Post Conference Thoughts

Posted on August 18, 2024 by Karen

Some of you probably didn’t realise that I hadn’t posted a blog, or any of my usual posts on Social Media last week, it’s because I was at the Romance Writers Conference, creating havoc and merry hell with these two…

Janet Elizabeth Henderson, myself and Carole Brungar

Well, actually, Carole and I behaved ourselves, it was Janet that seemed to be behind all the mischief, she is so much fun, and it was the first time I’d met her, even though we’ve been friends for a few years now. And it was fabulous to hang out with Carole, we’re writing buddies, we check in with each other regularly to make sure we’re on task.

The conference was amazing, full of interesting people, great presenters and amazing talks. I managed to ace it with all of the workshops I attended last weekend, none of them were duds. I got to meet Cathy Yardley, Becca Symes, Sacha Black and Fiona McArthur. They are amazing authors themselves, and Cathy, Sacha and Becca also run Author businesses supporting other writers in their creative endeavours.

On Monday, Mr H and I were chased from Christchurch to Wineborough by a front that caught us at Kaikoura where it rained, blew like billy-o and hailed. Apparently a similar squall went through Christchurch, probably about the same time.

We spent the night in Wineborough before heading home on Tuesday, and then I had to return to work on Wednesday, but I had post conference blues by that stage. I’d felt so inspired and on fire when surrounded by like minded people, but when you are away from them, you feel less like doing things.

This week I’ve also came to the strange realisation that I don’t like writing the last 25% of the story, because I don’t want to put my characters through the dark moment. It’s not a normal thing, but it is for me, I guess it’s some kind of trauma response, but I also recognise that they are going to get back together again, but my characters become quite real within my head, and they are the one’s arguing against it. Now that I know that, I can assure them that it’s okay (even when they do argue against me), and that they will have their happily ever after.

I got Compromising Positions back from my editor, and I have finished those edits. I have it up on pre-order, which I will announce in my newsletter (make sure you’re signed up for that…)

I’ve also started the editing process on Finding Sam Healey, I’m loving this story, and can’t wait to dive back into it.

And so, back to your regularly scheduled program… lol

What have you been up to this week?

The light at the end of the tunnel

Posted on July 7, 2024 by Karen

After four weeks of illness, I think (touch wood) that I might finally be starting to feel better. I’m running on 80% at the moment, but that is way better than I was.

I have to say that I managed a walk yesterday, and while the wind was cold, and it made me cough, it was nice to get out and about. The previous week, I couldn’t wait to get home, so that’s a win for me.

I have also finished editing Compromising Positions. It just needs a final grammar / spelling check and then it is off to my editor. I’m excited about this story, but also a little nervous. I hope that I managed to get a decent romance coming through. I love the story and the dance of the three main characters and how they interact.

I’m hoping that I will get back into writing next week and I can knock out the last bit of Faith’s story in Racing Harts. I’ll also get to start on my first edit of Finding Sam Healey, which is in my Finding Yourself series.

So how was your week?

Winter Woes

Posted on June 30, 2024 by Karen

Man, I hate being sick. And I don’t do sick well, that’s to say, I’m a lousy patient. I can’t just sit and rest, I need to be doing something, like vacuuming the floor, or dusting, or cleaning, or SOMETHING!

But that something isn’t writing at the moment, which is an indicator that my mental health is declining. The fortunate thing is that I recognise this, and I am being constructive. While I’m not writing, I am editing – Compromising Positions – and it will be ready to send the editor by the middle of next month (I’m pretty sure that’s what we agreed to…I hope…)

I’m trying to be active, however this cold / flu / post covid whatever-it-is has me feeling good some days, and really crappy others. I can wake up in the morning feeling good, then go downhill, or wake up feeling really ill, and within a couple of hours, I’m feeling okay. But it is in my chest now, and it has started rattling whenever I lie down. And on a quiet stroll on Saturday, I ended up with asthma, even though I wasn’t rushing or pushing myself, and it was a comparatively short walk to what I normally do.

I’m finding funny videos to watch, and spending time with my partner, as my son is holidaying in California. I’m crafting when I feel like it, so I am doing the right things to help improve my mood. It’s just my physical health that is really bringing me down, and I can’t do anything about that.

But I’ve bitten the bullet. I’ve made a Drs appointment, even though I know she is going to say that it’s viral and there isn’t anything they can do, at least I can go in and see her and tell her how sick I am of being sick!

