Too Many Books

 Mother Mary, I'm exhausted. I have worked myself to the bone over the last couple of weeks. Between my day job (I'm on my lunch "hour" right now, boss lady!) and my newfound focus on my writing, I am spent. I'm still waking up before my alarm in the morning, excited for a chance to write/ research/ connect and pursue my dream before I sign on to my other, corporate laptop.  That said, yesterday was amazing. I never thought I would have felt so good - on the first night my husband has been out of town overnight for work. For the first time since COVID, the first time since we got married, the first time since we bought our home in April of 2020. Don't get me wrong, I missed him FIERCLY. But I had such a fun day of making connections. Listen.  *     I met up with a beautiful woman, a professional contact as as well as a friend. We talked about everything under the sun, like we always do. I compared the southern abortion laws to The Handmaid's Tale. She turn...

I'm clearly no expert on how to get a novel published because I've only just finishing writing one.But, during the past week I've accomplished quite a lot.   I've tightened up my hook/ blurb  Louisville’s Laurel Lancaster is quickly coming apart at the seams. In her early twenties, her first manic episode crescendos into a two week stay in a mental health facility. While battling to reintegrate back into everyday life, the universe delivers news that may send her further spiraling: her ex-boyfriend is dead in an apparent car accident. Laurel knows better. She must figure out how to cope with a death she believes she caused, and discovers that her only redemption – or perhaps her only punishment – is to keep on living.   Cleaned up my manuscript. It's a little short at 66,000 words, so I'm adding in a chapter  Wrote a synopsis  Added a couple of agents to my dream agent list Found another beta reader and sent my work off to him Wrote a list of questions to b...

Dividing the hours in the day between my demanding full time job, finishing my manuscript, and trying to build a writer's platform has been a challenge that I have embraced. I wake up before my alarm, excited to roll out of bed and start the day.  I hope the novelty (pun intended!) doesn't wear off. I've gone from 45,000 words to 60,000 words since Sunday - 4 days of writing. Granted, some of these scenes were already written and some of the increase was a mere matter of me fumbling through stained manila folders, the notes app on my phone, some old unpublished blog posts and pulling it together from the cluttered notes I've kept over about 12-13 years of working toward this goal. My brain tends to struggle with organization. The above referenced job has really helped me from a "save this in a folder" standpoint, but in my personal life I find that sometimes I start to get bogged down in a mess of thoughts, ideas, tasks.... and then the brain scramble takes ho...

(It's not, actually anymore. Ha! Tricked ya, but I didn't jinx myself. That's how confident I am. I'll be stepping on ALL the sidewalk cracks.) * I'm sitting here with my laptop out, hiding at a corner table on the patio, at this chain bar/restaurant called "World of Beer." I used to come here after work to avoid seeing my boyfriend at the time. I'd sit at the bar, play on my phone, have a few beers - all while he did Crossfit or sat at home, probably as annoyed with me as I was with him. Now, I'm actually racing through this post to hurry and GET home - to my new husband, my soul mate. Per my usual dumb wiring, I considered telling him that my meeting ran long or that I'd had a drink with my colleague, who he's met - and who really was in town from Lexington for the meeting. But she's pregnant. And here's the other thing - I don't have to lie to him. I could also write this post sitting in bed next to him. I've only recentl...