Scribbler Love: Corinna Rogers

You know that excellent fizzy feeling you get when you see someone you know succeed?

Happiness Fireworks!

This is the feeling I get when I see one of my Wells sisters snag a sweet taste of success. I am so pumped for this book I had to throw it some scribbler love before it's release later this month. As a fan of smut and smut of the paranormal persuasion, it's already on my Amazon wish list.
My hat's off to you Ms. Rogers, I can't wait to read your debut novel!

Squee!

Fails, Successes, and Sacrifice

August turned into a month of ups and downs.
I started the month with high hopes of resurrecting New Earth Six, getting some new projects under way, and school beginning at month's end.
I even signed on for WeSeWriMo once again this year, setting myself an impressive goal which I spectacularly failed to meet, and  began a series of horror stories on Wattpad.
Let's get the bummer stuff out of the way:
*I wanted to catch up with NE6, planning to update the site and post at least 8 new chapters. I managed 2, on actual Fridays, though one was half-assed enough to demand a revision by the end of the weekend.
*Despite an excellent start, I haven't posted more to the horror story since the beginning of the month.
*I wanted to finish my Zombies vs Aliens novel, I have estimated roughly seven chapters to wrap up the story but, confession time, I didn't touch it once this whole blasted month.

Disappointment is better with cuteness

This month felt like a big fat fail in the writing department. If I am honest with myself, my writing had a lot of competition for my attention. Mid August brought my husband's pilgrimage to Gen Con,  the end result being an entire week alone with my children. No breaks, no free time, it is a week of exhaustion and exasperation. I love my children very much but, holy hell, I was ready to tear my hair out by the end. The third week of August, I finally landed a part time job to ease the financial pressure of the household. Not wanting to give up my much loved side job, I am now working two part time jobs, and work seven days a week.
I am not sure how long I can keep this pace, but the hours are what we need and the money don't hurt. It is not a stellar job, it's dry cleaning, but you do what you have to. The schedule is one my equilibrium is still adjusting to but I am able to throw my kid on the bus in the morning, spend a few hours with my toddler and hopefully some scribbling, before going in to work through the afternoon, coming home to make dinner and help put the kids to bed. It's not perfect, but it will do.

Despite all the crazy, I did manage a few successes.
*Can I just say, you get by with a little help from your friends? Thanks to some of the dazzling ladies I know, I snagged a new cover photo for NE6, and finally, FINALLY, have a navigation menu for the site that is absolutely perfect. My life is full of computer wizards.

Bam motha feckers!

*While I failed to meet my goals, I did start up NE6 once again after nearly a 8 month hiatus. I hope I can overcome the end of August hiccup it suffered and keep it going. I have big plans and tons of ideas for the story if I can keep the drive alive.
* I have had lots of new plots pop into my head, scribbling down ideas and scenes for new stories throughout the month. I have nearly 100 handwritten pages toward a new series.
I may not have been productive in the direction I wanted to be, but I have continued to scribble and keep those imagination muscles flexed. I hope the fall becomes a productive one *fingers crossed*

Push and Pull

It has been an interesting few months. By some miracle I have managed to keep on tract with writing almost everyday, though not on the pieces I expected.
I am still trying to find traction with New Earth Six, I can feel the story there, I still have ideas cropping up of where to take the characters, but I have not been able to motivate myself to sit down and pound it out.I finally finished editing the hard copy of NE6 Part 1, but have not done the computer edits and formatting.
Perhaps it isn't about finding motivation, because my writing method is an odd process that circles back on itself.
Prime example: I dropped my zombie novel for months, finally coming back to it last week with a clear road map to the novel's end. Before that happened I penned out sixty plus pages of long hand for a new YA series and started a horror mini series on wattpad.

Madhouse: Lunacy

I have yet to find a suitable beginning for my long time brainchild series but I have started keeping a notebook of scenes and ideas. Someday it will come to fruition with the other plots I have been sitting on for years. I theorize it just needs enough time to stew in my imagination before coming to life.
I might even find a way to fix my white whale, the YA novel that has been sitting in flux on my editing shelf for years.
I have so many unfinished projects, so many beginnings without endings it is discouraging. I think if I can finish one project this summer, others will start falling into place, like dominoes, and then I will have tons of full drafts to fiddle with.

