#amwriting

Personal Space, Automatic Writing and The Plot Thickens

/ ccsocialcreative / Leave a comment
Photo credit: mariya_m at Pixabay.

Hey all, welcome back! It’s been quite a week and while I meant to post on Friday, life happens. But here we are and happy to see you all!

A few things in case you are new here…first, welcome to the site. Hope you like your visit and that you’ll check out the ‘new posts’ tab to catch up to see what has been going on around here. Also, I don’t like to add links to the posts themselves, so be sure to check the bottom of the posts to find any relevant links. I was never one for inundating a post with external links. For me, they take away from what the post is about and is distracting, again this is just me. (If that makes any sense.) You can also find my social, shops and more on the right hand side of the page (or under the post if you scroll on the phone). Hope you will check them out while you’re here and be sure to hit the subscribe bar to the right or the pop up at the bottom to add your email so you can get updates on new posts. 🙂

Now that’s out of the way, let’s get to it!

If you know me here, you know I read a lot. Like a lot. One of the things I have taken to doing is carrying a book with me a la Rory Gilmore. For those who may not know the reference, in the old show Gilmore Girls, the daughter Rory famously carried a book with her wherever she went, including her junior dance. While I’m not that over the top, (and way past my junior dance years), I do carry a book to all of my medical appointments. Today included. I knew I’d have a lot of wait time, so instead of playing on the phone, I pulled out my book. It’s always a stress reliever. Let’s face it, going to the doctor or going for medical tests can be stressful. Why not ease that stress by diving into a good story?

I’m not a kindle or ereader person, I’m strictly a paperback girl, well, woman. While I was at one of the medical buildings in town today, I went to a nice, quiet spot in their cafe that was closed at the time, made myself comfy and got back into the story. And then…

Please picture the scene: an open area with tables and chairs, where the staff and visitors there can eat, grab coffee, maybe have a little meeting. But the cafe closes right after lunch, yet they keep the seats available for anyone who would like to use them until the building closes. I found a nice spot near the windows where I’d be able to see when my ride showed up, let out a big contented sigh and thought about how nice it was to just be by myself with my book.

Just me and my book.

A gentleman walked in and out of all the empty tables in the place, he decides to sit one away from me. At first I thought he was just going to sit there. However, he seemed a little high strung, not being able to sit still and getting up and down and scraping his chair along the floor each time. Again, this was a medical building, all kinds of tests and procedures are done there so I can sympathize if the guy was nervous about something. Then a friend of his shows up. Turns out, they were just meeting there to catch up on some things. They were loud, they kept jumping up and walking around and very loud. In my head I’m thinking, ’I was there first and just keeping to myself.’ The old me? I would have sat there, too embarrassed to get up and end up reading the same sentence over and over again not being able to concentrate. Now? I grabbed my book and the rest of my stuff, got up and as I walked past them, thanked them for ruining a nice moment of my day.

I will never understand why people do such things. The speakerphone calls in the store so we can all hear them. (Heard all about someone’s hemorrhoid surgery in cvs one time.), coming up right next to you when standing in line (I miss the 6ft rule from the covid days) or sitting right next to a person when there are a hundred empty seats in a movie theater or a cafe. I wasn’t bothering anyone, just sitting and reading a rather moving scene in my book and honestly, trying not to tear up as I did so because I was in public and yet, I was the one who moved. I’m thinking of carrying an air horn with me so the next time this happens? I just hit it and make the others move along. Just something to think about.

Anywhoo, enough of that. Sorry for the vent but this therapy, sorry, blog, helps me work stuff out before I get to my writing sessions! 😬

Speaking of, I’ve finally gotten off the second edits of the chapters I’ve written so far. I’m now 32 chapters in and still going strong. As I said in my last post, some of these chapters are short and may end up being combined with others, so don’t let the number fool you just yet.

However, I hit the scenes I’ve been dying to get to for about two weeks. I knew they were coming up, knew the general way they were going to go and yet even I was surprised with how they’ve been writing themselves!

