Sheila Seabrook's Blog, page 6
April 16, 2016
The Gold Is In The Revisions…and other stories I tell myself.
March 6, 2016
Announcing the release of Caught Between a Rock and a Hunka Man!
February 28, 2016
Totally Embarrassed But I Did It!
January 19, 2016
Inspiration Via A Sprinkle Of Magic & Fairy Dust
The other morning, reluctant to get out of bed but knowing full well that I should, I snuggled into the covers and let my mind wander. I’d spent the last month puzzling over a couple of important plot points that I needed for the end of Caught Between a Rock and a Hunka Man. I wanted them to be touching and emotional and definitely romantic, but up to that Saturday morning, I still had nothing.
Not a single idea. Not even a hint.
The fact that I’d spent the month of December stressing over Christmas preparations (and of course, eating all of those “preparations”) probably had something to do with the lack of inspiration. My muse was hiding in the background, staying out of my way, and waiting for me to chill.
Then bang, on that Saturday morning as I lazed in bed, I got a twofer. Yes, two separate scenes that came like a sprinkle of fairy dust. I promptly thanked my muse for blessing me with the ideas, then charged out of bed to write them down before they vanished.
And vanish they do. There’s a wonderful scene in the movie About Time where the playwright answers the incessant knocking at the front door only to lose the only idea he’s had all year. (Awesome, romantic, funny, heartbreaking movie, btw!) Catch the trailer here:
So that’s how inspiration appears for me, like magic, in a puff of smoke sprinkled with fairy dust. How do your ideas come to you (and I’m not just talking writing here…any old flash of inspiration in your day will do). Talk to me. I love to hear from you!
January 1, 2016
Happy New Year & My Word For 2016
How is everyone doing today on this amazing first day of another new year? It’s all I can do to contain my urge to climb up on the rooftop to shout HAPPY 2016…except my roof is covered with snow and ice and I’m scared of heights, so I’ll just shout HAPPY NEW YEAR from my favorite spot in the whole wide world, right here in my home office where I can connect to the rest of the world and all of you.
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For the past year, I’ve let myself be guided by a single word. PROLIFIC. It got me through the insanity of the last year and a half while I was deluged with family stuff, and helped me focus my spare time and spare brain cells on the writing.
This past December, I began the process of selecting my Word of the Year for 2016. I went through several words—expand, trust, passionate, open-hearted—and then I found the one that encompassed it all.
MORE.
I want to spend this year being MORE. More heart, more passion, more prolific, and more social. I want to go deeper into my characters and stories. I want to publish more books than I did last year. And I want to talk more about books and writing and life, and connect with people once again on Facebook and Twitter.
In other words, I’m coming out of the cave I’ve been in for the past year and some, and reengaging.
Do you have a Word of the Year? Or do you make New Year’s resolutions and goals? Talk to me. I love to hear from you!
December 22, 2015
Holiday Wishes & A Surprise!
It’s hard to believe 2015 is almost over. Every year whips past so fast, but I guess that means I’m having fun, right? 
This year was devoted to family, a carryover from all of the busyness in the latter part of 2014. Now that Youngest Son’s house is almost finished, I’m happily anticipating a return to the writing life (as opposed to sandwiching writing in-between hammering nails and sheeting walls).
So to give you a taste of what’s in store for your reading pleasure in 2016, click here to read the first chapter in my upcoming release Caught Between a Rock and a Hunka Man.
From my house to yours, I wish you a safe and happy holiday season. Talk to you in 2016!
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I love to hear from you, so in the comments below, tell me about your holiday plans.
December 1, 2015
Caught Reading: December Reads
Ah…December, the month of snow and cold and Christmas. For the last few days, I’ve debated which books I want to read to wrap up the 2015 Goodreads Challenge.
Since this is the month I traditionally clean the house from top to bottom, cram in the Christmas baking and shopping, AND I’m on deadline (for the last two months, but we’re not going to discuss that book three in the Caught Between series is now a month late!), I need some quick easy reads. Plus my mom recently tumbled down the stairs and she has a compressed fracture in her lower back, so there’s additional vacuuming and snow shoveling at her house.
Enter…novellas.
I have several Christmas novellas on my ereader that I still need to read, so here’s my list for December
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As it is, I won’t quite make my goal of 100 books read for the Goodreads challenge, but I’ve far surpassed the number of books I read last year, which was the whole reason for joining the challenge. I’m totally ecstatic!
What’s on your TBR pile this month? And what might possibly take priority over your reading time? Let me know in the comments. I love to hear from you!
November 20, 2015
Mindful Interruptions
This morning I woke up filled with worry about things that haven’t even occurred yet. You know what I’m talking about. Those thoughts that distract you with what may—but probably won’t—happen next week or next month or next year (next year being on my mind because it’s only six weeks away).
Will Christmas arrive before I finish book three in the Caught Between series?
Will I be able to weasel my way out of going to youngest son’s house tomorrow to help hang doors, because really, at this stage of the rebuild, I’m mostly standing around taking up space until we get to the cleaning stage.
Will I be able to fit in a quick vacuum next week?
A visit to my mother?
PANIC…there’s no edible food in the house! (which may or may not include red licorice…just saying.)
Then I remembered Eckhart Tolle’s book The Power of Now which is all about living in the moment. With a vow to focus on one thing at a time today, I pushed my worries away, climbed out of bed, got ready for the day, and grabbed my first cup of coffee. As I set the full cup on my desk, the cup caught the edge of something and in an instant, coffee spilled everywhere.
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Okay, so I hadn’t really been focused on setting the cup down. And I hadn’t really been all that enthused about working today…
For the next hour, I wiped coffee from the carpet, the chair mat, under the desk, on top of the desk, inside the desk drawers, off my papers, my sticky notes, my keyboard, and every nook and cranny in-between. For the first time since I woke, I was totally focused on the moment.
There’s something powerful about complete and total focus. It lifts the spirit and sets it on fire. It makes the passage of time unnoticeable. It brings enlightenment out of the dark.
I have a practice of sitting still and quiet for five minutes before I get down to the writing each day. Well, actually it’s less of a “practice” and more of a “I really need to do this every day” wishful thought. But when I manage to discipline myself enough to practice mindful meditation for several days in a row, I quickly notice that I’m more focused and I have less “interruptions”. It’s like the universe recognizes my mindfulness and rewards it with stressless and productive days.
Do you have a technique that helps you focus on the here and now? Or are you often unmindful—and therefore clumsy and scattered—like I tend to be when I let my mindful practice go? Let me know in the comments. I love to hear from you!
