The Good Side…

Tags

beach, busy, Creative Writing, fresh writing, long weekend, organization, services, taken seriously, vacation, wellness, wellness nursing, Writing

Despite feeling as down about last week as I do, I have to admit is was also an interesting week.  I had applied, believe it or not, to a Wellness Studio looking for an MD or ND.  I figured, what the heck!

So I got an immediate response.  The lead in the studio wanted to meet with me ASAP to discuss.  At our meeting he told me that he was intrigued by my resume because two days before he placed the MD/ND ad he’d had a meeting with the team and asked if they felt the need for any other practitioners and the dietician asked if he’d ever thought of an RN.  So I am in the midst of a potentially brand new path in life where few have gone before me.  The potential is there, I can feel that, I get that, I see that, but it’s finding people who will use the service and pay for it.  That’s the biggest challenge.  So we’re working on that at the moment.

I am finding myself busy, busy, busy but still stressed out severely which is decreasing my energy which is taking away from things like blogging and focusing on other things.  Things at work continue to spiral downward, especially in the incompetence department.

My vacation starts in one week… I hope that during those two weeks I can find some balance, spend some time on the CBT (Cognitive Behavioural Therapy) program I have lined up to take next and be able to develop some ideas around becoming a Wellness RN!

Gee, maybe I’ll get some fresh writing in there.  I do plan on spending some time at the beach so maybe, just maybe, I can pick up a couple of new copies of writing magazines and sit in the sun and read!

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Reorganization equals Chaos…

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coaching, Creative Writing, hysterectomy, life coaching, nearing the end, new cover, running out of room, short on space, too much stuff, Writing

Do you ever notice that?

You look around and gulp and realize that, once again (because you’ve done this a million times over as a writer) you need to TIDY and reorganize!  You look at your workspace and you realize that you couldn’t find something if it was slapping you because it’s GONE!

You know what is in the pile but nothing is where it used to be.  Where does a person go with anything?

I am finding myself short on space as I near the end of the Life Coaching Program and have all the printouts that I have been putting into folios.  Okay, check… went to Staples and bought a box of 100 page protectors and a binder.  Five folios have been transferred over!  I have reached Section 7 of 9.  This section covers the Seven Step Life Coaching Framework and then the following two sections are Q&A and End of Course/Program!

What a difference this course has made.  Do you know how many times, in working through the 50 Questions for Finding Your Passion & Purpose in Life I wrote WRITING?  I lost track so I can’t tell you.

I believe, once and for all (after 3 false starts) that I have solved the problem of my book cover and the new copies should be arriving anytime now…

 

I think the solid top is the solution it needed!

Lulu, by the way, is currently offering free shipping until tomorrow (Monday Aug 20) night.  The code is BOOKSHIP2018

From the perspective of a writer, life is overwhelming at the moment.  I have a lot going on and this week was going to be the make-it-or-break-it week for a number of things including whether or not Guideposts was going to offer me one of the twelve coveted spots in Rye, New York for a week in October at their Writing Workshop.  Since I didn’t hear from them and the middle of August has now passed, I assume I’m not one of the lucky ones.

Seems to be my lot in life.  It sure doesn’t help bolster the desire to write.  I also had an editor from Australia reading my work as of July 17 and her email indicated approximately four weeks.  That has passed now too.  So, all around, this week has had more bad than good.

I do have another tale to tell but I’ll save that for my next post my friends!

Having a tough time…

Tags

clarity, Contest, Creative Writing, desire for clarity, details, dilemma, EI, horrible, Hysterectomies & You, hysterectomy, incompetence, knowledge, life coaching, powerless, stress leave, The Trinket Box, work stress, Writing

Since I finished Hysterectomies & You and have nothing to do but wait for my third (and hopefully final) proof copy to show up I have been in the writing department, again.

I believe that my work situation is a huge contributing factor.  For a third of this year I was able to leave work at work and focus on relaxing and writing at home.  With the in-competencies going on at work more and more I have found my stress levels reaching the point where taking a stress leave might be the only way out.  However, that would require me to use our Federal Government-based Employment Insurance program which would do me little-to-no good.  For starters, living off of 55% of my salary would not pay the rent AND they would deduct, dollar for dollar, what I make from teaching in a month which would be absolutely NO help to me.

