I thought it would be easy to find the time to write. It should have been, but even the best intentions can be thwarted by living your life.
That is what happened to me. I had plenty of time in the tiny village where I lived and started writing. My husband was at work, and I only had to amuse myself and a big ole yellow Lab. I had the time to focus on plot points and cliffhangers.
Then, we sold our old house and built a brand new one in the Sonoran desert. My life had complications like packing, moving, and unpacking. Add all the new distractions I acquired — activities, friends, and social gatherings, it left little time for Clare Thibodeaux’s world on the page.
Frankly, I turned my energies elsewhere for a spell. I have worked on and off again on another book Empty Chairs, Empty Promises. The new story is about Libby Crenshaw, a widow who goes on a mission to find purpose in her life after her husband’s death. (Spoiler alert: look for a cameo from another character you might know.) That is all I’m saying. The book is nearing completion, and I will post more when it is available.
Needless to say, I’m psyched to complete this new book and looking forward to working diligently on the next one. It feels good to be back.
The Gown by Jennifer Robson was one of my October book club reads. I was a little hesitant about reading another WWII historical fiction book. I had enjoyed the other books I’d read but wasn’t sure where this story would take me.
I wrongly assumed it would be a memoir about Queen Elizabeth II’s wedding to Prince Phillip, but found it to be a fascinating fictional story about the dressmakers and embroiderers who constructed the then-Princess Elizabeth’s gown.
Next on my reading list
The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker
This historical fiction story is set in post war England and is told through the eyes of three women. Two of them suffered the loss of loved ones during the war and struggle to make ends meet without any close family to support them financially or emotionally. Despite their different backgrounds they become friends, roommates and work closely together on the wedding gown.
The third woman’s tale begins many years after WWII. Heather is bequeathed a box from her late grandmother. Within the box are squares of tulle with delicate embroidered and beaded flowers. Heather is puzzled by the contents and the lack of any written information about the items. No one in the family has a clue what the story is behind the beautiful squares of fabric. Heather heads to England to uncover the meaning behind the keepsake.
This story of three working-class women struggling to find meaning in their lives is about friendship, sorrow and triumph. I would recommend it to anyone who loves historical fiction, women’s literature and a little romance.
If the past months have taught me anything, it’s the lesson that I shouldn’t overload myself with too much news and time on social media. So, I have limited my online presence lately, neglected all of my sites, and have limited my news to some morning programming with my first cup of coffee.
The rest of my day has been devoted to family, friends, my little doggos, reading for pleasure, and soul searching. Last year was full of excitement as my husband and I built our retirement home in the Arizona desert and stress related to a major surgery and rehab for me.
The Chaos Twins
I thought 2020 would be the year I’d get back to normal, so I find the time to write regularly and finish the book I’ve been working on. Plans don’t always pan out. Who knew we’d be facing a pandemic and that half a million people (and counting) would die around the world. It touched my family in various ways with the loss of a family friend and extended family members.
My mom is in a care center and I haven’t been able to visit her since the end of February. I call her daily, but she is aging and I worry that I might not get to hug her or kiss her cheek again.
These are the things that bother me most — not wearing a mask or being able to shop or dine as we have in the past. It’s the loss of contact with people I love.
Books have been my escape and my social life while the characters have become my friends and foes. I discovered by reading the type of stories I love, my inner voice cleared its throat and began whispering bits and pieces of dialogue and plot points. The stresses of life had dulled that voice but it’s there, faint but growing stronger.
I’ve written a couple of times about my struggles with writing over the past year. I wondered if I’d ever write again. Where had my drive from years past disappeared to? Maybe I didn’t have anything creative left inside? I questioned whether it was a new environment that had thrown me. Or current events? Who isn’t feeling off kilter with what is happening?
Some people suggest that you should write each day even if its crap. Trust me, even when I’m motivated I write pages of copy in desperate need of editing help.
I am feeling more and more that it is a combination of things that had sucked my energy out. I was exhausted by the pace of my life. My time away from social media, the blog, and writing has started to recharge my creative battery.
When too much noise surrounds you, how can you hear the voice within? You can’t–or should I say–I can’t. Some writers are very focused on making money with their writing and pour a lot of time into promotion, social media and scheduled writing. I find if I put that kind of pressure on myself, I will focus on the wrong thing for me.
The story is the goal. Connecting with readers is the goal. If I apply myself to those two items perhaps the money will follow.
Being an Indie writer and self publishing is hard; especially, when you are working with a limited budget. Each writer has to find the path which is right for them so they may continue to stoke the creative fire within themselves.
