All Photos: ©Mary J. Dressel
It’s time I get back to the 52-Week Blog Challenge after a brief hiatus. I’ve been finalizing two books to come out this year, and I wrote the end to another book also coming out in 2019, but that has nothing to do with this blog hop other than I’ve been busy, busy, busy! ❤ #WritersLife
This week’s topic sounds like a similar topic from the last two years:
I can only answer for me and whether life exists outside of my writing world. This answer is twofold. Putting words to paper took the back burner for a lot of years while I grew from a child to a teen to a young adult to a wife. I raised a family and worked outside of the home. These were happy times, but the need to write was always there.
Through the years, I always scribbled down words be it a poem or a short story, and I knew one day I’d write books. It just wasn’t the right time back then because I had a life outside of writing. What I didn’t know was how important it would become one day. Or how much time it would take to keep up with the business side.
Moving forward many years when everything about my life changed. Kids live their own lives, but I still receive much joy from spending time with them. Retirement allowed me to write full time, so nowadays, creating stories is my life, and no, I don’t have much of a life outside of this career, but I do make sure to find a balance that works for me.
I still have friends that I had when I was young and raising a family, plus new friends. They know of my dreams. We still go out to walk together, take little day trips, socialize, and continue to talk about my writing and books. However, I don’t do as much with them as they’d like.
Family and most friends understand that this is how I roll these days. Still, they would prefer I had an equal balance of life and career. I do keep my heart and soul in harmony. If I won the lotto or sold hundreds of books a day, I’d be happy to give the same amount of time to work and life–maybe even more to LIFE.
What about other authors? Participants in this blog challenge will tell you by visiting the 52-Week Blog Challenge blog for links to their blogs.
I appreciate your visit today. Enjoy what’s left of summer. It goes by too fast.
And now, I’m going for one of those walks.
The BALANCE sign is made of metal and hangs on my refrigerator by magnets on the back. While shopping with my son and daughter-in-law, I purchased this at a quaint little store in a small town nearby. As soon as I saw it, I had to have it! ❤
Balancing rocks credit: Pixabay
Learn more at Visit California.
It isn’t me in the picture above, but my Facebook Page image is at Burney Falls.
I’m late with posting to the blog hop, but here I am now with a 52-Week Blog Challenge post. Taking part this late means I missed the Linky Sign up deadline.
Let’s begin:
This topic came around a year or two ago, but I can’t find the post referring to it.
No, I don’t put me, the actual person into my stories. Nope. Not as “myself,” but events in my life and more, aspects of my personality, or the way I think about things–negatively and positively, have turned up in many of them.
I admit, some aspects of my personality do come out in my story. How can it not? I know myself so well.
This happened outside of the book and in the interim between books four and five, so readers never experience the event. Readers will find glimpses of the aftermath through the eyes of the Carlson family. I’m sure this will move avid readers of the series and make them ask “why?” Because:
These are some ways I add similarities to events I’ve experienced either first-hand or how I saw it through the eyes of someone else, but I tend to keep a lot of me hidden. To the best of my knowledge, my heroines are more themselves than me, because a girl can’t give away all her secrets.
As always, we can find the other participants at this Linky Link on the main Marketing for Romance Writers Blog. #MFRWauthor
Thanks for reading!
October 2019!
I have the boots in the picture above! That says it all. <wink> As much as I hate to admit it, getting dressed up is more of a chore than a pleasure. I’ve lost weight and have more to lose, so I’d have to buy a new dressy dress outfit. Don’t get me wrong, I love shopping, and yes, I should be prepared for a pop-up night out without running to the store first. Who am I fooling? I’m not good with unexpected proposals to go out.
The dressiest affair I have ever attended was my best friend’s daughter’s summer wedding. Yes, dressier than my own small wedding. I wore a sexy little size six, short red dress and climbed up into my shiny “red” Ram pickup truck–my Lady in Red, while my husband’s mouth watered in the driveway. Haha. He chose not to accompany me. His loss. My first love was there. He noticed and complimented! True story.
Preparing back in the day had been a pleasure. I remember my youngest son, a young man of around eighteen then, taking me aside at the wedding, saying, “Mom, men are checking you out.” He was the one shocked.
As recent as last week, my daughter-in-law came to town for work. She wanted to take me out for my birthday. In this case, I knew it would be fun, and I was happy to see her, so getting somewhat dressed up for this occasion had been a pleasure.
