The Pros of Being a Writer

There are many reasons why I decided to become a writer; here is a list of some of them.
I'd love to know your reasons for doing what you do, too!

Photo by: Kiuko

- I get to work from home.
Writing is something that I can do and still be a stay at-home Mom and house-wife. I have to balance those roles but it's awesome to be all three.

- I make my own hours.
This is a good and bad one. Sometimes when I answer only to myself it becomes easy to take a day off, or several in a row... But, on the plus side it means I am not confined like I would be if I had to go to work at a certain time everyday. Though making work hours for myself does help me get things done. But I get to choose those work hours!

-The creative side.
Of course this is a big one. It's thrilling to see a world you thought up come alive on paper. I love being able to entertain myself and let my mind run wild and be able to say that "I'm working!" The secret is not giving up when you don't feel creative.

-Writer's make awesome friends.
Because of writing I have met inspirational and amazing  people. When you meet another writer there is an automatic connection and hours and hours of interesting and wholesome conversation can be created. Also, knowing other writers has created a support for me. They encourage me.

-It keeps my mind active.
I find that writing keeps me from going numb mentally. It keeps the gears going in my head. When I haven't done any writing or attempted to stretch myself creatively I do not think half as clearly as I should.

-Good literature.
One personal reason I want to write books is to create young adult literature that's both entertaining and thought provoking. I am not impressed by pointless and empty "fluff" in books. I will admit that every now and then I want to read something mindless and easy but, on the whole, I crave books with substance.

Tips on staying Motivated when you are writing.

1,000 Page views!

My blog has reached 1,000 page views!!! (1,004 to be precise)
Maybe this is a silly thing to celebrate, I know there are some blogs that recieve more views than that in a day. But I am celebrating because of all those 1,004 people who viewed my blog, perhaps I have, in some small way, affected some of their lives.
So, I shall now do the happy dance in my bubble of joy! (The baby is joining in too, though that might just be in response to the music I'm listening to)

Books and Babies

 I have some big news! I'm 16 weeks pregnant! (The baby is 13 weeks in this picture)
My husband and I want the gender to be a surprise so we are trying to come up with girls and boys names we like. It's a lot more difficult than I would have thought. I like names that have meaning and when you think about naming a human being it makes the responsibility a serious one. The baby is due February 8th so I am hoping to get my book Silver Blood all polished up and sent off to publishers before then.

For the past month or so I have been working with my sister in-law who is expecting a baby this December. She has a Masters in English and has been extremely helpful with editing. In fact, she's been doing most of the work. I recommend her skills! We will be finishing up soon. I had hoped this to be the last big over-haul before sending out query letters to publishers but I recently read a chapter on editing in the book "From Inspiration to Publication." put out by Writer's Institute Publications. It mentioned some things to look out for in a manuscript that I had not thought of before. So I fear I shall have to tackle my book with editing one more time.

There's a quote from a friend of mine that makes me laugh and sums up how I feel about editing:

"Writing is the fun part, editing makes you wonder what was wrong with you when you wrote it..." - Karoline Bondyra

Editing is not my favourite part of writing. However, in the past few months I've slowly enjoyed watching my story get better and better. I have learned to love thinking of new ways to improve it. I've learned that there's fun in improving, not just creating.

Is there any part of writing that you did not like but have learned to enjoy?

Writer's Market Books

Back when I first decided I wanted to be a writer all I thought about were writing books. Since then I've learned a lot about the writing world. I still think about writing books but I have also discovered that there are a lot of opportunities for new writers. One of them being magazines.
There are many magazines looking for freelancers to do articles for them. It doesn't matter if you're 12 or 20, it is very likely a magazine out there is interested in what you have to say.

 One of the best ways to find these magazines is to buy a writer's market book. If you do a search for them you'll find ones with lists and lists of topics for you to write on. I'd say it's a fundamental tool for any freelance writer. You could also do a Google Search for magazines but a writer's market book will give you more choices and over-all information than you'd be able to get in a full day of internet surfing.

You might be thinking "I don't know what to write about." Well, I thought the same thing a couple years ago but I learned something since then that has given me confidence: write about what you know.

When someone approached me about writing for her homeschooling magazine my first thought was: "But my Mom's the one who homeschooled!" Then my friend reminded me "You might not have been the one doing the homeschooling but you are on the other end, the one who was homeschooled." And since then writing for the magazine from a graduated homeschooler's perspective has given me all kinds of ideas for articles!

If you're alive than you've had life experiences, write about those. If you've had trouble with something chances are that someone else has too and would like to know how you dealt with it.

It's important to do research on the magazine before you query them with your article/short story/poem so you know what age group and what topics they publish, if they like what you show them they might even ask you for more!

One Heart - Poem

One Heart

When you held me close and we said not a word,

The pounding of one heart is what I heard.

I could not decide if it was yours or mine,

It must have been our hearts combined.

- Grace R. Pringle

True Story.

Short Story: We Did.

This is a short story I wrote on the idea of growing up and losing the innocence of childhood.

We Did

“I want to go up there.” Kate told Jimmy who was lying on his back next to her in the grass.

“You can’t,” he informed her with a sigh “you need wings and it is very cold in the sky. The clouds are mushy and wet too.”

“I’ll ask for wings and a raincoat for Christmas.” was her even reply.

