Just a quick reminder that you should be writing. (And so should I!)
…Because Who Doesn’t Love the Smell of a Book?
Sometime last year, I was involved in a discussion about whether the “packaging” that a book comes in is important or not. More specifically, this meant was a book any better for being printed on paper instead of being produced in ebook format?
My answer, if I was listening to the logical angel on one shoulder, was no. A good story is a good story. It doesn’t matter if it has a great cover, or lots of marketing, or what it might or might not be printed on. These factors affect how well the book sells and who buys it, but they don’t change anything about the story itself.
The passionate angel on the other shoulder thoroughly disagreed. Sure, ebooks are convenient, good for the environment, cheaper, blah blah blah. But you don’t get the same sensation of holding the book. You don’t hear that beautiful scrapey noise of the pages turning. You don’t get the sweet, comforting sensation of reading words that are permanently imprinted on paper. Most of all, you don’t get that smell. It doesn’t matter if they’re new or old, books smell amazing.
I’m thinking about this right now because I just requested the cover edits for my upcoming book. Like always, I’ll release it in both formats. Like always, I’ll be excited to see the listing on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and various other platforms with my name and a thumbnail picture of the book. But I will be absolutely thrilled to actually feel the hard copy of it in my hand and to smell the fresh ink on those crisp, white pages.
What do you think? Is there a difference to you in how the book you’re reading is packaged? I’d love to know!
Filed under Books
My Own Ruler for Measuring Success
If you do a bit of googling (which you’re probably doing anyway), I’m sure you will find plenty of articles about success. It might be tips for how to succeed, stories of how someone else already did, or inspiring tidbits for those who aren’t feeling motivated.
This isn’t really any of those.
I had a conversation recently about how success is measured. I made this absolutely crazy statement about how I don’t equate money with success, and I got some major side-eye followed by an outright rejection of my theory. No, they said, they definitely wanted to get paid and get paid well in order to consider themselves successful.
I get that. I mean, money shouldn’t be everything, but it kind of is. If you want a new car or a nice house, you must have some way of paying for it, right? And nothing is cheap these days. So in this sense, yes, money is how you know you’re successful.
But what a terrible cage that puts you in. If you make good money but you hate your job, then you’re successful? If you make good money but you never have time for your family, then you’re successful? If you make good money but it’s killing you in the process, then you’re successful?
Don’t get me wrong, I like making money. I’m not interested in working for free, because I have bills to pay, children to feed, and Doctor Who merchandise to buy. But I don’t think it’s okay to be a slave to the almighty dollar while sacrificing everything else that’s important in life.
I’ve never had a lot of money. (I mean, seriously. If you know me, you know that I have never had money.) As a freelance writer, I’m sure not raking it in. But I do feel successful. How is my success measured?
I get paid to do what I love.
I get to work from home, which means I am always here for my family.
My clients come back to me for repeat business, which is a huge compliment.
My husband has done nothing but support and encourage me in this endeavor.
My stress levels are pretty low.
My schedule is flexible.
I’m happy.
For me, all of this adds up to something that is worth so much more than a six-figure job. Would I turn down a multi-million dollar book deal? Heck, no. But I don’t need one to know that I’m successful.
Filed under Family, Finances, On Writing, Work, Work-at-Home Mom
Writer’s Log, NaNoWriMo, Day 20
I long for those days at the beginning of the month when my inspiration was high and my fingers were a blur over the keyboard. I rejoiced every evening as I updated my word count on the NaNoWriMo website, and it told me I would actually be done before December. It motivated me to return to my word processor and annoy my husband with the constant clack of the keys. (It didn’t really annoy him. I don’t think. I mean, he comments sometimes on how fast I’m typing, but I think he’s being supportive. Right?)
Now, as the middle of the month has come and gone and my word count has gone stagnant, I feel that I might have marooned myself in NaNo land. I took a few days off, ostensibly because I had a wisdom tooth pulled, and surely that’s reason enough for any sane person to set the laptop down for a bit and do some Netflix binging. People do it for less.
