Tag: writing

Why I’m Lucky (Spoiler: It’s Kevin)

bcarnan2 Comments
The man, not the frog
The man, not the frog

A couple months ago I learned something that greatly surprised me: a shocking number of writers toil away without the support of their immediate family.  It was a subject of much discussion- fathers-in-law saying how easy the writer’s life is, siblings wanting to know when they were going to get ‘a real job,’ even spouses never deigning to read so much as a word by their beloved!

I was astonished.  I’ve heard my fair share of jokes about how I’m living off my husband, not pulling my weight, but never from someone near and dear to me.  Okay, my mom wants me to finish my master’s degree and become a social worker or a therapist, but she also thinks that all my writing is ‘brilliant.’  (That’s a doting parent for you- she even liked the one the editor called ‘dreck!’)

Never before had I realized how lucky I am to have Kevin as my life partner.  He’s never been anything but supportive of my life choices, from decided to go to graduate school to deciding to quit graduate school and become a writer.  He listens to my complaints when a scene isn’t coming out right and brainstorms with me when I’m stuck.  He’s even promised to read every book I ever publish- though I’m not holding him to that one.  (I’m afraid you have to know him to appreciate what a sacrifice that would be.  Suffice it to say, cozies aren’t his preferred genre.)

I can’t say that having a supportive partner is essential to a writer’s success (particularly since I’m not successful yet), but it certainly goes a long way to making the journey more pleasant.

My Writing Sucks

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About three years ago I quit grad school to focus on writing.  (And also my mental health, but that’s not the point at the moment.)  I had an idea, I had done all the research, I was ready.  And then I spent the next two and a half years working on this manuscript, laboring, tweaking, even going so far as to pay for a professional critique.  The critique came back with what I had suspected for a few months by that point- it was rubbish.  (I think that is an actual quote; I’m too much of a coward to go back and make sure.)

After that I hit a few months of depression.  I wanted to be an author.  But how could I be an author when years of work created drivel?  (Maybe that was it.  Still not checking.)

Then I remembered this video.  It’s from the Vlogbrothers channel about five years ago, while John was on his first paternity leave.  Strangely enough, it made me feel better.  And now, hopefully, I’m getting to the ‘slightly less sucking’ stage.  We’ll see!

What motivates y’all when you hit a writing pit of despair?

P.S.  My manuscript hit 50,032 words this week!  Huzzah!

Writing and Music

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I make it a person mission to write every day of the work week- it’s the only way I can justify to myself the fact that I don’t have a real, grown up job.  (Despite his reassurance, I still worry sometimes that Kevin might resent me for this freedom.  Luckily, he’s amazingly supportive.)

image from google
My husband, basically

Some days writing is easier than others.  Even if you love what you’re doing there will be days where you just don’t want to do it, right?  To help keep myself on track I’ve taken to putting on giant headphones and listening to music while I work.  However, what music keeps me motivated seems to change from day to day.  Sometimes I’ll work seamlessly for hours to Disney soundtracks, only to be thoroughly distracted by the familiar lyrics the next day.  Other times I’ll listen to soundtracks that don’t have words for the inspiring emotions they evoke, but eventually find them not distracting enough because they don’t have lyrics.

At first I dealt with the problem by making playlist after playlist in iTunes.  It got to a point where they stopped having proper names because I couldn’t define exactly what I wanted from them anymore.  I started off listening to ‘Wrock’ (that’s wizard rock, or music based on Harry Potter, for those of you who don’t know) and ‘Wordless Soundtracks’ and ended up with ‘On-the-Go’ 1, 2, and 3.  It was ridiculous.

That’s why I was so excited when I discovered the website 8tracks.

I’m not entirely sure how I found it- I think a friend might have shared a playlist on a social media site- but it was the highlight of my day.  You just put a word describing what you’re looking for into the search bar and it pulls up dozens of playlists that have been tagged with that descriptor.  If you want to narrow it down still further, you can.

Despite being a millennial I’m not nearly as tech-savvy as I ought to be, so I don’t use half of the website’s functions.  I do know that once you have a profile you can like playlists, favorite songs, and build collections of playlists.  (If you really like a song, they’ll tell you where you buy it.)  Since all the playlists are made by users I assume you can make and upload your own as well but I haven’t tried that out.  Yet.

There are a few restrictions- you can’t listen to a playlist in the same order, you can’t skip more than three songs an hour- but since they have no bearing on my usage I’m not bothered by them.  As a whole, I think this website is amazing.

Anyone out there have another tip for how to keep your mind on track?  Are any of you on 8tracks?  If so, let’s be friends- I’m BesstheKraken!