Hey, everybody! It’s a beautiful Thursday afternoon and I woke up to some amazing news this morning, so I’ve decided to put my books on sale. From now until April 1, 2015, you can pick up Tuesday Daydreams and A Song for All Seasons for just $1.99! Find them on Smashwords and enter coupon code WN73K for Tuesday Daydreams or coupon code JR38E for A Song for All Seasons.
Enjoy, and have a great day! 🙂
(c) 2015. All rights reserved.
After months of only creeping, inching progress on my rewrite, I’ve finally managed to stitch together two parts of my book with all-new material. Writing the all-new stuff was like pulling teeth; the words often flat-out refused to come.
I hate when writing is like that.
Nevertheless, I pushed through it. I’m fairly certain that most of what I wrote is rubbish, but that’s what revising is for, right? Polishing up the parts you don’t like?
At long last, I’m back to the polishing part. The writing is going much more smoothly now that I’m in full-on polishing mode. Still, part of me can’t believe how bad some of what I’d written is. There are parts that are positively purple; they remind me of the steady diet of soap operas I consumed as a teenager. There are parts that just don’t read quite right, for some reason; they have me in agony as I can’t quite figure out what’s wrong, never mind how to fix them.
And then there are the parts that just make me cringe, like whole-body, might-possibly-be-mistaken-for-a-seizure-type cringing. People’s Exhibit A: the two-paragraph section where I started four consecutive sentences with the word he. Talk about an epic facepalm moment.
*cringe*
*groans*
*cries*
For the most part, I love writing. I love the act of writing, the sheer physical quality of my pencil scratching out worlds across the paper; I love rewriting and making things shine. But at the moment, I seem mired in the depths of suck, where everything is hard and it’s not looking to improve any time soon. Maybe it’s because I’m exhausted and stressed about things other than writing; maybe it’s because I’ve been working on this story for ten years and I don’t feel any closer to finishing it now than I did when I started it.
Whatever the reason, I’m ready to be overwhelmed by the joy of writing again. It’s been a long while since I’ve experienced the euphoria of having written something that you know in the marrow of your bones is good. It’s addicting, that feeling.
I know I’ll find it again, but when everything else is so gray, too, it’s hard to bear that in mind. In the meantime, thank goodness for things like this:
If you’re worried about not being good enough? Hey, let’s remember, I wasn’t good enough for 17 years. (If you read some of my negative reviews, then ha ha ha, oops, I’m still not good enough.) … Keep at it. Eventually you’ll knock over that brick wall if you commit to the vigorous act of endless headbutting. -Chuck Wendig
Check out the whole article here. It’s well worth the read.
And now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to get back to the vigorous act of endless headbutting.
*grabs economy-size bottle of ibuprofen*
*scampers off to writing cave*
(c) 2015. All rights reserved.
Well, so much for it being spring…
We’ve had two ice storms since the official beginning of spring. Neither one have been too severe, but they’ve been bad enough to make getting around a pain in the butt. It rained yesterday, but it was just cold enough that the rain froze on whatever it hit. When I got home from work last night, even the grass was slick.
At least it’s supposed to warm up next week…
(c) 2015. All rights reserved.
We play cards in our family. Like, a lot. It’s kind of our family pastime. And we start ’em young.
Well, not that young, really – I think both Miss Tadpole and Bubbles were in school before we taught them any card games. But when Grandpa and Grandma were up over the weekend, Cricket and Thumper wanted in on the action, too.
They hate being left out.
It started off with Cricket teaming up with his aunt. That went okay, until Thumper decided that he wanted to play, too. He teamed up with Grandpa, but wasn’t satisfied with letting Grandpa hold the cards. We gave him a couple cards of his own to hold, but that actually made matters worse. I finally managed to decipher the sobbing squeals – he wanted all the cards.
At that point, we decided it was naptime. That really set him off.
But someday, they won’t be too little to play cards. Someday, they’ll learn how to play Up and Down the River with us, and then it’ll get really interesting (Miss Tadpole and Bubbles make it interesting already). It’ll be nice when, someday, family game night includes our entire family.
And maybe by that point, I’ll have figured out how to win. 😉
Do you have any family pastimes or traditions like family game night? What are they? Shout ’em out in the comments!
(c) 2015. All rights reserved.
