The Jacks at Christmas Parties

When you're reading this, you and/or your loved ones are going to one Christmas party after another, ones your employer or your best friend is hosting. In addition to catching up with old chums, talking about old times, or sharing off-grid office humor, you're meeting new people. They talk about how work has been rough this year, their cross-country flight to see a grandbaby born (whether it's their first or tenth), and their annual summer trip to the beach with three generations' worth of family there.

But then there's an author at the other end of the table, nibbling on those tasty, homemade cheddar garlic mashed potatoes, patiently listening, sometimes commenting.

Have you asked them what they do? If you have and directed your attention back to that mother bragging about her teenage son's plans to study abroad in Ireland next spring, first of all, I forgive you. But please! Re-direct your attention back to that hard-working author who has spent so many days alone, struggling to find the time to write their novel, agonizing to find flowing words, while drinking the dregs of one cup of coffee after another. Ask them what they write, what their current work in progress is about, and how they came up with the idea. They may have writer's block. In their talking, and you intently listening, they may have an epiphany about the turning point of their story. 

Most of all, ask how you can get a hold of a copy of one of their books--as a Christmas gift. You may have been stuck on what book to give that avid reader in your family. Wouldn't it be so cool if you were there when they unwrapped their gift and with wide eyes and giddiness enveloping their body and mind, they welcomed another book to their ever-growing collection and mentally added that to their TBR list? Then you can say you met the author at a Christmas party.

Having been mostly silent more times than I care to admit at gatherings, whether for Christmas or the 4th of July, and seen Yesterday a few times, I can empathize with Jack. To where I've called these taken-for-granted authors Jacks. 

Yesterday is one of few movies that elicits so many emotions (like that fall-out-of-your-seat John Lennon scene). Those who have seen the movie know the part where Jack plays Let it Be for his parents...

While you may compare your Christmases to the ones portrayed in National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation or Home Alone, please don't cause authors to feel like Jack (in the above scene) in Yesterday. 

And how about you? How's your family? How's work going for you?

Random Phrases Through Life Changes

When they say an author's job is 24/7/365, they're not kidding.

The worst of this personal physical issue is over. I'm basking in how well the treatment is working. I'm less tired and can concentrate better. That I'm only a month into this and have a few more months before I'm expected to reach normal levels (at last!) astounds me. What other ideas will I be able to come up with? Many more than what I'm thinking of now. And I know they'll be more orderly and consistent.

At the moment, though, I'm enjoying writing in my journal, tweaking my works in progress. 

In keeping the writing ball rolling as I, in the words of an REO Speedwagon song title, roll with the (life) changes, I've thought of random phrases. 

I've either already included them in Facebook posts or will use them in future ones, blog posts, or one of my works in progress, especially the ones I've thought of this past year. 

Here are some of them:

(1) literary cobwebs

(2) showing support (this is deeper and bears more weight than you realize)

(3) Inspiration can't wait till 8

(4) renewed youth

(5) daily inner renewing

(6) the road less traveled

(7) sacrifices of joy

(8) rusty travel skills

(9) changing my daily script

(10) no outlet

Have I piqued your curiosity about what they mean and how I'm going to use them? I'll help you solve the puzzle(s) in the year to come.

And I just couldn't help myself...

A Brief Journal-style Post

Instead of fearing the blank screen, I'm just going to move my fingers and just write whatever comes to my mind.

At the moment, I'm taking care of a personal issue that requires a lot of time and attention to detail. What I can say about it is, now's the time to take care of it. It's not a bad thing. In fact, it's normal; I just have to find something that works for me. I didn't foresee the few years of trial and error. prior to this.

As can be expected, this takes me away from my full writing schedule, working on even more of The Unknown, Beautiful Missing Piece. Instead, I've been writing in my journal. 

If you don't know me by now, you'll now learn I'd likely write about 4-5 pages, front and back, in one sitting, most days of the week. Although we're fully in the digital age, I'm ever more thankful they still make 120-page composition books and pens. This nearly daily verbal dumping keeps my mind and creativity active, I'm still creating things, thinking of new ideas. They may not be anything related to my novels in progress. Perhaps publishing a novel wasn't in my plans this year. However, I know once the stress of this personal issue subsides, I'll be an even better writer than before. 

P.S. I really tried to write all this without thinking about the flow. I foresee writing with much more abandonment on my novels in progress as a result of writing like this in my journal.

P.P.S. I went back and revised this post--only one time. 

The Best Advice I Can Give You

What got you started with writing?

What inspired you to write the book you're working on right now?

What has been the most rewarding thing about being an author?

