Starcat's Writing Desk

Well, it’s been two-and-a-half weeks since I last updated my progress here. Wow, time flies!

My Aunt is recovering well from her surgery. She still has about 3 weeks of partial weight-bearing, but after that she should be good to go. It’s hard for her to be patient with her recovery, as I’m sure it would be for me in her place. We both like to be free to do our own things. But sometimes patience is a necessity.

I haven’t worked on revisions for our TDITK novel lately, or any new writing for the DSP e-book. In fact, I think I’m going to move the whole DSP project into next round. There are a couple of other projects that have come up this round that I want to focus on. It’s good to be flexible, right?

One project is the Creative Inspiration Pack, an e-book that will be a gift for my new subscribers to Starcat’s Corner, which I also haven’t worked on in a while. I hope to get back to it later this week.

The other project is an online course that BlackLion and I are putting together, which will take place in June. The course is based on a bunch of work we’ve already done with core beliefs. We’re taking our 30-Day Core Belief Kit and transforming it into The Alchemy of Core Beliefs: Unearthing Your Hidden Framework. So far I’m really excited about the progress we’ve made with it. We’re using the text we’d already written and the audio guided meditations we’d recorded, sending them out each day to participants via e-mail, and also adding weekly videos and a secret Facebook group.

I’ve been blogging sporadically, more this week than last. I’m 20 percent of the way through reading 500 Ways to Write Harder by Chuck Wendig. I’m also 27 percent through reading The Desire Map by Danielle LaPorte, which is an amazing journey. Not a craft book per se, but certainly one that will affect my entire career and life! I’ve done a bit of drumming, some dream journaling, and some meditation. I’ve gotten back on track with my daily journal writing over the past week, which feels really good.

We put up our new hammock on Saturday, and I look forward to having some time to write and read and muse in it. Other than trying it out when we put it up, I haven’t gotten much of a chance to use it yet. This weekend I plan to have some lovely hammock time!

Overall I’d say I’m doing just fine, and well on my way to getting back on track with my writing projects. Best of all, I haven’t been feeling upset about getting off track in the first place. Sometimes these things happen, and as long as I’m aware of it, I feel like I’m doing my best.

My aunt’s surgery went well. She’s now in rehab for the next week or so, and in good spirits. Between family support stuff, a couple of long shifts at my part-time gig, and an annual Beltane celebration, I don’t have much writing progress to report.

I did finish reading How to Write a Novel Using the Snowflake Method by Randy Ingermanson. I enjoyed it, and got some useful tips from it. I’m on day 13 of not eating refined sugar, so the family crisis hasn’t derailed me. Exercise has gone by the wayside, though, due to time constraints. I hope to get back to it during the coming week. I completed and sent the guest blog that was due on Friday, and posted to my Starcat’s Corner blog as well.

Oh, and I took some notes on a future blog post, which will be about how to deal with hospitals (as a visitor or patient) when you’re highly sensitive. This isn’t my first experience in this regard, but I’ve just now started collecting tips and suggestions.

Percy cat has been a lovely companion to me during this difficult week, curling up with me and purring when it’s finally time to go to sleep, and often greeting me when I wake.

Have a fun and productive week, everyone! Hug your family members.

I don’t have much of a progress report this week. It is only Wednesday, and already the week has been full of awesome ups and awful downs.

Monday I went to the long-awaited The Energy of Business workshop, and it was fantastic! I learned a lot, and it feels like a puzzle piece has been put in place that will really help with both my writing career and Feline Dreamers (the business my partner and I run together). So I’m very excited about that, and will have more to say about it in the weeks to come, I’m sure.

Tuesday morning my beloved Aunt, who lives next door, fell and broke her hip. She’d had a long string of orthopedic issues, having osteoporosis and thus fragile bones. We thought she was going to be able to enjoy a summer of freedom and mobility. But she lost her balance and fell, and my Mom and I spent the day in the emergency room with her. She’ll be having surgery this afternoon.

So, life happens sometimes and gets in the way of writing, but I love my family and I’m glad I have a flexible schedule and can be there when they need me.

Please send us along some prayers, blessings, or good thoughts if you have them to spare. Thank you!

Although ROW 80 is a writing challenge, I do have sections in my goals list about physical and spiritual health. For me, feeling good is a strong foundation that supports my ability to be creative and productive as a writer. Over the past few years, I’ve gotten away from that foundation, in the area of physical fitness in particular. I mean, I’m pretty healthy and don’t get sick often, for which I’m very grateful. But I’ve put on extra weight, and I’m noticing how it’s beginning to impact the way I feel.

