Author: ccsocialcreative

New Keyboard, Sequels and Learning from Others

/ ccsocialcreative
Image credit: lil_foot_ on Pixabay

Hey folks, how’s your week going? I have to say, mine is actually going ok! Spring training starts this week, we won the last quarter of the Super Bowl pool and I just got a brand new keyboard that has my fingers dancing over the keys.

I am new to the whole ‘hot swappable’ keyboard thing. Had never heard about it until recently, (I’m old, give me a break) but I actually heard about it first on ASMR videos! I love to watch/listen to people typing for relaxation and motivation for my writing and this one girl showcases a different keyboard in every video. She changes out her keys all the time and I was intrigued by this. To customize a main keyboard sounded intriguing and I was already looking for a new one as my other one was putting too much strain on my hands. So after a lot of searching, I found one that seemed cool and hey, it went on sale on Amazon for half off so, SOLD! I also picked out a cute set of keycaps on another site, but received the keyboard today and I can’t stop typing on it. What a different experience it is from my old one. Sometimes manufacturers don’t realize that some of us have smaller hands. So to find a keyboard that accommodates my hands is wonderful.

Ok, enough rambling about my new toy. (Although I’m really happy with it, can you tell?) I am happy to say that my writer’s block has cleared! In fact, I have been writing so much that I am now on my fourth chapter of the sequel to my first book. Yeah, yeah, I know I still need to edit the first one, but my heart is in the writing. The editing is like eating salads. You know you should do it, but you have to force yourself to sit and get it done. However, I got a spark of inspiration for the new story and wanted to get it down while I’m finally in writing mode.

I mentioned in the last post that I’ve been reading a series and I’d like to say, I’ve been learning a lot from it. I never thought I would read one let alone write one. But the further I go into the current series, the more I’m learning about how to shape the story around the first book. How to develop the characters more and to be sure to include details from the previous book for someone who may not have read the first one without boring the person who has already read it.

Case in point, I mentioned in the earlier post that I accidentally started with book three of the series. I had picked it up at a library book sale and only saw the author’s name. I like her work so I grabbed it. I was disappointed the story had ended because I really enjoyed it and then while looking for other books by her, only then did I realize I had read a book that was the third book in the series. So I’ve been getting the other books and enjoying them and while I’m invested in the story, I am learning a whole lot as well. There is a character in the book who is a writer. In the story he gives advice to another writer and I have been taking notes on it. There have been great tips throughout the books that I wasn’t expecting, considering it’s about a family on Nantucket! I stated in the last post to always look at acknowledgments at the end of a book for ideas on agents and editors. In this book, I’ve been learning more about the self-publishing process. 

I have taken a seminar on it at our library as one of the local author series they have. We are lucky to have quite a few authors in our city and one gave a class of sorts on how to get your book published. I have gone back and forth on the whole “to self-publish or not to self-publish” debate and never know where I will end up. So to find some great information in a fictional series took me by surprise. Not to mention the fact that I suddenly realized, the book I am reading, as well as the two others so far, look to be self published!

I noticed that she did not put acknowledgements at the end of these, (not necessarily indicative of a self-published book) but this time instead of looking to the back for information, I went to the front. I noticed it says, “created with Vellum.” I didn’t know what that was, so I looked it up and found it to be software for Macs for authors. You can write, format and create your book and then publish to print and/or ebook format. It does cost money and it is right now only for Macs but I didn’t even know this software existed! So ok, more research. I’ve found good things said about this particular software, many authors swear by it and it looks to be a good investment. Alright so I’m now saving up for my own copy of Vellum, although you can use it for free until you are ready to publish.

Now a tidbit that came from the series that I thought could be good advice, is that many new authors self publish the first one and then after they see how their sales are doing, go the agent route. I have been seriously considering this. I think mostly because I am very proud of my first book and I really want it out there. It has been a bucket list item for me for so long and I’d like to be able to say that yes, I do have a published book out in the world! So that is another point in the Vellum column. It helps get your manuscript ready for publication.

