Hi!

Yeah, I know…it’s been awhile. If you follow me on Facebook, you’ve read posts there that I probably should have put here. I mean it was high-quality content, why not share it with the world instead of just my FB friends and followers?

Because I’m lazy. I mean, to post here, I have to open a browser window, type http://www.wordpress.com/wordsfromawriter and then wait for the page to load, log in click “Write” and finally *finally* I can share my thoughts. Then I have to choose the platform on which to share, create tags…blah blah blah. It’s just easier to post to Facebook.

Just one problem. As much as I love Love LOVE my FB fam, posting there is a lot like preaching to the choir. When you post something and either everyone’s going to agree with you or those who don’t just keep scrolling sans comment…it becomes an echo chamber.

Now, as much as I love it when people agree with me, it quickly becomes boring AF.

So.

I’m going to make a conscious effort to post on this blog more often. You know, I’ve started two other blogs since this one and they are even more woefully neglected. If blogs were children, they’d be in foster care. If blogs were goldfish, they’d be dead. If my blogs were a carton of milk, the contents would be curdled and my face would be on the carton.

Have I sufficiently beaten the concept into the ground? Cool.

But I digress.

As usual.

Anyway.

I’m going to commit to posting here once a week, most likely on Friday. It’ll probably be some sort of round up regarding how my week went and updates about my writing work, you know, since the blog IS called Words from a WRITER. That being said, I’m going to do that right now by answer some of your most pressing questions.

Hey Kim, where’s the dating book?

I’m working on it! I vacillate between “The world could really use this book, if for no other reason, so some know they aren’t the only ones going through this,” and “What’s the freakin’ point? Our society is doomed.” The stance goes the way of my messages from guys on dating sites. This week I’ve started an interesting experiment that was based on a post based on a Twitter thread. The results have been….interesting. The experiment is ongoing, so I’ll post more about it next week, but the waves just keep ebbing and flowing in the dating pool. For example, this “gem”: (WARNING: scroll through and read this part later because *NSFW*)

I bet his mother is so proud.

Anyway, I’m sifting though messages I’ve received and putting together the dos and don’ts now. As soon as I’m done with that, I can work on the other portions of the book, such as success stories, etc.

Okay great Kim…now what about the sequel to Words from the Rents? There was supposed to be a sequel. Where is the sequel???

….it’s coming too. You see, I used up a HUGE chunk of Skip and Mary Belle’s witticisms writing the first book. They’re older…crankier…and on to me so now if I laugh at something they say, I get a stern look and “Oh sure, this is going in your next book, isn’t it?” So, I have to be covert in my collecting methods. Also, I’m thinking of incorporating more personal essays into the next one. So there will still be plenty of Skip and Mary but a. not necessarily in conversation form and b. more me. Diva coming along for the ride (grudgingly) and the grandkid is at the age where she’ll make a debut as well. All in good time, my friends. All in good time.

There is so much more I could share, but this is already a novel (with pictures!) so I’ll save them for another post. Until then (most likely next Friday but could be sooner we’ll see), thanks for sticking around and reading along. Enjoy your weekend! 🙂

 

 

 

Channeling My Inner Peter Gibbons

For a while now I’ve not been happy with my career trajectory.

And by “awhile,” I mean several years. Heading into a decade actually.

Now technically, I am a writer. I write words. I get paid. I write more words…

Wash. Rinse. Repeat.

The problem: I don’t like the words I’m writing.

The other problem: I don’t like what I’m getting paid for the words I write.

The third problem: I don’t like the crap I have to deal with while writing the words I write.

Not liking what I write + Not liking the pay for what I write + Dealing with crap while I write =

A PETER GIBBONS MOMENT

I hope that most of you get the reference to the guy who was the hero of all cubicle dwellers in the early ’00. But for those of you who are not familiar with the guy or the movie in which he appeared, check this out:

This is the attitude that greeted me this morning. It’s not the first time, but this go around it was accompanied with a declarative statement:

I’m done.

I’m done working for peanuts.

I’m done writing about stuff I don’t give a crap about.

I’m done with being too tired to work on writing I WANT to do because I have to work on so much of the crap to make ends meet.

I’m done dealing with clients who do not appreciate what I do for them.

I’m done feeling guilty for crocheting, chainmailling or just watching a tv show and not working at the same time.

I don’t like working for peanuts, for people who don’t appreciate what I do for them anyway so I’m just not going to do it anymore.

I’m. Done.

So here is my plan:

By the end of next month, I will have my book completed (“From the Minds of my Family” is the tentative title. I also like “Words with Skip and Mary,” but that might be limiting.) and a solid first draft for my online dating book. No idea what I’m going to call it.

I have two clients that I will continue to work with because I actually enjoy working with them. I will seek new clients, but I’m going to be picky.

I’m going to go back to my first love, which is feature writing.

And finally, I’m going to crochet and chainmaille more, hang out with my granddaughter and watch tv….without feeling guilty about any of it.

Life is about to get more interesting because I’m finally going to, you know, LIVE IT!

🙂

Why A Writer Needs A Blog

The above was the title of a blog post I wrote as a featured writer for Writers Access.  The post went live today, check it out here if you are so inclined.  And if you really love me, leave comments. 🙂

But here’s the thing. The post on the blog — is the SECOND version. There was a first version…a less..um…shall we say mainstream version.

Here is the original, much more snarky and in many ways more realistic reason why a writer REALLY needs a blog.

There’s a plethora of reasons for a writer to have a blog. One of the more obvious is so readers can catch a glimpse into the personality of the authors they follow. Somehow, learning your favorite author’s three-year-old throws temper tantrums in WalMart over a package of Skittles makes the incident in KMart with your toddler the day before seem less catastrophic. It’s also a great way for a writer to keep his fans up-to-date with new releases, book signings, newly published articles or conferences he is attending.

But there are more personal reasons why a writer should have a blog, at least for me. I’ve been a writer for twenty (mumble mumble) years, and a blogger since 2001– well before the blogging craze. But I knew from Post #1 that a blog was a good idea for me, and for more than professional reasons. So, why do I, a writer, have a blog?

So the voices in my head will shut up.

OK, before you track my IP address and inform the local authorities that there is a crazy women in their midst, allow me to explain. As a writer, my strongest skill is the ability to convey information in a way that others will understand. To accomplish this, I read voraciously, take a lot of notes and commit a lot of facts, figures and general bits and pieces of data to memory. Sometimes this information takes on a life of its own, but try as I might I cannot fit it all into an article on Business Finance, Feline Depression or repairing a hitch on a Ford F-150. But that doesn’t stop the information’s demands to be used somewhere.

So what’s a writer to do when the voices in her head band together, threaten to revolt and perform a frontal labotomy from the inside? She finds an outlet for them so they’re heard by someone other than her. First I tried a journal, but that didn’t satisfy my narcissitic nature. (Oh, c’mon, admit it — all writers are narcissitc — it’s the uncontrollable need to share information that drove us to start writing in the first place!)  I tried speaking the words out loud, but this just made me look crazy. (Beleive me when I say wandering around mumbling to youself will cause others to question your mental stability.) it was obvious that I needed to find a way to blend the eviction of the voices with my need to share information.

And that, ladies and gentleman, is why I blog. These pieces of information can finally vacate my hopelessly cluttered gray matter and become blog content on a page hosted by WordPress, Blogger or Tumblr. They’re happy, I’m happy — happiness abounds.

So, if you’re overflowing with information, start a blog. The extra information finds a home, and your head will be much quieter.

And no one will threaten to size you for a straight jacket.