So you can see the dilemma I’m facing.  I continue to go to a job I hate every day because there are few other choices.  Although it has occurred to me that with my teaching pay, I could go into a full-time retail position and remain viable.

I have chugged along through much more of Life Coaching (since I can’t write, learn) and this last section (which I managed in the last 24 hours) has been interesting… especially the parts I did today.  It’s asking what the problem is because we get caught up in the details.  We all get caught up in details.  So my mind has been working on defining what the problem is rather than all the complaints.  The biggest issue, I believe, is the incompetence.  This isn’t just with patient care but with paperwork and referrals as well.  Much of what is going out is coming back incomplete.  For 11 years I worked diligently to provide everything a referral required in order to get an appointment for a patient.  Despite most offices not knowing that I was the one writing the referrals not the doctor, it still makes me feel horrible that this is now the state of things.

The biggest issue, with incompetence, is the patients who fall between the cracks.  The patients who don’t follow-up because they assume we will contact them and then we don’t or we can’t.  Or delayed referrals are slowing down a process.

As previously stated, my biggest struggle is not truly knowing what I want to do to pay the bills.  Because so much of my life has become about writing and essential oils and now life coaching, I feel myself even less inclined to move on to another nursing position.  I have applied for jobs where I feel that more of my facets would be valued.

This coming week should bring answers to a few questions as we near the four-week mark on a submission of The Trinket Box I made and the notification date for a short memoir I submitted to a contest.

I feel like my entire life, at this moment, is suspended in time and place.  I am having difficulties focusing and moving forward because I feel SOOOOO incredibly overwhelmed that I start reading something and I zone out.  I’m struggling with even the idea of “one thing at a time” because all I wish for is clarity.  Some answers to questions.

Knowledge is power and I feel like I know nothing therefore I am powerless.

Struggling again…

Tags

blogging, Creative Writing, Facebook, Indie authors, murder, new Facebook group, prompt, reading, self-promotion, The Writer, The Writing on the Wall, Writer's Digest, Writing, writing prompt

It seems that I am still on either a high from finishing my book or a low… I haven’t decided which it is.

I’m having some issues with settling on another project.  I keep bouncing between sequels with a bunch of disjointed ideas that keep swirling in my head.  I want to finish… well I want to finish both… but one at a time is my preference!

I have been on vacation for the last few days and helping to look after my mom who had surgery on Monday.  She’s home, she’s recovering, she’s in pain as expected but her spirits are definitely up!  But my schedule has been closer to a work schedule than a vacation schedule and I’ve been trying to find a balance where I can spend some time focusing a bit on writing too, even if it’s just reading The Writer and Writer’s Digest.

In my reading of the latest copy of The Writer, on page 8 (and there is no name with it), I discovered a Writing Prompt that I found very interesting and I do want to try it… maybe it can lead to something!  What do you think?

“If your novel’s protagonist was tasked with committing the perfect murder, how would he or she do it?  What’s the murder weapon, motive, and plan?  Who’s the unlucky victim?  And finally–and most importantly–does your character get away with it in the end?”

Now I think I have a solution to this puzzle.  I, of course, used a couple of techniques and “weapons” in The Writing on the Wall but it was a different time.  But I’m definitely thinking about it and want to sit with my notebook later.  I am also writing this while I watch a repeat episode of Bones… during one episode Dr. Brennan does say that she could plan the perfect murder and get away with it.  She never elaborates.

What’s the best you can come up with?  Feel free to leave it in the comments!  Or start writing your own story.

Don’t forget that I also have the Indie Authors and Bloggers page on Facebook where I’m allowing self-promotion.  For some reason you have to ask to join but I’m trying to approve right away because it wasn’t my intention to have it set up that way.  The link is https://www.facebook.com/groups/1668959470098290/?ref=bookmarks

It arrived…

Tags

Creative Writing, new cover, proof copy, Writing

My proof copy of Hysterectomies & You arrived on Tuesday.  Exciting but then I had a close look at it.

Though at first glance it was kind of cool, once I held it, carried it around, looked at it in different light in different places and tried to take pictures of it to post it, it definitely changed my mind.