Then of course is the ISBN issue. This I learned about in the class and honestly, I was so happy this came up. I had never even considered this issue at all! From what I understand (and I will certainly correct myself if I have this mixed up at all):  If you self publish with say, Amazon KDP, they will assign an ISBN number for free for you; however, you cannot then sell your book anywhere else. Meaning, say you want to have your local bookstore carry your book but you did it by KDP with the free number,  the bookstore can’t sell it. For example, I have designed several blank journals and have them published through KDP with the free numbers. I can’t have my local bookstore order and sell these in their shop. But if I have my own ISBN number, I can sell the books on Amazon, Barnes and Noble and even my local small shop. What I am still very iffy on is getting it published at another publishing house and how to get it listed on Amazon and the rest. But as a research junkie, I will figure it out and hopefully share it here.

Please also note that I was told by a bookshop owner that you must check a box that indicates returns can be done. This way if a shop orders say two dozen copies but only sells 10, they can return the unsold books to the publisher. However, if the box isn’t checked, the shop is stuck with them until they sell. I’ll post a link to an ISBN provider below that has more information on this and much more.

It’s a crazy world this writing business! It is not, despite what younger YouTubers think, where you can just fire off some pages, upload it and get tens of thousands of dollars in the first month! And I cannot stress this enough, it is also NOT about doing it with ChatGBT. I am someone who absolutely hates the idea of real writers getting outshined by people using AI to generate books. It is an insult to the writing community that you can even do this. So no, I will never be one of those people who uses fake programs to come up with story ideas and then publish and start selling them in a week. My first book took YEARS to finish. Yes, some of that was because of health issues, some was because of writer’s block and some was just the struggle with the process. But those who claim “writing a book is as easy as putting in a few ideas and having a program do the rest then watching the money roll in?” Lazy and stupid in my opinion. There, I said it. Let true writers be writers. My first full draft took an incredible amount of work and when I printed it all out and I saw my ‘small forest’ of paper for the first time, I was in awe that I had done it. That I had put my heart and soul into all of those pages. I don’t think you get that same sense of pride from an AI generated manuscript. But hey, that’s just me.

And that’s a subject for another day.

Anyway, my point is this. You never know where you might find the info you need. For me, learning about a writing program I didn’t know existed came from the front page of a book that I’d normally ignore. It came from a character in a book spouting real information on how to get started with a first novel. It has come from the acknowledgments in the back of a book I really enjoyed. Taking that information and then doing the research has been eye opening and as I always vow to learn something new every single day, this whole process has been like one giant life lesson that I am forever grateful for.

And on that note, I shall end this week’s post. I’ll be sure to throw some links below  on things mentioned in this post for you to check out if you’d like. I do hope you are getting something out of this and as I share my process and my own lessons. I am forever grateful for your hanging with me and reading this and hey, thanks for the likes last week! It has been a long time coming with that post and I was glad to see it got some reach. Hopefully the more consistent I get posting, the more we can grow together. I have been a writer for many years, but as a book author? There is so much to learn! So here I am sharing it with you both hoping you’ll get something out of it as well as a little online writing therapy for myself. 🙂

Until the next time, have an awesome Valentine’s Day and here’s to pitchers and catchers reporting this week!! Cheers all!! 

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I am still participating in the American Cancer Society’s Read Every Day in February fundraiser. If you would like to donate (no amount too small and every dollar helps!): Please Click Here

My new keyboard: Womier WK60 60% Keyboard Wireless, Mechanical Gaming Keyboard Hot Swappable Gasket, RGB Keryboard for Bluetooth/2.4GHz/USB-C, MOA PBT Keycaps, Pre-lubed POM Switches (I got it in pink but there are other color choices as well and again, you can customize the keys to your liking.)

Vellum Software for creating and publishing books.

Information on ISBN numbers and other publishing information at Bowker A great thing about this site is that you can buy either one number or a package of numbers to save you money. So if you are writing a series, plan on writing more than one book, or want to get them now for the future, you can get a good rate. (I am not an affiliate of this site, just love a good deal.)

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Please note: I am an Amazon affiiliate and any purchase made through one of my Amazon links sends a small commission my way. Other links are not commission based (for now) but I will always let you know when a link is an affiliate link.

A New Year, Writer’s Block and a Small Forest

/ ccsocialcreative
Photo Credit: jt.thararat

Hey all! Well, it’s been a minute. Actually, it’s been a year! (Ok, not exactly a whole year, but we did change years!!) I hope everyone had a great holiday season, January and so forth. I had made a resolution to write more on the blog this year and I have so far, failed miserably. But here I am, back at it and hope to keep up with it as much as possible.

