The Mind of a Struggling Writer

 Christmas 2020 is winding down and with it, we are only a few days away from ending one of the worst years in recent memory. So much loss and uncertainty that we have endured in the last 9 months, I am praying that 2021 kicks off with some good news.  I spent the last 2 days celebrating the holiday with my family. Visiting with my inlaws and at my sister's house did my soul good. Family gatherings have changed, and I truly missed my family's big Thanksgiving and Christmas gatherings. I just hope we will be able to come together next year and carry on our cherished traditions. Last Friday, I thought 2020 was going to give me and my friends one last gut punch. My friend Tony had a cardiac arrest that night, and we had to deal with the possibility that our friend could be braindead. The neurologist told his wife not to get her hopes up as he lay in a coma hooked up to machines. But God had other plans. Amber administered CPR to him as she waited for the paramedics to arrive. Tho...

 I started National Novel Writing Month strong this year. I hit my word count every day in the first week. But as always, work and life have started to slow me down. I'm still working on writing every day, though I am falling behind on my word count. As of right now, I will be finished with this draft beginning of December. Plus I still have a couple works in progress that I need to work on.  On the upside, I did self-publish one of my first NANO books, " Paradise of the Locusts " this month. You can find it on most ebook providers. It should be available on Amazon Kindle soon. After doing research and getting feedback from people in my writing groups, I think self-publication is the way to go for now. While I still have the dream of traditional publication, I also know that it can be difficult. Finding an agent to take up my work can be trying, as it is also subject to their own personal taste. But, if I self-publish and get some traction, who knows what will happen. The...

 So next week starts National Novel Writing Month (or NANOWRIMO or NANO). The idea for those who may not know is that you give yourself the challenge of writing a 50k word novel in a month. The official start date is Nov 1st with the goal of being done by the end of the month. I have done it for a couple of years now, and it is a great way to get the first draft of a novel written. If nothing else, it builds great writing habits.  Some people set some pretty lofty goals, like trying to write a novel in one day. To me, that just seems like unneeded stress and chances of having 50k words of garbage to have to go back and heavily edit. Given, you won't have a polished novel doing NANO, but at least a serviceable first draft.  I have a few that I have done, that I am in the process of going back and editing. I hate editing though. I always feel like I should be working on the next project. But, it is part of the process and editing and revision are important to make a book th...

 No surprise, Covid sucks again! Since last March I have been doing distance learning with my students. The spring was not a colossal failure, but it was not what it could have been. So many students simply checked out once we were not going back to in-person school. This year has started off better, at least in that there is some accountability for students as far as grades go. But it isn't the same. I miss standing in front of the classroom, a room full of eager minds ready to learn. And while I will say the kids are becoming more engaged and interacting, there are still kids that barely turn in any work. Right now looking at my grades, half my kids have turned in assignments. Some of these will be the kids whose parents will be complaining about low grades, no matter what grace I give them. There are also the kids that turn in blank assignments consistently, and probably will continue to do so until we go back in person. Maybe when they get their report cards it will be a realit...

 After several years away, I have decided to dust off the old blog again. A lot has changed in the last few years since my last post and I feel like I have neglected this blog for quite a while. With being busy with my career in education and trying to get some writing projects done in between I have not been utilizing this great tool as well as I should.   My new goal is going to try to post at least once a week, which I think is a doable goal. I'll be posting previews of writing projects I'm working on, links to things that I have published, either by myself or through a publisher (fingers crossed!). I'll also give my insights on my writing process, what I'm working on. I'll also be sharing some travel stories, though they will be more of past events for the time being (thanks Covid!). Sometimes, it may just be a recap of my week, who knows. So, speaking of current projects I am currently working on a short horror story collection that I started back in July. I wa...