Category: Writing

Shenanigans and hibernation

We’ve been in hibernation mode this week. Kitty, of course, secured the coziest pet bed.

But it’s not like the dogs are suffering. We have more pet beds than pets and lots and lots of fleece blankets.

See? Plenty of blankets.

But it was definitely a week for hibernation.

Maybe it’s because I’ve been consistently writing every morning, and the story is in my head a lot more these days, but I had a book three brainstorming session this week as well. The sort that really does feel like a storm, where you’re typing notes as fast as you can because the ideas just keep coming.

Up until now, book three has been essentially a blank canvas. I know the (many) story threads I need to tie together, but the what and how and when could be summed up with one word:

Shenanigans

True, book three is all about shenanigans. But now I have an idea of what those shenanigans might be. This is a good thing since I’m getting close to the end of book two. I’m not only relieved, although I am that. But I’m excited as well. I’ve been trusting my intuition and subconscious to work things out while I’m busy elsewhere, and I’m pleased that’s happening.

This coming week is bringing us some warmer weather. However, I predict Kitty will still claim the best bed in the house.

The strange indulgence of being offline

So this week, I headed downtown to meet with my accountant to do writerly business-y type things. I discovered that the office was one block away from the statue of Mary Tyler Moore.

This felt fortuitous, so I had to stop to take a picture.

You’re going to make it after all.

My morning routine hasn’t really changed since I started this full-time writing thing. I pushed my wakeup time forward by half an hour. I don’t know if this is my optimal wakeup time, but it feels close.

It’s true I no longer rush in the mornings to get an hour (or less) of writing done. The other thing that’s changed?

I don’t go online until noon. This is starting to feel like a routine now. But at first? It was like I was breaking some sort of rule. After all, being accessible was part of my previous job.

It’s not like people can’t contact me in case of an emergency. I don’t silence my phone. But I don’t get a lot of calls or text messages to begin with, so I don’t need to. I also don’t have social media on my phone (10/10 would recommend not having social media on your phone).

I obviously need to be online for this writing thing. And there’s a lot I like about being online, friends, interesting things to read, and hey, look, I’m writing this blog.

But it’s also abundantly clear that there’s a billion-dollar industry that’s intent on capturing as much (all?) of our time and attention. Not giving into that feels like an indulgence, a luxury.

And that has given me pause this week.

If you’re dealing with the polar vortex this week, stay warm!

One week in (and an accidental book haul)

So, one week into this experiment, and so far, so good. It’s been both wonderful and surreal. Last week, I had a short bout of the Sunday Scaries. It was as if my body didn’t believe I wasn’t logging on Monday morning and opening up email, Microsoft Teams, and Jira. (Oh, Jira. Do I miss you and my many filters? No. No, I do not.)

I was a little worried Monday morning that I’d open the manuscript and be completely blank—both the page and my mind. But I wasn’t, and I haven’t had a writing week like this in a very long time.

Accidental library and bookstore book haul

I also finished the Trapped in a Gothic Novel course with some help from that accidental book haul. I found The Haunting of Hill House creepy but interesting and not as scary as I expected. A Haunting on the Hill was very creepy, not to mention scarier. I like gothic fiction, but I’m not really into horror (at all). A Haunting on the Hill is about as scary as I can tolerate. I already had the last book, Long Live Evil by Sarah Rees Brennan, on Kindle (and it appears to still be at $2.99 as I write this if you want to go grab it).

Now it’s on to the other two books in my accidental book haul. Because reading (for pleasure) is absolutely part of my job these days.

Entering 2025 with an exit strategy

I’ve alluded to an “exit strategy” on the blog previously, back in October. Over the past couple of months, I’ve been able to put it into action. As in:

As of January 3rd, I no longer have a day job.

I wouldn’t call myself officially retired, mainly because I plan on writing fiction full-time. Whether that amounts to an actual income stream is not something I’m necessarily banking on. I hope so, but it isn’t crucial.

So there you have it. I am now a full-time fiction writer, and the thought is both exhilarating and scary.

I’m still adjusting, obviously. You can’t work somewhere for twenty years and not need to adjust once you leave. Also, I’m in some pretty serious burnout, burnout I couldn’t get myself out of while working my previous job (I tried; oh, how I tried.).

I do not want to bring this burnout into my writing, so I’m committed to recovering, taking things slow.

But for 2025, I do hope to be blogging more, chronicling this new adventure. And yes, I hope to be writing and publishing more as well.

Right now, it’s enough to be able to take a full breath again, to have the time to do things at a natural pace, to feel that ten-ton weight lifted from my chest.

Right now, it’s enough to close the page on one chapter and start another.

Sunday sunrise (with bonus mall nostalgia)

I was going to Photoshop all the wires and utility poles out of the photo but then thought better of it. This is how my sunrise looks, warts (or rather, wires) and all.

This week, a video about people living in malls popped into my feed—because I’m a little obsessed with abandoned spaces, malls in particular. I wish they’d spent more time showing us all the different apartments. But it was still interesting, and yeah, maybe there’s a story idea or two in there.

In fact, Coffee & Ghosts, Season 4 (The Ghosts You Left Behind) has an abandoned (and the same not-so-abandoned) mall as one of the main settings. I based that particular mall on the one in my hometown, which opened when I was in eighth grade (I think) and was a Very. Big. Deal. This part of the story was fun to research and write, although I probably spent more time looking at “vintage” Orange Julius storefronts than was strictly necessary.

I also had fun exploring the whole “what if you’re locked inside the mall overnight” scenario. 0/10 would not recommend, but it helps if you have some ghostly companions.

