Writer's Block

Writer's Block

The time in a writer's life when they can't seem to find an idea to write about. I go through fits of this. I took a class several years ago on writing children's books. I enjoyed the class, but there were times when the assignments would be something I had to make up from scratch, without any prompts. I would sit and think and think and wonder what to write about. Sometimes, I woudl put it away and not think about it for a few days and then an idea would just pop in my head. I would sit down and feverishly write until it was finished and boom, there was my story.

When I thought about writing a novel, rather than a children's book, it seemed like a task that I wouldn't be able to finish. I had so many ideas and has written some children's manuscripts, thinking I would send them in to a publisher and see what happened, but then this novel idea came up and I felt like it needed to be done. So I sat down and started it while in the waiting room when Shane was having the second surgery on his foot after he broke his ankle. This would've been in fall 2006 I think. I then took the time to take the idea I was writing about and it turned into an 83 page novel that was published in May 2007. It only took me three months to type the manuscript. I have read many times how some author's can write a novel for years while the plot develops, while the characters get personality, etc. For some reason, the characters in my story were in my mind for a long time. The plot was in my mind already. I knew I wanted it to be young adult. I knew I didn't want to write a children's book when the words first started pouring out of my fingers.

I was surprised that the first publisher I sent my novel to accepted it and sent a contract. It was a dream come true to me. I have always been a writer. I have always had composition books full of poems, stories, etc. I had heard in the writing class I took that it was typically hard to find a publisher to accept a manuscript the first time. I was expecting to be declined and have to move on to the next guy, but it happened. Like it was meant to be published.

Since that time in 2006/2007 when my book came out, I have felt like I have had a sort of writer's block. Like all the stories in my mind are just jumbled up in my head and I can't get them on paper. When I get something started, it just doesn't look right or read right to me. I get started on a new novel, and the words just stop at an idea. I think the plot will start to come to me as I write, but alas, it does not.

I sat in my bed last night after Shane and I finished chatting online and I sat there in the quiet and thought about writing. Now that I have time on my hands with Shane being on the road and Cameron still in school, I have a lot of time to sit and think about my characters. My plots. I have a couple novels started, but none of them have gotten past the first initial character plots. Nothing has become of them. I am starting to get the writer's block out of my mind again and starting to get ideas on how to shape these characters and how to move forward with their stories. Now to get the ideas on paper!!

Who knows, maybe I am a one and done author. One novel and that's it. I will probably never be a bestseller, but I can at least write and hopefully someone will get something out of what I write about. Who knows? Maybe the two children's manuscripts are the next book waiting to be printed....

You never know what the future holds. But for now, I can at least start writing about it......

Real Estate

"I never get what I really want. I always get a lot of stupid toys, or a bicycle or clothes or something that."

"What is it that you want?"

"Real estate."


Lucy and Charlie Brown get into a conversation during the Christmas season and they discuss what they want for Christmas. Lucy reveals that she never gets what she really wants, and when Charlie Brown asks her what she wants, she says real estate. A girl after my own heart!

Ever since I was a kid, I remember my dad taking my mom and I on little cruises around the Hamilton, Marion and Boone counties, showing us the big huge houses he had delivered trim or doors to the day before. I distinctly remember sitting in the truck and looking in awe at these huge, beautiful homes.

When I was a teenager, it never occured to me that I could be a realtor. I loved houses, had a passion for them, but it never seemed like at career day, the choice of realtor was ever available. It was always doctors, lawyers, teachers, etc. I swore up and down I wanted to be a meteorologist, then I wanted to be a guidance counselor at a school, then I wanted to be a teacher, then I wanted to be a......you name it. It wasn't until we lost our home to mold and bad dealings with an unethical realtor that it really hit me. I could still be a realtor. You don't need a college degree. You don't need to spend exorbitant amounts of money to get started. (I mean large student loans and stuff like that you would need for college. If you count the fees for the board of realtors, you would think it is expensive) I could do this.

I spent several years saving up for the real estate class. Finally I got to sign up and go. I finished with flying colors and went to take the exam for my license. Passed on the first try. Got it all done, got my license active and paid my MIBOR fees. No luck with finding clients, but I got my feet wet in the business. Then I got a few clients and it all was good. Until I couldn't afford the fees and had to walk away from my career that I loved so much and go back to substitute teaching to pay bills.

Finally, after 3 years, I get to be a realtor again. I have changed companies and am very excited to work with my broker, whom I actually went to high school with! Such a breath of fresh air to have a moral, ethical person to work with.

So, I am active and ready for all the people out there that have real estate needs. Call me up, email me, facebook message me. I am ready and eager to help you out. If you are looking for a moral, ethical person to work with, you have to look no further than right here.

So excited for all the exciting things going on in our lives right now. We have a closing date for our house and are packing and ready to move. Shane starts his sales job in 2 weeks and is so excited. So much to thank God for right now in our lives. And I fall to my knees to think that He loves me so much to give me so many blessings in my life.