I have been dealing with some crazy life stuff which has led to a strange case of writer’s block. Why strange? Because I haven’t been able to come up with a post for here but have managed to start several stories that are now sitting in my docs as unfinished pieces. I get inspired by something I’m reading and then start typing away only to stop and not pick it up again. I have thought of many things to write for here and yet, actually sitting down to type them out has been a no-go. Ever get this way? I believe it is all part of my ADD since I can’t concentrate on anything for more than a minute these days. Except for reading. I just get lost in my books. But life? A whole other story.

Speaking of reading, I’m still going through books like they grew on trees. (Too soon?) I continue to add to my TBR lists as fast as I am reading the pile that sits next to me. I had decided to keep the Winter/holiday theme for a while longer to keep the spirit going and had saved a bunch of holiday books for January…my most hated month of all.

Let’s talk about that for a moment shall we? Why is it that we go from the most colorful time of the year, September thru New Year’s Eve (ironically, also my favorite time of the year) with all of the decorations, colorful lights and leaves and then start the new year with dull, gray January? I am pushing to have people leave their lights up throughout the month to take away the blah. I mean, there is no law that says that holiday lights HAVE to be taken down at the rolling of the calendar year, right? So I say, leave them up! We do! We keep our lights up pretty much all year long. We just switch them up for the seasons…and yes, that includes baseball season as well. We just want to bring some life into the nights and remind folks that it is ok to be colorful. 🙂

Annnnnyway, now that it is February, it is still cold and snowy, but I’m ok with that. I’m a cold weather girl and I’m at my most comfiest when wearing hoodies and boots. Valentine’s Day is next week and I’ve just been getting my shops ready for the shoppers…or rather…adding stuff to my shops hoping for shoppers. When you deal with jewelry and gifty-type stuff, your idea of “holiday” is all about making sure you have customers. Now that we are a little over a week out, I get to relax a little on it and not push so hard for sales. I have been coming up with new ideas to create for one of the shops, hoping to have some more crafty/artistic items listed this year but again, ADD and Amazon don’t play well together and looking up supplies has led to some funky searches, mostly new books to buy.

Speaking of books, I went to my library’s recent book sale and made out great! I found a few by authors I had started reading in the last year and fell in love with this one book set in Nantucket. I read it super fast and wanted more. Then I found out it was book 3 of a series! I have mentioned before that I am not a series person. I like one and done and move on to the next types of books.( Although, admittedly, I have been loving the Laurie Gilmore Dream Harbor series.) This one as well has been changing my mind and I’ve just started book 1 on my way to going through all 9 with a smile on my face. What is nice about these particular books is that the first one I read, read independently. Had I not looked it up, I never would have realized it was part of a series. 

I have also just finished a few others based in Michigan and now find myself watching YouTube videos on the areas mentioned, looking for the places that the stories are based around and making bucket lists of places I want to go to when I get the chance. I want to look for Petosky stones along the shores of Lake Michigan, see the Tunnel of Trees, hit the Cherry Festival, go to the Goodhart General Store and see the mammoth ice caves formed by the lake itself. I’ve even found myself looking at real estate listings there ‘just in case’ and that is really saying something for this die hard New Englander! 

I have been on a roll with the reading and this month I am also doing another Read Every Day Challenge fundraiser for the American Cancer Society. I have done two previous ones and love doing this. I have talked about going through my own cancer situation and so this one is a personal one for me. Plus, I’m already reading every day so why not put it to good use!

As for my own book, I am in editing hell. I like to write, not edit. But I know that this first official draft needs work before I can find an agent and every day I look at this small forest of paper and get mad at it. It seems to stare at me, letting me know I need to do this but my inner denial angel keeps thinking it will somehow get done on its own and it will just magically get done. In the meantime, it looks like a rainbow threw up on the pages with all of the post-its, notes and flags I have on the pages color coded of course to let me know how much needs to get done once I’m done with the read through.