But the writing experts aren’t lying when they say you should keep a steady writing habit. I do this most of the time, and I really do feel that it keeps the creative juices flowing. It might also keep my mind churning with awesome story ideas when I’m supposed to be sleeping, but that’s a side effect I must endure.
My short sabbatical has turned into an entire week. A week! One quarter of the month has been lost to days of only eating soft foods, a tiny bit of freelance editing, and a few (okay, several) spontaneous naps on the couch.
This is why, even though I absolutely DO NOT feel like writing, I’m doing it anyway (and my husband is asking me why my clickety-clacking is going so slowly tonight). I might not be writing anything important or particularly creative, but there are words appearing on my screen right now. And I’ll take what I can get.
Filed under On Writing
Our Christmas List is Growing Up
I’ve been working on Christmas since last Christmas. No, I don’t put my tree up the day after Halloween, or even the day after Thanksgiving. I’m working on the gifts.
A couple years ago, we started doing our shopping the day after Christmas. It might make it sound like a drawn-out, stressful thing, but it has a lot of advantages. It lets us peruse through clearance sales, buying nicer items than we might normally be able to afford. If I want to do some handmade items (and I usually do), I actually have the time to enjoy making them. We also get to slow down and pick out gifts that are meaningful, instead of just, “Oh, crap. I don’t know what to get you. Here’s some lotion.”
I sat down this evening to look over our Christmas list and I realized something: My kids are growing up. The careful lists I keep (coded for what has yet to be bought, what has already been bought, and what has been wrapped) used to be full of dolls, blocks, and other random toys. My kids still have some toys on their lists, but they’re swiftly moving away from the primary-colored plastic Mega blocks and toward finely painted Schleich figurines. More and more gifts are electronics, or accessories for them. My oldest daughter (who is nine) has items on her lists like earrings, a knife, and new boots. Yep, she’s a replica of myself at that age, but it’s strange to see it happening to someone else.
I admit that in some ways it makes me yearn for their younger years. You know, when they didn’t talk back, argue about when they take their showers or what they watch on television, or bring home a surprising amount of drama from school. I can’t help but miss their more innocent days.
On the other hand, it is so awesome that they are finally a bit independent! They are absolutely brilliant (my six-year-old has a gargantuan vocabulary!), and I can have meaningful conversations with them. As far as the Christmas gifts go, it’s nice to know that if I buy them a $30 gift, it’s probably going to last them a few years instead of getting shoved under the bed and forgotten in six months. I think it is so awesome that my nine-year-old wants a pocket knife and is interested in going deer hunting.
As I watch my children and their Christmas lists evolve, it’s nice to reminisce about my tiny babies while I share deep thoughts with my about-to-be-big kids. I’ll go buy the boots that are almost big enough to fit me, and the chapter books that nobody wants to have read aloud to them. And I’ll enjoy it just as much as I always have.
November 19, 2015 · 9:22 pm
NaNoWriMo Word Count: Zero
Hello and Happy NaNoWriMo!
Last year was the first time I attempted this great feat. I achieved a whopping 17,000 words. I was pretty disappointed in myself, to be honest. I really thought I could do this. I had a good idea for a book, and I was excited about it. So where did I falter? You know what? I don’t even remember. I just know I didn’t get it done. I finished the book much, much later.
So I’ve had some qualms about signing up this year. Do I really want to make this commitment and then let myself down? Haven’t I been just so completely busy already without piling another 50k words on top? But then again, I have another great idea for a book. Shouldn’t I just do it? But on the other hand, it’s already getting late in the evening and I haven’t had a chance to write a single word. That big zero at the top of the NaNoWriMo page is not just taunting me, but making outright fun of me.
