Lissa Matthews's Blog, page 6

Life, Change, and Writing

In the midst of this pandemic so many lives have been turned upside down. People have been thrust into new ways of living, existing, coping. I haven’t. My life hasn’t changed much because being home, working from home, homeschooling was my life and to a point, still is. The most I’ve struggled with is finding toilet paper and finding focus. The degree of change has varied with each person, with each family.

I’ve been thinking about this a lot because I know there are people struggling with getti...

Writing When There’s Chaos

Now, I think this needs a little context because there are many things that classify as chaos, this pandemic is one (I have not felt the chaos from the pandemic that others have, but I have struggled with a few things during itfinding toilet paper and finding focus). The degree of chaos varies with each person, too. But in this particular post, the kind of chaos Im talking about is at home. Kids being home. Homeschooling. Maybe even a job outside of writing. The house in a constant state of...

I Suck At Endings

And coming from a romance author, thats kindawell, not a good thing, is it?

My story endings tend to be more Happy For Now rather than Happily Ever After. Ive tried writing HEAs but they dont feel genuine to me. That, too, coming from a romance author isnt a good thing, is it?

Theres a strict definition of romance and its centered around the idea of a Happily Ever After. I even have a couple signs in my office that say Happily Ever After. Thats the aspiration for me at time, I think. But as...

Let’s Go To The Movies…

Actually, lets dont and say we did. Please stay home, stay well, help keep others well, too.

But We can watch movies and from everything Ive seen online over the last few weeks, people have definitely been watching movies and television shows and streaming the entire catalog available on Netflix.

I havent done that, yet, but I have been watching movies. Or, at least listening to them. I have a small television mounted on the wall in my office and I turn on movies sometimes when Im writing...

I Wanted To Be A Planner Person…

but Ive learned that planners dont work for me.

I read a book recently, Dear Writer, You Need To Quit by Becca Syme. It was great and it gave me a lot to think about. One of the things was a process the author calls QTP or Question The Premise. This is a tool to use when you need to question something, perhaps when something isnt working the way you think it should or when you start to adopt a thought process because it works for everyone else and you believe it should work for you, too. For...

Lean On Me Because I’ve Been Where You Are

Working from home.

Homeschooling one or more kids, possibly differing ages.

Significant other working from home now, too.

A bit of history

Working from home began for me 21 years ago. It wasnt my first choice. I wanted to go back to work because I loved my job, but I had a crushed ankle and had a newborn baby and a 5-year old and no family nearby, and the job I loved required me to stand 8-12 hours a day. Needless to say, I couldnt go back to it. We made different choices. We made a lot of...

When all else fails…Music

Music is such a fun and lively and mood enhancing and comfort.

I turn to music almost more than I turn to anything else when I need to get out of a mood, when I need to get into a mood, when I need a smile, a reminder, a hug, a good memory, a certain feeling, to feel safe, and when I need to clean the house.

Music got me through some of the most awful things as a teenager. Music got me through some incredibly lonely times. Music got me through heartache and loss.

And music often gets me to...

I’m Not A Word Count Writer

I wanted to be. I still do want to be. But the honest truth, y’all? I’m not.

And it’s not because I set unrealistic word count goals. At least, not anymore. I used to. But then I’d fall off the wagon a week in and I’d be running to catch up, only to be left in the dust because I didn’t run fast enough or hard enough or consistently enough.

Being a consistent writer… Well, what do I consider consistent? Every day? Yeah, sure. I’d love that, but again, that whole honesty thing and no. I’m not...

Do I Still Love What I Do?

In light of the last few days and the horrible loss of nine lives in the California mountains, the most well known being Kobe Bryant, many of us have been plunged into thinking, into wondering, into questioning whether we’re living our lives to the fullest and doing the things that matter and make a difference and make us happy.

I’m not an NBA fan, but one can’t deny the impact off the court that Kobe Bryant has had and the light he was for so many, and the countless messages of inspiration...

I’m Still A Race Fan…

… Though you’d probably never know because I haven’t talked about it in, well, all of last season and my driver won it all. He’s the current Nascar champion.

I didn’t even watch most of the Nascar races last season.

Why not? Why did I end up taking a nap during most of the races I did watch? Because it’s become…tame. And boring. The leader would get out in front of the pack and runaway more often than not. The rivalry’s that the sport used to have are gone. The tension between drivers is...