Formatting Frenzy

Another Post so soon?!?! I know... I had to add this in! I have been working on formatting most of the day. I am using CreateSpace to finish The Beast of the Ruin and get it ready for sale, both paperback and Kindle editions. (My sister is finishing up some book covers for me and is still working on the maps for this series, so I plan to update it at a later time.) While formatting the novel, I remembered that there was a way to add in chapter headings that were visible while scrolling through the pages. This feature also allows you to add in a table of contents that will update its own page numbers. No more hunting for chapter headings!!

Thanks to a video on YouTube from Chester Tugwell titled "Word 2013 Chapter Numbering & Page Number with Chapter Number" I was able to figure it all out. While I haven't finished the video or watched anything else from this YouTuber I am sincerely grateful to him for making this so easy. THANK YOU!!

Formatting is a bear on good days, but when I find short cuts like this, that will make things easier in the long run, it really improves my mood.

Do you have any formatting hacks? Any quick tips? How about pet-peeves? I know I do... comment and share your Word Doc Wisdom!!

TTFN!!

Write On, my Friends, Write On!!

Giving Thanks

There is much to be grateful for in my house this Christmas season. My Grandmother's health is improving each day and I look forward to the time when she will no longer need assistance with everyday activities. I know she will never be as independent as she once was, but she will be able to take care of herself. I am sure she is looking forward to that day much more than I am, as she is tired of her granddaughters making all the decisions for her.

I am grateful to friends and family for their prayers and support. We could not have gotten by without you.

I am thankful for this time with my grandmother though it has been very difficult and frustrating at times. I know that she would not be here if not for my sister and I stepping in on several occasions.

I am looking forward to getting out of debt. We are now taking active steps to limit our spending and help pay off the mountains of debt we have accumulated since my grandmother became ill. I would like to say that it is mostly medical bills, but I know there was a lot we should have done that we didn't. We were living as if we had the money we used to and that was not the case. If anyone is listening , all I want for Christmas is to be debt free, or at least to pay off a few of the smaller credit cards. I am tired of stressing over finances.

On a different note, I am almost ready to launch The Beast of the Ruin. My sister is reworking the cover along with a new cover for Ties of Fate. I am still working on Lost Lady, The Lost Prince, and now on an older work called The Captain's Ghost. I know it sounds weird but instead of taking a break, I usually switch gears from one story to another whenever I hit a block. I have dozens of stories I have almost finished from years ago. I just dust off a manuscript, read what I have and then start writing. I hope one day I will have a number of completed works under my belt. I feel this method works best for me because if I stopped writing for a bit, it could be months before I picked it back up again. At least this way I might work an hour on one draft and then an hour on another. Eventually they will come to fruition.

My GoFundMe account hasn't garnered a lot of attention. That's okay, I think I will lower the amount of it anyway. I had grand ideas, but what I need right now is funds to market my novel. If they don't know it's there, how can they buy it? Right? My sister and my friends and family have graciously been my test subjects... I mean test readers, editors and critics for many years. With their opinions and my sister's Photoshop ninja skills I have saved hundreds, if not thousands of dollars in publishing my own work.

I find that in many ways it is a group effort. I am so thankful that they are willing to lend me their time and skills. Their strengths help to strengthen me, and I return the favors whenever I can.

I hope you have a wonderful Christmas season, and are blessed with all that you need.

To my fellow writers who have finished NaNoWriMo, whether you met the 50,000 word mark or even your own smaller goals, remember that you have started something great! Keep going, keep dreaming. WRITE ON!

NaNoWriMo and the Writer that Time Forgot

We are in the swing of National Novel Writing Month, Welcome November!!! Not only do we have Thanksgiving to look forward to, but the abundance of creative activity adding to the written collective. It is amazing to see how many people are taking part and how far they have come in such a short time. It's only the 17th for crying out loud...

NaNoWriMo's official website has an amazing assortment of helpful tools and advice for their participants from famous authors to NaNoWriMo champions. I wish I had the time to check it all out. I've noticed that once I get started on something that time flies by and I look up to realize I've been at it for hours. I get lost in the world I am building and don't come up for air unless some outside necessity makes itself know. Truthfully, sometimes coming back to the real world is a jolt, as I am my protagonist, and my heroine is just another reflection of me.

On another note, I have switched books for my novel, instead continuing to work on Lost Lady for this month, though I have started on the Knave and the Rose. The reason for the switch was that I realized that out of all of my outlines for the Chronicles of Odde series(Nine Books), The Knave and the Rose was the book that I had the least idea about. It made sense to change gears and focus on something else while I let the plot unfold a bit more in my head. Along those lines I am editing what I have on book two, The Lost Prince. I am about 3/4ths of the way done on that novel which was my last NaNoWriMo project. Still have some plot bunnies to work out there. Editing will help me get my thoughts in order before moving forward.  

Since the weather has finally made a turn and a chill is in the air, you would expect that I sit down to my computer with a cup of hot coco or even coffee, though I am not a coffee drinker. Hot tea of any variety sounds lovely as I write this, but no, I am an iced tea girl. Sweet Tea or Regular I drink it year round, and find nothing more enjoyable than a good iced tea. Many fast food chains make it easy to pick up a good drink while I'm out and about, but there are also some places that I never return too. There iced tea tastes as if it were some powdered monstrosity sold by the barrel. A good Iced tea is my reward for going out and getting stuff done! I only mention it here, because I have two iced tea cups sitting at my elbow, and I wonder if other people have a beverage of choice, or maybe a snack food that helps their creative flow.

While editing I like to print out copies of my work, usually Via Staples. My reward points came in and they have a good coupon this month on presentations. I like my draft double-sided spiral bound with had vinyl covers, and this time I added tabbed pages that tell my were each chapter is for easy reference. The extra page will also give me some space for notes as I decided to forgo double spacing and did single space to save money. We'll see how it goes...

 Printing is also a time that I back up my drafts. I usually send emails to friends and tell them to save my drafts. They are most obliging. I would burn cds of my files but I have noticed that I never really keep track of them. The cds get relegated to a bin, and then eventually end up in my shed were I store all of the stuff that is too good to be donated or thrown away. I have commented on this tendency before and will not do so again, but realizing this about myself, having the copies out in the cloud or internet seems a much better idea.

I have no advice that is unique or extremely motivating to give to my fellow writers other than to quote the famous Nike add, "Just do it!"

I wish you all the best of luck, and inspiration in all its forms and fancies. Write On!

New Ideas and Moving Forward

I am still here! I have been working on Lost Lady for some time. It is the novel that I am most motivated to work on so that is where my focus has been. My goal is to get the first draft completed, or at least very close to completion by the end of this month. There were some days off, and some days of hard writing where I knocked it out of the park!! I am extremely happy with my progress. I need to save my draft's more often. I am very familiar with the tragedy of computer errors.

