Writing Woes by Bonnie Le Hamilton

 

I don’t know if anyone ever told you this, but writing is hard.

I have at least started or have notes for pushing fifty titles. Some of these stories I may never finish; I’m not even sure I want to, while others I’d like to finish, but am stuck on them.

Then there are the ones where the story playing in my brain is far ahead of where I’ve written to, that I’m having a hard time rewinding my brain to the point where my writing is.

And please don’t tell me to just skip ahead. I tried that. That story still has a major hole in it thanks to skipping ahead. I can’t seem to go back and fill it in, any more than I can rewind the story in my brain to match where I’m writing.

This is just how my brain works.

That isn’t to say I can’t rewind and get to where my written story is to add to the story. I have done that, but not at the pace I want to. My brain has a mind of its own.

My brain also doesn’t always remember what I’ve written already. Case in point is the fact that this week I unearthed an old manuscript I started, I have no idea how long ago, but it is clearly a sci-fi, and older than the series I’ve been working on for like six years now. The series that I thought was my only sci-fi. It isn’t.

The only problem is, this old one is so similar to my current sci-fi that it would be counterproductive to finish this old manuscript when this current manuscript is so much further along and, well, better written. I don’t need to produce boilerplate Sci-Fi’s.

I actually have a paragraph for yet another sci-fi, and notes on another one, which I didn’t include in the list I made of my titles, since there was so little about them.

That isn’t to say romance novels don’t dominate my list, because believe me, they do. I’m just saying I have done more in the sci-fi department than I originally thought. And I do like sci-fi, but I also like romance.

And in all that, I still have my one manuscript, which I thought was romance with a touch of sci-fi, or paranormal, or something, but it turns out it's just speculative fiction.

It does have aliens in it! Why couldn’t it have been sci-fi?

Honestly, because I don’t have any futuristic or alien technology in it. I don’t have that in this story because it didn’t fit the story details.

Oh, well.

And it’s not like I was trying to write a sci-fi when I wrote that one; I was trying to write yet another romance.

Yeah, writing is hard.

And that doesn’t count how often I have to stop and use my Spellcheck. You would think a person who likes to read as much as I do and loves to write would be able to spell just about anything, but the clear answer is no, I can’t!

I might point out that way back in high school, my creative writing teacher once complained that of his two students with the most potential, one couldn’t spell correctly, and the other was horrible at punctuation.

Guess who the poor speller was.

He has suggested that the two of us team up. The only problem was that our writing styles didn’t mesh. My writing style is more on the level of feel-good/happy endings, while his was decidedly a lot darker. Yeah, I wasn’t going to work with that guy. Sorry.

Let’s face it. Konnie and I both write, and we are identical twins, but we have yet to fully collaborate on anything.

I’m not saying we don’t help each other; we do, a lot.

I’m just saying that, well, we have yet to co-write anything other than this blog.

There are bits and pieces of her work that are really all me. Believe me. Konnie couldn’t write a Male POV right if her life depended on it. So, any scene where the man’s POV is actually spot on – yeah, I helped a ton on that.

On the converse, my one female character, who was a bit shy and easily scared, yeah, I’d have never pulled that story off without her help. I had so many plot holes in that story until she stepped in; it was horrible to read.

So, yeah, we don’t collaborate, but we do help each other. She just needs more help with the Male POV than I ever need with the Female POV.

Too bad she can’t help me fill in the gaps I have.

But then we don’t write each other’s work; we just guide each other in ways to fix the problems.

Anyway, happy writing, everyone!

Of Decorations, Energy, and Bad Omens by Konnie Enos

I believe I’ve mention before that our usual habit is fighting my husband through October to not decorate for Christmas until after Halloween. Then having our decorations up from early November until early January. This used to be our normal until, well the great Christmas debacle.

One year, nobody had felt up to decorating until mid-December, but that also held true for putting away all the decorations. We simply didn’t get the tree down for um, well, at least three years. Probably four. But eventually it did come down.

Then in 2024 it was mid-December again before we got our decorations up but at least half the issue was our old tree really needed replaced and it took a bit to get a new one, and some more (i.e. working) lights. My daughter had everything back down within days after Christmas.

Okay, so no more keeping it up for years.

This past Christmas we actually managed something closer to our usual schedule and had the tree, and my Christmas village set up before Thanksgiving. I fully expected everything to come down before my husband’s birthday (early January).

