Currently

How is it seriously July right now? I know I’ve been hiding from the heat wave, but I still knew the date. I guess I hadn’t quite processed that the 30th of June is followed by the 1st of July? (As dumb as that sounds, it’s a fact as I started this post I really hadn’t put two and two together until someone else did it for me.) I think the heat has fried my brain, but maybe that’s just me fretting over my current contracts. There’s not a lot of sanity left to lose, if I’m honest.

Loving

My current ghostwriting contracts! As much as I love to write, it is not always possible to freelance and have 100% job satisfaction. I know, doing it for yourself you have more control, but nothing’s foolproof. I am so thrilled to have two active ghostwriting contracts, both of which have me enthralled in the story line. One is Regency Romance from a prewritten plot, the other is a Paranormal Romance series starter that I have almost full control over—and a lot of thought already devoted to. Both have different strengths and weaknesses, but I think they’re wonderful for me. The Regency novel is going to be longer, and it’s a denser sort of writing (have to be all proper to be era-appropriate), but the looser paranormal novel is going to be a lot of fun, too! I’m enjoying both, and look forward to ongoing future relationships with these clients (I hope). Really, the best way for me to work is to find clients that I enjoy working for and keep working with them.

Reading

I started a six-book collection, the Crookshollow Gothic Romance series, last night, and I was really enjoying getting swept away by the quick dive head-first into plot shenanigans. I needed a break from Regency novels for a bit to get me to switch gears for my second contract (the paranormal romance), and this seemed like a good way to do that.

I also recently finished Ivy Sparks’ Barbarian King’s Mate, and once that goes live my five-star ARC review of it will get posted too. If you enjoy sci-fi exploration of strange planets (on-planet more than fancy tech or in-space activity), scary alien creatures, and sexy barbarians to the rescue, I think you’ll enjoy that book. I really enjoy how well Ivy Sparks can immerse her readers in a new planet with weird ways. I don’t think I’ve read anything of hers that was set in space or in a higher-technology setting, the other book I read of hers was also on a semi-barbaric planet. Both good. Steam warning! If you’re not up for that, this isn’t for you.

Watching

I watched some really random shows this past month, mostly a few episodes and then I moved on. I watched everything from Amazon’s Thunderbirds Are Go to BBC’s The Musketeers, as well as some Outlander (rewatching so I can figure out where I left off) and standup comedy (thank you Brad Williams, for making me laugh). Oh, and I love Odd Thomas (RIP Anton Yelchin) and I actually shelled out money to rent Grease because I needed to watch it right then. Not my norm, but hey, I can afford a few dollars for a movie rental every so often. Just delays my next delivery pizza by a few days.

Listening To

I’ve actually started listening to For the Wolf, by Hannah Whitten, as an audiobook. I don’t usually do audiobooks, as my focus is required for most of the tasks I do (ie. writing), but the ebook queue is backed up considerably at both my local library and the Boston Public Library. I enjoyed listening to it while I was setting up my next planner (I use the undated six-month Self Planner from BestSelf, Co) and that worked out well, so I’ll probably listen to more this weekend when I set up my next quarterly Self Journal, too. The exercise bike in the community room got replaced with a massive cache of air conditioning units to install after the new windows, so I can’t listen while cycling. Other than that, I’m not sure what activities I can do that don’t require so much of my focus… I could listen while crocheting, but there is no [expletive] way I’m playing with heavy yarn in this heat.

There’s ongoing construction in my apartment building as they replace the fifty-year-old windows (building dated 1970) in vast swaths top-to-bottom. Haven’t gotten to me yet, but damn if it’s not horribly audible anywhere on the building. I’d swear concrete echoed if that made any sense at all. Anyway, I’ve been listening to a lot of YouTube music mixes in hopes of drowning out the construction so I can focus on work. For the most part I think it’s been successful.

Thinking About

Work, honestly. With two contracts going on at once, when I’m done with (or stumped by) one for the day, I just switch gears to the other. I haven’t been doing much other writing lately, mostly because I have used all my brainpower on a given day for work projects. I still have a roleplaying game played by post and one freeform roleplay I’m trying to keep up with, but it’s a precarious balance that I juggle better some days than others. Shame, really, I need more hobbies that don’t involve writing. Or mindless games on my iPhone which I play long into the night when I ought to be sleeping.

Wishing

I really wish summer meant something other than high heat and high humidity. I think I could handle dry heat like the American Southwest, or even Caribbean heat with the breezes near the ocean. But this? This is a menace. All summer is to me is a time when I sweat like crazy even indoors (because no, expecting my weenie air conditioner to do better than drop the temperature ten to maybe fifteen degrees is asking too much) and get heat-exhaustion-triggered migraines. (Speaking of which… I ought to lie down.) I don’t mind thunderstorms, so I think I’ll enjoy this weekend, but I’m feeling a bit nutty with the heat wave. I’m not even sure I can call it a heat wave anymore… it’s climate change in action. This is the new normal. But I don’t have to like it, so I’ll continue wishing for pleasant 60-70F temps and cool breezes. Until autumn, when I’ll get that for all of two weeks before the temperature plummets and I start whining again. Yes, I’m fully aware I’m a hypocrite.

Anticipating

Really I’m psyched up about these novels I’m working on. My list of things to do consists of upcoming deadlines, another ARC review I’ve promised, and reminders that I shouldn’t disconnect from all social activities completely in spite of needing to do so while trying to focus. I love the characters I’m creating, and it’s always fun getting to know them as they get hit with plot hurdles and unexpected disasters. Because yes, what is a protagonist for, except for the author to commit atrocities upon? (Cue maniacal laughter.)

I have a lot of words to churn out in the near future, so my next six weeks will likely be something of a stressed-out blur as I focus on words per day to get my contracts completed. That may mean I’m delayed with stories for this blog, despite how far along they are already. That’s just my reality right now, however much I dislike being slow when I’m finally getting back to posting stories again.

