In today’s information age, there is advice every freaking where. Heck, sometimes it seems like you can’t walk across a room without tripping over advice. Bullet points of the “correct” way to do things. Top 10 lists. YouTubers and bloggers and Instagrammers. (more…)
As it’s been a little while since we’ve had this conversation, this might be a good time to remind everyone (including Betsy) that she is on a Quest to become a Successful Independent Author. She has made some strides in the right direction, but she definitely has a long way to go! Fortunately, Betsy has a Guide on her Quest—a white rabbit, who used to be a white gerbil and is named Harry. (more…)
I tend to keep this blog centered around creativity and writing, mostly because I hope you’ll find my fumbling journey into my own creative life to be interesting. Or at least amusing. Blogging also helps to hold me accountable, because on the creative road you’re basically only accountable to yourself. (more…)
It’s come to my attention over the past few weeks that having confidence in what you think you know or have learned requires practicing those things. Otherwise, you forget that you know or have learned them. (more…)
Hello everyone! It’s been so long since I’ve written a blog post that you might not even remember who I am!! (Although if you don’t, I’m not quite sure why you’re taking the time to read this. But thanks!)
Anyway, as a way of getting back into the groove of blogging more regularly, I thought I’d share a brief status update on what’s been happening around here for the last couple of weeks…er…months. (more…)
A few days ago, I lost one of my very close friends to cancer. I have had the privilege of knowing and loving this woman and her family for many years, so the loss is keenly felt. This is especially true because she is probably the reason I’m writing this blog post, and indeed am writing at all. Hmmm…that’s not quite right. I’m sure I would have still been writing if we hadn’t met–I’ve been doing that my whole life. But I’m not sure I would have thought that publishing and putting my stories out for other people to read was a valid pursuit without her encouragement and support. (more…)
Hello, friends! This is just a quick blog post to let you know what’s been going on around here at the Palatial Horvath Estate over the past few months, lest you think the answer to that is “nothing,” which has sometimes been the case in the past. (more…)
You may be interested to know that one reason there hasn’t been a blog post for a few weeks is because, amazingly enough, Betsy actually IS working. But it turned out that the work she was doing had gotten all tangled and snarled, like a ball of thread that had become hopelessly knotted. (more…)
When we last left Betsy, she was shouting the plans she had for her writing business from the rooftops. But then…nothing. (more…)
Happy New Year, everyone! Welcome to 2019! Goodbye, 2018 and don’t let the door hit you in the rear on the way out! (more…)
I’ve been writing a lot of “Quest” blog posts recently, so I thought I’d change it up a little bit this week and chat about something that’s been much on my mind.
Confidence. (more…)
When we last left Betsy, she was pushing the boulder of her work in progress up the mountain of her aspirations. She’d been doing that for quite a while. Quite a while. But the last time we all got together, we found that Betsy had almost made it to the top! In fact, she was on the verge of pushing her boulder over the edge! The end was in sight! (more…)
When we last left Betsy, she was busy facing her doubts and fears, pushing the boulder of her work in progress up the mountain of her ambitions. Harry, the white rabbit who is the Guide on Betsy’s Quest to become a successful independent author, is nowhere to be seen. The Muse is absent, too. It’s just Betsy and Boulder, mano a mano, as it were. (more…)
When we last left Betsy, she had fallen while trying to climb the hill of her aspirations, tripped by an unexpected mundane world disruption. This was a disruption she should have seen coming—in fact, she DID see it coming—but she tripped on it anyway. And when Betsy face-planted on the hill, she dropped the boulder of her work in progress which she had been carrying to the top. The boulder flew into the air, landed on Betsy’s back, and broke into a hundred pieces. (more…)
When we last left Betsy, she had climbed the first mountain—well, hill—on her road to regaining her lost momentum. Not only that, but the Muse had returned! Everything was coming up roses! Hoorah!
