Keep Writing

Many of you are aware that the last few years of my life have been, well, interesting to put it lightly.  It has meant that many of my extra writing time and paying assignments had to be put aside.  I’d been building my career steadily for many years, now I’m almost back to square one as far as money goes.

I have other skills. I have things I could do that would bring in a descent paycheck.  I have things I would like to try that would bring in a fair paycheck.  I have things that I currently do that bring in teeny-weenie paycheck.

Now that my life has settled into a new normal I’ve begun pondering which one of those paychecks I value from every aspect.  I’ve done a lot of soul searching and wondering what would happen to my sanity if I went back to work at a “real” job full time.  It wouldn’t be pretty, but. . . money.  Need I say more?

The fascinating thing is the more I’ve pondered this, my heart and my God have whispered a very bizarre bit of counsel.

“You’re already doing exactly what you are supposed to be doing.

Don’t worry.

Keep writing.”

Can you guess which line I’m having trouble with?

Yep, it’s that whole “Don’t worry” thing.  Did I mention the lack of paying assignments and teeny-weeny paycheck?

It’s good to know I’m still doing what I’m supposed to be doing, but starting at square one is pretty scary.

So, for the next year or so I guess I’m back to busting my not so little hiny with that “Keep writing” thing.

It's Contest Time!

For the entire month of October I have been running small contests on my facebook page for free copies of my new book A Companion to the Children’s Songbook.

We’ve reached the last Monday in October, so this marks the last and biggest contest.

It will run until midnight (EST) October 31, 2013.

You may enter here, or on facebook.  I’ll be posting reminders throughout the week there.

How do you enter? Do one (or several) of the following things:

1. Visit your local Deseret Book store and go on a treasure hunt for my book.  Then: Leave a comment if you find it naming the specific store.
2.  If you don’t find it, kindly ask the staff at that store to consider carrying it. Then:  Leave a comment saying that you did so.
3. Don’t live anywhere near a Deseret Book?  Recommend my book to your local primary chorister, and provide them with this purchase link http://deseretbook.com/Companion-Childrens-Songbook-Alison-Palmer/i/5093163. Then: leave a comment that you did so.

That’s it, just help me spread the word a little bit and you could find a free copy in your own hands.  Yippee!

Look, I'm a Fairy!

My fairy name is Fen Golddancer

She  likes to steal shiny coins and pretty trinkets.
She  lives in reed marshes and lonely fenland.
She  can only be seen when the bees swarm and the crickets chirrup.
She wears pale pink marshmallow flowers  and has bright lemon coloured wings like a cicada.
Get your own fairy name from the fairy name generator!

Sorry, I just couldn't resist.  My friends and I have been having fun with this little name generator and for whatever reason it seems to be nailing our personalities every time.  very weird :)

Have Fun With It

I thought I’d share an old Facebook status with you today.

December 3, 2012

I'm still being haunted by a writing project that needed major revisions. Hubby was asking me about it yesterday and I said I felt like it was mocking me and telling me I didn't have a creative bone left in my body.
Him, "Could you hand this off to anyone else and get the same book you would write?"
Me, "No, but what if....."
Him, "Just stop it. It's your book, it's uniquely you. It will be finished when it's finished. Stop letting your doubts win and have fun with it. Be you."
And once again, my husband grounds me with reality and a no nonsense pep talk.

As many of you know, my husband passed away in June. It wasn’t very nice of the stinkbrain and I’m still mad at him (yes, I’m kidding) but I’m doing okay.

This old status has special meaning for me today since this particular project is finally headed to press. It turns out he was right. Sometimes I had to dig pretty deep to find those creative bones, but they never completely abandoned me. And, as long as I remembered to have fun with it things worked out the way they were supposed to. I’m extremely grateful to have been blessed with a husband who fully supported the flake that I am and my need to create and write even when the results seemed less than ideal.

