Tuesday, June 30, 2015

Composing a New Career


Welcome to the Romance Writers Weekly Blog Hop. We're a merry band of writers who love to chat about romance, writing, and pretty much everything else under the sun. If you found me by way of Xio Axelrod http://www.xioaxelrod.com, welcome! I hope you're enjoying this week's blog hop.

This week's question comes from Xio Axelrod. "If you weren't a writer, what other creative career would you most want to try?"  

Ooh! Such a fun question this week with so many options to choose from.

I think of myself as a pretty creative person. It's just part of who I am. When you think about it, most of the jobs I've held in my life, require a lot of creativity. Teaching definitely allows me to tap into my imagination when I'm building my unit lesson plans, especially now that we have a bit more freedom with Common Core.  No two days are alike. 

Photography allowed me to view the world (and people) in a more artistic way, finding the beauty within each of my subjects. It's a relaxing but expensive hobby of mine. 

Designing websites was the perfect blend of art and science and allowed me to use the skills I'd learned as a type setter. I could let my imagination run wild with the design, yet had to be meticulous in order to make everything run smoothly. 

Heck, I've even been a color guard instructor for a local high school. I taught teenagers how to spin a flag and rifle and then wrote routines for them to perform. In a way, it allowed me to bring the music to life for the captive audience. 


But if I could choose any artistic endeavor to pursue, I would want to be a composer. I began writing music, or at least composing songs, when I was around 14. I'd only been playing the piano for a year but I'd been singing in the church choir for kids since I was six, so I'd been raised around music. You know how writers say they can hear the characters talking in their heads? Yeah, music was like that for me as a teen. I could hear the songs playing in my head and would stay up until midnight working it out. 

Composing music is one thing but actually putting it to paper? That's a whole other beast. My skills are seriously lacking in that department. To the right is a picture of my piano/keyboard and some of the songs I've written. My music isn't pop or rock music, though. I tried to include a clip, but fortunately for you, Blogger was too horrified to even let me share it with you. 

Writing music was always a way to process my emotions. Like writing, it's a fairly solitary process for me. I truly wish I could have taken my music farther. Maybe in a different life, I could have played a ton of different instruments and been a composer. Who knows?!

Next up on the blog hop is Fiona Riplee http://fionariplee.com/blog. Hop on over to see what artistic career choice she would like to try. 

Tuesday, June 16, 2015

Saved by a Superpower


Love to read? Love romance? Then you've come to the right spot. Each week, a crazy troupe of romance writers put together a blog hop for your personal reading enjoyment. We chat about just about everything under the sun: love, sex, writing, food, and this week's topic . . . superpowers.

If you found me by way of Leslie Hachtel http://lesliehachtelwriter.wordpress.com, welcome! This week's fun topic is courtesy of Susan Scott Shelley. She asked, "You've been gifted with a super power. Which would you choose? Why?"

Just one?! I imagine when Susan posed this topic, she did it with a maniacal laugh, knowing choosing only one superpower is downright torturous for me. Well played, Susan, well played.
 
www.flickr.com/photos/venosdale/6109506769

I have come to the unfortunate conclusion that I am not Superwoman. This pains me something awful to admit, but I can't seem to get my sh** together recently. I can either do all the errands or get the kids to their swim and soccer practice. Either write or clean the house. Not both. The house is clean (for the most part) by the way, but the edits are crawling along slower than a sloth at this point in time. If it weren't akin to career suicide, I'd be tempted to just send my editor my first draft and say to hell with it. 

If I had to pick a superpower to be imbued with, it would have to be the ability to clone myself. One of me could take the kids to the park, library, and sports lessons each day, while another me takes care of the housekeeping and cooking. Of course, I'd have to clone another me to be the dedicated teacher I want to be, while another me can spin stories all day long, becoming the prolific author I so long to be. It's a nice dream, don't ya think? 

What about you? What superpower would you like to have? 

Next up on the RWW blog hop?  Victoria Barbour http://www.victoriabarbour.com/blog