Saying thank you isn't enough

I'm finally back!

Image courtesy of sundesigns, rgbstock.com

It was a difficult few weeks, but I'm happy to say that everything turned out much, much better than I could have expected. I don't have enough words for how grateful I am for your comments, thoughts, e-mails, and prayers. It meant so much to know that others cared and were thinking of me, and I know it was that—and faith—that made the situation easier to get through. Thank you so much.

I'm happy to be back on my blog, and I'm looking forward to posting again—it's been a while! However, for a couple of reasons, I'm going to be easing my way back to daily blogging. As some of you probably know, my son will be starting kindergarten in the fall. He'll be attending all day, every day, which of course is something this mom isn't really ready to think about, much less deal with! (I'll probably cry for days.) I had wanted to spend the summer doing fun things with him and his little sister, but several situations and events prevented me from doing as much with them as I would have liked. There's a little over a month left until school starts, so my plan is to spend more time doing things with the kids, which will, sadly, leave me with a little less time for blogging.

I'm also participating in Camp NaNoWriMo this month. I'm using it to jump-start my memoir project, which I've put on the back burner for far too long. I'll spend part of the month transcribing interview notes and conducting more interviews (and then transcribing those as well). Once I see what I have to work with, I hope to get a good start on putting it all together. This project has been pretty daunting, but I'm hoping that Camp NaNo will help give me the momentum I need.

So although I may not post every day this month—(or maybe I will; who knows what the weeks will hold?)—I still plan on posting several times a week. I love blogging—it's one of my favorite outlets—and I love connecting with other people through their blogs. I'm looking forward to catching up with all of you!

Regardless of what happens with my posting this month, I'll be back full force once life settles down a little in the fall. Thank you for being patient with me and for everything you did these past several weeks. I appreciate it all more than I can say.

(And it definitely feels good to be writing again!)

NaNo plotting update

Ever since deciding a few days ago to participate in NaNoWriMo despite the circumstances, I've been hard at work on plotting. I don't think I've mentioned yet that I'm not planning to do a traditional NaNo this year; that is, I'm not writing what's usually thought of as a novel. Instead, I'm planning to do a series of interconnected short stories. The "interconnected" part is what will keep me from being a NaNo rebel, although I certainly have nothing against people who set their own rules and do NaNo their own way. I fell into that category last year with my memoir, and my main hangout on the NaNo forums was the wonderful rebel lounge.

Anyway, I've gotten most of my story ideas down and have pretty thoroughly outlined two of them. However, I still have a lot of work to do if I'm going to be at least mostly ready before November 1. I think I'm getting close to nail-biting time!

For those of you doing NaNo, how's your planning going? And for those of you NaNo-ers who have blogs, how often do you think you'll post during November? I've been wondering what to do about my own schedule.

Uninspired. Any advice?

I'm feeling completely uninspired today. Nothing I attempt to write--blog posts, scene outlines, even Tweets--seems right. Everything is trite, dull. Uninspired.

So tell me: what do you do when you want to write but the words just aren't there? How do you get past the block?

Vacation! or We interrupt this blog...

Despite the title of my blog, my blog posts won't be daily for the next couple of weeks. My family and I are leaving for our vacation this morning, and we'll be away until August 27. I'll only have sporadic Internet access while I'm gone, but I hope to get to a computer at least a few times so I can post and catch up with all of you. I hope you have a great two weeks, and I'll talk to you again soon!

It's All About Me(me)

Deb Bryan at The Monster in Your Closet (a great blog!) tagged me for this meme. Here we go!

If you could go back in time and relive one moment, what would it be?
I would relive those very first moments in the hospital when I finally held my children in my arms.

If you could go back in time and change one thing, what would it be?
I used to tell people that I had no regrets, but if I'm being honest with myself, I do. However, I would never change anything. If I did, I wouldn't be here now, happy with my children and my husband and a life that I love.

What movie/TV character do you most resemble in personality?
Felicity Porter from Felicity. We're both women who do a lot of living in our heads; we analyze everything, maybe to a fault. In the show, Felicity begins as a shy, naive college freshman who, through her years at school, grows to become an outspoken, mature woman. I like to think I followed a similar path when I did my undergraduate and graduate degrees.

If you could push one person off a cliff and get away with it, who would it be?
I'm the kind of person who finds $10 in a parking lot and then puts it in the church collection plate because she feels guilty for having it and sad for the person who dropped it. (True story.) I couldn't push anyone off a cliff, but if I'm forced to answer, there was this one girl who made my life hell in elementary school...

Name one habit you want to change in yourself.
I wish I didn't have such a short temper. I get angry so easily.

Describe yourself in one word.
softhearted

Describe the person who named you in this meme in one word.
talented

Why do you blog? Answer in one sentence.
I blog because I have things to say that I don't always feel comfortable saying out loud.

Name at least 3 people to send this meme to, and then inform them.
@tjwriter
@sassy3421
@cjivory
Tara Tyler

Unable to find the words

Since I began this blog on January 8 of this year, it's been important to me to post an entry every day. Admittedly, some entries have been more thought-provoking than others, but all of them have been genuine--they've all shown the real me, good and bad, and I'm happy that I've been able to fulfill my goal.

That being said, I feel as though I need to apologize for today's words: I don't have any.

I've been working on an entry since yesterday afternoon, but my emotions about the subject are raw, and I'm having trouble seeing through my tears to write something that might be worthwhile for you to read. Even these words have been difficult to write. The topic breaks my heart, and just thinking about it--especially at this early juncture--is painful enough to make me wonder if I'll ever be able to post the entry.

For now, I just don't have the words.

Wherein I complain a bit, then make a plan

I write every day. In fact, I've done more writing thus far this year than I did all of last year and many of the years before. My problem? I don't feel like I'm getting much done.

Early morning is probably my best time of day to write. I love how quiet the house is after my husband leaves for work and my kids are still asleep. (I'm blessed with two late sleepers. They normally don't get up until 10 or 10:30.) I use my mornings for journaling and 100-word pieces of fiction. I consider these writings my daily warm-up. I love them because they help me to empty my mind of everything that is not my current WIP while still giving attention to those pesky plot bunnies that crowd my mind and scream for attention. Later in the afternoon, during my daughter's nap, I write some short pieces for another site and try to work on my daily blog posts. However, my concern is that every day I feel as though I'm cheating my novel-length project, which I usually get to late at night, after the kids are in bed, the house is relatively quiet once again--and I'm exhausted.

I know that no writing is wasted, but there are days when I ask myself why I bother with the early morning pieces and the other little bits of writing I do. My novel is my big project, yet I don't give it the attention it needs. There are days when I find its word count daunting, and some nights when I sit down to work on it, I feel like it's an impossible task. However, I want to write it; I love the idea, and the story is important to me. Something has to give, somewhere amid all the things I have to do and want to do during the day.

I need a plan.

I think that getting up just a few minutes earlier--even just fifteen minutes--will give me more time to work on my big project in the morning while still taking care of the small ones. Doing so will mean getting to bed earlier than my usual 1 a.m., however, and that may be a bigger problem. But more importantly, I think I really need to start treating my novel not as a novel but as a series of short pieces. Writing short seems to be my forte; I think I'm less intimidated by the smaller writings; the larger ones often loom in my mind like huge obstacles that seem too difficult to overcome.

It's time for me to change my thinking and my way of seeing my work. Today.