As of this writing, I have read 6 1/2 books so far this year and yet when it comes to my own, as much as I think it is pretty good (if I do say so myself) my critical self is stopping me from picking it up and getting past chapter 7 of editing. Ridiculous? You betcha! It will get done. I’ve set an internal deadline for when I want it completed and ready to be sent out. But I am one of the many procrastinators out there that works better under pressure. Not one paper in school was written early…but they were turned in on time regardless! So why is this any different? Just because this first book could potentially change my life? Ok, sure. There’s that. And I think that’s the problem. I am worried about the reception it will get. Will it be accepted? Denied? Ridiculed? Will an agent like it? Will I end up self publishing because I wanted it out there like yesterday and ready for Summer reading people or as this year’s holiday gift of the season?

I will say this, and frankly, I suggest this to other writers out there looking to break into getting something published…I read every single acknowledgement at the end of a book. Especially the authors I truly can’t get enough of. Why? Because if my book is going to hold up in a similar genre, then I want to know where these books were published. Who their agents, editors, assistants are. I have found great information this way. I am a research junkie and the more I look at the ends of books, the more I look up. Are their publishers taking submissions right now? Are their agents available for inquiries? Are they indie or large houses? Inquiring minds want to know!

I recently saw another author talk about this and she said the same thing. This is how she found her current agent. By innocently looking at who the author thanked at the end of their novel. You never know where your spark of inspiration is going to come from, so be sure to look at author’s ‘thank yous’, their websites, their social media posts.you may just find what you are looking for whether it be a new agent or a little tidbit about how they came up with their story. You’d be surprised at how much you learn and no classes needed! Hell, it’s even free information!

I will leave it there. This post has been months in the making and I never meant to be away for so long. I still have so many plans for this site including a more organized bookshelf page. I have read so many books since the last time I was here and still need to add them to the page for you to check out. But I’d like to do a bit of an overhaul or at least break up the “On the Bookshelf’ section into years instead of throwing them all up on one long page.

In the meantime, thanks for still being here. Hope you’ll stick with me and who knows what will come next! Happy 2025 all. Let this be a good one!! 🙂

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If you’d like to donate to my Read Every Day in February Challenge fundraiser for the American Cancer Society: Click Here and Thank You!! 

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Books read so far:

Bright Lights, Big Christmas – Mary Kay Andrews

A Wish for Winter – Viola Shipman

The Secret of Snow – Viola Shipman

The Wishing Bridge – Viola Shipman

Big Sexy Love – Kirsty Greenwood (No, it’s not porn. Get your head out of the gutter)

Nantucket Inn – Pamela Kelley (book one of the Beach Plum Cove series)

Nantucket White Christmas – Pamela Kelly (book three of the Beach Plum Cove series)

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Hope you will follow my page on Facebook! I post free phone wallpaper designed by me, (no AI) to download each season as a thank you for following. 🙂

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If you’d like to shop with me, I deal with vintage and estate jewelry, click the ebay tab: linktr.ee/stuffwefind

And also have my creative shops on etsy (hopefully not for long there) as well as Redbubble, Zazzle and Teepublic. The etsy shop has items designed and created by me the others are designs and print on demand shops with tons and tons of items to choose from. You can find all links here: linktr.ee/stuffwemade

Both linktrees as well as my personal one all link to each other. So no matter where you start, you’ll find ALL of my links!

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Happy Halloween!

/ ccsocialcreative

Well hello there fellow celebrants of this the spookiest day of the year! This will be a short and sweet post as today there is much to be done and candy to be eaten! (You do know that calories don’t count on holidays, right?) 😏

If you are someone like myself who enjoys a ghost story or two, a local legend or two and perhaps a bit of history thrown in, I invite you to check out my Stamford History page. It was a tradition for a few years for me to write about our local history but in a strange and odd way to get folks around these parts more interested in our city so we could stop tearing it down. I would often start researching as early as May to find the stories of the year I wanted to write about and would publish at midnight on the dot on Halloween.

While I don’t do the Halloween deadline anymore, I am still researching more stories of the more twisted kind to compile into a new post and a book I have always wanted to put together. A lofty goal I do hope will happen one day.

But for today, I do hope you will check out my previous writings and find something strange and bizarre for this Halloween holiday 2024.

Happy Halloween!! 👻🎃👻

Book Life and No Money

/ ccsocialcreative

I never thought I’d be ‘that person’. The one who can’t wait to get into my book time of the day. The one who has the story she’s reading (or even read months ago) still going through her head non-stop. And I sure as hell never thought I’d be that person who reads fiction!

