Balance

Balance
from SeeMidTN.com (aka Brent)

I want to blame my lack of blogging on Hurricane Isaac just pounding my city, but all I got was a little bit wet :( I sure hope everyone else gets off so easy.

I love blogging, I really do, but lately I’ve felt like it has been one epic fail for me. I knew the move would take all my time, but I really thought once I got settled down things would get right back on track and I would be blogging 5 times a week like normal. But it just hasn’t happened that way.

There are days when I don’t touch my key board, and when I do I want to be writing. So I’m going to go back in time about a year, when I was blogging not every day and only when I had time or something worthwhile to say (but that is debatable :)

I’m hoping this will ease a little of the “you must be superwoman” pressure I put on myself. I need to learn balance, so this is my attempt.

Now I want to know—How to you balance blogging with the rest of your life?

-Angie

P.S. I’m not going to lie, the whole “beware the pictures” thing has really hit me hard. I miss them L

Random Ramblings—Book Contest

I collect hard back books. Since starting this blog I’ve realized that not everyone loves them like I do. They look so pretty on a shelf and they hold up nice to lots of re-readings, but...

Packing them across the country is a pain! I think I had over 30 boxes of books. I’ve gotten them all unpacked now and they look so beautiful in my new bookshelf.

So in celebration of my move, one year of blogging, and reaching 300 followers (when I wasn’t looking) I wanted to have a little contest.

Here is a picture of one of my book shelves (I have seven bookshelves total, but not this big). Whoever can name the most titles from this book shelf wins a $25 Amazon gift card :) Easy right?

Okay here are a few rules 

1. Don’t cheat. Lots of you are my friends on Goodreads. Don’t go see what books I own. Just remember they might not be in this book shelf anyway.
2. That is it. I have no other rules :) 

So leave your list in the comments. I’ll keep the contest open until August 10^th. I’m excited to see if you can guess the books from the spines. This should be a little bit hard.

Good luck!

-Angie

Here is a little different angle...

Fare thee well

What was the first book you read after you completed your novel? Do you remember? Was it a different reading experience for you?

I guess every reading experience is different, but the Hunger Games was my first read after I finished my own manuscript.

I was amazed at the new details that stood out to me. The POV. The present tense. The clever way Suzanne Collins weaves through passages of time - but always keeps us ever present. The unique, simple descriptions. The dialog staying true to every character. The internal dialog. Powerful action sequences and the nail biting moments of suspense (I guess that's pretty much the whole novel!).

It was amazing! A completely different experience than it would have been had I read it a year ago before I started this writing adventure.

I've learned so much about writing by -- well, writing. :) And of course blogging is a huge part of that. I've learned a lot from your posts and from my own posts and getting feedback from you. But unfortunately, I'm going to take a break for a while. There are a few demands outside the blogosphere that deserve more attention. And if I ever do get a moment to myself, I know I'll be working on my WIP.

The more involved I become in Blogging, the more time I want to dedicate to it. And I just can't squeeze more hours from the day.

I feel like my 'season' for blogging will circle back around and I'll definitely be riding that train! But for now, I'll wave goodbye to you all from the station and wish you the very best on your blogging adventures. Thank you for the help you've given me and I look forward to checking out your blogs from time to time!

It's been a Pleasure!

--Sara