For me, I needed a vacation. I needed to sit by the pool, drink an occasional margarita, play with my dogs, and to laugh and cry with my family.
No one likes the reason for the Stay At Home orders we have been under. Who among us is okay with 90,000+ citizens of the United States dying from an enemy too small to see with your naked eyes? I know I’m not.
I would much rather go back in time and stop the last few months from happening, but that is the stuff of fantasy or science fiction novels and not the reality of life right now. Instead, some of us have made certain that we have enough toilet paper to last the rest of our lives while the rest of us are left pondering what items might be used in its place.
I never thought Isopropyl Alcohol (also known as rubbing alcohol) would be a hard to find item. Who thought it would come to this?
I did think I would get more writing done than I have. Instead, my daily routines are checking my news feeds, drinking copious amounts of coffee, walking my doggos, trying to find a mask, and searching the stores for toilet paper. For my mask, I opted for a bright pink bandana and have dubbed myself the “Geriatric Bandit”. The staff at the local grocers are very familiar with my signature look.
I’m very fortunate to live in Arizona so I can soak up all of that healthy Vitamin D. Let’s just say, my skin has turned brown and now I stress over getting skin cancer despite applying a sunscreen with an SPF of 100. I burn off excess energy in the pool each day.
While I’m busy with all of these daily tasks, I think about writing. I have written a few chapters for my WIP. I have recorded a short story for a podcast and I’ve started writing another short story.
The time I always wished to have free to write unhampered by outside influences is here, but I can’t help thinking about those people we’ve lost too soon. The medical personnel who leave work exhausted and in tears over what they’d seen that day. The people who go to work in those jobs that are so necessary for our society to function but are poorly paid and never shown the appreciation they deserve — cashiers and baggers at the store, the garbage men, the construction crews, funeral directors and staff, transportation workers. The teachers putting packets together for students and families each week. The families of the workers who expose themselves everyday. The lists go on and on.
I think of you instead of my imaginary characters. I don’t write very much right now, but I pray for you.
It might seem like social distancing, staying at home and wearing a mask would be a dream for many writers. I have more often than not referred to myself as a introvert and chilling on the couch with a good book, listening to music and binge-watching movies have all been favorite past times for me.
I take this pandemic seriously, too. When I hear doctors, nurses and paramedics tell their stories with tears in their eyes, I believe. I was a practicing nurse for over thirty years — things are bad right now. Perhaps that is why I’ve had difficulty focusing on just one thing. I flit from project to project, write sporadically, rarely post anything of my own on social media, and keep busy doing laundry and housework.
It was easier when I was walking several days a week, but I had to take a break from my daily walks due to some inflammation that wasn’t getting any better. This gave me more time to think. Only I wasn’t thinking about writing.
I decided I’d be better off if I turned off the news. It has worked for the most part. I have completed two chapter in two months. Not a lot of progress but progress all the same. I made some friends in our new neighborhood; although, social distancing has slowed down our gatherings to backyard chats across the fence (picture the TV show, Home Improvement with Tim and his neighbor, Wilson).
It’s a reminder of how I felt on 9/11 when I saw NYC, my birthplace and home of my youth, devastated but not defeated. I was transfixed by the images, and I felt the world had changed and it had. Once again, New York City is one of the worst epicenter’s of the disease thus far and I know things will change.
Mother Nature is feeling better because we have altered our patterns. We see clearer skies and waterways while the wildlife roams more freely than they have in years in our parks and wild areas. The world has had a slight pause, but not a reset. At least not yet. That will depend on all of us and how we look at our world and our lives.
I plan to think a bit more about how I live and want to live in future. My writing will become a daily respite and not a task that needs to be completed.
My world has been topsy-turvy for the past year — loss of a dear family member, placing my mother in a care center, having a total knee replacement, building a house and moving across the country. There seemed to be very little energy left to devote to writing. My life has to change.
I have a good thirty years left on this earth and my bucket list includes writing stories that entertain as long as I’m physically and mentally able. Stay safe, stay healthy my friends.
Just I started the book, Distant Shores by Kristin Hannah and am enjoying it very much. Birdie loves her home along the ocean and her children. Her husband was once the love of her life, but now something is missing. Birdie wonders if she’s the one whose missing out on life.
Not a lot of progress but progress all the same. I made some friends in our new neighborhood; although, social distancing has slowed down our gatherings to backyard chats across the fence (picture the TV show, Home Improvement with Tim and his neighbor, Wilson).
Kate McGinn - Storyteller 