Begin Again

Wow, it's been a while, hasn't it?

What, like, 3... close to 4 months? Yeah, sorry about that. Things have been a bit hectic to say the least around here. So let's start again, shall we?I know I talk about the Husband and Kidlets a fair bit here, but brace yourself for all the family-ish stuff you're about to get.

Here's a quick recap of my last few months...
 

I had a baby. (3 weeks earlier than planned.)

He actually looks more like this now:

 While on maternity leave, I started revisions on a project.

Mom was diagnosed with late stage cancer.

Revisions went on hold.

Just before Christmas, Grandma lost her battle with cancer.

My brother, sister, and me with Grandma.

Revisions still on hold.

Husband's position at work changed as did his shift ... going from a 12-hour graveyard

to 12-hour day shift. Yay to having him home at night, boo to trying to juggle daycare for the kidlets.

I decided to take an extra week off at the end of my maternity leave ... putting my total time off at 13 weeks. So much had happened in such a short time. I was still adjusting.

I'd been back to work for 2 days and then Mom lost her battle with cancer.

My sister, Mom, and me.

Took another 2 weeks of leave from work.

And now, I'm trying to begin again.

So for now, we are all still reeling a bit and taking some time to figure out what the "new normal" is for our family. Hope you guys bear with my inconsistency for a bit longer.

A couple last thoughts for the moment:

#1) We don't use the word "hate" in our family. It's one of those words we have on the "list of bad words" the kids are not supposed to use. But I have to say, I hate cancer. I always have. I always will. To all those fighting the fight, supporting those who are fighting the fight, or honoring those who've lost their fights, my heart goes out to you. You will always be in my thoughts. And also...

Did I already tell you that?

#2) I wanted to say a quick thanks to you guys who have stuck around, reading, commenting, or just lurking on the blog. I know you're there and even when I wasn't blogging I knew you were there. You guys mean a lot to me and I wanted to make sure you knew how much I appreciate each and every one of you!

The Voices Are My Friends...

*Waves*

Hello? Is anyone out there? I'm not sure anyone is, seeing as it's 5 A.M. on a Sunday morning and honestly I'm amazed I'm up. Not only that, but I'm coherent and WRITING! And I don't just mean this blog post, but like for reals writing. Well, rewriting, anyway, while I also jot down some thoughts on a new project. What is so amazing about this, you ask?

I'm NOT a morning person. Generally, it takes until about 10 A.M. or so for me to be fully functional. I can be awake, yes. But that's just going through the motions. So it would seem the whole thing people have been telling me that having your third kid really changes this is true: looks like baby boy's plot to convert me from night owl to morning bird just might be working. Although, as I type that, he's sleeping peacefully in his bed. It's like he woke up the voices in my head or something.

I suppose that's something I should be grateful for. It's been several weeks since I've worked on anything writerly. So maybe I shouldn't complain about the voices in my head? Nope, no complaints here. Those voices make being awake by myself since 3 A.M. less lonely.

So that's what's going on with me this morning.

What are you guys up to?

Random Stuff Friday

1) I don't know where the rest of you are, and what the weather is like, but this year, we're having some sort of bizarro take on an Indian summer in Utah. I'm not diggin' it. We can't seem to find a good temperature for the house and I can't put away summer clothes and pull out autumn/winter clothes because there just isn't enough room for all that. *sigh*

2) In 6yo's 1st grade class, I learned they do this fabulous thing every month: Author Spotlights. Where, not only do they learn about the books an author writes, but about the author themselves. I love that her teacher does that and is helping them learn about the amazing people behind the books they love. This month they're learning about Eric Carle and really, who doesn't love THE VERY HUNGRY CATERPILLAR?

3) I have 11 books on my nightstand and 4 (I think) on my Nook that I haven't yet read. Not that I haven't read anything lately, it's just I keep re-reading the books I love and have not yet gotten around to new stuff. I feel like I'm not in the mood to be introduced to new characters right now. Like it might be just too much energy for me to become emotionally vested in their lives. Does that sound weird or am I just, yanno, a writer? ;-)

4) We've bought our treats to give away for Halloween, our decorations are up, costumes have been picked out and all we have left are pumpkins to purchase. Which leads to the question of pumpkin patch or grocery store? Husband doesn't want to go without me and baby, but I don't want to take newborn out yet. Thoughts?

5) I keep forgetting what day of the week it is. I guess that was one benefit of getting up and going to dayjob every day, right? I had to be aware of the calendar, if for no other reason, than to count the days until the weekend when I wouldn't be working, Lol!

Speaking of weekends, hope everyone has a great one!

Easy Peasy Recipe

I'm blogging over at Pots 'n Pens today and sharing one of our family's favorite go-to easy peasy freezer meals, so swing over and see if you can save yourself some time too!

Legitimate Distractions

I haven't posted for a while. Since October 4, to be exact. I double-checked to make sure.

I apologize to all of you for my lack of frequency and regularity in posting. There was a recent Nathan Bransford post regarding the whole blogging burnout thing, and I think I may be one of the many who fell victim to that. Plus, I've been a bit distracted.

Distractions come in all shapes and sizes and, well, this one had a very specific shape and size.

While I've been very honest about the fact that I have a general ADD affliction *oh look, shiny!!!* where was I? ... oh yes, I am easily distracted, but this was different kind of distraction. If you follow me on Twitter or we're friends on Facebook, you've already gotten the news, but the reason for my distraction?

Let me introduce you to the newest little Aphayrath.

The last few months have been anything but routine for us around here, and The Boy's sudden appearance last Wednesday, 3 weeks before his official due date, was, well, unexpected to say the least. (Traumatic would be a much better word for it, I think, but without any of the negative connotations...)

Anyway, we are all doing well and I hope you'll forgive me for my continued lack of regularity on the blog for the next few weeks as we adjust from being a family of 4 to being a family of 5.

Sometimes distractions are not a great thing, in this case, I don't think I could have asked for a better reason to be distracted :)

Experience: A Numbers Game

Recently I had a conversation with a CP / writerly peep regarding a numbers game.

You see, this week's quote, I think is great and so, so true, but only in the right context. Because it does not state if the experience is GOOD or BAD. It's just experience and it is what you do with what comes from your experiences that make you who you are.

This numbers game we were discussing was in reference to the number of books a writer finishes before "the one." I mean, in some cases, you get lucky with the first. In other cases, it's number umpteenth. Regardless, it is the experience of writing each one. That being said, is each one getting progressively BETTER? I mean, I think we can all say that anyone can write a book, if they so choose. It's really not that hard, right? Some words, a few punctuations, not too much to it.

So really, experience, in my mind, means learning from your past and realizing what doesn't work (through the help of CPs and the generally awesometastic writerly community), and taking what you learn and applying it, right? Otherwise, aren't we just doomed to repeat history? Over and over and over again? 

Personally, I look back to some of the stuff I wrote a few years ago and basically think to myself "OMG, I cannot believe I actually thought this was brilliant. What CRAP." And now, I'm a little more, hmm, this is a good third (or fifteenth) draft, but I'm still a ways away from it being really pretty and shiny. 

What am I babbling on about? I guess I'm just saying that IMO, while experience gained through perseverance is a great thing to have, what you DO with the experience matters far more than just getting it. 

What do you guys think?