I have been a book snob for many a decade now. I mentioned something in my last post about how I wouldn’t read anything fictional due to a ptsd thing from my school days. I’m not a listen to authority type of gal and if you tell me to do something, 9 times out of 10, I’ll do the opposite. So having to read certain books because a teacher told me so, always fiction in those days, I wouldn’t. Absolutely stupid? You betcha! But there you go. But out of it came my love of non-fiction. Searching for the truth.

True crime, biographies and books about cults became my go-to’s but history, especially local and American history and yes, I will fully admit, anything about haunting and ghosts were my weaknesses. However, as much as I loved it, I was still never a huge reader. Maybe a book a year for a while if that. I had better things to do and it was really only in the last 10-15 years or so things have changed.

Of course when I was doing research for an article, I’d hunker down and dive in, but even then, it was mostly looking up articles, sections of books and all kinds of research materials. It wasn’t like I’d sit and read an entire book on something just to find the one passage I was looking for.

Sure I got inspired by a lot of the stories I’ve read, (see on the bookshelf Woman Rising about a woman who escaped her father’s cult as an example), but I was ‘above’ reading fake stuff. Made up stories, you know, like the ones I write and submit to literary journals or the novel I just completed. Those kinds of things. 🙂

The last 8 years since my medical condition changed, my habits as far as reading and writing have as well. Once I was browsing Amazon and spotted some book deals and a title popped out that looked kind of fun The Bookshop of Yesterdays. As someone who always wanted to own a shop like that, I thought, hell, I’ll give it a try. If I don’t like it, I won’t finish it. And thus gentle readers, a book lover was born.

It was that book that inspired me to finally sit and write my own novel. It was something I had always wanted to do, the story popped into my head while I was reading and well, now I had the time being in bed and all. So if you think artists can’t inspire other artists, you are mistaken. In fact, I just happened to write an article on that very subject!

Anywhoo…you must understand also here that I am broke. Tough to admit but extremely true. So here I was, a budding book lover with no money for books! While I do run two micro-businesses, one an estate and vintage jewelry eBay based thing and another shop(s) where I design bookmarks, stickers, cards, etc, (blank journals too) they are wildly unsuccessful. I get sales here and there, the jewelry more so, but hey, those pesky bills right? So if I had a couple of extra bucks here and there, I’d grab another book or two.

It wasn’t until last year when I was at a dr appointment, I happened to look at the desk when I was checking in and the girl had a copy of Verity by Colleen Hoover next to her. I asked her about it, she was loving it and while I was waiting for the doctor, I ordered one for myself. Never a fast reader in my life, partially due to mild dyslexia, I actually read the book in one night! Then I was talking to a friend of mine about it and she said, “wait here” and proceeded to lend me two Colleen Hoover books . Again, not one to go with the pack, if I hear something is ‘trending’ I run in the other direction. But I was hooked.

Another thing about me is, I am completely OCD about the books I read. First off, I have to own them. I can’t check them out of the library. I am not an ebook girl. I have many on my kindle app, one, yes I’ve read several times because it is excellent and I have many freebies I’ve downloaded, but I have trouble reading for a long time on the iPad and like the feel of a book. The biggest rule for myself is that it must be a paperback! I absolutely hate hardcovers. I have some trouble holding them but they are just big, heavy and bulky and takes away from my enjoyment of them. I have a few from book signings that I treasure, but I have been known to buy a paperback version of them for reading purposes. (Yes, I am that bad.)

So ok, I’m now on the Hoover trail, right? Well, I got through four of her books, each read in one night and I got hungry for more. But I wanted to branch out. I started looking more and more on Amazon in the book deals sections and when something would strike me, I’d throw it in my save for later.

When the Read Every Day fundraiser for the American Cancer Society hit last October, it really got me in the habit of reading, well, even just a little every day. Unfortunately I had lost momentum durning the holidays but when the January blahs hit, I knew I had to pick it back up. After all, January is so gray and bleak, what else is there to do but binge watch, eat and sleep, right? I started trading screen time for book time and was getting more and more into it.

