Back to Basics

Today marked the official day of rest after thirty days of unfiltered and (hopefully) uninhibited writing. Today is the day that most writers, whether they finished their objective or not, take a breath and ask what the hell just happened?

As you're re-assimilating back into the "real world", let me extend out a congratulatory round of applause for those of you who made their goal target of 50,000 words or more! Woohoo! I too know that thrill of finally sitting down and writing out that damned illusive novel. There's nothing like that high of accomplishment that makes you feel like you can take on a grizzly bear Wyatt Earp style and win. So whether it's a complete novel or a good chunk of something larger, bravo my fellow writers! Bravo!

While I sported my participation badges on my facebook accounts, I alas could not jump on the novel writing bandwagon. My original zombie apocalypse story idea that I've been sitting on for a while just wasn't ready to hatch yet. While I did get a good portion of the world and the characters fleshed out, mostly it felt like I was beating my head against a cement wall. I finally walked away when all of my writer's block symptoms matched my "put it back in the oven" checklist.

I was sort of bummed and depressed by the whole situation. I thought writing my [Zombies!] story would be a great way to sort of test out self-publishing and make an extra dollar or two. I now realize I was pushing myself to write it for all the wrong reasons. That and every time I sat down to think, plot, and create for my nano project my science fiction story would some how emerge into my thought patterns. Which was ironic considering I had told myself that it wasn't ready, that I wasn't ready, and that we needed more time to sit on it.

Instead of fighting with it, I let it flow. For weeks I felt blocked and stunted with my [Zombies!] story. Almost to the point where I started even questioning my own ability to write. Had I lost it to episodes of "My Little Ponies" and little girl giggles? Maybe I should go back to work and sink back into the world of technical writing... These self-defeating thoughts plagued me until I finally stopped and just went with these little nudges from my [Space!] story.

I'm so glad I did! Instead of running, I'm addressing the reasons why I thought the story was too big for my writing capabilities. I've researched story structure and dissected I don't know how many books, movies, and television shows. I'm going back through the snowflake outline I did for my story and editing it. I finally found my spark again and my reason for writing. :-)

Got to love those crises of faith. ;-)

I'm SO Sorry!

Dear blog,

I hope the title of the blog says it all. I truly and most sincerely sorry that I have neglected you so! I've been so focused on my novels and jump starting my freelance clientele that I have left your pages unwritten. Like a sorely neglected friend, I have left you behind in our special place on the interwebs. If you will have me back, I would so love to resume our friendship.

The Saddest Blogger in the World,

~Me

Dear Meatbag,

Get bent.

Signed, 

~An Angry, Neglected Blog

Dear blog,

:( :( :( I'm so SOOOOOORY! Please find in your heart (do blogs have hearts?) to move past my horribleness. I am a horrible person for under utilizing you and not helping you live up to your fullest potential. Can we ever be friends again?

The Most Horrible Blogger on the Interwebs,

~ Me

Dear Flesh Puppet,

I sincerely doubt that our friendship will ever be the same again. You should just move on and create some other blog to abuse. I'm tried of your shit. Also, YES WE HAVE HEARTS! And they happen to be a reflection of the owner's. So if you find me crappy, you only have yourself to blame.

Signed,

~Screw you, I'm going home.

P.S. There aren't enough sad faces in the world to earn you enough pity. Please stop at three. KTHXBAI.

Dear Blog,

Are you breaking up with me??? Ok. Fine. Yea. I deserve it. I guess I will just make another blog on wordpress. Something that looks professional and an actual website. Not google's horrible attempt to be "cool" and "relevant" on the web. Yea, I said it. G+ suxs!

Screw you too!

~Me

Dear Two Timing Blogger,

I cannot believe you would give up so easily on our relationship. Have I meant nothing to you? Do I still mean nothing to you? Why? Why would you say something this horrible to me?

Signed,

~A Crushed and Lonely Blog

Dear Blog,

*Sighs* I'm sorry. I seem to be saying that a lot lately. I said those things out of anger. I truly do like your platform and ease of use. It's why I chose you instead of that other site. Please, let's just forget about all of this and let's be friends again. I truly am sorry.

~Me

Dear Human Face,

<(^_^<) <(^_^)> (>^_^)>

Signed,

~A Forgiving Blog

Dear Blog,

Yay! I promise to stay more active on your site and post twice a month. I won't neglect you again!

Love,

~Me

How to Keep Sane with Tribal Survival Food

Happy February! I do not know how that happened but it did. Seems my crazy life of 2013 has decided to make 2014 it's sequel. I totally meant to make at least one other blog posting in January- something catchy and would keep me motivated to post a blog at least twice a month maybe once a week. However, life swept me away and had other plans for me.

