Tag Archives: writing life

Feeling the jiggle

01 Thursday Nov 2018

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Last New Years, I jokingly wished for a parrot. It was one of those wild wishes that I never thought would come true for me, but here we are–and I’ve got a small parrot of my own–Pichu.

He’s my little writing buddy. He loves to sit with me while I hammer out my novels, and he’s just so much fun. He talks and imitates, which is very cute. He’s such a smart little guy, and I’m so glad he’s ours.

Here he is is dismantling Lego man legs on my shoulder while I write. He has a very big, strong beak, but he’s trained now so that if he gets too nippy or rough, I can hold his beak and tell him to be gentle, and he stops right away. I guess it communicates that I’m the boss, or something. It works!

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And here he is sitting on my wrist because he likes to feel the jiggle while I type. Such a funny guy!

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This is the writing life–lots of time alone. 🙂 But I’ve got a little parrot to keep my company, and I couldn’t be happier.

It’s a good set up. No complaints from me.

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Pass the crayons

11 Thursday Oct 2018

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I stumbled across this a few days ago, and it made me laugh out loud!

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Anybody else feel like it all piles up sometimes?

I’m an author, a wife and a mom to a ten-year-old. And there are some stresses that aren’t really negotiable, you know? Like parenting stress–you can’t exactly let the ball drop when it comes to your child. And there are a few stresses that I’m not willing to downgrade–like the writing. So, every once in a while, I just need to vent some stress.

Oh, did I mention that I’m an introvert? So going out and getting social doesn’t do that for me.

Lately, my favourite release is going alone to my parents’ place and watching their TV. My parents record a few of my favourite shows, and I go there to watch them. It sounds so trivial, but it drains the stress away, and when I get back home, my husband has taken care of the parenting stuff for me.

It’s more effective than colouring would be… I think. But then again, maybe I should get an angry red crayon and give it a try. 😉

 

My writing buddy

03 Thursday May 2018

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You may recall that I got my little green Quaker parrot a while ago, and he has been settling in ever since. He’s a lot of fun!

He’s also really full of personality and spoiled rotten. He has me home with him all day, so he’s never alone. We have another bird he likes to visit, too, so he’s got lots of interaction. He likes trying any food we eat for dinner, and if we don’t give him any he screams at us and it drives Mr. Johns crazy. So Pichu now has a plate of his own, and we give him a dollop of whatever we’re having so he can eat at the same time, and that seems to have solved that problem.

He’s also smart enough that time outs work. So if he nips or something, he gets a time out. We set the timer on the stove for five minutes and he’s ignored for that amount of time. It’s stopped the nipping, because there is nothing this bird hates more than being ignored. He’s now very gentle. I can hold his beak in my hand, rub his head, touch his feet… He’s very sweet!

So while I write, he’ll either sit on my shoulder, sit on the back of my chair, or sit at his cage. And when he gets bored, he squawks at me until I stop typing and play with him, or he beats up this rag that he likes to play with.

On this particular day, he found my post it notes. I took the picture before he shredded them. 😉

 

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He’s got me by the heartstrings! Such a sweet birdie.

Meet Pichu

18 Sunday Mar 2018

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So remember in the new year, when one my craziest, wildest wishes for this year was to get a parrot?

Well, I’m a little shocked to be able to tell you that it happened!

On a sad note, our little blue budgie, Little Blue, passed away, and the Johns family was incredibly sad. We really loved her, and that left our little yellow budgie on her own. So on a lark, I googled “parrots” in my area, and what to do you know? There was a family looking to get rid of their Quaker parrot for an absolute steal.

His name is Pichu, and he’s got the whole family by the heartstrings, including Coco, the little yellow budgie. ❤

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Here he is eating a piece of broccoli.

He talks, too. When we introduced him to Coco, we said, “Hey, you guys should say hi!” and Pichu said, “Hello, hello, hello.” After one night under the same roof, Pichu has already started to say “Coco.” He’s absolutely adorable!

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So there you have it–my latest office mate. 🙂 The whole family is in love!

Don’t eat that

12 Monday Mar 2018

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Families insist upon eating, and since we’re allergic to so much, I don’t have a lot of easy meal options, unless I’ve got a casserole in the freezer. So when I run out of creative steam in a day, you’ll generally find me cooking.

And not because I’m a passionate cook, either. I’m just hungry, and family will be, too, once they’re home again.

In fact, I have a writer buddy whose kids go to school with mine, and whenever we see each other, we ask the same thing: What’s for dinner? Because we both need ideas to keep the growing hordes fed!

So, in the spirit of sharing dinner ideas, I thought I’d share my stovetop with you.

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On this particular day, I’d made some spaghetti squash to go with the rest of the leftovers in the fridge for dinner (a casserole, some potatoes), and a nice pot of oatmeal (with mango and black cherries) for a warm snack when my son got home from school.

The pot in the back? Don’t eat that! It’s laundry soap. I make my own, since it’s dirt cheap to do it myself, works very well, and saves me about $20 a month. And if I can save the money on something as boring as laundry soap, I can put it into something much more fun–like books!

So what’s for dinner at your place?

 

 

Cheaper than Therapy

02 Monday Oct 2017

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I often wonder how much of myself—my fears, my frustrations, my hopes—that I reveal in the books I write. I tell myself that it’s just a story and that because I’m working with a certain structure that I’m safe from revealing too much about myself to strangers. But I’m not sure that’s true!

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The above meme applies to me—except, I don’t perch on the ledge of tall buildings. But I do work out all of my internal stuff in my writing, and that writing ends up on the shelves of your local bookstore a few times a year. When I look at it that way, it’s a bit intimidating!

