Where does your blogging inspiration come from? My dream in life is to be a published author. Not only that, but to have people say, “Did you read the new book out by Rachel Rennie? It’s awesome. I can’t wait for the next one.” I doubt that I will ever be on the same realm of Stephen King, and because I write romance, chances are I would never even share a shelf with him. In seeking publication for my novel “Candle Lake” I was told I needed an author platform. I needed to build an audience. And the more I write, the better I feel. To know that I am sharing my stories and imagination with people all over the world is exciting and rewarding. Is your blogging simply a hobby? What kind of dreams do you have for it? Yes it is a hobby. One day, writing will be my full time career. And my blog will be where I showcase my work and sell my books. What is your support system like and who are your biggest supporters? My biggest supports are my husband and our children. Who supports me other than them? Strangers around the world! My friends on Google+. What are 10 random facts about you? (Eeeek!) 1. Growing up in a small northern town I was completely out of place and my accent didn’t match. I had adapted everyone’s accent and made it my own! 2. I love to organize everything but for some reason find it difficult to organize my time! 3. The very first book I ever wrote was when I was in college. Sadly, the 3.5” floppy disk it was one got broken. 4. I have a poem published in Washington at the court house. I wrote it when I was 12. Being young, I never kept a copy of it. 5. My oldest son and I have been involved in Scouting for 5 years! I was a Scout Leader for 2.5 years then became the Group Commissioner. It saddened me to have to resign from this position after 2.5 years. 6. I hate bugs and camping but am more of a Scout mom then I am a dance mom! The first time I had to do my daughter’s stage make up I was so nervous. 7. I used to work as a Document Control Supervisor with an Engineering firm in the Oil & Gas Industry. I now work in Health Care as an admin assistant. 8. Since I was little, I always said I would have four babies. 9. In my mind’s eye I am an awesome dancer. It’s too bad my feet don’t follow along! 10. I love that my kids have adapted my love for books and will never punish them for wanting to read, “just one more page mommy” when we all know that it means another chapter! What do you enjoy most about blogging? To be able to share my stories with the world at no cost. Knowing that people are enjoying my writing. It is a sense of acceptance in a way. A sense of worth. What do you do when you feel overwhelmed with too many tasks at once? Panic. Write notes so I make sure I don’t forget anything. Then happily check off the items with a sense of accomplishment! What would you do with a large sum of money given to you? What would I NOT do?!! What was one of the most moving books or movies you have ever seen? I will never forget when I saw Passion of the Christ. I was so angry and sad. Reading the Bible is one thing, to see it brought to “life” puts it on a completely different level. “Love you Forever” by Robert Munsch is the most moving book for me. My husband gave it to me for Mother’s Day, which is also our oldest son’s birthday. I read it to my son every night at bedtime for two years. Then I read it to both him and his younger sister every night for two years. And then to them and their younger sister every night for two years! And then…I had I memorized and just said it to all four of my children all of the time and still do! As the children got older though, we also needed to read the Harry Potter series as well as MANY other books! Do you have a bucket list? Name 5 things on that. 1. To go on a cross Canada trip in a motorhome with my family. 2. To take a train ride through the mountains with my family. 3. To write full time and quit my day job. 4. To own a large house where our kids will return to with their babies. 5. To have a honeymoon Where would you like to see yourself in the next couple of years? 2 years? Published! 5 years? Buying a home and helping our oldest into college/university (yikes) What is your single best piece of advice for someone starting out in the blogging world? Be honest and true to yourself. Put forth your best effort. It is a reflection of who you are. I would like to nominate these bloggers:
1. Matt Banner – Want to know something about blogging? Look him up! And I love how he interacts with his readers. 2. Paul White – A writer who always posts something that I enjoy reading. 3. Luna Darcy – Always posting things I can relate to and makes me smile. Also, it’s all in the name “Organized Lunacy”. Apologies to my other fellow bloggers who I hugely respect but I probably didn’t choose you as you’ve already been nominated. And to the nominees, please feel free to ignore this nomination, you may very well have been nominated before and I just don’t know about it – but I for one would be interested in putting you in the hot-seat!
