No Hope

I feel like this week's quote is a bit of a downer. Even though the true message is basically to keep on keeping on.

Still, keep going when there seems to be no hope? Yeah. I think we all feel like that about something at some point in life, but I think the main thing we all need to remember is that we need to keep GOING.

Sometimes it's hard when you feel like everything is against you, but no one ever said life - or getting published - was easy. And if you ever think someone's life or writing journey was easy, well then you probably don't know them very well.

It's hard to remember that when it feels like everyone around you has great news and fantastical deals and the whole of the interwebz is celebrating with them, but just remember: your time will come, you simply must keep going.

This past winter was a big moment of seemingly no hope for me, and now, well, now summer's fast approaching, I've made it through finding a new normal with the family, have taken some time for myself and started back into the wonderful world of word counts and writing, and now, I think I am stronger for the experience.

What's your moment of seemingly no hope? How did you make it through?

Quote of the Week

"Most of the important things in the world have been accomplished by people who kept on trying when there seemed to be no hope at all."

Dale Carnegie

A Pirate* Trip

And now, it's Thursday.

We're on the road. Have been for a few hours now. I'm not sure where we're at right at this moment, but I decided that I'm going to make an adventure out of this.

One can never be sure just how much writerly fodder you can get while on road trips and people watching and always trying to ensure you capture each and every valuable moment ... I've decided I'm live tweeting this whole trip. Well, most of it anyway.

I might skip on a few things tomorrow morning, and my blog post tomorrow will explain why.

Catch my updates on #APirateTrip on Twitter. You'll get to see just how fun it is to go on a road trip with 3 kids under 7 in a strategically Tetris-packed Honda Pilot.




*If you're wondering about the "A Pirate" part ... soften the "t" in the middle and toss a "th" at the end of that and that's how you pronounce my last name!

Quote of the Week

"No one can really pull you up very high--
you lose your grip on the rope.

But on your own two feet you can climb mountains."

Louis Brandeis

Quote of the Week

"Your success depends mainly upon what you think of

yourself and whether you believe in yourself."

William Boetcker

Life Lessons Part 5: 38 - 45

Continued, Life Lessons according to Ms. Regina Brett, The Plain Dealer, Cleveland, OH.

38. All that truly matters in the end is that you loved.


39. Get outside every day. Miracles are waiting everywhere.

40. If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else's, we'd grab ours back.

41. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.

42. The best is yet to come.

43. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.

44. Yield.

45. Life isn't tied with a bow, but it's still a gift.

Hope everyone's had a great week and that something in all this has added to your day(s). And of course, Happy Friday!!

Life Lessons Part 4: 29 - 37

The continuation of Life Lessons, courtesy of Ms. Regina Brett, The Plain Dealer, Cleveland, OH.

29. What other people think of you is none of your business.

30. Time heals almost everything. Give time time.

31. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.

32. Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does.

33. Believe in miracles.

34. God loves you because of who God is, not because of anything you did or didn't do.

35. Don't audit life. Show up and make the most of it now.

36. Growing old beats the alternative -- dying young.

37. Your children get only one childhood.

Have a great Thursday!

Life Lessons Part 3: 20 - 28

Part 3 of Life Lessons, courtesy of Ms. Regina Brett, The Plain Dealer, Cleveland, OH.

Enjoy!

20. When it comes to going after what you love in life, don't take no for an answer.

21. Burn the candles, use the nice sheets, wear the fancy lingerie. Don't save it for a special occasion. Today is special.

22. Over prepare, then go with the flow.

23. Be eccentric now. Don't wait for old age to wear purple.

24. The most important sex organ is the brain.

25. No one is in charge of your happiness but you.

26. Frame every so-called disaster with these words 'In five years, will this matter?' (aka "10 years from now what difference will it make?

27. Always choose life.

28. Forgive everyone everything.

Fab Wednesday to you all!

Life Lessons Part 2: 10 - 19

Life lessons courtesy of Ms. Regina Brett, The Plain Dealer, Cleveland, OH Continued.

10. When it comes to chocolate, resistance is futile.

11. Make peace with your past so it won't screw up the present.

12. It's OK to let your children see you cry.

13. Don't compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about.

14. If a relationship has to be a secret, you shouldn’t be in it.

15. Everything can change in the blink of an eye. But don't worry; God never blinks.

16. Take a deep breath. It calms the mind.

17. Get rid of anything that isn't useful, beautiful or joyful.

18. Whatever doesn't kill you really does make you stronger.

19. It's never too late to have a happy childhood. But the second one is up to you and no one else.

Have a great Tuesday!

Life Lessons Part 1: 1 - 9

A while back I read an awesome list posted by one Ms. Regina Brett, 90 years old, of The Plain Dealer, one of the largest papers in Ohio.

It wasn't specifically a "writing" list, but it was one of those that really made me think. The list is pretty long, so I thought I'd break it up and share a few with you every week. It's really helped me put/keep things in perspective.