Now that Spring has finally arrived here in New England, I’ve been putting a stronger focus on moving my body daily, and on healthy eating. It’s going well. I’ve dropped the sweet treats again (this is day 6 with no refined sugar). I’ve been walking a lot, hula-hooping to music, and doing archery with my daughter (to work on my arm muscles). I’m not the type to go to the gym, as it’s very boring to me. So my physical exercise needs to have a fun (and usually outdoorsy) component. I’ve enlisted my very active teen daughter to help me include exercise in my everyday life, which is helpful. As a writer and bookworm, as I’m sure you know, it’s all too easy to be sedentary and not even notice. My intention is to get back in good shape this spring and summer, and then maintain it.

Spiritual connection is also important to my foundation. This week has brought a lot of new ways to connect! This weekend I had both an amazing Tarot card reading with an online friend, and a wonderful dream oracle session that I won. I’ve been undergoing a huge transformation in the past year, which is tied in with a renewal of my commitment to my writing career. These readings have given me not only new insights, but also confirmation that I’m on the right path. I’m really excited about this direction, and how it inspires me on all levels.

As far as my writing goals, this week went pretty well. BlackLion and I have been working on our novel revisions, and have had some really good breakthroughs. I’ve been blogging, and wrote a couple of book reviews as well. I wrote a little bit on my Creative Inspiration Pack, though not as much as I would have liked.

I’m 74 percent of the way through reading How to Write a Novel Using the Snowflake Method by Randy Ingermanson, and still enjoying it. I’ve also been watching a video series on publishing from Hay House (I’m on their newsletter list), which is quite interesting.

I hope your week is productive and enjoyable!

I’m going to keep this short, as I’m not feeling too well (physically) and want to get to bed. I’ve had a bit of a head cold these past few days, and some other stuff that’s left me feeling pretty low-energy. Even so, I’ve been getting some work done, so it’s not a total loss.

BlackLion and I worked on our book revisions some more, and we’re making good progress. We have time set aside to work on it this week, on Tuesday and Thursday. I outlined my Creative Inspiration Pack e-book, which I’ll be giving away to folks who join my new subscriber list (visit Starcat’s Corner if you’d like to join!). I hope to devote quite a bit of time to drafting it up this week. I took two walks and did some dance/hula-hooping, even though I have a cold. I haven’t blogged much, but I have a couple of posts in the works. So not bad, considering. Hope your week goes smoothly!

P.S. I almost forgot, I did some art this week! I made a new vision board. Here it is:

Over the past several months I’ve been doing a lot of reading and studying about ethical marketing & promotion, how to make a living as a writer, self-publishing, and the like. One of the suggestions that seems to crop up everywhere – that I hadn’t done yet – is to have an e-mail subscriber list. I added it as one of my goals for this round.

It’s a bit complicated, and requires some extra thought. My partner BlackLion and I have a business and website called Feline Dreamers. We already have a mailing list for it, with a couple hundred subscribers so far. I also have a website called Starcat’s Corner, which is now the home of my blog (which I’ve been writing since 2006) and serves as my author website.

A sneak peek at my new newsletter template…

There is some overlap – our business is focused on personal spirituality, which is also the subject of the two books I’ve written and published thus far. But Feline Dreamers also encompasses guided meditations (audio), workshops, and coaching.

And I’m also in the process of branching out into fiction, and uncertain how the readership for the novels will be different from the non-fiction. Confused yet?

I didn’t necessarily want to reinvent the wheel, but I do think there’s value in having a separate list for my readers. So I’ve been working on coming up with the focus for my new list. One of the main themes of my work as a whole is the value of living the life of the imagination. So I decided to have my newsletters focus on creativity and imagination, and how to make it part of your everyday experience. Thus, Starcat’s Notebook was born! BlackLion was a great help to me with the web-tech side of things. He’s also going to help out with some artwork for the Creative Inspiration Pack that I’m writing. I wanted to have something brand new to give away to my subscribers, so I’m in the process of creating a fun little e-book. I have most of the outline written, and will start working on the draft this week.

What else is new? BlackLion and I have been working on our novel revision plans, which are coming along nicely. I got sidetracked a bit with blogging, as I’ve been focusing my energies on setting up the newsletter and brainstorming my free offer. Journal-writing is still a regular thing. I’m a bit under the weather – I think I’m coming down with a cold – so I haven’t been getting in as many walks. But the weather is nice, and I have made an effort to get outside in the sunshine each day.