I am using a method I don't usually do for this novel. I made plot cards. Each scene that I had a distinct plan for I put on a blank 3x5 index card and then I put them in order. As I write I move the cards from my to-do pile, to my done pile. I like this a bit better than a traditional outline because I have a brief idea of the scene already in front of me and I don't have to shuffle between word docs which causes me to lose my place and my  train of thought.

I'm also gearing up for NaNoWriMo. Mostly I am trying to get some of The Chronicles of Odde stuff panned out. I know a lot about the first few books, and some things about of the end ones, since I brain-stormed them rather recently, but the middle ones, starting with my next NaNoWriMo project, The Knave and the Rose, is still very vague.  I think I will start with more plot cards. I have a 150 word description that I uploaded to the NaNoWriMo website, but little more than that.

Here is the series blurb if you were interested:

The Chronicles of Odde tell of the Great Convergence. It is a time when the doors to another world are open.

Pulled from their mundane lives, these young woman are called to a new world full of magic and the unknown: The Kingdoms of  Odde. Here they must fend for themselves, and if they are brave enough and clever enough, an extraordinary destiny awaits.

Not too bad, but kind of vague. I still like it.

So on other fronts, my sister is working her way through the FINAL edit of The Beast of the Ruin. I just hope I gave her the most recent edit, and not some earlier edition. I hate to think of her running through all of that for nothing. She has also said that she will update the cover on that novel and my one officially published work, Ties of Fate: The Lost Continent.

Cover design is hard, but my sister makes it look easy with her Photoshop skills. The hardest part right now is trying to come up with an idea that we love, and not settling for something we like. The original cover for Ties of Fate is missing, so she made me a new one, which is in the same vein, but we both agree that it is not as good as the first. Now, we think that the idea of a sailing ship, while relevant to the book, is not exactly where we want to be for a young adult novel. The book is not so much about ships as a young princess's voyage. While very beautifully done, we think that there are some better ideas out there that will appeal more to my audience, and hopefully promote sales.

Question: Do you have an idea of the cover while your write? Do you look at popular novels and get ideas for you own  cover? Are there any tricks you use to choose your cover design?

 

Well, that's all for today, my friends! Write On!

What's on My Mind

If I were a rich  girl, nanananananaah! That's a lyric from a Gwen Stefani song, if you didn't know. It is rather ridiculous, the things that are taking up my time lately. For instance, I was thinking about all the things I would do if I won the lottery, or Publisher's Clearing House. I made a list. I made a list back when I was about 16, and truth be told, it hasn't changed much though I seem to want less stuff. Not that I would want a big party and blow all the money... No. I am rather frugal and practical. I would probably blow a large portion on books and movies. I do love both of those.

I'd like to think I would be very generous with my time and money, and I would probably buy a lot of things for other people, but not so for myself. Sigh. I'd be rather stingy. Anyway...

I have been working on real things as well. I am writing Lost Lady. Some parts I love, some parts are okay, and others didn't turn out quite like I had imagined them. Not that they are bad, only that they need some work. Then again, I am a perfectionist, though I am keenly aware of my own limitations.  I do believe my writing is getting better. I'm not sure if its "good," though some people have enjoyed reading my work. I can't say that they aren't more than a little biased.

I am thinking of a plot for my next NaNoWriMo project, the next book in the Chronicles of Odde Series. It's called The Knave and the Rose. I know that I should probably finish the last one before beginning something new, but I distract myself with new projects and that often helps when I am stuck on something else. If only writing would make money, some of my RL problems would be answered!

The reality now is that I need a job. Not want, or would like, but NEED. We are sinking further in debt, and I don't know how we can get out. Other people have stay at home jobs and are getting stuff done with some side income. How does that work? Where can I sign up? Stuff like that never seems to work for me. Am I looking in the wrong places? Obviously!

Being an adult really sucks some times. More often than not I want to go back to nap time, story time, and went someone else would cut the crusts off my sandwiches. What happened to all the plans and dreams I had? Not just in my childhood, but just out of high school, when the future was full of possibilities.  What happened to the promise of the open road, the blank page? Are they still there? Perhaps it's because I've come to see a lot of things as chores, or things I want but can't do because of arbitrary reasons. Maybe they are all still there, waiting for me to see them again, in the light of possibility. With Hope.

I'm rambling again. This post isn't really what I had planned, but I don't feel like making a new one, so here you go internet. Have at thee!

Good Luck, Good Night, and Write ON!

Long Time No See

Long time no see, readers! Yet again I have fallen off the wagon, broken my promise to myself and let this blog go unwritten day after day, after day. I'd like to say I have some really good excuses. And I do! I'd like to say that RL is so busy right now that I just didn't have the time, and who would know the difference, but in truth, I am lazy.

I've spent a week binging on romantic Korean dramas. I've spent countless hours on Pinterest and Facebook. I've had family come to visit and done a mad dash deep clean of my house to prove that I am a responsible adult, if only for the week that they are here.

I'd like to say that I have been working diligently on my writing, i.e. plotting, outlining, doodling at least, but that would be a lie. Just look at the statements above.

My sister, on the other hand, has obviously been reading the updates from NaNoWriMo and has started to get her notes together, to organize her random pieces of paper and prepare for November. I looked at her and felt a twinge. I am not sure if it is pride, envy, or laughter. Her writing style and methods are so far from my own that I wouldn't know where to begin. She is organized, in depth and well read on the topics she is including in her novel, a paranormal detective series. I am so proud of her, and yes, more than a little jealous. I love her bunches, but she seriously kicks my butt in this category.

My stories come out of my head and require little to no research, while my twin has spent countless hours reading about police procedures, FBI protocols, and medical practices. I would be surprised if she wasn't on some government list after everything that she's been looking up on the internet. She has completed book one and is currently outlining books two and three. I, on the other hand, have been ignoring my to-do lists and sleeping... a lot.

As anyone who reads this blog would know, I am currently taking care of my grandmother who had been ill and bedridden for over a year now. My sister and I take care of her; we are a team... Though unfortunately, not paid for our endeavors, we are living off my grandmothers income.. or should I say mooching. For someone with no job, and an extraordinary amount of free time on their hands, I get very little done; other than making a mess that is.

Depression set in a while ago, and while I am not in fear of my life, I am in fear of the future. I am in debt, tied to my home, with no income of my own except for a few part-time jobs. And writing stories that no one seems to want to read. I fear I am a failure at life. My 31st birthday is quickly approaching and I have very little to show for it. I have to constantly remind myself that there is still more to do, still more to my life. I am a day-dream, always have been and always will be. That skill has helped me imagine the worlds I write about, but I sometimes fear that my secret escape is eating up too much of my life.