If you’ve ever heard the term ‘automatic writing’, when someone puts pen to paper (or fingers on a keyboard) and just lets the writing go where it will? That is how I tend to write. I know how I want to start the scene, I know the locations and then I just go. Last night in particular, I came up with something I wasn’t expecting and it fit so perfectly into the whole dynamic of the story that it invaded my dreams while I slept and has been on a constant replay in my head all day. I have no idea where this part of the story came from but I am so glad it did. It really helped me tie in a character that has been giving me a lot of trouble incorporating into the storyline.

I also came up with a plot twist that I’ve been trying to figure out and it has also been a problem trying to work into the whole book. All of a sudden it came to me and I was able to introduce the beginning of it last night and now it’s a matter of weaving into the rest of the story and seeing how it will work itself out. This, my friends, is the fun part for me.

After all of the research I’ve been doing for this and all of the build up to get to this point, now is when it gets interesting. I can’t wait to see how this story will develop further and where this automatic writing will take me tonight. Of course all this being said, when I go into what I wrote last night to edit and refresh my memory to get me back into it so I can write the next chapter, it may turn out to be pure crap. It’s happened before it will happen again. I get excited that the story flowed effortlessly and then when I reread it the next night, I wonder if I was on to something to come up with such nonsense. What I love though are the days when I go back in and find that I’ve actually written something that is worth reading. Worth the time it took. Worth the pain of typing as my fingers fly across my beloved keyboard. (For those new here, I have a strange attachment to my keyboard.)

Sometimes the blocks disappear. Sometimes the words come when you least expect it. And sometimes you have to hold your tone when someone invades your personal space. But you know what it can add up to? A new blog post! Ha!

And that is where I will leave you for today. Thanks so much for joining me along for this crazy ride and again, I’m going to throw some links below for you to check out. 

Until next time my friends…

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Click on my linktree to follow me on social, shop my linktree shop and find gifts designed by me for readers and writers alike: linktr.ee/promosocially 

(you’ll find my keyboard linked in the shop as well)

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Current book: On Second Thought by Kristan Higgins (click on the title to see)

If you don’t know her books, you can start out with If You Only Knew and Good Luck With That. While not technically a series, these books take place in the same town and involve characters from all of them. I found this out by accident and love when I discover that a new find is related to this town. (They are also based in an area near where I grew up so makes them that much more special to me.) Again, click on the titles to check them out.

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If you’ve made it this far, I thank you and will see you next time. 🙂

Storyline, Re-Editing and Chapter Length Issues

/ ccsocialcreative / Leave a comment
Photo credit: StockSnap on Pixabay

Hey guys, welcome back! Hope everyone is doing well out there. So happy to see this blog growing a larger audience. I’m hoping that means that what I talk about here is resonating with you all and that means so much.

Let’s get to it shall we?

Ok so, yesterday I finished re-editing the first 28 chapters of the current book that I’m working on. Boy was I happy I did it! First of all, I read the first 10 with fresh eyes as it’s been a while since I revisited what I had written. I’ll admit, (and yes I’m sure there is extreme bias here) but I am loving this story. I am currently in my romcom era in reading, so to be able to surprise myself with writing my first one and making myself laugh in places, has been a nice surprise. It is the first time I’m attempting this genre and I think I may have a new calling. Do I sound a bit too overconfident? Absolutely! I have never talked this way about anything I’ve ever written before and I’ll admit, a lot of it is out of pure fear. I think because I have a lot riding on this book. After all, I’ve been talking about it here since the beginning! If I don’t do well with it, I’ll have more than egg on my face (and with egg prices being what they are, that’s a pretty expensive embarrassment). I think the fact that I’m writing characters from my heart is helping. There’s a little reality in many of the character traits of the group involved and let’s face it, don’t we all write what we know? I mean, isn’t that rule #1?!

So maybe it’s not the book itself I’m excited about, but rather the characters because I’ve been spending so much time with them. Annnnd I really need to get out of the house more. 

