Do you like it long or short?

Well, do you like it long or short? You may be scratching your head and saying, well that’s it, she’s finally lost what’s left of her brain. What I mean is reading. Do you like a long novel or a short easy read?

I was reading a post yesterday about a study done on how many actually finish a long novel. It intrigued me. I started thinking about all the books that I’ve started and they were good up to a point, then about 100 or so pages in I lost track of where the book was going. But then later I pick it up and finish it on a rainy day.

I’ve written long and short books, but I get the better response from the short ones. Amazingly enough a lot of people prefer a short, easy read that get’s to the heart of the story quickly and keeps them enthralled for a couple of hours. Several publishing sites actually have a special segment of publishing call short reads or lunch time reads.

When I was younger the craze was the long novel and now it seems the shorter the better. I was going through some new books on Smashwords.com the other day and over half of them were less than 10000 words. Amazing.

I guess that’s why my shorter novels sell better. Funny isn’t it. We’ve gotten to such a busy way of life that we’ve even shortened our reading time. Oh, we still make time for reading, but we want to do it in record time so we can go out and get busy again. Oh well, I’ll just write what I feel like I need to get my stories across and hope it passes the test.

So, let me ask again, Do you like it long or short? See I told you it wasn’t a crazy question…

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

Writing…

For me writing is a way to release stress and get the thoughts in my head out. I’ve always been a dreamer. Even as a child I could spin a story in my head. My teachers always would ask where I came up with the stories I’d write for assignments. I’d laugh and say out of my brain. My grandfather wanted me to be a journalist, which is what I wanted to be for a long time.

It’s funny how things change. As life starts to take over you make decisions and some are good and others you spend the rest of your life shaking your head at your own stupidity. Well, if I’d gone with my gut instinct writing would’ve been my career from the start. I’ve been writing stories since I was around 13 years old. I was also trained in classical piano and organ. I always dreamed of playing for a huge orchestra somewhere in Europe. Oh well, dreams of the youth. I started painting around the same time. I’ve sold a couple of my paintings but nothing to brag about.

Again, it’s funny how life takes over. In college I took a liking to Accounting and it was all over for the journalism and music. I decided to get a “safe” career. Not that working with the IRS and their ever changing rules is safe, but it seemed the thing to do. Accounting has given us a comfortable life and running my own accounting firm has afforded me the luxury of keeping my son close and always being able to go to all his ball games and such.

Now that I’m writing, it’s been such a rewarding aspect of my life. I’ve met some of the nicest people from all over the world. The support that other authors give you is awesome. I may never be on the New York Times Bestseller list, but I have the knowledge that I’ve put my work out there and gotten some great response to it. Maybe one day I can retire my calculator and replace it with a laptop, but for now I’ll enjoy all the aspects of my life.

A couple of aspects of my life that will never change is that I’m a mom, wife, children’s minister and a servant in my Church. Even if I was to get to the next level with my writing those things still hold on. Life’s short and you need to make sure you live it to the fullest. The Lord doesn’t promise you tomorrow so live today and enjoy it. If you have a talent, then use it for good. Make someone smile or laugh, maybe even inspire someone for a moment. Don’t let it go to waste.

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

If you feel old does that make you old?

I’ve always heard people say you’re only as old as you feel. Well that can hold true in a lot of instances. Sometimes I marvel at the energy I have and other times I’m sitting there thinking where did it all go 🙂

I sit over a computer for a good part of the day doing accounting, then I sit in a chair with a laptop in my lap at night writing. It takes a toll on your neck, shoulders, and back. Don’t get me wrong, it’s definitely worth it. My husband tells me constantly to put the laptop down at night and rest, but when the story is running around in your head, you’ve just got to get it out there.

I’m only 44 and to me that’s still young. To my son it’s old and I remember being the same way when I was a kid. I thought when you hit 50 that was it. You were a goner. Funny how age seems different as you near that mark. To me now 80 or 100 is getting older.

Do you think we grow better with age? Well, I definitely do. I know I’ve learned to enjoy life. When I was younger I just lived by the seat of my pants and never stopped to enjoy anything. Now I do stop and smell the proverbial rose from time to time. To me my writing is a time to stop and enjoy the moment.

My mom is always saying that I need to write less and rest more. Not happening. I enjoy writing. It’s a way to express myself. Sometimes I get my daily frustrations out in my writing. It’s crazy how calming it is to sit in front of my laptop and just pour my heart out until I’m emotionally exhausted.

Don’t give up on life. Live it and enjoy every moment. Life is too short to just go through it with blinders on. Watching life from the rear view mirror is not healthy. Live for today not yesterday. That day is done and today is here and now. You can’t take back yesterday, but you can make today and tomorrow better. Give it a try. It’s my new philosophy in life. I put the past in my writing and leave it there for everyone else to live.

As always, good writing and May God bless you.

Looking back, going forward…

I started a rather large project this weekend. I have a cabinet where I keep all of my photos. I have some in photo albums, but 100’s are not in albums yet. I decided Friday night to organize them and put in the remaining albums.

It’s been a long while since I’ve actually looked at the photos. Usually I only open the cabinet to put more in. Well, being the sentimental person I am, I have laughed, cried and become thankful for all I’ve seen and done. I sat with my son and we looked through his lifetime of pictures. When he was small I took pictures of everything he did. He actually looked at me a couple of times like ‘really mom’.

It’s funny what you take pictures of. I saw pictures of my dad, he’s been gone since June 2006. That brought tears to my eyes. It was nice to see him though. My son was quiet looking at his granddaddy. He was really close to him. I told him it is nice to have these memories printed for us to share. He only nodded and held the pictures closely.

Going through the emotional side of the pictures made me think about things for the future. We take so much for granted in out lives. There are so many from those photos not with us anymore. With my faith I know I will see them again some day, but at least I have their pictures to remind me of the love and happiness we shared.

As we go forward, let’s try to remember to live as though there is no tomorrow and love as though today is our last.

As always, good writing and May God Bless you.