Sneeze, you miss it…

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articles, Creative Writing, ebooks, Editing, edits, free Kindle book, missing lessons, missing time, paid gig, time, time passing, time passing too fast, Writing

That’s the equivalent of time.

Of course we all want it to speed by at times… to get to the end of winter like all of us these last few weeks, to get out of work at the end of the day or week or to get to a vacation, moving day, new job, etc.

But, at the same time, with each day that passes, so does a day of our lives that we can’t get back.  We have only memories of the days and we can take that information and move forward with the lessons we learned but we can never move backwards and we don’t get do-overs!

All of what we learn can be used to move forward and move into different roles.  Maybe I don’t want to do nursing hands-on anymore but I love the teaching side of it and I am loving this new writing gig as I’m still taking from my wealth of knowledge and sharing it with the world!

I submitted my first article last week and got paid.  The wonderful person I’m doing these for sent me five articles that had been written and asked if I would review and edit.

Hmmmm…

Unfortunately the flow, the sentence structure, the, well, everything, is pretty disastrous so I’m finding myself doing a lot of rewriting rather than editing.  Okay, I’ll take the pay-cut on these five to do but it has also been a learning curve for her because as I send her the rewrites she has been in awe!  Her words to me when I did a fast rewrite of about a paragraph and a half of one of the articles she sent me… “Honestly, it’s like I’m having an epiphany…mind blowing…”

So I work at my own edits of my Christmas Judge story and I work at her edits.  I now have two complete and will push on!

So even when you push past days and times in your life to reach the better days and times make sure you take with you the experiences you gained from those days because you just never know when it’s going to crop up in your writing without you even knowing it!

Of course the last two days have passed in a flash for me and I have yet to remind you that my books have been free the last two days in celebration of SPRING!  So hurry, don’t miss out on these.

Canadian link: https://www.amazon.ca/s?k=pamela+clayfield&ref=nb_sb_noss_1

US link: https://www.amazon.com/s?k=Pamela+clayfield&ref=nb_sb_noss_2

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Chippy in the City…

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blog, Chippy in the City, Creative Writing, exciting, long-term, new novel idea, novel, paid gig, relationships, unhappy, unhappy ending, Writing

I’m not certain yet if the title fits the post or if it’s just a reflection of my feelings at the moment.

It kind of popped in there again and I wondered about it as a title for a new written work.  The title has never been used before… I just searched Amazon!

I thought it might be the first novel I write that doesn’t have a happy ending because I’ve never written one like that before.

It could be about a boy and a girl who have a relationship they’ve never had before and never expected to have.  It has everything in it that they had only ever dreamed about because reality had slapped them both in the face on multiple occasions in their past.  Of course the biggest twist is that they don’t live together and kind of have life outside each other and maybe that’s what has kept them going and maybe not.

Eventually his outside commitments start to outgrow the relationship and there’s never any room for HER.  There are never any sacrifices for HER.  Came close once or twice but nothing ever grand or wonderful like cutting a trip short or stealing days away.  She literally feels like she’s there for when HIS needs need to be fulfilled but outside that, well, forget it…

Then comes the last straw where promises are made and then broken… and she feels like her heart has been ripped out and tossed onto the street just in time for a bus to rumble over it leaving her wondering what to do.  All the words ever exchanged, but never actions to back up those words.

Too graphic??????????????  Well, you get the idea.  Of course the novel would tell the tales of their love over the course of however long I can envision them being together, high points, low points, maybe in flashbacks and then the finale.  Of course the title comes from the fact they live apart, she in the heart of the city and he, obviously, outside… suburbs?  Details, details.

On the flip side (and back to reality), since I have nobody else to share the news with, I have been given a shot at writing PAID blog posts, long term, and I just set aside my notes on that to write this… just putting a break in between before I sit down and start to write the actual piece and incorporate all my notes.  I’ll keep you posted, as to when it goes live!

Wish me luck!

 

 

Anthology Submission

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anthology, bio, Creative Writing, Facebook, kisses, poetry, poetry anthology, ready to submit, Romance, romance author, struggling with bio, submission, Writing

Well… here I am again back at writing!  Except, with a bit of a twist…

POETRY.

Yes, I have dabbled in poetry.  It is sometimes my go-to when I’m highly emotional.  I have a small collection that I did self-publish just to see what it would look like.  Not bad and, since that was several years ago, it would probably look even better now!

So when one of my writer groups on Facebook posted about a poetry anthology being published and they are gathering submissions I wanted to jump at the chance.  The subject…

KISSES.

How can a romance author pass that by?  Seriously?

So I have composed three poems… the maximum I can submit, and I’m about ready to hit the SUBMIT button and proceed with uploading.  I ran one of them by a friend of mine who helped me make some serious corrections!  Thank you!

Of course, I’m here, instead of doing that at this moment, to gain some courage even though I know all of you can’t be reading this as I write it but I’m hoping that a few of you will at least see it and the likes will light up my screen AS I’m proceeding with the upload and submission!

