Plowing Onward

I hope I'll have a chance to watch lots of inspiring videos courtesy of Reedsy in their campaign to raise funds for a great cause. Share your short video of #IWriteBecause and they will donate $10 to the Room to Read organization. And here's another awesome thing for IWSG members, you can receive a $25 discount for Reedsy services. Read today's IWSG post to learn more.

I didn't post a video because ... life jumped up and bit me in the a** last week. Actually over the course of the past two weeks. It was difficult to keep up with my duties to all my different writing organizations and my own writing goals. There came a day last week when I was ready to quit everything. Every online group, every group I belong to and even quit writing the WIP I'm 60K into. Everything was too much. But I thought of my parents. I grew up on a dairy farm. For those of you who don't understand dairy cows, they need a schedule to ensure top production of milk. Every twelve hours, they expect the farmer to be there. No matter what happened, the cows get milked. No illness, family tragedy, or level of exhaustion or frustration can interfere with that schedule. And my parents always did. The cows got milked on time despite weddings, graduations, illness and grief.

So I kicked myself in the a** and here I still am. I apologize to my friends whose blogs I didn't have time to visit last week. I'll do better. I completed paperwork for my publisher related to my newest contract. I gathered all the paperwork together for my upcoming Pennwriters' board meeting and prepared my own reports and sent them. I prepared what I needed for my meeting of my local Chapter of RWA and attended that meeting on Saturday. I cooked meals for the family, mowed the dang grass, and got back to my WIP. Everything is not wonderful and good, but the cows are getting milked on time, to be metaphorical. For a few days, I felt like was letting everyone down. But my parents taught me that sometimes you just have to keep going until you come out the other side.

Onto another good thing. The Connective by Patrick Hatt is now available. I have this on my Kindle and it moved to the front of the TBR line though it sounds pretty spooky. As usual, Pat amazes me with his prolific writing. How do you do it, Pat?

I told you about my local RWA chapter being awarded the Chapter Excellence Award. They have this banner up at the RWA site. Pretty cool to be part of this dynamic group.

I didn't get to see Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 2, but I'm hoping my youngest son will take me for Mother's Day. He usually takes me to a movie I want to see that my husband doesn't for gifts. Counting on him.

Did you make a video about why you write? Had any dark days lately? Did you see Guardians? Are you getting your pitch ready for the #IWSGPit yet?

QotM and News

First of the month of August and it's time for the Question of the Month Blog Hop, started by Michael started by Michael G. D'Agostino. Find him at A Life Examined. And this month's question is timely.

"What is your favorite beach?"

Unlike a lot of people, I'm not a huge beach fan. I love the heat but not such a fan of sand and waves. And worse, crowds of people. I don't hate the beach and can enjoy a few days there but not much longer. If I have to pick one, I would pick Myrtle Beach. We spent family vacations there with our children and last summer, actually one year ago as of yesterday, my son was married on that beach. His sister and three of his brothers were in the wedding party. It was a great family time.

Pat Hatt, writer and rhymer extraordinaire, has released more books in his Tarsier Man series.
Check them out on Amazon.

In case you're feeling the sneezes outside here in the northeast, I saw a stat that said a single ragweed plant can release one billion grains of pollen over the course of a season. Achoo. Bless you.

Don't forget this Wednesday is IWSG. If you're not sure what to write about, here is this month's question. Feel free to use or not.

What was your first piece of writing as an aspiring author? Where is it now? Collecting dust or has it been published?

Last week I mentioned that I needed suggestions of some summer TV to watch. Hart Johnson and Marcy Hatch suggested I check out Stranger Things on Netflix. Thanks to them, I watched the entire first season last week when I should have been writing. LOL.

I'm thinking of tying myself to my office chair this week to get some work done. So I'll end with this quote.
"Writers don't have lifestyles. They sit in little rooms and write." Norman Mailer

Do you have a favorite beach? Suffering from some allergies? Isn't Stranger Things awesome? Anyone know if there's going to be a season two and when? Did you read some Tarsier Man?

Keep On Digging

Non-writing Work
I've been feeling a bit overwhelmed the last few weeks. Did I take on too much? I finally finished the third draft of my novel and am ready to send it to my publisher. The book took me longer than I expected so I'm glad to shove it out the door. But it wasn't actual writing that had me feeling inundated.

"Pressure is something you feel when you don't know what the hell you're doing." Peyton Manning

I serve as secretary to two different writing groups. They're volunteer positions and I thought it would be a good way to help out and give back to two organizations that have helped me so much without being responsible for the big decisions. You know about good intentions. Without whining and complaining, I'll just say it's much more work than I expected and that work bites into my writing time. At least for the one group, I'll be able to complete a large portion of the work this month. For the other position, I pretend to know what I'm doing even though I'm lost. Too much chaos for my comfort.