1. Life isn't fair, but it's still good.


2. When in doubt, just take the next small step.

3. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.

4. Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your friends and parents will. Stay in touch.

5. Pay off your credit cards every month.

6. You don't have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.

7. Cry with someone. It's more healing than crying alone.

8. It's OK to get angry with God. He can take it.

9. Save for retirement starting with your first paycheck.

More to come tomorrow. Happy Monday!

Quote of the Week

"Live up to the best that is in you: Live noble lives,

as you all may, in whatever condition you may find yourselves."

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Simple Words

It really isn't that hard if you don't think about it.

It's when you think about it that it gets hard.

So don't think.

Do.

Two words.

Nine letters.

Quote of the Week

"You must write for yourself, above all.

That is [your] only hope

of creating something beautiful."

- Gustave Flaubert

Quote of the Week

"I don't wait for moods. You accomplish nothing if you do that.

Your mind must know it has got to get down to work."

- Pearl S. Buck

WiP Wednesday: Field Trip!

I don't think I've done a decent WiP Wednesday update for a while. It could be due to my not having written anything new in weeks so I didn't actually have anything to update you on. But now I've decided to turn a new leaf.

Instead of sitting around, waiting for the words to come to me, as I've been doing, I'm going to go out and look for them! Can't be that hard, right? I mean, seriously . . . I don't have to drive around in the middle of the night with no lights on. I can search during the day (well, daylight hours after I'm done being a responsible adult anyway). I can even have my lights on during the day!

So in honor of my newest work in progress (and thanks to my uber-awesome oldest friend Joanna - of Joanna Taylor Photography - go check her out), here are some pics I snapped while we were out "scouting" locations for my book. If this isn't inspiring, I don't know what is.

How to Get Unstuck (with a Side of Cupcakes!)

The auto-tweet for this blog post is my 2000th Tweet! I know, I know, I'm a total dork for celebrating such an event, but every now and then, a girl just needs a reason a for some cupcakes!

Moving on... Here is some general "getting unstuck" advice:

1. It seriously stinks, but nail polish remover with Acetone will almost always work if you've mistakenly superglued somethings together. Like fingertips together. Or a butt in a chair. You know who you are!
2. Peanut butter will get chewing gum out of hair. (Gum? In hair? You better have a good story to go with this one...)
3. Freezing will get gum out of clothes. (Which one of you didn't empty your pockets before we started the laundry???)

But what about getting words out of your brain?

I think everyone has a different answer for this. As I've been poking about in other blogs, I noticed I wasn't alone in my sudden feeling of stickiness. Not that I was sticky, but I had hit a wall. I was stuck. (So maybe I should've said feeling stuckiness?)

Anyway, as I was saying, I was stuck. I knew there were words I wanted to get out, but I just couldn't find them. Every time I sat down to write, I just stared at the computer screen. At the notebook. At the pen. And everything stayed blank. This lasted for days. Days grew to weeks.

Then a friend said "take a break."

Lightbulb! Duh. Why didn't I think of that?

I don't know what made me think I had to write everyday forever. But that was what was going through my head. I felt like I had to keep running, running, running. Swimming, swimming, swimming. How on Earth was I going to keep up with all the other aspiring authors out there trying to write the next NYT Bestseller, trying to find an agent, trying to get published if I didn't keep writing?

So I decided a break was what I was going to do. I had enough written to last me for a while in both my online and live crit groups. I would just focus on reading (research!) and maybe the fog would clear. Less than 24 hours after I decided this, my muse returned. And I've been scribbling notes relentlessly since then.

So when you get stuck (wordage wise), apparently one of the best things you can do is NOTHING! Who would've thought? Oh, and jamming to Evanescence doesn't hurt either.

Oh, but wait. You guys didn't come to hear about me doing nothing. You wanted cupcakes, right? I know, sorry. I got distracted. But here. See, aren't these worth the wait? Wasn't sure what you guys would like. Go ahead, help yourselves!

Thursday Thought: The Wheres

So today is the last full day in Mexico and I've decided that if I can't truly uncook my brain enough to write new words, I'm just going to take in EVERYTHING around me and use it as inspiration, yanno, when that part of my brain starts to work again.

Over the course of the last few months I've taken a lot more pictures of my surroundings than I ever remember taking before and it has really helped me in figuring out where something happens in my new wip as opposed to just being random about location.

I've mostly tried to base locations in my books on places I've been or am really familiar with. My new project has me thinking outside this box of "safe" places I can pick from and now I've gone a bit camera crazy, trying to find just the right place for each of the pivotal scenes. Well, the ones I've been able to find words for anyway. (See yesterday's post.)

So what places inspire you? Are they real? Have you been there? Or are they imaginary and you're always there?

Would love to hear your thoughts. . . I'm off to the office, then going to click some more pics of the area. Will put some stuff up to share when I get back home!

