I love this video:

Maybe it’s because I love to sing and dance (privately, of course). Maybe it’s because I love to watch groups of unconnected people come together. Whatever it is I watch it a lot, whenever I need a little pick-me-up…which I’ve needed a lot lately.

I’m coming off of a week of being sick, and let me tell you the stomach flu and pneumonia are NOT good bed fellows. Anyway, I did get a lot of time in bed, and during my drug-induced fog I had some interesting realizations:

1. I don’t handle stress well.

2. All I’ve been doing is working.

3. I haven’t had playtime with my kids in…well, so darn long I don’t remember when it last happened.

4. My husband has become this person with whom I simply cohabitate.

5. Maybe it’s not stress that Idon’t handle well, but guilt.

#6 (and most important, hence the reason it actually has a number sign) Work will never end. I’ll never get to the last item of my to-do list. I’ll never have a glorious, sunshiney, music playing in the backgroud, ”I’m done for the day” moment. It simply isn’t going to happen. There’s no such thing.

7. So, since I can’t change the way work works, I’m going to have to change how I work.

My drug-induced fog was pretty insightful, eh? Figures.

So, I’ve decided that – once I actually get back to work (apparently recovering from two things at once, especially when one is pneumonia, is a looooong process. And no, patience is not a virtue to which I am predisposed. Go figure.) - I’m going to give myself a finite amount of time to work. It’s up to me how productive that time is. I’m going to have to master the process of prioritizing and get things done, not all at once like I prefer, but in bits and pieces. And when that clock hits 3 p.m. I’m done. It’s family time. I envision a special snack for the kids, homework, cooking dinner, etc.

Sounds glorious, huh? Bets on how long I’ll be able to make it work? Bet away, sisters! Unlike my other plans, this one is manageable, doable, will not require superhuman powers, endurance, or strength. Look out world! Here I come!

As soon as I can walk up my stairs without having to stop, sit down and breathe. :0)

So, I’ve got a plan…What’s yours?

As writers it is important to know our target audience – my guess is that most of us are part of our target audience. The only thing I like more than writing a romance is reading one!

It’s been said that a large percentage of women who read romance are happily married or in otherwise committed, monogamous relationships. Is that true? I happen to be, but I would be interested to know where that theory came from and if there is any truth to it…

If you fit into that group, why do you love romance novels? Is it because it gives you an escape from your own life for a time? Or do you read romance to become re-energized? Grateful (as in “Thank the stars my life isn’t as complicated as …. – insert name of current heroine here)? Or is it something else? Author Alicia Blade has this to say in her blog, Ali’s Blog:

“…I wonder now if women who are in happy, satisfying relationships don’t read the novels not because they’re missing something, but rather as a means of reliving those first few weeks or months of passionate excitement that almost inevitably fades. Women often say that they feel more intimate with their mates after reading a romance, and I think that this is possibly because the romance reminds them of those feelings once-experienced—not necessarily lost, but harder to recapture now that the relationship has settled into comfort and security.”

Falling into the category of happily married-romance novel lover, I have to agree with Ali’s musings. I find a strengthened connection physically and emotionally to my husband after reading a good romance. I am reminded of what it was like when I first fell (and fell hard and fast, I might add) for him. We were completely absorbed in each other, constantly thinking about the other and putting the majority of our energy into our blooming romance. Now, twelve years, three kids, several houses and numerous jobs later, we can’t do that. But the blossoming relationship between a hero and heroine take me back to those crazy, giddy times. It seems obvious, maybe I just never thought about it before, but I think it is more than memories…it’s recapturing the feelings that were so strong when our love was new. I felt a graciousness and gratitude toward the whole world as a giddy, love-sick twenty-five year old. My faith in goodness and love was renewed. I get those same feelings from reading a great romance. My love with my husband is renewed but so is my faith in the world…

Sappy? Yeah… Cheesy? Maybe…Do I keep going back for more…and more…and more? You bet your gag-me-with-a-spoon-silly-sappy-simperings I do! And my sincerest hope is that the novels I write leave my readers with the same feel-good fuzzies.

That leaves me with a whole handful of questions…Are you in a relationship? Does that influence whether you read romance or not? Why do you read romance?

Summertime…and the living is easy…

That’s one of my favorite songs from the musical “Porgy and Bess”.

Unfortunately, ”summertime and the livin’ is easy” doesn’t exactly describe life right now. For me it’s more like:

Summertime…and the living is still crazy, just like it was during the school year…except now the kids are home 24/7…and I’m about to throw myself on the bed and cry like a baby until eleven.

Sound familiar? And how’s that working with your writing? Staring at a blank screen? Distracted by life? Completely verklempt because this is the only twenty-two minutes and twelve seconds you’ll be able to squeeze in for writing today?

I feel your pain…

I’ve been staring at a blank screen for almost a full week now while also trying to keep my three children occupied (a seemingly impossible feat), the house clean (Why do I even bother?), the laundry caught up (Ever noticed how it  triples during the summer? What is that about?!), and food in the house (Ever notice how it disappears five times faster in the summer? I ask again – what is that about?!).

I swear – and you all are my witnesses – next year I’ll be finished with my manuscript/s by summer so that I can just read and research.

But…I love writing. It’s like a bubblebath or a brisk walk or a nap. It leaves me refreshed, excited, energized!

It’s summertime and the living is anything but easy!

So, what’s the solution for my sudden case of summertime blues?

I’m going to take a hint from George Matheson:

“We conquer, not in any brilliant fashion, we conquer by continuing.” –George Matheson

I’m going to continue – even if one day I continue for five minutes, the next day three and the next twenty-two minutes and twelve seconds. I’m going to plop on down in that writing chair and write – as much as is absolutely possible in twenty-two minutes and twelve seconds punctuated by whines and cries of, “Mooooooom (don’t forget the shrill rollercoaster falsetto)! He took my [fill in blank with any of a million possessions that up until that very moment my child had forgotten he or she owned]!” or “Mooooooom! She’s on my side of the couch!” or “Mooooom! I’m bored!”

But school just got out forty-eight hours and fifty-three seconds ago…

It’s gonna be a looooooong (don’t forget the used to be shrill now tempered with puberty plus a few years, rollercoaster falsetto) summer!

The Pulitzer Prize winning poet Stephen Spender said, “The best thing is to write anything, anything at all that comes into your mind, until gradually there is a calm and creative day.”

He forgot to add: after the kids are back in school.

Got the summertime blues? What cures have you found?

BTW, WordPress is adding to my distress (I refuse to believe it’s operator error or, as my husband would say, an ”ID 10 T” error) - it keeps messing with my formatting and my twenty-two minutes and twelve seconds are almost up! So ignore the strange colors and odd paragraphs, please. It’s a side effect of the summertime blues. :0)