Musings of a Hopeful Author

 So, I think at this point in my "blogging" life, it's pretty clear that I am inconsistent at the best of times and absent at the worst of times. Sad but true, and it really hasn't mattered much (and likely won't matter moving forward either) since I don't really have folks reading this anyway, haha.  That said, I have some news that will either make me even less consistent or will help me finally have to manage my time better and have a more structured life and schedule. Only time will tell. But at least it'll be an adventure, because a new little human will be joining the family in October of this year.  With preparation for imminent arrival, family visits, trips back home, and all the others that life throws our way, I'm not sure how often I'll get to commit words to paper in the next several months nor how often I'll get to check-in here. But I'm hopeful I'll find time because I love to write, love to dream, and hope to one day shar

I remember the first time I tried to write a story that I thought had the potential to be a novel. I was really excited about the characters and I knew what I wanted as the end result, so I thought I would just jump in and let the story lead me. Well, by chapter three I was mortified to realize that I had made the female lead a tramp, haha. It was supposed to be a slow burn romance and she was already succumbing to his charms and the plot hadn't really had time to even get established. It was in that moment of embarrassment and mortification that I realized I was not one of those writers who could just write and let the story take them where it would. I was the kind who needed some type of outline and structure. It was a really important lesson for me because when I have outlined in the time since then I have had a much better result for actually completing a story. Short stories are exceptions for me. I tend to let the writing take me where it will for those, haha. Probably why I

 Something I learned about myself in college is that I need goals and deadlines in order to really be productive and push myself to get things done. While I love the freedom to write when I like, etc. I know I need to be more consistent or else things never get finished (ex. this blog's lack of consistency and the fact I have about 20 unfinished/not even really started stories sitting on my hard drive). So, in order to help give myself a bit of a push, I thought I'd recruit someone to help push me along the path. Who? Well, my grandmother, that's who. She's not someone who reads for leisure so getting her onboard to read something I wrote is really special. She's always a good sport about reading one of my stories, but she doesn't like to be sent novels in their entirety. She likes to get them one chapter at a time so they don't feel as daunting. This bit is key. Her only wanting a chapter at a time means I can send her already written chapters and keep work

This question is fair. Because apparently, I can't blog consistently. And certainly don't seem to be able to blog past the summer if past posts are to be trusted. That said, here's me trying yet again to start off some sort of routine yet again. Who knows? 2023 might just be my year... ...but there's always next year, too, right?