Focus – Concentration – Favorite Chapter

August 14, 2025 / ccsocialcreative / Leave a comment

Hey guys, welcome back! I hope this week has been going well for you, it certainly has for me! I’ve done more marathon nights of writing and in between these focused binges, I got to see the Connecticut team win the first game of the Little League World Series! (Go Fairfield!) I love watching this series every year. I’m a rabid baseball fan and watching these kids brings me hope, as they show a level of sportsmanship that I wish more adults would. They are fun games and it’s great to watch them making friends with kids from all around the world. (I also love it when they show MLB players in the stands having fun and being true fans.)

Anywhoo…my concentration has been laser focused on the latest chapters of my book. I wrote so much over the last two nights alone, my eyes have become blurred, dry and bloodshot and the headache is incredible. I’m not gonna lie, a ton of caffeine has been involved in this sudden burst of productivity, but it’s been oh so worth it.

Just this morning, I finished what is possibly my most favorite chapter of the entire thing. After a few emotional days with a rather deep plot point, to have some more lighthearted things to write has been a lot of fun. I really enjoyed this part of the story. And after rereading this current chapter again to make sure I got it just right, I have to say, I’m so happy with how it turned out. I’ve been going over the first chapters of the book once again as well. By reacquainting myself with the earlier tone of the writing, I think that it’s really helped bring this third act full circle.

There is still so much work that has to be done on my manuscript. A whole lot of editing, rewrites and more. But for now, at this particular moment, I’m happy with what I’ve written. I still have a little more to go before the first draft is officially complete, but this has been a true labor of love. One that I’ve been so proud to work on. My total obsession that lives in my thoughts 24/7. I dream about these characters, this small town that I’ve invented, this couple and their journey. A part of me doesn’t want to get to the next part. A huge part of me doesn’t want to actually finish this book. It has been my escape from real life, my hideout, my haven as it were. I don’t want to say goodbye to it. In reality, I won’t have to for some time, as again, lots of work still to be done. But knowing that the end of this particular story is close is starting to weigh on me. I’m just hoping that I can give these people the ending that they truly deserve. An ending that my readers truly deserve.

And that is where I’m leaving you for today. I know this one was short and sweet, but I’ve been writing now for 8 hours straight and wanted to write this post while the good mood was still with me!

I thank you as always for being here and following along. Until next time…Cheers!

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To follow me on social, see my shops and more: linktr.ee/promosocially

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I invite you to check out the rest of the site while you’re here. You may just find a new book to read, find some of my past works as well as catch up with the posts so far. And if you’ve gotten this far in this post, I thank you so much. 😊

Procrastination – Emotions – Genre Issues

August 11, 2025 / ccsocialcreative / Leave a comment

Photo credit: ThoughtCatalog on Pixabay.

Hey guys, welcome back! It’s been a time here on my hill and just trying to get through the rest of the Summer. Actually, it’s been going pretty well! I’d personally like to thank the makers of meds for helping me get more mobile this season. (The side effects of being a bit loopy are just a bonus.)

Anywhoooo…I’ve just been through emotional hell with my book. Strange for a romcom? You betcha! The story that I’m writing does have an underlying plot line of a serious nature which is now making me rethink the genre of the book as a whole. While a good portion of it is a romantic comedy, the rest is a bit deeper. Which then begs the question, what the hell genre is this anyway?

When it comes to romance books it can be categorized in many ways. The all too generic ‘romance’, the sappy old school soap opera type book, the Hallmarkian syrupy sweet species, ‘dark romance’, you know, the ones with a whole lot of spice? There’s ’contemporary romance’, historical, fantasy aka. ‘romantasy’, the list goes on and on. Then of course there is the dreaded “women’s fiction.”

I HATE that category! Many women authors are with me on this. It makes our work sound like less than and it makes me crazy. But that’s a rant for another time. (Something to look forward to, huh?)

I believe right now, my book is headed towards the ‘contemporary romance’ genre. It kind of combines several into one and that’s how the story has been going. The other option, one I’ve been toying with, is cutting full chapters out and rewriting the entire third act. If I did that, I’d have enough material to start a whole different book, or I stick with this one and see it to the end.

The other issue here is that, I believe the story I’m telling is one that should be told. It has it’s place and like life, we deal with serious situations with humor, love and shopping. Ok that last one was just thrown in to see if you were paying attention. 😉

I will say this, the chapters recently written were very hard to write. I literally typed with tears in my eyes and had to keep stopping to wipe them because I could no longer see the screen. Yes, that is how deep this book has gotten. It was completely unexpected and if anything, by revealing this? It is proving that I am truly putting my heart and soul into this story.