So how has your week been? Better than mine, I hope.

Taking Each Day as it Comes.

Posted on June 23, 2024 by Karen

It’s been a week. Really. A long week. After having covid, I seem to have picked up a post covid infection. Of course, it isn’t clear exactly where. My chest isn’t wheezing, my nose is clear, but I’m coughing up some yucky stuff.

I’ve been taking it quietly, very quietly. I haven’t been doing a lot at all. The reason is, I knew I would have an incredibly emotional day on Saturday, which was the memorial for my dear friend Aaron. And I was right, it was an emotional day. I spent the entire service in tears. I’m still feeling very raw.

To add to my emotional woes, my beloved Son is heading off on his own adventure overseas, and it’s the first time he’s left home for a significant period of time. And of course, he couldn’t just go to the North Island, or travel around the south, no, he had to decide to go to the US for a month. To say I’m nervous is an understatement, but I have to let him go and experience life on his own terms.

As a result of the recent emotional upheavels, I have not been writing, which means that my mental health is dropping, but I know and recognise that. That is the reason why I am taking each day as they come. Because I only have the day I am in. It is pretty much how I exist, and its only at the end of the day that I look at the following day, and think about what I might do for dinner (if it’s my cooking day) and make my lunch and get my work gear organised for for the following day.

So as this week begins, I will be taking it one day at a time, which means enjoying spending some time with my son before I take him to the airport on Monday afternoon.

Advantages of being SICK

Posted on June 16, 2024 by Karen

Last week, Mum sent me home because she had covid, and on Monday, I tested positive for it. It was probably a coincidence that she had it, then I got it, because my son also tested positive, albeit weakly.

Monday and Tuesday I felt pretty blocked up with sinuses and felt pretty yuck, but not any different than having a cold.

By Wednesday, I was desperate to do something, because I don’t do well being confined to home. So, I cleaned. I tidied up my craft desk, my writing desk, I dusted the entire house, and I deep vacuumed the floors (like the skirtings, the corners, any cobwebs, EVERYTHING!)

And I even wrote. And instead of writing for fifteen minutes and getting 300+ words, I wrote for however long I wanted, and often finished entire chapters.

I watched series 3 of Bridgerton (Colin and Penelope, *sigh*) and watched movies, and caught up with ‘My Life is Murder’.

My mental health has taken a hit, because of the deaths I’ve experienced lately, but I’m processing. I’ve cried a lot in the last few weeks, but that’s good, it’s normal to cry and let out the sadness and move through the grieving process, and we all grieve differently. Some of us keep it all inside until we go to bed at night, then allow ourselves the opportunity to cry. Some cry and get it all out and move forward. Just know that grieving looks different for everyone.

Back to the grind this week, provided the weather plays ball.

Hope everything has gone well with you this week.

An unexpected weekend

Posted on June 9, 2024 by Karen

This weekend just past, I planned to go to Wineborough to deal with some legal issues for my stepmum’s will. It turned into something far different from that.

I arrived, after driving in the dark (I don’t like driving in the dark, but I did it,) to be told by my Mum that a dear friend of mine had died. That was a big shock. I’d known him since we were teenagers, he moved up from Westport to work on the Amaltal boats, but we became good friends, and over the years we would get in touch and lose touch, but we always had a laugh when we caught up.

I got the legal stuff sorted, and even visited Dad, and Mum and I planned to spend Saturday together, which involved a lot of op-shopping.

Except Mum woke up on Saturday morning, and decided that she should do a Covid test, and for the first time, Mum had covid. She didn’t want me to stay, in case I got it too, but I would have been happy to stay for her too.

Disappointed, I drove back to Motropolis, having hots and colds, headachy – I was almost convinced that I had Covid by the time I got home.

By 6am on Sunday morning, I was so convinced, that I tested myself for Covid – negative, but I have a cough and a rough throat, so if it isn’t covid, I have a cold.

This would have to be a weekend from hell, that can only mean that the rest of the month will improve, right?

And all it once…it ends!

Posted on May 26, 2024 by Karen

Man, the last few weeks have been hectic, emotional and very disturbing. I’m ready for a break!

I am currently in the middle of getting my final assignment done for my organic’s course, and then I am done. I’ve given myself until 31 May to get this done (course ends on 17 June). I wasn’t sure I was going to get there, but two assignments have been submitted, so just the last one to go.

