Can you Relate?

Just had to share this.

 

Busy Family Time Recovery

Oh man. My husband has a pretty big family. We recently had one of the many summer family parties, and while a lot of fun, hubby and I are both introverts and these functions are brutal.

We had a great time joking and visiting and we can keep up with the family energy but by the time we’re done – whew – we are so burnt out.

The next day we had Daughter and her family over. She is extremely high energy. A ton of fun, but being a hypersensitive introvert, I get overwhelmed.

I have spent the last few days recovering from all of that sun and fun and family time. It takes a couple of days of being by myself reading, watching favorite TV shows, sitting in the tub. Anything I can do to shut out everything else. My hubby is one of about three people I can handle during the recovery time.

This weekend is another busy weekend and then next weekend too. :p At least these two weeks we’ll have Sunday to recover. 😀

What do you do to wind down and relax?

Being Me – Mostly Authentically

I have a friend. I like her. She’s pretty cool. An introvert (birds of a feather flock in large packs of one). She’s married, has kids, and a cat. She and I sometimes have long conversations. Sometimes just a look and a laugh.

She’s a health coach. What is that? No clue. I’m not sure she knows either. I know part of it is encouraging people to “live authentically.” Not her words. She’s more down to earth than that. It just means, Be yourself and have fun. Ha! I just connected that as one of the best pieces of advice my mom gave me as I was going into college and doing new things. Well, mom, it was easier back then, before marriage and kids, jobs and social “events” but twenty plus years later, I’m doing it again. LOL

My Health Coach friend got me really focused on writing. I raised kids and sort of forgot all of the stuff I loved doing. It was a horrible disservice to my family because I was stressed and cranky a lot. I’m glad they showed me grace and unconditional love. 😀 Thanks, guys. 😀 I love you. 😀

Sorry, I digress. 😉

I find that being myself is really hard. I’m afraid. I’m afraid of offending people (not that I’m offensive but because people can be very sensitive to their own insecurities). I’m afraid of going the wrong direction. (I see a direction that I feel is right for me, but then I start freaking out that maybe it’s not, maybe that’s not the path I’m supposed to take, even though there’s only one and my name is in blinking lights with arrows pointing to it. I still worry that all of that hoopla is pointing out the bad road. Whew, I’ll step away from that now. I’ve probably shared enough of that fear.) I’m afraid of failure though I’ll admit, that one doesn’t worry me as much. Humiliation on the other hand scares the stuffing out of me.

I have noticed in my own experience (and this may not be your experience) that I can trust that whatever path I wander, something good will come, or I’ll be diverted to another direction.

So, I step – one foot in front of the other (and slightly to the side of because if they were right in front of then I’d probably trip over myself) and move. Maybe I’ll go in circles, or wander in a zigzag or wavy path. I might trip and fall or just drop to the ground and throw a tantrum but I’ll get up again and move again. Sometimes I’ll just be taking a breather. There’ll be times I’ll travel with a group and times I’ll be alone. But I’ll keep moving. Momentum. But that’s another topic for another day.

I probably wandered a lot in this. It was that wavy path I just mentioned. 😉

By the way, the pic isn’t actually me. But it definitely makes one of the inner mes very happy.

So are you moving or taking a breather?

Sherry Terry – Author Interview

My July guest is Sherry Terry, steamy Historical Romantica author, professional critiquer and teacher, former Navy Aviation Storekeeper, a retired Radiologic Technician, as well as lover of Big Bang Theory and A Knight’s Tale. Truly an impressive woman after my own heart.

Watch her blog for her upcoming book currently titled The Cabin – Sophie finds a quiet winter retreat, perfect to regroup and reset. A snow storm promises to increase her solitude, but her plans are interrupted by a hunky sheriff in need of help. Not what she wants, but it might be just what she needs.

I have read the first chapter of her work in progress To Be a Wife, Historical Romantica and it’s terrific. Sherry delivers in steam and intrigue.

 

JW: Sherry, I’m so happy you could join me for a short chat. You’re a devoted Romantica writer but you also have a good foundation in the difficulties of reality from your career in radiology and in the Navy not to mention life in general, I want to know, do you think real life can ever live up to the romantic ideal in your Romantica books?

ST: I guess it’s possible. The odds are too astronomical that someone somewhere isn’t living their romantic ideal right now. It’s why I love to read the genre. In a romance novel, you don’t get the gift of your lover’s fart under the covers or taking care of them when they have the flu or washing their underwear and other real life stuff that happens in relationships. My romantic ideal is an alpha gentleman with the ability to put us first all the time.

 

JW: Ah, yes, the “gift” of the fart. hahaha And I appreciate your use of the term “Alpha Gentleman.” Gentleman being the operative word. On the topic of real life, it seems dark, gritty Romance is becoming increasingly popular. Why do you think that is?