Anyway, I seem to be turning this blog into my personal diary, which isn't what I intended it for whoever cathartic I might find the experience.

With this post I am starting something new. I am changing focus, kicking it into gear, and trying to reorganize my life, by organizing my days. Step one is to make goals. Step two, start making changes, step three is building habits, and after that who knows.

Wish me luck, Pray that everything goes well! And I will do the same for whoever is reading this post.

I know things get in the way, that we get side tracked and for one reason or another, getting back on the wagon seems too hard, but it's not impossible. I seem to spent more time trying to get back to my goals then actually working towards them, but I keep trying and that is what really matters. Small steps, little changes, and one more push! That's really all it takes.

To my fellow writers, to my readers, whoever you are, God Bless and Write On!

It isn't what it seems...

A lot has happened recently. Other than myself getting in the way of my own plans, there has also been some exciting developments.

Most of June was spent editing and formatting my novel, Ties of Fate: The Lost Continent. The crunch was due to the fact, as some of you may know, that I had a coupon for two free paperback editions of my book thanks to Createspace and NaNoWriMo. My sister had to make a new cover for the novel since her previous version was m.i.a. As you can guess, I got it done. Not only did I get my books, but my novel is now available in e-book at the Kindle store and in paperback format on amazon.com. Huzzah!

I took a few days off and then finished my full edit of The Beast of the Ruin. (Yes, I'm bragging about it...) It is now in my sister's court for a read through and to update the cover since I changed the title from My Dark Prince. It was her idea so she can't complain! I also started back up on another story, whose working title is Lost Lady. I am very motivated to complete this project, though in all honesty, I should be working on book two of the Chronicles of Odde: The Lost Prince.

I am not really liking the Lost Prince as a title. It is better than its previous incarnation: She Loves Me, She Loves Me Not. Melli brought up the fact that some of my titles were a little too modern and didn't really fit with my genre. I agreed and tried to revamp the outlines. I have eight books in this series so far, most have very brief outlines, some plot points and character sheets but little more than a title. The book has sort of taken a different direction than what I had planned. I am not sure who my heroine will end up with. I guess I will have to finish the book to find out.

on another note, the publishing process was more difficult than I expected, but not in the areas I thought I would have trouble. Formatting my novel was a beast. I had to make it a pdf to save my special fonts, but every time I noticed something was off, I had to change it and save if again as a different pdf; I think I ended up with four in all. My map didn't want to fit in the novel after my sister tricked it out for me. My cover was too large in size, for the 40 MB max. We had to rescale it three times. I swear that if there are any errors I don't want to know. Okay, that's a lie. I hate spelling errors, so I'll just have to have someone else read it, mark the errors and then reload it all again.

The process of getting my book out there was remarkably easy (and free), especially with my sister's help with the cover and what not. The hard part, the part that actually costs money, is the marketing. While my book is available, no one is buying it because they don't know it is there. Unfortunately I don't have the funds to market it at the moment. My GoFundMe starter has stalled. My family and friends still haven't purchased the book, which makes me sad.. but I'll get over it!

So my question for today is: How do you come up with your titles? Do you wait until a novel is finished? Do you take it from some part of your book that speaks to you? Are you like me, and you title your work right out of the gate and then change it when needed?

Well, that's it for now. To my fellow writers, don't give up! I know it's long and hard process, and sometimes being a published author isn't exactly what you expected, but it's a huge accomplishment. Don't let anything dim that!! And remember...Write on!!

Thank the Lord! It is Finished!... Okay almost finished!

Thank You LORD!!

I have just completed the process of turning my word doc into a kindle book, which is now ready to be purchased at www.amazon.com. Ties of Fate: The Lost Continent is here! I am so excited!! I feel as if I am smiling like an idiot. Not that this isn't a big accomplishment for me, but seriously, get it together girl!

I am still reviewing the printed version, which I hope to have up for sale in a few days. I ordered a proof so I can double check the formatting. Digital reviews are great, but they aren't the same as holding it in my hands.

The process was a lot harder than I thought. Formatting documents and  files sizes aside, I was surprised at how much goes into royalties, taxes, and the what not. I guess I forgot about all that. For something that is almost free to publish, it takes a lot of time and effort to get it out there.

I am currently on Go Fund Me, under Amelia M. Brown: Publishing My First Book. Technically, Ties of Fate is my very first book, but not the one for my Go fund Me account. Ties of Fate has been sitting on the back burning, getting worked on sporadically for almost 15 years. What I am working on now is something more recent. I am trying to get the start to my series, The Chronicles of Ode published. Book One: The Beast of The Ruin is undergoing some serious editing. I had a proof printed, but I wasn't quite done with my editing, so the formatting of the novel was a little off. I hope, with the help of GO Fund Me, to be able to afford to get The Beast of the Ruin out to bookstores, and have it professionally marketed. I am taking care of my grandmother and not able to leave the house very often. I am hoping that this will also provide us with some much needed income.

Thank the Lord that is done! One thing I can mark off my bucket list!

To My fellow writers, it is a long and slow process, but it is worth it! Write ON!!

Formatting: the Bane of My Existence

     Formatting. It is the bane of my existence! Not just paragraph alignment and page numbers, it's so much more than that. From your body font to the space between your chapter headings to the first line of your first paragraph, formatting is literally cover to cover. Fonts and style have to match from chapter to chapter and it's so very easy to mess stuff up, especially with multiple drafts and converting your work from one size to another. As a artist there are so many options that it boggles the mind to think of them all. The question is, what do I want my novel to look like? It is amazing how generalized my ideas are. I want my book to look "professional," to fit into my genre and to be "trendy," especially where my cover is concerned. None of that tells me what font my title should be in, or how far down my chapter title should be on the page or how big my name should be on the cover. I almost want to pull out my hair or scream. I think I'll settle for an Aleve, or two (liquid gel, extra strength of course).
    I have a draft that I have been working on for years and it never behaves as I change the size of the paper I am working with. Taking my standard 8x11 and trying to refit it to a paperback 4x6 produces problems. Every time! I finally found a way to delete all preexisting formatting, but now I have to start from scratch and I already have a headache.
     The Problem you ask? Several pages had paragraphs that were disappearing in to nothingness as if text wrap had suddenly stopped working on my word doc. I have no idea how that happened, so now I am starting over. The annoying thing is that I am not sure about this book size. The publisher provided a template for the size and I am thinking about going bigger. I seriously hope I will not have to do this again.

