Well, for those of you who haven’t heard it before now – I’m having another baby!

Totally out of the blue, unplanned, accidental, was totally not expecting it, but I’m very happy and hubby is slowly getting over the shock of it.

I did suspect something was up when I went off coffee, but… well, there are so many reasons why I shouldn’t have been able to get pregnant, none of them really matter though because I AM.

Took a test yesterday, saw the Dr today… see my midwife again for the first visit in a month. Man, how surreal is that?

I guess I’m still in shock too. I had wanted to wait til Lauren was 2 before trying for another, and hubby was pretty adamant there wasn’t going to be another. 2 under 2? eek.

My writing is bound to take a bit of a hit as well… I think the first trimester I was pretty ill and exhausted and did very little, but bounced back after that. I will have to try and make the most of the time I have left because I have a feeling that my hands are going to be very full for the next couple of years!

Wow, just wow… another baby. So exciting!

for the searchterm challenge, you should definitely go here and vote! Well, read the stories first of course, there are some good ones!

Merrilee won last time and hopes to retain her crown this round, but we’ll have to wait til the 15th of the month before we find out who the winner is.

Well done to everyone who put an entry in (I did in the end, I’m sure some of you can probably guess which is mine lol but no telling!) it was a lot of fun to take part in, and I’ll be pimping the next round to see if we can get some more people involved.

Have you got any wacky searchterms showing up on your blog?

Maybe a day off was exactly what I needed, because I wrote just over 4,500 words yesterday!

Feeling so thrilled about it as well, loving the direction Chasing Ascension is taking and I managed to write a first draft for the search term challenge as well, though whether it’s actually good enough to put forward I’m not sure yet! I felt so on fire with the writing stuff yesterday that I was tempted to push on, to really make my word count rocket, but I knew that the payoff would be feeling exhausted this morning and probably not writing a thing.

It’s way better to pace yourself and go the distance than to go hard and burn yourself out. Well, in my opinion anyway, a lot of people seem to enjoy writing in fits and starts, but I’m really happy with the steady pace I’ve set. And hey, I’m tired enough on a normal day as it is, don’t want to make it any harder on myself!

Anyway, just a quick writing update, I’ve gotta have a coffee or something (apparently I can drink it again now, I just don’t crave it…) to kick start myself this morning. Am really looking forward to getting stuck into the writing later though!

P.S: absolute cuteness is Ivy reading books to Lauren. She’s been such a great big sister the last few days, really stepping up and helping me out by reading the occasional story. She finally gets that just because she can’t read the words, doesn’t mean she can’t tell a story about whats happening in the pictures! I can see her creativity blooming there as she weaves tales for Lauren, sometimes very similar to the original story, sometimes completely different. Beautiful.

I didn’t write a word yesterday… initially I thought that I might put something together for A.M.Harte’’s searchterm writing challenge, but no ideas are jumping up and down and my brain is pretty fried.

If you haven’t yet put an entry in, there is still time! Check out the first stories up here and here, both well worth reading.

Anyways, evidence that my brain was fried came in three parts: a) I had to spell my name three times to get it right. My own name… b) I put the garlic bread into the oven with the plastic wrap still on it (thankfully I checked it before it got too hot and managed to salvage the bread and not wreck the oven!) and c) I then tried to wash the frying pan with olive oil instead of dish washing liquid…

We won’t mention the fact that I couldn’t even follow simple instructions off the back of the curry packet, because hey, I always seem to mess up the curry and no it’s not to spite my husband who is the biggest curry lover in the house. I’ve actually grown to like them too.

Hah, I started this post three hours ago and am only now getting a chance to post it… might as well sign off. I MAY have an idea finally for the writing challenge, but we’ll see if I get the time to write it now!

Now… whose got kids? I really need some help sorting out the thoughts in my brain right now. Ivy has been obsessing about ’sleep over’s lately. Of course they sound fun and she probably gets the basic concept of them, but I know very well that she has a hard time even staying at Nana’s house over night – she spends most of it awake, asking what the different noises are in the house, and being worried about stuff. This is a house she goes to every week, staying with a person she sees at least once a week and adores.

So, I worry that she’s not ready for a sleep over and I’ve told her that when she gets to the point where she can have a sleep over at Nana’s without any problems, then we’ll consider letting her have a sleep over at someone else’s house. She’s not letting it drop though, all of her friends seem to be talking about sleep overs, its the buzz of the daycare or something.

My gut reaction to all of this is NO. Just no, no I do not want to think about this. But then, that stems from things that have happened to me, things that you never want your own child to have to go through and deal with. Things you just want to keep them safe from for their whole lives even if it means they miss out on stuff.

