What Do I Know

Dear Imaginary Reader,

           

            When I look at my past, I don’t see anything amazing. I see my mistakes. Looking toward my future is overwhelming as I face the hurdles that stand before me. Presently, I am grateful for my wonderful husband and three beautiful boys. So, when I read other people’s advice to “write what you know” I couldn’t think of anything to write. It wasn’t until 2012 when I met, and later became friends with, a fellow writer. She was entertained by my random thoughts and conversations, leading to a comparison between her life and mine. For the first time, I saw my life through someone else’s eyes.

            I knew what it was like to be torn from a family. Forced to integrate into a new family. Torn from my brother. All of this from the single event of being adopted. I knew what it was like to run away from home. Not a live on the streets kind of way, but a hide in a friend’s backyard trailer for three or four days. This also happened to be one of my first sexual experiences. Few people believe that I was seven, maybe eight, when I decided I could make my life better. In high school, I broke up with a guy that I really liked not long after we started dating. He believes it was because he was a rebound. The truth is that not long after our first date my uncle was hospitalized. The idea of death due to obesity issues terrified me, an overly self-protective sixteen year old. If this was happening to my uncle what would the future hold for my current obese boyfriend? Out of all the friends I have lost over the years, he is the one who still haunts my memories. In college, I lived in a friend’s garage without a bathroom. At night, I had to potty in a bucket and clean it out in the morning. When I looked at these experiences, I realized that I had plenty to write about.

            However, attempting to put my experiences onto a blank page, became a distracted rant of inner turmoil and angst of a child. Scraping the idea of autobiographical material, I began to write about my life in third person. Giving this person a new name, a new environment, a new life. I could write about the imaginary people and give them the attitudes of friends and family. I could enhance traits I liked and minimalize what I did not. (This is not to say that I made everyone perfect.) I could focus my hate and anger at a multitude of people into a single villainous character. Slowly, a heroine appeared with friends and family and enemies who were life like because they were modeled on actual people. Suddenly, I had written a fantastical tale that I was pleased with and looked forward to editing.

            I guess what I am trying to say is that I agree with the idea of writing what you know. As long as you write it in a way that you would want to read it. And, if you are lucky, maybe someone else will want to read it too.

Thanks for Reading,

E. Schierschmidt

P.S. I should tell you that writing this letter was like pulling teeth. Next time, since it is my own blog and I can post whatever I want, I would consider scrapping the idea and finding something else to write about.

            This is an idea that I would put into practice for Nanowrimo when I am struggling within the first week or so. I don’t understand why I wouldn’t do it for a blog post as well.

Father and Son Differences: It Begins

            I was supposed to be barren. So we were surprised and excited when we found out we were pregnant. Although I really wanted a girl, I asked my husband what he wanted and what were his hopes were for the kid. He wanted a healthy boy to play computer games and Legos with.

            Fast forward a few months. J2 was born two weeks earlier via an emergency C-section. My husband likes to call it J2 and my first fight. J2 was supposed to be born in December. I didn’t want to have a November baby because it would interfere with Nanowrimo. I lost the fight. After being hospitalized for high blood pressure, several nurses walked into the room and informed me that if he did not come into this world immediately, he would not enter the world alive. Dramatic, I know, but six nurses rushed in the room to rush me to the operation room, I was more focused on the idea that after nearly nine months my son may not make it. J2 was brought into this world at 1:59 pm on the last day of November.

            Fast forward again two and a half years. My husband works long hours and when he comes home he just wants to vegetate in front of his computer. While that works for J1, our adopted child, this doesn’t really work for J2. I began to notice that J2 was trying to get his attention. My husband would offer to let J2 into his lap but after a few minutes J2 grew bored and crawled out of his lap, only to want his daddy’s attention again. After an hour of this J2 walked away from his daddy defeated. Upset and angry, unable to express what was bothering him, J2 began to act out. Not understanding what was occurring, my husband would lose his temper with our misbehaving son.