"If you can't convince them, confuse them." Harry S. Truman

Another thing contributing to this pressure is being trapped indoors by the weather. I love the outdoors. Even when it's not cold, it's been a very gloomy winter with cloudy days and cold rain if it isn't snow. I need some sunshine!

Books
But good things are happening. I received a contract for my fourth and final book in The Futhark Chronicles, Heir of Futhark. I roped in a great guest to appear on IWSG next Monday, Andrew Grey talking about plotting.

Pat Hatt has a new book out, A Not So Realistic World.  I'm  hoping he comes out with a new Profanity Granny soon. I wish my mother-in-law was still around for many reasons but she would have loved Profanity Granny. Did Pat know Hellion Helen Gourley?

Other things keeping me upbeat,  I received an invitation the York Book Expo in the mail. It's not until October but it was a lot of fun and reasonably profitable. Sign ups for the A to Z theme reveal is happening next Monday. You can sign up even if you haven't decided. You still have a month to make up your mind since the actual reveal occurs on March 21st.

Entertainment
I finally watched The Martian. It was okay and as uplifting as the book. But like in most cases, I much prefer the book.
I always look forward to the Olympics though there's always way too many ads. I'd rather seem more events. But I know it's all about the money. However, I wonder how much the Zika virus will cloud the games.

Are you looking forward to the Olympics? What non-writing part of the business of being a writer frustrates you? (You're not allowed to say promotion) Are you involved in any book events this year? Ready to sign up for theme reveal?

Past and Future

Yesterday was Veterans Day here in the states. I always feel a sad mixture of pride in those who and are now serving, worry about those in harm's way currently, and loss at those who are gone. I miss my father more on Veterans Day than any other day of the year. Like many WWII vets, he seldom spoke of the war, but he lost friends there. And those that came home built something great. Hope you thought about those vets for at least a little while yesterday.

My daughter has been getting more blogging experience and wrote an interesting post about her trip into the Sahara. They were fortunate to be out on the sands when the first rain storm in seven years rolled through. I'm counting the days until she comes home. Skype isn't the same as sharing my desk with her while we keep each other from getting work done. Skype isn't finishing each other's sentences and laughing until we cry. Oops, there I go again.

Today, Pat Hatt is guesting on the IWSG Blog. I don't know what his topic is but I know it will be interesting and informative. Stop by and meet Pat if you don't know him already.

Did you know that the A to Z Challenge hosts run a blog all year long. On Thursday, they'll be introducing the new hosts for next year's challenge. Stop in tomorrow and meet them.

Some good news from my publisher. My latest science fiction romance, The Warrior and the Biologist, sold lights out on Amazon last month. She urged me to finish that next book so they could get into edits. Pressure.... but of the good kind. And in the way those things happen, all my other books had excellent months on Amazon as Warrior pulled them upward with it. Warrior has spent most of the past six weeks in the top 20 of science fiction romance. I would do a happy dance if I weren't so tired from raking leaves.

Did you do anything special for Veterans Day? Do you know Pat Hatt? Do you follow the A to Z blog throughout the year? Have any 'good' writing pressure lately?

Rhyming Challenge and Wisdom

You know I like to share wisdom from my Old Farmer's Almanac planner. A few weeks ago I shared the definition of nephelococcygia which is the word for finding a shape in a cloud. As a joke, I issued a challenge to Pat Hatt at It's Rhyme Time. If you visit Pat on a regular basis, you know he throws words out there that are not in your every day vocabulary. Today Pat has picked up the glove. Hop over there and see what he came up with it. It will be good!

Some interesting news I stumbled on this week. How about this cave in Wyoming? Apparently animals fell into this death trap over the course of thousands of years. All kinds of cool but now extinct animals like mammoths landed in the bottom of this pit. Scientists expect to learn things from their DNA and even reasons why these animals went extinct and what the climate was doing during those eras.

The this week the almanac claims that blueberries slow aging. I need to eat a few more. I won't be posting tomorrow since I posted today. I'll be back on Monday. (August already.)

Do you see things in the clouds? Did you visit Pat yet? Want to know more about that cave in Wyoming? Did you have your blueberries today?

One to Rule Them All

This October will mark the 60th anniversary of the publication of The Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien. Not many would argue with the idea that Tolkien invented the epic fantasy genre. Not only did he inspire millions to read the genre, but a lot of writers got into to the game because of him. Tolkien wrote the kind of stories he liked to read, an important lesson for all of us.

He did things with languages, like inventing them, that is beyond my dreams and capabilities. His day job was teaching languages. In his books he used a number of Old English Words such as Ent and Orc. Did you know he made up the plurals of elf and dwarf that we use today? The runes that were used for the elves and dwarves were an alphabet he created. That all wows me.

