If money and time were of no concern, what would you do with your days?
Honestly, I think I would do exactly what I am currently doing. For the first time, our kids are independent, either in school or working, and I am free to travel for work and family assistance, allowing me to write on the road. I started working at 14 with a work permit and landed a job with our local veterinarian. Every job I’ve had since has been one with a great sense of connection to where I wanted to be, what I wanted to do. I always knew when it was time to move on. Most of my jobs continue to be a win-win combination…and believe me, I know how fortunate I am!
If money wasn’t an issue and I wasn’t using my time for writing, I would invest in start-up charities like HUNGRY HARVEST, that trucks fresh produce into free inner city farmer’s markets. Or walk dogs at pet shelters, or foster more. (That last may not be advisable since we already have an embarrassing number of dogs and cats living with us…and I’m sure my DH does have limits somewhere…)
After reading Lisa's comment about not wasting a wish... I'd like to invest in her program. And supply each resident with a starter cat.
Looking back at your past year, what events or accomplishments made your heart light up?
Wow…I didn’t realize how even-keel 2016 was?? Outside of family events and accomplishments, writing highlights included finding Irene’s mentoring workshop and the INCREDIBLY supportive writers showing up to help each other move forward. I’m used to working alone. Writing with others, even sharing writing goals and ideas with others, was very new to me. This gave me an unexpected passion for continuing fiction writing when my productivity dropped to zilch.
One aside-from-writing Yay! Was when my quilt donated to a local animal shelter’s 2015 event was auctioned off for $1400.00. Did not see that one coming, and it lead to a new direction in quilting for the 2016 charity auction quilts. And additional side income, taking on a few requests for similar quilts (more practically priced J)
If you lost everything tomorrow, what would you miss the most?
The only thing that matters—my family.
And after that, my independence, my ability to choose: where I wanted to be, what I wanted to do, who I wanted to do it with. Writing, sewing, drawing, fostering—all of the things I love doing on a daily basis would fall into this category.
If you could trade lives with anyone, who would it be and why?
Nope, not trading, not with anyone else, regardless. What I know for sure: Everyone has their private issues to deal with, mostly things others never know. And a lot of us struggle pretty darn successfully with things that could lay another person low. For me, it’s the enemy you know, kind-of thing.
My parents and grandparents drilled into all of us that we can do anything we want; but, we need to be open and creative as to how we get there. I wouldn’t trade my opportunity to reinvent myself whenever I wished for someone else’s much more successful life. That said, there are wonderful people out there who inspire me to be so much better, to work harder, to dress better, to attempt something totally off the grid. I don’t want to be them, I just want to learn to be a better Me from them.
With these answers in mind, spend at least an hour writing out why you do what you do.
I love to read--always have--and I write because I love the written.
There is a rush that comes when a new plot direction suddenly shows up on the page, especially when it’s a direction I could never, ever have planned or outlined. I adore inventing new people and then walking them into odd situations, wondering how they would/could deal. You know, doing things I’d never have the guts to do or say or wear. All of my life, especially because I was a shy child, books pulled me forward and strong characters taught me how to “be” and helped me modify that “be” into who I wanted to then become when I got there.
Books are an excellent tool for growth, often better than a kid’s current choice of adult mentors or caregivers. That’s really such a cliché, but it’s so true. It’s so much better—I believe—to show someone how much more they could be than telling them to get their act together and grow up.
Books let us live vicariously through another character’s dumbass actions—and teach us how to avoid doing the same thing, or at least, survive long enough to be cast in the sequel. Books keep teens moving forward, help them keep from shutting down totally, because they can read about characters that take one of those optional paths…and then books show them the consequences and help them decide whether or not it’s worth it to make those same decisions. Books show, they don’t tell, not as much as parents do. The first approach gets our attention, the second sometimes shuts us down.
Books can show someone how to move past the worst thing that ever happened to them. Books can hammer home the point to a lonely child that they DO matter, even when everyone else around them is telling them they are worthless. Books can point teens in the right direction behaviorally by showing them all the wonderfully stupid things the rest of us do—and survive—and why one approach to a problem may be more successful than another. Books will tell us things that society tells us we have no business thinking about, or caring about, or trying to emulate. (Buy banned books, people!)
Books have been the single greatest influence in my life, even more than my family. That is probably my main motivation for writing—to talk to people I will never meet.
I want to tell them, Hey, it’s going to be okay…hold on. And, Have you thought of doing x…or,…Want to see what happens when this guy does y? I want to share encouragement, pay forward all of the gifts I’ve been showered with from the amazing people I know. Teach what I've been given, help others find their own gifts.
Where I’d like to be, professionally:
1 year: complete 3 category or single title romances, 12 picture books, and have enough research for my nonfiction to begin pinging prospective editors. Doesn’t matter if the fiction books are ready for publication or even if they ever get picked up. 2016 is my year to finish strong in productivity.
5 years: consistently completing 12 PB’s a year, writing 2 or 3 category romances, and working on another book in a nonfiction series. Writing for publication is now a given, and I am working with editors I trust and enjoy. My first goal—hitting it within this deadline, is to have published 10 books by my 5 year mark.
10 years: have a solid backlist in fiction and nonfiction, submission rate of 3 fiction books a year and nonfiction every other year and recognized as a prolific author of PB for elementary school age. I'm still teaching but now focused on teaching writing to children and teens, elementary school and junior high through inner city school programs.
Writing Diary
I started my journal on a Word doc on the computer. I find this the very best way for me to write—long-hand is too slow. If I can’t write fast enough to keep the words in pace with the thoughts, I lose them. Also, I can’t always read what I wrote. UGH! So, I will make notes on paper but I will embellish on the computer. I just seem to think better by keyboard.
Yay, ME!
My YAY, ME! file will be noted on my daily planner. I splurged and purchased one I would keep and reread. Every day I note the best things I accomplished, and what’s going on. List style so I can refer back and find it easier…and then return to this journal if I want more info.