My mom had major surgery then and my routines had changed immensely during this time. My doggie and I had become an our own entity and I’d start to read while my dinner was cooking every night. Then I’d find, I didn’t want to stop once dinner was cooked and would pick the book up again. Next thing you know, I’m reading a few hours every night, which led to the next fundraiser in May and now I’m averaging about a book a week!

On my facebook page for this site, I post about the books I read. Books I still can’t believe I love but can’t get enough of. My old non-fiction snob of self is now all about Emily Henry and Kristan Higgins escapism and I live for each and every one. But again, how does someone with no money afford to get this amazing stack pile of paperback trophies?

I did get lucky over the summer with my jewelry business and would put aside like $5 here and there towards my obsession. But when sales came to a halt in September, that money of course had other priorities (please let the holidays change that trend).

i belong to a number of cashback apps and the rewards for a few of them can be gift cards. So I started hoarding my points and cashing in the gift cards (and the cash) to put towards my beloved books. Another thing I do, which is a test of my patience, is wait until the sales hit. I am constantly checking my Amazon cart for the beloved “messages about your cart” deals to see what prices have decreased. I also look for the book deals themselves, sometimes they do “buy 2 get 1 free” or have coupons on them, etc. Today’s deals, are a good place to start as well. Combine all that with say, Prime Days and like today, I got two books that I had bought during the October days, with a gift card and a coupon and only paid $3!

So while it looks like I’m spending hundreds of dollars on my books, in reality I am not. I am very frugal about how I buy my books and some I’ve actually had sitting next to me for a year or two, it just wasn’t the right time to read them. Or, I will snag them while they are on sale, but I have a TBR list ahead of them to read. So when I post, it just looks like I’ve recently bought them. But if you budget it right, work the deals and the gift cards, you can easily compile a nice little library like the one I have this past year. Plus, your Book Mail days will feel even better because you’ve earned them!

I’ll throw some links for you at the end of this for the cashback apps if you are interested in checking them out. Hey, with the holidays coming, every dollar counts, right? (Btw, you can play games on one for points as well, don’t even need to buy anything!) But getting you to sign up for stuff isn’t the point of this post. The point is that sometimes the things we do for ourselves can be the most important things of all. These past months personally have been tough, but to be able to escape into something else, to get away mentally when I couldn’t physically? I wouldn’t change that for the world.

I’d also like to add that another great way of affording your next read is by checking out thrift and library shops. Our local library system has their own bookstores filled with volumes that have been donated and you can get some amazing books at highly discounted prices while supporting the library. So don’t ever count that out as well!

This may be my own thing, you may have yours. But I’m just here to tell you that somehow there can be a way to make it work.Even if it is something simple like buying a book. 🙂

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Thanks for reading and whenever you need a little inspiration for your next read, you can always check out my On the Bookshelf page here on the site! I have lots of different genres on there and will be updating as much as I can. 🙂

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Cashback apps to check out, use my codes for extra sign-up bonuses:

Fetch Rewards – this is not only for shopping and such, but I play games thought this as well and earn lots of points that way. This way, no money laid out and more books coming in!

TopCashback

Rakuten

Coinout App (no referral link there, check the App Store sorry)

And always be sure to look up Amazon Book Deals!

What I Did On My Summer Vacation (a life update)

/ ccsocialcreative

When thinking about this post, I could have easily gone with a myriad of titles, but I decided to use one that hasn’t graced a page since elementary school. I don’t get technical “vacations” anymore working for myself, and I’m not really a Summer person, but nevertheless, here we are!

This year has been a bit strange and the fact that it isn’t over yet has me both happy and not happy all at once. The ‘ber’ months are my favorite time of the year and some years it seems to take much longer to get to September than others. This was one of those years. But that aside, this Summer, I did hit two goals that I was pretty proud of.

To say the Summer started off horribly is an understatement. The last days of May, we lost our dog Kiwi. He was my boy and I am, (and probably never will be) not over it. Even though he was our second senior rescue, it was still unexpected and he will be my boy forever. I tell you this, not to bring you down or to dissuade you from continuing to read any further, but you must understand the mindset I was in. I was a mess.

