Alyne Hart's Blog, page 20
June 9, 2017
Friday top Five: weird things I do when I write
Writers are weird. Just as a breed, we are weird. We get inspiration at the strangest times and the the strangest hours. We carry notebooks around with us for when those strange inspirations come to us. We probably lurk around you like creeps, looking, listening and watching all to perfect our embodiment of human interaction – because you know, we aren’t normal so we have to watch you to figure it out. We drink too much coffee and stay in our pajama’s a lot.
Weird thing 1: I talk to myself. Like, constantly. Not just talk to myself, ask myself questions…and then answer them. I write something and talk it out, I give myself great feedback by the way.
Weird thing 2: I read my book aloud to myself. Especially the dialogue. BUT, it helps me find words and conversations that don’t flow!
Weird thing 3: If I’m right in the thick of it, and on a writing spree – I won’t get up. Not to pee. Not to eat. Not to feed my cats or hamster. My kids make themselves ramen noodles for lunch. I literally cannot get up. Well, I mean I can, but………….
Weird thing 4: I get weird about people reading my work. Yeah, hi, I’m Alyne. I’m an author who published her book but is afraid for you to read it. I need therapy.
Weird thing 5: I cannot write without music on. But I can’t write with the TV on, or other people talking in the background. I’m not so sure how that works, but it does…
Sorry I have ignored my blog this week! Work has been a bear, and I am exhausted every day when I get home.
XoXo,
Alyne
June 5, 2017
The Island is getting a cover make-over
[image error]
[image error]
New cover in the works…and it’s all about that red dress!
June 4, 2017
Word Count Goals
[image error]
If I don’t hold myself accountable, I will slack off.
My end game goal is minimum 80,000 words, but really shooting for 100,000+. I’m currently sitting at 1570, with a goal of writing 1,000 to 2,000 a day. *I’m sweating already*
Writers, what’s your daily word goal and how do you hold yourselves accountable for it?
June 3, 2017
Saturday Top Six?
Apologies! I skipped my Friday Five – but in my defense, I was driving for nearly twelve hours! So I bring you Saturday Top Six.
Today: Top six things I NEED when I write.
[image error]
One. A scent. Weird? Certain scents just ignite something in me and this one in particular always does the trick. It smells all manly and woodsy to me, and for sure gets me fired up to write some romance! (my partner absolutely despises this one, but I burn it anyway)
[image error]
Two. Coffee or tea. Lately, it’s been green tea with matcha.
[image error]
Three. Snacks! I don’t even know how I can stand myself after posting all of these together. The smell of white woods, a cup of green tea and Wasabi peas – yet somehow I’m still alive! I love these things and they are the perfect little snack when writing.
[image error]
Four. Notebooks, planners and tons of pens and pencils to jot down dates, ideas, things to research – I have a million notebooks and calendars scattered around my desk.
[image error]
Five: My cat. If you hang out long enough you will discover I am somewhat obsessed with my cat (s) Meet Jojo, my beautiful baby. She is just about as obsessed with me as I am with her. Her little friend Hazel, however, besides me giving her food – really doesn’t care about me much at all.
[image error]
Six. A break. Tuesday night Trivia at The Red Monkey is the perfect break!
June 1, 2017
It’s a small world, survivors and sisters…
[image error]
I have not done half as much writing as I had anticipated this trip. I saw myself staying up late at night, pecking away at the keyboard of my laptop until my eyes couldn’t keep themselves open a second longer. I saw myself hammering out a few chapters by the end of the week.
That didn’t happen.
What did happen was I bonded with my mother in a way we never have before. For anyone who has never experienced a trauma – the concept of triggers might seem foreign or silly. People will sometimes tell you to move on, let it go, forget about it. But triggers are tricky, and not something you can just move on from and forget about. Sometimes you think you’ve cleared all the demons, all the things that haunt you. I’ve had things trigger me that surprised me.