These are three of many questions others would ask me about my journey as an author. I try to give them the best answers, without sounding impersonal, insulted, or insensitive.

In addition to the above questions, some also ask me, "I want to write a book. What advice do you have for me?" Since I am a mostly straightforward person (almost to a fault), I give a simple answer: Sit down and write something. Although that's still my answer, my next piece of advice is a bit more dramatic. 

DISCLAIMER: This is not for the faint of heart.

Are you ready??

Have an occasional meltdown.

Such was the case for me Wednesday afternoon. I'd worked hard all day, including tweaking more of The Unknown Beautiful Missing Piece. Once again, I stalled. I've dealt with this for the past few weeks. I was nonetheless happy with what I'd done in the limited time I had that morning. 

I'd attended a webinar that afternoon to whet my appetite for an opportunity to grow professionally. I was really overwhelmed afterward. I wondered if it was going to be just another thing I'll fantasize about to my own personal detriment, that will be unfeasible, no matter what, so much so I should forget about it.

I continued in this fatalistic mindset the rest of the afternoon into the evening. 

Then I snapped. I said things, some of them repeatedly. I knew none of them were true. I was so wound up I almost couldn't eat.

I eventually calmed down and ate dinner. I'd had just another moment where I wondered if all the hard work I'd done since 2011 was going to pay off. For the past five years or so, I've gotten up as early as 3:30 or 4 and got to writing...something...anything, and continued doing related things, such as self-promotion, networking with other authors, or learning more about writing until the late afternoon.

To any aspiring authors reading this, to those who really want to write books, you will have moments where you feel like no one is interested in your writing. You may feel invisible, insignificant, inadequate, just an extra person taking up space in this world, always getting the short end of the stick. You may think your ideas are lame and pathetic, that you keep running around in circles, getting nowhere, that you're spinning your wheels and always will till the day you die. In those moments, let it all out, repeat some things if you feel you need to, eat dinner, and get a good night's rest. When you wake up, in your renewed mental and emotional strength, show up again, and write even better and deeper than before. You'll surprise yourself at what more you can think of and do, how strong you really are. For what it's worth, I have to tell myself these same things, sometimes a few times a week.

My Publishing Addiction

Picture it: Punk Rock Flea Market, Mill & Mine, Knoxville, TN, 2021. It was a comfortable, cool day in early October. After much hard work and diligence, I had copies of The Unknown Beautiful Missing Piece at my table. Lots of people who passed by stopped and thumbed through this book. They complimented me on the captivating front cover. Some people bought copies, I autographed them.

I haven't published a book since November 2020. I'd hoped to have published Light & Momentary Troubles, the second volume of my journal entries, by now. However, no one responded to a post I'd made a few weeks ago on an authors' Facebook page, requesting someone to critique it. 

I haven't worked on The Unknown Beautiful Missing Piece in the way I'd thought. Then again, I'm a lot farther along in the progress than I realize; I need to be patient. What I have been working on, though, are essays and devotions, one of which I submitted to Inkspirations . I may likely have another one on there soon. 

In order to make this goal happen, I'll have to finish the first draft around the first of August. Is this too unrealistic? I'll know as this month unfolds. If it doesn't happen then, I know I'll be happy even when I publish it in October. In the meantime, please enjoy an excerpt I have for The Unknown Beautiful Missing Piece.

Vaccine Afterglow

On Thursday, May 27 at 4:20pm, I got the COVID-19 vaccine.

As I drove home, I imagined myself covered with a blanket. I could rest from the stress I'd experienced from the pandemic. Any news I'd hear afterward about it, would be noise. 

For the past year-plus, I'd cooperated with the CDC guidelines. Giving up my rights as a healthy American citizen like I never thought possible. I'd been disappointed events had canceled or gone virtual. Such things included Bible study and writing group meetings. How much better my life will be, how much more I can be myself now that I don't have to wear my mask as much or anymore! {Let me hear a shout from my fellow extroverts.}

Other than feeling mildly tired and sleeping a lot the next day, I didn't experience any other side effects. I was at Panera Saturday morning, writing some more of The Unknown Beautiful Missing Piece. 

This past week, though, I've been distracted, unable to concentrate, overwhelmed, restless, irritable, and confused. I didn't have as much time to write, as I wanted. If I didn't have piles of laundry to do, I had an important event to attend. 

It's an opportunity to socialize, which I haven't been able to do without COVID restrictions. That was my thought as I pried myself away from the laptop, put on my t-shirt and shorts, and went out.

It's now approaching the weekend and I haven't worked much on Unknown. The only "writing" I've done is looking through the second book of my journal entries called Light & Momentary Troubles. I'd composed this around 2019 and looked over it whenever I had a lull in my other works in progress. At the time, they were Writing Soul Mates and Nick Clemente's and my memoir. I checked it one more time for spelling errors and even deleted some content.