While doing the edits, I have discovered a few other things…number one is that I found that I wrote something twice but in two very different ways.

I’ve discussed being a ‘pantser’ writer, (one who writes by the seat of their pants letting the story flow, rather than using an outline), this can cause overlapping scenes sometimes. I wrote a very meaningful scene early on and then later in the book, did the same thing but in a more lighthearted way. So I had to rewrite and cut a whole bunch out there and choose which I liked better. I won’t give it away, but I think how I resolved it fit perfectly with the tone of the character development.

The second thing I’ve found is that some of the chapters seem very short. I’ve found this to be a fast read and that can be both good and bad. So the question now becomes, do I combine chapters to make them longer or not?

Right now, I personally like the way each chapter ends. I’d almost rather leave them the length they are as they have a natural progression to their ending. Small chapters are not necessarily bad, of course. Ironically, as I discovered this in my own work, I started reading a new book which has, and I am not joking here, chapters that are literally 3 pages long. So here I am re-editing and discovering that many of my own chapter’s are 11 pages in length and I’m thinking, well, maybe they should be longer. But if this already published book that is in my hands has MANY chapters of maybe 3 pages, why am I so worried? Every day it’s something new to think about.

After doing these edits, I’m finally back into the writing stage. This story that has been flowing out of me for months, is now finding it hard to resurface. I think I just need to get back into the routine of actually writing, although I did do a lot of REwriting during the second edit phase. However, picking the story back up is proving to be a challenge. 

Where do I want it to go now? Is the conflict enough? Will it build to something completely different? Inquiring minds want to know!

This book, while a romcom, is also one with heart. There are issues in it that are near and dear to my heart and have some edge to it as well. (No not smut, I’m not at that point, well…yet. lol) I address an issue in this that I feel needs a voice. So while it has its sweet and funny moments, there are others to remind us all that no matter what, real life can rear its ugly head and bring us back to reality while in a ‘happy bubble.’

After all, even Disney princess movies have their turmoil to overcome before the happy ending and tiaras are dolled out, right?

I’ve also been surprised at the amount of research I’m doing for this book. Now, I’m a research junkie. I love it. I’ve used that particular talent for both my own endeavors as well as helping others. Especially when it came to writing my history pieces (see menu bar above for those links). But creating authenticity with some of this storyline has had me Googling things that, well, make a lot of writing memes what they are. I also value Google Earth for helping figure out some locations and distances, etc. There is a lot more to writing a story than just writing it and I don’t think a lot of people get that. While yes, a lot can be made up, if you are using real life places or issues, the research must be done.

Anywhoo, this process has been cathartic. Both writing the book and documenting the process here. By blogging about it, it is keeping me grounded as far as keeping me on track and it also helps when I go to write the next chapter later on. As I write here, my mind either figures out my next move or suddenly discovers that I need to go back and redo something I’ve previously written. The old ‘distraction’ move as it were. Quick example, with my health issues, I have twitches in my hands. (Sucks when typing.) My neurologist gave me an exercise to stop them…when my left hand twitches badly, I do finger movements with my right hand and the twitching stops. The brain is so focused on the conscious hand movements that it lets go of my twitches. Same thing applies here. When I’m writing about writing, I get more story ideas. Crazy? Yes. Helpful? Also yes! So I thank you for letting me vent a lot of this out here, it’s been great for the process all around.

(All hail someecards)

One more thing to add to this post…I officially announce that I’ve added a TikTok for this site. Will I post every day? Hell no. I post when it moves me, just like I do with my other accounts for my jewelry and Etsy businesses. I just wanted to have something fun that I could add, connect with other readers, #booktok-ers as well as other authors. Those who get it. The link is in my linktree which I always add below my posts. 🙂

So that is where I will leave you today. I thank you as always for joining me here and I really hope you connect with what I’m writing about and if you do, I hope you’ll share this site. It would be so great to have this keep growing. (and growing)

Until next time…Cheers All! 🙂

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For my social links, shops and more: linktr.ee/promosocially

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Be sure to check out the links on the right side of the site. You’ll find my shop with fun merch for the writers and readers as well as my blank journals on Amazon…all of these are designed by me!

