If you didn’t have an infinite capacity to rise, you
wouldn’t have made it this far along your path. If nothing else, believe in that.
Believe in your Inner Phoenix.
~Rebecca Ray
Photo credit: Egisto Sani on VisualHunt.com / CC BY-NC-SA
Hello everyone. I hope all is well with you. I’m back today and I’m sharing with you some inspirational quotes that I use to keep me motivated. I thought it might be nice to share them with all of you in case you were having one of those days where it’s hard to get moving. So without further ado, here they are. 🙂
Thanks for stopping by. I hope these inspirational quotes have inspired you to get moving toward your goals. Do you have any quotes you’d like to share? I’d love to hear from you, leave a comment with your own inspiration!
Hello everyone. I hope all is well with you. I’m back today with another Slice of Life Post. Today I’m reflecting on my One Little Word. I chose this word back in January or February of last year. I was having a hard time deciding what my One Little Word would be.
I chose “Listen.” I wanted to become a better listener. I wanted to make sure that I listened to understand and not listened to reply. This was my goal and I feel I have improved, but I think there’s more room for improvement. I can do better.
Photo via HolgersFotografie via VisualHunt.com
I want my kids to feel understood when they talk to me. If they feel understood then they’re more likely to talk to me about some of the important issues in their lives. The teen years are right around the corner, you know. I feel by becoming a better listener my relationships will be that much better.
So my first year participating in the One Little Word challenge was successful.
I’m not sure what my One Little Word will be for next year. I’ve been so focused on my writing and my kids that I haven’t had a lot of time to think about it.
Maybe I’ll pick Inspiration. Maybe the year of 2017 will be an inspiring year for me. I’m working on three different stories that I feel strongly about. I’m hoping to get all three of them done in 2017. That would be inspiring, wouldn’t it?
Photo via Ondrej Supitar via Visual Hunt
I’m going to put a lot of thought behind my word for next year. I want it to be a positive word. I feel like there’s a lot of negativity flying around and I want to get away from it. I don’t want to be infected by it.
So there you have it. My thoughts on My One Little Word. Are you going to join the challenge? What is your One Little Word going to be? Leave a comment. I’d love to hear from you.
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Hello everyone. I hope all is well with you. I’m back today reeling from the fact that Thanksgiving is almost upon us. This year is going by so fast and my boys are growing so fast. Did I tell you I found fuzz on my oldest son’s upper lip? Talk about a wake-up call. So I thought it would be appropriate to write a Thankfulness Post.
So below is a list of some of the things I’m thankful for but don’t express appreciation for very often.
Thankfulness List:
Photo credit: K a P p Y via Visual Hunt / CC BY-NC-SA
Photo via Visualhunt.com
Photo credit: GLAS-8 via Visualhunt.com / CC BY-NC-ND
Photo via Visualhunt
Thanks for reading my Thankfulness post. What are some of the things you’re thankful for? Leave a comment. I‘d love to hear from you! 🙂
Hello everyone, I hope all is well with you. I’m back today to answer a few questions for you. What do you do when you lose your inspiration to write? When nothing seems to be working and you’re wondering if it’s all worth it? I have these feelings sometimes, I’m sure every writer does because writing is not about instant gratification. That’s for sure.
So what do I do when I lose my writing mojo?
When I’m struggling with a scene and just can’t get it to work. I get up and go for a hike. A hike usually gets my creative juices flowing, and it’s good for my body. Hiking relieves my stress and I’m burning calories.
Photo credit: Christian Arballo via Visualhunt / CC BY-NC
If the weather’s nasty outside, I’ll turn on the tunes and do some housework. With a husband and two boys there’s always something that needs to be done. By doing these mindless tasks, I free up my mind and solve my plot issues.
When I was going through chemo, I was on the verge of giving up on writing. It seemed so exhausting; writing the books, trying to find agents and/or publishers, and marketing the books. When I was sick, these tasks seemed extremely daunting. I really questioned why I was heading down this road, and I did stop writing for a while. I just was not inspired.
But when I finished my chemo treatments and I started to recover, my motivation came back. My oldest read my Super Spies series and he was so proud of my work. Then my youngest read my first one and he liked it, but he’s more into Percy Jackson. That’s okay. He’s reading. 🙂
So, whenever I’m stuck and don’t know if I should keep writing, I look at my kids. I don’t want them to think their mom’s a quitter. I want them to know I persevered. I want them to see that success is not a straight line. Sometimes you don’t get what you want right away. Sometimes it takes a lot of attempts to get something right.
