So I’ve traveled back to the writers seat again … and I’m LOVING in! But I’m having a hard time with the whole blogging world. Well my blogging world that is.

A few months back I got this website up and running and decided to devote all my fun loving writer words to that blog and that blog only, but my writer words miss my Poppins blog as well. And unfortunately most of my visitors go to that blog, which in turn means less comments and not nearly enough advice on this one. So I’m not sure what to do!

(Oh listen to me whining like a little girl … well in all retrospect, I am a “little” girl…so it’s totally ok!)

Part of me wonders if it is because that blog is on WordPress and this one is on Blogger. I myself must admit it is MUCH easier to follow a blog on Blogger. I just head over to my dashboard and scroll through all my favorite bloggers (which by the way I have way too many because you all freaking rock!) and click in and out of each blog. WordPress isn’t that easy. With word press you have to click on the RSS feed to know when I update or watch through my fan page and/or this blog for posts that I’ve updated. That’s really quite a bit of work.

So do you visit many WordPress sites? Do you own a WordPress site? How do you keep your followers updated? Does anyone else have this frustration? Any advice? Should I just double post and bring my writing posts back to my Poppins world as well? Have I asked enough questions yet? Would you like me to ask a few more? Are you sick of my questions? Do you know why the sky is blue? Did I tell you I can totally make a website in WordPress?

I was asked a question on my blog yesterday by Jessica Nelson of Booking It. She wondered how similar the process of becoming a singer is to becoming a writer. Interestingly enough, it is very similar.

I was four years old when I stood on the big round stool with a hair brush in my hand. I was belting out an Amy Grant tune (whom I called Sandy Patty at the time, everyone was Sandy Patty when I was four.) and I knew at that moment what I wanted to be when I grew up!

Don’t get me wrong, by the time I learned how to read and write my dream altered a bit. Well not so much altered as it grew much larger. I now wanted to be a singer/song writer. Then as I got older I wanted to be a singer/song writer who also wrote novels. I dream big!

My parents highly encouraged my singing. I was in choir since I was 8 and by the time I was 12 I was taking voice lessons. I sang at my 8th grade graduation in front of an entire Church of my peers and I loved every minute of it. Although singing was easy, it took work. The thing is, it never seemed like work…ever.

In high school I sang in two, sometimes three different choirs at a time, but this was the point where singing became intimidating. There were other singers my age who could sing just as well, if not better than I could. Slowly I let this intimidation bring me down. My voice would get shaky during my solos and I would almost have to close my eyes so I didn’t see the crowd.

What happened to the little 13 year old girl who got a high from singing in front of a big Church full of my friends, family and tons of people I didn’t know?

It was the competition.

I never quit though. I kept taking voice lessons, I joined every choir available. My senior year in high school I even talked the schools into letting me go over to our rival school for choir because they had an award winning choir director and my school, well lets just say we weren’t even invited to win any awards. I sang at my high school graduation and loved every minute of it, but I was still not full of the confidence I could have possessed.

After senior year life got in the way. I had babies, got married, and had a life full of drama. I was in choir here and there and still am, but I wasn’t pursuing my dream as strongly as I had before.

Then … American Idol came around. Every singers dream … and I chickened out. I had it all planned. I had the time off work, a friend who agreed to drive, and a husband who fully supported it … and I chickened out. Too much competition. Instead I settled for a job as a local Karaoke DJ and joined another choir.

I’m still in choir. Every where I go I insist on joining the choir, but I lack the confidence to take it any further.

So how is this like writing? Well put in writing for every part I said singing. We write because our hearts are in it. We have the talent, and it’s obvious. But we need the confidence to keep going. If we lack confidence we’ll never make it to the top. We’ll never get our books published and we’ll never fulfill our wildest dreams.

When I picked up writing again last year I vowed to myself that I would not give up. I would push and push and work as hard as I can. I know I am a good writer. I just need to believe it at all times. If someone asks me what my book is about I should be able to stand up with confidence and tell them all about it.

Do you have the confidence of a professional writer? If not, start … today. Don’t let your dreams slip away because you think you “might” not be good enough. You ARE good enough and deep down you know it.

Did you see I added a new page? That’s right! I finally took the liberty to sum up my new WIP in the most confusing way possible.