I was already dealing with some health issues of my own, a relapse was starting to occur of my previous illnesses, (see first post for context) and was having a hard time. When the little guy suddenly got sick, it exasperated my condition and it has been a slide since. Walking is not really an option these days and as someone who has a history of depression, I needed an escape or end up diving further down the abyss. So escape it was!

The beginning of May found me taking part in my second “Read Every Day’ fundraiser for the American Cancer Society. I had done one in October of ’23 and it was a great success! I doubled the inital donation goal and had hoped to do it again. While I didn’t quite reach it this time, the fundraisers really reignited my love of reading.

For years, I prided myself on only reading non fiction, history in particular, my genre of choice. Being someone with authority issues, the last real time I read fiction books was back in my school days when I was forced to for the purposes of grades. I am one who tries to go against what I am told to do or do things in my own time. Call it ptsd of school days, but even in my 50’s, this is why I can’t join a book club…I don’t want anyone else dictating what I read.

About two years ago, a book title caught my eye on Amazon and decided to order it. Set in a bookshop, it had a little mystery and great characters and it became an instant favorite and also sparked a new genre love for me, books taking place in bookshops! (Because why not, right?) After I read that one, I would occasionally sprinkle in a fiction read in between my normal local history and Doris Kearns Goodwin volumes.

When the opportunity came around to take place in the first fundraiser last October, I added a new book to my stack. The month of reading a little something every day got me to read a little more. And then it tapered a bit with the holidays and life stuff. I was able to get one or two more books read at the beginning of the year, but again, 2024 showed it’s ugly side early and reading really wasn’t on my to-do list. Enter May.

The next fundraiser event was about to start and I went to Amazon and filled up my cart with new titles to sink my teeth into. I started to read just a little every day, thus the title of the event, and by the last week of the month, I had about 3/4 of a book done. I was never a fast reader and for this month, I wanted to at least honor the tone of the event. The month had brought around some life things that made it a little hard to concentrate on the pages in front of me, but I was true to the event and was proud of myself. Then came the end of the month and my world was turned upside down.

I started to realize that the only time my mind wouldn’t wander to Kiwi (and the only time I would stop crying) was while I had my nose buried in a book. I started reading all the time. I was also adding to my Amazon cart’s save for later after looking up books I thought would make great summertime reads, or by authors I had only just discovered. I decided to make a goal, I would read 7 books before September 1st.

I know there are many who could do that easily, but I’ve never been a fast reader. I am also mildly dyslexic, something I was finally diagnosed with only a few years back. But there was something about these books that had me focused and even staying up all night to finish.

So there it was, a goal set. Well, one goal set.

I had something else in mind for this Summer and having the time while laid up, I decided this would be the time to complete it. I started something a few years back and it was a project I was passionate about…a novel. But not just any novel. A novel I was writing!

Only a handful of people knew about this and I had given out the first few chapters to them to guage their opinions on just after I first began. While it was something I had always wanted to do and had planned on doing my whole life, it became something that was getting harder to finish, especially with my health the way it is.However, I refused to let it be something I started and never completed. This was going to happen no matter what.

I had started to attend local author events including one by a local Stamford thriller author about how to get a book published. I was the geek in the audience who went old school with a real notebook and pen, vigorously taking notes and making sure to meet the author afterwards. When she hosted another event at the library, I made sure to reintroduce myself to her and the other author who was there for a book signing and take more notes. I have always been committed to finish but like any writing, or really, any project you do, you need the inspiration.

My story in the beginning had started to write itself. I would easily write 3 chapters in one sitting and did that for a bit. But again, that life thing kept getting in the way. Besides the outside world invading my brain, I was in pain and was put on meds that made my thought processes all fuzzy and distant. I couldn’t focus and would start to look at my laptop like the enemy. I became severly blocked and had no idea how to get the story going again.

They say artists influence other artists and musicians to other musicians, well, so do authors to other authors. I noticed that when I started to read these books, my own story was starting to pop back up in my mind. Soon, I was pulling out the laptop or my ipad with my shiny new retro style keyboard and churning out pages again. Thus, the second goal of the Summer was marked down…finish this book.

So that is how the Summer went. I’d read a book, write a chapter. Write some more, start a new book. The chapter and page numbers started to get higher while I wrote and more books on my tbr (to be read) pile, would be read. All of this while creating new designs and listing new things for my online shops and of course, watching the Yankees and 90’s era reruns. I may have been laid up, but I was still busy as hell.