            My husband has to understand. He is a mild manner, quiet guy, who is content to chill in front of his computer with his children in his lap. And while this works for J1, who is the personality twin of my husband, this does not work for J2, who is outgoing and hyperactive. That night when our children went to bed, I forced my husband accept that he and J2 were nothing alike but that it was his responsibility to figure out how to spent time with J2. Getting my husband to understand was easier than putting it into practice, as most things usually are. My husband decided it was time to pull out his “big boy” Legos. J1 enjoys this as well, but it still isn’t an activity that will keep J2s attention for very long. Play time quickly became about my husband and J1. I was disheartened.

            Silence became the key. Thankfully, one day, I walked into the boy’s room because they were being quiet. I found J1 putting a train track together for J2 to play his trains on. I left them to their activities until J1 came out of the room to play on his laptop. J2 continued being uncharacteristically quiet and once again I went to see what he was up to. I found him on the floor playing with his train. Loading and unloading cargo as the train went round and round. When my husband came home, I insisted that he spent some time playing trains with the boys. This quickly became an evening activity that all three of them could do. Trains led to building block tracks and bridges. Police chases, accidents and ambulances followed. All three of them seemed to be happy. Unfortunately, over several weeks, the sit and play activities slowly became routine. J2 began asking daddy to participate in other activities.

            Finding more activities. My husband turned to the internet. I thought about what kind of sports could be played in the house safely. (It is getting cold outside and the boys are under quarantine for the Flu and RSV season because of J3s health conditions.) Fortunately, our home has a long hallway. Any number of activities can be played there. J2s birthday coming up and Christmas not far behind, my husband and I sat down and made a list.

            Gifts. For J2s birthday, we requested my parents purchase a t-ball set, which they did and more, getting an extra ball and bat to help eliminate the sharing issue. My husband suggested to his mother that the boys would enjoy remote control cars, which he had found a twin set at a reasonable price. I wanted to get a fishing game and bowling. For Christmas, we splurged on a large joint gift for the boys. A train track with over one hundred and thirty pieces, enough for them to have their own tracks.

            Time will tell. Now that the birthday has passed and Christmas has gone, we realize how much has been gained from these gifts. The boys still fight about taking turns and while my husband is not a sports fan and will never be the one who teaches J2 how to hit a baseball, throw a football, or even dribble a soccer ball. J2, now, feels comfortable asking his dad to play trains with him. J2 will bring him the car remote in the hope to be chase around the house. J2 smiles more now that he can ask his father to spend time with him in a way that he will enjoy.

- E. Schierschmidt -

Solely Your Responsibility

Dear Imaginary Reader,

            Self-managing is a difficult but necessary practice if a writing career is your goal. Learning to create your own projects and deadlines to achieve said goal is solely your responsibility. Having read many articles from authors stating that in order to become a writer, you must write every day. Hahaha!!!

            This is where self-managing begins. You need to realistically look at your schedule and your habits. I would love to write every day. Before children I did. Hopefully, it’s a practice I will pick back up when the children have become a little older. However, for now, I am a stay at home mother of three boys, two three year olds and a six month old.

            Can’t you write during naptimes? No, and I want to congratulate those mothers whose children nap all at the same time. My youngest wakes up around six in the morning. The other two emerge around seven. Youngest naps around nine, eleven, and one. If the older boys choose to nap it is between one and two. While they are awake, I am at their beckon call until my husband gets home.

            Then you write when your husband gets home? No. I could write when my husband gets home, but I’m not going to. After ten hours of listening to screaming, squealing and crying, kissing injuries, playing, and preparing breakfast, lunch and snacks, my brain is fried. Nothing worthwhile is coming out of the raw nerves of frustration and exhaustion at that point. My husband’s arrival home is the point in my day when I banish my family either to the back of the house to play trains or the front of the house so I can call my mother to complain about the horrible day, laugh at the funny moments, and come to accept that my life rocks and prepare to do it again the next day.

