Everyday Distractions

Everyday Distractions

Good evening,
                       I didn't mean to come back to the blog as soon as I have, but I found I had a few thoughts swirling in my mind, all day. An inner monologue of things that I want to share. It's all a bit random, but that's how I work, take it as you may. You see, I started my day like any other Sunday, with a wee bit of a lay in, and then up and getting ready for church. Yes I am a church goer, every Sunday as a matter of a fact, except for Sundays like this...

It was a about 5 am when I got the dreaded knock on the bedroom door. I am always awake at this time mind you, and on a normal week day I actually get out of bed at 5:30 am to write, before the rest of the house gets up. When we get the dreaded knock on the door, it's always one of my five children coming in from one of two things, waking from a bad dream, or they are sick. Today, it was sickness.

Once it was established that my daughter was, in fact,  too sick to sit through the Sunday meeting, and this was of course after I had showered and straightened my hair; because sometimes the sick child actually gets a little better after a drink and a toilet run, my thoughts turned to the day ahead. Which was now a day at home for me, and was looking more and more like one filled with, writing. YAY.

Firstly, though, I want to mention something else; something I get the urge to do every year about this time, and that is, planting. Didn't see that one coming did you?!? But yep, every spring I feel this overwhelming need to plant veggies. I grew up with home grown veggies, and when I moved out of home, I had always had a garden. Whether it be a container garden or a patch of land I have turned; I like to grow my own veggies.

Last year, I found a great spot for a veggie patch in the back yard of the house we were living in, (we have since moved house) and dragged my husband (kicking and screaming) with his shovel in hand and made had him dig a garden. Well, I chose a really stupid spot for a veggie patch, and no kidding, two weeks after sowing all my veggie seeds it was over run with weeds. So over the last month, I have siphoned money from my grocery allowance and bought big, colourful (they were cheap and looked hardy) plastic buckets to plant my veggies in. In my way of thinking, I don't care if the pots aren't pretty, as long as they do the job, and will allow me to grow more then something I can't eat.

So, guess what I did as soon as the front door shut with my husband and sons filing into the van? That's right, I made sure my daughter was comfortably watching Pride and Prejudice, and then....nooooo I didn't turn on my computer as I longed to, wanted to. I turned to the seedlings I bought yesterday, and marched myself outside to pot some plants.

You see, this is one of the things I was talking of yesterday. Life gets in the way of my writing all the time. And it's not always the big things that block the road, it's the everyday things like planning and wanting to plant a veggie patch that get in the way.

If I had it my way, I would sit down all day, with my herbal teas, some chocolate sliced fruit, and write every scene that floods my mind for every book I want to write. This way things up in my head would feel a little less crowded. But from day to day, I find myself always either wanting to, or needing to do things that distract me from my writing goals.

I call them everyday distractions. Because even though planting a veggie patch, or bucket patch isn't a necessity, it's something that I want to have happen so that I can save money for a decent editor  rainy day. I didn't have to do it at all. There are loads of things that I have to do every day, like dishes and vacuum, and yes, I do do these things every day, five kids... I have literally just eaten away at another five minutes of my already overloaded everyday life, because I have planted a garden that needs watering, for five minutes a day, distracting me from writing.

Today, I also scrubbed the showers, bathed the dog, made potato and leek soup just because I felt like it, put together a shelf for my pantry, and painted the old shelf. But all that is another story. Starting and writing this blog is an everyday distraction. But like my garden, I feel it is a necessity. For now, I am off to edit the chapter I just wrote for Treasured Land. My readers on wattpad have been waiting for this chapter.

Ultimately, what I'm trying to say is this, I think it's alright to be distracted by everyday things. As long as we accomplish something worthwhile and our work is getting done, then whats the harm in planting a veggie patch?

Make it count
Mel xx

One Page At A Time

One Page At A Time.

Hi,
     It's been a while between posts, I'm sorry for that. Lots has happened in the life of Mel lately, including moving house and catching the retched flu. But all is well now, and I have been working on Treasured Land. I didn't get as much time as hoped to promote my new release, A Love of Conviction, so with the very little I do with it (and I believe it deserve a whole lot more love then I am showing it), I am going to let this book do its thing while I concentrate on the next.

Getting a book publish ready, for any author is quite a trial, one that I am still learning to navigate even with two books out. First, we need to write the book. This can take a while for some of us. While I watch author after author release book after book (well so it seems), here am I still writing one. And while I did publish this year as well, I didn't write that book this year. A Love of Conviction took three to get ready.

So, what are some of the things which can stall an author from completing a manuscript as fast as others can? Well I can't speak for others, but I will say that the dreaded words, writers block gets tossed around quite a bit. I personally, don't believe in this. For me, it's more, that I don't want to write a particular scene, or I need to research something to complete a scene, or the thing I am most famous for, not having enough time to sit my butt in a chair, at my desk, to write, period.

Time for me is a hard one to juggle, raising five children from the ages of sixteen to four, is hard. Raising one is hard. So there is that; toss in a casual job, extracurricular activities, extended family, day to day living, a husband, and I have little time left for most things, let alone writing a novel. But like most people who want something badly enough, I make time.

I have been pondering over this blog, and what content I want to send out to the world, for a long time. There is a whole bunch of stuff out there telling authors how and why they should blog. I have thrown around a myriad of topics to share with whoever reads this, including, reviews, author do's and don'ts, to submit or not to submit, things like this. But today I actually met a lady at work, who loves to read blogs. She gave me some great insight on what she finds interesting in a blogger.
She told me it's the little, everyday things that keeps her coming back day after day to read what someone else is doing in their life.

After my conversation with her, my thoughts were again troubled because now I was faced with the dilemma of, how do I make my day to day life entwine with my struggles to write all these stories swimming in my head? Well, like I always say about my books, It's one page at a time. So that's what I will do. I am not a great photographer, nor the best writer, or have any idea what I am doing from day to day, but I do know this, I love to write, I love my family, and my days are full from sun up to sun down. That is it. So we will take it from there and see where it all leads. But for now, it is back to Chapter twenty two of, Treasured Land.

Make every day count,
Mel xx