It’s the same feeling as the last time I submitted to the anthology on Death and Taxes.  What I’m struggling with the most is my Bio, as always.  I think writing a bio is as painful as writing the synopsis for a novel!  How do you sum up almost 20 years of writing into 50-75 words?  Sigh…

Well, wish me luck my friends!  Probably the first time I’ve ever submitted my poetry!

One of those feelings…

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article, big picture, cancer, Creative Writing, health, history, hope, life coach, nurse, upsetting, what am I supposed to do?, writer, Writing

Once again I have that feeling… that feeling that something greater than myself is going to happen.  I usually have that feeling around Christmas with the Hope the season brings.

I’ve stumbled a bit this morning… I set my breakfast on the table and started scrolling through Facebook and I come across a post by CBC… https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/london/cervical-cancer-diagnosis-lhsc-london-study-1.5038907?fbclid=IwAR0Yex6tG8om9v9BMZBaMMQLlgFNh54gU-bbuwrLfvivknhi_C7z4qRwbzU

Read it, or don’t read it.  The bottom line is it’s about how a woman in London, ON. had regular pap tests and then her doctor didn’t refer her for biopsy because he didn’t feel it was necessary. Now I realize the title of the article is a bit misleading in that it blames that pap test itself but, I believe, they are trying to sell the point that pap tests can be unreliable like most tests.  The worst part is, they didn’t catch it in time, she’s been through treatment and was in remission but cancer has returned.  She will never see her children grow up.

For those of you who know my history, you know that the article HAD to throw me!  And it most certainly did!  That’s the big picture that I have always talked about.  I did what I did because I saw this occur time and time again with cancer patients.

So now I’m finding I’m once again at that point where I feel like I want to, need to am SUPPOSED TO burst forth and do SOMETHING but, as usual, I don’t know what that something is!

Is it something I’m supposed to write?  Is it something I’m supposed to do?  If it’s either of those things… can I get more of a hint? Perhaps just spell it out!

I’m a writer, I feel like I have written all I can but I’m also a nurse, a Life Coach, a teacher, a mom, a sister, a daughter… the list goes on, of course.  But what. is. it.?

I don’t know.  As much as I wish I did, I don’t know… or at least not yet.

So I will continue my writing and I will continue to write what comes to mind.  Maybe something, just something, will suddenly occur to me!

I write Romance…

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authors, boy meets girl, Creative Writing, crime, genres, genres pick us, J.K. Rowing, Kathy Reichs, love, mystery, Nicholas Sparks, paranormal, Richard Paul Evans, Robert Galbraith, Romance, Scott Thornley, strife, Writing, writing romance

I started writing romance novels in 2001.  Most people want to know why… why choose that genre?  Or, worse, what the hell do you want to write romance for?

I think genres pick us, we don’t pick them.  Some is the write what you know idea that every author has spoken at least once.  Beyond that, I’m not sure!

What makes someone pen horror or mystery or one of the million other genres that are out there?  What makes someone pick up those books and read them?

What leads a person to enjoy one genre over another?  Of course I’m weird in that way because the only romance I read anymore is Richard Paul Evans and Nicholas Sparks.  My bookshelves are covered in a mysteriously unconnected array of novels.  I like Kathy Reichs and her forensic anthropologist that had me holding my breath for twelve seasons from episode to episode of Bones that she helped bring to the screen.  I like J.K. Rowling’s Robert Galbraith books and I very much enjoy a Canadian author by the name of Scott Thornley who is from just down the road and just finished his fourth novel which I’m working on right now… police/crime.

But yet, when I sit to write, what comes out is a boy meets girl scenario.  I have added in mystery and paranormal but the bottom line is romance… it’s just my thing!

I guess it’s what comes from the heart.  I know that the world needs a little bit more love in it so maybe it’s my place to add to that love.  I have known much love in my lifetime and sharing pieces of that has always brought me joy.  Inserting the little things I’ve had said to me that have made me happy makes me hope that someone else will find happiness in that little line as well.

I have to ask then, why is there always strife added in?  Why can’t we experience a duration of time when things just go along happily?  Why does it always feel like I’m climbing a cliff face that is turning outwards to sea and when I reach a certain point I’m just going to go crashing into the surf?

I guess I’ll have to write another book and explore.

Work in Progress…Editing mode

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Creative Writing, creativity, dining room, Editing, editing my house, essential oils, function, kitten, nursing, office, organization, packing, reorganization, room changes, work space, writer, Writing

The title is not speaking about my writing… this time! What it is referring to is my house!  A work in progress in itself!

I have a two-storey, two bedroom townhouse with a basement.  Two adult lives are crammed in to this little house that I call home and I love it when it’s clean and tidy.  However, as most of you writers know, tidy is optional!  We always have papers, binders, books, magazines and who knows what else strewn about for learning, researching, editing… that list goes on as well.

So add an essential oil/nursing consult job to that as well as craft items and it’s a disaster in the making.  Since the kitten (not anymore but he’s still about the size of a kitten) has decided bed is in the basement I can’t move anything else important to the basement right now for fear that he’ll pee on it!  Not sure why he does that but he does, unfortunately… anything paper or plastic.

So my dining room has become the overflow for my important stuff including all writing works in progress, my life coaching workbooks and all the items that I had accumulated over twelve years at the old job that I want for use at the Wellness Centre.