I kept thinking there's a way to not make it so dull and boring. I still don't know what it is.

There is such a thing, and I've experienced it myself, as being too stressed to write. I've been there more times I've thought possible. This may be another one of those moments. Only difference is, it's good stress. I've overcome a major milestone that has affected everyone around the world.

Having written all this, I think my one side effect is what I call vaccine afterglow. This is a moment for me to let it sink in about how much better my life will be, now that I'm unmasked. I know it will elicit even better ideas than what I have now for my writings. And it will glow when I put it on paper.

May HodgePodge

April showers bring May...allergies.

But better things are on the horizon for me.

At this writing, I'm still overcoming seasonal allergy symptoms. I've been tired a lot, my throat feels raw and scratchy, my eyes are itchy and puffy, and I "feel" fluid in my ears. None of that stops me from giving it all I got every morning, promoting myself every chance I get. In this post, I'm going to share some things that are progressing, some more than others.

I'm working on the first eight chapters of The Unknown Beautiful Missing Piece. Each time I work on it, I've been able to tighten it or add more depth to some parts and to some supporting characters. There's more content I want to add, but I haven't figured that out yet where to put it, how to word it. I'm working my way past those chapters. I've also been working on the second book full of my journal entries from 2015, Light & Momentary Troubles. I was hoping to have made more progress by now, but--life and allergies.

In addition to my own works in progress, Nick Clemente is seeking a publisher for the memoir we wrote. If you've been following my posts, you may have seen videos called Backstory with Quig and Danny. (Please subscribe to the Melody Records channel on YouTube.) At the beginning of June, Nick will let the cat out of the bag in a Backstory video  about what we've been working on. Afterward, Nick and I will, as he said in a recent conversation, "Go crazy," ie, make the announcement.

I try my best to be positive and hopeful in all my social media posts. With this ongoing pandemic I've sometimes been challenged. I haven't been to any events with my books in over a year and a half. Therefore, I made a post like this a time or two...

On April 1, my husband and I attended the East Tennessee Mopar club monthly meeting. As I read a copy of their newsletter, they announced a show for Saturday, June 26th. They were still taking the one word that got my attention:

VENDORS!

About a week and a half ago, I signed up. And this is no April Fool's Joke! If you're local, I hope to see you there (even if you don't like cars).

Though I haven't made any plans about sales or giveaways, I've changed the pricing of my physical copies:

It goes without saying I want you to have the books more than I do the money.

To sum it up, I have some works in progress that are taking me longer than expected to finish; I keep showing up. After waiting a long time for another event, I finally found one. 

Good things come to those who work hard to go to the next level to pursue their goals and dreams.

Writing > Life Changes

While watching the morning news earlier this week, I saw a car commercial that had the simple math equation with the > (greater than) sign. They had several of them, one of which was adventure > daily. What caught my attention was the last one: now > never. 

What my life is like now:

Inspiration  > Time

Distractions > Solitude

For those of you who read last month's post, what's going on now is polar opposite. I'm rushed and distracted. Therefore I've been out of sorts and moody. It can't be entirely because of the rain or the beginning of daylight saving's time.

Then it dawned on me... 

My husband and I have had some more life changes this year. In fact, we've had a lot of them since we moved back to Knoxville in 2018. The more we've had, the more I've been challenged to stay focused on writing. This is a problem; I need to figure out how to solve it.

I realized this in a conversation I had with a friend, who's also a writer...

I had loads of time when I first started writing. Back then, I wrote loads of words in each book. I was was also overwhelmed: what advice am I going to heed to improve my craft?

I've now refined my writing; it's now clearer.  That's an accomplishment considering all I've been through over the past few years. It must mean something to me; my fight for my right to write is on a higher level now. I refuse to quit because of the daily frequent interruptions I hadn't had until now.

I know in time, my writing time will be restored and will look more like this:

Writing > Life changes

Writing now > Writing later

Solitude > Distractions

Every Five Februaries

 A recording studio, a place where singers and musicians lay down tracks and engineers mix music at a console.

(photo extracted from Pinterest)

It's also a place to think of an idea for a romance novel. 

That's where I was and what I thought of five years ago February. Up till that time, I had never considered writing romance. Two and a half years later, I published Twofold Love Comeback. And little did I know I'd publish another romance novel

In the first half of February, I had more time than usual to write, especially in my journal. Lately, I've been wondering about why I write so much in my journal every morning. Do I just write in circles? Should I take a break from it for a while and work on something else? I have unapologetically wasted a lot of trees over the years. 

