Author Archives: Pam

Blogging Buddies

I love to run. I would get out every day if my knees could handle the impact. When I hear about runners who have to force their happy butts out the door to get a couple of miles in, I’m perplexed. I’ve always wondered why people needed motivation to do something that gave me such a rush, such freedom, such joy. Some runners even recruit workout partners to get off the couch.

I didn’t get the buddy concept until I took up blogging.

I’m new to blogging but this was not my first attempt. I started a blog way, way back in 2002, when the whole idea of blogging still smelt as fresh and new as Toby McGuire in Spiderman (remember that ab reveal scene?).

I dolled it up with a picture and made a post or two. But soon I found I had left it fallow for a long time, and the longer I left it bare, the more embarrassing it became to post and with two pre-teens life got busy. The little blog drowned in the interweb stream of consciousness.

In 2011, I got super serious about my writing career and thought I had to have an online presence, so I spent a week learning Blogger, setting up all the pretty themes, and fonts, even came up with a cool name. I posted. I committed to doing it once a week, then once a week flew by, then I committed to once every two weeks. I watched those zip by as well. I allowed my fiction writing to eat up all of my free time. Years passed. No one cared if I posted anyway, there was no accountability.

Now, I’ve finished a few books and short stories. I’m submitting to publishers and considering some of my online options. But again I needed to get out of my writer’s hidey hole; I needed to connect.

I hit upon my answer when I discovered group blogging. Some of the pressure released. If I don’t have much to say, then I call on my blog mates to help. And if I don’t post there are people who depend on me, which raises the stakes of not performing. And in those long, lonely days when I believe no one reads, I know that at least my blog mates will be checking.

After joining a joint blog, it’s becoming more and more clear why people need workout partners. They empower you, hold you accountable, and share you success. All that power available, just by asking. This experience has lead me to be more open minded, and perhaps I will be exploring other joint ventures.

Anyone looking for a workout partner?

Have you ever thought of joining forces in order to accomplish more? Let me know about your experience, or just stop by to say hello.

For every comment you leave a superhero reveals his toned abs for public admiration.

Interview with Tina Gower

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And now a bit of getting to know interviews you with Pam and Tina. I (Pam) will be starting with some hopefully thought provoking questions for my friend Tina (Smith) Gower!

If you could be any animal, what would you be and why?

I wish I could say “honey badger” with total seriousness, but I’ll have to go with wolf. I’m a huge dog fan and nature fan. I feel like a wolf melds those together. Wolves are loyal, wise, and mysterious. They have a complex social structure and that interests me.

What is the highlight of your writing career so far, or favorite moment?

I would have to say the people. Meeting other writers and talking about ideas and stories. Writing is a weird profession, but it’s nice to know I’m not the only weirdo. I try to attend workshops and conferences that will benefit me craft-wise, but also try to go to ones I know my friends will be at.

What has been the low point of your writing career, and why did you keep going?

Several points have been low. First, I’d started with no expectations. Being dyslexic, I knew I’d be nobody’s draft pick, so I had no pressure, no past experiences that indicated I’d be any good at writing. In fact, I had the opposite. Lots of people assuring me that writing was not my thing and that’s okay. We can’t all be perfect, right? But I’d secretly loved fiction and wanted so badly to tell my own stories. I wanted to be good at it. When I started writing non-fiction, I sold the first story I sent (which was to Chicken Soup for the Soul). It gave me my first taste of success and a hint that my instincts were correct. That I did have it in me. But it took me years to sell any fiction. That was really hard. And then when I did sell, it brought on a huge amount of expectation to do it again. The pressure was really intense, but it’s also motivating. When I find myself stressed, I take a deep breath. I re-examine my goals and break them down into parts. I only focus on that. I don’t try to look behind or too far ahead.

If you could travel a hundred years into the future what do you expect to see and do?

I’m sort of funny about these kinds of things. I’d want to visit family. I’d want to see how they’re doing. It’d be fun to marvel in the advancements of technology and what has happened, but I’d want to see how my future generations are doing.

Favorite guilty pleasures, books, movies, comics?

