Monday, March 25, 2013

GETTING BACK INTO MOTION


I don’t imagine it’s the same for everyone, but I imagine we all have forces that stop our goals and we need help getting started again. We can’t seem to find the accelerator pedal. What’s that law of physics—a body at rest tends to stay at rest?  For some they are inwardly revved up and hoping for the right time and place to be set loose. Others may need a tiki torch to ignite the flame that sets them in motion. I’m not talking about writer’s block. It’s more about convenience and motivation. How do we get rolling down the track again?

My stoppage of writing occurred due to a necessary evil—the packing and cleaning and interruption to life that a move to another state mandates. I spent a full week without a computer, cleaning house, making repairs and painting. The following couple of weeks I whittled away at towers of boxes, trying to figure out where to put it all or what to give away. Would I rather have been writing? Heck yeah! But I’m not whining. Facts of life sometimes get in the way. Babies arrive, daughters want their weddings planned, people move. Stoppage.

No matter the excuse, the time eventually arrives that we can take our lives back and get moving if we only will. Have you been thinking you’d like to get back into writing again? Find the motivator that works for you. Write down steps to your goal and give yourself a reward system. Connect with a support group. Recall the joy of past progress and relate it to here and now. Better yet, dive back in and feel that joy. The first step is the hardest. Then watch out as inertia takes over. A body in motion tends to stay in motion.

Monday, March 18, 2013

Book Review - Sudden Darkness

Just finished another good LDS fiction. Sudden Darkness by Margot Hovley brings futuristic YA into the contemporary. The premise revolves around terroristic world events that hit home for a quiet town in Washington state and the saints must trek by foot to Utah, paralleling pioneer days but feeling like the near-future. Walking hundreds of miles is not easy for Amélie Hatch, a musically talented eighteen-year-old with a crippled foot. This alone caught my interest. She is not a popular girl and yet she has so much to offer. Many teens can relate. I enjoyed seeing Amélie learn to accept the challenge and chip away her pride as the adventure takes her on both a physical and personal journey. For a girl who had little to do with romance, she finds her heart torn in two different directions and keeps the reader guessing a wee bit. A recommended read for LDS fiction readers. 
The End Begins: Sudden Dark... 
I want to add a link to a beautiful new cover I saw of Emily Gray Clawson's new book, A Way Back To You. Check it out: http://www.emilygrayclawson.com/2013/03/18/a-way-back-to-you-cover-revealed-and-a-giveaway/

Monday, March 11, 2013

What's Cooking on my Computer

Last week I announced the sending off to publishers of The Seventh City, my Book of Mormon fiction novel. What am I working on now? Glad you asked. I have two completely different projects going. 1) The first is an inspirational non-fiction I'm calling Bishop Stories. These are a collection of experiences involving Mormon ecclesiastical leaders called bishops. Some of the stories are written by bishops themselves and some by church members, but all the stories involve a bishop in a positive light. I expect the stories to make readers laugh, cry, and have their hearts warmed. 2) The second writing project is a contemporary YA fiction for the national market called Perception. The premise is about a high school boy whose senior project turns more criminal than expected. Lots of fun relationships while dealing with making a difference among students and car thieves alike. Both these projects have been stimulating and a challenge to my creativity. 
That's my update. What writerly things are you cooking up?

Monday, March 4, 2013

Celebrating Read Across America Day?

I'm not celebrating Dr. Seuss' birthday today or participating in any kind of reading (beyond box labels). Why? I'm hanging out with the movers who are packing me up to a relocation spot in Northern California. Squee! Excitement and butterflies! But I hope you get to spend time reading something you love.

Kids are not the only ones reading across America today. Teens and adults are too. If you are reading my blog then you are one of them. (Good trick, huh?) But you probably already love to read and know that reading expands knowledge and lets us experience that secret world of wonder limited only by imagination. 

More big news, if you haven't heard, is that my LDS fiction, The Seventh City, is off/submitted to publishers! More excitement and butterflies. It feels so good to have that goal checked off and I've noticed my time a smidgen freer. Now I'm only working on two things at a time. Ha ha.

Ya'll have a great week enjoying a book, and I'll leave you with a link to something brand new from Tristi Pinkston to put on your to-read list. I'm giving her a shout. Sounds like a fascinating story!
http://frankiemaio.blogspot.com/