Kevin's Letters

I've been pretty amazed at Kevin within the last two weeks. Suddenly, he's become obsessed with letters and writing.

All day, he pulls paper out and writes on it. His favorite words currently are his name, Mom, Dad, Arkhon, and Siff. He loves to write, "For..." and create masterpieces to give to us. He's gotten to the point where he can write most of those without any help. Here's one he did yesterday without any help:

Ladies and gentlemen, I'd like to present our 4-year-old

He had his name written on this one too, but since I use a pseudonym for my son, I had to take his name off. Just in case it's hard to read, the first line says "Arkhon," the second line says "For Siff," the last line says, "Dad, Mom."

He amazes me sometimes. The best part is, he's been doing this all on his own. When I was in college, a lot of my classes talked about parents and how the current system pushes children too hard. Some parents seem super competitive about making sure that their children are ahead of everyone else. In the class, we discussed how this causes some children to burn out and they never learn to enjoy learning.

So, after talking about that with my teachers and the other students, I decided that I didn't want to force my children to learn things early. Other parents can do things they way they want to, but I really wanted my children to enjoy learning. If they they were interested in something, I would definitely teach them, but I wanted to let them develop at their own pace (especially before formal education started).

When we got married, I found that Grig felt similarly. So, we've never really pushed Kevin to read. We read to him, and we answer his questions when he asks them, but I don't sit him down and force him to write.

I'm just tickled that he is so interested in writing right now. He fills entire papers with rows of letters, and then copies the letters that he wrote.

I think he's pretty amazing, and I'm grateful that he is so interested in reading and writing.

National Novel Writing Month

If you've been following my blog for a while, you probably remember that the last three or four years I've been participating in National Novel Writing Month or NaNoWriMo.

This is again the case this month.

If you're interested in writing, during the month of November there is a site at nanowrimo.org where you can sign up for free and keep track of how many words you write. Their goal is 50,000 during the month of November. Your own personal goal can be more or less than that.

I am currently on the third rewrite of my novel, and I'm up to 10,899 words. My cousin, who is amazing, has already hit 50,000 (not that I'm comparing, I just think she's awesome).

My goal this November actually has nothing to do with number of words, though it is oddly motivating for me to see how many I write every day and I still would like to achieve 50,000 by the end of the month. Instead, my goal is to completely finish rewriting before November is over and start submitting my book to agents by the end of the year.

Hopefully 2017 will be the year I finally get published.

I'm pretty excited about my book right now. Sometimes, my brain gets so involved in it, that I can't sleep, which happened last night. I was trying to go to bed early so I could get up and write, but instead my mind was trying to figure out the phases and orbits of three moons around a planet if one of the moons is in geostationary orbit.

Fun, right?

Creating a world is pretty exhilarating. You can basically make anything you want. I like mine to fit within scientific rules that we already know, but after that, the possibilites are endless! Tweak the size of the planet and gravity becomes less. Creatures can get bigger than they can on Earth and lift heavier things.

It's exciting.

I've been writing since I could write. I have some pretty funny books that I wrote in 1st grade that I've kept for years, and one of the stories that I'm writing, I have been working on since 2nd grade. That particular book is on its second rewrite, but it was put on pause because the book I'm rewriting now if much further developed.

Anyway, if anyone is interested in writing a novel this month, it's not too late to sign up. It's been a little difficult for me to write this month, due to the foster care classes, being a mom, and other schedule changes, but I'm still doing it.

You can too, if you want to.

Goals for 2016

I realized I haven't written this post yet, though I have set goals.

I try to share my goals on here because then I have some accountability. It's good to have someone to be responsible too, even if they are faceless readers...though actually many of you aren't so faceless.

I love setting goals. I like accomplishing them, and I like having something to work toward. So, without further ado,  here are my goals for 2016:

• Only 2 hours or less of tv or movies during the hours of 8-5.
• Go outside daily
• Write 1000 words M-F
• plan for Sunday lesson by Wednesday
• Have a baby
• Exercise 30 min M-F
• Schedule daily
• Set monthly goals
• Set daily goals
• Read scriptures 30 min a day
• Publish 1st novel
• Blog M-F
• Put out 1 video a month

We have some other couple goals as well, but these are my personal goals. 

I set these at the beginning of last month, and I'd already forgotten about a couple of them. It's good to be reminded. 

The limiting tv thing has been wonderful. Kevin actually gets grumpy if technology is on too long. I also am less productive. To turn everything off for most of the day has really helped me to accomplish my other goals and helped me to be a better mom. Some days I do better than other days, but I'm improving.

It wasn't that we were actually watching television that much, but it was on as nearly constant background noise. It's been nice to have my focus solely on my son. 

