Incandescence

My writing companion. She likes to try to help me with my writing. This month has been about challenging myself to exercise more, and harder, and cut back on sugar and eat a little healthier in general. This seems like the sort of thing you are supposed to do at the beginning of a new year, but I like to do things because I choose to, not because it is what everyone else is doing. I had sugar for the first time in over three weeks. I was supposed to be off sugar for the entire month of April, but I found that I've been compensating for the lack of sugar by eating more carbs. In effort to be healthier, I am re-introducing a little bit of sugar into my diet. It seems like every time I have victory in one area of my life, another issue flares up. But that is life, isn't it? As you might have noticed, I haven't been posting as consistently for the past two weeks. I have been struggling to find anything worth writing about. Not just in this blog, but also my story. I was...

AK is so gorgeous! Sometimes it's hard to believe I actually live here This might have been the first week in months that I did not post consistently. I think it is mostly because I was busy Monday and Tuesday, and then after that, I just could not think of anything to write about. I'm still struggling a little with that. This month has been all about challenges: for the month of April I am cutting out all desserts and sugary coffee drinks. I thought it would be hard to go off sugar (well, mostly, I don't nit-pick and not eat something if there is sugar in the ingredients of say, ketchup) but it has been surprisingly easy. I have said no to sugar a lot in the past two weeks, and it has felt really good. My plan is to re-introduce sugar, but in smaller amounts, in May. I feel like in some ways I am trying to 'reinvent' myself--less sugar, more exercise--overall, I want to live healthier and establish better habits while I have all this extra time. Kind ...

I have been working on my second book a lot recently. I am almost to 30,000 words, which is almost a third of the way there (I'm shooting for about 90,000) in only 3 weeks! At this rate, I might be done with it by May, just in time to start revising the first book. It is really hard not to grab my manuscript and a pen and get to work on my first book. It's like having a Christmas gift sitting in your room for three months just begging to be opened, but you know you should wait until Christmas Day. I might have peeked, just a bit. To help my own writing, I've been reading lots of books, mostly fantasy because that is the genre I am writing in too, though I've also read historical fiction and a few other genres. It's interesting to read books not just as a reader, but as a writer. Reading becomes not just entertainment, but a chance to pick apart other writer's work, see what works, what does not (at least in my opinion) and sometimes wonder how the person w...