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Catching up… Or “Yes, I’m still alive and kicking.”

Posted by Heather | Posted in Family, General Announcements, Update, Writing | Posted on 05-02-2010

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Hi everyone!

I’d like to apologize for the long hiatus. Many things have been going on in my life. I won’t go in to too much detail, but I’ve had a lot of health issues and a couple of surgeries in the interim time. I’ve also lost three close members in the space of the last couple of years that have thrown me and I have still not really absorbed their loss.

Another reason that I have been absent so long is that I’ve also had a lot of self-doubt as a writer. I have actually gotten some writing done, as well as a bit of my first novel started. After the first bit I was hit so hard with doubt of my skills that I allowed myself to be hit with the biggest case of writer’s block that I have ever had.

On the positive side, we have also welcomed a new member to our . We have grown from a of six to seven, and the youngest has everyone wrapped around his little finger already. Hard to believe that he is already two years old. We also welcomed a new nephew that is only a month older than our little guy. It will be great for them to be able to grow up together, though I know if my nephew is anything like my brother they will be adding some serious gray to my hair.

I have again decided that the only was that I will ever know for sure if I can make my dream come true is if I actually write. Even if what I produce is absolutely horrible, I can always clean it up in editing. I’ve realized it’s a little difficult to edit a blank page. :lol:

So with that decided, I felt my next step was to resurrect my old as a way to motivate myself to actually produce. Not only will it let me warm up with writing and get my flowing, but now I have people to answer to if I don’t follow through. (I figure there should be one or two of you that will call me on it if I don’t start writing having something ready for submission.)

I have also decided that I will refocus to a smaller beginning. I plan to hone my skills on some short stories first. Then submit them to paying markets and see what the response is. My initial goal of producing a complete novel is just so large that it seemed to overwhelm me to the point that I couldn’t function. Yes, I know I will be risking rejection, but I have tried to prepare myself for it. I will not let myself be stopped, because I realize no matter how good my writing may (or may not) be, it could still be rejected for various reasons not related to what I have written. (Not the least of which may be this wonderful economy that I am sure has been effecting the writer’s market as well.)

So, that’s basically where I’m at with everything. I will be posting progress along with my usual bits of this and that. My pledge is a minimum of one post per week, though I am hoping for more. Feel free to yell at me if I don’t. ;-)

Until next week, take care everyone.

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What is this blog about, anyway?

Posted by Heather | Posted in Blog, General Announcements, Personal Reflections, Update, Writing | Posted on 30-07-2008

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Just recently I began submitting my to various related listing sites, and found I had a small problem. All of them ask me to classify what this is about. Uh-oh. For some reason they all seemed to lack the proper category. The neglected to add the “whatever strikes my fancy” category.

That led me to sit down and really think about what this is about.

I’ve been told it’s a “mommy ” since I have posted parenting relating things, or it’s a “contest ” because I post giveaways. Ok, I can get with that, sort-of. Those are parts of me, but I have a problem with classifying an entire based on a few entries. What about the posts that don’t fit? Another question – who was it that demanded that all blogs have to be categorized to be promoted?

I understand the need for organization on listing sites, I really do. Without organization there would be no way to find blogs that may interest you. What bothers me is that many of the offered are just too limiting for some blogs. I think the need to be expanded to include blogs that can’t be defined in one or two . I’d even be happy with a generic “other” category, but many sites don’t even have that.

After careful consideration, I came to a conclusion. It’s about me. It’s just that simple. I personally need a space that has all the little bits and pieces that make up who I am. If that means this is an “other” , so be it, but at least give me that option.

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What I’ve learned since becoming a Mom

Posted by Heather | Posted in Articles, Family, Personal Reflections, Writing | Posted on 12-05-2008

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Here are the top ten that I have found most attitude altering (in no particular order):

1. No matter the love you have felt before, your love for your will eclipse it.

2. If you’ve just put on clean clothes something will make it necessary to change. (Baby spit up, food, mud, some unnamed substance you really don’t want to know what it really is….) The same is true when get dressed up to leave the house.

3. Each is different, and each is different from moment to moment. (This is especially true of what foods they like. If I had a penny for the number of times I have heard “But I don’t like that!” even if it’s something they couldn’t get enough of the day before.)