Making Me Happy

I’ve really been getting a kick out of the attention my cat has been paying me. Some of it is begging for treats (I’m not a complete idiot). But some of it is her continuing and constant desire for companionship, which is precisely why I like having a pet in the first place. I’m not permitted to have a second cat for her to play with (lousy rental agreement rules), but she does pretty well cooped up inside with me, even in this heat. She tries to snuggle on my lap or in bed for at least a little while every day, until one or both of us are too hot to be comfortable. But she hasn’t stopped trying, which really pleases me.

Stay safe, stay cool, stay healthy.

Cheers,
~Marie

Currently / Blog Hiatus

I don’t know where the last month went. Seriously. I make snide comments about time flying all the time, but this time I really don’t know where it went. It’s JUNE! Can you believe it? I remember writing the Currently for May, and then this week. There’s just a blank in between. Either this is a comment on my state of mind/being this month, or I really just didn’t do anything spectacular that made it remembrance-worthy. Either way, it seems pathetic. Go me.

Due to lack of forward progress, stories will resume in July, after the Independence Day weekend. I will only be posting two stories a month because I can’t seem to keep up with the faster pace of one a week and expect to get any work done.

Loving

The rainy weather this past weekend. I know it’s beautiful out and all, but I was feeling a bit stifled by the heat this week. I guess I don’t do very well with heat or humidity. But the nice 50s rainy weather relaxed me for some reason, and I loved it. I used to love thunderstorms because the low pressure made my head ache less. Nowadays I’m less crazy about rainy weather, as my fibromyalgia starts acting up (just like old folks with arthritis having issues when it storms, same idea). I guess I needed the reduced headache more than I care about the other aches.

Reading

So many things. I recently read Nori’s Delta, and then read the note that it’s actually fanfiction for another author’s (Susan Stoker’s) series, and I’m torn between going do dig up that series or just moving on for holy-crap-I-spent-too-much-on-books-this-month reasons. Since the first book was on sale for $free, I did get that, but that wasn’t the book that spun off the specific fanfiction I read. I might get there; I might not. I did get a serious kick out of a Cowboy Love boxset, but it’s not for the faint of heart (steamy romance, book one is a triad… you’ve been warned).

On a more professional level, I just picked up an ARC copy of Jean Stokes’ new Borden Falls book (Hideaway Girl), but I haven’t actually started it yet. I’m also eagerly awaiting my copy of Dreyer’s English, which I decided I liked enough to purchase in hard copy. (Gasp!) I don’t usually do hard copy books anymore, between eye strain of small print and lack of storage space, but this one was worth it.

Watching

I saw a job posting recently that was seeking a Scottish highlander romance ghostwriter, and while I don’t really fit that category (never written it, have read some), it reminded me instantly of Outlander. I don’t have the series anymore, those went to the local used bookstore with the rest of the books I couldn’t store any longer, but Netflix does have the tv series’ first four seasons. So I started rewatching Outlander, and it’s very much a guilty pleasure to binge-watch that show… especially when I should be doing something else, like writing.

Listening To

Just pulled up a YouTube music mixes playlist for the first time in a while. (This in particular: CITADEL Epic Music Mix) I like active music while I’m writing, but it can’t have vocals, which is the majority of the music I own. (So sue me, I have a thing for vocals.) YouTube is my go-to at the moment since all my grooveshark playlists went down with that site. I don’t really know where to discover new music anymore, so I make due with what other people think is epic.

Thinking About

I’ve got several novel ideas on the brain, and I keep trying to work on an outline for one only to be interrupted with an awesome idea for one of the others. Repeat, ad infinitum. I’m not really getting far on any of them since I can’t seem to focus long enough to make significant progress.

I’m looking forward to some research, even, since I’ve never written Regency-era fiction before. (Regency romance is a niche that comes up often enough in ghostwriting job contracts that I need to write something I can point at as proof I can write that.)

The motorcycle club romance idea I believe I mentioned before got sidetracked, and I’m not entirely sure what I’m doing with it now. The suspense/whodunnit plot angle is incomplete, and the romance plot is also incomplete because I’m trying to think of ways to tie scenes into the whodunnit… which I don’t have figured out yet. I should probably scrap the outline I’ve got and start from scratch with a romance beat sheet instead of the more generic one I tried to map the suspense plot to. We’ll see if I get anywhere further with that.

Wishing

I wish I were writing. While I’ve spent a bunch of time plotting and brainstorming, I don’t think I’ve written any actual prose in several days, possibly a week or more. That’s unacceptable by my standards, I’m a gosh darn writer! I’m not sure if it’s the headaches that are making it hard or what, but I can’t seem to make the words flow when it’s prose. (This? No problem.) I may need to try and write something totally unrelated to work, blogs, or planned novels in hopes of breaking my mental block.

Anticipating

July is Camp NaNoWriMo, and I finally have novel ideas I’d like to work on. That means I need to block out my characters and outline for one of my current ideas (probably the Regency one) during this coming month, and maybe try to rope in my Boston NaNoWriMo Discord server. It’s always more fun with company, right?

I’ve done “prep for NaNo” posts to death, I think—you can find the latest resources round-up here—but if there are any other articles or how-tos I can help with, please let me know. I’m not sure if I posted my latest working concept sheet template or not, but I’ll go dig that up and post it if I haven’t already.

Making Me Happy

I’m really enjoying spending time with my cat this week. I don’t know how we got offset, but somehow any time I wanted to pet her, she wanted to sleep, and vise versa. Lately I’ve actually spent time with her in my lap (in my armchair) or on top of me (while lying down). I like when we’re at peace with one another, and petting Honey is relaxing, which I could use of late. (Not kidding, new diagnosis of hypertension and everything.)

As the CDC’s recommendations dial down and states are opening up again, I hope everyone remains safe. Don’t take any risks if you can avoid them, and definitely don’t assume everyone else is vaccinated—some people just don’t want to wear masks anymore. (I get that, truly. But just get the darn shots and be done with it!) Please be safe and stay healthy!

Cheers,
~Marie

Currently / Blog Hiatus

Spring is finally here! Sure, it started back in March just about on time, but the weather wasn’t reliably nice until very recently, at least around here. I can’t begin to express how much of a difference the sunny days and not-freezing weather makes on everything I do. Motivation and inspiration both get a big boost.