There is only one thing I hate more than formatting and that is having to re-type something because the file is lost or corrupted. I have learned my lesson there. Save often and store well. I send drafts to my self, my friends and family in case something happens and my work is lost forever.

Do you have any formatting horror stories? Some problems? Some advice? Please share! I'm always up for learning something new.

To my fellow writers, as ever, WRITE ON!

Word A Day

     My word today was askance (courtesy of Merriam-Webster via my inbox). I like this word, because as soon as I read it I had a mini movie playing in my head. I could clearly see the main male character looking at my heroine out of the corner of his eye. It was a kind of hungry look. The image was very clear and lasted only a moment, but even now I can still see it though it is not as clear as it once was. I thought in that moment, I must use this word in my novel. Today! Right now!
     As a writer we often forget how important words are, mostly because we are wading through them by the hundreds in a day or even an hour. Meaning carries weight with experience. We each bring our own interpretations to the work, even as a writer we are building worlds from our own vast imaginations and limited experience. And sometimes we can become stuck on finding just the right word, searching through dictionaries, thesauruses and coming up short. How many times have I looked for a word that was on the tip of my tongue and only found a pale comparison? Too many. There was a time when words were new, and every one I learned was like a gold star beside my name.
     I remember learning to read in my early teens, that is not to say that I couldn't read at all, I just did it very poorly and I hated it because I was so bad at it. Eight grade was when I found my love for reading and devoured book after book. I started my own dictionary. As I read there were words that I didn't understand, or wasn't sure if I was getting the meaning right with the context and so I would look them up and write down the definitions. After a while I had to write down less and less words until I no longer needed to look something up. I am not a walking dictionary, but in daily life and reading I can say with confidence that I am a very proficient reader and yet some words still strike me.
     I know some one may think it's silly, but I have a few favorite words. Pugnacious which is an adjective and means to show a willingness or desire to fight or argue (definitions thanks to Merriam-Webster Online dictionary, www.m-w.com). My family doesn't swear, like ever, and so my favorite swear word is Fustian. While the definition dose not conjure the meaning I have for the word, I enjoy a Victorian blue-stocking sort of heroine that often utters this phrase under her breath. (I'' leave you to look up the definition for yourself!)
    So what is your favorite word? Is it old-fashioned? Modern slang? Something you read or something you heard? What does it mean to you?

Good Night my fellow writers and WRITE ON!

Tools of the Trade

     Sure, a pad of paper and a pen (or pencil) is all you really need to be a writer but in this day and age there is so much more to play with. I've talked in the past about some of the things I use to help me write. Well, these items include things you might not think about as tools, like file folders, labels, or poly zip envelopes (pictured below). Some might use shoeboxes or vanilla envelopes to organize paper, but I have just spent a lot of time and a bit of money organizing my household files and my story files. (And I am impressed with the outcome!)
     A few months ago I bought a large, four drawer metal filing cabinet at a thrift store for about $10. With some hard word and creativity, I cleaned it up, painted it and stuck some wall decals and new handles on it and it looks brand new, better really. I don't have enough files to fill all the drawers so I use some for storage. They hold extra supplies and what not. I found some cool project files at the dollar store that you can write down the description of what you are working on, start and stop dates, etc. I like color coding, though I admit that I am still working on it. Five colors never seem to be enough. Perhaps my categories are too detailed...?
     One of my most useful purchases are the clear poly zip envelopes from staples. They are just zip bags made of heavy plastic with colorful zippers. I use them to coral the papers I am currently working on in my "story basket." The basket is a medium sized plastic bin from Big Lots that I use to keep all of my paperwork in, including the printed spiral bound drafts that I am working on. Inside is also the envelops which contain my brainstorms; things like illustrations, blueprints of buildings, timelines, maps, character sheets, and outlines. I've labeled them with name tag stickers, the cheep 99 cent store kind. I can just peel off the sticker and re-label or put a new one over the top. I've had to purchase more envelopes as I started a new story and need somewhere to stash my notes. It's organized chaos and I love it.

Envelopes range in price from 1.99-5.99. The ones that I bought were 3.99 and just plain envelopes but they have some with pockets on the outside for notecards and smaller pieces of paper. They have expandable ones and smaller sizes, almost a half or a third of the standard letter size, for who knows what. They were all very cool.

Do you have any tools or tricks of the trade? Anything you've found or made work for you? With pinterest and the web you can find thousands of craft ideas for people on a budget or if you just want to glam out your everyday items.

That's all for tonight! To all my readers: Write On!

Priorities

     My Aunt has always said... well, she has a lot of good advice, but she often says that if something is a priority then you would make time for it. And if you say it's a priority but don't make time to do it, then what dose that really say about you. I'm paraphrasing of course. Her saying is much more to the point but you get the idea. As I look at what I am prioritizing at the moment, there isn't a lot of stuff that I want to do. It's mostly what has to be done.

     I don't talk a lot about myself here, and I do that on purpose. The internet is an amazing and terrible thing. We know this, but I'm sure anyone reading this blog can glean some basics from in between the lines. I have decided to change and tell you a bit more about what is going on in my life.  

    I am a thirty year old woman. I don not have a career, but I have a few very small jobs. I live with my sister and together we take care of my Grandmother whose health has declined rapidly in the last year and a half. I pray that we will be heading toward recovery some time soon. The day-to-day is often a struggle for us all, more so in the last month and mostly from our own doing. In the wake of the Purge and day-to-day of caring for another person I have been trying to get some control of a life that has become focused on putting out fires, instead of actively planning for the future. I am trying to take control of the only thing I can, my surroundings. Organizing our home has become a goal that I can attain, but one I am mismanaging.

      I realized something last night as my sister and I sat down to plan out what we were doing today and to brainstorm a schedule for my grandmother. We have been winging it for the last few weeks since she returned from the hospital. Deep in the middle of the Purge she spent a week in the hospital and then we had several days where family visited and took over some of her care. It was enough to get us through the yard sale but this minimal effort is not helping anyone. A schedule will help us as much as it will help her. Anyway, I realized that we were prioritizing the wrong things, or in fact not prioritizing anything at all. I was making plans and making lists and not really getting anywhere because I felt I had to get all of it done right now or as soon as possible. So as my sister and I added even more to-do items to the already long list, I realized that we needed to focus on one thing, or one area at a time. The obvious choice being the front yard and the growing pile of garbage that needed to be taken to the dump.

