Lately I've been having some serious issues with writer's block. It seems like all the time I have so many ideas just floating around my brain until I sit down to actually write. The second I pick up a pen/pencil, or sit down at the computer my brain just empties. It's beginning to make me insane. I have all these things plotted out and notes written down, but when it comes time to turn them in to something -- *poof*.
Sometimes I get lucky and can get a few words down, but then if I look them over I am horrified. I start wondering who on earth would read this? It's worse than the worse thi...
Hi everyone!
I'd like to apologize for the long hiatus. Many things have been going on in my personal 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 family 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 hi...
Just recently I began submitting my blog to various blog related listing sites, and found I had a small problem. All of them ask me to classify what this blog 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 blog is about.
I've been told it's a "mommy blog" since I have posted parenting relating things, or it's a "contest blog" because I post giveaways. Ok, I can get with that, sort-of. Those are parts of me, but I have a problem with cla...
Many of you don't know that I have both a sister and a niece with special needs. My sister suffered brain damage as a result of her belirubin climbing to record heights as an infant. Her functioning level was put at that of a six year old, even though she is 30 years old. She is the sweetest person, but has had a very rough life due to this and other unrelated problems. My niece has been diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome, and I have been learning all I can about this very common Autism Spectrum Disorder.
As a result, I am a proud supporter of sites and causes that promote information and f...
Lately I’ve been having some serious issues with writer’s block. It seems like all the time I have so many ideas just floating around my brain until I sit down to actually write. The second I pick up a pen/pencil, or sit down at the computer my brain just empties. It’s beginning to make me insane. I have all these things plotted out and notes written down, but when it comes time to turn them in to something — *poof*.
Sometimes I get lucky and can get a few words down, but then if I look them over I am horrified. I start wondering who on earth would read this? It’s worse than the worse thing I’ve ever read. (And let me tell you I have read some pretty bad writing while surfing the web, lol.) I start to freak out and think maybe writing isn’t my thing. Maybe I really don’t have the talent it takes to make people want to read what I’ve written? Then of course that starts another round of writer’s block even worse than the one before it.
I have this entire world and cast of characters that I want to introduce to the world that I just can’t seem to bring out to play. They’re banging around in my head and screaming to let them out. Then when it’s time to put up or shut up I just can’t seem to find them. It’s just so frustrating and depressing and makes me just want to scream! (Or find some time wasters that will distract me. I must say — Facebook is a double edged sword for that.)
Anyone out there have any tips to help get past the blank page? Or to get past the fear of what you are actually producing? I’m open to pretty much anything at this point to try to save some of my sanity.
I’d like to apologize for the long hiatus. Many things have been going on in my personal 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 family 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 family. We have grown from a family 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.
So with that decided, I felt my next step was to resurrect my old blog as a way to motivate myself to actually produce. Not only will it let me warm up with writing and get my creative juices 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 about 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.
Just recently I began submitting my blog to various blog related listing sites, and found I had a small problem. All of them ask me to classify what this blog 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 blog is about.
I’ve been told it’s a “mommy blog” since I have posted parenting relating things, or it’s a “contest blog” 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 blog 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 blog 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 categories offered are just too limiting for some blogs. I think the categories need to be expanded to include blogs that can’t be defined in one or two categories. 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 blog is an “other” blog, so be it, but at least give me that option.
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 child 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 children get dressed up to leave the house.
3. Each child is different, and each child 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 children 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, child one accidentally spit while talking and it hit child 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 children 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 children have taught me!
Well, the last week or so has been fantastic! I’ve been officially published twice now on Associated Content. They published the article that is posted on this site as well as the poem. 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 Associated Content 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 Associated Content 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
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 about 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 about it. I look at it as practice for when I find something I am truly passionate to write about.
The bottom line is this — if you let yourself get so wrapped up in fear that you can’t even think about 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.
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Heather Quarnstrom is a work at home mom 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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Well, it seems that my lofty ideas for my budding writing career have been put on hold.
In the past couple of years that I started this web site I have been going through some serious life changes. Both of my maternal grandparents passed away within six months of each other. I had a surprise pregnancy and miscarriage, followed by another pregnancy and new baby boy. I’ve also had the joy of seeing my businesses actually start bringing some income in. (Slowly, but enough to rekindle my zeal towards them.) I’ve also started a new business with a brand new but very close on-line friend.
I haven’t given up the dream of writing for a living, but have just realized that somewhere along the way it got shoved to the side. With all of the craziness that has invaded my life I have made a new vow to make time to write at least every day. There are days that I feel no one listens to me, so at least this way I will get some feeling of being heard.
If anyone is interested in seeing what I have been up to, they can visit the following web sites:
As I said I have been very busy, but over-all I’m more content that I have ever been. Now that I have started paying attention to my creative side I am much happier. (Gee, imagine that. Those of you that know me would never have guess that’s an important aspect of my personality. )
That’s it for now. I hope that you are all happy and healthy.
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 family. 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 publishing 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 family 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 children 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.
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