With such an emotional storyline, I’ve also been having trouble getting through it. Not because I’m not happy with it, but because I know what’s coming next. I always want to get to the next scene. In my head, I’m skipping over the parts I’m writing at the moment and already writing what’s next. This has led to some procrastination issues.

I’ll be going along fine, then hit a snag. I’m talking to my screen constantly asking where I was going with this line or that paragraph. So I stop what I’m doing, pick up my phone and play word games. Sometimes to clear out my mind, sometimes to put off writing the next thing. When the tougher scenes were happening, I did this a lot. I had a lot of trouble writing them emotionally and needed a buffer. Although, the entire time I was playing these games, I was chastising myself for putting off just getting through them. After all, once they were written, I wouldn’t have to think of them again until it was time to edit. Instead, it took me much longer than usual for me to write them and as a true procrastinator in life, I hated that my old habits came to the surface.

I think the one thing that has gotten me through doing these last few chapters is the hope that the emotions of them will come through to the reader. That they will feel what I’ve poured out on the pages. That the story shows that we can survive our past and look to a much better future.

And that is where I will leave you for today. I hope some of this made sense. Because whatever your craft, sometimes we just need to get out what’s in our head before we can move forward. Whether this book stays how it is or not, at least I know that what I’ve already written will have its place somewhere…and hopefully, resonate with the ones who read it.

Thanks so much for being here today and until next time…Cheers!

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If you’d like to follow me on social, including my #booktok? You can find my links at:

linktr.ee/promosocially

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If you are looking for great deals on used books? I’m a PangoBooks ambassador. This app is a used book haven and I’ve gotten deals for like new books as low as $1.38! Click HERE to get $5 off your first purchase!

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Still looking for something to read this Summer? Be sure to check out the 2025 On the Bookshelf page here on the site! (The original on the bookshelf page as well.) This is always updated with more titles as I’m reading and you just might find your next favorite book.

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Like my site? I hope you will check out the links that are all around it for my shops that have gifts for readers and writers alike as well as my other shops. If you’d like to help support the site (aka me) a bit? You can click my Ko-Fi link HERE or by clicking on the logo to make a small donation to help me keep this site going.

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Thanks for getting this far guys! I appreciate all of you so much. See you soon! 🩷

Energy – Marathons – #Booktok vs Public Speaking

August 8, 2025 / ccsocialcreative / Leave a comment

Hey guys, welcome back! This week has gone by so fast and I’m all for it. It’s also been a busy one for me which is something that is very much against the norm. But getting to see both friends and family as well as a little league playoff game has been so worth it! Love the people I saw and they’ve given me a lot more energy just by getting me out and about.

If you are new here, I am someone who lives with both chronic illness and disabilities. I have periods of time where walking just isn’t in the cards, however, I also have waves of mobility, like the one I’m in now, where I can not only do things, but can also get things done. Just being able to take out the garbage is an accomplishment for me and it has felt great to contribute. Getting out to a local baseball game? Priceless. (Especially when I get to root for my favorite 8 year old.) Having the energy I’ve had lately has been amazing and I haven’t had it for two years. There is of course the unknown expiration date on this, so while I may pay for this tomorrow, I will be enjoying it tonight.

Because of this new found clarity, I’ve been doing major writing and editing marathons this week and while I’d like to say the writing has had some serious progress, I can’t. However, the edits have been going well and I consider that a victory, I really need to get the writing back on track. I’m in a momentous part of the book. The make or break chapters, the big surprise, all the feelings and yet, my head has not been in the game for it. Energy is great, concentration? A whole other animal.

I’m finding that even with my set writing schedule, I’m crashing just as it’s time to do the actual typing. The edits are flowing, the rereads? Awesome. The coming up with what’s next? Suddenly I’m hitting a wall and crashing hard. Tonight I’m hoping to break that by starting a few hours earlier than I normally do and actually getting something done. What a nice change that will be.

I’m convinced that I totally jinxed myself with the first chapters of this book. If you’ve been following along, you know that I was on a sick roll with them. Writing full chapters, sometimes two a night. Dozens of pages flowing from my fingers at a time and bringing forth the story I’ve been waiting to tell. And then…ugh. It started becoming harder to get to the next level. To bring the characters to their pinnacle moments. I know where I want to take them, but getting them there has been the issue. I know it will happen. I know it will connect. I also know that my brain has decided to fail me on where to go next. I’m hoping that this newfound energy will kick its ass into gear and get me going, so I can head towards the finish line in the best possible way!