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For my jewelry and other business links, all can be found: linktr.ee/stuffwefind and linktr.ee/stuffwemade hope you’ll check them out!

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Follow me by email (upper right side blue button) to get notified of new posts and updates.

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If you’ve made it this far, thank you so much and I’ll see you next time! 🙂

Fast Week, Pen Names and the Dirty Dozen

/ ccsocialcreative / Leave a comment
Photo credit: Katrina_S on Pixabay

Hey all, welcome back! Man, this week FLEW!! I was about to say that it feels as if I just wrote one of these posts, but the truth is…I did! If you missed it, I posted on Tuesday and I have to say, it felt good to do a second post this week. Granted, that one was a bit more on the personal side of things and I think I just needed to get some stuff out, but still, it felt good.

Anywhooo, let’s get to this one shall we?

I have really been making a ton of progress on my new book. I am honestly having a great time with this story and it has been playing in my head like a movie both while I’m writing and when I’m doing other stuff as well. The funny thing is that I still have no idea where it’s going to take me next. I can picture the town and the people so clearly I feel as if I know them now. But as I am not an outliner and I’m still oblivious to where these good people are leading me to. And frankly? I love it.

I am known as a ‘pantser’ type of writer: one who flies by the seat of their pants. I do not outline and never have. Not even in school. I mean, sure, I learned how to do it, but my stories come to me fresh each day and that is how I type. I just run with it. Much like I do here but I swear my stories are more organized than the rambling posts I publish here each week. The only time I write something down is when I have an idea that may tie in things later, come up with a scenario for a character, or to make sure that I go back to something I said earlier for continuity’s sake. But going into a story? I have no clue about how it will all weave together until it is done.

What I have been doing, which is a major help this time around, is editing every night. I edit the chapter I wrote the night before as I reread it which also gears me up to write the new chapter ahead. I am proud to say that I’ve already passed the ‘dirty dozen’ mark and am now about to start chapter 15! This book is seriously flying. I’ve even designed the cover already and I’m so happy with that as well. It looks just the way I’m envisioning the Main Street of the town in my head.

I think my biggest issue, besides studying the best way to publish this one, is my name. You see, my own name is long. Very long. As much as I would like to use it, (as a sort of juvenile way to show those from my past that hey, I’m a published writer so take that) it is not a professional sounding author name. So as I am prone to do, I took a little time to do some research and found that the name I would like to use is available! When creating the book cover, I created several versions of it with different pen names and of course, my actual name. I gotta say, the one I had picked out originally really does look the best. However, as someone who lives inside a guilty conscience, I don’t want to hurt my parents at all. I know I am an adult, hell, I’m in my mid-50’s! (Ugh) But yes, I still have that child-like guilt that rears its ugly head at the worst times and this is one of them. (But the pen name looks SO good!)

The book I’m currently reading is all about authors and publishers. Although fiction, it really dives deep into the whole world I’m now basing my life in and I’m learning a ton. At one point the main character talks about how her book may offend her family, etc. While my book isn’t offensive, my using a different name may be. I caught a line in the book that has resonated with me: “You cannot authentically share your soul when you are always looking over your shoulder.” Where the hell has this quote been all my life?

(Btw, the quote has been attributed to controversial author Philip Roth but it still rings true.)

So after reading this, as well as a lot of other sage advice this book has been handling me, I’m leaning more towards the pen name…and then a big conversation with my parents. I will of course also need to promote my book like crazy to everyone making sure they all know that it really was ME who wrote it. Ironically, going back to my current read, the author’s name is their pen name and they give the explanation on the back cover. Another bit of inspiration? Absolutely. So maybe the decision has already been made and this ramble of mine is my own way of talking myself into it.