I’ll be on hiatus for another month at least. I should be back next month, but definitely by July. I need to take a break from weekly posting for my sanity—whatever shreds of it might remain. I’ll see you in a month or two! (My coming blog schedule will likely be limited to twice a month instead of every week so that I can get ahead of the coming months.)

Loving

This weather! Even if it’s “only” 50°F out, that’s so much better than freezing, and the sun makes all the difference in the world. Even the occasional grey day (ie. April showers bring dem flowers) isn’t such a big deal when it comes to my mood and how ready I am to do things on a given day. I’m also pleased that we’re having a real spring this year—last year seemed to go from 40s and gray to a week or two of confused spring and then straight to 70s and up into boiling hot summer. Since spring and fall are my favorite seasons, it always disappoints me when we don’t get much of either! I think my area is still technically in drought conditions, which means a sad and very brown autumn ahead, but at least the weather seems a bit more steady than last year.

Reading

I’m currently working on two Advanced Reader Copy reads/reviews, one of which is book four of Kathrin Hutson’s Accessory to Magic series (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08JCPKBRN), all of which I definitely recommend. The other is a boxed set which is taking me longer than anticipated. I’ll have to let you know how it is once I’ve gotten farther along. I’ve also read a collection of the usual indie romance and fantasy books that I can get my hands on.

Should I start a list of strongly recommended books? I can add the Isle of Destiny series (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0753LGQYX) to that list, though I’m only a couple books in—definitely an enjoyable read that I discovered as a reader, not an editor/reviewer. (If you’re not signed up for BookBub deal emails, I highly recommend that, too!) I don’t usually tweet my goodreads reviews due to the number of them I write—I attempt to at least star and write a couple sentences for every book I read, which is usually three or more in a day while I’m not actively working, but I could begin tweeting the best of the best or something like that.

Listening To

I think I’m in a 90s-00s re-binge phase. The majority of my playlist is hits from when I was growing up, from 3 Doors Down to Jennifer Lopez to Taylor Swift. These are all “comfort music” for me, and I guess I was in a comfort music sort of mood when I put together a favorites list. I’m surprised to see so little that’s newer than that, though I do have some Simon & Garfunkel, Jethro Tull, and Beatles in here, too.

Thinking About

My professional future is a big worry at the moment, since I had to stop freelancing entirely this past winter my overall health got so bad. I am disabled, and have some income from that, so not working at all didn’t sink me completely, but it did a number on my finances, portfolio, and even my confidence. It’s hard to jump back in without diving in headfirst, which makes it hard for me to judge whether I can handle that until I do it. Something of a catch-22. Given that I am behind on my blogs as well as my contract work (ie. for payment), I’m a bit leery of getting in too deep, but I can’t afford to wait too long, either. Any clients I had have replaced me by now, too, which means I’m starting more or less from scratch.

Wishing

I wish I’d managed to get more done during this hiatus. The goal had been to get stories written and blog topics brainstormed (at minimum) so I could be sure the next months went smoothly. Unfortunately, that’s not how it has played out. I don’t want to delay any longer, so I’ll change to a biweekly update schedule until I’m more ahead of things—but I’ve got a good deal of work to do yet.

Anticipating

Getting back into my writing more! I’ve got plans for getting things written for blogs, working on a novel to finally attempt to publish it, and more. I’m thrilled that I’m able to write again; it’s a sad state of affairs for any writer to be so out of it that there’s no inspiration at all to write, and even trying to force words onto the page doesn’t work. I am very pleased to be beyond that point now.

Making Me Happy

I’ve started physical therapy for my neck and shoulders, which store tension to such a degree that I have constant tension headaches, and I think it’s helping. Even doing the simple exercises on a daily basis seems to be improving my fibromyalgia, likely because I’m working most of my body and staying mobile is one of the best treatments for fibro. It’s improved enough to cheer me up considerably all week, and I am certainly hoping the trend will continue. (I still have the tension headaches 24/7, but I’ll take what I can get as I can get it.)

I’m fully vaccinated at this point and I hope that more people have access to the vaccine now than they did. I’d really like to get back to a certain level of activity outside my apartment, even if I have adapted quite well to not going out—here’s to us, introverts! Still, it’s hard to not see people. I haven’t seen my father in person in a long time, but I hope that will be possible now that we’re both reaching the fully vaccinated stage. I wish everyone the absolute best, and I hope you’re staying safe out there. Please follow the medical recommendations for minimizing the pandemic risks so we can all start living again!

Cheers,
~Marie

Currently / Blog Hiatus

I’ll be on hiatus for a couple months. I should be back by June, but definitely by July. I need to take a break from weekly posting for my sanity—whatever shreds of it might remain. I’ll see you in a couple months!

Camp NaNoWriMo is now! My professional blog (efromson.com) has a list of my NaNoWriMo Resources.

Loving

I’m a little addicted to playing gin rummy on my iPad. I’d started just playing one hand every evening as something of a “cool down” from thinking, but I’ve gotten hooked and now I’m playing a lot more. It’s a distraction I really don’t need, but I enjoy it so much, I figure it’s not harming my schedule [much]. If you like gin rummy, check out Gin Rummy Plus. It’s an online linked game so you’re playing against real people. You don’t have to pay anything, but they do let you buy more coins to bet if you need to. (Definitely don’t need to, they have daily bonuses you can just collect for a bit.)

Reading

So many new books! I may be a little addicted to BookBub’s emailed daily deals. I’ve been downloading so many ebooks that my kindle is starting to slow down. I really need to keep the contents under a thousand books. I keep forgetting to erase the oldest ones I’ve finished, but I keep them until I remember to review them on goodreads (or at least post a star rating and a couple words).

Most of my latest reads have been romance of one variety or another, mostly because those seem to be the most popular freebies. I’m looking for a good fantasy novel to break things up a bit, comment or message me if you’ve got any ideas for me, pretty please!

Listening To

I’ve been on an instrumental kick lately. Not all of it is classical, but some is. Not my usual cup of tea, but I guess I remembered that I don’t actually dislike classical music. I need to go through my albums (most of which are from my parents’ collection) and figure out what I haven’t listened to in a while, since I tend to gravitate to the same set of things over and over again.