Being a stay-at-home writer, my daily dress is casual. Choosing to dress up to go out now means I have to get away from my characters to do something for myself. Remaining casual has become a habit, so it’s more normal for me to throw on a nice but casual outfit to go out with friends. It’s been ages since I’ve gone to a classy or dressy affair.
The thought of searching for clothing for an extravagant or glitzy outing, is definitely a chore. I wish it was different, but I’ve grown accustom to this lifestyle, and it’s the norm. It’s hard to break out of the habit of dressing casual and comfortable. Loungewear comes on when the sun goes down and never sees the outside.
The last time I went to the opera or symphony, I dressed business-casual and looked nice, but getting ready had been a chore, so I was torn between it being a chore or pleasurable. I glitzed the business aspect of it up a level with jewelry, dressy coat, and more dramatic makeup. As I “came together” that night, I felt great about how I looked.
At the opera and symphony, you see a bit of everything from jeans to long formal dresses. I fit somewhere in between, and it was a pleasure. In my dreams, I’d dress like Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman or Cher in Moonstruck and head out the door with my head held high.
In reality, dressing up is a chore these days, but I’m happy to go through the chore of preparing for the 
right occasion. How about you, dear blog readers. Oh, what about men? Is it a chore or a pleasure for you to get dressed up? I’m curious to know. Guys, I have to tell you and this is my opinion, but… Seeing you in a tux never gets old. <grin>
Hop on over to follow this LINK to the other blog hop participants.
Thanks for reading!
Happy belated Canada Day to my Canadian friends across the river from me, and a Happy Fourth of July to my fellow Americans.
I hope none of you were in the earthquake in California.
Be safe everyone.
Sorry to have missed last Friday’s topic about planning a dream wedding. I was too busy planning a fictional wedding. ❤ I did write the post though so maybe one day I’ll post it anyway.
This really isn’t the topic for me though I’ve received the call of acceptance twice. Years ago, when publishing was soooo different, I turned down one call of acceptance. Yes, they actually called. Turns out, they wanted more money for editing than what they’d pay me. Yes, they made money on editing over publishing, though they called themselves a publisher.
LISTEN TO ME if you’re just starting… Stay away from them. They should pay you not the other way around. I’m glad I had enough smarts to walk away.
Another time, well, I can’t say I had a call of acceptance, but an editor at one of the biggest New York publishing companies had requested my complete manuscript. He suggested changes in the manuscript and then to send it back to him. That’s a big deal. It was a big deal!
The way my luck runs, I shouldn’t have been surprised. #WritersLife Hah! I had finished with all his suggestions, and my manuscript had been ready to go, but I learned that he had moved to a different publishing company. OMG. Lickity split. He’d left me. Ha-ha. It felt like he’d left me.
I still sent it to a different editor there and explained my plight, but two years later, after I had contacted them, they sent my manuscript back with a rejection. He or she, I don’t remember now, didn’t like my story as much as the first guy. Sigh.
In the interim of searching for an agent and a publisher, I had received many rejections, requests to read more of my manuscript, and more rejections.
Keyword here: I didn’t give up. Don’t give up.
However, I got another call some YEARS later and should have walked away then too. I didn’t, but it was my opening—my beginning, and how it changed my life. My new beginning wasn’t with them because later, I paid them to get my rights back to two books they’d published. I say it was my beginning because I left them to make my own dream come true.
Did you pay attention? To make my OWN dream come true. Kindle Direct Publishing came around at the perfect time for me. I didn’t know anything about publishing on my own.
Back then, and even now, some turn their noses up at self-published authors. Whether anyone wants to face it or not, it’s true.
So, yes, I’ve received the call a couple times but I don’t like to talk about those times because as I said above: I made my OWN dream come true.
Each of us has to do what works best for us. Me? I’m too old now to wait for others to make decisions about my writing career, and I’ll be even older on Saturday. 🎂
Thanks for stopping by to read another #MFRWauthor post in the blog hop. Find links to the other authors in the hop, HERE.
I’m excited over recent news– My November release has been edited and is with the proofreader now.
A brand-new heartwarming Christmas Novella moments ago came back from my editor and a cover is being made for it. Yay.
And two weeks ago, a frightening call-back to have a test redone freaked me out. It came back fine. How scary and stressful that previous week had been.
Last but not least, my daughter-in-law has been in town this week for work, and she took me out for a birthday dinner last night. How sweet! (They live out of state.)
November 2019
Late 2019