Thanks dear, I’ll see you on the other side.
Oh, and do I need to remind you to be nice to your mother? :)

Re-kindling My Joy

If you know me, and you know my writing, you know I tend to be rather eclectic. I could probably be a much better writer if I stuck to one type of prose, but that’s not part of my nature and turns what I love to do into a job instead of a joy. Yes, money and success are important parts of feeling fulfilled as a writer, and though you will probably never see my name on the best seller lists or even my tag line on most of what I write, I am happy with the amount of money and success my writing brings me. Were I to change who I am and how I write I’d lose out on my ultimate agenda: joy. I write for three reasons: money, challenge and joy. Of the three, joy is the most important. I take on projects based on their value to me in those three areas. Some things I write are simply because the money is decent. Some are because the challenge of seeing if I can pull it off intrigues me. Some are embraced because I know it will be good for my soul. My current adventure falls into the challenge and joy categories. I’m hoping the money will follow, but it’s not guaranteed. The thing about writing for joy is— there are certain forces who really don’t want you to experience such pleasure because it lifts your spirit and draws you closer to God. That certain someone will find ways to try and stifle your joy, faith, and commitment because it does not fit his agenda. Meany. That’s what happened with my current project. I’d been happily engaged in it, then realized that my “playing” wasn’t making the progress I needed to meet promised deadlines and stretch myself as a writer. Enter worry, stress, and stumbling blocks of all kinds. Have you ever noticed that when you’re on the right track the road can suddenly turn very rough? Yup, that was me. I started pushing for the business aspects of the project and forgetting the reason that I’d taken it on. Not the pride of a finished project, but the joy of the project and being able to convey that to the end-user and spark their own joy. While deadlines and accuracy are extremely important, those cares should not stifle the spirit of the project. I had been pushing myself this past week to both finish the book and find a solution to yet another stumbling block carefully placed in my way. I thought I was up to the challenge and plugging ahead and doing fine. Then, I noticed something when I went back to edit the work for that week. You know what? Most of it stunk. Yep. It was rote words and empty phrases with a complete absence of joy. Needless to say, I’ve missed my deadline- a very rare occurrence over my 10 year career. There was a specific time frame that would have been optimal for getting this book on the market, but what good does that window do if I’m not sharing my best work with the reader? Not much. I had to step back and decide that the spirit and longevity of the final project were more important than getting it done. And, guess what? Once I refocused on that part of things, the joy rather than the drudgery, my stifled creativity is responding with little sparks of new and interesting light. It’s a beautiful thing. Yes, I’ve let a few people down and had to admit my short-comings. It may have some negative outcomes for me to deal with. It may mean this particular project never sees the light of day. I’m going to have to take that chance. This project is about lifting my personal spirit and sharing that experience with the reader in order to lift their own happiness. If I’m not conveying that, I’m not doing the job I set out to do. So, send your joyful and good vibes this way, ‘cause I’m writing, come what may.

She's Alive!

Well, sort of.
I have been spending a lot of time lately trying to re-create and re-invent myself to fit the curve balls life has thrown me. These nasty pitches have, unfortunately, taken quite a toll on my personal confidence and creativity. (as noted by the previous post and resulting silence)
It's been a lot like constructing Frankenstein's monster. The pieces come from some very strange places some times, and often don't look like they'd fit at all, but they are gradually coming together.
Am I the same person I was a year ago? No. Am I a better me? I hope so.
Am I writing again? Gradually. It's not an easy process but my creativity, whimsy, and spiritual wells that my writing draw upon are slowly refilling and showing signs of life. No big thunderstorms and lightening bolts yet- but it's coming.

Could You Ever Walk Away?

Have you noticed how quiet this blog has been lately? Yup, me too. I feel bad about it, I really do, but every time I try to figure out what to post I come up blank.