Wishing

I wish I was more on top of things. Whether it’s my short stories for this blog or just chores around the apartment, I’m behind and it’s driving me nuts. Every day the to-do list gets longer, and I cross off only a couple things at best. It’s frustrating, especially when I’ve cut back my obligations (including going on hiatus with both my blogs), and I don’t have a good solution other than to keep on keeping on. If anyone has a TARDIS or some spare hours tucked away, do let me know, won’t you?

Anticipating

This month is Camp NaNoWriMo! (For those who aren’t familiar with the term, it’s National Novel Writing Month’s less strict variation, in which instead of everyone writing 50,000 words in 30 days, we have the option to choose our goals. Some set the same goal, others write more or less than 50K, others edit instead of writing.) I’ve decided I’m not going to start a new project or fight with one of my existing ideas that doesn’t have enough to it for an actual plot line. Instead I’m going to work on writing short stories for this blog, since I still don’t have anything finished (which was the whole point of this hiatus).

I’m involved in my local region NaNoWriMo group that’s online-only due to the pandemic, and I’m working on getting some events together for everyone via the unofficial Discord server I set up. Write-ins, sprint night… I don’t have anything else just yet, but hopefully I’ll figure out what (if anything) else I should do. I’m looking forward to more interaction with them, they’re a great group—we just don’t have as much activity when it’s not a NaNo month.

Making Me Happy

Now that it’s spring and there’s nicer weather—I’m a fan of sunshine and 50s-60s (10-12°C) temps—I have a little more energy and so does my cat, Honey. She wants to go out on the screened-in balcony and watch the sparrows, which I swear come closer just to torment her. More energy and enjoyment also means she wants to play constantly, so there are easily a dozen toy mice tripping me up and showing up nearby so I can toss them for her to chase. I didn’t realize how much I missed this while we were both grumpy all winter, but now that I’ve got it back, I’m loving how often she makes me smile.

I’ve had one dose of the COVID vaccine already, and should be getting the second one on Monday. I’m not sure if it will change my life significantly [yet], but I might talk my paranoid brain into going out a bit more. I haven’t been shopping in person in months, and just the walk to the supermarket ought to be a nice change. I just hope I haven’t gotten so sedate that the twenty-minute walk will tire me out too much!

Stay safe, be well!
~Marie

Currently / Blog Hiatus

I’ll be on hiatus for a couple months. I should be back by June, but definitely by July. I need to take a break from weekly posting for my sanity—whatever shreds of it might remain. I look forward to seeing you then!

Loving

Progress made toward inspiration! I’ve been having creative difficulties—call it writer’s block or burnout, whatever you like—and it’s been an uphill battle to try and regain some of myself. But I have made quantifiable progress, which I’m absolutely loving. I’m going to have to start limiting how many new projects I create, which is always preferable to not having any new projects! For whatever reason I’ve been working on weird niches that I’ve never written before: motorcycle club romance, paranormal romance, Greek-inspired urban fantasy… and those are only the ones that I have written enough of to merit moving from one long text file into Scrivener (novel-writing software). Who knows, maybe I’ll work on these and have a portfolio to offer an agent when I finally finish a fantasy novel. (Preferably a complete fantasy manuscript, a revised draft of book two, and a fleshed-out outline of book three.)

Reading

I’ve been reading a lot lately, much of it for Advanced Reader Copy reviews. Most of those get posted to Amazon (once the book goes live, that is), so you can find my latest reviews here (https://www.amazon.com/gp/profile/amzn1.account.AG62XRUCPYMBPDZNBPJ23HM5SFLA) if you’re interested. (Sorry, I don’t know how to filter that for only books, so there are other purchase reviews on the feed, too.) More reviews coming as soon as the books launch. I’m on a constant search for new talent, mostly indie authors, so if you have a book coming out do let me know!

Listening To

I’m having an Enya thing. I get sick of Enya, but then out of nowhere I spend a couple days with all my Enya music on shuffle. So sue me. I guess I did listen to Bach’s Lute Suite and Lute Partita yesterday, but that was kinda on a whim. I went back to Enya this morning.

Wishing

Can I get a few extra hours in the day, please? I feel like I’m so far behind in life that I’ll never get caught up. I’m sure that’s just fatigue talking, but if i could get another six hours a day, or heck, another day for 30/8 weekly… that would really help me out. My writing might not have a whole lot more time just based on how much brainpower I have in a given day, but there’s a lot more than my writing to catch up with.

Anticipating

Camp NaNoWriMo is coming up in April!

I can’t believe we’ve already made it into March—normally this blog would’ve been posted on March 1st, so I’m already late on this, too. But with Camp coming up, I have to think ahead to what I want to write, if I want to write anything at all, and I have a few projects that could use another twenty thousand words each if I’m not ready to commit to any one idea in particular. So much writing, so little time!

And then there’s the local (Boston) area Discord server I run, and I usually try to figure out what “events” might be worth trying to plan. (Write-ins are less useful in text format, but sprints and word wars are always good.) It becomes a whole time sink, just me staring into space thinking about all the fun I have with NaNoWriMo.

Making Me Happy

I’ve been able to spend time online with friends lately, which is both a relief and a pleasure. With burnout and health issues piling on, I’d gotten to the point I was barely managing one thing a day before I retreated into books or went straight to bed and napped the day away. Being back, even if it’s just been a few days in a row here, makes all the difference in the world. I love you guys! I’m so happy to be able to socialize again.

Stay safe, be well!
~Marie

Currently

I’ve had a rough month. It’s sad that I’m tempted to add “as usual”, but it really has been rough for several months, December being rock bottom. It’s taken me most of January to even write anything again, and I’m still losing a lot of time to engaging books because I can’t make myself care enough to try and force writing or anything else I should be doing. (My apartment is a chaotic mess, still, and it’s a lot better than it was.)

Loving

The sunshine! I am so sick of grey weather and darkness. It was dark by 4PM here at the winter solstice, between sunset and cloudy skies. Even the frigid temperatures (it “feels like” 15F right now) aren’t enough to upset me when the sun is shining so much lately. I actually feel awake and more aware compared to December’s misery.

