witter (ˈwɪtə)
vb – (often foll by: on) to chatter or babble pointlessly or at unnecessary length
n – pointless chat; chatterCOLLINS ENGLISH DICTIONARY – COMPLETE AND UNABRIDGED, 12TH EDITION 2014 © HARPERCOLLINS PUBLISHERS 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014
So, um, this is finally happening tomorrow! My author and blogger buddies at #WeWriteFantasy and Prism Book Tours have been hard at work to create the Days of Fantasy for Christmas tour! For those who didn’t know, We Write Fantasy started out from a similar book tour we did one year ago. I created the writer’s blog alongside Melissa Wright and K.D. Jones for our fellow Indie authors. We wanted to have a place where we could hang out and now, where we can hopefully encourage others to follow their dreams. So I’m even more excited for this year’s book tour. Not only are we featuring new authors, but we have some amazing prizes in store!
Let’s Get Real
Most of you know I’ve been working diligently on Bound Beauty, third in my Wylder Tales trilogy. What started out as an easy write turned into what I like to call a monster. Fitting, for a book about monsters 😉 Typically, when I call a book a monster, it means it’s a beast to write. And I’ll be honest with y’all, this past season I have struggled with writing. Every day it has been like pulling teeth. While some days I would miraculously write 2K words, for days after that it would be 100, maybe 500 if I could manage it. This bothered me, not only because I have a deadline (I’m looking at you, Dec 21st), but nothing seemed to be going right. I couldn’t get a hold of my editor and have had to find another. Because of that, I had to push back all other appointments, then pull ARC copies of Bound from my upcoming book tour.
Let me just stay, I hate it when things don’t go according to plan, especially when it’s largely my fault. Maybe because in my head I should just be Superwoman, getting things done. In my headcanon, I’m not only an excellent mother, but a kick-ace co-worker, artist, and writer. I have plenty of time in my day to work out and eat healthy and be-all-you-can-be gorgeous.
Reality, as I’ve found, is less pretty. I love my family with all my heart, but some days I just want to crawl inside a book and disappear. Some days I struggle to make my brain solve all work conundrums. I do good if I can sneak in some stretches and crunches at the end of the day. As for writing, there are days my inner critic wins the battle. I wish I could say I’ve got it all together, and while there always good days, the struggle doesn’t stop.
This fall, I had so many grand plans, but I didn’t factor in certain things, like holidays and family events. Like the fact, I’ve already been hard-charge in every facet of my life for months, and it’s been a bully of a year. The truth is, I took on too much and didn’t leave myself room to breathe. So that’s what I’ve been doing since Thanksgiving. I stopped worrying about my weekly writerly blog and my book blog. I cut back my Goodreads challenge from 100 books to 70. I’ve read nonsense and written some nonsense because there was no pressure involved, no inner critic. And instead of a specific writing time, I’ve snuck in moments throughout my day. I work an hour or two, then I write some. I read a bunch, then write some more.
So what have I learned this year? I’m not always mighty like I want to be, and that’s okay. Life doesn’t always go the way I plan, and that’s okay. I don’t always reach my goals, and that’s okay too. As long as I make time for the important things, like my family, the rest can fall as it may. I hope you are giving yourself room to breathe as we round out 2018. Sometimes we can feel like we have to be everything and everywhere at once. But the truth is we need to let ourselves be. Don’t lose sight of your passion and the why behind what you’re doing.
For the rest of December, I’ll be sharing bookish posts mostly about our Days of Fantasy and Bound Beauty book tours. I hope you’ll follow along with me. More Weekly Writerly Witterings to come in January, hopefully with a fresh perspective and lovely things to share. Thanks for taking this journey with me 🙂
Helpful Links
“How to Reach Readers Better by Diversifying” – by Shannon McGuire
Bookish First– Have y’all seen this? You offer mini-critiques for chance to read new books!
Rosalie’s Medieval Woman – Great informational site for my fellow fantasy writers!
Jennifer Silverwood 