Either way, the cover looks great. The story is going well and I sincerely hope I can get this done in time to be a late Summer Read this year. Is that soon? Hell yes! I’m putting pressure on MYSELF here! However, it seems besides a pen name I have also decided to do this one as a self-published book and therefore I can get it out there sooner rather than later and then query agents for my other books. Wow, I just talked myself into something HUGE here. Will it happen? Who knows, but this is part of the ‘fun’ of documenting my writing journey for you all. Sharing the back and forth mental torture I endure on a daily basis.

And that’s where I’ll leave you for today. I wrote quite a long post a few days ago and there is no need for a second one. Friday posting is tradition and I hope that someone out there has gotten something out of this!

Thanks for sticking with me, letting me ramble on and until next time…Cheers!

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Want to know when I post something new? Hit the ‘follow’ button up and to the right and you can catch up on my latest posts by hitting the ‘new post’ tab in the menu bar at the top of the page.

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You can find my social and shop links for the site: linktr.ee/promosocially

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What book was I talking about? The Page Turner by Viola Shipman

(note: it is now on sale and the author’s newest release.)

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That’s it for the links for today. Other shops and deals can be found on the right hand side of this site as well as my On the Bookshelf page. Thanks for following!!

Identity Crisis, Thank You and Quick Back Story

/ ccsocialcreative
Photo credit: Vilkasss on Pixabay.

Hey all, welcome back! I will start off with super quick but VERY sincere thank yous all around to those of you who made my numbers jump! I was more than surprised to see how many came to visit here over the past few days and I guess the saying is true, ‘if you build it, they will come.’ Or at least, I hope that’s the reason. Anyway, thank you all and I hope this means I am on the right track here. 🙂

I do have two quick apologies: The first, I am having all kinds of trouble accessing my comments and have no idea why. I cannot see them nor can I respond to them (just like twitter so go figure) so please do not think that I am not interacting with or ignoring anyone. The other is for the url debacle going on. Yes, you can officially use my ccsocialcreative.com domain but there are name server issues on godaddy’s side and that is also being dealt with as well. Alrighty, now that I feel better, let’s do this…

I have never had the issue that many writers, actors or directors have had where they say something like, “I hope to be the next Bette Davis/Paul Haggis/Jane Austen.” Nope. I just wanted my work to stand on its own and make a name for myself. When I was much, much younger and doing more journalistic pieces, I studied the different writings of sports and news columnists to true crime authors, with the mindset that I could take a little from column ‘a’ and a little from column ‘b’ and develop my own style that wouldn’t fit into any specific box. I didn’t want my readers to pick up something thinking, ‘yep, a chick wrote this’ especially since my main focus through high school was to become an investigative reporter. I wanted to create a neutral voice so that the subject matter was the main focus of the piece.

I had started writing for school newspapers young, including the first elementary class in our school to ever create their own paper! As I got older, I took political science classes and history extra credit courses and learned not only of the time periods and of course the facts, etc, but I also really paid attention to how these stories were written. Yes, I still did want to write the next great novel, but I was young, foolish and by high school, went off the rails quite a bit as far as the whole academic thing. I began being the angry news writer. My columns were directed at fighting the system that just suspended me again for cutting class or whatever my offense was that particular week. Good to know that my fallback position was a nice ‘steady’ theater dream that made those around me wince at the slight mention of it. (Although, not my parents, go figure!)

It was during those earlier years that I discovered my love for non-fiction. I wanted facts over fake. I wanted depth vs naivety and I wanted nothing, NOTHING to do with Shakespeare. I was somehow able to avoid the Bard somehow in both my writing journey and my theater work. As badly as I wanted to become a writer, I was never into the classics. I never read Jane Austen, but I will admit that I saw a version of Sense and Sensibility once! Damn my crush on Hugh Grant!

I had always loved the show Kiss Me Kate, we even did in high school. Once, when a PBS showing of Shakespeare’s Taming of the Shrew was on (for which the musical is based), my mother thought I’d like it, sat me down and I got through maybe three minutes then asked if I was being punished for something.

