#WW Blog Styling with Friends

                I was honored by my good #pubwrite friends, Karen DeLabar  and Aden Penn with the Versatile Blogger award.  Their talent, energy and enthusiasm leave me in awe.  

                I am reminded of the quote “to whom much is given, much is expected.”  It not just the pretty award above that I refer to (although that’s awesome), it is the support, mentorship, camaraderie, and education I have received from family, friends, including all my fellow writers and readers.  Let me as Karen said pay it forward:

                Recipients of the Versatile Blogger award must do the following in support of their fellow bloggers:

1. Thank and link to the person who nominated you.

2. Share seven random facts about yourself.

3. Pass the award along to 5 new-found blogging buddies.

4. Contact the winners to congratulate them.

So here goes:

7 Random Facts About Me 


I know 2 times 7 is 14, but I'm not that interesting.

1)      - I ate bugs in Australia

2)      - I went to an all-girl Catholic school for 12 years.  I know that explains a lot, including the bugs

3)      - I only have one canine. A tough one for someone who writes vamps and weres.  Maybe I suffer from fang-envy

4)     -  While we are on the subject, I’m a Dark Shadows fan.  Yes I am that ancient.

5)      - I will eat just about anything (see #1 above) except internal organs like liver, kidneys, etc.

6)      - I slept six hours in the Presidential Suite at the Fours Seasons in Philadelphia.  No presidents or heads of state were injured in the process.

7)      - When on Wall Street in the 80’s I was complimented by Japanese bankers for kepping up with them when drinking over lunch, which may have extended into dinner. I don’t remember, but it was a good thing I had a couch in my office.

Since I received this award from two people I hereby bequeath and recommend the following 10 awesome blog sites to you.  Please visit and follow these terrific folks.

Steve Umstead

Karen S. Elliott

Al Boudreau

Thea Atkinson

Caridad Pinero

Aimee L Salter

R. A. Evans

Ann Mauren

Sheila Lamb

ParaYourNormal (you now who you are)

Stop by these awesome bloggers and say hi.  Feel free to leave one or two random facts about yourself on this post or any of my others.

PhD or Novel. Find Your Passion. Or Is It An Addiction?

PhD or Novel? Find Your Passion. Or Is It an Addiction?

                My daughter graduated college this weekend.  She went to a prestigious university in the Northeast.  I won’t say which one because it’s her life and not mine, so I won’t blast it on the blog, Twitter or Facebook.  She will be moving on to an equally prestigious university as a PhD candidate in a specialty area of psychology.  We are beyond proud of her.

                When I was younger, I accumulated two Masters degrees plus some additional credits beyond that.  One of my degrees was a Masters in Business Administration; the other was a Masters of Science in Education. I worked on Wall Street for a decade and during that time no one asked me if I intended to get a doctorate. It had no added value. When my children were young, I returned to education as a teacher. I was secure enough, both financially and in myself to leave the glitz of Wall Street behind (highly overrated) so that I could have a schedule that was in sync with my children.  As a teacher, many colleagues asked if I intended to pursue a doctorate.  My answer was that I could not imagine having the time to research and write the required dissertation. 

                Now several years later, I have a completed manuscript, Dark Dealings, approximately 86,000 words, and two other WIPs, Dark Moon, the sequel to Dark Dealings, and Ogham Court, based on minor characters from Dark Dealings. It has involved more words and only slightly less research than would have been needed to complete a doctorate.

               

                What have I gotten from all of this is: it wasn’t that I didn’t have the time when my children were small, although I have more now.  It was that I really wasn’t passionate about getting my dissertation.  I am passionate about fiction writing, both my own and helping others, who are equally committed.   If I was passionate, I would have found time.  Yes, it might have taken me longer than the norm, but I would have done it.  I wonder if the writing bug had bitten me back then, would I be further along than I am now.  Of well, water under the bridge.

                It sounds corny but you have to find your passion.  When you do, you will find time.  It may only be an hour three times a week.  In the beginning you may only manage 1000-1500 words a week. But you will do it because you cannot dismiss it as easily as I did the doctorate.  I could not stop writing now.   

                Hello everyone, my name is Karen and I’m a writer.

Balancing Writing and Life: My Take

I have been reading quite a few blogs of late on balancing your life as a writer with a full-time job and a family.  There have been many good suggestions out there.  It is ironic that this has been on so many minds. It seemed like messages meant just for me.  I don’t usually get personal on my blog so while I want to share some of the lessons I’ve picked up along the way, it still feels awkward.

In case you noticed I have not blogged in over a week.  This is part of my balancing act, at the moment. 

One of the things I have learned over the years is that, as a woman, you can have it all…just not at the same time.   Life is about choices, large and small.  I did not really start to write until my children were older. How many woman or man can relate to that?  That was not so much a conscious decision not to write but a decision to focus on my young family and a full-time job.  Would it have been better if I had started ten or fifteen years earlier?  Perhaps. But I shall never know and I do not live my life looking back.

I am well north of forty. Although, I tell people I am thirty-five in my head, that’s my story and I’m sticking to it.  Who says fiction is just on paper (or e-reader screen). So as my children have aged, so has my father.  My mother passed ten years ago.  My father suffers from emphysema, the consequence of sixty years of smoking.  This past week he had an episode that required hospitalization. As the only child available, my husband and I have to jump in.  He’s fine but it has added running to stores, hospitals, checking on his place, bringing in his mail to the day.  You know the drill.  And so I have not blogged, work on the new novel, Ogham Court, is slow, and I have not been hanging out as much with my tweeps at #pubwrite.

But that’s okay. This is a marathon, not a sprint.  When I was younger I would have beat myself up; pushed to keep to my normal routine and self-imposed deadlines.  Now I cut myself the necessary slack.  I cannot stop writing.  It’s my drug of choice.  But I am more patient with myself and life.  Sometimes shit happens and you have to deal with it.  Then you get back on that horse and ride off into the sunset where the vampires wait. They don’t age…just like me.

It’s all about balance in the long-run, but some weeks the scales are tipped.  Next week, next month they will right themselves.  Sometimes it is not about balance but juggling.  If you have stuff going on that keeps you from your passion, be patient with yourself and  take care of the important stuff.  But most of all, stick with it.