I triggered my mom, on accident, or unwittingly I should say. She shut herself in her room and cried for awhile before coming out to talk to me.
What happened was a conversation that brought us closer. I won’t share her story. It’s not mine to share. But she had a rough, rough, rough upbringing. There were things I knew, but not the depth to which she shared with me. Things she’s never told anyone, not even therapists she’s seen to work on other things from her childhood. In turn, I shared things with her that I’d never told her – mostly to protect her from being upset or feeling like she failed to protect me somehow.
We cried, we hugged and we talked openly. I shared poetry about these things with her and we talked about how she could work on “letting go” a bit.
Survivors is what we are. And I know there are other sisters and brothers in the survivor family with us. I met one today.
I’ve always hated the phrase “it’s a small world”. I don’t know why. It just bothers me. It’s a huge world! Yet time and time again, I am reminded that it is indeed a small world – and the connectors are sometimes awe-inspiring.
I live in Walla Walla, Washington and I am currently visiting a tiny town called Rockaway Beach, Oregon. Last year when I came here I had forgotten to get my co-workers some salt water taffy. Today we headed out into town, visiting some local shops for knick-knacks, t-shirts, coffee and ice cream. At the last minute I spotted a little candy shop and sure enough, they had local salt water taffy. I bought quite a bit and explained to the woman that the last trip here I had forgotten to bring some back. She said that was nice of me and asked where I was from. “Walla Walla,” I told her. Her eyes lit up and she said, “Oh, I love Walla Walla. I grew up in Yakima.” I’m pretty sure my eyes lit up and I smiled and told her I had grown up in Yakima.
We got to talking about our age, and schools we had attended and for some reason, I brought up my mom and her name and where she worked. She knew my mom from her work.
I won’t share this woman’s story. It’s not mine to tell. What I can tell you is that I felt blessed that she shared it with me. The hairs on my arms stood up. I cried. We were bonded you see. Survivor sisters.
I believe in fate. I believe in connections and paths. I don’t know why I went into that shop. There was taffy at the ice cream store. I don’t know why I shared my age and city and mother’s name with her. I don’t know why she decided to share such intimate and personal information with me. I know that I was supposed to cross her path. And I know that it was fate that it happened after that intense night with my mom. I know that fate has made me cross paths with other sisters and brothers.
It’s a small world, and perhaps I should embrace it.
May 31, 2017
The Island, available in paperback now!
On vacation, relaxing and writing!
My vacation so far has proved to be relaxing! My mother and I rented a gorgeous house right on the beach in Rockaway, Oregon. In our downtime, I’ve been writing and she’s been reading The Island! It’s been all too entertaining watching her reading it, her reactions to certain things and begging me to tell her about stuff before it happens. It’s cute. And she is a hardcore Michael fan, which surprised me, I thought she’d be totally Gabe! But she’s loving it.
I’ve hit about 2,000 words in my next book. I have a LONG way to go!
May 28, 2017
May 27, 2017
Moving on up! Thank you!
[image error]
Okay, so in the grand scheme of things these numbers are not even small potatoes. These are the eyes on the potatoes after they’ve sat on your counter too long. But just a week ago I was ranked like 234,000 or something equally as low.
Thank you all who have purchased The Island! I sincerely appreciate you. I appreciate the reviews, the ads on Goodreads and the people who have blogged and Facebooked about it! It’s because of you that these numbers are growing every day!
I am considering making the ebook version of The Island (soon available in paperback) exclusive to Amazon. This will make it available in more countries, and a host of other super cool things like giveaways and Kindle Free days and countdowns!
Thank you, thank you.
With sincere gratitude.
Alyne ♥
Vacation!
Hitting the road for a much-needed vacation! I am off to Rockaway Beach, Oregon for 5 days. I plan on doing a ton of relaxing, reading, walking and …. writing. I’m bringing my laptop with me, I’ve been writing Michael’s story in my head for pretty much the last week and I’m thinking that the ocean air and sand will inspire me 