The reality?

Let’s put it this way. I’ve had multiple conversations over the last few weeks discussing how long they are going to stay up this time.

When all the females in your household (in this case, just two) are in anyway under the weather, well, things slide.

I came down with what we are assuming is this nasty flu bug around my husband’s birthday. At some point I developed an ear infection to go along with it. Yes, I got antibiotics but those could do nothing for the flu. So, I was still coughing, and my nose was still running.

 During this time my dear daughter was either experiencing a fibromyalgia flair or coming down with a cold of her own. When her throat started to get really sore and scratchy she went to the quick care. What none of us expected was the doctor telling her that she had strep.

So, not only do we have that nasty flu spreading through the household, but now we have to worry about strep making the rounds. Oh fun.

Then this last weekend, with me still sick, though getting a bit better, my daughter added to her misery by starting her period and getting the accompanying migraine. Needless to say, neither one of us was up to our weekly grocery shopping trip.

Being in slightly better shape, I finally managed a small trip on Monday.

Last night we realized my excursion wasn’t as well executed as we had thought. In that we had overlooked the fact that we were completely out of a fresh garlic, and our planned meal requires fresh garlic. Nobody is going to the store just for garlic so we’re going to have manage with powdered garlic, which we do have.

But that’s not the only thing we discovered. I wiped out our supply of onions, bell peppers, zucchini, and both sweet and russet potatoes. This means that the stew we’d also planned on making this week will not be made this week, because we do not have the vegetables to make it.

But that’s not even the only issue we’ve run into this week.

Monday night I realized that my lower back ached enough that I could not straighten up when walking. But for some reason I didn’t realize why it was hurting until the next time I went to the bathroom and noticed how dark my output was.

Apparently, while I’ve been coughing and constantly blowing my nose, I have not been drinking enough water. Yes, I now have an appointment this morning to address my apparent bladder infection. So, round two of antibiotics. I am already expecting to address the inevitable yeast infection that always occurs after multiple rounds of antibiotics, close together.

On the plus side, my nose seems to have finally dried up.

But all this means that between my daughter and I, neither one of us has felt like addressing the decorations in our living room, which now has my son speculating on how many years they will stay up this time.

Fair assumption under the circumstances.

I’m hoping one, or both of us, will have the energy to accomplish that task before the month is over, but after the month we’ve had so far, I’m not holding my breath.

And if this disastrous start to the new year wasn’t bad enough, yesterday, both our dishwasher and our washer were giving us fits. So, we are facing the expense of either repairing or replacing one or both of them. At this point I would not be surprised if our older dryer or stove joined the revolt.

Hopefully things get better instead of worse.

Smile. Make the day a brighter day.

 

Book Challenges by Bonnie Le Hamilton

 

I’ve read a lot online about book challenges. Most are a challenge to read, like fifty books a year.

I, personally, don’t think I can manage that.

Not that I don’t like to read; I do. I own a lot of books, both physical and digital copies. But I’m such a slow reader that getting through that many books in a year seems daunting to me.

Then again, I’m presently on my sixth book so far this year. Some of those only took me two days to finish. The current one will be longer, but only because it’s so much bigger.

Finishing the whole series may take me a month, and that’s only seven books. Then again, the first five I’ve read included a four-book series, though those five books were by the same author.

Last year, I spent a couple of months going through my Dick and Felix Francis collection. And that is around thirty books. Maybe I did make fifty books last year.

I read my Francis collection, my HP collection, which does include The Tales From Beattle the Bard and Fantastic Beasts, and the five-book Percy Jackson series. I also went through all nineteen of my Box Car Children series. Of course, all those are easy reads.

And I have eleven books of a twelve-book series on my reader, as well as two other books.

No wait, those two other books were after the first, and some of the eleven were too.

Okay, I haven’t kept an accurate count of how many I’ve read and when.

I know I read a couple of my romance novels during that time.

Was it last year, or early this year? I can’t remember.

Okay, I do read, maybe I could read fifty books a year, but most of those would be relatively short romances rather than the longer, more detailed epics, which is what I’ve just started.

This series is actually, word-wise, longer and bigger than the HP series.

Then again, HP is supposed to be a children’s book, and The Work and The Glory is most definitely not a children’s book.