When it got down to the last two weeks of August, I still had two books to read to make my goal of 7 and I was determined to do it. I had developed a habit of what is called ‘mindful reading.’ I learned this from a small business youtube creator who, while much, much younger than myself, has taught me so much. One of these lessons was taking the time every day to read for a bit to gain inspiration from others as well as tuning the mind out to the life stuff. I began reading a chapter or two while waiting for my dinner to cook every night and would find I was really making a dent in whatever book I was reading. Then, without realizing it, at least one weekend night each week became all about finishing whatever story I was on. This is pretty much how the Summer went. And lo and behold, at 10am August 31st, I finished my 7th book. (I have always been great at meeting a deadline in the last hours.) Ok, so one goal down, one to go!

Those last two books really had a grip on me. Like any good story, it took a little bit to get my head out of, well, in this case, upper Michigan as ironically both of the final books just happened to take place there. Two different authors, two different stories and each had me wanting to book a flight to see the Tunnel of Trees, take a cottage on the lake and go to the the cherry festivals there. But I digress…

I came out of the Michigan fog and started to write again. This time, my second goal was on my mind and now it was serious. In the past, I had hoped to finish and publish my novel in time to have ready for holiday presents, for Winter book clubs, for Summertime beach reading, but now, I just wanted it finished.

I would write for hours on end one night and have to take a break the next because my fingers hurt too much to continue. Then start writing again the night after. Soon, the pain didn’t matter anymore and I would just play through the pain. The twist to this was that because I think in what I call, ‘constant spirals of parallel thought’, I had two other story ideas pop into my head. So there were a couple of nights when I veered off of my original novel and began to write two other books that had nothing to do with this first one, ironic since I had always planned that the first would turn into a series of at least three. These new stories were new and oh, did I mention I’ve been working on a local history book at the same time? No? Well, yeah, that’s for another time.

Anyway, I buckled down, got back to my original story and got myself on a schedule, which is something I just try to avoid like covid. I had started reading a new book, would spend time on that. Eat. Watch a few shows, then at 4am, the writing would commence. One thing about keeping reverse hours than the rest of the world, (up all night, sleep during the day, dinner at midnight) is that I have none of the normal distractions of those with 9-5 lives. I’d write for about 4-5 hours at a time and soon, I could see the end in sight.

Then, last week, after having started this several years ago and after almost 6 straight hours of writing without breaks, I FINISHED!

Now, here is the funny thing about finishing such an involved project. I thought once I hit that last word, that final sentence, that ending chapter, a ticker tape parade would commence like it did in 2009 (last time the Yankees won the World Series). But you know what? It didn’t. It was after 10am. I had typed continuously for 6 hours and my eyes were killing me from staring at the screen for so long. In a nutshell, I wanted to just go to sleep.

The next hard part has of course now begun, the editing. The self criticism. The changing of character names and plot points. And that’s ok! What is so damned important to me here is that I finished my first book. That first draft is everything I have always wanted to do and more and damn it, I did it. (I REALLY DID!)

So to the person who coined the phrase, be careful what you wish for? I have to thank you. While I had always wished for time to write, I indeed got it, but at the cost to my health. However, I didn’t want that to be my legacy. I wanted to write a book. Ok, I want to write many! But the first one is always the hardest they say and I have now completed that first one.

So, what did I do on my Summer vacation? I lived in a literary world for several months, both reading and writing. It is now 3/4 of the way through September. I have now started my third book of the month and have started editing my own manuscript. What will the next few months hold? Not sure. But I will forever know that the Summer of 2024 started off rough and ended with my accomplishing something that many do not…I wrote a book.

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For Kiwi 🙂

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To check out the books I read over the Summer as well as tons others in my personal library, head to the ‘On the Bookshelf‘ page of this site!

Click here if you’d like to make a donation to the American Cancer Society. (As a survivor myself, it is greatly appreciated.)

If you are in the Stamford, CT area and are thinking of adding a furry friend to your family, I ask you to please check out our friends at Red Leash Rescue. They work with mainly senior and hardship dogs that are always the hardest to find homes for. We got our Kiwi from them as well as our previous pal, Murphy. Both seniors and both we would take all over again if we could.