Visit my new page … come back … tell me what you think! Just doooo it!!!!

I’ve picked up a new hobby … and I’m gonna call it a hobby because it’s totally NOT a profession … I’ll elaborate in a moment.

I’ve taken to the wonderful world of Web Design thanks to my utterly awesome (but not nearly as awesome as me of course) husband. He’s been hinting for some time that he thinks I’d be great at it. (Well that was obvious ! I’m great at everything!) And so I finally caved and said, “Show me, but if I don’t like it, I’m so not doing it!” The problem occurred when without warning … I liked it! CRAP! There goes another crap load of time out of my day.

That’s not to say I’m going to let it get in the way of my writing. Because to elaborate on my first sentence, writing IS my profession. First and foremost I am a writer. I take all the push and the pull, all of the joy and the anguish and I write. So the key is to find a happy medium and learn to get the most out of both.

The thing about writing is, sometimes you just can’t … most people like to call this “writers block”, I prefer to refer to it as “Temporary mental incapacitation of the creative mind” … ok FINE… saying “writers block” is easier! And well web design you can only do when you have a website to design. SOOOoooooo I’m hoping (wishfully I am sure) that my “Temporary mental incapacitation of the creative mind” will only occur during the times where I have websites to design and vice versa!

See! I have the perfect solution for everything … and yeah … perfect might not be the right word, but it’s a solution nonetheless!

So hopefully my website will be undergoing a small transition soon with a link to my web portfolio.

In the mean time … I have made a small break in my novel and have gotten some edits done. I have one large obstacle to overcome and a possible plot addition to consider and hopefully I can get the rest kicked out.

ALSO!!! Help me celebrate…today is one year since the day I started my book!!!!

(Ok,not so sure I should be celebrating that it’s taken me over a year to finish this, but hey … it’s a mile stone!)

So I decided to be honest with my website.

I am lost!

I put my writing down thinking it would only be for a month … which has turned into …. well … more than a month. The problem is, I don’t know how to pick it back up. I’ve tried here and there to work on my book and on the new WIP. I’ve come up with little ideas here and there for other books, but I’m stuck. The ideas just sit, as do my books.

I think it’s a lack of confidence. I don’t know when or where, but somehow I lost all my confidence. My blogs have gone down hill and my writing just sits there staring at me saying, “You don’t love me anymore.”

Oh but I do!!! I feel lost without you!!!

But I just don’t know how to get back to it. I just don’t know how to rekindle the relationship I had with my pen and paper and I know Microsoft Word feels that I have forgotten it. I want to write again, but I don’t know where to start.

Has this ever happened to you? Have you ever just lost that loving feeling? How did you get back?

As some of you saw on Facebook this weekend (then whined about it when I wouldn’t share the news **cough cough Scott cough cough**) I have an awesome announcement to make!

**Trumpets sound as the red carpet rolls out and I walk across it in my slinky silver evening gown to proclaim my wondrous news!!!***

(Reality…I’m sitting at my desk in my pajamas with a hint of lingering morning breath and a couple crusties that I forgot to wipe out of my eye … but who’s worried about details!)

On Friday afternoon, amidst a gloomy day (and we aren’t talking about a lack of UV Rays out doors) while my mood was doing the exact opposite of sky rocketing after a long drawn out Grocery Shopping trip with my children … I got a phone call …

**Gasps sound across the room **

Was it THE Call?

OMG!!!

Sigh….no…BUT

This call was almost as exciting as THE Call!

My phone call was an invitation to join the Website/Blog of If You Give a Girl a Pen!!!!

Slightly like the story If You Give a Moose a Muffin …

but closer to the story If You Give a Mouse a Cookie (Considering the height difference and all…)

But with WAY less mess … unless you consider the red pen that was scratched across my first and second drafts a mess. Cuz it super looked like a mess! …

So a big thank you to the girls over at If You Give a Girl a Pen for accepting me into their group and for being crazy smart enough to notice my strange awesome writing talents!

Please take a minute to visit their site…and of course follow it since it’s another place that you get to read my awesome writing advice! You can welcome me here.

I’m going to borrow some questions from Scott on A Writers Blog who borrowed them from Rebecca Knight who wrote a post about Measuring Success. You can read the original post here!