I like how goals make me a better person and help me to improve myself. I'm doing really well on the second draft of my book right now. I have high hopes for submitting it to publishers this year. I'm still trying to decide if I should self-publish through Amazon, or try and publish through a publishing company. 

Any thoughts? I'd really welcome them. 

NaNoWriMo Report

Many of you may have noticed that I was a little bit scarce on this blog during November.

Usually, it's because I was busy writing for my NaNoWriMo goal, but it was also because November ended up being a pretty crazy month.

I was really close. I knew if I didn't get most of my story written before Thanksgiving that it would be really difficult to finish while we were in Idaho with family. I did pretty well, but I didn't get as far as I wanted to.

It's hard to write when these two want your attention!

My cousin, who is very good at NaNoWriMo, came to visit during Thanksgiving weekend and we had a writing party. I'm grateful that she encouraged me, because I was able to get quite a bit of writing done last
Friday thanks to her.

By Saturday night, I was at 39,312. Since I don't write on Sundays, that meant I had to write 10,688 words on Monday (yesterday). I knew I was unlikely to finish, but I was going to do my best.

Yesterday, I typed a bit, played with Adam a bit and then wrote a bit more. By evening, I had written over 2,000 words. I had about three hours to write by the time Kevin went to bed.

I did my best, but I didn't quite make it. At 12:00 a.m., I had written 47,406. That means that yesterday, I wrote 8,094 words. So, I was pretty close, but I didn't quite make it.

There were times I could have written, and didn't, but generally when I wasn't writing, I was spending time with family. So I don't really regret the use of time.

However, as usual, NaNoWriMo has helped me do the most important thing. It has helped me establish a pattern of writing. The second draft of my story is going well, and I now have a goal to finish this draft before the end of the year.

I have a lot of blogging and catching up to do in the next week, but this post will suffice for today.

Thank you for those of you who checked up on me and asked me how the writing was going. I really appreciated the encouragement!

I'm hoping to write most days in December. A lot has been happening around here!

Something I Learned Recently About Publishing

So, I am really good at writing epics.

I always have been. When teachers asked us to write stories for class, most of the kids were asking how long it HAD to be, but my question usually was, "How long CAN it be?" I'm not a short story person. I have long plots that occasionally don't quite have an ending, but generally there's a vague idea in there.

So, when I was writing this most recent book, I was trying to figure out the stopping point for the first book. I wanted it to have a good conclusion, so if people wanted to stop after the first one, they would still feel like there was a resolution to conflict. However, I wanted the book to be really exciting, and, in my head, the real excitement only began after a certain point.

However, when looking up the word length for Harry Potter to see how long J. K. Rowling's first book was, I came across the following article that made a huge impact on my decision:

Word Count and Story Length

If you are an aspiring writer, I recommend that you read this.

Basically, the article states that a huge reason that many stories are rejected by publishers and agents is the simple fact that the stories are too long.

He gave this simple guide for story length:

• Short-short stories are under 2,500 words.
• Short stories can range from 2,500 to 7,500 words.
• Novellettes are from 7,500 to 20,000 words.
• Novellas are from 20,000 to 50,000 words.
• Novels are from 70,000 to 90,000 words.

Though he did add that Sci-fi/Fantasy can go up to 125,000 words long if it's not young adult.

Reading that, I quickly looked at my word count.I was at about 55,000 words. I was close to long enough where I was. That helped me pick my stopping point, and it wasn't where I had originally expected it to be, However, the more that I am writing to that goal, the more that I like this new stopping point.

It makes the first book about character development and relations while still providing plenty of action. I'm really enjoying how it is going. I'm not finished yet, but the goal is not too far away.

If you're struggling to publish, take a look at your word-count. As the author of the article says,

Beginning writers usually create a story that's just too long for a novel. But rejection letters rarely explain the reason the agent isn't interested in representing your work. Writers usually forget to think about how long the story needs to be. After all, agents won't bother trying to sell something that the publishers won't buy. Most of the time, the manuscript is too long.

There are exceptions to this, of course, but in general the first novels of established authors are much shorter than their subsequent novels. After they're established and have an audience, then they can go longer.

Hopefully this helps someone else. It sure helped me.

Good luck, writer friends. I'm praying for you!

Happy New Year!

I haven't written any goals yet. That's tomorrow's goal, I think.

He loves his dog. Happy New Year!

I am pretty ashamed of myself though. I only blogged 6 times in December. I can try to make excuses for that, but honestly, I could have done better.

*Raises a glass of Martinelli's* Here's to a better blogging year (and videos)!

I am going to have some exciting goals this year. The most immediate one, is to buy a home.

Yes, we have found our home. Following the inspection next week, and barring any serious problems, we will be settling in this home February 13ish. That's almost my birthday, and it may be the only present I'm getting!