While I’ve been doing all of this, I’ve also been doing a ton of reading and adding to my #booktok account. (Link will be below if you’re interested.) I love seeing so many other readers and authors out there. Bringing physical bookstores back and finding new titles to read as well as connecting with other writers and finding out that it’s ’not just me’ with certain issues has been awesome. My personal hangup on it though is that I’m not comfortable on camera. While I just posted my first pic of myself on there, I didn’t do a video. I have done a few in the past on my other accounts and for a little while had fun with it, but honestly, it’s just not my thing. I find this quite strange honestly as I am one of the few people in this world who actually enjoys public speaking.

I’ve given quite a few speeches in my time and love to feed off of the audience. I was involved with the theater once upon a time and there is nothing like getting the reaction from a live crowd. On video? You put yourself out there and hope you get a ‘like’. Not my jam at all. I like to read the crowd, see what sticks and all that. On video, I’m more than self conscious and hate it. So I stick to silly videos, trending stuff that doesn’t require showing my face and of course, plugging this site with pics. Granted, this may be why my follower count sucks, (which stabs me in my former professional social media manager heart) but alas, it is what it is. I hope to get over the ‘stage fright’ of videoness one day, but for now, I will stick to what I’ve been doing and hope to grow from there.

And that is where I will leave you for today! I hope you all are doing great out there and I thank you so much for visiting and following along. Speaking of, if you are having trouble subscribing, please let me know. I understand the subscribe button is leading folks to a login page for some. I can manually add your email if you’d like to get updates from me.

Thanks again for visiting and until next time…Cheers!

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

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Please check out the links (and graphics on the sidebar) on this site for my other shops and book suggestions. You never know what you’ll find!

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If you like what I’m doing here and would like to help support the site, (and me), you can click on my Ko-Fi link: HERE Any donation would be more than greatly appreciated. 🩷

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If you’ve made it this far, I thank you and hope you will come back again! 😉

Clueless – Resources – Writing Tired

August 6, 2025 / ccsocialcreative / Leave a comment

Hey guys! Welcome to August!! I’m honestly clueless about what to write tonight. It’s been a whirlwind few days and my mind is quite scattered…but it always is, so let’s see where this post takes us, shall we?

I’ve been reading up a storm for my cancer society fundraiser (Read Every Day Challenge). I already read a lot, but here it is the fifth of the month, as of this writing, and I’m already two and a half books in! I’ve been more in a reading mood than a writing one these past few days and have been enjoying the total escape into these books. Of course I will link to them below the post and add them to the 2025 On the Bookshelf page as well, but that’s not really the point. The point here is that a book can be a great vacation. So far this month I’ve been to Maui, an island off the coast of Rhode Island and now I’m visiting Nantucket. No airport hassles, no middle seat nightmares and no traffic to deal with. Just me and a book and I’m happy. So if you can’t get away this year, I highly recommend this as an alternative.

While this has been going on, I’ve still been trying to keep on track with my writing. I have so much to do as far as reworking scenes, edits and of course, coming up with new stuff. But by the time I’ve been getting to it lately, I’m just too damned tired to write. I have also not been eating. I don’t mean a little here and there, I mean I’ve gone a full day with no food which is not helping the tired. And yes I know, I have to deal with that, but it does happen to me from time to time and I try to get a little something in me, but again, like insomnia, it happens.

I’m finding that the scenes that I’m writing in this state have been all over the place and good for a blooper reel, if that’s a thing for authors. Plus, trying to get into my own work after deep diving into these other novels has been a little harder lately. Usually when I’m reading a book, I will get a sudden idea for something. Ironically, not related at all to what is in front of me, so no, I’m not plagiarizing anything. It’s just sometimes reading clears my head and an idea hits. The lack of sleep, the lack of food and a lot of caffeine have been fueling such strange stuff that I have been more than happy to not just edit here and there, but cut full pages completely.

I will say this though, my own book is never far from my mind. I have had the opportunity to see both family and friends over the last few days and while in conversations, my mind is playing out something that I wrote just the night before. The bonus of this, was that with the research I’ve been doing for one plot line, I remembered that someone close to me was once in the same profession as one of my characters. I was able to pepper her with question after question to get the inside track of what the life was like and it really helped me navigate the story a lot better.

Never let a resource get away!

You may be surprised to find that while you are googling for background, there may not be a reason to. That someone in your life is connected to what you have been looking up! Also, don’t be afraid to ask questions. For many, many years, I’d never asked anyone anything for fear of sounding stupid or totally out of my element. Especially in the workforce. However one day I realized that at most, someone could just simply answer ‘no’ and that would be that. Never fear the ‘no’. Just go for it. If they won’t answer, then Google it is! In this case, I was able to find out some valuable information that is really going to help a lot and I couldn’t be more grateful.