I did buy myself a bunch of new, or rather new to me, books over the holidays, and I really should read more of those. One of those four book series I read is part of the new purchases.

I finally acquired the final book of that series. I’d been holding off on reading it until I had all the books.

I was quite sure it would be good because I’ve owned one of the author’s earlier works for decades. She’s good. Actually, the fifth book I read from that author was rereading that earlier book. I still have her first published work, which I have read, just not recently.

Actually, one of the two romances I recently read was the newest book by a favorite author.

And yes, I have several favorite authors.

It partly depends on the genre, but even then, I could name one favorite, especially in romance.

And if you are asking, I’m sure I own way more books than Nativities.

I really need to complete my book inventory, which isn’t going to be easy, as often as I splurge on new books.

Not that I’m buying new (except in the digital form), I generally buy my books through Thrift Books these days.

The best part about Thrift Books is that I can get my hands on some classic titles, which I wouldn’t be able to do at a standard bookstore.

And, if you are asking, I’m positive I have way more books than Konnie has, simply because I have more room for books than she has, even if her house is bigger.

After all, I have a two-bedroom apartment to myself while she has a three-bedroom house, which she shares with three other people. So, she has a bigger house, but I have more personal space, which I don’t have to share. Unless you count Patches. And clearly, he doesn’t read, nor does he care how much space my book collection takes.

Well, maybe he would care if the books started to infringe on his living space, but it doesn’t right now!

And don’t expect me to consider whether or not Konnie can read fifty books in a year! Konnie can read way faster than I can. A book that will take two days to read will take her a matter of hours.

Anyway, are you a slow or fast reader? Do you think you can manage a fifty-book-a-year challenge? Or, like me, do you think that ideal is out of your league?

I personally don’t think I can manage more because I need some writing time, but also because I read slowly.

Anyway, happy writing, everyone!

Of Birthdays and Colds By Konnie Enos

Yesterday I called Bonnie and she could easily tell I am rather sick. She was concerned about me being able to write my post today, but I told her I should still be able to write it. Then I promptly forgot about writing my post in favor of taking care of myself, including taking some naps.

I, in fact, so completely forgot about that I did not remember until one of my several middle of the night trips to the bathroom. And I only remembered it then because my son apparently forgot that today is garbage day.

How did going to the bathroom remind me of that fact?

Because he had not emptied the garbage can in our bathroom, or in fact, any cans in our room. Though the only one stuffed full at the moment is the one in our bathroom. (It’s stuffed because it hasn’t been emptied in a couple of weeks simply because it wasn’t full enough to bother until now.)

Now normally my son comes in our room sometime in the evening on Tuesday to make sure all the garbage is gathered but yesterday the only time he came into my room was to get some pain medicine because, surprise, surprise, he’s sick too. (Sore throat and achy.)

Don’t worry, our bins got to the curb this morning. One, because I had to be up early to deal with my post. And two, because my son realized it needed done and got up early to do so.

And as my brain is more focused on bundling up for some warmth and getting any sleep I can, I cannot think of much to say. Though I am currently remembering something that happened Sunday.

We were at church and I overheard someone asking if that day was the fifth or the sixth. Clearly it was not. I told them it was most definitely the fourth since the next day, Monday, was the fifth. I indicated I knew that for a fact because Monday was a certain gentleman’s birthday, while clearly pointing at my husband.

One of the gentlemen there then decided to guess hubby’s age. Now before he did state his guess, he said he wasn’t good at guessing and wanted to guess low. I’m assuming to not offend us. Now this man does know some of our kids and is aware we have grandchildren. He as at least one himself. He also is well on his way to full head of gray hair and otherwise looks the part of a grandfather.

It should also be noted that our kids are all in their early 30s to mid-20s. It would be safe to assume someone with kids near the same age as yours was themselves about the same age as you were.

Not only did he guess low, but he guessed fifteen years too low. I can assure you that we were not in our teens when we married and started a family. We were almost no longer in our 20s. (Our oldest was born less than three months before hubby turned 30.)

Yes, my husband, with his completely gray and receding hair, apparently does not look as old as he is. Then again, our friend was guessing slightly below his own age which happens to be ten years younger than hubby and I are.

Since I’m coughing, sneezing, and attempting to sleep, which is what my body needs right now, I’m going to end here so I do those things.

Take care.

Smile. Make the day a brighter day.