    Our wonderful neighbors have been a true blessing since my grandfather died, and one often takes loads to the dump for us and offered to drop off his trailer again today. (You would be surprised how much garbage we make. Especially while cleaning things out. We donate and recycle and still have at least a truck load a month.) So getting the garbage bagged and ready to go was a major priority. But first was the container garden that my sister had started instead of our usual garden which we have yet to make produce since my grandfather passed. She had decided to plant things right in the middle of the driveway where we would need to move to load the stuff for the dump. (Melli enjoys gardening and I keep an eye on her so that she doesn't spend to much money on it.) Moving the pots to a graveled area meant opening room for us to move out the garbage from the house and garage. We emptied the many cans we have around the house, getting any boxes and collecting the items from the numerous house project that needed to go but where too large to fit in the garbage can and put them in the driveway to be loaded this afternoon. All of which took less than twenty minutes.

     Our other main priority is the garage, which we worked on again today. It is looking really good. As my sister keeps saying, if we work only one hour a day it will get done. We spent more than an hour out there and I feel as if we can finally see daylight. As the day progressed and the major items were marked off my list, I added in this or that as I was doing it already. But making something my priority and realizing that I can't and don't need to do it all at once has taken a lot of stress off. I still have my list, which includes house chores, errands, personal projects and even a bit of my writing to dos, but I am okay with just doing a little at a time.

     Heck I even spent time writing today, which is what I really want to do.

      I hope to get back to writing about writing, or even review some books and tools to help writers, but right now I am happy to get back in the habit of posting at least twice a week. Yes, it's about whatever is on my mind, but it writing and I enjoy it. Now, to Prioritize my to-dos for tomorrow. So Goodnight!

    To my fellow writers: WRITE ON!

The Aftermath

     The Purge is complete and somehow still not over. Tubs line one side of my rather large drive way waiting to be sorted through for those items that will not be given to the Salvation Army, but sold on-line or through a friend. The SA truck pick up is scheduled and I only plan to pull out a few large ticket items in hopes of selling them very soon; emphasis on very. There was talk of another yard sale, but I think I might have a mental breakdown before then. The aftermath of sorting through almost everything we own (about 90%) means there was a lot of things that we didn't want to go, but didn't know where to put them. We played musical chairs with some furniture, moving things into the garage to act as storage and put up lots of modular shelves, most of which we already owned. Now is the task of finding homes for all of the displaced items. Sorting, organizing, and labeling is happening at a slow pace, but I can finally see some progress. For the past week it's felt like I was just moving things from one stop to another, with no real cleaning getting done.
     I am too tired to work on my own writing, but have devoured some new books in the last few days. My sleep has been troubled and I wonder if some serious scheduling is in order. Our plans are little more than a to-do list for the day, usually consisting of two major projects and some basic house chores, most prominent is the laundry.
     A daily check list or schedule might make me feel better, but I am not sure how long it will last. Hopefully long enough to release some of the stress we are under. Some routine would be nice.

How do you handle big projects? Are you like us and tend to bite off more than you can chew? Or do you plan, execute and admire your handy work? Do you ever look around in the middle and ask yourself what in the world were you thinking? I know I do!

I hope to post more about writing in the future, but this organizing kick has gotten a hold of me right now. Spring Fever or something. I must admit, looking out at the rows of plastic tubs almost ready to be picked up, I feel a large weight being lifted from my shoulders. I no longer have to worry about that stuff. It is a good feeling!

The Things We Carry With Us

     We are counting down the hours until the yard sale begins. A few days ago we were running behind, but now we are nearing the finish line. Looking out over a sea of tables and stuff, I wonder about the things we label as important. Why have we kept all of this stuff? There are still more tubs and boxes out there of things that we didn't want to get rid of.
     These are boxes full of memories, but they have been sitting, forgotten in the dark. My memories are no less vivid. Even if I had the room to house all of these things, I don't want to. There is no place for them, but how to keep the memories? So I will take pictures of things before they sell, put them on facebook, and add them to my box of keepsakes that have yet to be organized. Someday, someone might find them, the jumbled pieced of my life and wonder at their significance.
     We keep so much, either because it meant something to us, or was too expensive to replace or get rid of. I am thinking a lot about what we leave behind. For someone who will have to box my processions and hand over those important items to friends and family there is no way to tell what is significant, and what is not. For someone on the outside, nothing and everything is full of potential meaning. My sister said she had read something that said just that; because they didn't know what was important, everything was.
     We carry so much with us that it can become a burden. It is the life style to which we wish to become accustomed and yet it is a constant trial. We acquire more; we need to maintain it, clean it, care for it. It takes our time and money and yet we are happy for more. There is never enough.
    Anyway, though my mind is contemplating the lightness of a minimalistic life, I know myself. I will continue to collect what I like, what I love. The need for balance between what I have and what I want, and what I need is apparent. Because the truth is simple; in the end, we can't take it with us.

Too Much Cool Stuff

     Have you every felt overwhelmed with all of your stuff, but didn't want to get rid of anything? For my grandmother, who grew up on the tail end of the Great Depression, throwing away something, getting rid of it, only happened when there was nothing left worth using. If there is a remote possibility that we might use said item, it stays. Same for sentimental items. My sister and I are a bit more heartless. What good is something if it's set in a plastic tub for five plus years? None. Yes, I still have trouble getting rid of my childhood keepsakes, but the truth is I am thirty years old and this stuff will never see the light of day! So why not let someone else enjoy it?
     After moving "home" to help my grandmother after my grandfather passed away, we fit a three bedroom house into the already stuffed house I grew up in. Or at least we tried to. We had a garage sale, and got rid of anything that was easily replaceable. Everything else was put into the sheds or garage, after we fit everything we could possibly imagine into our own rooms. Top priorities were books, and computers. If I could do without my bed I would. My books are what was important. And yes, I was heartless and got rid of a bunch of them as well, even though I was crying on the inside.
     After two years of living with the clutter, my sister and I have begun the Purge. Nearly half of the things I own are in storage of some kind. Our design style is opposite of my grandmother's, and we didn't want to force her to change anything, though we have slowly been introducing items into her décor. Still, there is so much stuff just sitting there. You never realize how much work it takes to keep a house clean until something gets out of hand. And it has, repeatedly over the last could of months. So as soon as the weather turned warm, we rolled up our sleeves and dug in. Every tub, ever shelf, every drawer and dark corner of the closet are being gone through for items to add to the sell pile. It is amazing what we are finding we can do without.
      I had forgotten that I owned a lot of stuff. I thought a few days ago, "where did that mirror go?" And found the mirror in a box that had yet to be unpacked from the move (over two years ago), I had even forgotten that I had spray painted the gaudy gold plastic frame a nice blue. I hung it in my closet as a vanity mirror. But stuff like that has been happening the last few days. What good is something if you can't see it? If you forgot you even owned it? In the case of our abundant craft supplies, things have an expiration date. Maybe not literally, like canned foods, but markers dry out, so does paint and stamp pads. Fashion and fads change. So if we are going to use this stuff, it needs to be soon. Some stuff I would never use, but someone else might. So into the sell bins.
     We hope we will make enough money on the yard sale, or as my sister has christened it, the Too Much Cool Stuff Sale, that we can pay off some of the medical bills and accompanying bills that have been adding up over the last year. In the struggle between Money vs. Donate, money wins. I just hope we can get this finished in our timeline. I am running on empty, physically and emotionally, and my ability to keep pushing through is being seriously tested.
     I am taking a break from writing and editing, to read a bit when I am not working on the Purge... It is one of my few distressing activities. For the rest of you, I know I said an organized space helps write and de-cluttering can help the mind distress, but remember before you take on this kind of thing; It is always more than you planned. It will take more effort, more time, and probably more money than you thought. So find a friend, set a budget, and make a plan. The really trick is sticking to it!

