Tanya's Journey

My friend Kelsey recently posted one of her Friday Five posts and something she wrote in there had me thinking. And I quote: 2. I don't really advertise my age online, but it's pretty obvious that I'm a young one. Anyway, growing up in a conservative home, I didn't get to actually experience a lot of the things I put into my books. What things, you ask? Well, I'm not going to give you examples, because what you're imagining is probably so much more fun. Back to the point. Lately I've gone out into the world to experience some of those mysterious activities. Partly because I was curious, and partly because I wanted to see if what I was writing was accurate. And I found that it was. So if you're a writer and you think you have to stick to what you know like so many say... you really don't. It got me thinking. So many times I'll think of ideas for books, something new and innovative (as per me) but I quickly brush away the idea because I...

I recently wrote a post about writing scenes and I've been working those scenes into my 'busy lifestyle'. (Read: too tired lately to give a care about anything much). The writing has been little things: my first time on a motorcycle (FREAKED OUT!), or a fat pigeon on a wire, just as lightning flashed overhead. Then, memories started resurfacing, memories of a time when I was much younger... And much more naive. The crushes I had, the 'men' I'd loved and would have died for (at the time, I was VERY naive). I thought, "Why not write those memories down? They would make great scenes and I would remember what it felt like to be young, naive, stupid. Basically, a teenager. I was transformed while writing. I remembered lights dimmed, the flash of a scene from a movie, his smell, his grin, the look in his eyes. The challenge in those dark eyes. I remember the pictures on the wall, how one of the frames was always crooked, the couch smelled of perfume and a little...

Or: I need to get a life. Something that doesn't involve my 8 month old son. Don't get me wrong: I love him. BUT. Ever since Sam went back to work when Liam was two months old, I've been alone with him 24/7. It's starting to show. I need to get away from him for a little. But I'm also having problems with leaving him in someone else's care. The fact that I breastfeed and he never accepted a bottle had me only leaving for short periods of time. But, lately, Sam and I have gone out for a motorcycle ride, and we went out to the movies (Batman: UGH!) Liam's starting daycare in less than 2 weeks. I struggled with this for a long time. I didn't want some other woman raising him. I was afraid he'd walk and talk with her. That he'd love her more. Learn to say her name faster than mine. You know: afraid of everything. But... I'm not enough for him anymore. He needs friends, other people. There's only so much I can do, only so much entertainment I ...

Well, hey there! Haven't written one of these in a while. Been busy, motherhood and all. Apparently, babies don't come with instruction manuals. Who would have thunk? I actually have no credit for this blog post, I just want to pass down information that was passed down to me. My friend Silent Pages wrote a blog post intitled I ripped apart my beginning .  She was inspired to write this blog when reading this blog post by Donald Maass. These posts give great insight on how one can rip apart beginnings, shock the readers, and to not go the obvious way with your story. Read up and enjoy!