WiP Wednesday: Laptop-less

This past weekend I accidentally left my laptop at the office. I didn't have a chance to go get it and I have to say, I felt like I was missing a limb. Ever sympathetic, my husband pretty much did this:

We do have a family PC at home, but the word to emphasize there is FAMILY, so I am NOT allowed to monopolize it, no matter how much I'd like to. Most of my writing is done at home, swapping between my laptop and desktop via flash drive, making it so at any given time I have my work saved in 3 different places. (More on backing up your work at the QueryTracker blog.)

In defense of my dear husband, though he may not completely understand the "writing thing" as he calls it, he has provided me with a whole slew of awesome notebooks to pack around with me.

They are big enough to last a while, small enough to fit in my handbag - more on this later this week - and are inspiring to look at in and of themselves. So as I've been finagling my way through my latest wip and have been inspired by a couple more thoughts, I've found that I'd be lost without my notebook. They have been great for ideas and have even helped me keep my random Post-It Note jotting in order.

So this weekend, all my thoughts were recorded in one of these beautiful books, awesome in their own right. And thanks to their awesomeness (and size allowing for them to be ever-present) I did a whole lot of jotting, thoughts ideas, more outlining of my overall story arc. Yep, sometimes, getting out of the techie-ness of writing proves to be a very good thing.

These little notebooks are also abfab when you are stuck in a very snug coach seat for a 4 1/2 hour flight and need something to work on! Any tech-less must haves that you tote around?

Bad Mojo & Big Problems

A while back my friend Elana over at Mindless Musings posted about finding the problem in your

novel. Not the problem with it, mind you, she meant the over-arching plot arc, the main-conflict-save-the-world-from-a-meteor sort of issue. Since I read that post it got me thinking.

And thinking.

And thinking.

And . . . yup . . . thinking.

Well, last week we went on a road trip to visit my in-laws in a small town in Central California. My husband's from a small town and it's a nice quiet place to do absolutely nothing (or to write if the mood strikes). My husband has a car that he absolutely adores, but its pretty old. We bought it for almost nothing and he loves to tinker with it. So the primary intent of the trip was for him and his brother to really fix it up.

The car is old EVERYONE doubted we'd be able to make it safely the 763 miles from our doorstep to Small-town, California, but we did. Just slower and with a much more Zen attitude.

Something that's a must if you're doing a long road trip with 2 kids under 5. Safe and sound in CA we just hung out-though I did go see HP 6 (so good!).

The way home, the part NO ONE made any comments about was where we ran into our "problem." I'm pretty superstitious, but more along the lines of gut feelings. When we got to Vegas, I saw a delayed text message come in from my brother: Did your car die yet? Seriously? Like why would you ask something like that? What kind of bad mojo are you trying to spread?!?

We made it past Mesquite and in a (really nice) Rest Area 13 miles out of Cedar City, our car just couldn't make it any further. Luckily, my dad was on his way back for CA also and was just driving into Vegas, so with info from the DH, I asked him to pick up some things for us. Lucky for us, the Rest Area the car gods decided we needed to hang out at was fully equipped with mowed grass, pavilion covered picnic tables, real flushing toilets (clean bathroom!) and vending machines. Oh, yeah, and, most importantly, COLD A/C!

While we waited for my dad to meet us with the necessary goods, (sounds sort of like a drug deal, didn't that?) I played with the kids and we ate a lovely vending machine lunch. 4-yo P loved it. After our lunch, we broke out some of the kids' travel toys and they played while I dug out my notebook and wrote.

And thanks to the bad mojo, I think I have figured out what's going on in my new project. So thanks to some quality Rest Area time where my biggest problem wasn't, at that moment, my biggest problem, I've found my Big Problem in the writing project. Now we just gotta figure out what the Big Problem in the car project is. Will keep ya posted!

P.S. Clearly we (finally) made it home, but here are some times according to Google how long the trip should have taken us // and our actuals:

Home to our destination in CA = 763 miles, 11 hours & 31 minutes // actual: 763 miles, 14 hours & 18 minutes

CA to home = 765 miles, 11 hours & 28 minutes // actual: 765 miles, 20 hours & 4 minutes

It's a good thing we decided our approach to all problems on this trip was contained in one little three-letter word: ZEN

Keep Going and Going

This week's quote is all about finding your way to accomplishing your goals. The thing Mr. Thoreau does not tell you, is that there is no map to getting there. Everyone seems to pass mostly the same landmarks, but no two people truly follow the same map, same paths, same steps.

All of us have heard the success stories out there of never-before-published-writers who made it big their first time out, but that's not the path that everyone gets to take.

Another thought to consider, is the speed at which one races to those goals. There are people who move at a constant break-neck, fighter-jet pace, while others are more deliberate and checking before re-checking that all is well before they move on. To each his own, there is something to be said about pace, but when it comes down to it, we're all trying to get to the same place. And one of the hardest things to remember is that no matter how discouraged you may get, you have to just keep going.

So whichever direction you may be going, just keep going.