Later, I had lost an opportunity to go to American University as a journalism major and fell back on something steady, like theater.  I was able to avoid Sir William’s work yet again and would opt not for monologues from say Romeo and Juliet but more from Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? I stopped writing for a number of years, a couple of decades really, then reemerged as a journalist with my own site. I coverered area events, wrote about local history and proudly earned my press badge, not working for anyone else but rather, myself. I then turned that into a job working for a tech company. With the creative freedom I had there, I loved writing for them. Unfortunately life took the turn that brought me here.

As time went by, I started to look back and see that I did still have the dream that I had as a kid. Write a book. But as we all know, the older we get, the less time there is to do things such as acting on our dreams. I say this, be careful what you wish for.

Quick backstory for the new folks…If you read my ‘about me page’ (see link in the top menu bar), you’ll understand my story a little more. My health took a header in 2016. I had to quit my job and the last 8 1/2 years (as of this writing) have been a roller coaster ever since. I went from being highly social and out all the time with friends to staying in bed 24/7. With the exception of a few months here and there when I actually felt good and got out and could walk the dogs and even run a little and play some wiffle ball, it would always follow with brutal setbacks. Each one gets worse and I end up back in my room. For almost a year now, that’s pretty much where I’ve stayed. However, having said that, from this bed, I’ve been able to create two businesses (nothing big and successful yet, but I keep trying!) and more importantly to me…I’ve finally had the time to write!

But write what? 

I’ve always been creative for which I am truly grateful. But decades of reading only histories, autobiographies and the like left me little room for storytelling. Just for the hell of it, I was searching on amazon to see if anything would strike a chord with me in the, dare I say, fiction section?! They say never judge a book by its cover and I didn’t. However the title intrigued me and for the hell of it, I hit the ol’ buy it now button. When it arrived, I couldn’t put it down. What was stranger still was that as I was reading it, a story of my own emerged.

That first draft took forever to finish. I was so sick in between chapters, it would literally be months before I could even look at it again. I’d have to go back and reread what I had already written to refamiliarize myself with the story, characters and setting. I had many setbacks during that draft and only finished the entire thing in early Fall of 2024. It…took…years. But my goal of finishing it was achieved and I literally cried when I printed the entire thing out to edit and that pile of paper was staring back at me.

As I also used this time in bed, the last two years in particular, to read dozens and dozens of books, more ideas have come about. Between current waves of illness and editing frustration, I’ve now also written half of a sequel and then put that down (writer’s block issue) and began to write the first 7 chapters of the book I’m currently working on. One that I am really excited about! This led me to yesterday…

After doing an Amazon search earlier for some new titles to throw into my save for later for the big book sale this week, I was thinking about how to search for what I wanted my next reads to be. This got me thinking about the future. How will folks search for my own book? I don’t want to be known as the ‘next’ anyone. My stories can run into different genres and each one has its own arc. However, I don’t think I’d mind seeing, say for a romance, “if you like Emily Henry then you’d like…” or something along those lines. Look, I’m not trying to be someone else. Just want to be a (successful) storyteller in my own right and be proud to see my name among those whose books I’m loving these days.

It’s funny,  thinking about it now, I don’t think that subject has come up in any of the author events that I’ve been to over the last few years. The question of pen names has, or the usual, “what gets you inspired?” But never, ‘do you mind being compared to anyone else?’ Maybe it’s out of fear that the author in question will then leap off the dais lunging directly at the person asking, then proceeding to stab said person with the end of the microphone? The world may never know. 

What I do know is this…I’m currently a 54 year old thinking she is still 35 and that’s enough of an identity crisis for me. I don’t need to prematurely worry about whether or not someone will call me the ‘next’ anyone. If anything, I should just be flattered if they read my work and think I’m as good as the established authors who are already killing it out there! They are the ones who have paved the way for myself and others and I thank them all for their work…including Shakespeare.

