April 2024 Author Updates

Time for my monthly recap and author updates. April had mostly good weather, which means my flowers are starting to decorate my landscape. It was poetry month, and I had an author event. Keep reading for updates! It’s also a IWSG Wednesday (what’s that? read on!) and the question posed this month is about distraction.

This month I am:

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• Reading: Systems Collapse on audio | Eye of the World in ebook/physical | The Remarkable Retirement of Edna Fisher in physical
• Drinking: London Fog with lavender foam
• Watching: WISH (over and over because my family loves it)
• Playing: The Adventures of Sackboy

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Author Fair

I attended a local Author fair April 20th at the FORUM Events Center in Fishers. I joined nearly 60 other authors for the local author fair! I met many other authors, and it was great connecting with them and all of the readers who listened to me talk about my sci-fi and fantasy novel and poetry. I read from chapter 25 of Trials of the Innermost and tried to do four of the character’s voices(I’ll be posting it on my social medias soon for those who couldn’t join).

Special thanks to everyone who stopped by my table! For those who snagged a copy of Trials of the Innermost or the Lady’s Crownbearer, I hope you enjoy stepping into the world of Etherea!

Writing Progress and Updates

I participated in National Poetry Month again. I wrote about 26 poems either fully completed or mostly with some edits needed. And then I have a few more ideas to work through that will add another 4-5 poems to the total. I actually tried to focus on parenting and motherhood in the hopes that I’ll release a motherhood themed book next year around Mother’s Day!

I was supposed to read a poem or two at an open mic event at my place of employment, but it got canceled. Instead, I recorded myself reading those two poems for anyone who’s interested both on YouTube and Tik Tok.

30 days until my novella, Tavern Tale, goes on preorder!

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How’s Life?

Work

I just had a fantastic experience volunteering with my place of employment. We partnered with the Free Minds Book Club for reading poetry written by incarcerated people and commenting on their works. I learned a lot about the organization and met several “poetry ambassadors” who were formerly incarcerated in their youth. The poems were emotional, insightful, full of hope as well as despair. I’d encourage all of you to find ways to participate with their origination through volunteering.

I knew poetry was powerful but this just made it even more *real*. I could see the power of poetry right before me. They all talked about how poetry for them (both in and out of jail) was a way to connect and communicate, that poetry was a place they found family, a means to be introspective and retrospective.

Anyway, it was a meaningful experience. Here’s their website https://freemindsbookclub.org/

And ties into National Poetry Month nicely!

Garden

I am so excited that my late spring and early summer blooms are popping up. Following my Instagram as I’ll be flooding my grid with super pretty petals! Here are my purple irises and then several columbine plants that I didn’t think had made it as the one I planted last year was eaten by rabbits (those rabbits and I are at war! which really just is me laying down stinky stuff to keep them away)

For Earth Day I wrote a poem that can be read either as one, or as separate poems on the left and on the right. See if you can catch my video game influence. And check out my recommendation for 10 Earth Day books for kids.

Insecure Writer’s Support Group May 2024 Author Question

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The co-hosts this month are:  Victoria Marie Lees, Kim Lajevardi, Nancy Gideon, and Cathrina Constantine!! Be sure to visit them to say thanks for their work.

IWSG Question of the Month

How do you deal with distractions when you are writing? Do they derail you?

Oof. Some days it feels like distraction is my middle name. More often than not I win the battle, but some times I lose it. I’ll find I’ve researched some obscure medieval writing techniques or what weather patterns are on a tidally locked planet before I look up and oop! there went my writing time. Because my writing time is so limited (see day job, two kids, etc. etc.) I try to honor myself and my craft by removing distractions when I can and focus. I can’t always do that – sometimes the only free time I have is while my husband is driving and my kids are in the back seats and we’ve got about 20 minutes before we get to our destination. Everything from the passing landscape to something my husband might say to something my kids might say can definitely derail me. For me the ideal space to write distraction free includes the following:

• A location that has no talking. No friends no family, music must be without words, no television. This can range from my desk to the couch to my chaise lounge and my reading nook. The family can be in the house but as long as they are in a location where I can’t really hear what’s going on, that’s the best way for me to concentrate.
• Blocking my phone. I’m so grateful that the iPhone released an update within the last year or so where I can choose a focus setting. I will make it so that I turn on a focus that removes my easy access to all of my apps except for the ones I feel are necessary for writing. Apps for my documents on the cloud, thesaurus and dictionary mainly. But I must remove my access to social media otherwise that can be a quick drain on the little time that I have.
• Dedicated Writing Time or Sprints. I probably don’t do a writing sprint in the traditional sense that other people do. But if I happen to have two 15-minute blocks during the day, I tell myself that I must use that time wisely in the pursuit of writing. I may not get another chance! And if I have other ideas or research that I want to do during that time, I jot down notes to myself to come back later when maybe the paragraphs aren’t really flowing from my fingers but I still want to do something writing related and then I can go do some deep dives into research.

What about you? How do you deal with distractions?