As for me, The Purge continues! To my fellow writers, Write On!

Oaky Ingenuity

     I was thinking about knowledge and experience today. We are still working on the Purge and renovating our garage. Slowly but surely things are being crossed off the to-do list. Many things I am attempting for the first time. A new experience to add to my skills. My sister and I have a running joke about our home project adventures. We laugh saying, "We watch as few youtube videos, read a page or two from a book and think we can do anything!" We laugh because it's true. That's how we learned to prune our fruit trees after my grandfather passed away. That's how I learned to hang a new side door in the garage, and connect the new dryer vent.
     We never think that we can't do something. It's more like, it isn't safe to do something. Like the electrical in the house. We are accident prone and tend to lose our tools in the middle of a project. Electricity is something I think I can do, but am smart enough to leave to the professionals.
      As for anything else, well, we always say, "No, we can do that!" Especially when we see something in the store that is creative and expensive. We think our own creative natures are up to any challenge. We like to use what we've got, but we are also spend thrifts. With a bit more thrift in us. My grandmother calls it Oaky Ingenuity. The ability to look at something that needs to be done and use what you have, but perhaps not in the "right" way. My grandfather was a big believe in Oaky Ingenuity. He was originally from Oklahoma while my Grandmother was from Missouri. They know what they are talking about.
     My grandfather was able to make anything work, without spending more than twenty dollars on something. At least in most situations. We always said he used the three B's: Bubblegum, baling wire and bobby pins. Later we added duct tape. After his death we couldn't get any of our three lawnmowers to start. It seemed they only worked for my grandfather. He probably has some strange trick he used to get them started and after his passed we were left in the dark. He never wrote anything down.
     My sister and I get a bit of our creative problem solving from him. We make due, even if it doesn't always come out as we planned. He always made it work.
     Instead of getting us dolls when we were little, be got us a tool set, and not one of those plastic fisher-price things. A real tool set... with a saw and C-claps and everything. He helped us build cradles for our baby dolls and stables for our Barbie horses. He thought us to do anything a guy could do and funded many a home project we had seen on This Old House, or later on HGTV.
     These day's we don't have him to fall back on, and tend to spend more than is prudent. While we aren't afraid to go get what we need, we are good at using what we have and changing direction when a project doesn't go the way we planned.
     I guess that the ability to shift gears, as it were, is not new, but I think it has to be learned.
     I use it a lot in writing, maybe that's why I'm not done yet. When I hit a road block I usually shift to something else, another story or project, because I love to write and I have more stories in my head then I may ever finish, but stopping isn't going to happen. Maybe no one will ever read my books. Maybe they aren't anything new, but that isn't why I write. Yes, I'd like to make money writing, because it's something I love, and it takes a lot of time and effort, but I write for me. I love the sense of accomplishment when I finish a page, or a scene, or a chapter. I can't describe the feeling of finishing my first manuscript.
     What better way to use what I've got, than to write it down!

Anyway, that is my ramblings for tonight. As ever, Write On!

Editing through the Chaos

     It is strange that editing is what I do in my quiet time right now. With the Purge still in full swing it's either editing or sleeping. I am trying to do more of the former, and not the latter.
     I am still editing Ties of Fate. But I am also starting a new, well maybe not so new, story. I still have The Beast of the Ruin to finish editing and The Lost Prince to finish writing (Last Years NaNoWriMo project). I am behind schedule but not feeling too bad about it. Real life has interfered a good deal and I think that what I have done is still an accomplishment. Even keeping up with these posts has been something that I can mark off my list with pride.
     Anyway, I wanted to talk a bit more about my editing style and things that help me edit. First, you should know that I am an "in print" kind of girl. I have probably mentioned this before, but I preferred to edit a printed copy. I like writing notes to myself in the margins. Yes, I know they have comments in the new word docs that are supper helpful, but this is just my preference. To each their own!
     I've used Grammerly, an application, an add-on to word doc and it was very helpful, though I ignored a good number of its suggestions, overall it was money well spent and I may do the same again. There were multiple payment options, and the longer you used the app the cheaper each month was. I paid for only one month, because I knew that I wouldn't be using it long term. In one month I can go through my drafts with the program and not need more time. Grammerly in no way completed my draft for me, but it did get me a lot closer to the final edit. It was just as helpful as the friends I lent copies too, though on a sentence level kind of editing. Like a much better and more thorough spell check.
     The hardest part of editing, at least for me, is getting in the mood, but I've found that waiting for the mood to hit me is useless. If I just sit down and start, I can look up an hour or a chapter later and marvel at how fast it's all going. Recently I took a draft with me while I did my laundry at the local laundry mat. (My washer and dryer are having issues.) As the wash cycle was doing it's thing I got some pages done. It really dose go by pretty fast once I get started. So don't wait for the right mood, or the right moment, take it with you and pull out your draft while you wait to pick up the kids, while you're stuck in the waiting room of the doctor's office. Soon that chapter will be done and then your whole draft!!
      The next big step is to copy all of your edits and notes back into your word doc, and if you are one of the people who edit digitally then you are a giant step ahead, but I will take the redundancy. (As I mentioned before, I have lost a few drafts and don't mind the extra paper copies.) I go page by page and highlight the page number at the bottom as I complete that pages. It lets me know how far I have gotten and it keeps my place when the pages don't always line up. Some pages have little to no editing, then on the other hand, I am rewriting a whole scene that, more often than not, grows by several pages. What can I say... I'm long winded.
     After this step is complete, which really never takes as long as I think, I give the draft to a friend or family member to read. And they give me feed back. I write them a little note and tell them what I want them to look for while reading. Whether it's grammar, organization, continuity, or voice, I try to have them edit for one or two things at a time because I will edit it again after I receive their comments and probably go through these steps two or three more times depending on just how much editing I do per round. For example, I had gone through several (at lest three rounds) by myself and had finally thought the draft was ready to give to a friend. My friend came back with some major issues for Ties of Fate. They were all good points that I hadn't noticed which was exactly why I had given this friend my draft. After editing it heavily, I gave the draft to my sister to read (again). Another round of editing ensued, and I am finally near an ending point. Still I will have my sister and friend read the... hum... "Final" draft, before moving this thing into print.
     I have two free paperback copies thanks to NaNoWriMo and I am going to use them on this manuscript. So I better get back to work, I only have a few months to whip it out, and I say that as a professional procrastinator. Luckily my sister is in a similar situations, and keeps me apprised of our approaching deadline!

