Monday, July 21, 2014

I'm Not Dead

Sorry it's been SOO quiet around here, but I am enjoying the summer with my kids and my mom. She moved in with me at the end of June and we've been job hunting ever since. Next week she will start her new job as a teacher's assistant while she waits for her teaching and administrator license to be switched over to her new state. Over qualified? Just a bit! However, she's excited to try out the new school for a year before taking on more responsibility.

I'm happy for her. She was miserable in her last school and it's been a lot of fun to see her making new friends and sounding happier.

A couple weeks after she goes back (she'll be at a year-round school), my kids will go back. Yay! I'll finally have more peace, quiet and time to concentrate on writing and revising. However, I decided to substitute teach this year so I'm not sure how much more time I'll have to blog. We'll have to wait and see.

The decision was a hard one because last year I accomplished a lot with my writing staying at home. But the truth is my mind has struggled all summer because financially we need "just a bit" more to cover our bills. I hate feeling like we are living paycheck to paycheck. It affects my writing because I'm worrying too much. Hopefully, when I start contributing some cash I'll be able to relax again and hit it hard with my new novel ideas.

I miss the good writing days.

I did have one really good revising week this summer with FADE INTO ME. I just have 50 pages left to comb through with the trickle down changes I made. It will make it so much better! What did I change? I cut out a scene that was almost all backstory. Yeah. Why it was still there is beyond me--no not really. It's hard for me to cut stuff. LOL

My wonderful writer's group helped me finally see it though. The info IS important, just not where it is and definitely not all at once.

So, bottom line--I'm still optimistic about my writing goals and ready to get back to it.

How has your summer been?

7 comments:

  1. That's good news about your mother.
    Substituting means you can plan not to make plans since you don't know what will happen each day. But you're not tied down all the time, so that's a plus.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I'm pleased for your mother. Nothing worse than being in a job that's making you unhappy.

    I understand where you're coming from with regard to money and writing. I'm not in a great place financially and that's making me depressed. Of course that then affects my mood and my writing. It's a vicious circle. All you can do is make the best of the time you do get when you're not substituting. I know you can do it!

    Ellie Garratt

    ReplyDelete
  3. Good luck to your mom. And to you. I know what it's like to be in that situation. It's very stressful despite giving you loads of time to write.

    ReplyDelete
  4. You're going to start subbing!?! Now you'll have something to blog about. Because every day is a new adventure, and the crazy things the kids do, and the posts write themselves.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I teach part time during the school year too, so I'm trying to get a lot of writing done now!

    ReplyDelete
  6. I substituted about 10 times several years ago. It's like going into a new job everyday where you don't know where anything is and the little ones ask so many questions. They say. "But Mrs so and so doesn't do it like that." lol

    ReplyDelete
  7. Wishing you all the best with subbing. As others said, you'll get some quality people watching in, and likely get story ideas from seeing kids interacting and getting into mischief. :-)

    ReplyDelete

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.