            So, after your down time, that is when you write? Nope. This is when my husband and I discuss our day and decide what we want to do with our evening. I rarely decide to spend the night writing. This is when my husband and I curl up with dinner, watch television. and play card games. I can honestly say that I choose my husband and children over writing.

            Then you don’t really want to be a writer. Maybe, this is my way of procrastinating, which I excel greatly at.

            Fine. Then when do you write? On the weekends. From Friday evening when my husband gets home to Sunday evening, after church, I have a blank check to walk away from my house and write. Friday, I have an excited energy about being able to get away and do what I love. Saturday, I have the mentality of, “This is my work day.” Sunday, when J3 is not under quarantine from the world, we get up and go to church as a family, otherwise, I get up go to church. Either way, I spend the afternoon and evening writing. By the time the weekend is over, I am grateful for the next four days of down time. I estimate approximately twenty hours a week of dedicated work and another ten of half ass attentive work. This is when I am rushing crappy pre-first-draft drafts, writing e-mails, and doing research while my children will let me sit at the computer during the day.

            Wait, wasn’t this supposed to be about goals and deadlines? Yes, and part of setting goals and deadlines is to be realistic with oneself about the time and work you have and are willing to do. Ergo, what your week looks like … okay, fine, let’s talk about goals and deadlines. Ask yourself what is important to you. What would you like to see from yourself in the next week? Month? Year? Write down your answers. Now, consider what your week looks like and go back over the list. What can you get done in the next week? Write down what day you would like to get them done. If there are items left on your list, can you do it the following week? If so, start writing dates by those items. Do the same for the month long goals.

            Yearlong goals are a little different. For me anyway. I like to make soft goals. For instance, I would like my first novel to be edited and ready to query for publication by the end of the year. Personally, I am striving to be finished by August. This is my soft goal, my, if I work really hard and nothing goes wrong, I think I can do this goal. October is my realistic goal, unless something goes wrong, there is no reason for me not to be done by now goal. December is my leeway goal, I’m known to be lazy and maybe my mother, who is helping me with editing because I suck at grammar, will not be able to edit as fast as I would like. So, look at your yearlong goals and give them dates according to what you would like to achieve.

            This year, I would like to:

·         Publish a weekly blog. I write this sometime during the week, as part of my half ass attentive work. Then, sometime Saturday or Sunday, I go back over it in hopes to polish it up. Cut out what I don’t need and add what I forgot. Monday, I read it one last time before deciding on a title and publishing it. Yes, I publish on Monday. Yes, it is during that half ass attentive work. In my defense, I suck at titles anyway and I am not looking to change anything important about the piece.

·         Work through The Writer’s Devotional by Amy Peters. This is a one of the two books my husband got me for Christmas and a quick glance through has me really excited. Admittedly, I don’t have time to go through it daily, however, most of the daily reads are quick enough for me to hammer a week out throughout my weekend of work.

·         Read through Writer for Hire: 101 Secrets to Freelance Success by Kelly James-Enger. This book, I believe, is my husband’s way of telling me to start making money. What I am learning, so far, is that I do not have confidence in self-promotion and that I am woefully ignorant in a lot of areas. Both, good lessons for me to learn. Thankfully, there is someone who has been through the motions. Hopefully, I can apply her advice and learn from her mistakes.

·         Finish editing my first novel and begin the query process. This of course means I need to figure out what a query is and how to write one.

            Having written all of this, it is also important to realize that life is unpredictable. Accept that some goals are going to be derailed. I had planned on finishing my first novel by November 2014. However, I did not expect to get pregnant with my third child. The tiredness and pain that resulted from that difficult pregnancy forced me to make a decision. I decided to postpone the editing for a year. That did not mean that I couldn’t write, instead I decided to work on new ideas for different worlds. As you can see, it is back on the schedule for 2015. This does not make me a failure, it makes me realistic and flexible to changes.