A few Sundays ago, I closed my journal for the day and opened the notebook where I've written devotions. I started writing raw versions of essays. They are about what I've learned about myself and others during COVID-19, and how it has impacted me as an author. 

As I wrote, I realized it was the middle of February, exactly five years, almost to the day, after my recording studio epiphany. Only I wasn't in one this time.

Will I naturally write in a different genre five years from now? If so, which one? Where will I be and who will I be with when that moment comes? 

I'll find out in mid-February 2026.

Acting Like a 12-Year-Old and Proud of It

The #1 hit on the week of your 12th birthday defines your life. 

This is a silly Facebook game. My answer is "Papa Don't Preach" by Madonna.

Though I don't take stock in the cheesy answers to these offbeat games on social media, I still think it's amusing. 

I turned 12 in 1986 (Please don't do the math to figure out how young I still am). Though I did listen frequently to "Papa Don't Preach" back in the day, the musical impact it had on me pales compared to that of the Bangles. I got Different Light on cassette for my 12th birthday. As any 12-year-old would do, I played that so much. I'm surprised I didn't have to get another copy.

Over the years, I kept toying with what updated format to get it in. The last I checked, YouTube had only the videos of the hits. I then considered the following ways:

(1) Find the tape, but I know it's nowhere in my house; it's...somewhere.

(2) Order the CD on Amazon. 

(3) Get it on vinyl.

(4) Download it on Amazon Music

I know I'll get nowhere with option #1 and don't see the feasibility of option #2. For reasons I won't disclose, I can't physically go to a local record store right now to hunt for the vinyl copy. 

That left me with option #4, which I satisfied a little over a week ago.

The moment I heard this album for the first time in a long time, I felt like I was 12 years old all over again. Though, like the rest of you, I don't care to be that age all over again. But I'll take the music from the 80s any day. Finding this gem, as well as many others on Amazon Music, has relieved tension and uncertainty in a personal situation. I need as many moments as I can to think back to when life was a bit simpler, the music was awesome, and the sky was the limit to what I could dream.

I loved how I still remember all of the words to all the songs, especially to the two in the above pictures. And I've sung them with the same enthusiasm as I had back in the day.

Music and headphones on, world off. A good friend reminded me of that a few days ago. What did I do? I downloaded "In Your Room." It feels good in my room (ie, office) because I've let the world out. Nothing ever made me crazy like this.

Well, I've been crazy-busy writing each morning this past week. I've picked back up on writing The Unknown Beautiful Missing Piece. It's only gotten better now that I have Different Light (among other albums and songs) in my Amazon Music repertoire, as I wait out my current situation.

I've made up my mind...I like The Bangles more than Madonna.

I also made up my mind this past weekend when I played a similar funny game, What Your Favorite 80s Band Says About You  In spite of a very long list of names from the 80s, I chose The Bangles. What my eternal flame of love for their music says about me: You have chewed gum while delivering a keynote speech or eulogy.

Therefore, if I deliver either of those in the future, and you see my jaws moving a little bit more, please understand I'm doing that because I am a lifetime Bangles fan. {Laughing}

P.S. I'm still thinking about Stone Solid. I do believe that's the longest work in progress I've had. Over the past few months, I've looked more into how to write better. There's something about listening to all-female bands that will help me with the plot. 

 

Eloquent Phrases

 A decade or better ago, I was in a local Toastmasters chapter. After an introduction, someone presented the word of the day. Everyone who was either called on for table topics (impromptu, one-minute speeches) or scheduled to make a speech was challenged to say that word in their speech.

Toastmasters meetings also had a grammarian. After everyone spoke, they would point out certain phrases that stood out, facial expressions, and tones of voice.

During my writing hiatus, I'm reading books. A few weeks ago, I read Year of the Monkey, by Patti Smith, and am now re-reading it. It comprises reflections of Patti's life the year before she turned 70, which was in 2016, the Year of the Monkey. So far, I've read only two of her books, the other M Train. What I've found fascinating and captivating is her stream of consciousness and her way with words. 

Here are a few of them...

"a moment of sorrow's vertigo"

"Havoc, an uppercase game with a lowercase deity"

"anesthetizing scent"

"the coma's thick veil"

"artificial silence of hospital settings"

"a redundant train of errant vowels ended an unfinished sentence"

"projecting constellations of words onto his white sheets"

"each blank page, offering escape, the pen serving, fluid and constant"

"a talisman on a necklace of continuous travels"

I plan to return to my full schedule of writing sometime next month. I now challenge myself to use phrases equally as eloquent in my novels in progress.