Coming out of the fog!

This has been one of those weeks where you want to go back, hit rewind and have a do over! Unfortunately, I caught the cold crud that’s been going around and have been in a fog since. Finally last night I was able to get more than a couple hours of sleep, which gave me a better morning.

When you’re a writer and in a brain fog, no words come out. It’s like they’re lost in the fog and no matter how hard you try, nothing comes out. Of course this hurt my daily word count, but believe me, if I would’ve written anything, especially in the last two days, it would have been unreadable.

Hopefully today will be a more productive day and I’ll soon be back to normal. Feeling a little more energy today, but the extra sleep helped.

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

Don’t forget to get your copy of “Seaside Beginnings” on pre-order! It’s officially releasing on February 17th…

Do you dream about your books?

I can’t help but smile when I ask this question. As a matter of fact I dreamed of one story line last night. When my alarm went off this morning I was working on the turn that one of my books is taking. What’s funny is in my dreams the turn was easily taken, but when my fingers hover over the keys sometimes it’s more difficult.

My newest book “Finding The Right Time” came to me in a dream. I could see the start and finish clearly. The middle was a little fuzzy, but I knew how it would start and eventually how it would end. What’s frustrating is I usually wake up before the books finish.

In my dreams I can see my characters clearly as though they’re real. Well, in a sense they are real to me and I want them to be real to my readers. If I don’t bring about a realness of my characters, how can I expect my readers to make a connection with them. So when I dream of my characters I try to jot down every detail I remember when I wake up.

It’s crazy how the writer’s mind works. I think a writer has a extra brain cell because our brains work over time.

Have you dreamed up one of your books before? Tell me about it, I’d love to hear the story.

As always, good writing and May God bless you…

Writer’s Insomnia…

photo credit: <a href=”http://www.flickr.com/photos/cristianagasparotto/10941256573/”>Cristiana Gasparotto</a> via <a href=”http://photopin.com”>photopin</a> <a href=”http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/”>cc</a>

Good Monday morning. It’s definitely a 3 cup morning. I woke at 3:55 this morning and tossed and turned until after 5. When the alarm went off at 6 I groaned and slapped the clock groggy and grouchy. But if you know me well, you know the grouchy part left after a couple of sips of coffee, but the groggy stayed.

Writer’s Insomnia is real, that is if you’re a writer. Insomnia is bad enough, but writer’s insomnia makes you crazy. It causes you to sleep with a pad and pencil beside the bed. What’s even worse is you can write several chapters in your mind as you lay tossing and turning trying to get back to sleep, but the story keeps prodding your brain.

Most of the time you end up getting up and typing late into the night. Sometimes it’s the best time to write because it’s quiet, but deep down you know you need to get some sleep. As you type or write long hand the story that plagued you while you tried desperately to sleep, your brain tells you that you need to go back to bed. But unfortunately the story fills that sleep space.

Have you ever fought the bed while a story poked at you? What do you do to get past it? Does warm milk work or do you give in and get up to fill the need to write?

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

A country girl’s life

As some of you know if you follow my blog, I’m a country girl. I love living in the country. As a child I played in the woods, corn fields, cow pasture, and mud puddles to my little heart’s delight. I’m raising my son to enjoy and respect the same countryside that I love. Now he fishes and hunts, not to mention plays in the mud and catches frogs. It’s just a wonderful life.

Take for instance this morning. We woke to a gorgeous sunny morning here in Georgia, which here lately is a wondrous sight. After a cup of coffee and toast we headed out to cut limbs out of our trees to allow the sun and breeze to blow easily through. But not before we watched Luke Bryan in all his gorgeousness hunting on a program my husband watches.

Then it was time to weed the garden and pick the tomatoes. I gathered the ones in the bowl on the counter with the new ones. Yep, you guessed it. I canned them. Maybe you’re saying but wouldn’t it be easier to buy them already canned in the store. Well, yeah, but nothings better than in the dead of winter pulling out your frozen goods from the summer garden. It’s using God’s bounty that he generously provides us.

I did take time to clean the house some. Now I’m propped on pillows in the bed with the sun streaming through the windows. We are actually getting what I call a true summer rain shower. It’s still sun shining as the rain gently falls. I have my laptop and now it’s time to get to work.

The birds are singing outside the window and playing in the rose bushes. It would be a moment of quiet solitude if my son wasn’t two bedrooms up playing his drums and my husband is in the den watching the last Harry Potter. But it’s still peaceful in my country home.

As for the rest of the day, it will be committed to hours of working on my current manuscript. I’m excited. I worked last night until almost midnight. I would have worked longer, but my eyes were telling me it’s time to shut it down. Although my brain was still working as I tried to go to sleep.

Hope your Saturday is a pleasant one. Take a little time to listen to the birds sing and watch a couple of clouds silently pass through the blue skies.

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

Monday blahs!!!

Well here is America it’s Martin Luther King Day and our Presidential Inauguration. Too much to take on a Monday. My son is out of school for the holiday. I wish I could take today off, but as I’m an accountant this is busy time sooooo:(

It’s not all bad though. I did get to sleep in this morning:) That’s a plus. Of course for me sleeping in is 7:30. My body automatically wakes up with the sun. Sometimes that can be annoying. It would be nice to sleep until after 8. Oh well, life goes on.

Hope this post finds everyone well. I’ve been trying to finish my latest novel. Spend a good bit of Saturday night working on it. I’m pleased with it so far. Hopefully the edits will be completed soon. I’m not saying when because that could jinx it.

Follow me and my books at http://www.facebook.com/stephanie.hurt.330.

As always good writing and May God Bless you!