Sydney Strand

January is always a slow month for me in this semi-new world of publishing books for the masses. But why is it that I always forget that and mentally flog myself for being such a slackerly sloth?  Because I'm an imperfect human. Geez. When will I be self-actualized already?!! ;o) In late December through January, I like to plan, plan, and plan some more. See Page One below of my 12-page plan: I'm trying to incorporate more polka dots into my life. The thing is, if this plan is anything like 2014 Goals, it's going to change on a daily/weekly/monthly basis. And that's okay. It's like taking a road trip between California and Maine, and hitting blizzards, traffic jams, and hotels that you booked and just aren't going to work out due to the drug dealers hanging out there (true story!). Like that road trip, you have to adjust. Change plans. Maybe be a little late or so late you feel uncomfortable. But the thing is, just like my 2014 Goals, a roadtrip tha...

The confession behind this blog: Read here.    I had a horribly unproductive three weeks. They were filled with the paralysis of "Too Much to Do!! Where Do I Start?" And let me back up briefly--I don't believe in Writer's Block. It's sort of why I don't believe in pacifiers either. I always feel there's a REAL reason behind not writing, just as I believe there's a REAL reason for a baby crying. Find the reason and you'll start to write again. Find the reason and you'll stop the baby crying. The thing is, you need patience for both. You may not have written or revised for weeks (me!). And yes, the baby may be crying for hours (been there!). In both situations, I truly feel what's happening is happening because we haven't figured out what is wrong (yet). After all, there are so many "wrongs" to choose from: Why is the story not working? -Bad motivations? -Wrong setting? -Ineffective villain? -Lukewarm romance?...

I'm NaNoWriMo-ing this month , and as such, I'm committed to 1700 words per day. This shouldn't really too taxing, mainly because just this summer, I was putting in 3000-word days without breaking a sweat. So why is it that the 1700-word days now are kicking my butt more? Because I'm revising as I go, unlike this summer, when I word vomited all over the place.   Which is better: writing a free-for-all mess with no stopping OR revising as you go? I've written both ways, multiple times, because I'm a scientist of the written word. The analyst of the time suckers. A dunderhead when it comes to making a definite decision. (I'm also pragmatic and self-reflecting.) I've seen the benefits and the negatives of both types of writing styles. Let's take a look at the pros and cons of each: Word Vomiting Pros -I can write 2,000 words in an hour. -I give myself leeway to write crap. -I can finish a Word Vomit story and start a new on...

Twas the Eve before NaNo, when all through the house The strong smell of my coffee went 'round like a mouse The Word Doc was stark white, awaiting the start Of NaNoWriMo chaos...crazy, messy Art! So that's my plagiarized (ahem, I mean parodied) attempt at getting into the NaNoWriMo spirit. ;o) And I've decided that yes, I am going to write a new story. One that I haven't even outlined yet. EEKKKKKKK! It's not like I did NOTHING on it. I've been ruminating about this story for six month. Even started a Pinterest board for it. (Actually, I had two things on that board. Who knew? I went through and found my characters over the last hour: Debra Messing, Dermot Mulroney, John Maroney, & Jamie Lee Curtis.) What made me decide to work on this story was because bits and pieces of scenes would come to me, and when they did, I was like, "Which story could I put these in?" And it always came back to This Last-Minute Story. And so on No...

Kind of sort of...but not really the case here. I thought I saw a post about procrastination today as it related to NanoWriMo. I was right. It was here: http://lisacollins.wordpress.com/2014/10/22/nanoprocras101a/#comment-389 . It was a hilarious yet pragmatic suggestion. (By the way, Barnes & Noble has cards out for sale already. So you can totally do this.) This form of procrastination is what I call productive procrastination . You are still doing something, and at least it's not a binge of Walking Dead or Orange is the New Black , trying to forget about how much you hate writing. However, there's a better form of productive procrastination, and one I wholeheartedly recommend since I do it on a daily basis: It's procrastination that has you working toward your ultimate goal... Publishing a Book. The keys to productive procrastination that move you forward toward    Publishing a Book are as follow: 1) They must actually be a part of the pre-...

I really don't know how Nora Roberts did it. She started her crazy successful writing career when her children were very young, just as mine are. And she also canned, she also gardened, she also MADE HER TWO SONS CLOTHES FROM SCRATCH.  And yet she managed to write each day, every day, for eight hours a day. (I'm not making this up. Nora says so .) I feel so very inadequate as I write this. More so than when I started this post. Sigh. [Crickets.] Anyway.  Here I sit right now, and I need to tell you this, Dearest Reader: I write and I feel guilty about doing so. I carve out time in the morning to work on promotional stuff. And Le Boy Bebe watches Curious George.  I carve out time during his nap. And sometimes, he goes to bed just a teeny tiny bit earlier than usual so I can get in a few more words.  I carve out time each day in the afternoon, and if Le Boy Bebe is down for nap but it's the weekend, I make sure La Petite Adult has her own quiet time...

Another Sunday, another busy day. Well, not too busy. Not like the last few Sundays. But we did go shopping for grills at Lowes (end of summer sales!) and went on a visit to the comic book store* we found out about at Comic Con Boston. *It was located in quite the strip mall that also included an adult video store, a tattoo parlor, a fireworks store, and a pawn shop. It was definitely one-stop-shopping for somebody out there (somebody who I never want to meet). Yeah. Just...yeah. I have quite the messy desk at the moment. When I saw Pablo Neruda's desk, I didn't know what I envied more: the view or the tidy desk. (His is on top; mine is the Bermuda Triangle on the bottom.) Have fun, my Sweet La Petite! But before I get into my discussion about writing, first I have quite the week to share. La Petite Adult started school again (saying goodbye to Summer Vacation and hello to a new school year). A second grader, she adores school, but not so much the talkative p...

It seems like I'm always doing something on Sundays. It's like, Monday through Saturday...same ol, same ol. And then Sunday: POW! Today's POW! Moment: A cornfield in Connecticut This weekend was a family reunion on the husband's side, and we spent the last day of it driving, taking pictures, and visiting former homes the hubby lived in as a baby and toddler. It was a nice day filled with nice memories and histories and finding out memories are pretty much technicolor half-truths. A cow farm. Dairy? Meat? I'll think happy thoughts and say dairy. I'll try to make a memory of it as a dairy, a lovely technicolor half-truth. We finished the weekend with some nice memories of our own: The Aborn Castle in Ellington, Connecticut, a regular ol' "house" in a middle class neighborhood Another vacation didn't give me the excuse to do no writing. I went to the lobby of our hotel and brought my work. For five hours, I sat in ...