In fact, when I starting writing books professionally, I stopped writing in my personal journal. The reason was that if I worked out my stuff on paper in my journal, there was nothing left to pour onto paper for my novels. And my writing was much better if I saved it up.

I find that it’s easier to explore my thoughts and feelings through fiction than it is to do it head on. I come at things sideways with fiction, and the things that never happened are more true than the things that have.

Writers say that their books are “a little piece of themselves.” And that sounds poetic and sweet. Maybe even a little bit sappy. In real life, it’s actually more daunting. Who knows what we give away without knowing? Everyone else gets to hide behind a nice veneer of respectability.

We authors gave that up long ago.

 

It’s a Canadian pass time

11 Monday Sep 2017

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Last week, I was in the doctor’s office picking up some test results. I’m perfectly healthy–no cause for alarm. I’m just Canadian, so we do this for fun once a year. 😉

Anyway, doctor’s office waiting rooms (and then the actual exam room) can be a bit of a wait on a bad day, so I took my computer along and did some writing.

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The above manuscript is one for Love Inspired–the last book in my Comfort Creek Lawmen series. The first book, Deputy Daddy, came out this summer, and the second book, The Lawman’s Runaway Bride, will be hitting shelves in February 2018. And this one… well, it’s in process. 😉

This is how it’s done–not wasting precious writing time on things like waiting rooms! You know, unless you’re taking a selfie. LOL!

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I hope you are all enjoying the last of your summer weather. 🙂 As for me, I’m writing hard, as always.

When I…

27 Thursday Jul 2017

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I’m the kind of person whose head is always stuck in the future.

When we pay this off, then we’ll be able to…

When I finish this manuscript, I have to work on…

One of these days, I’m going to achieve ____, and then I’ll have arrived.

But I’ve noticed that the arrival never happens. After each project, there is another one. Even financially, there is always another goal ahead of the one we achieve. Pay off this, save up for that. When I reach one milestone, I start aiming at the next. I’m the teensiest bit Type A. Had you noticed? 😉

Then I came across this thought on Glennon Doyle’s Facebook page, and it gave me pause.

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I’ve often said that you’ll never be able to be a writer unless you love the process. And I don’t use the word “love” lightly. Unless you thoroughly enjoy all the different stages, you’ll quit. There’s no way you could keep going… and I’m truly grateful that I do love the the process!

But every now and then, I have to let go of all my goals, all my “when I do this” thoughts, and just enjoy the moment. Because while achieving is important to me, it’s actually about the writing. I love the writing.

When I pay off this, then I’ll be able to… continue writing.

When I finish this manuscript…. I’ll be a writer working on edits.

One of these days, I’ll win an award or hit the New York Times Bestsellers list, or, or, or… and THEN… I’ll sit down and write the next book.

It’s so simple. No matter how far I go, or how much I achieve, I’m a writer because I love writing. There’s nothing else I’d rather be doing. And even if you gave me $1 million dollars, the very next day I’d sit down and continue on whatever manuscript I was working on. Because I’m a writer. It’s in my blood.

Stopping to enjoy the moment isn’t a bad thing, because this moment, right here, is the fun part!

Perspective. ❤

 

 

 

The summer search for writing time

13 Thursday Jul 2017

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I love the summer–the warm weather, the thunderstorms, the days that don’t have to revolve around school schedules… I really like to wear pretty dresses, and I wear them all summer long. Once the September chill hits the air, though, I’m all about warmth and coziness, so I have to make the most of the dress season I have it.

I do love the summer! I feel like I have to defend that a little bit. But being two weeks in, I have to tell you… I miss time alone. I don’t write well with my family around. They talk to me. (Imagine!) They ask for things. (Snacks, conversation, where things are.) And they treat the summer like it’s vacation time. Which it is, for them, but not for me!

So I have to find places where I can write alone, and summer turns into this quest for silent writing space. Or if not silent, uninterrupted writing space.

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The above picture is of me writing at our local indoor pool–or beside it, rather–while my husband and son swam. I have a personal deadline that is looming.

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And here I am at my favorite spot–the local library’s silent room. I have to sneak to get to it, because I run across all sorts of people I know at the library, and I end up stopping for a quick chat. But with my family at home, I have limited time in that sterile, silent space, so I have to turn off the internet and make the most of it.

Writing books really is a full time job! At least the way I do it. And I’m lucky that I get to work from home and schedule my own time. So I’m not complaining–I do love this!

But there’s something to be said for September, too, when I get that silent time back again. 😉

 

The method behind the madness

17 Wednesday Feb 2016

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I thought I’d give you a little peek into what it’s like being a full time writer… I do have some method to my madness.

  1. There is a lot of planning.
    I need to know when my contracted manuscripts are due, but I also need to know when I have down time to work on other things besides first drafts. I keep a constant list of dates on my desktop of various deadlines.
  2. Use the time when you have it!
    Basically, I don’t put things off until later, because later I might get the flu. I can’t shuffle my work off onto anyone else’s desk, so if I have some “free” time, I’d better get a head start on the next job.
  3. Work on proposals for new book contracts well ahead of time.
    That way, when I’ve submitted the last manuscript and I’m mentally drained, I don’t have to start thinking of new ideas then… they’re already ready to go! I just need to send the email, and while I’m letting my brain recover, my editor is considering my next ideas. That keeps me from wasting a month or two in putting together a proposal, and then waiting another 6 weeks to hear back.
  4. Guard your office hours.
    If I’m not working during my office hours, I should feel guilty! But once those office hours are over, it’s time to rest with my family. Everyone needs rest.

This is the realistic view of my days as a full-time writer. It isn’t terribly romantic, I’m afraid. Not a lot of coffee shops with spiral bound notebooks. But my method works, and it’s more fun that it looks! 😉 You might just have to trust me on that.

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