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It is an honour and a privilege to be invited to guest-post on the lovely Rachel Rennie's blog. And now all I have to ensure is that I don't put off her regular readers with my sheer randomness (but I'm afraid that's what I do...randomness, that is, not put people off...not intentionally, anyway). Since Rachel is writing a wonderful fictional series on her blog entitled 'Cold', in which the heroine is ever a bit chilly and needs to wear more clothes than the average person, well I thought I could identify with that - which makes a handy link to today’s random post. Because I am infamous for being cold (temperature-wise, not in temperament...well no, sometimes I'm that too). Here in England, the season of summer is a short and wondrous thing. I do not exaggerate when I say that our former few summers have endured the sum-total of 2 weeks. And then that's that; back to endless winter. Honestly, we are still harping on about the summer of 1977 - a long and blisteringly hot heat-wave; that's how rarely it happens here. If you're English, you'll back me up on that. But when we are graced with summer (very often it's in May or June while July and August [when the kids are on school holidays] pretty much sucks), everything changes. At the first hint of warmth, people prance from their houses with gay abandon in their droves, clad in...well, far too little. This is a bit of a bugbear of mine because 'cautiousness' is my middle name. I don't like to be caught out. When summer first shows its face I am scornful, ‘ha, summer? I laugh in your general direction!’. As I drive past the sea of people sporting their short-shorts and vest-tops I narrow my eyes and I scoff at their naïvety. I shout to myself, ‘it’s too soon for that! Put it away!’. It takes approximately two weeks of consistent heat for me to believe that, actually, summer has indeed arrived and it may be time to put away my parka coat and knee-high boots. So I gingerly slope off to the wardrobe and scour through to see what items of light-weight clothing I have left from the last time warm weather graced our fair isle. And even then I am judicious and mindful of making an error. ‘I may just adorn that pair of shorts – but not with a vest! That is just too much flesh on show for one day! Hmm, yes I do like that vest – but not with that short skirt! Put on some skinny jeans, girl! You know the rules!’ . Or, ‘Gosh, it is hot today...Havaianas or Birkenstocks? Have you gone completely insane?! Does this look like the Sahara to you? Converse at the VERY MOST!’. You see, the coming of warmth creates a huge internal struggle within me. Even though the voice of reason in my head is screaming at me to wear less apparel, the jaded realist who has just survived another arctic winter, bundled up in the largest coat, scarf and hat that money can buy...well; she just can’t accept it. I’ve always been somewhat prone to the effects of cold but when I lost a couple of stone in weight a few years ago, things became far worse. Friends now mock me. I kid you not; I am openly mocked due to my penchant for too many garments for the current climate. But that is my way - I cannot be cold. If you asked me which extreme temperature I would rather be the cause of my untimely death, well I’d say neither; but if I had to choose – I’d rather the heat kill me. And yes, you ridiculers, I’d rather carry around an enormous bag containing extra clothing for myself and my children than be caught unawares! I’ll have the last laugh, you’ll see! So just to recap – being cold is not an option. And if I’ve made a heinous mistake and come out of the house in less items of clothing than is optimal, I like to reassure myself that my neck and my feet are protected. I won’t have a cold neck or cold feet; that’s just basic common sense. In fact, I’ve already decided on the epitaph to be chiselled into my tombstone (and you’re welcome to borrow this for yours if you feel the same way); ‘She came, she saw, she mourned. She wished she’d brought a cardigan’. (c) Adele Archer A big thank you to Adele Archer for honoring me with a Guest Post on my site.
Please visit Adele's blog to read more of her writing and to learn more about "International Relations" check it out on Amazon. Please comment below and tell me if you enjoyed Adele's writing as much as I do, and if you too are cold and overdressed, like us! I asked someone I love and respect for some advice. His response was simple. “Accept who you are and the struggles you face” Perfection is not realistic. Choices must be made. Consequences are the outcomes of those choices. There are good consequences and bad. Mistakes are sometimes made. Not learning from those mistakes is the biggest mistake of all. “You must accept yourself to feel worthy” You can choose to be a victim of fate or a survivor of consequences. Accept yourself and your imperfections. “Who are you and what do you stand for” I, am Rachel. Wife and mother of four. What I stand for, is family. My family, the one I created with my husband. The husband who I chose. They are my world and what is most important to me. To me, this means, being supportive and fair, compassionate and understanding; teaching morals and ethics, respect and empathy, honesty and confidence. Although I was raised that in speaking the truth you may hurt another persons’ feelings and therefore you were rude and disrespectful, I want to teach my children to always be honest and truthful. If it offends or hurts, an apology that it was not intended to should suffice. In most circumstances. I want my children to always believe in themselves, to do what is good and right, and to follow their dreams. To instill these qualities, I have a responsibility to portray them all the same, with confidence. “How will I define my truth” “How will I be proud of my truth and live it” If my speaking of the truth hurts your feelings, that says more about you than it does me and that is not my problem to solve, UNLESS, you are my husband or child. If I have to question your motives for wanting to be a part of my life and the life of my children, other than for the simple fact that you love us and want to be a part of our lives, then you do not deserve a place in it. And I definitely should not be left feeling guilty for not meeting the needs of your hidden motives. There are many games in life that require competition. Being a good person, a good wife and a good mother is not one of those. I accept that we all parent differently, we define friendship differently and we all cope with