Work in Progress Wednesday

Work in Progress Wednesday

I’m thrilled to be adding Work in Progress Wednesday to my blog! Not only is this blogging tool a springboard to share, network, and offer support to the online writing community – but it will also be a great way for me to stay accountable to my writing goals! So, without further ado, my first Work in Progress Wednesday:

I’m taking a writing class! I am so excited to be taking this course, but also questioning my sanity. With both my husband and I working from home, his masters program and oh yeah, our 2 kids under age 2, I must have been a lunatic to sign my name to another time commitment. The fact of the matter; I NEED it. I desperately need something of my very own right now. We are working so hard over here and have just been through a time of crisis. My soul is craving something of my very own – something that does not fall into the categories of wife, mother or employee.

Starting Oct. 7, I will be taking the course Personal Essays That Get Published with Abigail Green! I know this class will be a perfect fit for me personally, and for my writing goals. Special thanks go out to Abigail Green and my father for making this possible. Abby was very willing to answer my questions while I was making this decision and my dad helped me make the decision by telling I must take the course and then writing the check for me to do so!

When it comes to marking progress in my writing, my methods are a bit untraditional. Because I write non-fiction, word count and story plotting are not goals on my to do list. Instead, I keep ongoing lists of essay ideas and prompts. When I’m feeling inspired, I write the rough draft of an essay, take the initial line or thought that sparked the idea off the list of potential essays and then place the first draft of the essay in a “to edit” folder. My current goal is to finish edits and re-writes on the essays in that folder BEFORE starting another essay. I have too many unfinished pieces of work floating around on my desktop. This week’s goal: 2 essays.

Another writing goal I am working on is choosing a writer’s conference. I’ve been reading on agent and author blogs about how beneficial this experience has been to the writing process. I am stating to research and save my pennies. I hope to make my appearance at a writer’s conference next fall. Any suggestions for a conference offering information on non-fiction would be greatly appreciated!

Until next week, if you need to find me, I’ll be glued to my computer!

Sleeping Beauty and Other tidbits

We’re settled! Ok, that was a lie. We are not settled. It has been almost 2 weeks since we moved and we are not settled. In our defense, we had no clue how difficult it was going to be with kids. I feel like the only time I can unpack boxes is when both girls are sleeping. And, if you know anything about our family, these gals don’t sleep at the same time.

Never the less, we are coming along slowly but surly. It feels good. Joseph had his first class this evening and came home looking smarter already. Or at least that is what the smile on his face told me.

I am feeling really good about this change in our lives. I am not, however, feeling good about paying 2 rents. So, please, pray for us to find a lease take over in Milwaukee. It would lift so much worry and uncertainty from our shoulders.

I’m working on many big projects in life. One of these will be a picture recap of our summer for my blog. One of my main motives for beginning this blog was to document our day to day life as a family. The summer handed us some crazy and challenging times, so the day to day aspect of life went out the window – with the blog. I am hoping to recap and get back to more regular postings. I will also be adding posts about my “writing life” to blog. I’m doing so in an effort to share a big part of myself I’ve never shared before. I know, I’m growing as a person!

While these things are in the works, I thought I would share a little piece of lovely from my day. While Joseph was at school the girls were getting a bit crazy. Tessa was sent to her room for a little alone time to reflect after a bout of sassy sassy talk. I was organizing my desk while Anna Clare sat on the floor playing with a sippy cup. I found myself caught up in my project. Panic washed over me as I realized there was silence in my home. Any mother with little ones can tell you silence is a bad, bad sign when you’ve got kids. I looked into the living room to find this:

Now, to the average person – this is a cute picture of a little gal falling asleep. How cute—and so on and so on. However, Anna Clare is the anti-sleeper. She has never - in all her 9 months of life - fallen asleep without an hour of screaming and rocking. Falling asleep in the middle of sitting up and drinking is a big accomplishment for her – and me! I love her so very much, but feel as if she has been overlooked when it comes to who she is as a person – because she has screamed day and night since the day she was born. Thus, that is the aspect of her at the forefront of our minds and conversations with family and friends. Could this be the dawn of a new day for her…for us…..for my sleep?!!

Here is hoping the changes around here as a beautiful as the summer to fall transition happening outdoors.

Do you feel like your life changes with the seasons? What changes does this fall bring for you?