Brain Fart-knots

Sometimes when I'm coming out of a dry spell of creativity I spend about a week or two of sleepless nights, aimless internet surfing, and staring at the ceiling in the dark.

(This is not always a good thing as I have that pesky over active imagination.)

It's not necessarily procrastination because I'll stop and scribble things down to remember later. It's like popping the cork on a bottle of champagne after jumping up and down on a trampoline for eight hours with it. Ideas are just wildly fizzing out everywhere, bubbles of creativity are popping through my synapses, clogging up my concentration. I want to do everything at once, therefore getting nothing done at all.  Even my attempts to catch up on sleep are taking a hit. I tried to nap today and bolted up with a Eureka moment for a novel I've been working on for years. This is like a brain explosion, or more accurately Fart-knots. Too many ideas, dammit! I'm pulling myself in 9 different directions. Goal of the week: find a balance, take deep breathes, do not face plant on keyboard.

(Warning: The creative juices may increase flatulence of the mind)

Finding my scribbles and inner fluff again...

If you couldn't tell, it's been a while since I posted. This does not mean I haven't been writing posts but when they started repeating the same gloom and doom I chose not to publish them. Truth be told, I have spent the last few months as a Slug, wallowing in depression and doubt. In general, I don't like to talk about my depression. I will write about it, but I keep the bulk of my gloom to myself. This time it was a double whammy of depression and my hormones literally being on the fritz, requiring meds to balance them back out. (Funny how once I got on hormone meds my depression started to level out. *sigh*)

The winter was not a good one. Aside from being mentally sick, I was physically sick repeatedly while dealing with some stressful revelations. Realizing I have no idea how I am going to pay my college loans is a biggie, while my son's official label of educational autism is expected but still feels like a punch in the gut. I pretty much stopped writing completely, even my serial as I sunk deep. I made a half hearted attempt to get back in the game around February or so but couldn't maintain the drive. I needed a serious kick in the pants to get out of this mental sinkhole.

So I went to Arizona.

Look, it's a cactus. *giggle*

Arizona had two big enticements. 1. I would have free room and board for my stay, courtesy of the Divine Ms. Angie. 2. It would be my first vacation, actual out and out vacation, without my children or husband in five years.

Myself and the Divine Ms. Angie atop Mt. Graham

Heading out west to see Angie had another big enticement. She is living her dream, with four published books under her belt. It has not been an easy road for her, but she is doing it and her drive inspires me. I have also had input on all four of her books, providing feedback on content. She is the one contact I have kept close with from my foray into grad school, and I am thankful we connected.



I flew out mid April, discovering over the rapid succession of three flights I do indeed get motion sickness. (blech) I spent roughly four days eating good food, sleeping in, seeing the sights, and generally relaxing. Angie lives at the base of Mt. Graham, which boasted several climates and one hell of a breathtaking view at 10,000 ft. I was pampered with my own bed, homemade waffles, and some of the beast Mexican food I have ever had. I even got to drink, guilt free, which is a rare treat in itself.

I don't often take food pics, but booze!

Apparently I am a pirate in my selfies

It wasn't a trip to the spa or an exotic location but it left me more relaxed than I have been in months. It also set some sparks going. It hasn't been easy, but in the couple weeks I've been back, aside from getting slammed with another massive stomach bug, I have felt the creative juices beginning to thaw. I have set myself up with a list of goals to work on and I have begun line editing again.

My biggest goal is to start up New Earth Six in full during the month of May.
I have a back log of ideas I have been scribbling down and bits and pieces I wrote here and there that need a little nurturing to blossom. Between editing and reading other people's work, I have made some leeway in editing Part 1. Goal number 2 is to finish drafting Zombies vs. Aliens. I am excited about this. If I can get this book finished and out, I have a small series planned for it.

The going is slow. I still have to push myself to accomplish anything every day. Some days are more productive than others, but I'm crawling out of my hole, hand over hand.