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Showing posts from 2014

A Hiatus of Sorts

I've decided to take a break from blogging. I only have so many post-day job hours and right now my priority during that time is working my way towards publication.  Does this mean I'm completely away from social media? Definitely not. I'll still tweet , even though sporadically. Until I have a better handle on how to balance everything after 5, I need to focus where it counts. I hope to be back soon and I hope when I do come back, you all will still be around. Thanks for the understanding and the years of reading The Pie. -Alicia

A Small Pep Talk

Staying committed to your dreams is hard, especially when nothing is happening the way you think it should. Your process is too long. Feedback is mixed. LIFE constantly throws crap in your face. How the hell can you end up on top? Yes, I'm speaking from experience. Hair-pulling, head-slamming experience. In case you missed it, I've been at this writing thing for a long time. I've been with you, Lurkdom, for already six and a half years. In that time, I've trunked a novel, witnessed Nemesis self-publish his epic fail, and met tons of fantastic, committed writers who have pushed their way through the doldrums I'm stuck in. I've also watched a few of them pack it in, not able to deal with the heartache and frustration anymore. Even though the temptation to say "fuck it" and give in is so delicious, I haven't folded. Seeing my works in print is my dream. I work on keeping that in the forefront while I continue to query, research, write, revise

Loving Winter?

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Welcome to snowstorm 4,321,987 of the year! I bet you're ready for some summer now, huh? Don't worry, you're not alone in this. Here's the bad news: We have several more weeks of our current situation. If that true fact has you considering bodily harm, let me point out again you're not alone. I was over winter after the first storm. That's why I started listing things I like about winter. It's on Twitter and I try to post one thing a day. All of my tweets are dead-serious, no sarcasm. So far, I've shared: - snowmen with real scarves - The Stripey One snuggles a lot more - the way snow clings to conifers after a hearty snowfall - sunlight on freshly fallen snow - small dogs in sweaters, Corgis in particular - brightly colored winter scarves and hats I'll share one new thing per day until warmer times hit. If you want to join in, use the hash tag #winterlove.

Know Yourself for Better Efficiency

For the last month, I've been slogging through first round revisions for my self-dubbed "light and fun" YA contemporary, and it's been hell. The revision process has been so bad I recently had a weekend-long panic attack. While I'm known to tweet/FB things like "Revisions. Grrr...," I'm not opposed to the process. It's an accepted fact of the writer life. So the fact I struggled for breath just thinking about my WIP caused even more anxiety. I didn't think too much into the why of it all but over the last few days I've come to the conclusion that most of my recent tweaking is due to unrealistic expectations I set for myself. Despite what I said publicly , internally I kept my goal of revising this project in 31 days while working the day job and querying and handling life. The truth is, I couldn't. No matter how much I wanted it, I'm a 2-4 month revision girl. Because I set down something I couldn't realistically achieve,

Dear God, Really?

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I've been at a total loss in what to say here, so I figured I'd take some online quiz to share with you. So I did. The results aren't pretty. Your results: You are Robin Robin 64% Green Lantern 60% Supergirl 54% Catwoman 50% Wonder Woman 49% Superman 45% Batman 45% Spider-Man 40% The Flash 35% Iron Man 25% Hulk 20% Young and acrobatic. You don't mind stepping aside to give someone else glory. Click here to take the Superhero Personality Quiz Honestly, I don't know much about Robin other that what I retained from the 1960s TV show. (Note: This isn't much. And that I'm only 49% Wonder Woman? That's disappointing! I promise next time I'm here, I'll have something useful to say. In the meantime, take the quiz and share which superhero you are below!

Presenting the 2014 Quarterly Writing Life Game Plan

Oddly, I'm still on that "new year" kick. This baffles, so let's chalk it up to the clutch of bad years circa 2011 - 2013 and push on. Good? Good. Another big thing for me this year has to do with writing*. My goal for 2014 is to get to the next level in my writing career. I've spun my wheels for too long, not to mention The Timeframe That Must Not Be Named sucked out my soul, so now it's like do or die while I catch up from two years of my creative life. Alicia, stop bitching willya? Not bitching exactly, but more like explaining myself. Because when everything else has gone belly up, it is really a challenge to continue fighting that one more thing. So, this shiny goal begs the question how do you get your writing career to the next level? The answer: persistence. And a game plan. This sounds pretty simple, but then again the best plans should be so you're guaranteed to stick with them. As long as you have something mapped out and stick with

In Which I Actually Make New Year's Resolutions

For years, I've been anti-resolutions. They're too cliche. It's a load of bullshit. Blah blah blah. Still, there's something to be said about setting something down at the start of a new year. And because of the overall horrible downward trajectory my life has taken from October 2011 pretty much through the summer of 2013, I want 2014 to be a year of positivity. Don't worry, this isn't going to be one of *those* posts. My main goal for 2014 is to get back to social media. I miss Twitter. I miss Pinterest. I miss The Lurkdom. Now that I've finally adjusted to the new day job, I feel that I can incorporate it all back in my life. Which brings me to my second goal for the new year: Balance. It's so easy for me to get sucked into one particular part of life whether it's writing, Facebook games, reading... you get the picture. This year I want to be able to do all of this and remain sane. Oh, I'm also aiming to drop the ten pounds I already gain