Happy birthday to me!

A couple of other things I've learned about buying a home. Earnest money has to be submitted usually within four days of accepting the offer or counteroffer. Once that happens, things move fairly quickly, though if you are getting a loan, you have to wait for approval.

It is an awesome home, and we are very excited about it.

Also, inspections and appraisals are not the same thing. Inspections are paid for by the buyer, while appraisals can be negotiated to be paid by the seller. If the appraisal finds something wrong, it has to be fixed before the  loan will accept the home. However, if the inspection finds something wrong, it is up to you how you deal with it. Hopefully neither will find anything seriously wrong.

Soon, this boy will be sleeping in his new bedroom. (And yes, they are both asleep in this picture).

Our puppy is growing up. Arkhon is almost six months old now, and as tall as Dakota. She's twice as heavy as him still, especially with her fur grown in, but his stilt-like legs move him faster than light.

We had some pretty awesome snowstorms around Christmas, and the dogs loved it. Kevin hasn't been enjoying the cold as much, but hopefully it will snow enough here so that we can go sledding sometime.

Ah, my snow dogs.

I'd like that.

I've also finally figured out where the first book in my series is going to end! This was the book I worked on for Nanowrimo, but the problem was that the plot is super-long. So, I was trying to figure out where to end the first book so that it would have a conclusion, but still be exciting. I think I figured it out, and it's really not very far away from where I'm writing. That means my first draft is about done! Whoohoo. I'm motivated to start writing again. Sometimes not knowing when you're ending is as bad as not knowing where you're going. I knew where my book was heading, but I just didn't know where it was ending.

 A lot of exciting things are happening, and hopefully by the end of next month we'll be in our new home.

Here's the goal of writing every day, Monday through Friday, again. I'm going to do it!

Hooray for a new year with new opportunities. When I tell you my new goals, I will also make an accounting of my goals from last year.

Goals for 2014

It actually helps me a lot if I tell you what my goals are, because than I feel accountable to actually accomplish them.

This month, I am working on reading/studying scriptures for 1/2 hour, exercising 1/2 an hour 5 times a week, and writing five pages a day.

So far this week, I have been doing really well.  I've exercised for the last two days using Punch, Kick, & Jam a video workout that someone gave me like seven years ago.  It's made me sweat and I feel a lot better for it.  I'm not a huge fan of jogging, but this workout is working every muscle in my body, so though I've felt sore, I feel great!  I'm also already starting to lose some weight, which is fantastic.

My scripture study has also been equally fantastic. While Kevin has been taking naps, I've been able to accomplish these two goals.  The only problem is that by the time I do these two activities, and sit down to start writing, Kevin wakes up not too long after. 

So, I've only written about a page a day, but goals are for working toward, right?  If it was easy, I'd need to up the goal anyway. 

I think I've also decided that when I finish writing and editing I am going to self-publish through Amazon's publishing page.  I will keep you all updated on that.  That's one of my major goals this year is to publish my first book.  At first, I was hesitant because I didn't know for sure if they published anything besides kindle editions (and I really like paperback or hardcover myself), but it turns out they do publish paperback.  So, that is what I will be doing. 

First, I have to finish writing the book though.  Anyway.  Those are some of my goals for the month.  Another one is to plan my schedule everyday and accomplish household chores as I do so.  That's been going well too.

2014 is starting out really awesome!

I hope yours is going just as well!

Grig's work is starting to slow down. He actually had last Saturday off. That was nice.  We played Settlers of Catan which we bought on Friday. Great game.

Did I ever tell you that I love fried chicken?

Having a Clean Home

When I was growing up, my bedroom often became messy.  I would just throw my clothes wherever once I had worn them.  My room wasn't so much dirty as cluttered.

In college, my room was in a similar state.  I don't think it was ever really super dirty, but it would occasionally be cluttered.  I liked to have my things out where I could get to them easily and quickly.  It didn't bother me that things were occasionally on the floor.

The first year that Grig and I were married, we had a beautiful apartment.  It was small, but not too small.  It was just the right size for two college kids just starting out.  When Kevin came, it became a bit of a tighter squeeze, and it was pretty much constantly cluttered because there just wasn't room for all of our things.  It didn't really bother me unless we had company, then I would quickly straighten the place up because I wanted it to look as nice as it could.

When we moved to this new apartment, we suddenly had room for all of our things.  A gradual change then began occurring within me that I hadn't been aware was happening.  When we didn't have room to put things away, it didn't bother me if they were cluttering counters and desks.  However, now that there is a place for everything, I like it in its place.

Suddenly, I can't stand it anymore if the house is messy.  The other day, I was straightening things up, and Havelock came home.  He seemed confused and he asked me, "What are you doing? Is something happening tonight?"

