Is there anybody out there?

Hey guys,

 

It's been years since I've been on here, but I'm still writing(and still unpublished), and now I'm curious to see if this is still a viable platform for connecting with...well...anyone.

 

I'm not saying I'll be back to blogging more than maybe once a week, but I might give it a shot if there's any interest in my ramblings(no, I'm not expecting there to be any, lol).

 

For those who might be curious, here's an update:

 

 I'm still a stay-at-home mom. We now have a house of our own, another little person running around, and two crazy dogs. I ended up regulating New Beginnings to the shoebox due to massive plot hole issues and a need to focus on my family. I actually stopped writing for a while, and then in 2017 my current ms Beast(a B&B retelling with a fae twist) exploded out of my pen over the course of eight months of frantic writing. Beast is on it's fourth revision, and I expect to be doing one more revision after this one to trim some of the word count and generally tighten things up before I start querying it. My next book, set in a different world for a totally different story, is already a fourth of the way written and has a sequel waiting in the wings.

 

There's loads more that's happened since my last post, but time isn't my friend this morning, and I'm not even sure anyone out there really cares, so I'm keeping things short and sweet for now. Maybe I'll return to this after all, you never know. Until then, I'm off to get started on the day.

 

 Later, guys.

~H. Hounshell

A quick fix is never quick...

If I ever say I just need to do a quick fix on a chapter, or even just part of a scene, feel free to laugh. 

It's never a quick fix.

I dipped back into chapter twenty to do a "quick fix" two weeks ago. I'm just now making some headway, but I'm also still thoroughly mired in a scene barely two pages long. It's a tricky bit I've considered cutting out, but I need some version of it for the character's romantic relationship. 

My problem is I've over complicated it and I need to simplify things if I'm going to make it work properly. But how to manage that is beyond me at the moment, so I just keep plugging away at it in the hope that something will smack me upside the head and all the pieces will drop into place.

Hey, it could happen!

In the meantime, I need to get ready for my permit test this week. I finally wrangled some time to study the darned booklet and the time has come to see if any of it sunk in.The online pre-tests went well, so here's hoping!

Catch you later, guys. 

Hopefully with good news, one way or another. 



~Sun and Moon

Fading days...

Summer is almost over, and fall(my favorite time of year to write and be creative in general) will be here soon. This past week I've been getting woken up by the school bus picking up the kids living in the apartment downstairs. The nights are chillier too(finally!), and soon I'll have to seriously try to convince my toddler to wear shoes.

Right. Somehow I doubt that'll go well.

As always, the changing seasons have sparked the need to clean up the apartment and reorganize stuff. I'm trying to tidy up all my loose ends, like old art projects, edit notes, and a fanfiction I wrote, finished, and never completely posted. The catch is trying to track down the finished bits when I have a laptop, two desktops, and several usb drives to check. I've narrowed it down to my laptop(which makes sense seeing as I do most of my writing on the darned thing), so hopefully that will get taken care of today.

Provided I don't spend a chunk of my time fishing a toddler out of the cat's water fountain like I did earlier this week. Nothing like washing soggy food bits and catnip of your wiggly baby, who happens to think splashing all the cat's water out of her fountain is great fun and must be repeated....yeah. It's blocked off properly at the moment, but with an ever more mobile toddler on the loose, it's only a matter of time.


 For now, there's a lull in the usual craziness and I'm off to take advantage of the quiet...or rescue the cat. Again.

It's a good thing kids are cute, right?



~Sun and Moon

Not a cloud in sight....almost

Man, it's been a while...

*blows dust off her keyboard*

I'd love to say that I spent my whole time away from my blog working hard on my book, but I'd be lying. Since honesty is a good thing(or at least that's what I hear...), I'll just come clean and admit I haven't so much as looked at my notes since May.


You see, life has been a whirlwind since that last blog post. I spent most of May trying to get my apartment ready for my daughter's arrival and was shocked when I actually went into labor on time(my family never does...ever). Since I had expected to have at least another week to get ready, this set off a frantic scramble for the things we hadn't had a chance to get.

You know, like diapers. I hear they're kind of important and stuff.

 Anyway, what I'm trying to say is I flaked big time and I'm just now getting to where I can once more think about my story. As I now have this tiny person to take care of, I don't know how quickly I'll get thru the last of my edits. Blog posts won't be back to a regular schedule for a while, and I'll be lucky to wrangle an hour from my day for book work. Is it possible? Oh yes. Will I manage it every day? Heck no, and not because I don't want to, but rather it'll be because some things are more important.

Like my daughter.

So while I will strive to get my edits finished and return to regular blogging, it's going to be some time before it'll be an everyday thing. My poor laptop is covered in dust and tufts of cat hair(thanks, Nikki), and my notes have been brushed off my coffee table so many times that I need to sort them back into some kind of order before I get started. 

It all boils down to the simple fact that iife is messy, especially when you add a tiny human to the mix. I'll be working to rearrange what I can to get back into my groove, but until I manage that you can find me in my comfy, beaten up chair...rocking my daughter to sleep.


Later, guys :)

 

"Babies Don’t Keep"

Mother, O Mother, come shake out your cloth,
Empty the dustpan, poison the moth,
Hang out the washing, make up the bed,
Sew on a button and butter the bread.

Where is the mother whose house is so shocking?
She’s up in the nursery, blissfully rocking.

Oh, I’ve grown as shiftless as Little Boy Blue,
Lullabye, rockabye, lullabye loo.
Dishes are waiting and bills are past due
Pat-a-cake, darling, and peek, peekaboo

The shopping’s not done and there’s nothing for stew
And out in the yard there’s a hullabaloo
But I’m playing Kanga and this is my Roo
Look! Aren’t his eyes the most wonderful hue?
Lullabye, rockaby lullabye loo.