Reading

I’ve read a ridiculous number of ebooks this past month. Goodreads has 65, and I’ve only posted my ratings for the first two weeks of the year. Mind you, not all these books are full-length novels. In fact, most of them haven’t been. Novellas and short stories for the most part, I’ve been digging up new authors via free “book” giveaways, and it seems like there’s a mix of “I don’t want to give away full-length books” authors and “I can sell this on Amazon, so that totally counts as a book” authors. One guess which group I enjoy more.

A lot of this has been romance and even erotica, which I started looking for last summer as part of my attempts to be a better ghostwriter for the client who had me writing romance novels. I guess I’ve gotten hooked on them at this point, and since most of them end with a happily ever after/feel-good ending, I can pretty much count on romance books in my future. I’ve also found some epic fantasy and science fiction novels, but the majority have been romance… I think there’s a much bigger supply, whether I think there’s actually that much demand or not. Unfortunately that also means there’s a lot more chaff to weed out, but it’s worth it for some of these stories. I’ve even reached out to a few authors and offered my editing/proofreading services. If they’re good enough and the story has enough depth, it’s definitely worth my time to offer to help out, even if I only get one response in fifty.

Listening To

It’s weird, I’ve been listening to the two Moxy Früvous albums I own constantly, or I’m listening to instrumentals, a good piece of which are classical albums I haven’t listened to in a while. Kinda rediscovering them as I scroll through my iTunes library. Had to go out of my way to come up with something else to listen to while I’m writing this, and the a cappella album is easily as old as the Moxy Früvous albums (’90s).

Thinking About

I had to cancel a ghostwriting contract I was in the middle of due to the way December and then January played out, and I’m starting to fidget. I want to pick it back up, but I also don’t think I trust myself to be stable quite yet. Each time I remember I wanted to pick it back up, I get a migraine or some other life drama hits me, to the point I’ve forgotten about it most of January. I’d like to try and plan out how to get started again with that, but I’ve had enough trouble getting blog posts written that I don’t know if I can. I think my writing blog on efromson.com is going to be bimonthly as of now, and I’m debating if my short stories may need to get cut back to twice monthly also, in favor of getting back into writing that pays me something.

Wishing

I’ve wished a lot of things haven’t happened this winter. It’s not realistic, but the thoughts do still occur to me. Lately it’s been more that I wish I was recovering faster, but grief doesn’t really have a timeline. Still, it’s frustrating that I can’t put myself back together again.

Anticipating

I’m getting closer to publication concerns like pitching a fantasy novel to agents. I’ve got some work to do so I am far enough ahead in books two and three that I’m satisfied I could keep up a loose schedule of some kind. My book three outline leaves quite a bit to be desired at present, let me tell you. (Insert a lot of rolling of the eyes and heavy sighing here.) I’d like to try and pitch to an agent before I’m finished, but at the same time I want to be far enough ahead that I can try to ghostwrite at the same time as working on my own books. Tough balance to figure out when I haven’t been writing at all.

Making Me Happy

My cat, Honey, has been nursing me a considerable amount this winter, to the point she’s getting spoiled. If I don’t spend at least a couple hours daily with her in my lap, she acts like I’m being selfish. It’s amusing but annoying, but I love her. Her antics when she’s trying to get my attention are getting more elaborate, too, which makes me laugh. Toy mice getting tossed around are good for daily smiles, and talkative (if whiny), meowing comments tend to break into any depressed trains of thought easily. She’s an angel, and I love that she can make me smile or laugh no matter what’s going on in my life.

I hope to have some new short stories to post soon, even if I am not really loving anything I’ve been writing lately. Did anyone like the first part of Danger Magnet that I posted? I feel like it’s got a Supernatural meets Buffy vibe going, and I’ll definitely flesh out more of the characters as I go. There’s a lot going on in even part one, and plenty I’ve set up to work on later. Rhydderck’s Journal is obviously still going (part 7 posted Saturday), though in the middle of part 9 I’m a bit stuck. I think I had a plan for the next part, but frankly I’ve forgotten what it was. Oops.

Stay safe, everyone. Cheers,
~Marie

Currently

In short, my December sucked. I don’t want to drag down this post, but I lost both my grandparents in a period of three weeks. Had a potential covid exposure brought to my attention Christmas Eve, too. Suffice to say it’s been a really rough week.

Loving

My cat, Honey, has been nursing me for the last week as my emotions have been all over the place and that tends to cause migraines. There’s been a lot of curling up under a blanket with a book and my cat these last few weeks, whether in my armchair or in bed.

Reading

I have read a ridiculous amount this last month – my kindle is “heavier” by a good two hundred books. I’ve been trying to find new authors to love, so I’ve been going through a lot of reader magnet offers (the “read this one for free to get hooked on my series” type of giveaways). A few I’d purchased at some point when they were on the bestseller list or recommended to me, but most were freebies as my lack of funds is prohibitive. It’s been mixed success, but the majority are decent. I started with romance as market research for my ghostwriting, but expanded into fantasy and scifi to satisfy myself. (Admittedly there are a lot more erotic romance authors trying to make their mark from what I’ve found so far.) The ones that have stood out lately were Blaze Ignites by J.L. Madore (adult fantasy), Storm Glass by Jeff Wheeler (fantasy), Rooter by Teiran Smith (bad boy romance), and Dreamthief by Tamara Grantham (adult fantasy).

Watching

I’ve watched a few Marvel movies in the last couple weeks, but I’ve been eyeing Disney movies from my childhood, like Aladdin and Mulan. I don’t have Disney Plus, so I’m not sure how many I can find, but Disney may be my next kick, instead of more “adult” movies. I don’t care if they’re made for kids, happily-ever-after (HEA) movies are emotional support. Moana is on my agenda for tonight once I get a few things done!

Listening To

Scattered music, mostly things I listened to growing up. My parents have eclectic tastes, especially with mom having gotten her Master’s in piano performance and dad singing with the Tanglewood Festival Chorus (the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s epic chorus) for years. I think the last classical music I listened to was Mozart, but I couldn’t remember for sure so I started listening to Bach’s Lute Suite in E minor. Before that was Joni Mitchell’s Blue album, Moxy Früvous’ Bargainville and You Will Go To The Moon, the soundtrack from the first Shrek movie, and a compilation album of my dad’s favorite a cappella music some years back.