The interior wasn’t too bad except a couple of things stood out… Chapter headers needed to be a bit smaller as did some of the sub-headings.  The header needed to be a smaller font as well.  The spacing was great except for two spots… one chapter where I forgot to put in the proper spacing and a spacing issue in the Q&A section.

That has now been fixed and I decided to try to use a picture I took the other day of a flower and it seems to have worked much better… see for yourself!

I like it much better!

I have ordered another proof copy!

Feeling Lost…

Tags

being in love, book is finished, create, creations, Creative Writing, feeling lost, feelings, loss, loss for words, love, new projects, old projects, parts of us, pieces of ourselves, pour our hearts out, projects, suggestions, Writing

Every time I finish a book or an article or any other piece of writing that I’ve poured my heart into (which, for the record, is everything I write) I feel lost.  Despite having the desire to focus on other writing I still feel lost.

I feel like sitting with some other project is somehow traitorous to the work I just finished.  Maybe a part of me feels like I’m abandoning that something… but I’m really not because by writing a piece, it becomes part of who we are, forever.

It’s a lot like being in love.  It’s like when another person feels like they are literally a part of who you are.  In all the relationships I’ve written over the years and the wedding vows I’ve written for all those weddings I have always tried to express that.  I have always tried to implement that small piece… the belonging of two souls.  I think Til We Meet Again and The Trinket Box cover that off the best.

So it is with what we create.  It becomes a part of us that will never leave us.  It becomes a part of us that we will carry with us for the remainder of our days.

I just have to try to get past that feeling of loss so I can continue moving forward.

Anyone else experience this?  Anyone have any suggestions as to working through that feeling?  I have done it over and over (10 novels in) and yet, I think it’s been so long I’ve forgotten what I do to get through it!

Published!

Tags

Creative Writing, global distribution, hysterectomy, keep our chin up, Lulu, lulu.com, mail, non-fiction, proof copy, published, publishing, self-publishing, taking a nap, Writing

Happy Wednesday everyone!

Whew! What a whirlwind this last week has been.  Work has been, as usual, horrible, with many more sheets of paper being crumpled and one-liners being shared between the two of us.

The Life Coaching course is going slowly as I put the finishing touches on my manuscript and start the process of developing a new storyline.

In the midst of it all, and it only took two Wednesdays, I managed to just finish the hysterectomy book.  I did go with Lulu and I did get the ISBN number and it will be available for global distribution.

There it is! I have ordered my proof copy and will wait, and wait impatiently, for it to arrive in my mailbox!  Once I get that I can approve it and it will be available!

It takes so much time but it is doable… when we put our minds to it.

I’m going to go nap now!

A Discovery…

Tags

#CanLitPit, #pit2pub, Confessions in the Mural, Creative Writing, discovery, hashtagged, hysterectomy, missing the obvious, non-fiction, synopses, The Trinket Box, The Writer, The Writing on the Wall, Til We Meet Again, Writer's Digest, Writing

So there I was on Wednesday, after TWO horrible days at work wondering what I was going to do with my Hysterectomy manuscript.  I definitely came close to self-publishing it that day… in fact I went to Lulu and I have had an ISBN number assigned.

I went to Twitter to check out one of the editors I had found on ECW Publishing–a Canadian publisher–and she had tweeted about being on the look out during #CanLitPit

What is THIS? I wanted to know.  I clicked that link and was taken to another link where someone had posted a list of hashtagged links all containing ‘PIT’

One was happening that day! I did some brief research about #pit2pub and found a link to the basic rules.  WHAT?  I had no idea about any of this.  I quickly typed up a couple of Tweet-length pitches for some of my books starting with The Trinket Box!  For that story, on that day, I got three likes!  That means I could submit it to three publishers if I choose!  I was so incredibly excited! This is truly amazing.

There was another one being held on Thursday so many of my books ended up with Tweet-length pitches!  I can’t wait until the next one and I hate that I missed the Canadian one!  It could have made such a difference and it could have meant a publisher for my hysterectomy book.

Upon further research, it turns out that these are happening all the time and have been for several years!  Considering I have been a reader of The Writer and Writer’s Digest how could I have overlooked something like that?