But, I don’t want her to miss out on stuff…. so my second response is that I really think she should be quite familiar with the house/family she would stay over night with, and that as a parent I would want to know the family quite well too. I’d want to know what they do, who they are, what their lifestyle is like. Is that too much? Do I get a ‘paranoid mum’ badge for that? Or is that not enough? At this stage… well, I guess I could say there are very few people I would feel safe letting her stay over with. Those include my mother, my father, the in laws, my brother and a couple of my best friends. Am I letting my personal history get in the way of her life? Or am I justified in wanting to keep my baby safe?

Anyways, give me your opinions please! At what age do you think kids should start having sleep overs? Do you think it’s important that your child has spent at least some time at the house before the sleep over? How well should you know the family they are going to be staying with? What precautions would you take?

Thanks

I almost fell off the wagon yesterday, the writing one that is. I was tired, I still am tired… totally frustrated by the lack of time in my day for writing, by many other little things that I’m not going to bitch about here, and life in general that I almost let it get to me. It would have been so easy to say ’stuff it’ and just go to bed, but I didn’t. I got my words out, passed 8K, and am still feeling really good about the story.

Considering I went into the month exhausted, I should cut myself a little slack. Part of my brain is going – see, writing IS exhausting – while the rest of it is going – dude, you were already tired, you have a teething baby and an incredibly grumpy four year old, not to mention all the house stuff – gee just thinking about it makes me feel tired.

So it’s great that I don’t have to think about the novel huh? I’m spending a lot of time not even consciously considering the next steps it will take. I’m sure that it’s all simmering below the surface, but it’s lovely that I don’t have to spend time deliberating over what will happen next. I’ve got complete faith in myself, and in the story.

Which is a really strange but beautiful place to be in. Maybe it means I’ve finally hit a point in my writing where I can trust myself enough to loosen the reins a little. I’ve always found that when I’m trying hard to make a story a certain way I end up failing, but when I do manage to step back a little and let the story evolve it takes on a life of its own.

Growth, it’s a wonderful thing.

Anyways… am now 8k into the novel, will hit 10k at some point today which is pretty exciting. But for now I better go and get the girls ready, we’re visiting a friend this morning and thank goodness because I’m completely over the grumps this morning and at least Ivy can direct them at someone else for a little while!

Two nights ago, hubby was reading over my shoulder as I tried to write…. he was like ‘Lissa huh?’

And I said ‘What are you doing!!! You don’t read, why are you reading? You’ve never shown an interest, why now?’ Thinking, of all the times to start reading my writing, why a first draft, as I try to write it… he should know by now that I can’t write when people are lurking around me. But he said he’d always been interested, he just doesn’t read a whole lot.

So, I calmed down and explained that I tend not to let people read first drafts, by people I mean non-writers, because let’s face it, non-writers pretty much expect anything you write to read like an actual published novel and all of us writers know thats simply not the case for a first draft, for most writers anyway.

Sigh…. so, I then began to kick myself. I’d scared him off when I finally got my opportunity to get him to read something. Not that he probably would have right then and there anyways, but he was broaching the topic and I’d all but shut him down… yeah, go me. I felt pretty lame about it, so then I started contemplating how I could open it up again and decided that I’d email him a short story. He doesn’t read on paper unless he has to, so anything on a screen is the best format.

And then I realized he’d never read it at work anyways, he’d keep getting interrupted and would never get back to it.

So the short story is open on my computer, sitting there, waiting for him to read it. I told him that if he’s interested in what I write, then he can read the story. It’s very short, it’s not a first draft. He didn’t read it last night, maybe tonight? I have to wonder whether he’ll ever actually read it. I guess we’ll see… and I’ll let you know what he says when he does! lol

I’ve always been okay about the fact that he’s not a reader. I have other friends and family members who will happily devour anything I write, so that need is filled. But it would be nice if he read something now and then… we shall see.

What about you? Does your spouse/partner read what you write? Do they talk about it with you? Give you feedback? Or are they not really that interested?

In other news, I’m sitting at 6262 words for Chasing Ascension. It’s going really smoothly and I am in awe at what my brain pulls up. I’m barely thinking about the novel, it’s just writing itself, my favourite kind of novel to participate in the writing of! I even have a character called Poncho, where the hell did that come from? lol he has multiple wives, none of whom speak English as a first language….

Anyways, I better sort some morning tea out for the girls and get on with the housework. Wonder what will crop up in the novel today? Interesting times indeed!

only 44,500 words to go! well, this month anyways…

The thing is, even when I reach 50K I can’t stop, this novel will probably see me through til the end of the year, and my daily word goal will drop back to 1.5k once November ends.

I’ve hit the end of my planning, so from here on out it’s all down to the story, the characters, and whatever else crops up along the way. I’m not at all worried, because this is how I write most of the time and especially for 50K a month challenges. I know roughly where I want the story to go, no idea how it will end… part of the joy of the journey! Ah fun times ahead.