Thinking About

It’s a new year, and I’d really like to make plans to make it so much better than 2020 ever was. At the same time, I don’t want to rush some of the emotional healing that’s taking longer than I expected. I’d like to be able to memorialize my grandparents in prose, which would probably be the best way for me to heal, but each time I start trying to brainstorm how, I get lost thinking about them and how much I miss them. I guess I’m not quite ready yet.

Still, goals help motivate me, so hopefully I’ll come up with something I could try and publish – I’d like to get a short story published in a paid market, but my writing has floundered the last month and I really don’t have any that I’m so crazy about I think they’d be worth publishing. New ideas are eluding me at present, too. I’ll probably make that a longer-term goal, like aim for having an idea by the end of March, and that way if I’ve written the story by then I’ll be cheered up, rather than the reverse if I have not.

Wishing

I wish I’d had more time to send my grandfather a last story before he died the 29th. I’ve mostly talked myself out of the guilty feeling that I had when I saw the half-finished project (I was hand-writing the Rhydderck’s Journal entries I’ve posted some of here into a slim journal to give him the whole collection at once), but at the same time I still wish I’d been able to give it to him. Both my grandparents have loved anything I’ve written, and at one point I gave them early drafts of a couple of the novels that I’d started. I was able to tell them both that I’d been paid for writing a novel (back in October), even if it was ghostwritten and not yet published, so that much was a big milestone I’m glad they were around to see.

Anticipating

Honestly just the fact that it’s no longer 2020 has been keeping me looking ahead. It’s nothing more than an arbitrary change based on humanity trying to impose structure on nature, so there’s not that much difference between Thursday and today, but I’ll take it anyway.

Making Me Happy

It’s indulgent, but I’m going to make potatoes au gratin for my main dish tonight. I’ll probably eat far too much of it (neither cheese nor carbs are really helping my waistline shrink), but I don’t care. I haven’t been cooking for a while now, I’ve been eating mostly quick and easy things that just need heating up or can be eaten right out of the package. Not the best nutrition, but better than nothing. It makes me happy that I want to make this tonight.

Looking Ahead

I use the BestSelf Co. Self Journal and Planner that are focused on mindfulness as much as scheduling, and I just completed my quarterly reflection for October through December. Most of my plans for the new year consist of getting back on schedule and increasing the stability that’s been so lacking at the end of 2020 for various reasons. Even though I wanted to have published something myself by now, I’ve let my goals take a back seat at least until I feel more stable. I actually had to cancel my ghostwriting contract this month, which makes me feel awful, but hopefully if I take January to get back to vague stability, I could restart it at that point if my client will have me. Since I was in the middle of book two and had thoughts about a book three to make a neat trilogy of the books I’ve written for that client, I certainly hope so. But I’m going to focus on rebuilding things like my consistent blog-posting schedule before I think too hard about anything else. If I want to make progress, I need to have a strong foundation to build upon.

I don’t think I will be writing anything immediately, so I probably won’t have another short story posted until mid-January, but I hope to return to actively writing soon. I certainly hope everyone has a much better year than the last, and happy not-2020 to all!

Cheers,
~Marie

Currently

Whew! It’s December, which means I don’t have to think about National Novel Writing Month for at least two months! (March will be prep for April’s Camp NaNoWriMo, if I have a project at that point and am not in the middle of another book in this series.) As usual, December feels almost like a let down, even though the energy I had for NaNo petered out about the time I hit 50k on the 22nd. Now I just have to convince myself that it’s not a let down, it’s a chance to relax.

A quick update on this blog’s status: due to holidays coming up and some health issues, I plan to post three short stories on Saturdays and then take a break until after the new year. This will let me take some personal time to work on the project that is already getting a lot of time devoted to it (it’s weird to have that much inspiration with no idea where it’s leading) and finish up a number of things that need doing, including the first draft of my ghostwriting.

Loving

I mentioned it last weekend, but I’m really loving the fantasy romance idea that came to me while I was trying to focus on my ghostwriting project. When I hit a hitch with the ghostwriting that required rethinking instead of more words, I started writing the fantasy concept to keep having words written each day. I’m not sure if I should be embarrassed the fantasy romance is now longer than my ghostwritten novel thus far, or if that is a good thing. It’s a little scary how fast this has fallen together, but perhaps it says something about my growth as a writer that I can now have an idea and pants the heck out of it while still liking what’s coming out of my head 25 thousand (plus) words in.

Reading

I haven’t read as much as I should lately. I’ve mostly been rereading the work I’ve done during the day, so I’m sure it was what I wanted and get it a little more cemented in my head for the next day. That’s not uncommon for National Novel Writing Month, so I’m not all that surprised, but I’d been planning to start reading some of the previous work of my client’s so I could work on getting better at mimicking the style. Ghostwriting is going well for me, I’m just not as good at it yet as I’d like. Despite having it written in my day planner every day, I still haven’t started the book. I guess I’ll have to use the coming days better; with NaNo over I should be able to read other material again, right?

Watching

I’ve watched a ridiculous amount of the show Body of Proof in the last week or so. A friend mentioned it to me recently (I’d never heard of it), and once I started watching, I couldn’t stop. I was crocheting a lap blanket at first, but once I’d finished that I have been less able to use my hands, and I’ve had to stop in the middle of an episode because I was fidgeting too much. I guess I need a new crochet project! The mouse toy in the picture worked well but my hands didn’t like the more dextrous work that’s required to finish those. Loose and relaxed projects are more my speed with the arthritis acting up.

Listening To

I’ve been waking up with songs stuck in my head a lot lately (at least when I’m not feeling awful). This ranges from music I listened to in high school like the Moxy Früvous albums I rediscovered in the middle of November, to Broadway musicals and even Phantom of the Opera. The wide range tends to mean I get lost in random music a bunch, and it’s pretty hard to guess what I’ll be listening to next. I did get linked to the amazing group Gregorian toward the end of NaNoWriMo, and they’ve featured prominently. They do gregorian rock covers of other music, so I often end up going and listening to that music, too.