Today I’m happy to share in the cover reveal festivities for Abby Cavenaugh’s newest book, After the Fall! A follow-up to her debut, Going Home Again, this book follows Tina as she adjusts to life after divorce:
It’s been six months since her high-profile divorce, and Tina is desperate to get her life in order beyond the spotlight of her ex-husband, pop singer Michael Day. But when she meets a sexy bartender who happens to be ten years her junior, Tina’s first fling after her divorce might become something more. Tina can’t resist Josh’s charms, but she needs something more in her life than another wannabe singer. Tina wants to focus on herself, to finally find a place in the world that didn’t come from marrying a celebrity. If Tina ends her fling and focuses on a career, she might lose her heart in the process. However, her second chance at love might also be her first chance to live.
After the Fall will be published by Swoon Romance this May.
Abby Cavenaugh is a writer of romantic women’s fiction for Swoon Romance, with her debut novel, GOING HOME AGAIN, out now. She is also currently seeking representation for her YA paranormal manuscript, DEAD TALKER. She lives in North Carolina with her twin sister, Amy, also a writer, her niece, Adeline, and their cat, Gus. She loves chocolate, Diet Coke, the beach, New Kids on the Block, and most of all, writing.
You can connect with Abby on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest.
(c) 2015. All rights reserved.
Yesterday was a great day. I hung out with family, I ate great food, I watched Buffy, I wrote. A lot. Well, more than I have been lately, at any rate.
And then last night, after suffering through the UNI defeat vicariously through Seymour, I was rudely awakened about 2:30 a.m. by the crash of thunder. Jagged streaks of lightning ripped apart the sky outside my window as the wind howled in agony. Something clicked and clacked against the window, and I groaned.
When I awoke this morning, these pretty little pellets were all over the place. School delayed two hours to give the road crews a chance to clear the highways. But I still had to venture out on time this morning, braving the ice-slicked roads to get to work.
Luckily, the road we live on was the worst. Once I hit the east-west road that takes me the majority of the way to work, the roads were much less slick. I’m grateful that we haven’t had more ice this year, and I hope we won’t have any more storms like the one we had last night until it’s warm enough that the rain stays liquid.
(c) 2015. All rights reserved.
It’s hard work being a little guy. Eat and sleep, play and eat.
But sometimes, there’s cake. And everyone loves cake, especially little guys like Thumper. It’s even better when it’s birthday cake and Grandpa and Grandma are here to share it.
Today is my father-in-law’s birthday, and the kids are beyond excited to spend the day with Grandpa and Grandma. I hope your Sunday will be as nice as ours!
(c) 2015. All rights reserved.
Cricket recently acquired a new set of Superman jammies, and he adores them:
He loves them so much that I have a feeling he’s going to try to convince me to let him wear them to daycare come Monday. That’s going to be a hard argument to win, because he’s so darn cute in them. 🙂
(c) 2015. All rights reserved.
If you follow me on Instagram, you’ll have seen the beautiful blue sky we had the other morning. If not, scroll down the page a ways and look for it in the sidebar.
Go on – I’ll wait. 🙂
I took that picture on my way to work. I’d stopped to get gas and while I was filling up, I happened to notice the sky. But the beauty didn’t stop there:
I took these on my way to lunch that very same noon. I love how the clouds just feathered out at the ends, almost as if they were oil and the sky water. Except I suppose oil really doesn’t do that in water, does it? Well then, it’s almost like the clouds are smoke that’s just fading away…
Okay, that’s not a very good comparison, either. But I’m still recovering from strep, so, uh…And it’s Friday…
Anyway, I just love how these pictures turned out. The colors are spectacular, the clouds are gorgeous, and I could stare at them all day long. 🙂
(c) 2015. All rights reserved.
I don’t know why, but I just love pictures of kids and doors:
Maybe it’s because my sons love to explore (particularly where and when they shouldn’t). Maybe it’s because it’s a fantastic reminder that to a child, everything is new and different and somehow magical, which is something that adults often seem to forget. Maybe it’s because it reminds me of the magic I used to see in the world, and that the magic still exists if I’d just take the time to look for it.
I don’t know about you, but I could use a little magic at the moment.
What reminds you to seek the magic in your own life?
Have a great weekend, everybody, and don’t forget to check out Charnele’s throwback post!
(c) 2015. All rights reserved.
Suddenly they all died. The end. 