Thoughts from a writing mom

One of these days I’ll have a better looking blog.   I’ll also add to it more frequently.   I’m quite sure of this, however I cannot say exactly how much more time will pass before these things happen.   Just letting anyone reading know that I am aware of the fact that I need to work on the said items, and then some. But, you know, busy. Five kids busy. Five kids under the age of six busy.   With school, pre-school, t-ball, soccer, religious education, husband is a cop that works all.the.time. busy.   ALL GOOD THINGS however.   I need to point out that despite the busy, we’re happy and grateful for these things that take up our time.   I’ll say it again and again, I’m blessed and I know it. Oh, but I do really want to finish my second book.   I also want to pursue getting it published.   Which in reality is silly, because I never market the first book I had published.   What is with that?   Makes no sense, but I have the toughes...

As I write it is 10:40 am.   I am standing, using my kitchen counter to scribble these words on a page of an old notebook.   My two boys are napping.   My three girls are crawling around pretending to be alligators.   Before that they were hiding “treasure” (a collection of rocks in an empty baby wipes box) and I had the job of drawing a map using a crayon to find the said treasure.   They’ve been watching a lot of Jake and the Pirates lately.   Now I am making time to write a blog post.   I haven’t written much lately and I miss it.   I’ve been praying that God will give me the time to do this, all the while thanking Him for these children that keep me too busy for much else.   I’ve heard of women explaining their child rearing years as a period of putting their dreams on hold.   I don’t exactly feel that way although my writing definitely sits on the back burner at all times.   The truth for me is that mothering is...

I’m finally sitting down to write something!   Oh I have been wanting to do this.   I’ve been slightly tied up lately, nursing a new baby every couple of hours.   Yep, we have a newborn in the house again!   Currently I am in zombie mode, surviving on very little sleep.   It is a happy sleepy time though…I’m enjoying getting to know the little one I’d been waiting to hold for nine months.   He is a sweet baby boy and I’m loving being his mommy.   Even in the middle of the night, honestly.   It’s a sweet time in those quiet hours, just the two of us.   I’m blessed and I know it.   J   Of course, writing has been on my mind.   I want to get back to work on book #2, and soon!   I set a goal for this one, to finish within a year.   I started writing it in November, so it’s still an attainable goal.   I hope all goes as planned and I’m able to pursue having my second book published.   I just have to rem...

As many of you are well aware, Absolved was officially released by ELectio Publishing this past Tuesday.   I had been anticipating that day for months and it came quickly.   I felt excited, of course, but had an even more overwhelming feeling of relief.   I know it might sound silly, but I spent a lot of time before the release just being nervous.   Don’t get me wrong…I wanted this.   It’s a dream come true to be published.   But the anticipation of the book I wrote being out there for anyone to read mostly just scared me.     And then the day came.   Like every other day, it began with feeding my kids breakfast.   Like every other day, I sat down with coffee, said a morning prayer, read the daily mass readings.   And then I posted some links to where the book is available on facebook and twitter.   My husband was sweet enough to take the day off, just because it was my release day.   We took our two old...

As I’m sure I have said enough lately…the book is out very soon.   I’ve been anticipating this release for months.   It’s been a surreal experience mostly.   An anxiety-inducing experience.   And an exciting experience, for sure.   And right now, I want to tell you why my book matters. Absolved is a story about forgiveness. And I want to share thoughts regarding forgiveness.   I’ll start with reminding you of how the word “forgive” is defined: Forgive verb :to stop feeling anger toward (someone who has done something wrong): to stop blaming (someone) :to stop feeling anger about (something): to forgive someone for (something wrong) :to stop requiring payment of (money that is owed) We’ve all had our share of experience with needing to forgive.   Even early in life, after fighting with childhood friends or siblings.   I still remember being forced to hug my sisters after a fight.   It was almost worse than the fight it...

We recently became the owners of the Frozen DVD, thanks to my Mom.   Cute movie for sure, but my girls are a bit obsessed with it.   They want to watch it daily…and I’m just going to go ahead and admit that I’ve been allowing it.   Frozen is on as I write this blog.   Frozen was on yesterday as I added a little over 1,000 words to my new book.   Also, Frozen allowed a nap the other day while my youngest napped.   The girls get so wrapped up in the movie, they have no requests for me! They aren’t in a complete state of neglect, so please do not worry about them.   They’ve also still had playground, library and pre-school time this week.   I just had to share my appreciation for the breaks this movie has given me.   They are especially nice as I approach my 32nd week of pregnancy and am more and more tired. 32 weeks already? Yes, on Monday.   This pregnancy has flown by.   I am very ready to meet our new little guy and ca...

This blog hop continuation was sent to me by fellow author Jim Landwehr.   In this hop, authors answer four questions and then pass the blog on to other author friends.   Here are my answers to the interview questions.   (Thanks Jim for sending this along, and for your patience!) 1.          What am I working on?   I am really close to my release date for my first published book, Absolved .   I’ve recently passed cover art ideas along to my publisher, and should have the cover art soon, so I am anxiously awaiting that.   I’m also just counting down the days to the release as time continues to go by very quickly.   I’m also in the middle of writing my second book, a manuscript I’ve titled The Consequence , which is a story of a marriage forever changed by infidelity.   Honestly what I’m really working on is raising four kids with my husband and growing the fifth in my belly until May, his due date. ...