4. It doesn’t matter how clean your house is, within 5 minutes of returning it will look like you haven’t cleaned it in a year.

5. Anytime you sit down to do something for yourself, you are guaranteed to have a life threatening emergency of biblical proportions. (Such as a splinter in a little finger, someone spilled milk, one accidentally spit while talking and it hit two, etc.)

6. If you put something in one spot it will be gone in the space of five seconds.

7. It doesn’t matter how many socks go in the dryer, you will always end up with an odd number and at least 5 socks that have no match.

8. If something spills, breaks, disappears, etc and try to find out who is responsible the culprit is always “not me” no matter who you ask. (Personally I think Not Me should start paying rent. I’ll bring that up if I ever find him.)

9. If you schedule a big event that involves you and the special someone in your life (husband, boyfriend, whatever) at least one of your will come down with a bizarre mystery illness. This illness will include but will not be limited to a fever, vomiting, and/or other unknown symptoms that make it impossible for your intended evening festivities.

10. You can’t sweat the small stuff, more of it keeps cropping up. (And you’ll just go insane if you keep letting it get to you.)

Thanks MommyFest Blog Party for this great topic! I never stopped to think how much my have taught me!

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I am officially PUBLISHED!

Posted by Heather | Posted in General Announcements, Writing | Posted on 05-05-2008

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Well, the last week or so has been fantastic! I’ve been officially published twice now on . They published the article that is posted on this site as well as the . This is the first time that anything that I have written has been published by someone other than me. It’s a heady feeling as well as a validation that maybe I do have some talent for this.

For those of you that would like to keep up to date on the items that publishes please feel free to go to http://www.associatedcontent.com/user/184797/heather_quarnstrom.html and subscribe. You can also send me an e-mail at Heather@HeatherQuarnstrom.com asking me to subscribe you. This will allow to send you an e-mail announcing every time they publish something I have written. (This is also good because I am paid by how many times my pieces are viewed. So please — visit often and share with everyone you know.)

I also received a wonderful e-mail from someone that was looking in to hiring me and happened across my writing as well. She encouraged me to follow my dream and become a writer. She told me that what she read on my site made her want to know what happened. It was especially rewarding because she told me she isn’t really a reader to begin with. I will admit that her e-mail had me on cloud nine for DAYS.

That’s about it for now. I am off to work on a new book that I am writing. I have the hook and a basic plot for it. I am working on fleshing out a basic outline to give me a direction to head in, and will go from there. I’ll post more information here and there.

I hope everyone out there is doing well!
Have a great day!
~ Heather

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Fear of Tomorrow

Posted by Heather | Posted in Poetry, Writing | Posted on 30-04-2008

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Whirling in the void of today
Blanketed by the comfort of yesterday
I hide in fear of tomorrow.

The uncertainty rings through
My soul is filled with quiet terror
And I huddle against the chill of my future.

I peek, just a peek
At what might be and startle.

It’s warm, so very warm,
To thaw me to the core of my insecurity.

The love, the fire, the strength,
Of what could be is powerful.

But is the power enough
To pull me from
My imposed stasis?

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The Beauty (and Terror) of the Written Word

Posted by Heather | Posted in Articles, Writing | Posted on 03-04-2008

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by Heather Quarnstrom

Have you ever seen a sentence that was just so well put together that it’s the equivalent of a beautiful painting? The sentence just flows and hits something deep within you. It’s such an amazing construct that while it is something that inspires you as a writer, it also terrifies you. You feel that every word that you write has to compare to that glowing work of art.

I’ve personally spent years justifying my lack of writing with the fact that I felt what I would write just couldn’t measure up. My subconscious told me again and again that if my words weren’t comparable to one shining example or another that it just wasn’t worth my time or effort to compete. What I finally realized exactly what was stopping me and thought it through, I had an amazing realization. My writing doesn’t have to be perfect! Now, that may seem like a simple, easy to realize concept to everyone that reads this, but I guarantee that MANY struggling writers can relate.

The feeling becomes so ingrained in our minds that unless what comes out of our heads is perfect then it shouldn’t be recorded. Not only is it supposed to come out perfect, but it should come out perfect the first try. It finally dawned on me that I would never know what my writing could become because I was censoring it before I even wrote it. My mind was so wrapped up in the concept of perfection that it was strangling the creative side that puts the words together. That then virtually guaranteed that whatever I wrote, if I ever got past the terror enough to actually write, would be the exact thing I feared.

