Skip to main content

Featured Post

Writing from the Dark Side

By
Heh! I started out calling this blog post "Blogging from the Darkside" and then went to "Writing from the Darkside" and then went on to finally arrive at "Pubbing from the Darkside".  This little tidbit of information should be able to give you a little hint over what has been happening at the Oliver Homestead since I last posted.

Big News! I am part of a great collaboration with a collection of Writers who decided that if a romance book should be done, it should be done by us! Hence, the beginning of what is now know as Welcome to Serenity Harbor, Maine.

This is huge! This is ginormous! All of the books are set around the fictional coastal Maine town of Serenity Harbor. We didn't limit genre, only that their characters fall in love in Maine.

For me, this was a return to something that I love... well, yes... it was a return to writing. I've blogged a little bit about some of my struggles with illness that left with being unable to write for a whi…
Post a Comment

How's NaNoRiMo Going, You ask? Look at this--------------->

Image
By
Well as you can see by the meter in my side bar, it's safe to say that NaNoRiMo is NOT going anywhere for me. I could give you all kinds of excuses as to why I'm not writing much, but frankly it comes down to letting stress interfere with my writing.

Anyone out there got an Amen for me?

When it's going good, it's great! When it's going bad... it sucks! Unfortunately, this has been a year where I have struggled to write more than other years. It's become hard to put the words on the page and it has more to do with my stress level than with anything else.

We all have stress, but for some this means that your mind and body shut down, especially if there is major worry involved. Our brains go into a survival mode and we function on on-dimensional level. This isn't good if you are trying to create stories out of your imagination. This is the holidays. Many writers have a hard time trying to fit in their writing around family committments and the multitude of other things that draw your attention away.

For me, I need to make a renewed commitment to the Nano project. It's a good one and it isn't the content that's holding me back. It's complete and utter worry that has stagnated me. I'm hoping that this week will change that I can get the household back on an even keel. I've still got 20 days to pull my butt out of the fire and get the pages done. I've done more, but I'm not going to beat myself up if I don't make it. I'll just set another goal.

To those of you toiling away on your NaNoRiMo goals I have only the best wishes for you! I hope you accomplish and even exceed all the goals you've set. I'll be cheering you on.

Best wishes to all,



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Another Loss...

By
Another young person from our community passed away yesterday.

For me, all I know is the grief I feel that yet another life has gone way too soon. Maybe I'm getting old. I've seen far too much of this and it's heartbreaking every single time, whether they are related or not. We are community. We are family. In this case, he was family, but that doesn't mean anything when you grow up in a small place. Every child is your child. And every hurt they have is yours.

Out of this long list of young people that have left us too soon, there are so many left behind that still mark the holidays, birthdays and life events that they have missed. We struggle, knowing that the pain we feel is as much for ourselves as it is for them. We share our memories with others, many times through social media, so that their memory, their presence lives on around us.

Every day when my son leaves I tell him to be safe. He finds it funny that I still continue to do so, but if it's that one re…
Post a Comment
Read more

10 Things I learned from Hosting a Guest on my Blog

By
Hosting on my blog is a new experience for me. It's something that I've thought of undertaking for quite some time, but until now I wasn't sure that I could do. Thursday, I hosted friend and fellow adventurer, Diane Amos, who talked about her path to publication with her latest Five Star book, Promise Me Forever. We talked about this for awhile before attempting it.

Neither of us was sure just what was going to happen, but in the end I was happy with the results. We ended up with 27 visitors for the blog and around 10 comments (I think). This may not seem like much, but considering that this is about five times the normal visitors/daily that I get I was pretty darned happy with it. There were a few things that I worked out along the way and I'll pass these tips on to anyone who may be interested in hosting or being part of a blog tour.

1. Decide the topic to be discussed keeping it to something that will be of interest to your blog readers. If you write a research bl…
3 comments
Read more

IT'S OFFICIAL: SERENITY HARBOR ANTHOLOGY COMING THIS MONTH!

By
We have the cover and that is a really good thing! Especially, since it's a really great cover!

This has been THE project for the last six months. Much of that time has been spent writing my part of the anthology, a novella called ONLY YOU. Another part of that was working with my friend and cohorts to come up with this great anthology! Why wouldn't you enjoy it?! It's filled with stories of love that are all set around the fictional Maine town of Serenity Harbor. Want to know which town Serenity Harbor is patterned after? We'll never tell... well, maybe we will!

Anyway, who can write better about love in Maine than a bunch of Maine Romance authors! I gave you a tantalizing tidbit the other day from my story. Poor Nate Cooper, he doesn't know what he's up against when he decides to take on Kara Simpson. Lucky for him, he's got the whole town behind him!

And what is this rumor of sheep wandering the streets of Serenity Harbor, Maine? Well, you'll just ha…
Post a Comment
Read more