Quiet Keystrokes and Midnight Ramblings

I find myself re-canalizing (again) just what it is that I want from the world of writing.  It seems like every time I turn around I have discovered that such-and-such venture is not as personally rewarding as I thought it would be, or that I've begun pigeonholing myself in projects that are making it difficult for me to move towards my dreams as a whole.  My desires to write are like a river - except instead of finding the smoothest path towards the ocean and letting gravity do the rest I seem to continue finding myself trying to flow uphill and over mountain ranges. I'm stubborn that way. My current thought on the subject of writing can be summed up by answering a couple of questions that have been floating around my brain the last few days: 1)What do you want to BE when you "grow up" as a writer? Just a year ago, I thought being published by a well-known company like Yahoo! would be enough to call myself a writer.  And in some sense, it has.  I can ho...

I am a "doer".  It has been demonstrated time and time again that it is very difficult for me to stop working on projects, even when I know I need to take a break.  This blessing/curse has become exponentially more apparent now that I work from the comfort and confines of my own home, and Mr. Kawaii and I are constantly trying to find little ways to help me switch off at the end of the day. Constantly being surrounded by work in my personal space makes it so easy to do "one more thing", remind me of a project that I wanted to get done today or give me ideas for new projects that I hadn't even thought of during my working hours.  Bits and pieces of our home business can be found in our home-office, our dining room, can be seen from the dining room and kitchen... all of the rooms that are most frequently used during the day for work and for rest.  It's as easy to get distracted by work when I'm checking my personal e-mail as it is to be distracted by it ...

Now that we're all out from under the pressure of National Novel Writing Month ( Nanowrimo ), it's time to take a look at the creations we've made.  In truth, I was not a winner this year but I am looking forward to giving it another shot next year.  The month wasn't all a wash though as Nanowrimo DID spur me on to write the first two chapters of my second novel, inspire me to move forward with finishing the manuscript of my first and give me the kick-in-the-pants I needed to apply for featured writing spots with Yahoo! and Examiner.com. Add to the mix a bout of flu, a head/chest cold, a somber death in the family and a busy Thanksgiving and it's easy to say that November was crammed as full as it possibly could have been.  Although life certainly didn't take a break through this Nanowrimo, it did show me that I can keep plunking along on my writing projects even when things are crazy.  My new goal?  To have novel #2 written and in editing by the time the next...

What a whirlwind adventure this year has brought to me in writing!  I had hoped that this year would propel me into the world of an writer, but could never have expected just how much progress I'd be able to make in becoming the authoress I've always dreamed of being.  As I sit and reflect on how much I have to be thankful for this year, the list is astoundingly long. I've been given the blessings of a career change, the opportunity to write both online and in print, the completion of one novel and the beginnings of a second, a position creating content for a wonderful company on the verge of exploding in a joyful mess of growth and progress, the support of friends and strangers, and even more that I can't think of right now. This year hasn't been all roses and double rainbows, and it certainly hasn't been the easiest year for our family; but it has been a year of personal and professional growth, a reminder that I have an incredible family to lean on when t...

On September 1st I filled the whiteboard above my desk with a list of goals for the month.  So far, with the day still young and a couple more items to be completed, I have met 12 out of 20 goals and I know that I'll knock out at least two more before the stroke of midnight. Were we having a two sided conversation instead of this rambling monologue, you might ask me why I set so many goals for September.  The simple answer is: Because I want to succeed.  At this juncture in my life, I am blessed to have no boss and no one to answer to aside from my own conscience and as with many things in life this blessing comes with a double-edged sword. On the one hand, life is a breeze without the hassle of being micro-managed by someone who has little time for anything other than pestering me about projects past, present and future.  I don't use an alarm clock any more, can go run errands whenever the mood strikes and can spend as much of my day watching Judge Judy as I wan...

One of the hardest parts of being a writer, or doing any type of creative work, is getting it finished.  Because we type away at our own pace, get distracted by the ding of Instant Messages, have friends and family that don't see our creativity as a "real job" and have no bosses breathing down our necks... it's really easy to put off the writing until tomorrow.  Or next week.  Or a month from now. I've discovered that there are a few things that can help us to create our own deadlines, and help ourselves to actually stick to them. Deadline Tip #1: Make A Goal It doesn't matter if your goal is to submit articles to 10 magazines a month, rewrite 5 chapters of your manuscript or apply for a job in the writing/editing industry.  Take the time to figure out what it is you want to accomplish, and write it down.  I have a white-board above my monitor for such goals which makes it easy to edit them, check them off and then erase them once they've been met...