The Girl

Alison got into the shower late. Mom was shopping, Dad was watching the younger kids. Ali heard the screaming, but she put it all down to Dad's roughhousing--until she stepped out of the bathroom and got the shock of her young life.

A year later, Ali and her mom are starting over--again. She hasn't yet recovered from the dark turn her life has taken, and doesn't know if she ever will. Then there's that pesky little detail--she's seen the face of a murderer and doesn't know if he will let her live long enough to graduate high school.

Honestly, all I did was take a shower today and this story hit me. What would this do to a young girl? How would she pull out of it? What are the immediate after-effects? By the time I get to bed tonight, I'll have a rough draft of the details all ironed out.

As if I don't have enough to do, writing-wise. Lately, my strong suit has been ideas. I've been getting them in spades--some good, others not so much--but they don't stop coming. I take notes and put them aside. If the story seems strong enough, I'll pick it up at a later date. There are some details that might change, but that standard life-or-death struggle is something that readers never seem to tire of.

What is your writing strength? Are you a plotter? A pantser? Do you love the idea stage, or the rough draft stage, but hate editing? Or are you one of those amazing people who loves the editing stage? Come on, don't be shy. :) Share!

Stress and the Life of an Author

By Cheri Chesley (re-post from 5/24/10)

**These are simply my observations, and should in no way be taken as established truths.**

As an author, I dream of deadlines. I long to have an editor pushing me to get my revisions, or my drafts, in by a certain day and time. Yeah, I'm a glutton for punishment. But we do this. We want this. And, if we have a contract and this isn't happening, we (or at least I) can really drive ourselves up the wall.

But, in our heart of hearts, I think we can admit a good deal of the stress we experience as writers is self-inflicted.

I'm not going to tell you that setting goals and deadlines for yourself is unhealthy, because it's not. If you don't, you could well be working on the same novel for 20 yrs. At the same time, we are not above heaping stress upon ourselves for a great number of things.

Let's say we miss that deadline by a week.

Or we make the deadline because we've put off our family to have time to write.

After about ten minutes at the computer, I have horrible upper back pain. It just starts aching, and pretty soon I'll have to get up. I don't do my stretches. I don't see my chiropractor regularly and, sadly, have only had one massage in my life. I'm beginning to think, at least for me, these things are critical in relieving stress and making me a more prolific writer.

The sad thing is I can't offer any real solution for resolving the stress. There may be none. But, perhaps, some of you have ideas on reducing it. Thoughts?

Stress and the Life of an Author

**These are simply my observations, and should in no way be taken as established truths.**

As an author, I dream of deadlines. I long to have an editor pushing me to get my revisions, or my drafts, in by a certain day and time. Yeah, I'm a glutton for punishment. But we do this. We want this. And, if we have a contract and this isn't happening, we (or at least I) can really drive ourselves up the wall.

But, in our heart of hearts, I think we can admit a good deal of the stress we experience as writers is self-inflicted.

I'm not going to tell you that setting goals and deadlines for yourself is unhealthy, because it's not. If you don't, you could well be working on the same novel for 20 yrs. At the same time, we are not above heaping stress upon ourselves for a great number of things.

Let's say we miss that deadline by a week.

Or we make the deadline because we've put off our family to have time to write.

After about ten minutes at the computer, I have horrible upper back pain. It just starts aching, and pretty soon I'll have to get up. I don't do my stretches. I don't see my chiropractor regularly and, sadly, have only had one massage in my life. I'm beginning to think, at least for me, these things are critical in relieving stress and making me a more prolific writer.

The sad thing is I can't offer any real solution for resolving the stress. There may be none. But, perhaps, some of you have ideas on reducing it. Thoughts?