author of celtic, medieval, gothic and fairytale inspired fiction
Thank you all so much. You guys are beyond awesome! It’s been an incredible nine months since I hit my last milestone of 200 followers and it’s so humbling to find myself at 300 followers. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for sticking with me. It means the world.
I love seeing the numbers grow because I love sharing my success along with writing tips and story prompts along with other random tidbits.
Here’s to the next 100 followers in the next nine months.
Yup! It’s that time of year again… no, I’m not talking about Halloween. Although it is coming up awfully fast and I’ll blog about that in another post. I’m talking about NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month for those not in the know)
Every year since November 2005, I’ve participated. And every year, bar 2008, I’ve won.
This year, I’ve decided to not be a rebel and write a novel from scratch. 50,000 words – all of them new. In an effort to kickstart a new series.
So far, beyond the main characters and setting, I’ve done little pre-NaNo planning.
Basically, I’m winging it and pantsing. It’s worked quite well in the past and whatever doesn’t work post NaNoWriMo will be edited out.
I’m thinking I might post snippets every day of November so you can see a little of my progress along the way.
Anyone else doing NaNoWriMo? Let me know in the comments below! I could use some buddies throughout the month.
For those who might want to look me up, I go by Rhiannon Brid on the forums.
I’ve totally got this under control.
I do. I really do.
I wish I did.
No… this isn’t one of those blog posts. I’m not down on myself. Far from it. It’s just been a really mentally exhausting week.
It started off great. I was on track… to the point where I was a day ahead of myself. Yeah… funny that. And then I got a phone call. Just before one o’clock on Wednesday afternoon. I recognized the caller ID immediately.
The Primary School where my kids go was calling… somebody needed picking up… because they were sick… or so I thought.
Not… quite. Somebody – my ten year old son – needed picking up because he’d collided with another boy and was now sporting a big egg right above his eye near his eyebrow.
Now, I know what you’re all thinking. You can totally use this as writing fodder… and trust me, it’s being squirreled away for sometime in the not so distant future. But for now, it’s more of an: OH MY GOD! Anxiety overload situation. Yes… even days later. It takes roughly three days for me to get over anxiety. It’s usually three days of not being able to write much, if anything, at all.
It’s not like I haven’t dealt with bumps and bruises before, because I have. Cracked skulls… check. Stitches and broken bones… check! But when your son complains of blurred vision panic starts to set in. So… a trip to emergency ensued.
Sadly, mum life trumped Author life. Who am I kidding, Mum life always trumps author life. Hands down. Wouldn’t change it. Okay, I would on weekends. I need to start saying “no” to my kids more when it comes to the PC because the PC is mine! Yeah… never going to happen. LOL.
So, amidst all that lovely chaos, I got very little writing done or blogging, despite wanting to work on more of In My Blood for you all. Next week, I swear.
Here’s hoping to a much better and more restful weekend.
Thank you all so much. You guys are beyond awesome! It’s been an incredible nine months since I hit my last milestone and so humbling to find myself at 200 followers. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for sticking with me.
I vowed back in June 2018 that I’d share more about my writing journey and my kids. I think I’ve succeeded in sharing more about my writing but not so much about my kids.
So, I thought I’d use this post to share a bit about the other side of my life, as a mum to four kids. Yep, four… crazy, right? It comes as a shock to some, actually. In fact, I’m asked a lot how I keep my sanity. Sometimes, I don’t. But sleep helps, that and copious amounts of coffee.
I love my kids to pieces, but they do at times drive me up the wall. My husband too, at times, but I guess that comes with the territory.
My eldest son is thirteen… a teenager, and it hasn’t sunk in yet. He’s outgrown me. (That hasn’t quite sunk in, either) I still find myself thinking of him as the same kid who surprised us all by reading at three and a half. He received Harry Potter at seven and devoured the books in quick succession. He’ll still pick them up and reread them to this day. He hates having to clean his room.
My daughter is quite a bit like me. She came into the world incredibly early, at not even a kilo and has left her mark every day since. At eleven she’s an absolute riot. Loves cats, horses and origami and hates the colour pink. Which according to her brother is the weirdest thing ever.
My next eldest son is ten and insanely smart and sometimes frustrating bundle of energy. I think he learnt to run before he learnt to walk, because he never stops. He loves Lego and minecraft and anything and everything space related and is slowly getting into fantasy books. He hates stir-fry and homework.
My youngest son is eight and has never quit trying to keep up with his older siblings. He loves trains, Peter Rabbit and Groot from the Marvel universe. His favourite colour is green. He’s broken bones and had stitches but I can’t think of a single thing he hates right now, when I do, I’ll be sure to share.
And that’s pretty much the snapshot into my kids and each of their very different personalities.
I just submitted a flash fiction piece to a flash fiction anthology moments ago. I have another longer piece that I’m writing and two other short stories on the back burner that I plan to write and submit to other anthologies if I get the time.
I might be juggling just a little too much currently.
Between several novel projects and short story projects, coordinating book reviews, writing up author interview questions (and trying to mix it up a little each time with each new author – not so easy) as well as keeping on top of three social media platforms and a blog. All while trying to keep up with a house, hubby, for kids… not to mention fulfilling job networking requirements when looking for suitable employment for part time work.
That’s the really sad part about this. Having spent the past eleven years raising kids, I’m kind of unemployable. And freelance work… as I’ve said before is kind of hit and miss. The jobs I have gotten, while promising to be ongoing have dried up after a month or two.
That said, I am hard at work making improvements to my novel The Winter Princess. It’s coming along slowly because there’s one PC for six people… and my children have found a few PC games that they like to play on weekends… so stealing time at night is very much my routine of late… unless the hubby beats me to it and steals it for himself.
And because I’m feeling generous, I’ve decided to share a small portion with you.
Here it is, the opening of The Winter Princess
The Winter Queen lounged on an icy crystalline throne as her gown of dark grey silk and taffeta billowed out around her. The hair piled atop her head held a darkness that paled the silk; the tiara of silver and sapphires shone in contrast. Having counted silently on my fingers, one hand held the sum of occasions that I had entered the drafty throne room before now. Setting foot here was unusual for me which led me to be painfully aware of every detail as I approached.
I hope you enjoyed it. If you did, let me know in the comments and maybe I’ll share more.