Leave a Message After the Beep...

I'm not here right now.

I'm probably reading something. I've got book reading and beta reading and...no wait, that's it. Or maybe (if a miracle has occurred), I'm writing something!

Or I may be exercising. Because I'm going to New York for one night in less than three weeks and I have to fit into a dress. I would have ordered an XL but they were out so I ordered a large and prayed to the Spanx god. It won't be here until Friday, but I figured trying to lose a few pounds won't hurt (plus I really need to anyway).

But if you'd like to check out something cool, head on over to Adam Gaylord's blog where I had a guest post yesterday! I wrote about--what else?--finding your muse. Or when they find you. Which is usually the case.

Otherwise, leave a message. BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP.

Wasted Inspiration

I really didn't know what to blog about today. Pretty much every part of my brain is screaming at me to take a blogging break, even if it's just for one week. But then there's that other part of my brain that says, you've already made it this far. You might as well keep going. But I don't know. It's tough to blog three days a week for a whole year, but I'm never this consistent with anything so I'd kinda like to keep going with it.

I feel like I almost wrote something this weekend. I know that sounds really lame, but whenever I actually do want to write (and that doesn't happen very often), I still hesitate for some reason. I think a lot of times I just end up staring at the blank screen, unable to come up with the words at all. I know I hesitate to write a sentence down until it's already perfect in my head. So sometimes it's hard to write anything at all. I don't know if it's because I'm trying too hard or maybe I'm just not as inspired as I thought.

But I had two ideas in my mind and I didn't work on either of them. One was a scene for the third book and the other was actually a scene rewrite for the first chapter of UL. I mean, I never want to work on that, so why the hell didn't I take the inspiration and run with it? I feel like figuring out how to fix problems in a draft is a lot easier than actually fixing them for some reason. I figured out a way to neaten things up a bit, get rid of an unnecessary character and replace her with someone more important. So if I've already got it all figured out, why don't I just write it?????

I DON'T KNOW. Ok, I know this post is getting all "woe is me." I have no idea why I don't use inspiration when I get it. Sometimes I'm too busy doing other things. Sometimes all I can get out is dialogue and I hate when that happens (although I'm sure writing anything is better than nothing, right?). Sometimes it's easier to picture something in your head than it is to actually write it down.

I'm hoping to get some writing done this week. I don't even care what it is. Don't care which book or if it's just dialogue or even if it comes out horrible. I'd say any words are better than no words.

Playlist Commitment

Hey, everyone! Today is particularly awesome because I'm being interviewed over at Chrys Fey's blog! So you should go check it out. I'll keep this brief because this is about as close to a blogging break as I am willing to take (and you should go to Chrys' blog instead).

When you have a story idea in your head but you're still figuring it out, at what point does it become real? When exactly do you commit to it and say, I'm definitely going to write this?

I feel like I made a huge step of commitment yesterday because I started a playlist for Book 3. It's completely psychotic, right?? I haven't finished editing Book 1, haven't written Book 2 yet, but here I am picking songs for inspiration for the third book. Why? I don't even know. There have just been a few songs that make me think about it, and I'm sort of addicted to playlist making.

I'm sure part of this is just because I'm in love with the idea for Book 3. I also don't think I'll ever be able to come up with a playlist for Book 2 (it gets a bit dark and also focuses more on family issues than romantic relationships). So I don't know. It's just a lot of fun, I guess. And it gets the inspiration going. I guess I'll take any inspiration I can get if it eventually leads to words.

So am I completely nuts or just having fun? When do you usually make a playlist for your books? 

Still Not Writing

It's the first Wednesday of the month, which means it's the posting day for the Insecure Writer's Support Group! Click the link to learn more and sign up!

Well, I think I'm finally done with blogging milestones for a while. My 4th anniversary and my 300th post were only a week apart. From here on out I think it will just be normal blog posts. I know I should probably take a break from blogging for a bit but I've already made it this far into the year with a perfect record (posting every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday), so I'd like to see how far I can get. 

It's also been exactly a year since I quit my day job, and I can't believe it's been so long already. I feel like I haven't accomplished anything. I am still making some money, but I haven't even tried to break into freelance writing. I haven't finished my novel or started querying it like I thought I would. I haven't even submitted any smaller pieces to literary magazines. That was kind of the point to taking the time off, so I would actually have time to work on these things. Well, that and the fact that my job made me completely miserable. But I just thought we'd have life figured out at this point. I wasn't supposed to look for another job until we figured out where we were moving, but that still hasn't happened. 

I think the writing thing is what bothers me the most. I still have this mental block when it comes to working on my WIP. I just don't want to work on it. I think about my sequel ideas more than the first book, but I don't actually work on those, either. I don't know, maybe I'm just scared because I know how hard it's going to be to try to get this book published. Maybe there's a part of me that just doesn't want to bother. But I've worked so hard on it already, and I feel like there has to be a reason that I started writing it. I just wish I could get the desire to work on it again, because I'll never be able to even try to publish it if I don't finish it first. 

