right? - on the book. The book that I blogged about here, here, here, here, and way back here when I first set out on the project.

This book:

For anyone out there, rolling their eyes and thinking about how long this book is taking, well, what can I tell you. Writing is hard work. It probably doesn't help that I work best by doing first drafts by hand.

This time, I'm not going to jinx myself by setting a publication date. I'm just going to get back to work - RIGHT NOW.  And I'll keep you posted, of course.

 ( ͡ᵔ ͜ʖ ͡ᵔ )

Peace
--Free

**RESOURCES** For Writers (May 2016)

Some handy links I ran across in the last few weeks that might be helpful.

              

• The Word Counter blog is just good stuff. Show some support.
• Word Counter link 1 
• WC link 2 (for counting words by font/size/spacing etc.)
• WC link 3 (a quick-glance chart)
• Grammarly  is amazing (also the MS Word Add-in is extremely useful)
• I've already mentioned Scapple. Love, love, LOVE it. For PC and Mac.
• Should you market your work as "Literary" or "Mainstream"? 
• What do reps consider a decent length for fiction types? 
• Self Pub Nation has some encouragement for you.
• A helpful infographic for Kindle publishing (quick & short)

I will update this as I collect more links. For now, I am working like mad to finish reviewing the proof copy of my book. Hopefully, my sanity will return as soon as I am finished with that task.

Screenshot of Scapple
 just to show how it works

By the way, someone once saw what my "writing station" (meaning a tiny laptop table to sit at and everything else spread across my bed) looked like. They remarked that one day I might have a really nice writing office. You know what? I like my improvised situation.

Peace

--Free

Writing, Anxiety & Inspiration from Odd Sources

Just an update for +Marla Hughes , +Susan Lewis , +Ben Johnson and the others who have been so encouraging about my writing - and who are all getting free and signed copies if I ever publish. (Hey, Ben, I haven't started the story "The Girl in the Video" that I accidentally posted that day!)

The writing project is going well. I haven't posted any more stories on The Millenium Chronicles because I am adding all my new material to the short story collection that I'm working on.

Today I have been crazy with anxiety. The writing is going as well as I just said (or even better), but just thinking of all that it takes to self-publish is driving me batty.

That dang cover!!!

I'm really stressing over all how to and what-if parts of the situation.For some reason, I am fixating on what kind of cover I would like.

How to format for uploading, design a cover, etc. What if I chose the wrong publishing arena? What if everyone hates what I've written?

I've decided that I am bi-polar when it comes to my creative side. There are the amazing highs when I hit my groove with a character or plotline, then there is that stomach-churning drop when I think I only think I sound coherent in my work.


More than ever, I am learning why writing is so lonely. I suppose that writing is meant to be a lonely business (though I have plenty of company from the people and ideas in my head), and the solitude is so necessary for me. Still...

Here's one crazy thing about writers (or maybe just about me as a writer): Because feelings are fuel for my stories, I relish things that hurt and irritate me. On the one hand, it sucks when people annoy me or even go out of their way to otherwise chafe me. On the other hand... All that pain and irritiation and stuff is like old, dry wood on the fire. If the fire is my writing. LOL

At any rate, this post was just to let my 3 supporters (hahaha) know how things are going and why you aren't seeing any new stuff online. Yet.

For the people who feed my writing fires, I leave you this:


(You probably already have... But I will love you for being an inspiration.)

Peace
--Free

How The Writing Is Going

Most of the people in my world right now know that I am attempting to put together a book of my essays. Most of these people know that I am: childlike and easily distracted as only a master procrastinator can be. When I focus, I'm a laser, but like I said, I'm easily distracted. Once I spent a whole Saturday playing something called the Falling Sand Game. Really, I did. So, yeah, most people avoid distracting me once I do start writing.  Most, I say, but not my friend Ruthie.

For about two weeks, I've been getting daily phone calls from Ruthie while I'm trying to write. These calls go about like the one this morning:

Ruthie: "So... how's the writing going?"

Me: "It stopped going when my phone rang."

"Don't you hate that?" Ruthie commiserates. "Man, I hate that."

"Yeah, so, um... I really need to-"

"Have you gotten an agent yet?" Ruthie cuts in. "You know you're going to need an agent."

(I need a good call-blocking app, I remind myself.)

