Challenged With Writing

I would love to write more, every time I sit down though, out comes the monster living in my head telling me all kinds of things to prevent me from writing.

Currently, the monster is challenging me, and who I am. I have a scene in my head, that's been developing over the past few days. I sat down at the computer to write this scene. This was the sole purpose of my sitting here. The way the scene plays out...I kind of look back on it and feel almost like I'm reading someone else. It almost doesn't feel like me because of this one detail that seems like something I would never think of because anytime something like this comes up in actual conversation I shy away from the conversation.

I think because of this detail being something I would usually shy away from, I am having difficulty actually putting it to the computer screen. I have this little monster poking and laughing at me saying "what are you thinking? People are never going to read this. You don't want to read this, you don't even want to write it. Look how uncomfortable you are with this idea."

I'm thinking I want to grow, I want to challenge myself. If I stayed in my comfort zone, my writing would probably be very boring. So boring, even I wouldn't want to read. Yet, I sit here starring at a blank Word document....

Times like this, what my fiance usually says to me pops in my head. When I talk to him and complain how the words aren't coming, or I'm scared to do something he usually asks if I want to do this thing, which of course I do, so he says "then just do it." It may not always be as easy as just doing it, but the words have started to appear on the screen. All it took was my knight in shining armor to chase away the monster in my head.

Before this monster breaks free, I'm going to try to get this scene completely out and on the screen; or before the day catches up to me and I have to go actually work on the job that pays the bills. (Shudders.)

How do you defeat the monsters in your head that keep you from doing what you want? Let me know in the comments below, or tweet me @Pixi714.

You can find me on Twitter, Goodreads, and YouTube.

Book Review: Fox-Hat and Neko by August Li

Fox-Hat and Neko is my first LGBTQIA book I've read. This book was a relaxing yet exciting and nail biting read.

The story follows a young boy who has the ability to travel to the dream world and save others from unseen monsters. While he struggles with this ability and what it means, he also struggles to know who he is.

The writing is imaginative. It makes me wonder what August Li dreams about. The characters are forced to think outside of the box to solve some problems. Thanks to them being in a dream world for most of these problems, there aren't many limits to what they can do to solve the problem.

This is definitely different from other books I've read, which made this more enjoyable to read. I give this book 4 out of 5 stars. If you're looking for something new and different in your reading, go pick up Fox-Hat and Neko by August Li.

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Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review by my request via NetGalley.com as approved by the publisher, Dreamspinner Press.

Home Improvement: Removing moldy drywall

This weekend we started removing some molding drywall from the bar area in our basement.

Last year while remodeling our bathroom on the main floor, the plumbing leaked down into the basement flooding the area behind the bar. My fiance noticed it was starting to mold so he pulled it out. (I was just holding a flashlight so he could see and helped with clean up.)

In total we removed four walls and a small area of the ceiling. The drywall filled up about ten trash bags.

On the upside, I got to try out my new headlamp which was cool. This left my hands free to hold the trash bag open. (I know, I get the glorious jobs when destructing.)

Basically, one of my fiance's nicknames is Mr. Destructo. You need something taken apart, he can get it done and relatively quick. He earned this name from my father when we helped remove the in ground pool my dad had built back when I was in preschool or kindergarten - more years ago then I care to admit.

He had the basement apart in a matter of hours, but over two days since we had company coming over. We had to quit early on the first day.

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September Goals

September Goals

This month I thought I'd do something different. I saw a video by Jenna Moreci, where she went over her Spring Quarterly goals:

I thought this idea would be a good idea, probably better than figuring a TBR list each month. So, here are my September goals:

1. Read 5 or more books - this may be kind of ambitious with how things are at my day time job, and with my family
2. Post on this blog 2-3 times per week - again this may be kind of ambitious, but I'm going to do my best to make it work.
3. Post YouTube videos 2-3 times per week - I already have most of these planned out, it's just a matter of recording and editing.
4. Post on Twitter 2-3 times daily - it's already September 4, and I'm not doing too well with this. Thank goodness there is still plenty of time for improvement.
5. Complete a story outline - outlining is something I have trouble with and need to practice. Hopefully I can knock one out this month.
6. Finish mudding our bedroom - obviously this has nothing to do with reading or writing, but our bedroom has been in a state of construction for several months with nothing done to it. It's time to finish the project.

So these are my goals for this month and I will let you all know how I did next month, as well as let you know my goals for October.

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