That’s pretty much the problem with all of my writing recently. And by recently I mean the past, um three years? That’s just a guess. In reality it feels like a lifetime. I used to love writing. I couldn’t wait to get to my computer every day and spew out all the thing that had been circling around in my head since the last time I’d been able to sit down and write. I loved the challenge of even the most mundane assignment. Now, not so much.

Without going in to great detail suffice it to say that things have changed for me over the past few years. A bunch of little things combined with a few big things have caused a big part of me to “die” so to speak. It’s just not there anymore. I can’t access a big part of who I used to be. At first I just mourned the loss and tried to push through it. It didn’t really work. Everything creative that I’ve tried to do has been awful. Beyond the normal awful for a first draft stage. I’ve procrastinated every nonfiction and technical assignment until it couldn’t be put off any longer then felt that I wasn’t exactly putting my heart, or most of my mind, into what came out on the page for those assignments either. It wasn’t my best work.

I thought maybe I was taking on too much. I’ve whittled away most of my clients and stopped looking for new assignments, giving myself permission to write just because I want to write. It hasn’t worked. In the last few months I’ve been trying to find new ways to stimulate the creative side of my brain: visiting museums, taking art/craft classes, picking up my sewing supplies. Nope. So far that hasn’t worked either.

I don’t feel like a writer any more. I just feel empty. Is a writer still a writer if they can’t write? If I’m not a writer who am I?

Could you ever walk away?

Gluten-Free Cooking Made Easy by Susan Bell

What happens when you give six women/families with gluten allergies copies of Gluten-Free Cooking Made Easy: Delicious Recipes for Everyone by Susan Bell? Six very happy tummies.

Compliments of Walnut Springs, my friends and I were able to taste-test this new cookbook and I have to say with great pleasure that the cookbook was a resounding success! Hurray Susan Bell and Walnut Springs Press!

So let’s get right to the point. The food was yummy, we found a few typos and slip ups in the ingredient lists, but on the whole we were extremely pleased with the recipes and the resulting fabulous dishes. Hands down winners? The Best Waffles and the Angel Food Cake. Mmmmmmmmm. For people who normally have to go without or eat cardboard, need I say more?

What else is there to like? It isn’t just baked goods. (Okay, I know my description above kind of sounded that way, but I promise it’s full of a variety of great dishes.) If we had to tear ourselves away from the bread products, the stir fry, fajitias, cheesy halibut, creamy ramono chicken, taco soup, sweet pear pork chops and chicken pasta salad also got happy nods of approval.

Gluten-Free Cooking Made Easy: Delicious Recipes for Everyone is a great introduction to the weird world of gluten-free living. The food is wonderful and fairly easy to make. Having a resource like this can make things a little less discouraging. One woman used it as a reference to go through all her “old” family favorites and figure out how to easily adjust them for her daughter-in-law’s diet restrictions. Another just simply threw out all of her old cookbooks she was selectively sifting through and proclaimed Gluten-Free Cooking Made Easy: Delicious Recipes for Everyone to be the only cookbook she needs or uses. It really can feed the whole family without the bread-tolerant members even noticing a difference. Heck, my autistic son gobbled down the chocolate chip cookies without blinking and believe me, it’s very hard to pull one over on him!

I have to admit when I first looked through the recipes I was a little discouraged. The ingredient lists to duplicate a wheat flour can feel a little daunting. I’m a very lazy cook, so it might not bother (and didn’t seem to) anyone else. What I’ve found though, is the recipes are usually simple enough outside of the ingredients that I can kind of do a “make a mix” approach with the flour ingredients. I simply measure twice, cook one set of ingredients and the other set of ingredients in a Ziploc bag so it’s a little easier the next time I’m craving that awesome angel food cake. Did I mention we really liked the angel food cake? And the waffles? And the zucchini muffins? And the blueberry muffins? And the rice bread?

Hungry yet? Yep, me too. So, if you’ll excuse me I haven’t gotten a chance to try the brownie recipe yet and I can hear it calling to me.