Good luck with your editing. If you have any tips or suggestions please comment!

    To my fellow writers: WRITE ON!!!

THE PURGE

IT HAS BEGUN!!!
     We are currently organizing our garage. Partially because the area was full of stuff with little more than a path out the main door, and partially because it is that time of year again. To me, Spring equals cleaning which also means yard sale! In my yearly years our family would have a major yard sale each spring, but as I got older I have tended towards donating rather than selling. Yard sales are hard work. Not only do you need to collect the items you wish to sell, you need to clean them and showcase them to advantage in order to make money. Anything we don't sell is going straight to donate and not back into our house (or garage).
     The PURGE  began as a simple clean out with areas marked for sell, donate, keep and garbage, like all good organizers tell you to do. As we pulled everything out of the space we decided to renovate! Nothing major. We had a good number of the items already. The major project, the one that we hate above all others, is painting and we have painted almost everything; shelves and walls, more shelves and more walls. The walls are old and haven't been painted since they were put up so they have not been easy to paint. We decided to just use Kiltz primer on everything and call it done. White equals clean. Right?
    But of course we couldn't stop there. We have, for some time, wanted to convert the garage into a den, really a large craft room. We are unable to afford something that big right now, but we already have the modular shelving units fro IKEA (my favorite store), countertops that we used as desks during my teenage years, and a bunch of rolling plastic bins. Not to mentions the numerous tubs full of craft supplies that haven't seen the light of day in almost a decade. Well, as you can guess, a job we thought might take three or four days has taken a week and a half and we are still not done, thought our energy only lasted a few days into the project.
    We started saying, "well if we are going to do this... we should do that too, and if we are going to do that... then we need to do this first..." And so on. We've filled a large shed, cleaned out the small one, have a pile to sell that looks like a small mountain and the garage still isn't put back together.

It may not look it, but there is organized chaos. These pictures are a few days old, though I can't say that it is looking any better.  I can not wait for this too be over... But for now...

   The PURGE continues!

The Bling

     I know you are wondering what Bling has to do with writing... right? Well, I'm not talking about jewelry exactly, but those things we add to our books or manuscripts that help to flesh them out. Things like maps, time-lines, family-trees, etc.
     I am very big on maps. Not just maps of these fictional lands, but also blueprints of buildings when those buildings play a large roll in my writing. I have probably mentioned this before, but I can spend hours, if not days, trying to come up with a design. I start with my mental image and plan the layout then add in some logic. By that I mean I build a house that fits the footprint rather than having more rooms than there is floor. Most houses are not the Tardis, (i.e. bigger on the inside.)
     Sometime things come together in an hour, like a recent castle for another story. Sometimes it takes days, and I have to walk away from it for a little while to get a better perspective.
     So recently I have been working on maps for the Chronicles of Odde Series. It's rather complex, because several books include a lot of traveling, one across the entire continent, so I like to plan where things are in relation to one another. It helps for future books as well, I can decide if I need the world map or something more localized.
     For the Chronicles I've decided on a style that is more representational than accurately spaced. I like the idea of being able to "see" the places I am talking about rather than the distance between point a and point b. I know the scale of the map is all off, but I like the art as much as I like the information it is portraying.
     That being said, here is a very rough draft of one of the maps. I am still working on several others for the series. This is the map of Telios, a land I will be visiting in the future. The story that accompanies it is still in the planning stages, but I had a very clear idea of what this placed looked like, and it was easy for me to put it to paper.

     As I said, this is a very rough draft, just paper and ink. I've scanned it in to clean it up. I might even hand I over to Melli and her Art degree to bling out. (I used some internet images to help with the style.) I really like the perspective. I am not so sure about the color.

     Well, that's all for now. Have a wonderful day and WRITE ON!

Back from Outer Space

     Yes, the real world has taken up most of my time as of late. I am sorry to have gone so long without posting. Not that I think you are missing my prose, but that I had made a promise to myself that I would commit to this and I have let myself down. Well, back on the band wagon!

Life Update:
     Writer's block! I am stuck with my latest book (don't even want to look at it. I am pretending it doesn't exist!), and while I let a friend take a look at The Beast of the Ruin manuscript I am avoiding my writer's block by working on other things. Most recently an older novel, my first official work, and trying to prepare it from printing. Thanks to NaNoWriMo I have two free paperback copies coming my way and I plan to have the book ready by the march deadline. On the other hand I am working on something different, a time-travel romance. Yes... it's been done, but not by me. I can't get enough of this genre on my own reading list, so I hope that someone else will appreciate my addition. Right now it is a lot of planning and research, but I enjoy those aspects as much, if not more than, the writing process sometimes.

     My organizational efforts have proved fruitful though somewhat unfocused. I am good at starting a project but somewhere in the middle I usually loose steam, yet keep pushing through. This means the job gets done, eventually, just not exactly as I might have first envisioned, i.e. there is something lost in the execution. Take for example my filing system.

     I recently went through my story files and school papers. I tried to group like things together, assign colored files to certain things, but I'm cheep and if I already had a plan vanilla folder for something , I am loathed to change it. And yet, I got rid of a lot of stuff I didn't need. Four garbage bags later I am somewhat more organized, though the Virgo in me is screaming to color code the crap out of everything, and I am currently figuring out just what that might entail. That is to say, I am looking at organizational how-to's on pinterest, youtube and the web. Let's just say my hours on the computer have doubled recently and leave it at that.

     In other news, my family has graciously put up a new shed for me and I now have an empty building waiting to receive the tubs of "really good stuff" that I can't find room for in the rest of my house. I am well aware that not everything in these said tubs is "keep" worthy by most standards and I have planned for that. I am calling this endeavor The PURGE! Yes, my predilection for naming things is rearing its head. And really even caps and bold italics can't convey the tone in which this title echoes in my mind in that deep narrative voice reserved for overly dramatic and sometime terrifying movie trailers. Really, it is great!