My mom has been helping for months now trying to clean (before Christmas) and now we’re tackling the basement to better organize and throw stuff out and sort out my daughter’s stuff from my stuff for whenever she is prepared to leave the nest.  It might not be for five years but her stuff will be there for her whenever that time comes!  So we’ve got the laundry room/storage side pretty well complete and now it’s on to the other side… the side that was originally going to be my office/work space.  Not for the last 18 months! I have my computer desk (which doesn’t get used except for the printer) and multiple bookshelves covered in books and manuscripts, income tax stuff, writing class stuff, etc.  Full work space and in order to make it usable again it needs to be reorganized, cleaned up and things put into plastic bins so that Tigger AND I can reside down there together!

On Monday, I prepared a meal for six and we had to eat at the folding table my parents brought.  My dining room would normally be big enough save for it acting as my office space! The table I had in there was also very small and wouldn’t seat six though the other table and chairs I have would because it came with two leaves so it would extend nice and big!  So today’s chore was to move that table back up to the dining room (which is awesome because I like the darker wood AND the additional space) and putting the smaller one in the basement.  I’d like to be able to also use the basement for a sitting area with a TV as well so we’re going to pack up a lot of my daughter’s books (the last time she opened a book she was probably in single digits) and move things around so that the room can be used not only as my work space but also as a place to play video games or watch Netflix or whatever!

Now that the smaller table is down there reorganization can begin.  We’ll pack up books, move things around and probably toss another couple of garbage bags worth of stuff out.

So I guess, in keeping with my writing, at the moment… I’m in editing mode… I’m editing my home for better use!

 

Today & Tomorrow!

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free ebook, free Kindle book, Kindle, Love Stories, romance novels, Valentine's Day, Valentine's gift ideas

Just the quickest, shortest post to remind you all that my Kindle books are free today and tomorrow only!

For those of you in Canada the link is https://www.amazon.ca/s?k=pamela+clayfield&ref=nb_sb_noss

And for my friends In the US the link is https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=pamela+clayfield

Of course my books are available on most of the Amazon sites so look me up and download for free!

It IS Valentine’s Day so don’t forget to send copies to those you love!

It is…

Tags

Amazon Kindle Sale, book sale, Creative Writing, done, Editing, It is finished, Kindle, Valentine's Day, way more words, word count, Writing

I’ll give you five guesses.

No.

No.

No.

Of course not! Now I’m blushing!

No…

You failed me!  It is FINISHED!

It came in at at 24, 644 words!  That is more than 4,000 words over my estimate!

And, if you must know, the last 5,000 words were all added TODAY!

So yes, I’m going to keep this short and sweet.  I just wanted everyone to know that it’s done!  It can now be ripped apart by edits but not right now.

Also, don’t forget!  Only THREE SLEEPS until my Amazon Kindle book sale starts and lasts only Wednesday and Thursday!

Happy writing!

Happy Ice Day!

Tags

anger, Creative Writing, dreams, moving forward, my story, short stories, Story Starter, too long, too short, wishes, Writing, writing camp, writing retreats

Well, no, not really!

I already hate, loathe and despise winter.  I’m a pop on flip flops and run out the door kinda gal!  So today, well, is just another day that adds to my serious dislike of this season… freezing rain that is absolutely turning the world here into a skating rink.

I am so glad that I have the day off!

It has allowed me to do some knitting and, most of all, writing!  Yes, I have almost reached the end.  I’m going to jump ahead one year for the last of the story.  It will finish at or below 20,000 words which isn’t going to fit anywhere!

That’s okay, it’s my story and I will still have to edit it.  I might start compiling my short stories into a book.  If I knew anything about how to put together an anthology I could put out a call and put one together from a few of you!

I am incredibly tired though.  The last two nights I haven’t slept great… last night I battled a migraine all night and I went to bed extremely angry last night.  But I did manage to sit with my notebook by the light of my tree (yes, my tree is still up but the decorations have been taken off and replaced with some hearts for Valentine’s Day) which was soothing if nothing else.

But after the day I’d had I really wished I could walk away from just about everything.  I wish I could move to my favourite little town, move forward with my writing and my life coaching and have enough room to hold some small writing retreats or camps or both!

I know it’s good for the soul to dream but I have been dreaming for a very long time.

I do have another story starter I can start working on after this!

Valentine’s Day Sale

Tags

Free ebook offer, free Kindle book, Free Kindle offer for Valentine's Day, paranormal romance, Romance, Romance and mystery, Valentine's Day, Valentine's Day gift ideas, Valentine's Day sale, Valentine's romance novels

Hi!

Well my brain got into gear and, since I missed Christmas, I have decided to offer my Kindle books for FREE on February 13th & 14th ONLY.

So if you know someone who loves books, romances, reading then think about getting them a copy for free… a great addition to any gift!

You can go to my Facebook Author page http://www.facebook.com/pamelaclayfieldauthor where I have posted the direct links to my books at both amazon.com and amazon.ca or you can go to your chosen Amazon site and just look me up!

See you there and don’t forget to share with your friends!