And that is where I’m going to leave you for today. As usual, I hope you got something out of this post. I know I sounded completely scattered and that’s basically how I’ve been feeling lately, but the message still rings true…never fear the no.

Until next time…Cheers!

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To follow me on social, including #booktok you can click: linktr.ee/promosocially

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If you’d like to donate to my American Cancer Society fundraiser for August, click HERE

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The latest books read, (you can click on their titles):

The Unhoneymooners by Christna Lauren

RoomHate by Penelope Ward

The Five Star Weekend by Elin Hilderbrand

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If you are enjoying this site and would like to help support this site (and me in the process), you can click on my Ko-Fi link either by clicking on the logo or by clicking HERE. I appreciate those who have already clicked so much. It is not taken for granted at all.

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You can shop with me either by clicking on the links here on the site or my linktree above. Lots to see from jewelry to bookmarks to shirts and blank journals and more!

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If you’ve made it this far, I thank you so much. See you all soon!!! ☺️

Good – Bad – The Tired

July 29, 2025 / ccsocialcreative / Leave a comment

Photo credit: ME! I have this sticker as well as a ton of others in my Etsy shop. (Or contact me and I’ll gladly sell off of there so they don’t get all of my money. 😬)

Hey all, welcome back! It’s a new week and in a few days, a new month. Is it just me or is the Summer flying by?! It seems like just yesterday, people were blowing up fireworks to celebrate the birth of our country. Of course around here, people are still blowing up fireworks because, well, that’s what they do. (And one day, my heart will start beating again.)

Anywhoooo, besides all the craziness of life, I have been up for nights-going-into-days on the book. The other day I worked from 2am to 1pm and pretty much collapsed to sleep. Well, sleep for about an hour. I’m having some trouble with that particular area. Sleep? What’s that? Between the heat and the story going through my head, sleep is a foreign subject to me.

That’s ok though! Just last night as I was getting something to eat, out of nowhere, a critical plot line that I’ve been having issues with resolved itself!! I have been having so much trouble with this part of the story, fully knowing that what I originally wrote was pure and utter crap. Even with all of the research I did on it, it still came off as made up nonsense that would never happen. Ever. I couldn’t figure out how to fix it. It’s been weeks of either obsessing about it or completely ignoring it and going on with the story. I hadn’t even thought about it in days so when it popped up last night, it was like a freaking revelation and I literally yelled out loud, “THAT’S IT!” (Thankfully no one else was home.) When I went into the old chapter, I did a complete rewrite and lo and behold, it works! So one major hurdle is being rectified and I’m feeling so much better about where it is going now.

In the meantime, it’s been days upon days of little or no sleep and I’m starting to get to the punch drunk tired phase. Which, I have to say, keeps me somewhat entertained, as when I read what I’ve written during these times? Has me laughing as I have apparently been writing like a lunatic on acid. Kind of how I’m writing now.

The point I’m laboring to make here is, eventually, things will work themselves out in their own time. Once I stopped putting so much pressure on myself to figure out this one plot point, it came to me. It’s like life I guess. Once you stop putting pressure on yourself to do something, it’ll happen. Once we relax a bit, you’ll be surprised at what happens. So I hope that will be your takeaway from this strange zombie rambling I’m doing tonight. Relax. Let life happen and maybe the solution to the problem you’ve been having? Will come to you. If it doesn’t, well then…have some ice cream. Ice cream can make everything better. 🙂

On that note, I shall leave you for today. I hope you all have a week of great opportunities and please, STAY COOL! It’s going to be a hot one here where I am and this Summer cannot end soon enough for me. Speaking of, for those who are keeping track, Pumpkin Spice Lattes start at Starbucks last week of August, you’re welcome.

Until next time folks, thanks for following along and I hope you will check out the links below. See you soon…cheers!

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To follow me on social, find my shops and more: linktr.ee/promosocially

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I’m participating in the Read Every Day Challenge for the American Cancer Society. If you’d like to make a donation, that would be great and you can click HERE. If you are unable to, I totally get that but, you can join for free or share the page to help raise the funds. If you have read my About Me page, you will get why this is a deeply personal fundraiser for me. I’ve done it several times now, even doubling the goal here and there.

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Please be sure to check out the links on this page for reader and writer gifts and book journals (all designed by me) and if you like what I’m doing here and would like to help support the writer? Hit my Ko-Fi link HERE. If not, that’s ok too. 😉

If you’ve made it this far, I thank you and will see you in the next post!