stress differently. I will not listen to your stories and follow them with a story of my own showcasing how I did better than you. If this is what you want of me or what you want to do to me, move along. I have more enjoyable things to do than to compete with you. If you need me for something but I am honestly overwhelmed with my family and I need to say no, I will say no. I will not apologize for saying no. Just as I have to accept when others are not available to me, others must accept the same of me. I will stop being afraid. I will believe in myself that I am capable of making the right choices for me and my family. I will have faith that no matter the consequences of my choices, good or bad, I will survive. I accept that this will not always be easy and that I will be tested at times. But I also accept that my livelihood and the livelihood of my family depends on my commitment to living my truth. To ensure that I stay true to myself and live my truth, I will take time to myself every day and reflect. (c) Rachel Rennie I have been so focused on editing Candle Lake for the past couple of weeks since my son got home from the hospital that I have not spent much time writing. With editing, it is bitter sweet. I know that the purpose is to cut the fluff that doesn't add to the story but in fact slows the story down. But, I am a painter by nature. Meaning, I like to paint a picture rather than get straight to the point. So you can imagine how painful it is to edit. To read those words and think they sound great but then to look at them logically and ask the most important question that every writer must face. "Does this move the story forward?" Harder yet is when I know the answer is no. No equals a big red "X". Thinking I was done chopping up Candle Lake, I printed it off. The best way for me to ensure that the story still flowed, post cutting, was to read it in print. I found myself reading and reaching...for a pen. I wasn't done yet. I suppose when I first started this round of edits I was nicer to myself and let some scenes stay. But I know some of this stuff, it can't stay, it has got to go. This work needs to be my best work. Because once this edit is done it is being sent to a potential publisher. I want to send it with confidence, not question.
More so...I want to be done editing so I can go back to what I really love. Writing. Editing is a necessary part of being an author, but first you start with writing. And writing is what most authors love most about their craft. My New Years resolution for 2015 was to write daily. To help me do that I thought it would be nice to do daily reflections focusing on what made me smile. Not only is this good to ensure I write a little every day but it is also good for my heart and my spirit.
It's been just over a week and some days are easier than others to remember what made me smile. If you've read my previous post you'll know this is because I have been in the hospital with my son. A simple game of tag. A collision of teenage limbs. One massive injury. My son's body absorbed the impact. He says he didn't cry. But the sounds of his agony after every procedure will forever be in the back of my mind. Despite the current situation, there have been things that have made me smile. Made me thankful. I am thankful that although my son was out of town at a camp, we have a reliable vehicle that took us to him. It made me smile to see my son in one piece. I am proud of my other children and their compassion, empathy and patience. I have spent ever day and night at the hospital with short breaks at home. They don't complain but instead simply tell me they miss me and their brother. The hugs I get every day make me smile. The compassion and expertise of our care team makes me smile. Every day is a day towards recovery. A day closer to our normal. And who wouldn't smile at that. Be at peace. Find your smile and gratitude every day no matter the challenges you face. (C) Rachel Rennie I sit in a window seat overlooking the road and train station. Last night I watched in awe as it was pouring rain. Now it is sunny I see that last nights rain washed much of the snow away. Every five minutes a train goes by. There is always a car to be seen. People walk, enjoying our luck with weather.
It is the people that have me reflecting. There are singles, couples holding hands, parents with children. I watch from a window seat, looking down from above, my son at my side. I am reflecting right now because I should not be here. My son should not be here. The frantic call at eight pm on a Thursday night while we are about to get ready for bed. "Mrs. Rennie? Your son has been hurt." The call every parent dreads when their child is away at a group camp. The call that led the rest of my family to accompany me to a rural hospital ninety minutes from home. I drove that highway in the dark of night. Frantic to be at the side of my hurting child. Trying to keep my calm. To keep my other children safe on the highway as semi trucks passed us, pushing us with their strong drafts of wind. Trying to keep a brave front so as to not worry the other children. Many hours later we arrived back in the city. Two major surgeries later I sit in this window seat reflecting... Hold your loved ones close. Tell them you love them and tell them often. You never know what could happen even in the safest of environments. (C) Rachel Rennie I have spent my lunch hours this week editing my novel. My goal is to submit it for consideration in the spring. This is the fifth edit I have done. Yes, fifth. Some people would say it is a lot while others will say it is not enough.
My first edit was to focus on grammar and spelling. For me, this was a quick edit. The second edit I focused on dialogue. The third focused on ensuring my characters stayed, well, in character. The fourth was making sure I was showing not telling and maintaining flow. The fifth for me is the hardest. This edit I am focusing on, “does this move the story along or is it filler?” At 140,000 words, I have no room for filler. By standards this means I have about 50,000 words of filler. I will be honest; I don’t think I will be able to cut that much. So, as important as it is to do your edits so you can submit a polished manuscript, it is time consuming. And at times, heartbreaking! I want to write, to be published and to share my imagination. Most importantly, I want to do it well and to be memorable. So although my New Year’s resolution was to write every day, this counts towards that…doesn't it? Editing a manuscript is an important part of writing. |