I would say that things are flowing along just fine. I hope the rest of your week is fun and productive!

P.S. If you’d like to subscribe to my new list, just visit Starcat’s Corner! I’ll make sure you get your Creative Inspiration Pack as soon as it’s ready. Thanks!

I’m still in the groove with my writing and how it’s now integrated with all the other aspects of my life. I’m actually very excited about my writing life right now, to the point where I’ve been wondering how it took me so long to realize what a joy it is! Ah well, I’m only 45, so I have a lot of writing years left in me yet, heh heh. To add to the joy, spring has finally sprung in my northern neck of the woods. Which, for us here in Maine, means melting snow and high temps in the 50s and 60s. And after the winter we had, we’ll take it!

BlackLion and I have been working on our book revisions pretty steadily, and we scheduled in more time to work together on it this coming week. That seems to work best. Scheduling it in, even though we live together, helps us avoid life stuff taking over the entire day. We’ve also scheduled in some time to set up my new mailing list for Starcat’s Corner, and for me to learn more about making newsletters in MailChimp. I’ve been pondering more about the outline for my Daily Spiritual Practice book, and making some notes, which is plenty for now.

Blogging is going well. On payday this week I stocked up on more craft books to read (yay!). I’ve been doing lots of meditation and journal writing, and getting lots of walks in now that the weather is nice.

Life is good! I hope your plans are going along swimmingly, too. Blessings!

I finished the first draft of my WIP that I’d been working on during round 1! Huzzah! Patterns In the Void is 117,094 words – plenty of room to edit down. I’m celebrating, and at the same time I’m looking forward to diving into the next round of writing projects. Someone asked if I was sad that it’s done, but no, not at all. I’m so very thrilled about being in such a groove with my writing career. I feel like a kid in one of those really awesome toy stores, who’s just been told that ALL the toys are hers to enjoy at will.

So that’s the plan for round 2 – keep on creating and enjoying! I’m going to set Patterns In the Void aside for a bit and focus on revisions for another urban fantasy novel, the draft BlackLion and I co-wrote last year, The Door Is the Key. I’ll also be writing a non-fiction book I started that’s been on the shelf for a while. The details are below.

I’m very excited about it all. I hope that you are in a space of joy and passion with your creations, too. Blessings!

2015 Row 80 Round 2 Goals

Revise and edit The Door Is the Key book 1 (TDITK1). Finish the first pass of revisions using Rock Your Revisions. Complete re-writes and added scenes as necessary. Do the first complete proof-reading edit.

Complete current nonfiction WIP. Update outline for Daily Spiritual Practice (DSP) book to include the new ideas and direction I’ve been contemplating. Revise what I’ve written thus far. Finish first draft of DSP. Target is 50K words or so. Starting the round, I’m at 8500 words.

De-clutter and organize my life, creating beautiful spaces. Clean and organize my upstairs desk and filing cabinets. Continue to de-clutter and beautify our shared living spaces. Paint the living room, kitchen, and stairwell.

Ramp up Feline Dreamers. Finish updating the Shop on our website. Create weekday Fae Musings e-mails. Create author mailing list for Starcat’s Corner website.

Focus on blogging. Post to my Starcat’s Corner blog at least twice per week, Feline Dreamers every other week, and on this blog twice per week. Write, edit, and submit guest blog posts for SoulFire Om, Kind Over Matter, Facing North, and Moon Books. Start and keep a running list of blog post ideas, drafts, and picture ideas.

Continue my craft & business learning. Read at least 3 books about writing and/or ethical marketing & promotion. Check out a couple of writer podcasts. Keep notes on ideas to use, and begin implementing them. Add a Call to Action (CTA) to my Cultivating Self-Love e-book. Follow through with action items from 4/27 The Energy of Business workshop.

Make inspiring art and music. Practice zentangling. Create new scrapbook pages and art journal pages. Take nature photographs to use on my websites and blog posts. Practice drumming regularly. Learn and practice at least two new songs with family members.

Expand my spiritual awareness and the integration of all aspects of my life. Pay attention to my dreams and keep records of them. Set intentions before sleep and upon waking. Do the Abraham meditations 3 times per week.

GRACEfully invite ease, purpose, and kindness into my daily life. Do things I love: write in my journal, read, do yoga, dance, spend time with loved ones, and express my gratitude. Eat well and exercise. Get outdoors for walks and hikes on a regular basis.