Also happening on 31st May is the launch of Second-Hand Daughter! I’ve had it up on pre-order for a while and got everything ready for it to be released on time. The books look amazing in real life, and I’ve ordered some to arrive by Friday. Saturday I’ve registered for a book sale, so it should get a few hits then too. It won’t put me on any best seller lists, but it is a successful launch.

My big boss from Aucktown is coming down this week for work to do performance reviews. I have a list of things that I intend to talk to him about, so whether I have a job or not on Tuesday is a different matter. He’s pretty good to talk to, and most of it is just niggling shit that annoys me, and probably shouldn’t.

And I have been back writing Faith’s story, been a bit here and there, but I’ve been writing. Will be nice to get everything above finished and then I can focus on writing, editing and cardmaking.

How was your week?

Catherine

And then comes the Funeral

Posted on May 19, 2024 by Karen

As you know, my stepmum died last week. We had her funeral on Wednesday in Wineborough. It was a lovely service, her son’s said lots of lovely things about her. I wanted to stand up, but I knew it wouldn’t take long and I would be in tears. In fact, I was in tears from the moment I first saw the casket, because Dad made it. It made it to look like a Clinker Dinghy. It was beautiful, and as soon as I saw it, I lost it. I was pretty much a mess from then on.

I was one of the pallbearers, along with her 4 son’s and her granddaughter. We carried the coffin out to the hearse, and then put sprigs of rosemary on it. – Rosemary is for remembrance.

I was fortunate enough to catch up with my cousin and his wife who were in Christchurch and decided to come up for the funeral. His mum, my Auntie, died earlier this year. It was a sad occasion for all of us.

Pretty much since Wednesday, I haven’t been writing. I just don’t have the passion or drive at the moment. And that’s okay. I am grieving for a loved one that meant a lot to me and my writing.

Monday is a return to normal, going back to work, so being back into a routine might help with the writing, but if it doesn’t, I’m not panicked. I will write again, and soon, I just need to give myself time to cry for the loss of a loved one.

Grieving on Mothers Day

Posted on May 12, 2024 by Karen

Last week I mentioned how my head was struggling with words because of some stress.

My stepmum had a massive stroke about three weeks ago. She wasn’t expected to live very long, and Dad instructed me not to come over. I agreed, but it was hard, because I love my stepmum very much.

Last weekend I decided to go over and caught up with Dad and my stepmum, who was in hospital. She couldn’t speak clearly, and half of her body was unresponsive, but I went and held her hand. She spotted the pendant I had on, the one that her and Dad had given me for my 50th Birthday earlier this year. She started playing with it, pulling it around and around my neck. I was able to give her a kiss and tell her I was heading home.

My Dad rang on Friday, to say that my Stepmum passed away that afternoon. It was a blessing really, because she wouldn’t have been happy living half a life. But it was still sad, because she was such a lovely lady and a full-on personality.

And then Sunday was Mother day. My usual Mother’s Day rounds is to contact my Mum, my stepmum, and my ex-mother in law, (because we are actually still friends). This year, I cried, because I couldn’t ring my stepmum. She isn’t there anymore.

It’s going to take a while to get through this. I still have flashes of sadness about my Stepdad, and he’s been gone for eight years.

Both were instrumental in my life, by encouraging me to do what makes me happy. They loved that I published books and helped me when they could.

I will miss my Stepmum very much.

Scrambled Brains

Posted on May 5, 2024 by Karen

I’ve just got back from a trip over to Wineborough to see my Mum, Stepmum and Dad. My Stepmum isn’t very well at the moment, so I took the opportunity to go over and catch up with them all.

My stepmum is very special to me, and her illness is very serious, and it’s been playing on my mind for a couple of weeks. To the point that my brain has become like scrambled eggs. I think it is a combination of stress and tiredness, but I notice it when I’m mentally stressed mostly, and that is, that words just don’t always come to me. The most common objects, I can look at it, and it will take me a while to figure out what it is. Case in point, I used the last of my floss the other day on my teeth and couldn’t remember for the life of me what it was called. Of course, the packaging didn’t help, it just called it floss, so I wrote it down on my shopping list as mouth floss. It took me 5 (FIVE) days to remember it was called Dental Floss!

And this sort of thing is a problem when you’re writing regularly. Sometimes you know a word, but it won’t come into your head when you need it, so you use other words that mean it, but it’s not what you want to use, and of course, when the time comes to edit, I will read it and think, what the hell am I talking about!

Do you have scrambled brain problems too? Hopefully you had a good week.

Take care out there.