Something Doing!

Posted by: Eden on: January 4, 2018

• In: Blog Hop
• 20 Comments

It may be that it’s a new year.  Or it may be just because I’ve been gradually finding my flow back into writing more consistently anyway and now I wish to take a new step forward….  Either way, I’m starting some new things today.

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Welcome to my first…

2018 ROW80 Check-in	IWSG	WWW Wednesday Post

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(click below an image to go to the specific section you want if you don’t want to read the whole post)

Since one of my new ROW80 goals was to start blogging more consistently and since I’ve wanted to become more active in the IWSG (Insecure Writers Support Group)  and since I have read a lot and wished I had a way to share my recent pleasure…  this seemed like a great place (and great time) to start.

First things last and last things first, let’s go with WWW Wednesday where, according to the rules of the bloghop, I need to answer three main questions:

What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?

Currently?  I’m reading Thursdays at Eight by Debbie Macomber and enjoying it as a break from my usual.  Also recently started, Guns Germs & Steel by Jared Diamond, but I am finding myself frustrated by his voice and absolutism in the face of research that has come out since the book’s publication.

Recently? I finished Dying to Sing by Margaret Chittenden, Murder on St. Mark’s Place by Victoria Thompson (The Gaslight Mysteries) and Murphy’s Law by Rhys Bowen (the Molly Murphy Mysteries).  I cannot say enough good things about the second two books (my library has huge orders for the next books in those two series).  The first?  I can’t say I hated it, but I didn’t find myself connecting with Chittenden’s characters in this book quite the way I did with her romance Double Take (read it in November).  And while I have the next book in the series waiting, I’m just not sure I care now.

Next? I’ve got the next Molly Murphy mystery Life of Riley waiting in the wings, Dear Life by Alice Munro (started this then staggered with the holiday chaos), and another eight books waiting for me at the library.  Guess where I’ll be visiting tomorrow if the weather holds out?  😀

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Secondly, we have the Insecure Writers Support Group where writers share their doubts and concerns and just express how things may/may not be going in their writing careers.  Optionally, there is a question we can answer, which presently fits a lot of my recent doubts and fears:

What steps have you taken or plan to take to put a schedule in place for your writing and publishing?

Oh, boy…  doubts and fears.  Got plenty of those going these days.  I’d like to say it’s just the post holiday exhaustion, but really, writing has become hard in …  well, not the actual work, but way my head seems to no longer connect with words.  I used to be able to focus.  Lately, unless I’m in that “perfect for me” place, my mind cannot absorb much of anything I write or see on the screen.  A blank page is more than terrifying…  it’s like a slippery snow bank that my eyes just slide right off.

It’s not so much a too much technology thing or even a distraction thing…  oddly enough, writing into my phone (the joys of an S-Pen and a Note5) is much easier these days than on my PC or laptop (a paper notebook itself is still somewhat better).  My best thinking seems to happen in chaotic places like Dave & Busters or lunch time at Panera (it has to be crowded enough [and loud enough]  for me to close inward and focus).

The answers seem simple…  go someplace busy and write.  They are simple really.  Of course, I can’t live in D&B (or afford food there that often) or Panera.  It’s well over a 20 mile drive to either one.  And they don’t keep the hours my (lately) rare bursts of inspiration seem to come by.

So… in answer to the question above, I’m trying other options.  I used to use Coffitivity when I worked the overnight shift as a network admin.  And now there is MyNoise for other styles of background chatter to try.  Music…  always music.  And while I can’t watch a show and write (even if I don’t like it, I find myself unable to stop trying to follow the storyline), having sports on in the background seems to be very cathartic.  An added boon…  my son has recently become quite interested in soccer.

I am still trying to figure out how to be “here” for my family and “here” for my characters at the same time…  my brain never worked well that way, and age seems to be bringing out all of its quirks.  My poor husband mentioned the other day that he’s grown used to my “vanishing” in a second if my attention shifts and focuses on something.

He’s a saint.

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And lastly, but not least there is the ROW80 check-in (which has been somewhat answered by the prior two sections).  For those who didn’t see my goals for the upcoming 12-weeks of ROWing, you can see them here.  And you can find our very supportive and helpful group here, if you want to know more about the ROW80 in general.

The biggest “failure” of this check-in is that I missed typing my 750 words on Monday.  Not really a big issue in the grand scheme of things.

Successes?  Pretty much everything else.  I even got in a social media bonus of participating in the RWA Kiss of Death weekly #1lineWed meme (here), posted a WIPpet (here), and researched ways to setup an official website that would combine this blog with my other one.  And I even had the ROW80 blog setup and the linky posted early yesterday (as well as some backdrop maintenance done).

It’s a good start.  I still need to corral the ROW80 sponsor stuff into a neat pile (many thanks to those who ARE sponsoring!).  It’s a process though, and I’m making some steps through the mire.

Tags: #IWSG, #row80 check-in, #WWWWednesday, goals, growth, self-discovery, writing challenges