"No agent wants me," I admit. "Agents only want writers who're already published or ones that fit some specific mold. I'm not published and I don't fit any mold. I am the mold."

"You're just tired of rejection," Ruthie tells me (because Ruthie knows all). "Writing is hard work. You need to concentrate on writing and have an agent to take care of the rest."

(Fact: Ruthie has never written anything other than nasty notes to her ex-husband's new girlfriend. She once wanted to start a blog but that required staying out of my business long enough to, you know, write.)

"Ruthie, I really need to go, I-"

"Tell you what, why don't I look up some agents for you?"

To drop Ruthie a go-away hint, I sigh really loud, as if I'm so busy writing that I didn't even hear her. That didn't work at all.

"I'm booting up my computer," she says, and I can hear her tapping keys. "I'm going to scout out some agents right now..."

I forgot that Ruthie wouldn't take a hint if it came with a cookie. I also forgot that if I lose my temper and bang on my keyboard, bad things can happen. I banged my fist on the keyboard. A really bad thing happened and I saw all day's writing disappear from my screen.

"Damnit, damnit!" I scream. "Now I've gone and lost everything I worked on today! See what happens when you call me in the middle of things? Can you please put a freaking reminder on your phone to not call me while I'm writing? Can you go scout that out, Ruthie? Can you? Will you?"

Ruthie finally got the hint. Of course, now I feel bad and can't focus on writing. So I'll just have to do something else until I calm down...

Peace
--Free

Getting Down To It

I am actually getting some writing done. With the insomnia I am having the last couple of days, I figure I might as well put the long waking hours to good use. The best time is between 11 at night (once everyone else is sleeping) and 3 in the morning (before D.J. gets good and wound up for the Morning Hollers). My niece has taken charge of making sure I get the writing done since I seem to listen to her better than to the men in my life. She has the nerve to order me around: "I need to see at least 3 pieces by____." She's 23 years old and forgets I can still kick her ass - if I could get to North Carolina, lift one leg and not lose my balance and manage to find her ass with my foot! LOL

It feels good to focus on something positive instead of brooding about bills and other crap I can't seem to control right now. Avoidance = good therapy...

I do have one distraction. I have been playing this game called "Millionaire City." It's my favorite thing to do when holding on phone calls. (Good excuse, huh?)  I must be such a child at heart because I have a weakness for all things Sims, and (formerly) Farmville. I haven't played my Sims game in ages. My computer is too old and crochety to keep up with all the graphics and the game is nothing without the graphics. Bummer. (Yeah, I know, I need to quit competing with Peter Pan for the crown of Child King.)

What's funny is that, as I write, I want so bad to share it all here on the blog. That's been tough - keeping stuff from these posts. You know how I get on my rants, but I've had to save them.

To be able to work would be ideal & my heart is breaking right now because there is a dream position in the place where I used to work. I just saw it this morning (because, for some reason I still look at the job bulletins) and forgot for a moment that I wouldn't be able to compete. Since I can't manage anything complex right now, writing is the next best thing. Writing is saving me.b  m,  n

Writing is such a calming thing for me to do. When I write, even though I am thinking about life and all the drama, I am not stressed by it all. It's almost like I am writing about someone else. I wish.

Well, not much to give you in this post. Just asking for your good thoughts and encouragement to keep coming my way. The letters from you guys have slacked this past two weeks, but I've gotten some good mails. Got a couple of strange ones also. Those folks have gone onto the SPAM list. I do worry about people and their compulsions sometimes. Maybe one day I will share some of the stranger, sicker, weirder and plain What-the-Hell emails. Maybe. Then again, I don't want to give you nightmares. I will give you a taste: there is one guy (?) who writes. Calls himself The Sheik. Says he is wealthy, kind of hot for me and will make my every wish come true. Perfect, right? You'd think I'd be mailing him my home address embossed on a pair of silk drawers, yes? Ummm... NO. He has one desire of his own: to lick my toes. First of all, that plain weirds me out. Second of all, even if it didn't gross me out, I have a thing about my feet. Stay the hell away from the peds, you freak.

Anyway.

I am going to get back to taking care of other chores now. I need to get stuff out of the way so that I can get back on the writing stool tonight. I have Kita watching over me to make sure I stay on the J.O.B. I can maybe get done:

Peace
--Free