Here are the questions with my answers . . .

1) Why am I writing?

I write because I love it! But don’t we all? But I also write because it is stress relieving and inspiring and it gives me a small sense of worth at the end of the day after I have completed something amazing. Finishing a book or a blog or any writing project feels like giving birth to a baby. You did all the work and you have this amazing piece of wonderful to show for it. There is no better feeling … ok besides having a baby of course! (I almost said having a baby is a bit more painful, but any writer knows…that is not necessarily true!)

2) How long do I want to do this, even if I never get any credit or money from my work?

Is that a rhetorical question? Doesn’t the askee know that once you start writing it is IMPOSSIBLE to stop? I have to write…every day…even if it’s just a little thank you card. It’s what I do and there is no stopping this force of nature!

3) How much rejection can I take?

Well I am currently working on growing a new layer of skin so I can send out some new query letters. But it’s all good, with rejection comes good advice and a whole new way of looking at things. It’s all about optimism.

4) How much time do I want to spend on my goals, versus with my family, friends, and pillow?

I’d like to keep it all balanced if possible. Except the time with my pillow, that kinda takes priority to the rest 😉

5) What do I want to achieve Big Picture?

It’s not that I necessarily want to be super successful (though that would be lovely!) Mostly I just want to feel accomplished, which in fact I already do. I don’t know anyone personally that can say they wrote an ENTIRE novel, published or not. I have. And I’ve worked hard on it. I am in fact -although maybe not successful YET – an accomplished writer! The next step it to be published…I’d LOVE to be published, regardless of how successful my book is. Success will just be the icing on the cake.

6) Will I be satisfied when I get there?

I’d like to think so. It will probably be more accurate to say I will be more shocked, surprised and in a state of awe when the big day happens. (Even when my royalty check only ends up being $5!)

7) Am I satisfied if I never get there?

I’ll go ahead and be honest here and say no. BUT that is what will drive me. The need to be satisfied will push me until it happens. I rarely give up when I want something and if I actually do – which is rare – it is never easily!  (Just ask my husband … using the key words “Harry Potter Movie” … and he’ll let you know)

8) What steps do I have to take to achieve that Big Picture thing?

Never give up. Keep on writing. And the willingness to learn and be open to new ideas and all the important facts about being a good writer is a big key. When I started writing I had no clue what I was doing. I had a story and I thought that was enough.  I was in for a big surprise! I knew nothing about craft, voice, adjectives, adverbs, passive, active, ect…. But being open and willing to learn has made me twice the writer I was a year ago, which excites me to know where I will be a year from now!

9) Which one needs to be achieved first?

There is not one thing that comes first. Learning, writing, and confidence ALL need to be present all the time.

10) What is my support system?

My husband and my sisters have been there the most. My friends have been incredibly supportive and helpful, especially my amazing friend Mindy who is also a writer and understands the journey. (Ok I’ll admit it….she’s also super awesome because she’s little….) I’ve also gained much support through blogging and blogging friends.

11) How will I feel if I never achieve this?

That won’t happen. Call me over confident and arrogant but I won’t stop until I have achieved my goals and I become a published author. I know what I want and being a girl…a stubborn self sufficient girl who almost always gets her way…I know I will get there!

12) Is it worth trying anyway?

Absolutely!

Do you have any other questions for me? Have I left anything out? I’d love to hear from you!

For a couple book reviews visit my Desperately Searching for My Inner Mary Poppins!

Pretty Is as Pretty Dies

The DaVinci Code

This is how I will proceed with the remainder of my new WIP. I’ve spent too much time caring about what people would think about my first novel that I only put half my heart into it. Who wants to read half a heart?

So without Care or Caution I am going to dive into my new WIP today. I’m not going to care if it’s been done before. I’m not going to care if it’s cliche’. I’m not going to be cautious as to if it’s TOO MUCH or TOO LITTLE. I’m just going to write. I’m going to brainstorm and go with what feels right.

I’m going to choose my super powers/abilities/fantasical things all because they appeal to me. I’m not going to leave them out because they have already been done. I’m just going to strive to do them MY way…even if it’s not necessarily different.

All these rules and restrictions are putting a major damper on my creative juices. It’s time to just let them flow already!

Wish me luck 🙂