“How are you going to ask for those when you have no one to ask?”

“I don’t know, but I’ll think of some way.” Kate closed her eyes and drank in the sunlight that penetrated her eyelids,

“I’ll learn to fly and you will too.”

-----~*~-----

 “Jimmy,” Kate stood in the backyard, watching him throw a ball at the fence with all his might: BAM! Catching it again when it came back to him: THUNK.

“Jimmy,” Kate repeated “why are you doing that?”

“I’m mad.” He told her and threw the ball again. BAM!

“Why are you mad Jimmy?” THUNK. Jimmy caught the ball and gripped it until his knuckles turned white.

“I’m mad because I’m sad. Everyone is gone away and no one is coming back.” BAM! THUNK.

‘What about your brother and mother?”

“They’re gone.”

“And your father?”

“He can’t come back. He would want to if he could but they put him in the ground.” BAM! THUNK.

“Why did they do that Jimmy?”

“They won’t tell me,” BAM! THUNK “they tell me I’ll understand when I’m older but I want to understand NOW.” BAM! THUNK. BAM! THUNK. Kate put her small hand on his arm.

“It’s okay, Jimmy, I don’t understand it either. I’m not going to go though, I’ll stay here.”

“I know,” Jimmy dropped the ball at his feet and his shoulders sagged “But I don’t know how long you will be here before you go too.”

-----~*~-----

“Kate,” Jimmy tilted his head back to look up at the night sky above them “do you want to visit the stars with me one day?”

“Yes, Kate nodded “one day I would.”

“Why do the stars make me sad Kate?”

“Because they remember all the things we have forgotten.”

“What have we forgotten, Kate?”

“If I knew that, the stars wouldn’t be sad.”

“Do you think we will remember one day, Kate?”

“Maybe, but I think that every time we remembered what we forgot a star falls down. So, perhaps it is a good thing we forget, if we didn’t, there would be no stars.”

“If we visit the stars I am sure there are some things we will not help but remember. Do you still want to go with me, Kate?” Kate was quiet for a long moment and then she nodded and whispered,

“I will because it is worth the risk.”

-----~*~-----

 “Jimmy,” Kate was confused “Jimmy, Why can’t we? I don’t understand.”

“I have to go, Kate, I have to go away.”

“But why, Jimmy? You said we were going to visit the stars.” Jimmy shook his head.

“They are too far away, Kate.”

“But what about learning to fly and understanding all those things we don’t know?”

“Kate, no one can learn to fly, and I understand those things now. And Kate… I don’t want you to understand them. You need to stay the way you are. I WANT you to stay the way you are.”

“And what way is that, Jimmy?”

“Innocent, Kate, believing you can fly and that you can visit the stars.”

“We CAN do those things, Jimmy!” Jimmy closed his eyes and shook his head again.

“This is why I have to go, Kate. If I stay you’ll change, I’LL change you and I don’t want to. I love you the way you are, Kate, I don’t want you to become like me.”

“What is the matter with being like you, Jimmy?”

“You would not understand, Kate.” Kate’s voice dropped to a lower note,

“Because you won’t let me, Jimmy.”

“The Jimmy you know no longer exists, Kate.” Jimmy hung his head.

 “What are we, Jimmy?”

“I don’t know, Kate.”

“I know, Jimmy. We are halves, halves of a whole. So, you see it is you who do not understand. If you did you would understand you and you would understand me and you wouldn’t go.”

“If we are halves, Kate, who split us apart?”

“We did, Jimmy. We did.”

Chinese Curry Noodles

My husband and I live only a three minute walk away from a Chinese grocery store and so have found ourselves trying all kinds of new dishes. I have had a request for this recipe so I am posting it here for you!
The recipe is one I've come up with so there aren't definite measurements.

You will need:
-Chinese style instant noodles (the Wai Wai brand)

-Shrimp (the tails removed) or pieces of chicken.
-Butter
-Garlic cloves
-Sesame or Vegetable Oil
-Soy Sauce
-Red Pepper Flakes
-Honey/Brown Sugar
-Lemon Juice
-Chicken stock
-Vegetables (I like to use onions, carrots and celery but you can choose your own)
-Curry Powder
-Salt to taste

Add whatever else you would like. Egg and water chestnuts are good Chinese ingredients.

First, fill a medium sized bowl or pot with the hottest water from your tap. Take about half a package of noodles and let sit in water until needed.

-Put some butter in a frying pan on high. Cut the garlic and add to the melted butter. Add shrimp.

At this point you can add the sesame oil,  soy sauce, red pepper flakes, honey and lemon juice. However, these are not mandatory and you may skip out on them if you like.

Cook shrimp until liquid in pan has all but disappeared. Remove from heat and put in bowl.







-Put chopped up veggies and, in pan, fry with a minimal amount of oil. Add about 2 teaspoons of honey. Fry until onions are translucent or until veggies are JUST tender. Not too much or else they become too limp.

Add shrimp back into the pan of veggies.
-Pick noodles up from out of the water and hold above the sink until drained. Add the noodles to the pan along with the chicken stock, curry and salt. I like to put a lot of curry in but decide how much you want by tasting it. (if the spices don't mix in well with the noodles add water) Fry just long enough to heat noodles. Make sure the noddles are not too dry. Half a package of noodles will make enough for about five people.

Remove from the heat and enjoy!