Thinking About

Holidays. I’m not really sure how the holidays are going to work this year, much like Thanksgiving was different between phone calls and cautious gathering. I don’t mind doing the virtual family gathering thing, in fact it has cut down on some family drama to do it that way. But it does feel like something’s lacking. I also haven’t had time, energy, or money to really do much in the way of gifts for anyone, so I’m sort of feeling guilty, even if I know everyone is in similar straits; my family will understand, it’s my own conscience that’s nudging me. I’m trying to get some knit cat toys boxed up and shipped to people, but I never finished them all because of bed bug issues that have been coming and going for months. Since I have recently had bed bugs again, I’m not entirely sure I should be making anything else. I already sent all the knit shells (not the stuffing) through the hot dryer just in case, so those are fine. They’re just incomplete and they don’t do me any good sitting there unfinished in a sealed baggie staring at me.

Wishing

I really wish it didn’t get dark so early. Daylight Savings would at least give me an hour more of daylight each day, rather than being black by 4:30pm. It feels disjointed, somewhat, trying to structure my day when the hours don’t really feel like single units. My cat would certainly be happier with me if I fed her in time with sunup and sundown, but then she would be happier if I fed her more, period. I have trouble when I start yawning about 3:30pm and expect to actually get more things done after it’s dark out. Lately I’ve been lucky just making it to dinnertime, I haven’t even been trying to complete as many tasks as I would like to. It just makes the days less useful, more sleepy, and that gets me nowhere with things I’d like to be doing but can’t find time around things I must do.

Anticipating

I’m starting a treatment plan tomorrow that I have a lot of hope will do me a lot better than it did back in February and March. Any benefits I got from it were pretty unstable because covid immediately made me crash with stress and anxiety instead of the treatment kicking in when it should have. I know I may be kinda low energy for a couple weeks, but after that I’m anticipating a lot more energy and drive to do things which will be a nice boost for the darkest days of the year, and holidays, too. I’m really crossing my fingers that this time I get the full benefits, which are reputed to last indefinitely. That would be so amazing, I can’t even fully comprehend what having more energy would look like—I have been having health problems since I was 13, and I’m now 33. I don’t even remember what more energy or better days was like at this point. Here’s hoping this makes the difference I’m seeking!

Making Me Happy

I really love that my National Novel Writing Month regional community was online this year. I know it’s necessary, because of covid, but it’s also made it easier to have spur-of-the-moment gatherings and write-ins, and more conversation in general. Even on days when that derailed my schedule because I spent so much time writing with them, it really made it a great day. I’m blessed to have a great region and active writers that all encourage one another the entire way along, with or without reaching 50k words. I’m hoping we can continue the trend after November now that we would be meeting while in our own homes instead of trying to get to mutually beneficial locations around Boston (which is harder than it sounds). I’ve started a conversation about post-NaNo events and points of interest, and it sounds like a lot of people are very interested in keeping the enjoyable community going, which really makes me happy. I live on my computer, and having a writing community right there will make a difference. The region is varied enough in writers and writing that it seems like there’s always someone who writes or wants to write what you’re having issues with, bounce ideas, and generally help everyone write and be motivated to enjoy whatever writing they may do. I love you all, NaNoBoston, if any of you are reading this!

Here’s hoping that this month I’ll be able to keep writing with some forward momentum despite totally losing momentum when I hit 50k, and that I will manage to make myself take time to relax. (My body informs me that yes, relaxing is a required activity.)

Cheers and Happy Holidays!
~Marie

NaNoWriMo Update: Week 4

Okay, I may have gotten a little burnt out. I think it’s as much trying to push myself to write every day without fail that bumps up my headache-prone tension level as it is not taking days off. Normally when I’m ghostwriting I tend to work six days a week and then not at all Sundays (unless of course I had to take a day mid-week for a migraine, in which case I work the Sunday instead). That has been the best working schedule I have been able to work out for my current functional level. Not taking those days off and pushing myself to do more during the day, every day, and try to motivate others in my writing circles… it wasn’t the greatest idea, and it has worn me out. Next NaNo I may try to set up a similar schedule to my work schedule, with only a token amount of writing on the days off to keep my streak going.

Health

As I already said, I’m pretty burnt out. I haven’t done too badly, at least in my opinion, because the headache I had was just tension, not a true migraine that would lay me low for a day or three. I’ll take what I can get. I’ve also managed to get several doctor’s appointments wrapped up and scheduled a treatment plan that I expect will help me a good deal, so I’m feeling pretty optimistic about that. I just need to slow down for the last few days of November so I don’t tip myself into another headache.

Of course the weather had to be warmer just when I needed to start using my heating pad for low back issues. It’s rather unpleasant to be hot and sweaty when it’s below 60F and not moving. I should be better at doing my simple qi gong routine in spite of things like back pain, but I’m really not. It’s a struggle to make myself start doing it again, and if I start too soon I just end up making my back worse.

Happiness

I’ve really enjoyed writing a fantasy romance project that came out of nowhere in the first week of NaNo. It was one of those ideas that tend to happen as soon as you’re trying to focus on your NaNoWriMo project, and I started writing it expecting it to be a short story for my blog. I’m now over 25k into it, and it’s definitely not going to be short. I’ve barely scratched the surface. (This is the story I mentioned last week when I loaded 12k or so into Scrivener to start working on it as a novel instead of random scenes.) I’m absolutely loving it. I like the way both characters (the romantic partners) have started revealing more of their gooey centers to one another in private, even if they aren’t very open in public with anything yet. I think that’s going to play a role in what the heroine’s job will be as more plot happens and the hero’s job gets more complex. I’m not certain where it’s going still, but little things like that are starting to register, so I am getting some idea where the plot may lead. I am really pleased with the way this started, because while it throws you straight into the action, it also prevents a whole lot of forward plot progress at the same time (the heroine was very sick and has to spend time recovering), which makes it easier to design the fantasy setting I’m completely making up on the fly.

