Meg Gray's Blog, page 2
October 26, 2014
All Work and No Play...sort of
Sometimes the life of a writer can be very solitary and lonely as you live in a world that no one else knows about until your work is published and shared. Creating the scenes and the setting are all unique to the writer and the writer's experiences. That's why I'm a firm advocate of research and having many life experiences. Not only does it make a life richer and fuller, if you're a writer it can fuel your muse. Something I discovered yesterday, enjoying a fabulous tour of a winery in Hood River, Oregon with my husband. Not only was the behind the scenes tour amazing and educational, the wine was fabulous and I was inspired. So, just a little head's up to all you awaiting the next book, we're going to Oregon's wine country....
Me out among the vines.
Getting set up with some fabulous wine selections and crackling fire in the background. Oh, and a fabulous day out with my husband.
Me out among the vines.
Getting set up with some fabulous wine selections and crackling fire in the background. Oh, and a fabulous day out with my husband.
September 23, 2014
Pumpkins, Pumpkins, Pumpkins
Pumpkins, Pumpkins, PumpkinsWhat to do when you plant the wrong pumpkins…
After carefully reading and selecting the best variety of pumpkins for roasting we bought three plants, thinking this would be plenty to fill our freezer with puree for our favorite holiday treats. Pumpkin pie, pumpkin muffins, pumpkin bread, a pumpkin roll, and those blessed pumpkin cinnamon buns that Christmas morning wouldn't be complete without. But alas in keeping with our terrible garden luck of the summer we ended up with two plants (yes, that’s right, one plant didn’t survive) chock-full of these tiny boogers.
So, last weekend to fill in those slow Saturday afternoon hours we embarked on a decorating adventure. And just look at the cute decorations we have filling our house this autumn.
June 25, 2014
Cover Reveal: Beautiful Me by Meg Gray
Beautiful MePublication date: July 1, 2014Genre: Children’s picture book
Book Description
Beautiful Me takes the abstract concept of inner beauty and puts it into concrete terms, emphasizing actions, not appearances. Child-crafted illustrations give an authentic interpretation of inner beauty. This book provides a springboard for opening up the conversation about the control each little girl has over her own beauty. For ages 4-9.
June 22, 2014
A Mama to Girls (Part One)…
Here is what keeps me up at night as I traipse through this experience of being a mama to two fabulous girls…I worry they will fall down and skin their knee when I am not there to kiss it better.I worry they will be teased for their fashion and flair (rain boots and tutus are still in style at our house).I worry they will feel left out or ignored by their friends.I worry they will look in the mirror one day and not like what they see. And then, I worry they will try to alter their appearance to fit someone else’s definition of beauty.I worry they will suffer a heartache that makes them question their worthiness.I worry they will let one person’s opinion or criticism change the course of their dreams.I worry about them being treated like an object rather than a precious gift.I worry that one day I will wake up and realize they aren’t my babies anymore, but someone else’s to cherish and adore.I worry they will forget the great power they have inside their hearts to do good things in this world and will sit aside, letting life pass them by.I worry that I am not a strong enough role model for them to follow.I worry they will know fear.I worry they will know defeat.I worry they will know pain.
June 19, 2014
The Story Behind the Story (Beautiful Me)…
It all started about ten years ago. I was sitting on my couch in the afternoon watching a TV program. It’s not on anymore, but maybe you’ve heard of it…The Oprah Winfrey Show.