Books all the way. I’m a sucker for romance books of pretty much any sub-genre. I’d say it’s about 90% of what I read (counting all the SF/F, mystery, suspense I read where that is a minor subplot) I remember sitting outside of class in graduate school with the first Outlander book and one of the people in my class came up and scoffed. She said she lost respect for me because I was reading not only a fantasy, but a romance. Romance was said the same way my children express disappointment for artichokes–even with the twisted face. This got everyone chiming in on the quality of literature, giving me suggestions. You know what? I spend a long time in my life reading the things other people told me were good, only to be bored and depressed–If I’m going to read for entertainment, it’s going to be something that engrosses me completely like science fiction, fantasy, or romance.

If you were on a desert island and could only take three things, what would they be?

I’m going to assume I have food, water, and shelter. Aside from that I’d bring a thick notebook, pens, and a cellphone. Because when I finish writing my stories and run out of paper I can call for someone to pick me up so I can type them out and sent them off to markets.

Feel free to ask your own in the comments section below. For every comment you leave the chances that the Star Wars sequels will actually be good increase by 10 percent. So comment away…

Time to Write

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Time to Write

I want to learn French. I want to learn to play violin and visit Tibet and New Zealand. I want to learn to fly a plane and I want to run a marathon. I want to become a karate expert. I also want to become a published novelist.

So many things I want to do but I have responsibilities, a seventeen-year-old, a black and white dog and cat, a house to maintain, and a job that is slightly better than bamboo under my fingernails. I have to make cash to survive and take care of the said responsibilities. So what free time I have, I cherish.

I use most of it to write.

I meet a lot of people who say they want to have some great adventure or learn or do something grand.

If only they had time.

If only they won the lotto. If only they were retired. If only they could take a year off. If only, if only, if only.

There is no tomorrow, there is no special perfect time to do something, there will never be enough free time, or money, and after you retire you are usually too tired to chase a dream. I’ve found the only way to have time, is to make time. Writing is a priority. It comes before fun vacations. It comes before I even think of getting a job with a pension. It comes before putting in new floors or shopping for clothes. It comes before reading for fun. It comes before buying a new car or even looking for a new relationship. If I want to really purse my dreams, I have to sacrifice.

Those who make it to the New York Times Bestseller list, or get to sing on Broadway, or get to visit the Dali Lama, or fly a plane. They give up something else. It’s a trade. Ben Franklin said, “Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time, for that’s the stuff life is made of.”

I look at my list. I still want to go to Tibet and New Zealand, maybe learn some phrases in another language. I still run a lot in the summers (may do a half marathon) and I sneak a great book in quite often. In the end, what I really want, what I dream of, what I’m willing to trade my one and only life for is that important to me. What’s that important to you? What are you willing to sacrifice your time for?

For every comment you leave someone sells their stuff and runs off to Tahiti…

To Blog or Not to Blog

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A big, fat, hairy thank you to the friend of my heart and sister-in-ink, Ms. Tina Smith, for sharing her knowledge, her giant brain, her tremendous talent, and her super cool blog. What an intro she gave me—right? Here’s my first stab, read on if you will.

To Blog or not to Blog that is the question.

For the last four years the answer has been a abso-freakin-loutly, unqualified, no. What did I have to say? I am an unpublished (pre-published is the new PC-I hear) wannabe novelist. Who will want to read my post? Who will hear me when there are a myriad other voices shouting to the ether. Listen, I have something great to share. (And pictures of cats, can’t forget the pictures of cats.)

But time has a way letting facts marinate, of letting them wiggle deep inside your brainpan and creating an ear worm. Why not you? Why not now? Surely the hours of study, the submission process, the contest road, the writer’s groups, the Nanowrimos http://nanowrimo.org/ (both November and April thank you very much). Surely that would give me some literary street cred. Hell, I even placed in one of those contest.

And I’m scared, as scared of Dorothy facing the Wicked Witch with nothing but a pair of slippers. How the heck am I going to use my cleverness to be interesting and write well and share my personal life?

So here I am standing on a precipice of exposure. Will I be John the Baptist, wild-haired writerly evangelist that will herald the coming of something new and wondrous or will I be just another voice among the forgotten. The writers who sit on the side of a pothole riddled road and beg passerby’s for a review on Amazon.

I am hoping to share some of my life, my writing path to published, and some writing craft ideas. (Teaser: And maybe even cat pictures!)

I wade in the water, covered in beginner’s grime, and let the speeding water of the internet polish away my hard edges. And I hope, with your help, someday I will shine.

Leave a comment about something you’ve been scared of trying and how you’ve overcome it, or wish us luck, or just say hi.

Also here’s a cat picture.