I am a writer...

It's become more and more evident.
This mom is a writer. I always wanted to be. But never thought it would matter.

Somewhere deep inside there's that voice that tells you if you're not published, you're not a writer.
This is no longer the case for me.

I'm a writer. It's not all I am. I'm a singer. A worshipper. A dancer. A mom. A Wife.

but it's fun to think that if someone asks what I do -- I can tell them, "I write."

It really became clear that I should and could make this distinction when I finished my NaNoWriMo novel. I did. I wrote the final scene (first draft) (First drafts suck) the night before Thanksgiving. I was really quite glad for the hubbub of Thanksgiving. We had so much fun!!!

BUT -- the next day. The Friday after.
There was a funk.

It's much like the "After Christmas blues" I would get when I was a teenager. I loved Christmas. I loved the build up. The decorating. The anticipation. The joy. The music. That's changed as I've gotten older and a bit more disillusioned, I'm afraid to admit.

After Christmas was over and done with came the blues. The feeling of "now what?"

That's how it's been both times I've finished my manuscripts. The sudden -- "Now What?" of my brain. The sudden fact that I had nothing pressing on my thoughts. During the writing process I was always plotting. If not plotting then my characters were somewhere in my brain. Talking to me. Telling me how to handle the next scene.

There will be rewrites, of course, but you can't do that when you're in the "Now What?" stage of the process. Being in this stage of the process is also a very bad time to have someone lamblast your writing. Even though I know it's all part of the process. It's still not good on the "after book funk". Or would it be the "Post-novel blues"?

Either way, it's confirmed to me that I'm a writer.
It's good to have this process ... to be able to look at it and recognize it as such.
Moving on is important for the next phase or the next novel.
One day I'll learn what to do after the novel is finished.
Because I hope there will be many more in my future.
There has to be, because I'm a writer.

Things heard in the Laundry pile..

On Reading:

Mini-me read her first "Mandie" book. The First one, in fact. I remember reading these as a kid, but I can't say that they were my favorite books. I don't know why, exactly. I remember one scene where Mandie's friend prays ... Open Eyes and open face toward the sky. But I can't remember why.

Mini-Me devoured the book.

She turned the page and groaned, "Aaaaaaawwww. It's over."

Music to my ears.

She requested more books for Christmas.
Even more music to my ears.

On Animals:

Last Christmas, we had a great challenge keeping Shaggy from getting into the toys while unbinding them from their Packaging. Oh, the packaging that hell hath brought!! The endless miles of twisty ties. The mindless bits of tape. The pieces of plastic pierced through Barbie's head. (so glad we aren't getting Barbie's this year.)

It was the Christmas packaging that keeps a pair of wire cutters in my kitchen drawer.

What was I saying??

Christmas. Dogs. I promise.

Gizmo tends to be wild. Just as prone as Bubbles to take a toy and run.
Thinking it might be good to have things for him to chew on, new toys make him happy, I purchased a few things.

When I was showing the Professor purchases for the kids, talking about the next steps. Oh, these are for the dog, says I.

He looks at them, "did you get something for the cat?"

Well no. -- I'm rather stunned that he asked. He doesn't like the critters. Tolerates them for our sake...mostly the kids sake.

"She's part of the tribe. You should get her something for Christmas."

"Are you serious??"

He was. Maggie's presents are stashed with the rest. I went last night and bought her a play mat.

Sigh.

We're goofy.

On Phonics - the inspiration of learning:

G-man was walking by Mini-Me. In a rather awed voice he said: "Did you know there is a vowel in every word??"

Writing and Focus (or lack of it)

Well, I'm way over due for a blogger update. Sorry about that. I know - I'm blogging without obligation - it says so somewhere on my sidebar. I had originally thought that I would blog about the life of NaNo. And those plans fell through as writing, PLUS life, just took all my spare time.

Today I'm not feeling well - so i'm not entirely sure how much of this blog post will make sense.
I may have to edit it after the haze clears. :-)

It started out well. I had a crazy plot, and some good characters.
I'm a sucker for good characters.
I had the beginning of my story already in my head. That was the easy part.
Then the middle part hit.
Good grief. That was not easy.
Nor was it, turns out, fun.

One bit of a blessing that came about in the midst of this, was the word count battle between a lady in New York -- MercOne. The word count happened by accident and we both had more fun with it than I think either of us thought we would.

Chiding each other with faux frustrations but genuine cheers.

Today I reached the official mark of 50,000 words. I'm not done with my story. I've got 15 more days or so to finish it. The fact that it's nearly done, thrills me.Though, I know once I reread it later, say in December, to begin to edit it, I might wonder what the heck I was thinking.

To be honest, I love to write.
I always have.
But having Merc there to constantly get ahead of me in word count, urged me to keep going. Her being 3,000+ words ahead of me during a few days really ... I was glad for her..

but it IRKED me.

She was sick.
She wrote a drinking song for me.
Still got ahead of me in word count.
And she was sick.

And working.

and that motivated me to kill my inner editor -- that voice that says "Edit now" or whispers "plot flaw". MercOne motivated me because her 3,000k and plus word count mocked me.

So I pushed on.
writing little bit by little bit.
I had to eat her lead like you would eat an elephant. Bite by bite..or in this case..word by word.

She helped me get past the "middle of the story" blues.
She kept me going ....

Really - I couldn't have asked for a better writing buddy.

So thank you, MercOne!!
You have my undying gratitude and probably a place in my book, after I rewrite it. :-)

I am a fan of this guy...

I think it's because he's quirky and has managed to break the stereotype. I love it.

He has several videos on YouTube...I chose this one because it's the Birthday on the "Street".