And that folks, is where I will leave you for today. Thanks for joining me here again and as usual, any relevant links will be below. I’m still trying to find the sweet spot for post times so I appreciate your checking back to see I’ve done so!

Until next time…Cheers!

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The book that reignited my writing journey: The Bookshop of Yesterdays by Amy Meyerson (now on sale!)

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Amazon’s Big Book Sale runs from April 23rd-28th. It’s an annual sale so don’t miss out on this years deals!

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My links above and in the right side bar can be clicked to find more great deals as well as my shops. You can also find my social links for this site and more at: linktr.ee/promosocially

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New site updates coming soon and I just thank you for having made it this far. See you soon!

Moments in Time, Why Trolls Why and Chapters vs. Painkillers

/ ccsocialcreative
Photo credit: StockSnap on Pixabay.

Hey guys, welcome back! I only kind of slacked off this week with the posting having posted here just once on Monday, I did however make up for it by creating some extra freebies for my Facebook followers…so in one sentence I apologized AND gave a not so subtle hint that you should go and follow my site on FB as well. How’s THAT for an intro?! Btw, you can either click either the sidebar link or the link I’ll post below to access it. Just sayin’. 🙂

Anywhoo, here we are again and I’d like to officially start this post by letting you know that I have happily upgraded this site! So no more intrusive ads that I haven’t had control over on here and the new url is: ccsocialcreative.com

So happy that it is finally done and I’d like to give a special thank you shout-out to the complete stranger who posted a 50% off coupon code for WordPress that I used on this endeavor. (Something else I’ll add to the bottom of this post.) Truthfully, I’ve had the domain for a few years, but I didn’t want to commit it to a designated site until I had committed to it myself. Now that I’ve been doing that, the timing seems to be perfect and lo and behold, the new phase of this site has begun. Where is it going? I have no idea but I just hope you will be along for the ride! Now let’s get to the ‘actual’ post, shall we?

I don’t know about you, but I love a good routine. I think in my case it’s more because I have memory issues and by sticking to a routine, I can make sure I do every step. It’s something my neurologist thankfully told me is a good idea and doesn’t make me all kinds of OCD. Well, in this case anyway. I do have my moments. There are some designated times in my day that I stick to, mental checklist and all. My favorite time is when I’m making my dinner. I use the time for my nightly tea to steep and my food to cook to get in some book time. The fact that I sing ‘book time’ to myself is completely irrelevant and yet, still felt the need to share it here.

As big of a coffee lover I am, I had discovered this tea that now, I can’t have a night without. It is my personal ritual. My moment in time every day that I truly look forward to. I can escape into my reading while I steep to death my happy cup of tea. It is the break from the day that is all mine. No social media, no looking at notifications, no phone even near me! I leave it in the other room so I won’t be tempted to look at it. It’s 25 minutes of escapism that not only gets me back involved with characters I didn’t come up with, but also starts to get the creative juices flowing for my upcoming writing session later on. It both clears my head and entertains me all at the same time. And no matter what kind of day I’ve had up until then, it can shift my mood considerably. Tonight for example, I went into my ‘book time’ angry about something that I had kept turning over in my head. But once the whole routine had begun, once I finished reading one more chapter and once I had finished my cup of tea…my mood was lifted and I was able to get to work. Moments in time for ourselves are so important. Don’t miss out on yours.

So what gets this seemingly neurotic individual angry? Well, lots of things. But the last two days, I did what you are not supposed to do…I let an internet troll get to me. 

I hate reading comments on social posts. There will always be that one moron that has to stir things up and for some inane reason, I am not built to let it go. Whether I comment or not, just the fact that I read this person’s response, a total stranger mind you, can make me furious. So you can imagine when, in this instance, the anger hit when the comment was made directly to me! A complete stranger decided to jump on something I had said and was so incredibly rude I couldn’t believe it. All I did was comment on a video, of a kid mind you, a simple line like ‘way to go!’. Oh the horror!