            Understanding and accepting the unpredictable nature of life makes you capable of pushing a project back in order to make room for another opportunity. This has a warning in itself. It would be easy to constantly change projects and push back dates until you manage to never complete anything. My rule of advice for this is as follows: If you, a family member, or a close friend is not seriously ill or pregnant, or if you are not being offered money for another project with a definite ending, do not change a goal or date.

            This is me. This is what I am learning and the advice I would give to others.

Good luck. I wish a successful year for everyone,

E. Schierschmidt

A Quick Introduction

What is this blog about and why should you read it? Not sure I can answer either of those questions.

            I can tell you that I am a stay at home mother of three boys. The eldest, J1, is adopted and shows signs of insecurity. He enjoys observing the world around him. My second son, J2, is outgoing and has a never ending source of energy. J3, my youngest, was born with a congenital heart defect, CHD, a condition with more words than can be typed on a single line of any document.

            I failed to attain a degree after attending college on and off for nearly a decade, but have the debt for the attempt.

            In 2009, I made a change in my life by leaving a mutually abusive marriage for a chance at happiness. Later that year, I started dating the man who would become my husband and the father of my children. I also made my first attempt at Nanowrimo. This is an organization that I fully support. I have participated in the yearly November challenge, as well as Campnano, ever since. I cannot image any person hoping to become a novelist not wanting to participate in such an amazing community and I treasure the friends that I have made.

            2010 proved to be monumental. In February, my boyfriend became my fiancé. November, I participated in Nanowrimo again. I failed to achieve the 50k because I had started school and wanted to focus on graduating. In December, my fiancé became my husband.

            In 2013, I was invited to join a critique group. Critiquing and writing takes up any time left after my family. Critiquing is useful if you are interested in the truth about your work. Respectful and yet brutally honest opinions of what you have written. Yes, I have walked away disappointed that the beautifully crafted words that I read out loud for all to hear was cut to ribbons by the words of others whose mouths resembled an industrial shredder. I am grateful to be given to opportunity to rewrite the piece and make it better, clearer, more intriguing.

            2014 was painful. There was a tragic lack of writing and horrific news about J3 which resulted in a two month stay in the hospital. My husband split his time between the hospital and home, both at work and with the two older boys. My mother’s part in all of this was indispensable. I will forever be thankful to her for her sacrifice. We were able to be home for the holidays. Halloween. Thanksgiving. Christmas. Now, J3 begins to struggle more and we await our return to the hospital for the next round of surgeries.

            I spend my evenings writing, reading, and praying that what I have written will find a home with any publisher. I spend my days with my children, watching movies, reading, playing games, hugging, and loving them. Although they survived the first hospitalization it was not without effects.

            J1 stopped talking to me. He threw up his defenses so it would not hurt as much when he lost me, like he did his first two homes. This is not how it really occurred but he is too young to understand what he went through.

            “You came home,” became J2’s mantra. Every time my husband or I walked through the door. While some people found it humorous, I did not. The idea that my son had resigned himself to accept that we would not come back was saddening. It made my time in the hospital so much more unbearable.

            After J3 and my return, things slowly resembled normal again and with some urging from my husband, I participated in Nanowrimo for the sixth year in a row. Thanks to the successful writing month, I entered 2015 with the hope to become a published writer.

            So, exactly where does that leave me for 2015? My hopes this year are simple. I want to read more and write more. I want to take others on my journey in the hopes to become published while raising a unique family. Am I unique? Not really. I am me and no one else can claim that. I want to finish the first novel rewrite and get it edited before October so that I can begin sending out queries before yet another Nanowrimo. Which means I have to figure out what a query is, how to write one, and who to send it to. This is the beginning toward publication. Why look for a publisher when it is so easy to self-publish? That is a great question too and I will probably answer that question sooner or later.

            This blog is meant for you to read about my journey, to follow along as I try to become an author in the mess of my crazy life, and maybe I can learn something that will help you out in the future as well. This is me, E. Schierschmidt, and its pronounced Shire-shh-mit.