It's been awhile

I was doing so well in posting on a regular basis and then I let it fall through my hands. Part of the reason why I have been so silent is that I have been busy working on a number of freelance writing contracts. Yes, the novel is being ignored, again!

The other part is just life. I celebrated my 31st birthday last week. Hurray for me! I'm not too concerned with the number, I mean I used to be concerned because I was supposed to have saved the world by the time I was 30. Without a doubt that was what I had thought when I was a little girl; that I was put on this earth to save it somehow. It's strange how the imaginings of childhood still haunt you when you are an adult and you wake up one morning when you are 29 realizing that you haven't saved the world yet. Oh my God! Where did I put that red cape?

So 31 comes with a realization that maybe I won't save it but I can do little things that will make it a better place. Maybe, just maybe, something I write or something I do will change just one life for the better, hopefully a lot more (hint, hint, wink, wink at you world, just kidding). The morning of my birthday was wonderful and my kids had bought me a foot massager because you can't save the world with soar feet or without a nice pedicure. Then it was off to get my health card updated and then back to do some work. No day off for me.

It wasn't until my brother called that the day went bad and I am sure that he is completely unaware of it. Needless to say, by the end of the conversation I was barely able to hold back my tears and the moment that I hung up the phone I collapsed into sobs. I don't want to get into what was said, my brother wasn't mean but there is a history and things were rehashed (isn't that the case with all families). The rest of the day was a wash but somehow I managed to finish up an article and get it sent out when I went back to work at night.

I work mostly at night by the way. During the day I am a stay at home mom although I try to sneak in a few minutes here and there to touch base with clients and nap time is a perfect time to write. It makes life interesting but that is why I am grateful that I am a writer.

There is the long story as to why I haven't been writing. Things keep you busy or they keep you down and sometimes it takes a little while to scramble out from underneath whatever is burying you, whether it's work, family or emotions, and get back into the swing of things.

A frequent conversation at home

Although every family has unique conversations that you won't hear anywhere else, I often find that being a writer offers a different flavour to those conversations.

A common conversation that takes place in our house is as follows and if anyone was listening they might be inclined to call the police or something.

Husband, "So, how many people did you kill this time?" (in your story, novel, etc, is left unsaid)

"Oh, come on, it's not that bad," I say, indignation dripping from my voice as I look away from him.

Silence. I shuffle the papers that contain my latest story, the white edges nipping into my fingers as I flex my hand, before I sigh in resignation. "Two," I mutter, "But there was a really good reason why they died. It's not like I did it on purpose and it was only two this time."

"Only two," a smile teases the words and his light brown eyes, "Well, I guess that's something."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Now in my defense, I don't purposely start a story planning on killing a character off, at least not usually. Generally a series of plot twists will lead to the ultimate conclusion that some character really had one purpose and that was to be killed off (although some die peacefully).

On that note, I'm off to work. Today I am writing non-fiction for a client so rest assured that no imaginary character is going to bite the big one in any of the writing I do today.

Have a good weekend!

"I'm a genius!"

As said by that funny little sloth in Ice Age, Sid the Sloth. Yes I watch cartoons and I love them but besides that I am feeling great.

I was recently asked to do something that I had never done before in my writing career. It wasn't exactly hard work but it was a bit more technical then I am used to doing. I took the challenge because I thought it was interesting and I want to expand as a writer.

The first attempt was awful and I got this sinking feeling that much like my venture into children's writing, this may be a style that I am not capable of writing. Not trying to discourage myself, I gave the good ol' college try and submitted again. This time, they saw some things that they liked but just didn't think it was what they were looking for.

Yep, this is definitely going the way of the children's books. My ego was a little dashed and I found myself avoiding the work since I was so horrible about it. Still, deadlines reigned and I had to get back to work. I like to say that the light bulb finally came on but I think it was really the third times the charm type thing. I completely scraped what I had and reformatted it and completely rewrote it.

I am happy to say that outside of one minor change, they are very happy with it and my confidence sky rocketed. I think I'm at Venus by now. Top off that success with an email confirming publication in Southern Families Magazine for the November/December issue has made it a very good day indeed.

Now I am on my way to reward myself for a job well done and then tomorrow I am back into the grind and my confidence will be firmly in its place after its tour of the universe.

I haven't forgotten you...

I know, it's been a long time in between breaths but I haven't been avoiding you...really...truly. Just last Thursday I had brainstormed a wonderful post on my way to class; the only problem; I forgot to post when I got home.

The next day another wonderful post surfaced, and of course I was in the shower, so although I tried to scrawl it on the tiles with bath crayons it just didn't translate well after the shower.

I have been busy, juggling a thousand balls and I'm pretty sure that I never learned how to juggle in the first place. Oh well, must be a natural talent. I have a few contracts and the white whale is beckoning me from the icy depths of antiquity so today will be a short post, yet again. (On a side note, I have yet to read Moby Dick but I sure refer to that whale a lot).

If you want to see my latest article, go to http://www.rochellenicolemag.com/?p=192#more-192 and if you want to join a wonderful writing group that is just getting started, click on the yahoo group icon on the left hand side.

All the best and hopefully tomorrow will bring more words and an ocean of ideas surfacing before the girth of that darn whale.