Congrats, BJ!!

Congratulations, BJ and Ethan, on the birth of your beautiful, beautiful little girl!!

Be exalted, Oh God, above the heavens; let Your glory be over all the earth. - Psalm 108:5

Busy Season

I just sent off two proposals, my son is very much into following me everywhere which means he's into EVERYTHING, we just spent the past month completely demolishing our yard and rebuilding it... so basically, I'm running all day long.

It seems like all of us over here at Scribble Chicks have been CRAZY busy, so my question to you is - what do you do with your writing during a season of busyness? Do you push it aside? Do you make mental notes? Make sticky notes? Fight for time even if that means not sleeping? (and if you do that and you're not on deadline, you are a much better writer than me!!)

In seasons of busyness, I think the first thing to do is prioritize. What is it that is causing you to be so busy? Is it more important than your writing? If so, step away from the computer!!

But if it's something silly - like my favorite time-waster, Facebook - or something that could potentially be put off for a few minutes - like maybe doing the dishes or the laundry, then try your best to sit down, even if it's just for a few minutes. Aim for a VERY reasonable word count, even if something as low as 500 words. Every little bit helps the story along and you'll feel better for it. :)

Also, please be praying for BJ and her husband Ethan!! It sounds like sweet baby Zoey has made her long-awaited arrival!! SO very, very happy for them! Please be praying for their health and safety and especially for all the changes that are happening right now. Becoming a parent is the most incredible, wonderful, exhausting, emotional, awe-inspiring thing in the whole world. I'm so excited for them!! Congrats, BJ and Ethan!! :)

Yeah, It's Been a Busy Week Here, Too!

Yep, this is about how I've felt this week. Can we say deadlines, deadlines and more deadlines?

My brain is fried.

Yes, working as a full-time writer is the best job ever, but sometimes there are weeks when everything is due at exactly the same time, and there's no amount of Hershey kisses or pumpkin spice lattes that can relieve you from your frazzled state.

So before I pulled my hair out, I took a deep breath, told myself that all I need to do is check off one thing at a time and went to work...

And I'm not going to lie, it definitely helped matters that it was a four-day week. Woo hoo for the upcoming weekend. Can I get an amen?

Short but Still Sincere

We're all having short posts this week, but thanks readers for understanding! Yay for Erynn's yard work, and congrats to BJ for her upcoming arrival! I can't wait! (I can say that, because my three year old sleeps through the night ::wink::)

Today I'm doing a shortie because I'm...

A. at work at my part time job right now and didn't have time yesterday to schedule a post

and more significantly,

B. Today is my daughter's first day of preschool andI'm still crying into my white chocolate mocha. It's ridiculous, you'd think I just dropped her off at college!! She didn't even cry at all. I'm officially "THAT" mom. Sigh.

Refill, anyone?

One hour before midnight...

I realized my pregnancy head got confused and thought today was Monday. Can you blame me? If you were this fat you'd find it hard to think about anything else:




But don't worry. I'm about to lose quite a bit of weight. All in a day. And it will be the hardest workout of my life.

So here's farewell for the time I'm at fat camp. You'll probably hear from me a few more times before the Big Day, and after that Erynn and Betsy have agreed to post for me until early November when I'm (hopefully) not quite so sleep-deprived.

In the meantime, I'll miss ya. Hopefully I'll be posting pics of the baby here after she arrives. So stop by and say hello anytime!

Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Happy Labor Day!

We were working in our yard all day today - taking the rocks and turning them into grass. Theoretically, I guess. :)

Hope you all had a safe, happy holiday!

:)

7 Writing Tips From Stephen King

Now I'll be the first to admit, most of Stephen King's books frighten me beyond repair. I don't know why, but I can never quite remember that scary stories like his are actually fiction.

But his book on writing, appropriately titled, well, On Writing is absolutely brilliant. Basically, if you haven't read it already, I'd make sure you get a copy pronto. Not only does he pass along countless tricks of the trade on plotting, sentence structure, characters and the like, but there's plenty of encouragement packed in there, too.

Like gem #5 listed here on The Positivity Blog about not caring too much about what others may think about our writing. King is the first one to admit that yes, even he, an experienced writer, needs affirmation, especially from his wife. But he goes on to explain how we can't let our need for attention change how and what we write. Sure, we need to be strong enough to accept constructive critiques that will strengthen the quality of whatever we're working on, but we can't let the tiniest objections completely derail our gut instincts all the same.

I also love #6 on this list, too, namely to read A LOT! Not only does it give all writers permission to dig into a juicy new novel, something most of all love for pleasure, anyway, but reading other people's work can't help but inspire our own. Have you ever finished a fantastic novel and been so super energized that you can't wait to get to work? Yeah, that's what the best writing does, so if you're stuck, why not trying reading for a while? I'm pretty sure Stephen would, so why not you? :)