ST: Life is dark and gritty. Readers like fictional characters they can relate to, and with the good must come some bad. We cannot appreciate the good and admirable if there is no dark and gritty. With its popularity comes better opportunities to publish what readers want. I’m very excited to see these romances being published.

 

JW: So in writing that romantic ideal but keeping the balance of real life, do you ever fight Writer’s Block, and do you have any tips for getting through it?

ST: Yes I do. I just ride it out. I’ve found that if I just wait things out, it will all come rushing back. Trying to force things does nothing but slow me down. I work on critiques, or goof around on social media, and watch movies. Anything but work on the current story.

 

JW: Wow, good plan. And good point about trying to force. That way madness lies, right? Now I want to know what part of your writing time do you devote to marketing your writing?

ST: I haven’t found the “right” amount of time as of yet, but right now I spend roughly two hours a week. I have three Facebook accounts, a Twitter account, and a blog. I find that most of the views on my blog come from my author’s Facebook, so I spend quite a bit of time there. I love Twitter. The hardest thing about Twitter is saying what I want in 140 characters.

 

JW: Hahaha It’s very useful for practicing brevity. And last but not lease, Sherry, what inspires you to get out of bed each day?

ST: My children and grandchildren. They give me the gumption to become a successful author who makes a good living off her writing ventures.

 

JW: Beautiful, such a great answer. Thank you for joining me this month. It’s been great getting to know you.

ST: Thank you for having me. This was fun.

 

Sherry Terry lives on Red Bull and sarcasm in a small town in Texas with her hermaphroditic cat named, Hermy. As a single mother, she put herself through college and worked as a Radiologic Technologist for almost twenty years before she gave it all up to be a bum. In her Champagne wishes and caviar dreams, she spends all of her time writing the next greatest romance novel to hit the market. Her blog is dedicated to helping aspiring writers with how-to articles and awesome research links.

 

Please feel free to friend her on Facebook

Follow her on Twitter

And visit her blog, verysherryterry

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Camp NaNoWriMo

If you have never heard of NaNoWriMo.org it refers to National Novel Writing Month which is November. Chris Baty and his team started NaNo in 1999 as a fluke. They all had talked about “someday” writing a novel. In July of 1999 they committed to it; 50,000 words in 31 days. Check out NaNo’s History when you have a little time.

Several years later they came out with ScriptFrenzy, a wild attempt at a 100 page script in thirty days. That was interesting, learning how to format scripts was a great exercise but it seems many people didn’t have the patience, time or interest and it never quite took off.

Now the powers that be at NaNo decided to turn ScriptFrenzy into a more flexible NaNo and called it CampNaNoWriMo. Then they added a second Camp month. Then they rearranged. Now CampNaNo is held every April and July.

The goal for each November is participant is 50,000 words of a brand new work of fiction, preferably reaching The End, all in thirty days (rebels are welcome though). But CampNaNo is much more flexible. Camp allows us to pick whatever we want to write and create our own goal.

NaNo has two very passionate camps. There are those who hate it and think it’s a waste of time and there are those who love it and would never get anywhere writing without it. I like it because it gives me something official that allows me to look at my family and say, “I have writing to do.” And they respect it. It was a great way for me to move a writing lifestyle into my household without a huge war. Now, nobody even blinks when I say I have writing to do. It’s also helped me establish a little self-discipline.

Do you NaNo? Why or why not and has it helped you?

Memory, Nothing more than Memory

Why did it take so long to figure out I needed more memory. We’re pretty nerdy. Geeky. Whatever you want to call it – And yet, it’s taken us months to really think about what’s been wrong with my computer.

We got memory for it today.

Amazing! My pages come right up now rather than taking forever. Sort of like that difference between broadband and dial-up. I’ll actually be able to write, do graphic design, and surf the net now without waiting.

Hmm. Now when will I get coffee?

Do you remember the last upgrade you got on your computer? What was it?

Coming Soon: Author Interviews

I’m very excited to announce that I’ll be joined by a group of romance writers over the next several months. They’ll be short interviews and a great chance for you to find someone new to read.

Be looking for them around the middle of each month.

Brain Drain

 

Some days I can’t tell if my head is empty or full.

It seems like it’s quiet but there might be so much going on that it’s just a cacophony of white noise.

This is one of those days. Actually, yesterday was too.

I manage to get stuff done and it usually seems correct. Mostly, on those days, I just veg. I’ll read, watch a show that inspires me with story ideas or a show that just makes me laugh. I try not to push myself because I’ll just get frustrated and do things wrong, then I’ll have to go back through and fix it all on a day I am braining.

Do you have those days? What do you do for them?