Top Three Benefits of NaNoWriMo

What better way to kick start your writing by entering a writing challenge for the month of November where you are encouraged to write an entire novel of 50,000 words. Does that sound daunting or exciting? I get excited thinking about the month of November dedicated to writing a novel.

Top Three Benefits of NaNoWriMo

1. You are writing every day. To write 50,000 words in 30 days, this averages out to be 1670 words a day. You don’t have to write it all in one sitting, or maybe you want to and you are able to sit down and hammer out 2000 words in one sitting. There are days I can write over 2000 words at one time. Other days it may take me a few hours of writing for sprints of 30 minutes at a time then take a break, then return to the writing.
2. Being part of a writing community. Writing is a lonely job, we all need as much support as possible. Knowing you are not alone in this adventure is motivational and inspiring.
3. You get a lot of inspiration. When you sign up on the NaNoWriMo site you are encouraged to select your region and then you get an email from the municipal lesion providing you with information and inspiration on a weekly basis. You can connect with other writers by genre, region and interests. NaNo Buddies are to support and cheer one another on. I haven’t taken advantage of this area of NaNoWrimo until now. I am connecting with new writers and looking forward to sharing and supporting everyone I can.

Now it is time to get writing! Good Luck to everyone partipacting this year and if you need a cheerleader my NaNo ID is Marion AnnB

Until Next Time, Keep on Typing…

We Bought a House ~ Part 3

Do you believe everything happens for a reason? I am a big believer that everything happens for a reason. I do. Every experience, every choice, good or poor, has been to get me to this moment.

 

The journey of buying our first home has been interesting. Did I mention we bought a house across the country? 5000 kilometers from Victoria, BC to Fredericton, NB. A 12 hour travel day by plane with a four-hour time difference is not for the light-hearted. Any stressful situations in the past have provided me with what was necessary to withstand this adventure. Truthfully, I lost my cool a few times. I did. The Ego saw an opportunity to slip into the old behaviors of crying and yelling to be heard. A few pep talks to myself, conversations with my hubby and family helped me through it all.

After we signed the agreed conditions of the purchase of the house, I thought it was smooth sailing. I voiced to my partner I really didn’t have time to deal with the bank. I would sign off what needed to be signed, but I didn’t want to be the one dealing with house insurances and other details when buying a home. What’s that they say about, Never Say Never….

When you imply or say don’t, the universe hears that and either doesn’t provide you with the thing you want or provides you with it and then you have to deal with it. I know, confusing, but it has happened to me. It’s the reoccurring theme or lesson in your life you haven’t dealt with or learned and it keeps showing up to say “Hey, remember me!? Time to deal with me.” I say, Ouch!

I will be honest. I haven’t been the best with my personal finances. Money was scary to me as a child and there isn’t one pivotal moment that defines why. I remember hearing a lot that money was dirty, not in the sense it is bad for you, in the sense of how your hands feel after touching the paper bills and pennies however many other people before you had handled the money. I know it sounds dramatic but I swear this is how I remember it as a young girl. Somewhere my relationship with money turned into an unhealthy one and I am trying to figure where exactly, but on a happy note I am much better with my finances than I was before. I love money and money loves me! Thank you, Jen Sincero. Love, You Are a BadAss!

My hubby is great with his finances. He has his finger on the pulse of his budgets. You would think after being around a person for 15 years you would pick up on some of their traits. Okay, I have learned a lot from him. As I said, I’m better than I use to be. I have to be. As an indie author, I have learned quickly about how much it costs and what I need to self-publish a book and everything else that is involved with being an indie-author.

We ran into a snag with the bank which my ego expected and without getting into too many details, what ended up happening was the mortgage was going in my name. The first thing my ego thought was, this will not happen. You will lose the house because you are not good with money. Should’ve, couldn’ve, would’ve’s, were racing in my fearful mind. The bank came back and said I was approved (the 10% down on the down payment was helpful). My fears were dissolving. The doors of opportunity were opening up. I went with the flow. Everything would be okay. And it was. Until we came to the next roadblock. Time zone differences.

We were to have everything signed and taken care of by midnight, eastern time on October 25 with the condition of us to take possession by November 23. Then I find out the bank assessment of the house had not been done yet which was key for the mortgage experts in Toronto to sign off on. I found this out on Friday the 19th at noon which was four o’clock in New Brunswick. I was freaking out. The waiting around was frustrating. Why was it taking so long for the bank to do the one thing that was needed to complete the deal? On October 24th I get an email from the bank saying they would have the survey assessment the morning of the 25th. FRACK!? Yes, I was swearing up and down and all around. I was also going to work during this manic state. I would breathe heavily on the bus, stressing, to work. Once I stepped into the hotel I had to turn on my hotel life smile. As I dealt with employees and guests, the stress of the house was sitting heavily on my shoulders.

October 25th around 11:00 am I learn the survey was completed and everything was in order. Congratulations, you are now a homeowner, was the message our mortgage advisor left me because I was at the hotel in a meeting. Oh My Gawd! I was so excited to hear the news. Text messages were popping up from our realtor, in-laws and my parents. I couldn’t share the news yet with my colleagues at work, I didn’t know how to tell them we bought a house without the obvious question of what I was going to do now? Great question. I didn’t know what was going to happen. That was another conversation Adam and I would have. After I got the news about being approved, all I knew was within 22 days, we bought a house. Our intentions were heard and now we were on the path of going home.