So if you've been following me along so far, I made mention of a list of things I would like to achieve/accomplish in 2014. One of those things is to travel more. Well, I literally just got back from an impromptu trip to Hawaii a couple of weeks ago. Now before you roll your eyes and sarcastically mutter "poor girl", it was not for the best of reasons.

Have you ever heard that saying about how God or the Universe laughs at any plans that you make? I know I am paraphrasing it horribly but it still holds sway here.

So the original plan was for us to take a family vacation to Kauai and visit my family for my grandfather's 90th birthday in May of this year. The universe looked at that, liked part of the plan and said, "Sure, why not?" What the Universe failed to read was the whole going home under good circumstances and making it so that we could all go.

Instead, the Universe laughed and said, "Go now! Because your grandmother fell, broke her hip, had a heart attack, and is in the hospital."

Now, I'm not saying that the Universe took it's mighty pointer finger and pushed my grandmother over causing her to fall while scarring the crap out of her which then caused her heart attack. All I know is that any plans we had made were moved up quite a bit due to this incident.

So my mother, me, and baby Alice flew to Hawaii and helped the family take care of grandma during her homestay hospice care. It was a great trip in that we spent a lot of quality time with family.

Mom and Alice reading on the plane

Now when I say that we spent lots of quality time together it was usually at the dinner table over a bowl of what my Uncles like to call "Survival Tribal Food." I guess that's what my family does. We cook, we eat, we talk stories while we eat, and we heal.

I don't know how many times my uncles came over and cooked something for my grandma and us and we spent the evening talking and having a good time. It just made it easier to deal.

Alice hanging out with TuTu G.G.

The food, the company, it took away the awkwardness and tragic state my grandma was in. Even if my Uncle Butchie made jokes about her looking dead (nothing is sacred when it comes to his sense of humor and wit), it helped. It was easier to sit in the living room while my grandma lay delirious in bed or was moaning in pain. We could all lean each other in serious times, fun times, and sobering times.

The mung bean soup, chicken adobo, chicken shoyu, Hawaiian lobster, Samoan crab, Niihau fish, chicken papaya, and all sorts of goodies kept all of our spirits up. Especially my grandma. It was like tribal food for the soul exploded all up in my grandma's house.

Chicken Papaya

Hawaiian Lobster

The trip was great overall. We did tourist stuff during the day and took care of my grandma at night. I had fun getting to know my family and introducing them to my awesome baby and I also got to eat some amazing Hawaiian and Filipino grub. Surprisingly enough, I actually lost weight. Who knew tribal survival food was healthy? That and all the walking and bicycle riding at the beach we did.

Alice and I cycling the coastline in Kapaa

All that to say, yes, I went to Hawaii. No, it wasn't the best of circumstances but we made the best of it. I'm just sad I had to go home. If this whole writing thing pans out in a way that I end up like J.K. Rowling or even do half as well as she did, I am totally opening up a writer's retreat in Kauai. I will live there 6 months out of the year and write like I have never written before. :D Maybe I'll even invite my writing friends and we can have writing parties or something. :-) Definitely something to think about.





Either way, I would be happy with a shack of a house next to Hanalei Bay.

Until then, I shall keep writing to you from my desk in sunny Southern California.

~V.M. Flower

Our feet enjoying the sands of Hanalei

Alice in her adorable sun hat. :-)

Another Year Past, a New Year Begins

Happy New Year!

Welcome 2014! I greet you with much enthusiasm and optimism. Not that 2013 was a bad year for me- it was actually pretty great. More like, I can't believe it's already complete! A lot happened for me, both personally and professionally.

Spacex!

J- captured his dream job working on space rockets. We sold our house in AZ. Moved to Los Angeles.

Newly birthed epic pout baby!

Had a baby.

MMM.... Red Velvet Bday cake!

 Turned 28.

Us at the Giant Bean!

Traveled with said baby via airplane to Chicago. Had a blast.

Yeah buddy!

 Buckled down for Nanowrimo. Won Nanowrimo! (Woo!) Had the winner's shirt misdelivered twice. (Still haven't gotten it lol)

Tyr with his bandage :-(

Had one of my corgis almost die. (Tyr was diagnosed with diabetes and is doing better)

Alice waiting patiently by the tree

And somewhere between those last four things, the holidays hit. Man oh man! Last year was a whirlwind of personal growth, achievement, and just plain and sleepless craziness. I am still recovering!

So welcome 2014! I get the feeling that the flurry of crazy life events is not even close to completion. In fact I know it's not. (More on that later.)

To blog or not to blog!