The cleaning and scrubbing can wait till tomorrow
But children grow up as I’ve learned to my sorrow.
So quiet down cobwebs; Dust go to sleep!
I’m rocking my baby and babies don’t keep.

~ By Ruth Hulburt Hamilton

~Sun and Moon

Blog hiatus in progress

Well, I have about a month and a half before my rainbow baby is earthside and I'm not sure how often I'll be on here between now and then. I know I'll very likely be MIA for several months afterwards while we get into the swing of things. 

In the meantime I'm splitting my time between art, writing, crafting, and cleaning. I have a couple blog drafts I may tweak and turn into posts if I can find the time and energy, but I can't be sure as I'm just that darned busy. Even though I'm very much unemployed these days, there still isn't enough hours in the day for everything.

It sucks, but what can you do?

While I'm likely to vanish without warning in the next couple weeks or months, if you want to get a hold of me a comment, note, email, or text are all good ways to do that. I will say I'll check in on messages and such even if I don't post anything. The week of my daughter's birth is very iffy(I'll have a lot to learn and on very little sleep, no doubt), but barring that....I will be poking around every couple days or so.

I have managed to finish edit notes for chapter seventeen and I'm picking away at the notes for eighteen as my energy levels and time itself permits. I have about four notebook pages full of notes for this one, so it'll probably take me a good bit. As long as I don't screw it up. If I do, I'll probably still be working on it by the time I go into labor. 

Yeah, let's hope it doesn't come to that.

Well, that's all I have to say for today. I'm working on cleaning up the last disaster area of my apartment and it won't improve any further with me typing away at the computer.

Later, guys.




~Sun and Moon

Surprise, surprise

Life is forever dropping new things in my lap long before I'm ready for them. My book was one(I was twelve and in no way good enough....it was a train wreck), my son was another.

The latest curve ball was a long time coming according to my husband, but a unpleasant surprise to me.

I am currently jobless.

Yup, this past week I was let go from my job of over six years thanks to a lack of compassion stemming from the loss of my little boy. I still haven't decided if I'm going to try to find a new job, or take it as a spiny gift and move on. The sudden change has charged my husband and I see him becoming more in a way he never has as he shoulders the responsibility this new turn of events has left him with.

In the meantime I've been forging ahead with art, jewelry, and writing. My book is in no way ready yet, but only time and work will change that. So while we wait to find out if our efforts to get my husband a better job will bear fruit, I've been hard at work doing what I can. I may vanish from the blog for a while, but I will still be writing.

I've found a couple of new beta readers and a person willing to heavily critique the romance element between several characters(don't worry, no heavy duty love triangles here). In between cleaning, organizing, and artwork I'll be hammering out those pesky edit notes and figuring a way to map out the main plot along with the subplots without turning it all into a tangled mess. 

I've been peeking ahead to books two and three in this trilogy and I can't wait to work with the characters there, but I need to lay the ground work now, and I need to do it right. So if I'm a little quiet over the next couple months, know that I'm not abandoning my blog or my writing, but rather I'm working hard on finally moving my story into the place I want it to be. Until I get it there, the blog is going to have to wait. I may be out of a job, but I still have a lot of work to do.

Wish me luck. :)


~Sun and Moon 

Not MIA...not really...

Sorry about the lack of posting, but I've been neck deep in life messes and edit notes. It's kind of tiring, which is why I haven't been posting.

I'll explain more later, I swear.

Right now though I'm just going to announce that I finally finished chapter sixteen edits. I changed several things, but I think I did okay. Only time(also known as beta readers) will tell. Until then, I'm off to start in on chapter seventeen and get some well deserved rest. The weather might be nicer, but I'm still feeling the need to hibernate.

Later, guys :)



~Sun and Moon

Balance is everything

No, seriously....it is.

And right now, its been a little hard to come by for yours truely. You see, the last few years of working on my book had a kind of forced balance. I decided it would be so annd to hell with anyone who objected.

Yeah....that's not balance and after changing so thoroughly over the past year, I can't ignore the mess it causes. Ignoring the important stuff in life so one can finished hammering out a new chapter or finish a round of edits is not good for anybody. Its bad. Like eating a whole block of chocolate because you can(yes, I speak from uncomfortable experience....it was a BIG mistake I won't make again), it'll come back to bite you worse then you know.

So when I found myself agonizing over starting my writting back up hard core, and keeping the awesome changes in my life from an untimely death, I turned to my husband. He has agreed to be my balance(a.k.a. peel me away from the computer when needed) as long as I will listen when he speaks up(another bad habit I don't miss was me ignoring his requests to take a break and spend some time with him instead of my writing). Thus far its gone well, in part because I haven't been doing much editing thanks to messy winter weather and the paniced shopping it generates at my place of employment, but I'm sure that'll change soon.

Today, infact.

Its a mess outside, but we're nice in cozy here in the apartment with plenty of soft blankets and a cat who is all too eager to warm your lap. Provided you're prepared to pet her constantly while you work(which is why its a good thing she's my husband's cat and prefers his lap to mine). Have you ever tried to type with a cat on your lap? It takes too much skill for me thanks. 

Um, so about balance(which also happens to be a theme in my book....go figure), I guess you could say I'm definetly working on it. Will I manage to do better? For sure. Will it be easy? Probably not, but nothing in life worth having is ever easy, right?.

Right.

Okay, back to work. :)



~Sun and Moon