Thank you for being here with me during this house buying adventure. Now that we bought the house, what’s next? Great question.

Did you miss the first two parts of our house buying journey? Here are the quick links to Part 1 and Part 2 

Until Next Time, Keep on Typing…

What is Your Writing Plan? #MondayBlogs

I like to think that I am a disciplined writer. I have to be. No one else is going to write the books that are in my head. I can be better at my writing schedule. I know I can be better at sitting down and getting words on the page. I know this because I use to be able to sit down for hours and fill up the pages. I didn’t matter how many distractions that came with the day, I would sit at my desk and write. Now, I seem to struggle to get to the page. I long to write and my little girl within me cries out ‘I want to write!’ and so do I. Then something happens and a half hour goes by of doing this or that. I find myself being disappointed that I wasted time on a task rather than writing. I know we all struggle at times to get here to the page and I’m here to guide you back to the page at your own pace. I am taking my own advice as well.

I recently attended a workshop hosted by Darcy Burke, USA Today’s Bestseller author of sexy, emotional historical and contemporary romance. She is successful in her writing life but it takes time. She spoke to us about how to manage our author careers and I left the workshop learning more about my writing life and I felt rejuvenated. A few of the tips she shared were great topics that created great conversations throughout the workshop. The first topic was to have a business plan.

Have a business plan? Yikes. Darcy admitted she doesn’t really have a plan per say, but she has a team to help her with her writing plan. She shared that it’s good to have a goal(s) to work towards. There was a woman in the workshop who shared her business plan. What it was going to take for her to leave her current full-time job to move into a full-time writing career. I never thought of it that way. I was still thinking like I was twelve years old and said I wanted to write books for a living. I never defined what that would actually look like as I got older. Then all of a sudden as I listened to Darcy, I saw a ring that she was wearing. It triggered a memory about friend from university whose grandmother who bought herself an emerald ring as a present to herself after selling a certain amount of books. How did I forget that?! She continued to buy herself presents after selling a certain amount of books. That’s what she wanted to do with her money and that’s fine. What I want to do is write books, sell those books to make money to write more books, run writing retreats, work on buying our first home where we want to create a farm to grow food for not only ourselves but for people in the community. To provide good food for people to buy and to nourish their bodies, minds, and souls.

I think I have my business plan. With a few tweaks yet, but I’m on the right track. I am truly grateful for attending this workshop and growing my writing community. I am grateful for being here on the page and sharing with you.

Do you have a business plan for your writing career? What tips do you have that help you be a better writer? I love hearing from you.

Until Next Time, Keep on Typing…

What Do you Want Your Life to Look Like?

After reading Katharine Grubb’s, When the Timer Dings, the questions she asks and the exercises she presents to us have been lingering within me.

Have you ever taken a long-term approach to what you want your life to be like? Why or why not? 

This question is not for the light-hearted. You have to really take a look at what is important to you. Do you want a life that is comfortable where you get up, go to work, come home, have dinner, sit in front of the TV until it’s time to go to bed and then do it all over again? I’m not saying you are doing the above at the moment, and honestly, I have been doing this for about two weeks and desperately trying to break the cycle and I have been taking steps to change this bad habit that has somehow sneaked its way into my life.

I have been looking at a long-term approach to what I want in my life for most of my life. Ever since I can remember I’ve wanted to be a writer, tell stories, write plays. Maybe even act out the stories or have actors act out the possible TV shows or movie ideas that were rolling around in my mind. I’ve daydreamed about a life where I was writing and working with other writers and creative people to 1. get my work published and 2. to help others write and share their stories. This has always been the life I’ve wanted.

There have been some moments in my creative life where I have achieved certain aspects of this life. I once was a resort manager of a meditation retreat center and I booked different workshops that inspired the creative soul. The Painting Experience, writing and yoga, and then in the offseason I would open the center every Monday or Tuesday for a few hours in the morning for people to come and work on their craft. Be it writing, painting, sculpting, music, I was creating a space where people felt safe to be creative and work on their passions. It was so effortless and like writing that ‘gap’ that many creative and spiritual mentors share when you are doing something you love, time seems to exist. What a feeling!

As time and life moves along, I got caught up in the ego’s trap where I kept thinking ‘okay, you should be doing this or that. You should be making X amount of money at some random job.’ then my true self would pipe up and ask, why do I need to be making a certain amount of money at some random job that I might not even like when I want to be writing and one day be paid for my creativity? A very good question.

What am I doing now to approach my long-term life goals? Why is so important to feed the creative soul that cries out to be heard? I am listening to my true self – it’s not that I haven’t been listening, I have honestly been tuning out my genuine self for random reasons that only I can be accounted for. Now, once again, it’s time to kick the ego to the curb.

I wish you well ego. I hope someone else adopts you, I’ve had enough and ready for the next step. ~ Marion Ann Berry

Until next time, keep on typing. . . .