As I look back through my sparse and sporadic blog postings, I see I failed to make my 10 posts last year. :-( Oh well. Life happens. Lol. This year I can't promise will be any different but I know I will definitely try harder. The more my resolve and determination grows to go after my dream of becoming not only a published author but making writing my life long career, the more important it is for me to stay in touch with the blogging sphere. Yes, it markets my "brand" but I see it as more than that. This blog is an outlet. Not a total and complete outlet as I should keep some kind of semblance of professionalism. (As best I can at least. ;-) ) But it definitely is a place that helps to give me perspective and motivated. With that said, let's move on to that!

A list of my goals this year! Woo! Here goes!

Personal Goals

• Run (jog/walk is more like it) a half marathon- Yep, I'm going for it again! This time laziness or being pregnant will not get in the way of this goal. I will accomplish it this year and if I like it, will probably try to tackle another one or at least a mini triathlon next year.
• Travel!- I've always wanted to travel and so I'm gonna! As to where? You and I both will have to see this year. :-)
• Mommy/Special Interest Groups- Now that Alice is no longer a newborn, we both need to mingle and grow roots in our new community.

Professional Goals

• Publish some short stories- Definitely lacking on recent publishing credits. I've already started the search for an editor to help polish and get my stories ready for submission. :-)
• Get into the Scifi/Fantasy Writers Guild of America- This is more to help with potential legal issues and networking more than anything else. Plus, it doesn't hurt in building up my writer credentials.
• Find an agent for my fantasy novel if I decide not to epublish- Still on the fence about tranditional/independent publishing vs. epublishing. I'm definitely thinking this needs to be a blog post since I've come across other budding novelists who are facing the same question.

So that was last year for me in brief bursts of sentences and pictures. I'm hoping to accomplish these goals and more. I've broken them down into easier steps but that's the general idea I have going.

What are you wanting to accomplish this year?

Inspiration Thursday

Every Thursday I have decided to share a picture, idea, song, artist that have been the inspiration for my current fantasy novel "On the Other Side of the Teacup." A lot of my stories and ideas are grown from the most random moment of clarity and also a spark of intrigue from my fellow human beings.

This song that I am sharing with you today is one of the original sparks that started the creation of this book. I love the imagery found in the lyrics. It created this forlorn longing based on selfish love which moved me and made my muse take notice. The moment occurred back when I was working night's as a proofreader. It was one of the main motivators/philosophies used to create my main character Rigby and the inspiration for one of the opening scenes. Well this song and one another which I will share next week.

This song is Heart's "All I Wanna Do Is Make Love To You." See the 80's in all it's epic glory below.

The Year of Completion

So I have decided that after the last three years of attempting various NaNoWriMo and CampNaNoWriMo events that I still hate myself and have little regard for my sanity. This year feels different though and not for obvious reasons.

When I first heard about NaNo, I was in college and overheard a couple of the writing tutors that I worked with talking about it. (Yes, I was eavesdropping and yes, I am aware that is rude. BUT being a writer means that I have express permission to such things in the name of research, boredom, and procrastination!) I could not even contemplate writing more than a twenty page paper let alone a 50,000 word novel. I knew it was possible considering I had read books longer than that but for me to partake in that adventure seemed impossible. Now I feel totally removed from that feeling.

The last few years have been a trial of pushing myself to make that goal of 50k. Of the many attempts that I've made I succeeded every time I tried. I only made it to 50k once though. I call every attempt successful in that I sat my butt down in a chair, avoided the internet hole like the plague, and made time to write for me. I wasn't writing some horribly boring document on failed letters or an article about trying to gain weight. I wrote about the worlds that only existed in my mind. Worlds that are trying to get out of my conscious and into the mainstream collective.

This year feels different because I've already proven to myself that I can do it. This year's competition will be more about finishing my novel and less about making the word goal. And I am completely okay with that. I've proven myself and I've achieved self belief. Now it's time to challenge myself and get that novel finished. So this year I've set a minimum goal of 25k with the caveat that the next month will be 25k and the month after that and the month after that until it's finished. This will be the Year of Completion!


So are you guys doing NaNo this year? What are your goals?




~Here's some tuneage for your own epic training and motivational sequence~




~V.M. Flower

I'm Back!

Hello hello hello! I believe the title says it all. Sorry for the long delay. I have been a bit busy what with settling into our new home in California and having a baby. Oh yea, did I mention we had the baby? *grin*

On July 10, in the wee hours of the morning, our little Alice was born. She was a little itty bitty thing weighing in at 6lbs 12oz and 19inches.

Baby Alice just a couple of days old.

Alice is now two months old weighing in at a whopping 10lbs 13oz and 21.09inches. Both J- and I are super proud parents of our adorable little girl and Tyr and Campbell are super proud big Corgi brothers.

An Angry Alice at 2 months

Anyways, so now that Alice let's me get more than three hours of sleep at night, I feel like I can string together coherent sentences again so here I am!