Hulu has the old Bob Ross shows now. (Don’t worry, this is going somewhere.) I used to absolutely ADORE this show. I watched it all the time as a little kid. It turns out that Bob is just as hypnotic as he was back then. His soft, even voice makes it seem like even I could pick up a brush and a gigantic paint palette and create a beautiful scene of trees on the water. It’s just a bunch of simple little paint techniques that don’t seem like much of anything when you look at them individually, but when you stand back and put them together they make something beautiful.
Hmmm. That sounds like something familiar.
And Bob starts with a certain type of canvas, but he tells me I can use any kind of canvas I want. And I don’t have to paint the happy little trees right where he puts them; that’s completely up to me. And sometimes, he says we’re going to get a little crazy and put a few extra plants over here in the corner, and just see how they look. It’s all just whatever I want; no big deal.
Okay, Bob. I get it. I can paint my own beautiful scene with my words. They might not seem like much by themselves. I have to stand back and look at them all together. And it’s okay if I don’t have all of my decisions made ahead of time. I can throw in an extra scene here or there and just see where it takes me. No pressure. It’s all just whatever I want; no big deal.
Time to start writing!
Check out more of my work on Amazon.
Filed under On Writing
It’s Worth It
I settle into my burgundy leather office chair and pull myself up to my desk. I love this desk. It’s solid cherry with an attached hutch, which it gives it that study-carrel-at-the-library feel. (I like that feeling, cause I’m a nerd.) We even moved my desk recently so it would be at a ninety degree angle to the bookshelf, and give me just a little bit more of that secluded feeling when I’m working. My laptop is open, my journal and ball point pen at the ready for any side notes I need to take, and my betta in his desktop fish tank has been fed. I am ready to start writing.
Suddenly the MIDI version of the Scooby Doo theme song on loop starts playing in my left ear, rather loudly. My comfy chair becomes slightly less comfy as my six-year-old decides to make it into a loveseat. I remember why the no-sound-on-video-games-being-played-outside-your-bedroom rule was established. I’m on a roll though, feeling creative and productive, and enjoying her company as she slowly puts my leg to sleep, so I let it go.
It doesn’t always work out this well. There are other days when the kids seem to forget that I work at home, and think I’m simply at home. On those days, I have someone at my shoulder every five minutes asking for a peanut butter sandwich, or complaining about a sibling. It can make it pretty darn hard (or impossible) to get anything done.
I started working from home so I could be with my kids more often. Sometimes I find that I am with them too often.
But today I came back to my desk after a short break and dove back into editing the current chapter of my upcoming book. Right in the middle of a sentence I find that someone has typed “i love mom.”
Yep. It’s worth it.
Filed under Family, Parenting, Work, Work-at-Home Mom, working with children
What We Did Forget about September 11th
It’s September 11th. I feel like I should have something poignant or poetic to say, but I’m not sure that I do.
15 years ago, this day didn’t mean much to most people. For some, it may have been a birthday. For my brother and his wife, their anniversary. But for most people, just a day.
As of 14 years ago, however, it became much more important for most Americans. I have to say “most” because I have actually seen a Facebook post or two that has rather negative things to say about this day. Is this the result of someone who was too young when it happened to really understand or care about it? (It’s hard for me to believe I’m old enough that I remember something that other adults don’t.) Or someone who is still in that mode of trying to look cool to the rest of the world and therefore is beyond caring about what we went through as a country back in 2001?
I have to say I remember it quite clearly. Living in rural Illinois meant that I was very far away from the action physically, but I was certainly involved mentally. I was driving to college that morning, blasting my Red Hot Chili Peppers CD, when I decided to switch over to the radio. I can remember exactly what part of what town I was driving through when I heard the announcement. I can remember the angle of the sun as it glinted off the railroad tracks and made a morning that seemed so clean and precious. I remember the ball of fear that weighed in my stomach and made me consider pulling over instead of driving onward.
We still had our classes that day, but every television in the college was on. The cafeteria, the lounge area, the classrooms. The towers were burning everywhere. My calculus teacher actually had the audacity to turn off the TV and make us do math of all things, but it was a wonderful emotional break.
