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!

Oh the joys of time. Or lack of it.

Well, it's been a hot minute since I've written anything here. Good news is, I've written plenty for the book in that time so all is not wasted.

I've been a busy little bee this last month. I've been searching for, buying, and renovating our new house! (New to us, anyway. She's 114 years old!) It's been a very exciting month for us. I've also gotten some down time in to write, leaving almost no time at all to update!

I've started taking a new approach to how I write. I wasn't able to get new stuff written. I just kept going back and editing. I was getting nowhere, fast. I decided to try a timer. Every night when my little one goes to sleep I set a timer for one hour and I do nothing but write new material in a blank word doc. When the timer goes off I copy and paste this into Scrivener. I use the rest of my, hard to be found, free time throughout the day to edit. I'm a little OCD so there's no stopping me from editing a bit as I go. This way though, I'm able to satisfy my editing itch and still get more of the story written. So far it's working for me so I'm gunna stick with it.

So, that's what's new in my world. With the new house, writing has taken a bit of a backseat but I'm be back in the full swing of things by the end of july. I promise. ;)

Time. Where do I find this crap?

Where in the world do people find the time to sit peacefully and write?

I have a baby, a husband, school, and a day job. Where the heck do I find the time?

I sneak it. I steal it. I hide it.

I need that time. Some people don't understand why it's so important to me, but they don't write. If you do, you know that the story will drive you insane if you don't get it out.

My husband disc golfs. He is obsessed. Every week he sets aside time from family and work to hit a course. We decided I would take the summer off of school so that I could be home more AND so that I could set aside at least one day a week to work on my writing.

Oh if you don't have the luxury of being a full time writer, you know how wonderful that time is. And if you're a parent on top of that, you'll know that time is the absolute most precious commodity. One day a week to just get it out is miraculous.

But for me, it isn't enough. So I stay up after my daughter goes to bed. I wake up as early as possible to get a little in before she wakes up. In every free moment, I write. And the more I write, the more time I want because I don't want to sacrifice any time with my family but I want to write. It's such a difficult balancing act but I do my best. I do my best, I sacrifice sleep, because I love to write.

So how do you find the time? What do you sacrifice for that time?