Perhaps the thing I have most in common with Tolkien is that he really was a pantser and not a plotter. Meaning he had to revise like crazy. Sounds familiar to me. I'll keep working trying to catch up to him in those other areas. Maybe someday we'll have a Gourley Society but in the meantime, you can check out The Tolkien Society.

“All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.”
The Fellowship of the Ring

I'll be using my time this week to write the first rough draft. Tomorrow if you have time, Pat Hatt at It's Rhyme Time is using a word I challenged him with a while ago.  Visit him to see what he does with it.

Do you know Pat? Are you a Tolkien lover? Did any of the facts about him I shared surprise you? Do you think anyone will be celebrating the 60th anniversary of your writing in the future?

IWSG: July Version

Welcome to this month's IWSG post. This supportive group was started by that energetic writer and musician, Alex J. Cavanaugh. And now the group is supported by a blog all of its own and a Facebook page. Find the entire list of participants in the hop here. Try to visit a few new friends this month.

In this sometimes lonely business of writing, most of us develop online friendships with other bloggers. I can't imagine doing this without the support of the blogging community. How do you select the bloggers you follow and visit often?

I can't highlight all the blogs I love here but I'm going to give a few examples of blogs I visit numerous times per week and why.

Some blogs have a little bit of everything such as Alex J. Cavanaugh's blog. Movie reviews, promotion, support of other writers, occasional music stuff and links to other interesting sites. I almost always click on a link I find in his posts.

Some blogs have content that I find very interesting. I love science and Stephen Tremp feeds my curiosity with the variety of facts he puts together on his posts.

Some bloggers have a lot of craft advice and I learn something every time I visit. Such as Anne R. Allen's blog or L. Diane Wolf who keeps me updated on the latest industry news.

Some bloggers impress me with how supportive they are. If you want to make a friend who will appreciate your friendship in return, visit Robin. You haven't known blogger love until you appear on her Here's to You Thursday.

One of my ongoing goals that I'm not even close to reaching is to break into the short story market. Shannon Lawrence posts links to all kinds of short story markets once per week. Recently I've been sharing them with my daughter who is considering sending out some of her writing.

Then there are the blogs that make me laugh. I just enjoy them. These bloggers just have an entertaining way with words. There's Pat who prepares his posts about two light years ahead of time. Mark Koopmans gives a delightful insight into being a stay at home dad. Ivy amuses me in so many different ways I can't describe them all and she's my heroine in couponing savings. Then there's my friend, Ava Quinn, former Possum Queen. I still haven't tried those recipes.

Those are just a few of the blogs I follow and as you can see, it's for a variety or reasons. Most of them are loosely connected to writing though not all the posts are about writing. I couldn't stay active in the blogging world if the blogs I frequent weren't entertaining and fun.

What do you look for in the subject matter of blogs you decide to follow? Do you enjoy a variety or do you stick with one subject? Is there a blogger that makes you laugh? Have you visited more of the IWSG bloggers?

June is For...

As a teacher for all of my adult life, June was something to look forward to. A paradise of relaxation and a chance to refuel. Never mind that the days always flew by with out door chores and transporting children to sports events, camps and outings with friends. I loved June.

This June, the first one after my first year of being a full time writer, the month slipped in with barely a notice. I already had those the out door projects finished, pool open, flowers and veggies planted and the tanbark making it all beautiful. So June is different this year.

June will be for reworking my WIP that I'm very dissatisfied with. June will be for promoting my already released books and preparing for an upcoming release. June is when I'll ask for my rights back to a book at a publisher where it has sold only a handful of copies. June is when I'll decide what to do with that novel.

Despite the hours I have to put into outside maintenance of the homestead, June is very much like any other month in the life of a full time writer. Yes, I work on the front or back porch at times because the weather is so lovely, but this month is no longer that semi-frantic joyful beginner of summer break. It's just summer. And it's fun.

June is also the month of weddings. On that note, I won't be posting on Wednesday because it is my wedding anniversary. I'll probably have time to visit you all, but no new post here. I appreciate my wonderful, hardworking husband all year long and I'll make sure he knows it that day.

I haven't shared anything from my all time favorite day planner, The Old Farmer's Almanac version, so I'm delighted to share this word.
Nephelococcygia is the word for finding a shape such as a face or an animal in a cloud.
I dare Pat to use that in one of his posts.

Do you even notice the end of school in June? Any weddings to attend or anniversaries to celebrate this month? Does the nice weather pull you outside to work or just enjoy? Ever find a shape in a cloud?

Don't forget to visit the IWSG site and pick up some useful writing information.