So that’s me this Sunday. I think I’ll quit now before I go completely off the rails with this questionable 80s mall nostalgia.

Accountability check-in: the green bean casserole author business summit

So, when I was grocery shopping earlier this week, a woman came up to me in the coffee/tea/baking aisle. She asked if I knew where the crispy fried onions were, the kind you sprinkle on top of a green bean casserole. Before I could respond, she said:

I ask because you look like someone who would make a green bean casserole.

And before I could respond to that, she added:

Oh, never mind. They’re bad for you anyway.

And then wandered off.

I was going to suggest the condiments aisle. I did see her later, crispy fried onions in hand. So I’m assuming: One, she did locate someone who actually has made a green bean casserole, and two, decided the health risks were worth it. 

Also, this week, I attended an author business summit. Actually, I’m still attending it because it was recorded, and I couldn’t attend in real time due to work. It’s one of the things I’m looking forward to doing during the long Thanksgiving weekend. There’s at least three hours’ worth of video left, along with some homework.

I’m pretty sure crispy fried onions won’t be involved.

Accountability check-in: bread machine

This week, I unearthed my old bread machine from one of the lower cupboards in my kitchen. And when I say old bread machine, I do mean old. Not only could it vote, but it’s been around long enough to graduate college, complete med school, and residency before chucking it all to become a YouTube influencer.

My bread machine. She’s been around the block a few times.

I was wondering whether it would still work. Then I reasoned, why not? It’s only been napping there on the lower shelf, and there was no reason not to try it out.

So I bought a couple of bread machine mixes. Low stakes here. I decided not to go all in until I knew for certain.

What do you know?

It still works! And there’s nothing like the smell of baking bread for instant comfort. Unless it’s slicing into a warm loaf soon after.

So, my bread machine is very similar to my writing process. I’m not a fast writer. My stories need a lot of subconscious churning before they’re ready. So, this series I’m working on?

It’s been “in the works” for ten years.

Yep, you read that correctly. Ten. Whole. Years.

Granted, I’ve been doing any number of things during that time, including writing a whole other series (Coffee and Ghosts). In fact, I think I needed to write that first before writing this one.

It can be frustrating to be in this place, to have your process be the opposite of the current hustle and grind culture. But I’ve learned (often the hard way) that it’s so much better for me and my stories to write this way. In the long run, I actually get more words and more stories, have more fun, and end up with better stories.

And this week, I’m grateful that my bread machine reminded me of that.

Accountability check-in: Snow! Halloween! Chirp deal!

After a week of lovely autumn weather, we naturally ended up with snow (!) on Halloween. Even so, we had some good traffic, and the trick-or-treaters gobbled up at least half the candy I put out next to our Little Free Library. My daughter and I are making short work of the rest. I decided to opt out of taking a picture of our snow-covered lawn.

In writing news, it was a brainstorm kind of week, with progress on the story and word count front. Clearly, my subconscious has been working overtime (if maybe I haven’t been).

Also, this week, I have a Chirp Deal going on as well for the Coffee and Ghosts Books 1 – 3 bundle, narrated by the fabulous Amy McFadden. Book 4 also has a price drop.

And last, but certainly not least, if you’re in the US and you haven’t yet, please vote.

Accountability check-in: a series timeline

Late-blooming wildflower

So, I just took a peek at my series timeline, which is now five pages long. On it, I have dates that go all the way back to 1986.

Yes. The dark ages.

For this particular story, I need to know when people were born, when they (may have) died, when they … traveled through dimensions.

Yes. Complicated.

But I always recommend using a calendar of some sort when writing a longer story. Even jotting down the passing days in a notebook can be helpful. That way, you don’t end up with children going to school ten days in a row or making January six weeks long.

Weeding these things out can be difficult. Darcy and I actually ended up with the extra-long January in The Geek Girl’s Guide to Cheerleading. We knew something was off; our editor knew something was off. No one could say what, not until Darcy did the painstaking work of mapping out the timeline. Then we had to pull all those story threads and weave them back together again, minus those two weeks.

Yes. Painful.

So, this is my recommendation for the week, probably because I’ve spent some extra time in my series timeline, testing things out, revisiting what came before. And then heading outside to put the garden* to bed and ponder some more.

*This is actually why I garden; it gives me time to think.

Accountability check-in: so what about that cage match?

I mentioned way back in January that my manuscript, The Pansy Paradox, was in the quarter-finals of the First Page Cage contest over at Pulp Literature.

Then, of course, I never mentioned it again.

But as it turned out, the experience was beyond gratifying. The Pansy Paradox tied for first. I love this outcome, and I was so thrilled for Nikita, my co-winner. I love that Pulp Literature was so generous in awarding a double prize.

There’s another layer to this, beyond winning and the prize money. I entered the contest specifically because I wasn’t sure I could write anymore. Obviously, I can string sentences together (because here I am, stringing sentences together). But writing stories, in particular, this story?

I had no idea. After the past couple of years of … everything, I simply wasn’t sure.

So it’s gratifying to learn that I can still write stories that people want to read.

Here’s what one of the judges said about the story:

“The Pansy Paradox is a delightful New Adult romantasy set in the mythical rural town of King’s End, Minnesota. It deals with themes of grief, loss, and responsibility with humour, romance, and sentient umbrellas.”

Yes, you read that right. Sentient umbrellas. They’re a thing; well, at least in this story, they are.

You can read more about the final outcome on this post here. You can also read what’s going on with this year’s quarter-finalists here. It’s interesting to see where the editor judges agree and disagree.