Best Moment of the Week

I hit 50k last Sunday. I’m writing still, but there’s something about reaching a goal and celebrating that sticks with you. I’ve had a boring day immediately afterward where I’m not going to admit how few words I wrote on Monday, but that was probably just recovery time because I was so nuts the day before. Oddly enough, I’ve also had 5k-word days, but those don’t have recovery time. Not sure if that’s because I probably had a major brainwave to hit 5k, so didn’t struggle to put words on the page that pushed me harder than necessary, or if there’s some other reason. Maybe I just spaced out my writing better. I know I did on Thanksgiving, trying to insert breaks in between lots of sprints/word wars of my fantasy romance.

Worst Moment of the Week

I had a pretty rough start to the week. Even though I hit 50k on Sunday, I was feeling really lousy by the end of the day (only wrote 2100 words instead of my hyperactive 5k-word days), and that continued through the beginning of the week. I’m starting to wonder if I actually am getting migraines without pain, just the braindead side effects. (Hard to say for sure, I can get some of those symptoms from other issues I have.) I know my mother started getting them later in her life, so it wouldn’t exactly surprise me if I got them, too. It’s just irritating that I either have mood issues that act up more than average and wipe out days at a time, or I have a new kind of migraine to fight with just after getting rid of another trigger—I had been doing better, and no migraines with aura at all. What’s worse, if I start contemplating that while I’m at a special low, I can’t get out of the cycle of unpleasantness. That just made it harder, and I’m not sure if that was part of the cycle or something I made worse by myself.

I hope everyone in the US had a good and safe Thanksgiving! I’m crossing my fingers we don’t end up with a spike in covid cases like Canada did, but with the way people have been acting a lot lately, I really don’t know if that’s worth hoping for. Just because there are vaccines in the works does not mean you can stop wearing your masks and social distancing, people! I’ve been confining myself to my apartment even more stringently than before because I’ve seen so many people ignoring all of the guidelines for staying safe. One person refusing to wear a mask who gets close to me (as I’m high-risk) could mean months of sickness and recovery for me, if I could even depend on recovering. (And no, I’m not just being melodramatic.) Please, think about the people around you. Some of us can’t afford to get covid at all for the risks it would create with already existing conditions.

Cheers,
~Marie

NaNoWriMo Update: Week 3

How goes the battle, Wrimos? This week has been pretty hectic for me, I’m not entirely sure why. My days are fairly straightforward at this point, as I’m only really focusing on three things: X number of words for NaNo, one other major task for the day, and one thing checked off my housework to-do list. (This was a strategy I mentioned in last week’s update; it has worked quite well, at least until the hectic days.) That seems like it ought to be easy, but it really hasn’t been! I did hit 40k on Tuesday, which felt pretty good. I’m a little sorry to say that I hit 20k of my ghostwriting project the day before that (Monday), so of all the words I’ve written, only half of them are for the project that should’ve been primary. Oops? I’ve also gotten rather stuck in that project, since I apparently missed a few things when I outlined… like the hero’s and heroine’s goals are so contrary, there is no middle ground between them.

Health

I’ve been doing pretty well, but I’ve started noticing that the longer I go into NaNoWriMo, the more tension I’m storing in my neck and shoulders. Either I’m not sleeping as well (which is true) or I’m not doing as well relaxing in the evenings as I’d thought (also very much true the longer this week dragged on). I’m also not eating as well, or at least I wasn’t until I realized that early this week and made an active effort to do better. I did order take-out at one point, so that didn’t help, but at least it got me focusing on food again. Caffeine and protein bars are not actually a balanced diet. Who knew?

I also realized I was feeling dragged out because I ran out of multivitamins and failed to actually open the next bottle. I dug that out and made sure I was also drinking electrolyte water more during the day (one 500mL bottle minimum, two is better). I hate being an advertisement, but Propel has really made a difference in my chronic fatigue. My body dumps electrolytes along with the inflammatory marker it’s trying to get rid of, and putting some back makes a major difference.

Happiness

My cat Honey had been sulking a bunch last week, and I think I was neglecting her a little. I’d throw toys and laugh as she chased them all over, but then I’d sit at my desk and pretty much not move except to give her lunch and dinner. I have remedied that somewhat, and I am now making sure to spend time petting her in the middle of the day, throwing toys while she’s active and interested, and it’s really making a difference in how much I smile and laugh. I can’t even say how little I was smiling on a daily basis before, but it wasn’t this much. I heartily recommend finding something that makes you smile every day! Your overall mood gets a boost each time you do, in my opinion.

Best Moment of the Week

Best writing moment was on Thursday, when I took the random story start I had written earlier in the month and loaded it into Scrivener. It’s gotten far more elaborate, with strange worldbuilding – I don’t normally write fantasy of this variety. Most of my fantasy settings are humans in medieval times with magic or monsters, probably from my Dungeons & Dragons background. Even if I do branch out from humans, it tends to be in a rather D&D-esque way; elves and dwarves and the like live among the humans. This story is elemental fae, magic, and currently in the capital of the water kingdom where the main character was about to be sold as a slave until a magus (to whom she reacted with terror, so I’ve more worldbuilding yet to come to develop the reason why) saw some strange magical disease/poison in her and interrupted things. It’s also more than a little explicit, which is amusing but I’m not entirely sure where it’s coming from – it’s mostly relevant, but still a bit out of left field. It’s fun to get out of my comfort zone, but I find myself wondering where the story is going.

I guess I did too much planning for NaNo this year; my pantser self decided I was going to pants a novel whether I liked it or not. I’m definitely enjoying it, so I shouldn’t complain too much. It’s just a bit of a disconnect when I go from writing a structured story to random words that seem to be going somewhere but I’ve no idea where.

Worst Moment of the Week

Bureaucracy and bed bugs. I got so angry I gave myself a migraine and ruined several days in a row with pain and irritability. I’m going to leave it at that.

It’s actually beautiful today, instead of being freezing out (literally), so I’m going to kick myself outside to run some errands. I hope wherever you are the weather isn’t too chaotic. Sunshine is really nice. Stay safe, be healthy.

Cheers,
~Marie