Well, I guess that's about it for this month's insecurities. Maybe by next month I'll get to tell you that I actually wrote something. That would be incredible.

Jordan Takes Over: The 300th Post

**The first Monday of every month, I let my muse take over the blog. I apologize in advance.**

I know what you're probably thinking. Has Jordan really taken over 300 times? YOU WISH. Nope, this is the overall 300th blog post. And it's all mine. You can't have it.

So what are we doing for the 300th post? Well, seeing as how we threw a giant party last week...not so much. I'm just winging it, really. What, did you think I have a master plan for everything? That would be exhausting. So, 300 posts. That's a lot of writing, right? This is only my 17th time taking over, if you can believe it. I hope you're not sick of me. Not because I care what you think, but because I know how to get revenge on people, so watch out. I mean, just ask my old friend Brian from high school. People started threatening him; he had to transfer schools. You don't want to end up like him, do you??

But anyway, blog posts! 300 sure seems like a lot, doesn't it? Although I'm sure a lot of you reading this blew past that number a long time ago. When you reach a milestone, it can be tricky figuring out what to do with it. You could make a huge deal about it, just casually mention it, or do nothing at all. When we hit 100 it was kind of a big deal, so that post featured 100 facts about my book (no I will not link you. I looked at it recently and like half the facts aren't even true anymore. But I guess that's what editing will do to you...). 200 wasn't such a big deal. This one's not that huge of a deal, either.

You can choose to celebrate milestones or anniversaries. Since we had a huge party last week for the 4th anniversary, it seemed silly to make a big deal about the 300th post just a week later. Plus it just happened to fall on my posting day and I sure as hell wasn't going to give it up. PLEASE.

But you love me, right? I kind of feel like a famous person already. We've got two guest posts/interviews coming up in the near future and one in the works. Well, ok, technically they're Sarah's posts, but my name comes up. Trust me. The third one, though, is all me. You're excited, I know. I'm sure she'll let you know when they happen. Because I'll be too busy.

Busy doing what, you may be wondering. Well, if you think about it, I pretty much only do four things. Actually, five if you count muse-type stuff (like writing this!). Who wants to play a game?! Guess the four things I do with my life. Whoever guesses right will receive a, um....a nice comment back! Not from me, though. I'm going to take a nap *hint hint*............

JP

Fast Five Friday: Childhood Cartoons

It's time for another installment of Fast Five Friday, created by the ladies over at Cover Girls! This week they've asked as to share five childhood cartoons. The hardest part was actually narrowing it down to five!

BTW, I was probably most obsessed with #1 when I was little (so I guess I've had an obsessive personality since childhood...). My stuffed Darkwing Duck was my favorite toy for quite some time and I even threw him a birthday party, complete with Easy Bake Oven treats. If that doesn't scream 90s I don't know what does.

1. Darkwing Duck

2. Garfield and Friends

3. Tiny Toon Adventures

4. Ren & Stimpy

5. Rocko's Modern Life

What were some of your favorite childhood cartoons? Have a great weekend, everyone! I've got my 300th blog post on Monday! Still no idea what it will be about, though...

Time to Be Productive (??)

I think my brain has fizzled out but I still refuse to take a blogging break, so here I go!

Thanks to everyone who participated in The Muse Party Blogfest on Monday! It was loads of fun getting to know everyone's muses. I don't think the party got too crazy, right? We certainly had an interesting mix of people! I feel like I should write a story about it (but you know what happens when I promise things...). I'm pretty sure Jordan tried to rig spin the bottle by putting all the guys in one circle and the girls in another. Did he think no one would notice??

Turns out I have another milestone next Monday--my 300th blog post. But you-know-who is taking over that day so I have no idea how that's going to go yet.

Well, I was supposed to be on a plane to Florida in a few hours but I decided not to go. Mostly because of the cat. He seems to be doing a bit better but he just stresses out so easily I don't think he would do very well alone for 5 days. Usually we have my dad and my fiance's sister check on him when we travel, but his sister was going with us, and I didn't think one person was good enough, especially with the stomach issues he's been having.

I have been feeding Gizmo a little canned pumpkin every day, which I think is helping. It was so funny the first time I tried to feed it to him, he wanted no part of it and I had to literally shove it into his mouth. Then he was like, wait a second, this is pretty tasty. Now he begs for it and scarfs it down. I also refilled the wall plug in that keeps him from stressing. It's like an air freshener that sends out happy cat pheromones. It's been a lifesaver since he started getting UTIs, but it's sooooo expensive at the pet stores so I have to order it from Amazon. I think stress was a big factor in him getting sick this time, too.

Anyway, enough about my cat! My fiance is gone until Monday so I'm all by my lonesome. I hope that means I can get a lot done. Maybe some, dare I say it, writing??? Or I could just sit around watching movies. Who knows?

Well, I've been up since 3:30 for no reason, so I'm going to make a giant cup of coffee. What's everyone else up to?