I came to the conclusion that the only way I would ever fulfill my dream of being a writer would be by silencing my inner critic, and just writing. If I didn’t worry what came out the result was not only a relief, but also amazingly freeing to my creativity. I found that sentences came to me during the strangest time. The most spectacular thing was that not only would they come to me, but they would stick around until I got somewhere I could actually write them down. Those sentences led to more sentences, which lead to paragraphs, and lo and
behold — I was writing!

The amazing thing the technical age is the delete button. If something doesn’t come across the way I meant it, I can delete and try again. If what I write is in fact horrible and I wouldn’t even print it out to line a litter box — delete. I can even save it and go back to it another day if I want. Maybe after working on it a little bit subconsciously I will get inspired to change it to something that is worth reading. If not, I don’t worry it. I look at it as practice for when I find something I am truly passionate to write .

The bottom line is this — if you let yourself get so wrapped up in that you can’t even think writing without hyperventilating then you have failed without even trying. Who knows – you may be the next master artist of the writing world. You’ll never know until you try.

*~*~*~*~*~*
Heather Quarnstrom is a work at home of five beautiful children. She is a mother, wife, web/graphic designer, writer, and entrepreneur. If you would like to see what she is up to now, or browse a really great collection of diverse resources on the web, please stop by her site at http://www.heatherquarnstrom.com.
*~*~*~*~*~*

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Joining the blogging world, again…

Posted by Heather | Posted in Blog, Update, Writing | Posted on 03-04-2008

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Well, I have once again made a vow to being writing. What does this mean for the handful of people that read this? I will be blogging again. Yes, that’s right. I’m gonna do it again. (I can almost see the sarcastic comments rolling in as I type this.)

That being said, I have posted a new blog, and will probably be visiting my millions (ok, only three or four) of blogging pages I have to them. Don’t worry though, you won’t see the same post many times over. What I am going to do it try to write a post announcing my posts to my main blogging site.

So, for those of you that haven’t had your coffee this morning, we get to the “meat and potatoes” of this post:

I have updated my main blog. You can view the newest link by going to one of two places:

HeatherQuarnstrom.com and clicking on WebLog in the top corner
or
Click here to go straight to my Blog site.

If I feel I have a really great post, or have a lot to say I will be posting multiple posts to multiple sites. (Figuring that most people that read these little blurbs may not take the time to actually visit my main blog, I want to make sure my most important thoughts are seen by the largest number of people.)

Thanks for taking the time to read, and I hope to see you at HeatherQuarnstrom.com.

Have a great day!

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Writing Progress Update

Posted by Heather | Posted in Family, Personal Reflections, Writing | Posted on 13-06-2006

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Well, it seems that for every step forward I have to take two big leaps back. I ahve been trying to write my first spec fiction novel and have hit a wall. I have the world, the story line, the main character, the plot, and only two pages. I’m not sure if I have just been over-thinking this and have built it up into such a huge force it’s stiffling my creativity or what.

I have decided that I will step back and let it percolate in the back of my mind for a while and see what happens. I’ve started a new story (see how I am starting out small – finally, lol) about a woman with an affinity with the forces of nature that has a disfunctional . So far that’s all I know about her. I have no idea where the story is going, but maybe that’s for the best. If I can’t analyze it to death maybe I can actually produce something.

i think I was going in to this the wrong way. I started with the goal of a novel. I made this my last chance effort of fulfilling any of my childhood dreams. That’s enough pressure to crack anyone’s creative spirit, isn’t it? I’ve had a complete attitude adjustment and realized that I have a beautiful and a fantastic husband which is more than a lot of people have. I am raising four amazing little people and that is more than enough.

I am going back to writing because it’s something I love and it fills a void in me that it has taken many years for me to realized exists. It’s taken me even more to realize that that void is my creative soul slowly dying from lack of attention. I’ve tried various ways to feed it, but it seems that writing in any form is the only way to truly nourish it.

Quite a bit of self-analysis for a couple of days, isn’t it?

On that serious note, I will take my leave. I need to get myself and ready for my day job. I hope to be posting some of me actual writing up here soon for comments and feedback. In the meantime I will enjoy what I have rather than what I don’t.

Best wishes to all!
Heather

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