Update | Clearly, I’m out of my mind

April 4, 2022April 3, 2022 ~ Ofelia Gränd ~ Leave a comment

“All you need is the plan, the road map, and the courage to press on to your destination.”

– Earl Nightingale

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It’s time for an update, and clearly, I’m out of my mind. I’m looking at my list of deadlines and wondering what the heck I was thinking when I thought I could get through them all.

I’ve submitted Holly’s June story, so I’m halfway through her deadlines. The main problem is that from here on out, I have two deadlines a month except when we hit July, then I have three. And yes, four of them have a max word count of 12k, one of 15k, and two of 20k, so really it should be doable. With the right story idea, it is doable. I just need a break and clear my mind, I think.

I’ve had Holly’s releases on March 26th and April 2nd, and Ofelia has one on April 9th, plus I had the deadline of Holly’s June story, so this last month has really just been about surviving, and I feel like curling up in a corner and cry for an hour or two.

It’ll pass. Don’t worry. And I’m turning forty today, so effing birthday crap on top of everything else. Deep breaths and a clear plan will get you a long way LOL

I wrote 21.904 words during March if I’ve remembered to add everything. I have the feeling there is something I’ve forgotten, but if there is, I guess I’ll have to live without those words. Those almost 22k brings me up to 82.283 words written this year, and that leaves me 32.91% done with my goal. I have an average of 884 words per day so far during 2022, which is more than I thought I had since I’ve spent a few weeks writing blog posts for all my releases.

I made all my Q1 deadlines in time, so yay me. Only three quarters and 12 stories to write… *Deep breath* Many of them are short stories, many of them are short stories, many of them are short stories.

I can do this!

Read Around the Rainbow | Your Ideal Writing Shack

March 25, 2022March 25, 2022 ~ Ofelia Gränd ~ 11 Comments

ReadAroundTheRainbow

This is the first month of the Read Around the Rainbow webring thing 😄 We’re a bunch of authors who blog on the same topic. You’ll see the links to the others below, and if you click on the links by the image in the sidebar, you’ll be taken to someone’s site.

Where Would Your Ideal Writing Shack Be?

That’s the question we’re all answering this month! When I’m frustrated with the people around me, I always tell my husband that we need to move to a deserted island where no one can reach us or come visit. I soon realise how impractical it would be to live on a completely deserted island and say that we at least need to live somewhere where we can’t see any houses and preferably by the sea.

I often mention one of those small Scottish islands where they’re looking for residents to hubby, thinking it would be ideal for us. Then I picture one of those islands and just know there will be people who will want to talk and have like a community…and talk 😨 So no, perhaps not ideal.

When I say I’m an introvert, I mean I’m an introvert. As long as I have my husband and a good internet connection, I’m happy never to see anyone. So my ideal writing shack would be somewhere far away from people.

Last week I went into our closest city to go with hubby grocery shopping, he’s the one doing the shopping in our family, and it was the first time I was among strangers since before Christmas.

I grew up in a coastal city on the Swedish west coast, and I miss the sea every day. We moved to where we’re living now – outside a small village of about 350 inhabitants in the middle of nowhere – six and a half years ago, and while I like my daily walks in the forest, I miss the sea.

Another thing about living near the sea is that the Hardiness Zones are more forgiving. I like to garden, and I have this dream of being somewhat self-sufficient when it comes to fruit and veggies, even though I have no idea what I’m doing when pottering around by the garden beds. I’m a discovery gardener 😆 and learn and forget as I go.

Where I live now, I have 141 days between the last and first frost date, so…

Another factor is that I have four children, ages 6 to 13. When I picture my ideal writing shack, they’re all grown up and have moved away from home. I see a small house in the countryside, preferably by the sea, where everything is quiet apart from the roosters crowing now and then, and the only one sharing that space with me is my husband.

I love my children, but have you any idea how frustrating it is to try to write with them around? I go up at the crack of dawn to get some words down before they wake up. At the time of writing this post, one child is home, and she’s baking in the kitchen. I’ve already had to leave my desk several times to help her or stop what I’m doing to answer questions.

Sometimes, I’m amazed I get anything done at all, but most days I’m just dreaming about that quiet place. That small cottage with no neighbours in sight, where people don’t visit, and where the internet connection is superb. The garden will be prolific, we’ll have more than 141 frost-free days, and the chickens will peck around in the garden.
I want to be a hermit when I grow up LOL

Writing shack

Read About

A.L. Lester’s Writing Shack

Nell Iris’s Writing Shack

Addison Albright’s Writing Shack

Lillian Franci’s Writing Shack

Fiona Glass’s Writing Shack

Amy Spector’s Writing Shack

Ellie Thomas’s Writing Shack

K.L. Noon’s Writing Shack

Read Around the Rainbow

March 17, 2022March 16, 2022 ~ Ofelia Gränd ~ 1 Comment

ReadAroundTheRainbow

You might have noticed there is a new Read Around the Rainbow image in the sidebar. It’s a fun little project we’re starting this month. On the last Friday of the month, there will be a blog post. I’ll alternate between Ofelia and Holly depending on what’s going on, and if it’s a topic that fits, I might do posts on both, we’ll see.

It’s a webring, and I’m blaming my youth (snort) here because I had no idea whatsoever what a webring was. I think the lovely Ally (A.L. Lester) started talking about this back in the autumn, suggesting we’d do something together and have people jump from blog to blog – like a webring…

Apparently, this was a thing back in the Stone Age 😆

But it sounded like a fun thing to do. So while it didn’t happen in the autumn when we first started talking about it, it’s happening now!

Every month, a bunch of LGBTQIA2S+ authors will blog on the same topic.

If you click the previous or next or random link below the picture in the sidebar, you’ll end up on one of the other participants’ sites. So keep an eye out on the last Friday of the month either on my or Holly’s blog.