     The PURGE will consist of going through every box, every drawer, every canister and hidey-hole and evaluating pretty much everything I own into one of several categories: Keep, Sell/Donate, Garbage and Family. I plan to have boxes ready and the salvation army on speed dial. I am big about sharing the love, and so we give items away to family and friends or donate a lot of things. I preferred to recycle when I can. Though I am still in the air about yard sales. Yes, recouping some of the money I spent is appealing, they are just so much work and I am not looking forward to having to store the sale items until the warmer weather comes my way. I like donating because there are instant results. No mess, no fuss, no bother. Drop off and done!

     For now I have to wait from some sunny weather to start my project. I am so excited, I am literally smiling from ear to ear just thinking about it.

     Well, that's about all for the life update. I have to get back to my medieval research. Bring on the websites!

The Sticky Note of DOOM!

      The Sticky Note of Doom isn't really as bad as it sounds. I was just having trouble deciding what to call this post. I suppose I should back up and explain before talking about my sticky notes. My friends and I were trying to motivate ourselves during our community college days and one friend in particular came up with the idea of naming things to make them more awesome. With little imagination and a lot of things that needed awesome new names, one phrase came up more than any other and I bet you can guess which friend suggested it. So the ...blank... of DOOM became the title we gave anything that needed a pick me up. Because DOOM was so much cooler than anything else, at least in my friend's opinion.
    So the Sticky Note of Doom was born, so was the Binder of DOOM and the Cleaner of DOOM. There was just a lot of Doom going on, and it was awesome. The phrase has stuck with my circle of friends and will probably be around for a very long time.
     Now, back to what I had intended to talk about; the perks of being a writer, sticky notes... and all those little odds and ends that make writing, and editing, a blast.
    There is nothing I love so much as buying school supplies, as my desk drawers can attest! I am hooked. Luckily the shopping gods have set up a time that I can indulge in my obsession without breaking the bank; it's called BACK TO SCHOOL. Yes, I know. I am, technically, not in school, and I don't even have kids to justify my purchases to the cashier, but who cares?!?! I have ten notebooks for a dollar, pens to see me through the year and more sticky notes than anyone has every seen. I'll use them all too!! supplies are the best, and having the right stuff makes me feel accomplished and organize while working on my writing and subsequent drafts.
    I like typing on the computer, but I'd rather edit in hard copy. I get my manuscripts printed out at my local Staples. They even make it possible to submit your project on-line, which saves me from having to make an extra trip into town to drop off my Flash drive. Printing can be difficult, especially if you have some creative fonts, but there is nothing like see your work printed, double sided and spiral bound. The spiral binding only costs a few dollars and it helps keep the manuscript in order.
     I go through my draft, with my sticky notes and labels, to mark things like chapter headings, important events for quick reference, and any sections I have issues with, most recently trying to decide on the type of font for written letters and texts inside my fantasy novel. With these references I can look up a plot point a lot faster than having to flip through the whole thing.
    One time I used these new see-through sticky notes to keep track of how many days the Heroine's journey was taking. While you think your character is gone a week, you may have only talked about a few days or taken a month to get where you intended. My Heroine was visiting another continent and was supposed to stay for several months, but the original time-line was only a few weeks. The notations helped me keep my time-line straight.
    It's little things like spiral binding and see through sticky notes that help make writing so much easier. I enjoy all the little bits that help me organize my work and make editing fun.

What makes writing fun for you? Do you have a favorite pen? A must have card stock? A secluded spot where creativity lives? Do you have your own version of the Sticky Notes of Doom?

Clean Sweep

     Along with resolutions to be healthier, many start the new year with plans of becoming more organized. For me that means revamping and reevaluating the systems that I already have in place. My first step is to go through the papers I have been saving and trying to pare down to what I really need to keep. That includes the notes and sketches for story ideas. Organizing the many story files of ideas and drafts is no small task, not to mention the everyday paper that I collect.
     I have a lot of places I store things, boxes for this, holders for that, but still there was a pile of papers on my desk that never disappeared.
     My first step was to clear the piles and go through the boxes and holders. Then I looked at what I was holding on to and there was a lot of things that I didn't need; magazines, notebooks with only a page or two used, etc. There was a lot of paperwork that I had only glanced at, stuff that after a closer look was just junk. I shredded anything with personal information, kept a few documents and threw out everything else. Now I have a stack of now empty notebooks, those few pages were filed away with their corresponding stories.
     There was also some things that I needed to keep, but that didn't necessarily need to be where they were. Filing the papers away made it obvious that my next more is to go through the keep files, even those for previous years. The top of my closet is full of "To Keep" items. I wonder what treasures I'll find there, or how many bags of trash I will take out.
    With the bags of paper, there were bags of clothes. My family is big on donating what we no longer need. I went through my closet and removed everything that hadn't been worn for a while. It was easy to tell what I hadn't worn because earlier this year I made the switch from plastic to HGTV space saving, velvet covered hangers. As I wore items I put them on the new hangers, and everything left on the old hangers was up for the donate pile. Of course I left things, hoping to fit into them in the near future, and I am packing away those items I won't need as the weather turns warmer.
     Next is the rest of the house, culminating in the garage. A massive project that will take days to complete. I have to say that I am super excited already.
   
     I love the feeling after the deep cleaning, organizing, and donating are done. When the project is doing what you intended, there is a sense of space, freedom and possibilities. There is room to think.

What dose any of this have to do with writing? Other than organizing my files, nothing obvious, except that a clean and organized life means less stress over things, and more time to write.

New Year, New Me?

     While I can say that I jump on the band wagon of New Year's resolutions, I can not say I've ever had any luck with them. From the popular health and wieght loss mumbo jumbo to living happier, I find that if I plan to start something new, it's best to just get on with it rather than wait for some special date.
     I have all the best intension for myself and the new year, but we've all heard what happens with those. Life gets in the way, you fall off the wagon. I don't know about you but I need more motivation than the New Year hype can provide. That being said, my prep for some serious life change just happened to fall on, or around the new year.
    With new health insurance and some free time, I've started the health assessment process with my new carrier. Blood tests, check ups and diet changes. Due to family history I and my sister are going gluten free. We are not replacing our bread and pasta with gluten free options, only eating more green and cleaner foods. A food journal with www.myfitnesspal.com is very good for keeping track of what I am eating. It's not easy and my body is missing all the carbs...
     Along with diet changes, comes some exercise and moving towards being more active on a daily basis.
     While it might not make me happier to exercise, it will make me very happy to be healthier. After last year's health issues with family members, I am motivated to keep going, more so than ever before.
     The long and short of this post, it's never to late to be healthy.