The way this individual had ‘talked’ to me, all condescending and nasty? Had me seething. I have quite a temper when it’s released and frankly, it’s been a while since I’ve let someone have it. Therapeutically, it honestly would have helped since we went back and forth a couple of times. But alas, the internet. I had decided that since these were public comments, I’d kill him with kindness. I laid it on thick. I called him out in the nicest way possible and then closed with a simple, ‘have a nice day,’ when in my head I was dropping f-bombs left and right. Now, I may jinx this, but I’m happy to say, while his other two responses happened almost immediately, after my last comment, I have not heard back from him. The happy ending though? I received a notification just before I started typing this post that someone had apologized for him and told me that I was so nice for encouraging the boy in the video the way I did and that I shouldn’t let that guy get to me. It is very good to know that there are nice people out there who still stick up for others and who still take the time to make someone feel good. So to that person, I say thank you for restoring my faith in humanity.

As usual, this post has taken a turn I wasn’t expecting. When it comes to this blog, I tend to start out with an idea in mind and then just let my fingers type what they will. Ok, so I also write my characters in much the same way. I will, however, post here with a clear mind. My books? Well…

I’ve been pushing myself a little too hard over the last week which isn’t good with my medical stuff. It takes nothing for a setback to happen but when I do feel good, I like to use that to my advantage. To get things done I normally can’t do. I always pay the price for it the next day though which happened twice this week resulting in the need for the ‘good’ painkillers to make an appearance. 

Now cut to me getting work done on the new book. Staring at the screen as I type a million miles a minute thinking it’s all working. Until I reread it the next day, horrified as I do. Let’s just say, my imagination on these pills is scary. Not to mention, I had two pages of ONE sentence! As determined as I am to sit each night and churn out a new chapter, my biggest mistakes happen when I think I can ‘outrun’ the meds’ effects and try to write as much as I can before they take hold. But once I’m on a roll, I can’t stop. So half of the chapter will make perfect sense to the story. It will flow naturally and the writing is where it needs to be. Then, as I am rereading it, I can tell the exact word where the meds kick in. After that, it’s a free-for-all. Forget not even keeping with the story, but inventing new characters I had no intention of creating. The location suddenly jumps to another country or the story takes a turn that as I’m reading it, I suddenly burst out loud saying, “what the hell was that?!” 

I will admit that I find it comical to the point that I end up laughing at what I’m like on these things. (And so grateful no one else has actually witnessed such behavior.) While the other half of me then realizes, shit. I now have to go back and rewrite everything from say, page 5 and I’ve just doubled my workload. Ok, yes, I’m still laughing while I’m doing it because wow, my imagination is something ‘special’. But let this be a lesson for the kiddies out there…don’t write impaired. Or do and then EDIT like your life depends on it!

And that is where I will leave you for today. If you’ve made it this far, as always I thank you and I’m sure you are wondering if I wrote this particular post on the meds. I’d love to say that yes, I had taken them. But nope. Just a double ramble session because I only posted one other time this week. So thanks for reading my rambles!

Ohhhh before I forget! The BIG annual Amazon book sale is coming up! I’ll put the info below for you. 🙂

As usual, I will post all relevant links below and I welcome you to the ‘new’ ccsocialcreative.com! Thanks for being here and here’s to what the next chapter holds.

Cheers guys…until next time!

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Monday’s post can be found here

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All social links, as well as the tea I was talking about above can be found in my linktree and linktree shop.

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The Amazon Annual Book sale runs from April 23-28th but you can find some early deals now. It covers books, some devices and more so don’t miss out and be sure to stock up for your summer reading TBR now! You can click my link here for deals and to help this site when you shop with it!

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The WordPress 50% off coupon code I used to help me upgrade this site is: SPECKYBOY50

I have no affiliation with the person or company who posted this, I also do not know when it expires. I found it doing a google search and gave it a shot and just thought I’d share it here.

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If you’ve made it this far, I thank you! 🙂