I told him no, I just wanted the house to be clean.  He said, "Ah.  I guess you don't only have to clean when we have company." I thought it was a funny thing to say.

I've started realizing that I kind of get stressed out when my dishes aren't done or my floor is messy.  Yesterday I went on a crazy cleaning streak through the house.  I finally got my bathroom clean (which isn't easy with a 1-year-old).  My mother suggested Kevin have a bath while I cleaned the bathroom and that worked perfectly.  He happily played in the tub while I scrubbed the mirror, the sink, and the toilet.  After his bath, he fell asleep and I finished scrubbing the tub. 

I had already finished the dishes early that morning, and so I finished straightening the house quickly while he slept.  Then I wrote for a while, but having a clean house felt wonderful.

Kevin enjoys helping me clean.  When I am putting things in his bedroom, he is bringing them back out. While I put the books back on the bookshelf, he likes to pull them back out. We're working on him helping me in a more helpful way.

It turns out having a clean house feels nice and I rather like it.  I never thought that a messy house was going to bother me.  Go figure.  However, it's not a bad change and certainly makes things easier in the long run if I clean a little bit every day.  It's also more conducive to the Spirit to have clean house.

What are things that bother you?  Let me know in the comments.

A Hidden Blessing

So, yesterday I discovered that I had accidentally accomplished something amazing with my NaNoWriMo goal. 

It was nap time.  I put Kevin down for a nap and I quietly left the room.  I found myself automatically going to my computer and sitting down to work on my story.

I was surprised.  I realized that I had gained a hidden blessing from having a goal last month. 

I had established a habit.

There is a saying.  It goes something like this: "It takes 21 days to establish a habit, and one day to break it."  Okay, so, maybe that part about breaking it isn't part of the quote, but it sounds about right.

I became curious about where the origin of the "21 day quote" was from, and I discovered the following source:

Busting the 21 Day Habit Formation Myth

This article was very interesting.  It said that this quote originally came from a man named Dr Maxwell Maltz, who was a plastic surgeon turned psychologist.  He told his readers that it generally took 21 days for people to change their self-image in regard to their newly modified features.  Then, he said, ‘Our self-image and our habits tend to go together. Change one and you will automatically change the other.’ (p108)

Thus, the 21 day habit formation myth was born.  According to this article, they did some more research on how long establishing a habit takes and found that association with another event in your day can speed up the creation of a habit.  Some people could develop one in as few as 18 days, while it took others up to 84 days. 

Basically, it depends on you.  They said when you correlate a new habit with an already existing activity (putting the baby to bed) it is much easier to develop a habit.  So, as long as I keep working on my story while Kevin is sleeping, I will continue to make progress. 

Aren't hidden blessings wonderful?

Okay, They Talked Me into It

 I keep seeing blog posts from my friends where they talk about how they're going to participate in NaNoWriMo.  I couldn't help it, I looked it up.

Evidently, it all about National Novel Writing Month.  During the month of November, authors are asked to try and write 50,000 words.  I've decided to give it a go.

I've had this new story idea that I got from a dream.  I've already written out the entire plot, and it's been sitting in my mind in the back burner.  I think I'm going to write on it for the next month in the morning while Kevin is still asleep and during his nap times.  After I blog, of course.

I think I can do it!  I write quickly, and for once, I have a story mapped out.  This will be a good opportunity to try and push myself to do something.

Even if I don't finish, 50,000 words should definitely get me started.  I have a penchant for writing long stories, and the current one I'm thinking about doing might end up being a trilogy.

Anyway, I'm kind of excited to start tonight/tomorrow.

I'm on the official NaNoWriMo website as clwoolfe, which was originally going to be my penname.  If you're on there, look me up.

For a synopsis of my story, I simply wrote:

A young man is born with some special abilities.  Though his siblings are also unique, they grow jealous of the attention he is getting.  They are approached by a stranger and they make a decision that will change their brother's life forever.

Okay, so maybe I need to beef it up, but I don't want to give anything away either.  So difficult.

Anyway, if you're interested and are a last minute procrastinator like me, the month begins tomorrow!

For an update on the family:

Kevin is feeling better, in case you were wondering.  We think he has another tooth coming out the top.  Poor guy.  He's been pretty miserable.   

Tonight is his first Halloween!  We are pretty excited.  It is also our anniversary of our engagement.  To read that story, go here.

We've got his costume figured out, but you probably won't see it until this Saturday's vlog.  It's adorable though!  Be very excited.

I'm excited.  He can't eat his candy yet, so that means it's all mine!

Bwahahahahaha.

Sorry, just getting in the Halloween mood.  Besides, I have to share it with Grig.