But then the blog went silent for a few weeks, and you know as well as I do THAT’S not a good sign. So now let us rejoin Betsy, struggling writer, Harry, the white rabbit who is the Guide on Betsy’s Quest to become a successful independent author, and the Muse, who needs no introduction, to find out what’s been going on. Has it been good? Bad? Indifferent? None of the above? (more…)
When we last left Betsy, she was pushing a boulder up a hill, struggling to gain some of the momentum she’d lost over the last few difficult and stressful months. Harry, the white rabbit who is the Guide on her Quest to become a successful independent author, was pointing out yet again that she would not be doing herself any favors if she decided to stop, no matter how hard it was to keep going. (more…)
When last we left Betsy she was with Harry, the white rabbit who is the Guide for her Quest to become a successful independent author. Because being a successful independent author means, well, writing, Betsy was trying to regain her momentum, trying to get moving again, trying to push a boulder up a very steep mountain. Harry was watching her.
But now, while Harry hopped off to get a salad, it seems that Betsy has frozen in mid-push. She is part way up the mountain, still, not moving forward, balancing the boulder on her head. (more…)
When we last left Betsy, she was ready to start again after a particularly difficult year. But it doesn’t bode well that the blog was silent last week, does it?
As we join her and Harry, the white rabbit who is her Guide on her Quest to become a successful independent author, we find them standing at the foot of a tall mountain gazing up at an extremely heavy boulder. What is going on? (more…)
When we last left Betsy, she was dealing with some difficult situations in her life. These included the loss of her beloved mother, a severely broken ankle resulting in months of recovery, and the company she worked for being sold, causing an employment shakeup. It’s been quite a year!
Still, it’s been unnervingly silent around Betsy’s brain – the caverns and rooms echoing, the dust gathering. The Muse has conspicuously absent and even Harry, the white rabbit who is Betsy’s Guide on her Quest to become a successful independent author-entrepreneur, has been quiet.
But now, suddenly, there is a commotion at the deep, deep lake in the center of Betsy’s brain.
What in the world is going on? (more…)
When we last left Betsy, she was actually moving forward in her Quest. She was medicated and motivated.
But then March happened, and everything changed.
Now things are quiet. But is this just a healing sleep? Or is it a sleep that will last for a lot longer? Will Betsy ever wake up again? The Muse has decided to take matters into her own hands.
Let’s see what’s going on… (more…)
The Muse and Betsy are sitting cross-legged in a meadow on the top of a mountain looking off into the distance. It’s foggy all around them, with only the occasional mountain peak showing through the gray clouds. There are no paths, no cities, no evidence of anyone other than themselves. In every direction Betsy looks, there is only fog and a mountain peak or two. (more…)
Although it’s been a little while since we’ve checked in on Betsy’s Quest to be a successful independent author, rest assured her wheels have continued to spin and, indeed, run off the rails. You may remember that Harry, the Guide for Betsy’s Quest, was recently upgraded from a white gerbil to the more traditional white rabbit, and he is desperately trying to live up to his new status. Thus, he made the mistake of pointing out to Betsy the fact that, as she now actually has several books published and available, she needs to start finding more people who’d like to read said books. This includes…advertising.
As you might expect, Betsy took this idea, ran with it, and drove her train right off a cliff. (more…)
I’ve been feeling rather downhearted lately. Some of this is due to writerly things, and some of it is due to other challenges. I have been asking myself—again—whether or not there’s a point to struggling and fighting to move forward when it never seems to make any difference.
As one of my relatives said to me, years ago, “I don’t know why you keep trying. You never get anywhere anyway.”
She was talking about my long journey to get my college degree, but those words have been front and center in my mind over the last couple of days. (more…)
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness…
Charles Dickens
A Tale of Two Cities
2017 was one heck of a year. One heck of a freaking year. For me, it was a year of loss and a year of joy. As Mr. Dickens says above, it was a year of wisdom and a year of foolishness.
Most of all, 2017 was a year of uncertainty. (more…)
Hello, everyone! It’s been a very busy couple of weeks here at the Palatial Horvath Estate, but I’m delighted to let you all know that the next TWO books in the Hardy Falls series are out and available now!!!
First, Trusting Love – Welcome to Hardy Falls book 2