Last night I resorted to my first rounds of ‘Write or Die‘ for the month, I’m sure there will be many more ahead of me. It’s a great way to force yourself to stop thinking about other things, stop checking the net and get on with it, and it’s really nice to know that I can still get out 500+ words in ten minutes! Give it a go if you haven’t before, it might turn out to be a lifesaver.

Anyway… Lauren is still teething, poor poppet, but her sleep was much better last night so fingers crossed we’re heading out of the mega grumpy zone. I’m pretty sure she’s got a minor ear infection, but they never give her antibiotics for it anyways so I’ve just been giving her some baby pamol for it, which finally, after a year, she seems to be okay about taking without spitting it all out WOOOO! Makes life so much easier.

We’ve got a pretty low key week ahead, and nothing major happening this month as far as I know, so I’m looking forward to enjoying the writing and life in general

Hope everyone else is still doing well with NaNo! and if you’re not taking part, then I just hope life is treating you kindly.

Today has been frustrating, to say the least. To begin with, my PC was having issues and wouldn’t load up properly, then of course the girls were very needy of my time… then we were out of the house between 9.30am and 3pm. Finally got home, got Lauren to sleep and then Ivy woke her up with a tantrum less than an hour later…. arg, just arg. All afternoon they were both pretty ratty, but I guess we’ve had a very busy weekend and were all in need of a little downtime.

Anyways…. that said, I did manage to write just over 2,000 words today, which wasn’t bad all things considering. Like the start of any of my novel first drafts, it’s a little shaky, but I know it’ll get better – writing in such tiny fragments of time certainly doesn’t help build up a flow, but I know it will only be a matter of a few days until I know these characters better. Normally that happens around the 10K mark for me, so by the end of the first week I should be rocking it!

I’m so pleased that it’s come back to me so naturally, it hasn’t felt like too much of a stretch to get the words out, even though it has been frustrating time wise. I’m really looking forward to tomorrow and the regular weekday routine – I should be able to get the bulk of the writing done in the afternoons and still have time during the rest of the day to take care of everything else. Should… I’ll go easy on myself for the first week though while I try to create some kind of buffer!

Anyways, I’m going to call it a night. Maybe I’ll actually get some sleep tonight! I spent most of last night tossing and turning thinking about my plot, and while the thoughts are still going on, at least I’ve begun to write so maybe they will give me some peace.

Hope everyone else who is nano-ing has/had a good first day of writing

It’s 3hours now until November hits, and with it, two projects. We all know I’m participating in National Novel Writing Month, but what you don’t know (well, I guess now you do) is that my lovely husband is going to be taking part in Movember.

While growing a mo doesn’t take as much effort as writing a novel (at least, I don’t think it does…), it’s a really worthwhile event, and I’m proud that he’s officially participating this year. If you haven’t heard much about Movember, here is a bit of info from their site:

Mo Bros, supported by their Mo Sistas, start Movember (November 1st) clean shaven and then have the remainder of the month to grow and groom their moustache. During Movember, each Mo Bro effectively becomes a walking billboard for men’s health and, via their Mo, raises essential funds and awareness for Movember’s men’s health partners – The Cancer Society and the Mental Health Foundation of New Zealand. At the end of Movember, a series of Gala Partés are held to thank Mo Bros and Sistas for their support and fund raising efforts.

If you’re a guy, and you’re not doing anything else with your face in November why not sign up and take part? The worldwide site can be found here.

Anyways, tomorrow morning I’m hoping to get my first words down on the novel. I’ve had a pretty flat day today, and am hoping that the buzz I had captured just a few days ago returns, I’ll still write even if it doesn’t but it would be lovely to have that on side. I am finally getting to meet me new nephew tomorrow morning, which is totally worth losing out on some writing time. And then we have lunch at Mum’s – so even if I don’t get to the writing during the day I can take the laptop to bed and forge ahead.

It’s been a rough week or so with teething, it looks like three are going to be coming through very soon, though it’s never soon enough Our sleep has been shocking has a result, and I even napped today! Though only for like 25 minutes before Ivy came and wanted me to change the TV channel, for some reason she didn’t even stop to consider that her father, who was awake in the next room was a better choice to do this task than her mother and baby sister who were both fast asleep… ah well.

Also, I’ve gone off coffee and sweet stuff, and I think my body is going through withdrawals. I have no idea why the craving for these things has dropped away, I just know that it’s strange! I really want to want coffee, but I really don’t want it…hell we were at a birthday party today and the cake looked great but I didn’t want that either! No amount of wanting to want something seems to change my body’s opinion that it really doesn’t want it… Sorry if I’m rambling, we’ll blame that on the withdrawals as well

Alrighty… almost sleep time for me. Have fun all you crazy people who are staying up til midnight to begin writing! I couldn’t do that even if I wanted to either, mind over body just isn’t working for me at the moment – the body rules.