My goal of the rest of the year is to do at least one blog post per month. What I would like to do is to make one post every other week until I can get into the habit of making a blog post every week. But for now, it's once a month!

Until then,

V.M. Flower

Woohoo! Another post!

I think the title says it all. My goal this year is to make at least 10 posts and beat out last year's record of probably about 5. LOL :D

Not a lot has happened since I dropped my last blog. The house is up for sale and has been for about a week and a half. J started his new job in California last Tuesday. The baby is super squirmy and has crazy hours as babies tend to do. Oh and we found out that "it" or "the thing" as I affectionately called "it" is a girl. We are super excited about that. I want to call her the "infant inconvenience" but that is an Alexia Tarabotti thing and I don't live in Victorian England.

As for the writing, it moves slowly. I thought with J being in another state that my major distraction would be gone and I could let my muse run wild. Turns out he was an excuse that my procrastinating side used to not write. Now that he's not here, I'm still not writing! :(

I need to kick my lazy side to the curb and restart some kind of writing habit.

So to coincide with the start of the new month, I am starting a new word goal challenge for the month of March. Even though I don't follow college basketball, I too this month will be participating in my own version of March Madness.

My goal this month is to write 30,000 words and to finish my novel "On the Other Side of the Teacup." It's half way finished and I think only needs about that many words to complete this story. I need to get Rigby, my main character, and my muse off of my back so that I can focus on my new snowflake for the Consortium series that JakJak, Smokey, and I are writing.

My novel kicks off the series and the mystery that happens in the Consortium. I need to nail down the world and get this thing written!

If all goes according to plan, I will have one novel written and another one plotted out and (extreme optimism prompts me to say this) and half written if not all the way written by the time that the baby is born. Which if it's my kid gives me time past the July 22nd due date or if it's Jason will probably arrive on time or even a bit early. Either way, time is a ticking and I need to scratch off "writing a novel" on my Before Kids (BK) list.

What do you guys do stay motivated to complete a project?

Goodbye Arizona!

Well not quite yet but soon.

My husband has accepted a new job in California doing the same thing he did here (inspection) but with pieces of a space rocket. To be more specific, he's working with one of his dream companies SpaceX and is just one step closer to putting himself as well as the rest of us in space and possibly living on Mars. Check out the video below to see who and what he'll be working with.



So yea. We are leaving the Grand Canyon State. Despite the fact that I have just taken that tech job I wrote about back in August and the fact that I'm pregnant. Oh yea. I forgot to mention. I'm 4 months pregnant. Gender still unknown for at least another week and a half. Pictures of the alien spawn will be posted soon, I promise. So the future grandparents are not very happy that we are leaving, all of whom actually live in the Valley.

Between the guilt induced comments of our parents, the stress of moving, and the future little one, we are also trying to sell the house that we just bought last March. Somewhere along the way we were headed towards the standard American dream but decided "Nope! Not for us!" Which I'm actually okay with, once I think about the whole situation minus the stress factor.

Moving to California could open up a lot of doors for me creatively and career wise. Plus, I'll finally get to live in a place that's not by a man-made body of water.

So yea. That is the last five or so months. Quitting newly acquired job. Selling our house. Moving to L.A. Having a baby. And dealing with pouty depressed parents.Life is grand, right? My consolation? Disneyland and the beach. :D

Quick Update

Hi all,

Just a quick update. My summer wasn't too busy, I guess blogging really isn't my thing or I guess I'm just really lazy when it comes to writing my blog and reading others' blogs. It's really not that difficult and I actually enjoy it when I do it. I guess I just have difficulty committing myself to writing something at least once a week if not twice a week. I do plan on making that better. What do you guys do to stay consistent on writing your blog?

This Wednesday sees me starting a new contract job as a technical writer. Woo! My first "official" job in which I can call myself a technical writer. :D It feels awesome and for the first time I'm getting paid way more than I feel I deserve to be. Hopefully this is good bye to crap minimum wage jobs. *fingers crossed*

Other than my cousin's wedding back in mid-July, I've basically stayed in state. However, we are taking a late vacation to Florida to visit Kevin, a long time friend from high school, and I'm definitely going to Harry-Freakin-Potter Land. I have made it my mission.

As for writing, "On the Other Side of the Teapot" is taking longer than foreseen. I did not complete or even start June's Camp Nanowrimo. I am however doing August's. I'm not in very deep but I'm hoping that doing the competition while starting a new job will allow me to create habits in which I write every single day again despite what is going on in my life.

So yea. That's the last few months in a nutshell. I have a couple of blogs planned in which I will wax poetic details of a certain cousin's religious nuptials and my exploration of family roots in Springfield, MO. Also, the always inspirational Neil Gaiman's college graduation speech will get it's own spotlight in this month's blogs.

Happy Writing!

~V