Patti O'Shea's Blog, page 106

Why You Go Deaf When You're Reading?

Inattentional Deafness. I also think this is why we turn the radio down in the car when we're driving and suddenly need to concentrate.

The Magical Number

Did you imagine there would be some magical age where you'd suddenly be grown up? I always kind of imagined that turning 13 would make a big difference. It didn't. Then I thought maybe 16. But yeah, no change then either. Okay, the magic number must be 18.

It wasn't.

Then I thought it would happen after I left the teens behind or when I turned 21 or when I finished college. But all those milestones passed without my ever feeling like an adult.

I still don't feel like an grown up. I used to think it was only me, that I was just faking it as a responsible adult, but recently I realized that maybe I wasn't alone on this. On Facebook I've seen a couple of memes that made me think there were others.

One was about seeing a situation that required an adult and looking around for an older adult, an adultier adult. Someone with more experience adulting.

And there's another one

So it turns out that being an adult is just mostly knowing how to Google stuff.

I think there's another one or two as well, but I can't remember them. You know, it's kind of reassuring that other adults don't feel as if they're grown ups either.

I Gave Up Coffee

I gave up coffee for 9 days. I know, shocking! It was part of a detox. I also didn't eat meat or bread. Those were actually fairly easy to survive. The coffee, though? Totally different story.

I knew I was addicted to coffee--or at least the caffeine jolt--and that I'd been hooked fast. I started drinking coffee later than most people do, but it only took a few weeks to reach a point where I couldn't function without it. That day stays etched in my memory. It was Saturday, so I decided I wouldn't bother with coffee since I'd had enough sleep. Only to spend half the day on the couch, feeling lethargic. I went, had coffee, and returned to a functioning human being.

You can imagine how rough giving up coffee now would be. It was twice as bad as you're imaging. Not only lethargic, but craving it like crazy! For six days, all I could think was coffee, coffee, coffee! And of course, people at work are drinking coffee all around me. Torture!

But on day 7, the need wasn't so great, and  by the time day 9 ended, I was like, well maybe I won't go back to daily coffee again.

How have I done on this? Not too badly, actually, but I have had coffee three days in a row and I'm already thinking about having it again tomorrow, so it's looking like I'm sliding right back into my coffee addiction. Maybe I can still stay on track, though. I guess we'll see.

30 More Life Hacks Debunked

This saves me from trying any of them.

Plot Thread I Always Wanted to Write

For years, I've wanted to write a character who was adopted. I know why. I was adopted. :-) Throughout my life, I've met many, many other adoptees and it's interesting to me is how every single one of them has a different perspective. Seriously, there's not just two or three attitudes out there. Every person I've met has their own, specific one. Sure, the argument could be made that they're different points along a spectrum, but I don't look at it that way.

I've also met a woman who had a sibling given up for adoption, so I was able to talk to her, get to know her thoughts about that event. And I've met parents who've adopted children (as well as my own adoptive parents) so I've seen perspectives there as well. Added into all this was when I met my birth mother and how that impacted me.

This has been bubbling in the back of my mind for years, but I never had a character who was an adopted child show up. Until recently.

His name is Ryan. He's reached a level of success in his career that he hadn't expected to attain and he's enjoying it--and his life--to the fullest. And then, out of the blue, his birth mother contacts him and wants to meet him. To say Ryan is shaken is an understatement. It's while he's avoiding his personal turmoil that he meets his heroine. Heh!

I'm not actually writing his story yet because Ryan is the third story in a trilogy idea and I'm still working on story one, but I'm both looking forward to this chance and dreading it. The dread comes from the fear that I won't manage the complexity of emotion that adoptees have. I want to do this story, but I want to do it right.

I guess the only way my fears are laid to rest is when I'm actually writing this story. That's when I'll know one way or the other if I can pull it off.

The Light Bulb Moment

Writing is a series of progressions when it comes to learning the craft. Most of the improvement/changes are only noticeable in hindsight. Like when one rereads something they wrote three years earlier. Occasionally, though, there's a light bulb moment. Mine came while reading a book.

I'd heard for a while that Goal, Motivation, Conflict by Debra Dixon was a tremendous book about writing, but it took me a little while to buy it and then read it. It was worth the cost. GMC light up my brain like fireworks. I finally got it.

Looking at my characters and their words and actions this way helped me figure out growth arcs. It helped me figure out some general plot stuff. It flat out helped me focus and it made a difference for me. What was the first book that I wrote after reading GMC? Ravyn's Flight. This was also my first published book. It wasn't perfect and there are things I'd definitely do differently if I was writing it today, but it was a marked improvement from my previous efforts because of the focus.

I still reread GMC from time to time to remind myself of the principles. I also took time to work out the chart electronically so I can fill it out when I need to get my brain to home in.

Different writers need different things to make a difference for them. This was mine.

***I received no compensation of any kind for this post. Everything here is strictly my own opinion with no influence of any kind.***

What Did We Learn From Landing on a Comet?

I've been wondering about this.

Defining Moment

Continuing with blog ideas from online searching, today's topic is name one of the defining moments of your life. This is actually easy. Although I know there have been more than one defining moment, the biggest one involves writing.

I always had stories in my head. Believe me when I tell you that my Barbie and Ken dolls have really involved scenarios when I played and that my friends would be done long before I'd finished the scene (for want of a better word). They'd always be waiting impatiently for me to stop so we could go do something else.

I also was always interested in writing of some sort. As a grade-school student, I tried to create a neighborhood newsletter. I was on the student newspaper in junior high. Despite this, it never occurred to me to match up writing and my stories. I know, big duh, but I was a kid.

The turning point came in eighth grade. One of my best friends at the time started writing a book using everyone in our class as characters. I hated what she did with my character and asked her to change it. She refused. That's what prompted me to write my own story where I would have control (hah!) only I didn't write my classmates, I wrote fictional people.

I can't remember the characters names ::blush:: but I can remember the story. All full of teenage angst and a romance between two teenagers. Natch! The writing wasn't great. The plot wasn't great. But this is when I knew I wanted to write stories forever.

Of course, being practical, I decided to major in journalism while I was in college, which later turned to advertising copywriting. But that was never the kind of writing I really wanted to do. It was always novels. My dream would be to earn enough money writing that I could do it full time. That's all I've ever wanted to do.

But this was the moment in my life that became a driving force from then on. Fiction writing.

10 Things I Believe

I was stuck for blog topics. Really stuck. So I did some searching online and found most ideas didn't work for me. Seriously. Have blog readers choose character names? I don't even get to choose my characters' names. They tell me their names and it doesn't matter how much I dislike a name, I'm stuck with it. That ruled that blog idea right off the list.

But one of the ideas I saw on another post online was to blog about 10 things that I believe. This is going to be interesting since I've never really stopped to think about it. I guess we'll discover this together.

I believe that we're all here for a reason even if we don't know what it is.I believe that no knowledge is wasted.

And I'm totally stuck here. Gah! I must have more than two beliefs, right?
 I believe that kindness is one of the most important character traits someone can have. I believe that I have the right to cut toxic people out of my life permanently. I believe that examining one's life and making changes is an important part of growth. I believe that hard work pays off eventually if you don't give up first. I believe that people need to put their phones away while they drive. :-) I believe that there was an advanced civilization on Earth long before our known timeline. I believe that my characters are real people in alternate universes and that I've just plugged into them for a little while. I believe in science.

There! I did it! Some of them were a little silly rather than philosophical, but there are ten of them. Hurrah!

15 Facts About Coffee

For those of you who are as addicted to coffee as I am.