I suppose this is where the real point of my story is. That day, I felt like I was connected to every other American. I felt that when I walked down the hallway of my community college and made eye contact with a stranger, we were both thinking the same things: how much we loved our country, how blown away we were by the idea that this could happen, wondering what would happen next.
Now it seems that we spend all our time being afraid of each other. Social media declares that ISIS is everywhere and there is no escaping it. There is a fear of anything that isn’t Christian, which I can’t help but shake my head at. (Don’t get me started on whether this country was founded on Christianity or freedom of religion….HINT: It’s freedom of religion.) We make fun of our country and shame our president on a regular basis.
Personally, I liked our attitudes a lot better 14 years ago. Despite political or religious or sexual tendencies, we all live in the same country. We should still be proud of who we are as a whole and the wonderful things we have in America that we wouldn’t have anywhere else. You might not agree with what our president is doing, but he is still our president. You might not think that gay marriage is okay, but it isn’t as though these laws didn’t go through all the necessary channels to come about. You might think that your religion is the only “correct” one, but at least you live in a country where you are allowed to think that and not be forced to think otherwise.
I urge you to use your freedom of speech wisely and to remember that we are all Americans.
American flag and bright sky
Filed under Uncategorized
A Review of Out of Time by Monique Martin
I truly believe that you should read in the genre in which you want to write. My most recent foray into this principle concerns time travel. Once I finish up the sequel to The Wanderer’s Guide to Dragon Keeping, I have an outline that I’ve started for something a little different. I don’t have a title for it yet, but it’s based on a dream I had once and revolves around (you guessed it) time travel.
During a quick little shopping trip to Amazon, I found Monique Martin’s Out of Time. Since I always try to support other indie authors and it had good reviews, I decided to download it. I haven’t regretted it.
Elizabeth and Simon find themselves transported to 1920’s Manhattan. While they search for a way back to their own time and place, they have to face some major challenges. Not only do they have to blend into this new world, but there are vampires to fight as well.
The characters are well developed and experience genuine arcs as the plot progresses. Martin lets the reader into the minds of both of the main characters throughout, bringing their emotions right to the forefront of the story. Martin fully employs her descriptive powers, whether she is letting us in on the in’s and out’s of what life was like in the 1920’s or simply waxing literary. One of my favorite lines from the book: “Umbrellas blossomed like black flowers in a potter’s field.”
I noticed that another reviewer on Amazon stated that the vampires seemed to come out of nowhere in the story and were a bit misplaced. I humbly disagree. I think the problem is simply that Ms. Martin plunges the reader so thoroughly into the time period of the story, that the reader forgets what the book is actually supposed to be about. It’s a rare occasion that the author does such a good job that we forget what’s going on.
I highly recommend Out of Time to anyone looking for a great sci-fi romance! I look forward to reading further into this series!
Filed under Book Reviews, Books
New on Amazon: The Art of Deception by Christine McLean
I recently had the pleasure of reading Christine McLean newest release, The Art of Deception. I don’t want to give away too much of the plot, because it always bothers me when reviewers do that! I like to read the story for myself, and you’ll want to do the same. This high-energy thriller is edgy, suspenseful, and raw. It’s always great to read a book that starts quickly, and this is one of them. It takes off right away and keeps going until the end. There is always something happening, with lots of characters and subplots. McLean takes seemingly random events and characters and brings them in to an interconnected web of unforeseen connections.
The experience of writing The Art of Deception was amazing for McLean. She fell in love with her characters and truly enjoyed creating the intricate plotline. A sequel will be coming down the line, but the date has not been set yet.
McLean’s first book, Becoming the Best You- Ten Pressure Points that Lead to a Successful Life has received four and five star reviews on Amazon.
You can also check out Christine’s blog here.
Filed under Books, Uncategorized
Ashley O'Melia, Author 