Manic Monday

So I’ve pretty much been in the writing cave for a better part of the past month, except for the five days when I didn’t write a word because every thing in life was too crazy and busy and hard to juggle.  And let’s be honest – a lot of the time it always feels like there will be too much other “stuff” keeping us from doing all that great stuff we want to do. 

And while I devoted November to NaNoWriMo, I let every other piece of writing that wasn’t directly related to FWOFB or my day job fall to the wayside.  Pretty much the same with reading.  Not a good month for me in some ways.  Yet 51K of a new mystery….I’ll stop writing about that at some point.  Promise. 

But in the wake of NaNo and after an amazing massage and 11 hours of non-drug induced sleep (which *never* happens) and a weekend where I didn’t open the work laptop, I suddenly have some perspective and some ideas on how to answer the question – ‘how can I be a better blogger?’  (vs. a once-or-twice-a-monther…get to it when I get to it…wait until I have something to say….which is flat out shameful because my blog is growing cobwebs!). 

And the answer is simple – make it fun and keep it interesting.  (Duh!)  I read somewhere "Do what you love.  The rest comes."  It's on a Post-It next to my front door so I remind myself of it every day.  

Q:  Why do I write?  

A:  Because I love it.  

Even when I hate it.  Even when it’s hard.  Even when I think I have nothing left to give.  No more ideas.  No good character names.  Zilch.  It’s still the place I go back to.  It’s who I am.  It’s the dream.  The passion.  The thing that drives me.  It’s what I will keep on doing even if my writing falls in the forest and no one is around to hear it.  It’s the call.

But I can also procrastinate like a champ and make excuses and a whole lot of other pathetic things, but I’m fighting back.  I’m giving myself some structure and finding the fun again and creating themes for each day of the week.  Which is not to say I’m going to write everyday. I am after all, realistic.  And human.  But my hope is it’ll keep me focused. It’ll keep the posts coming. And it’ll keep you coming back!

So without further ado…..

It's just another manic Monday (you know I’m a sucker for a song).

My rule for Monday is there are no rules.  Anything I’m feeling especially excited or crazed about (good, bad or otherwise) be it a purse, a song, a book, a celeb scandal, the weather or the fact that it’s officially Starbucks Peppermint Mocha season….anything goes…(as in, “good authors too who once knew better words now only use four letter words writing prose…”)

Monday is my official ode to Andy Cohen…

The Things I’m Manic About Right Now:

I tipped my hat on the first one.  Starbucks.  Peppermint.  Mocha.  It’s my favorite.  It’s my version of Santa at the end of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.  It means the holiday season has come into town.  And from now through New Year’s I will knock those babies back!

The next stop on the liquid diet is eggnog.  Also a seasonal favorite.  Already have one in the fridge and some cinnamon in the cabinet.  Eggnog can double as a meal being all thick and delish.  Like a protein shake sans protein.  I’ll be scouring stores to find another this week.  Eggnog is hard to come by these days – especially the uber artificial one, all yellow and full of artificial crap.  And I love it!

Alafair Burke.  I just finished reading “Never Tell” and highly recommend it to anyone looking for a mystery. 

Strong female detective lead.  Check. 

New York City prep school scandal.  Check. 

Well written.  Check Check. 

It’s a little like Castle meets Gossip Girl.  Twist my arm.  Just used my 20% off Barnes & Noble coupon to pick up two of her earlier books.  Love discovering new authors. Love it even more when they are not new-to-the-market new, so I can devour other books they’ve written without having to wait for the next one to come out.  Win. Win.

This song.  On repeat.  Really loud.  When riding the subway or running on the treadmill.  Gets me through.  Especially on a Monday.  (Be warned….it’s kind of a series of F*bombs, so if that’s not your thing….sorry.  I’ll be more PG next time around!)

What are you manic about on this crazy warm December Monday?