Amanda Trumpower's Blog, page 17
January 23, 2018
First Day on the Job
As my first full-time day of writing winds down to its final hours (making dinner in half an hour), I am evenly divided between “This is the best thing ever!” and “This is such a waste of time, what am I doing with my life, I should be a productive member of society.” Most of …
January 19, 2018
What Are You Thinking?
I’m lying on the living room floor, arms outstretched as I stare at the ceiling. I have just returned home from a conference. I’m tired from an early morning and a day full of presentations. I’m hungry for dinner that I don’t want to cook, but I know won’t get done otherwise. I am so …
January 17, 2018
Book Review: These Shallow Graves
These Shallow Graves by Jennifer Donnelly My rating: 4 of 5 stars Totally loved this historical mystery that reminded me of Libba Bray’s The Diviner’s minus the cult and supernatural elements. Characters from all slices of post-Civil War/turn-of-the-century New York society appear–some funny, some tragic, some despicable. I accidentally spoiled the ending for myself, so …
January 12, 2018
What’s in a Name
You may have noticed in writing I tend to refer to my Prince Charming as, well, Prince Charming. This is for several reasons. The first is merely a courtesy: Since I came up with this idea to share some of our marriage adventures and learned-lessons publicly, the least I can do is make a token …
January 11, 2018
Book Review: Lioness Rampant
Lioness Rampant by Tamora Pierce My rating: 5 of 5 stars What a wonderful journey this has been following along on Alanna’s adventures. I started this series thinking Beka Cooper would remain my favorite with this a close second. Upon finishing, I have to call a tie. Alanna is strong, noble, compassionate, and genuinely flawed …
January 10, 2018
Idea Starters for Expressing Words of Affirmation
Taking my own dare at the end of this post, the other night PC and I asked each other for ideas on how to love each other better. That led to a chat about words of affirmation. Although affirming words are important in our house (his secondary language, my primary), he requested examples so he would better …
Continue reading "Idea Starters for Expressing Words of Affirmation"
January 9, 2018
Really Embarrassing Mistakes I Made Self-Publishing Collar Cases
Like any first project, Collar Cases bears the scars and bruises of being an imperfect learning experience. This bothers me because my illustrator friend is so talented, I hate that her good work is flawed by some of my inexperienced missteps. But you don’t get better if you don’t try. So in the spirit of making peace …
Continue reading "Really Embarrassing Mistakes I Made Self-Publishing Collar Cases"
January 2, 2018
Full-Time Phony: How I’m Trying to Not Screw-Up My Writing Opportunity
So my graciously supportive husband has encouraged me to quit my job and devote my business day to building my writing career while he does silly little things like….I don’t know….earn enough money to pay our mortgage and buy us food. (In actuality I am dividing my business day between managing our home, building my …
Continue reading "Full-Time Phony: How I’m Trying to Not Screw-Up My Writing Opportunity"
December 29, 2017
4 Sets of Goals for 2018
After reflecting on the joys and highlights of 2017, I have created my official list of goals for (the first quarter of) 2018. Personal Health Goals: #1: To get PC and I to use our 7 min. abdominal exercise app 3x per week for the purpose of alleviating some of his back pain and ensuring …
December 26, 2017
2017: Summarized
Merry Christmas, all! This year brought a lot of life change to me and mine. Freshly finished with grad school only months before, I enjoyed my earliest official dates with Prince Charming in the first few weeks of 2017. Only a few months after that, my parents sold our family home of seventeen years to …
