Today's Random Ramblings

I have loved writing from the time I could hold a crayon between my chubby little fingers. Oftentimes I still get an awkward sideways glance when I mention I'm writing a novel. (Why people think this is not a "normal" pastime, I'm still not sure.) My comment is nearly always followed by a question that I love to answer, "What is your book about?" 

I proceed to recant my synopsis and watch people get heavily intrigued by the story and delve into all sorts of questions. (Questions that actually have helped me flesh out the finer details of my story) THAT. That is why I love to write. Storytelling is amazing to me. I love immersing myself in stories that I just want to bundle myself up in and never leave it's world. I also love creating that story for others who devour stories, as I do.

Currently, I'm so close to finishing the first draft of this novel (Uh, by the way, no one ever told me how frustrating the first draft of a novel can be - coming from short story writing), that I can't help but mention to anyone who will listen at at every opportunity that I'm writing a book. I HAVE to talk about it. I get giddy when I think I can get a mention in about it and act like a 5 year old with a secret.

It's actually starting to get embarrassing. Speaking of embarrassing, maybe I should write a post about how strange it feels to promote myself. I mean, I want people to know about me and my writing. I want people to read what I write. I want people to like what I write (meaning they have to read it to like it). So people need to know who I am and that I write. But self promotion feels weird. It just does. 

Well, until I've situated my thoughts on feeling odd about self promotion, I'm outta here. My one year old beckons. And by beckons, I mean she's trying to rip our cats tail off. Later Gator.

I'm a terrible blogger. But I DO write.

I am AWFUL about updating my blog, and I promise I will try to make it up to you all. It's been a busy six months since I last updated. My little lady turned one year old, we bought our first home, I started a new day job as a laboratory supervisor, oh... and I've nearly finished the book!!!

I'm happy to report that I've set a deadline finally for finishing the first draft of this manuscript! Actually, the deadline is exactly one year after my first blog post on here, April 22nd, 2015. I find that if I don't set deadlines for myself, the stuff just doesn't get done. Period. Life happens, it gets in the way and ruins all plans that involve novel writing. I'm actually taking a bit of time off of work to really give myself the time I need to really push through to the end.

After that it's all about editing, which I'm hoping to have done by July. Then it's on to submitting to literary agents. 

Which brings me to my sadness for today. Today is #PitMad day on Twitter and as much as I would fear for my pride while ADORE pitching to all the agents scouring twitter for the next big deal, I shan't. There is no way my manuscript is polished enough to show to anyone, let alone people who hold the keys to the future of this book. So I will sit here reading all of the awesome -and a few odd ball- pitches for a while longer and then it is back to work. Edit edit and edit some more!

Well, Hell. Autocorrect and Fight Scenes.

I just realized that the spelling in my last post was AWFUL! That's what I get for using swipe on my phone while trying to also feed my daughter. FAIL. I went back and fixed the typos, though!

So I actually got in some awesome writing today. I'm still working on my skills with fight scenes. Those are so awkward for me to write, but I managed to pump out a really good one, I think.

I got about a half a chapter written today, all of which was a fight scene. I've been avoiding writing for a couple days because I was so intimidated by it. So I spent every waking moment of the last three days thinking about how to write it down. And I mean every moment. In the shower, while I was changing diapers, while I did the dishes, while I was pinning a yummy chicken enchilada recipe on Pinterest, etc..

But it's done! It's on paper! And I didn't edit it until I was done writing it all down. Progress.

The deeper I get into this story the more difficult it's becoming to write it down. Some of this stuff is really brutal. Can YA be brutal? Is that legit? Well, I'd like to push the limits and go ahead and say, yes, yes it can be.

Gotta run! Ttfn!

Welcome. Why don't you take a seat?

Let's all take a moment to say hello... And by "all" I mean me, because let's be honest, I'm the only one reading this. It's 6am and I just started a blog because I couldn't sleep. Dream big everyone. *cough* me *cough*

Honestly I'm doing this because I need somewhere to pour out a daily ramble without irritating my Facebook friends or being scrutinized by my Twitter followers.

Okay I'm also doing this because I want to talk about my book. The damn book that's been idling in my mind for over a year. The book I've finally started writing after all this time. The book no one really knows about. Sometimes I mention it in passing to my husband but he pretends like he doesn't hear me. I don't think he finds writing to be a suitable hobby. This is probably why he insists I go disc golfing with him every weekend. Which I don't.

I'm okay with no one really knowing that I want to be a published author. I've been writing poetry and short stories since before I knew that a haiku wasn't a weird sneeze, but I've never been published. I've also never tried to be published. Honestly, I stash away my writing like one of those hoarders with the really scary houses full of old newspapers that they have no use for but won't get rid of. I have a sincere fear of failure and frankly, if I fail miserably, I'd prefer not to have to face my family after. This way is a win win.

I took on this novel thinking I'd finish it in a few months, easy.  Wrong. Life threw me a few curveballs I wasn't prepared for. Someday I'll tell you the story of when my cat nearly killed me and how that got me pregnant... Yeah, I know how that sounds, it's actually a really fun story. I digress. I had a baby last year. My first baby. I love being a mom but having a little one who wants to be held 24/7  has severely limited the amount of time I have to work on the novel. BUT! Recently I cut my hours at work to 8 hours a week to focus on my little one and school (ugh, school, that is a whole different post) so I have a lot more free time.

Anyway, the baby is waking up so I'm going to hurry the rest of this along.

I like goals. They hold me accountable for myself. So here is my goal for this blog:

I will update this blog everyday on the status of The Book, as it shall be called from here on out.

I must run. My little love calls for me. Ttfn.