Has it really been a month?

Wow time flies when you're swamped. Mostly I'm writing, well and taking classes and tutoring Korean executives at 5 am each morning. I recently read the Twilight series which was phenomenal. I often shy away from young adult series, but I was wrapped in from page one. Which somewhat problematically got me on the track of wanting to start a young adult novel and put my current thriller on hold. I'm still up in the air for the most part. My finished novel is currently collecting dust, I haven't been querying agents because I can't seem to find the time, but I am writing articles. Not to mention that I'm swamped with press releases and guidebook synopsis for the Nature Association. Does this sound like complaining? It's not I swear, I love every minute of every day that my hands are on this key board. I'm just distracted I guess. I have three other windows open and I'm trying to write a query letter to a magazine. Okay that will have to do for now.

I Wish for a 30 Hour Day

Life has come back full force. I am in classes, working on the second novel, sending out queries for the first, writing freelance articles, preparing to begin a journalism internship, and working a part time job ( oh and recently beginning to sell books on amazon). The day flies by in a flurry of words on the page, races to class, and an occasional sigh of overwhelming distress as I add another task to the list. But ya know what? It's fantastic. I am finally doing what I love. I am not getting up and shuffling in to a job that I'm unhappy with day after day. Instead I am writing and reading and analyzing. I find time to journal when I take the bank deposit for my part time job. In my previous life as a full time career woman I was lucky to get 500 words of anything done a day (reading or writing) now 500 words passes in about twenty minutes. There is no limit to my thankfullness for finally finding myself in this place.

Brain Freeze

This is me struggling to get back into the game. I've been gone for a week in Vegas and a week in Vegas is more like a year on another planet. The real world disappears in a haze of free drinks, flashing lights, and glittery outfits meant to distract the eye and the mind. My writing has stalled and though I've been back for four days, this is the first actual writing that I've done in almost two weeks. I hate when I get in a groove and then life pulls me elsewhere. Now instead of hopping up at 6am for coffee, I'm hitting the snooze button, four - five- six times. But hey no complaints, I'm here right now, the words are on the page. Next week begins school again, more distractions, but these ones are relevant to my writing life, so that's just fine with me.

Slow But Sure

It's 7 am, I'm working through my first cup of coffee and trying to get my brain back into "on" mode. My writing has been going very well lately, I spend every day from 9am (when my husband leaves for work) to 2:30pm (when I leave for work) writing. I apply to at least 2-3 freelance jobs everyday, submit at least one short story or query letter, and get about 1,000 words on my second novel. I'm 10,000 words in and going relatively strong. I have stayed on with my company in a very part time, very non-committal way, and may be phasing that out to tutor Korean executives in English (also very part time). I only wish that I could somehow slow the passage of time, turn things back so that this perfect period of writing and making headway could last longer. I fear change, the dying of the muse, whatever the trigger that slows the creative flow. But it's not here yet, so no time can be wasted...

Back to the Grind

Well I returned to work about a week ago after taking a leave of absence to finish up my degree. It's been a lurid combination of invigoration and exhaustion punctuated by a revolving door of coffee mugs and alarm clocks. But all in all it's good to be back, sort of... I decided to make some changes at work and do a floating position, at least temporarily. Which means instead of spending my days in Ann Arbor, I'm frantically driving all over the state to "assist" needy centers. My staff is not happy with me, but they understand that my priorities have been changing lately and writing is taking a front seat in my life, which puts my company in the back, or the passenger seat at least. It is not an easy adjustment, leaving my consultants and working with people that I've never met, but I view every new person as material, what an interesting character she was etc.. I am also trying to make progress towards the MFA situation. The biggest challenge that I find is slowing down life long enough to do a bit of it all, it's so easy to get caught up in the mundane and forgot that changing the cat litter really is not a priority today, well maybe it is...

Back to Writing

Classes have closed for the summer, the play-hard fourth of July weekend has come and gone, and it is now time to dive back into my book. Easier said than done I've realized as other forces fight to consume my time. Like reading for instance, every time I finish a book, I make this ridiculous self declaration that I'm not starting another, no, I must spend all of my extra time writing. Then I wander across some mysterious title promising at least two days worth of intrigue and I'm off the wagon, yet again. So I finished "The God of Small Things," wonderful by the way, and I'm off books for at least a week, or at least until the weekend, we'll see. 

Finishing Up

I am currently taking a few summer classes to finalize my psych degree, which has been about 95% finished for two years. Soon 100% completion will no longer elude me. However, this time I had hoped would leave ample space for creative writing has been crammed with papers, exams, and long winded discussions about mad poets who commit suicide. Not that these things are not interesting, but the challenge lies in overcoming your current reality vs. your previous expectation. I had fully intended to end June with novel revisions complete and at least ten query letters circulating. I have 100 pages of revisions left and haven't even researched agents, let alone, queried them. I have managed a few short stories and a single article, but somehow the hours slip away, unnoticed as I slowly plodder thru stacks of to-do's that manage to leap to tomorrow's list before the day is out.