We often do that don’t we?  Things that are right in front of us get missed because maybe they are irrelevant at that time?

Either way, I have a few synopses to write as well as preparing 3-chapter files to forward to potential editors.

THE Worst Day…

Tags

blurb, BOOK, book blurb, Creative Writing, finished book, hysterectomy, podcasts, self-publishing, traditional publishing, what do you think?, word count, Writing

Yesterday was the WORST day at the office that I have had in a long time, maybe ever.

I took to crumpling up full sheets of scrap paper just to try to keep my cool!  Yes, it was that bad.

And so much of me wanted to be writing, Writing, WRITING!  It was beyond difficult to not shut my office door and just sit and write.

I need to figure out what to do with my book… traditional? self? Are there other options?

I started to write a blurb and this is as far as I got…

Every year 50,000 women in Canada (and 600,000 in the US) have a hysterectomy.  We are not alone but sometimes it feels like we are alone during the decision-making process and recovery.  Information about what to expect during this time is vague because everyone is different.  It comes as a shock after the initial recovery period is over to discover things are far from being back to normal…

I didn’t think it was too bad for a first stab at it.

What do you think?  Do I self-publish it and try to market the H out of it?  Or do I try to go traditional?  At 25,000 it might be a failure.  That’s why I thought I’d ask you for your thoughts and ideas!

Does anyone know any podcasts?  Maybe some of us need to get together and form a podcast tree or something!

Always thinking!

Always a Trade-off

Tags

bloggers, blogging, buyers, Creative Writing, dog-sitting, Facebook, hysterectomy, Indie authors, new Facebook group, non-fiction, self-publishing, to-do list, trade-off, traditional publishing, writers, Writing, writing help

What a week it has been.  I have been dog-sitting since Tuesday which has taken a huge chunk of my time.  I have cats and the cats tend not to be as needy but just for starters dogs have to go outside to pee!  My term comes to an end tomorrow and the one thing I will miss is the walking.  If nothing else, she has definitely forced me to get off my butt!

Naturally it’s always a trade-off.  If I look after the dog it means I’m not getting to my writing.  Or I spend time with my writing and she sits in the chair over there pouting as she watches the front door.  Dogs don’t understand about tomorrow so it’s hard to explain to her that it’s one more sleep and mommy and daddy will be home.

So I have been working on writing in stolen moments. Here’s one my unsuccessful stolen moments… the kitten thought he was being helpful…

 

Don’t tell anyone (okay, one person knows), but I was spending some time on it on Thursday… especially on Facebook.  It’s difficult to explain… when my mind flicks the switch to ON it almost ends up on a rutted track in that focus on other things is nearly impossible.  There are just times and moments when my attention ends up on writing.  Sometimes it’s simply because I haven’t had the time or made the time to focus on writing and my brain just needs to get that out there!  Other times I get so frustrated with my job that I feel the need to hop on to my writing Facebook pages and just connect with other writers.

On Friday I actually wrote myself a to-do list.  I had to.  There were way too many things I need to do including applying to a couple of jobs, getting my penciled edits into my hysterectomy manuscript, work on some letters to publishers and focus on getting back to my fiction writing.

The Hysterectomy book is now finished from my perspective.  I have taken three passes at it and added and added.  I have made grammar and spelling corrections and it has come in at 25,000 words.  With some of the posts going up on The Street Team Book Marketing Group on Facebook I keep wondering if I even should try to seek a traditional publisher.  The biggest challenge is self-publishing and then there is no hope to traditionally publish because it’s now been out there according to a lot of publishers.

I think many of us do the self-publish route because it’s simpler.  It really is less time consuming to write, edit and then format and upload.  The biggest challenge is always getting people to buy it and I believe that’s where most of us get hung up.  How do we get there?  How do we get the reach we need?  How do we get people to actually buy our books versus wanting them for free?

Just a reminder to all of you, I have created the Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/groups/1668959470098290/) where we can share and promote our own work whenever we want to.  Now we need to get the page to grow!  Readers invited as well because when we get going there will be some great material to choose from!

Better get back to work.  If I decide to submit to some traditional publishers I have letters to write and perfect!