One last thing I do, is just take a break and read. I put my manuscript away, curl up on the couch, and lose myself in a good book. This inspires me to continue my work because I want my books to touch people the way some books touch me. What am I reading right now? Here’s the cover and blurb.
Though she left Charleston a spoiled daughter of the South, Emily returns from her stay in the North a changed young woman. Her assumptions about slavery have been shattered, and her secret dream of attending university has blossomed into fierce ambition. As the passions sweeping North and South toward war threaten to envelop the city she loves, Emily must battle her father’s traditional expectations in her own bid for freedom. Meanwhile, the real fight may lie within her heart, which stubbornly refuses to accept that a choice for independence must be a choice against love.
“Poetic” and “Nuanced”, Ella Wood is the story of a young woman standing at the edge of war and struggling with questions of morality, purpose, and love.
So, there you have it. These are ways I get inspired to continue my writing journey. How about you? What do you do when you’re struggling? Leave a comment. I’d love to hear from you!
Hello everyone, I hope all is well with you! I’m back today with another Slice of Life Post.
I’ve been busy this week with shopping, a blog tour, and I’ve been bitten by the inspiration bug! I’m so excited about this new idea that I’ve become frustrated when I can’t work on it. Sigh.
It’s a good problem to have, though. Better than having writer’s block, that’s for sure!
So, this Slice of Life post is going to be short and sweet. I want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. Let’s take a moment and reflect on what we’re all grateful for and the steps we need to take to make the next year even better.
At the beginning of 2015 I was ending my chemo treatment. So the beginning was rough. I didn’t feel well and my productivity was very low. My focus was on keeping my kids’ routine going despite how I felt.
As the year progressed, I recovered from my treatment and started writing again. The ideas have just started flowing. I can’t seem to write fast enough to keep up!
I’m also deeply grateful. Grateful that I survived chemo, grateful that my family’s intact, and grateful for my ability to write. I feel like I’ve received a new lease on life. 🙂
For 2016, I plan to focus more on my family and my writing. I’m also going to step up my exercise routine, after all, I want to see my boys grow up.
How about you? What are your plans for 2016?
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Hello everyone, I hope all is well with you. I hope you all had a Happy Thanksgiving. I know I did. This year was certainly better than last year, that’s for sure. Now it is officially Christmas Season. My favorite holiday, but enough about that, this isn’t a Christmas post…not yet anyway. 🙂
I want to talk about Inspiration.
What inspires me to write? There are many things but here are a couple that I’d thought I’d share with you.
The first is a note from a fellow author, who purchased my first book “The Super Spies and the Cat Lady Killer.” She bought it in hopes her reluctant reader would be inspired to read. This is a direct quote:
“Lisa Orchard is like the best writer EVER” ~according to my daughter, who until recently, never read a book voluntarily. Her next statement was, “You’d better get the rest of the series.”
Yes, ma’am. Going to buy them now!
Here’s the review they left on Amazon:
My 12 year old daughter says:
I loved this book so much because it was so exciting. All the cool moments in the house were really creepy. It made it feel like the girls were going to come to the end of their road. It was super suspenseful. Please keep writing more books like this!
I say:
My reluctant-reader daughter inhaled this book–twice! She came rushing into the room at least three times an hour with breathless updates on the adventure. Definitely an engaging read for kids who like a little mystery.
This made my week. It just felt so good to inspire someone to read. I immediately began thinking of ideas for the next book in the series, even though I’m in the middle of a new one with new characters. I’ve got a couple of ideas brewing so we’ll see where they go.
My kids also inspire me to write. They’re so proud of my accomplishments. My oldest has read two of the books in the series and he told me they were awesome. I’m hoping by sticking with my writing, they’ll see how the hard work pays off and they’ll learn to follow their own dreams and aspirations.
My boys are learning so many valuable lessons with my writing. Just the other day, I was talking with a friend and she told me about another author who bought enough copies of her own book to get on the New York Times Bestsellers list. She told me this as an idea for marketing.
I relayed this information to my husband and told him that I didn’t think I’d get a big sense of accomplishment if I made it to the list that way. My son was present during the conversation and this was his response.
“Mom, that’s cheating.” He wrinkled his nose and shook his head.
I was cheering inside, while on the outside, I just smiled. My son has an excellent moral compass and it’s so nice to see it. My hubby and I did at least one thing right. 🙂
So there you have it. Two things that inspire my writing. How about you what inspires you? Leave a comment, I’d love to hear from you!