Stacey’s childhood is innocent and sweet.   She is a simple girl who has good manners and makes good grades in school.   Her mother can be hard on her, but only because she wants Stacey to be her very best.   Stacey’s heart belongs to her father.   Although he is a very busy man, and gone often, while he is at home he makes her feel like she is the most important girl in the world.   He is always still in his work tie as he plays with her and reads her fairy tales, but she doesn’t mind.   She twirls his tie with her fingers as she uses his chest for a pillow while he tells stories, always animated and making up the funniest voices as he reads.   He is her hero.   Stacey believes her dad is the very best there is, and often prays he can spend less time at work and more time with her. Fast forward five years.   Stacey is a teenager in her junior year of high school.   She is sad, withdrawn, lonely.   She finds comfort in the...

Timothy is a bit of a mystery, even to those who know him.   He is quiet and usually only speaks if spoken to.   His voice is deep, but soft.   His facial hair is usually a scruffy mess and he can be seen scratching at his chin and cheek hair as he is thinking.   He has rough, calloused hands and is always wearing work boots and torn jeans. Timothy looks hard on the outside.   His tall stature and dark features attribute to this.   He always looks serious.   His silence is often mistaken for arrogance and behind his back people have called him uptight and hard to read. He works very hard.   Before falling in love with Stacey, the main character in Absolved, his life revolves around work and it consumes him. Stacey gets through to him though.   Her simple beauty and vulnerability attracts Timothy instantly and he feels a great desire to take care of her, to protect her.   He allows himself to fall for her, completely, neve...

Susan is a divorced, middle-aged mother of one adult daughter. She is a devout Catholic.   She doesn’t believe in divorce.   She hates speaking of her divorce.   She is ashamed of being a divorced woman, even though she had no choice in the matter. Her daughter was 12 when her husband left.   One week he was the seemingly perfect husband, coming home after work, eating dinner with the family, playing with their daughter.   She thought of herself as blessed to have married such a wonderful man.   She occasionally had a sinking feeling of doubt about his fidelity, as sometimes there were unexplainable absences.   But she ignored them.   Her denial was so great she happily looked the other way, until she couldn’t anymore.   He left her for his mistress, moved out of state, and completely exited the life of Susan and of their daughter, Stacey. Stacey was the child that Susan had prayed for every day for years.   She was a miracle b...

I haven’t been around lately. I haven’t blogged, haven’t tweeted, and haven’t been updating my facebook author page.   I’ve worked some on the second book, but not as much as I would have liked.   It most definitely isn’t because I don’t want to.   I do.   I really, really do. The truth is that I’ve been too tired.   Yes, I’m always tired.   I joke about it but it’s a reality.   Having even one child to chase all day will make you tired and I have four.   Being pregnant will make you tired.   I’m chasing four kids and am pregnant.   Add tired to tired and that is how I feel right now.   I can usually do alright, and work through the tired. (Because I truly WANT all of these things that make me tired!) But lately my husband has been working a ton of overtime so I have less help because he is away.   It is absolutely not my intent to complain about his working so much.   The man actually makes me want to do a bette...

I was talking to a family member earlier about how badly I used to let other’s negative opinions of my family size get to me.   I told her that only recently have I woken up and realized what a waste of time it was to ever let it affect me at all…because the bottom line is that we’re happy.   We love our kids.   We know how blessed we are.   And the kids are happy too. I told her that one of the arguments I’ve heard against us having a large family is that “it’s too hard.”   This always baffles me how this can be an argument against something.   Aren’t the best things in life “hard”? Seriously.   If people gave up when something got hard, no one would finish school.   Run a marathon.   Start a business.   Get married.   This list could go on and on.   Personally, if I was afraid of “hard”, I would have never joined the Navy, and I would have missed out on so much.   As hard as it was to leave home at 19 to go to ...

Okay, so he didn’t come up to me personally and tell me to write a blog post tonight.   He did however speak this evening about John the Baptist telling people about Jesus being the Son of God, and how we as Christians are called to do the same.   Called to tell others of Jesus.   He even had us all read aloud the first line of the first reading today, “The Lord said to me: You are my servant, Israel, through whom I show my glory.”   Except we were to read it exchanging the word Israel with our own name.   Yep.   This had me thinking… am I doing my part? This particular priest is named Father Uche, and I almost didn’t hear this homily today.   I didn’t think I would make it to church.   Not because I couldn’t, but because I didn’t want to get four children and myself ready to get out the door.   It was just one of those afternoons in which I was tired, and irritated with the kids, and I just wanted to have an easy day and stay home. ...

My first published book will be released in a little less than three months.   Not much is happening with it on my end at the moment.   I did finally send in acknowledgements for the book to my publisher.   They’re very short and simple.   And, while I wait for word for them on edits they would like for me to make, I read online about book marketing.   There is a lot of advice out there.   “Use social media!”   Yes.   I have set up a Twitter Account, a Facebook Page and have a profile on GoodReads.   “Blog!” Okay.   I have this little blog set up that I actually showed to absolutely no one – seriously, no one – until I had a contract coming in for my book to be published.   I started the blog originally so that there was some proof out there somewhere that I had a desire to finish a book and an even bigger desire to have it published. Now, I am finding that I do want to share more, but this isn’t always easy for me.   Th...

On this third day into the New Year I am reflecting on 2013 and some of the moments that really defined the year for me personally.   So, here they are. 1.          My Son’s Birth February 22 nd I gave birth to my fourth child and first little boy.   We had chosen not to find out his gender.   After he was born, my husband started laughing.   I hadn’t seen if I had just had a boy or a girl yet so I was asking him “what is it, what is it?” completely expecting his laughter to mean we just had our fourth daughter.   He said “It’s a boy!”   And the tears just started streaming down my face.   I was so happy to meet the baby I had felt moving around in my belly, and to experience having a son for the first time.   It was really wonderful and that little boy continues to be a joy every single day.   2.          Enrollment in the Brown Scapular In September my h...