Mama Diaries: August 2020

Monday, August 17, 2020

Latin Flavor Blog Hop Sign-Up

When: September 14-18

Where: Your Blog

On September 15th, my new book, Bubba and Squirt's Mayan Adventure, will be released. To help get the word out, I'm having a blog hop. It's called, "Latin Flavors."

In the book, Bubba and Squirt try a couple of Latin dishes. I thought it might be fun to share recipes of food from Mexico and Central America.

Here's what participants will do:

1. Share a favorite "Latin Flavor" recipe

2. Include information about my book in the post. I will provide all of that and send it to you a week before the blog hop.

If you'd like to participate, please sign up on the Linky List.

Thank you!

And to get you in a festive mood, here are some photos from my trip to Belize in 1998. They inspired several scenes in the story.

Sunday, August 2, 2020

IWSG and Battling Writer's Block and Depression: Keep Writing with Fey Blog Hop

Well, I go away for a month and Blogger changes everything. So much fun to figure out layout things!

I hope you all have been well. This summer has been unreal. I for one, am ready to resume business as usual!

Anyway, it's time for the Insecure Writer's Support Group post. This month's question is, "Have you ever unexpectedly written in a genre you hadn't planned on?"

Hmmm. No, not really. Mostly because I'm a planner and not a pantser. I have written in genres I don't usually write in, but that was intentional. I can't say I've ever morphed into something I didn't intend. Honestly, I think I'd scare myself if I did! I do have a writer friend who began writing his story as a regular middle-grade book and has recently decided to switch to make it a graphic novel. Just because it's the trend these days and he thinks it would be fun to do so. What about you? Have you ever started writing in one genre and then found yourself switching to another mid-story?

Keep Writing with Fey Blog Hop

I am also participating in Chrys Fey's blog hop about what to do about writer's burnout, depression, and writer's block.

I'm kind of in that stage now. I've been writing for 15 years. It's a lot of work with very little monetary payback. I've also been writing about my characters, Bubba and Squirt for 12 years. I'm trying not to get sick of them because ideally, I'd like to get three more stories out which would be sort of a trilogy (five altogether, but the last three would not be stand-alones). I'm in the middle of chapter 14 of the 4th book. If I can get through it, I'll have just one more to do. So, I'm like the little engine that could. I keep telling myself, "I think I can, I think I can, I think I can..."

Normally, when I feel this way, I go out for a walk, work on another project, or play music. But I have so much work with all my other jobs, that I'm out of energy. That on top of COVID craziness and the stuff I've gone through in my personal life. I'm just plain tired.

So maybe Chrys' book will help. I have my copy. Now I need time to read it.

What about you? What do you do to help with these things?

Catch the sparks you need to conquer writer’s block, depression, and burnout!

When Chrys Fey shared her story about depression and burnout, it struck a chord with other writers. That put into perspective for her how desperate writers are to hear they aren’t alone. Many creative types experience these challenges, battling to recover. Let Keep Writing with Fey: Sparks to Defeat Writer's Block, Depression, and Burnout guide you through:

∙ Writer's block

∙ Depression

∙ Writer's burnout

∙ What a writer doesn’t need to succeed

∙ Finding creativity boosts

With these sparks, you can begin your journey of rediscovering your creativity and get back to what you love - writing.

BOOK LINKS:

Amazon / Nook / iTunes / Kobo

Goodreads