The topic of the day was self-esteem and girls or maybe it was body image and girls. I don’t remember exactly, but I do remember a number of celebrity guests on the show discussing girls and body image.Ten years ago, I wasn’t a mommy yet, but the issues being discussed were still relevant and important to me. Especially if I did have a daughter someday, because I would want to make sure that I was using all the strategies I could to help her build a strong self-image.I wasn’t completely out of touch with the topic, though, because I was teaching kindergarten and witnessed young girls that passed through my doorway struggle with self-confidence…and they were just five and six-year-olds.I found myself agreeing with the arguments being presented about how the media gives our young women a false sense of beauty and that our nation of young girls are suffering poor self-esteem. Then, one celebrity looked into the camera and with her perfectly red glossed lips said, “It’s not what you look like on the outside, but what’s on the inside that counts…” (This might not be a direct quote, but it is a very close approximation to what I remember hearing). In that moment, I was hit with the thought that I—as a full grown and mature woman—understood what she was saying, but would a young child understand? If I were trying to communicate to a young one that she was beautiful because of what’s on the inside, would she get it?My early childhood education brain said to me, “No, she wouldn’t.” A young child’s concrete-thinking mind would need less of an abstract explanation than, “…it’s what’s on the inside that matters…”, especially when she’s being inundated with media and fairytale stories that illustrate beauty with such a strong connection to outward appearances…the beautiful gowns, the fancy hair-do’s, the pink lips and delicate fingers, etc.So, with a sudden sense of immediacy I reached for a pen and paper to scribe the first words of Beautiful Me, which I think has had several different titles since its conception.At the time, I did not consider myself a writer and had no idea what to do with the words I had written. But I felt inspired by the act of writing and tried my hand at a couple other manuscripts. Life changes quickly came along and put Beautiful Me as well as all other writing aspirations on hold. All my pages went into a drawer.I finally got around to thinking about publishing the book after my first daughter was born. I started to research publishers and agents and found very few that published anything like what I was proposing, but I still wanted to give it a try so I sent out a couple of queries. I got one rejection back and another non-responder. So, Beautiful Me hit the drawer again. Self-doubt swarmed over me. Who was I to write some words that might help young girls understand inner beauty? Maybe the idea wasn’t as good as I thought it was. I let self-doubt’s strong hold take over as more life changes happened, including the birth of our second daughter.I soon realized with two young girls growing and looking to me as a mentor that I needed to start living my life as an example. And I would never want them to see me as someone who gave up easily or refused to follow my passions. What was my passion again? These early years of motherhood can cause a woman to forget about her passions, because she is so absorbed with caring for precious new babies, but I kept searching for what to do and at every turn, I came back to writing. I still had no idea what to do with Beautiful Me, so I jumped into writing novels (I still have no idea why writing a whole new 70,000 word manuscript seemed like a better idea than working out the wrinkles of a 250 word manuscript, but I’ve learned to not always question my instincts and to just go with them.)Writing and completing my novels were huge accomplishments and now after self-publishing both of them, I have moved into a position where I’m ready to re-examine my children’s book. I’m not only ready to push this book through now because of my publishing experience, but also because as my husband and I raise our girls we continue to find ourselves coming back to the foundational elements of this book as we talk to our girls about their inner beauty.The whole book and process has come full circle for me as my little loves took on their own roles as creators in this project. Something powerful happened while we sat and talked about the words on the page and as I listened to them talk out how to illustrate a picture that matched. It was amazing for me to see and feel their interpretation of inner beauty. Now, more than ever, I want to share this experience with others.There is nothing like Beautiful Me on the bookshelves. Good sign or bad sign? I don’t know.Most books don’t start targeting inner beauty for girls until the teen or ‘tween ages. And so, I have to ask why aren’t we starting to talk about inner beauty sooner? If we start sending the message to girls earlier rather than later that their actions define them more than their appearance, then maybe, just maybe when they hit those tumultuous teen years they’ll be better armed with a stronger self-esteem. Maybe?I believe it is worth a try…By no means am I trying to suggest that if you simply read this book to a young girl you will combat a low self-esteem later. I wish I could promise that, but there are so many factors that can and will affect a girl’s image of her body as she grows. I only hope that Beautiful Me is one tool people will use to open up the conversation about loving the goodness and kindness inside one’s heart.Release date for Beautiful Me is set for July….stay tuned for more updates!
The topic of the day was self-esteem and girls or maybe it was body image and girls. I don’t remember exactly, but I do remember a number of celebrity guests on the show discussing girls and body image.Ten years ago, I wasn’t a mommy yet, but the issues being discussed were still relevant and important to me. Especially if I did have a daughter someday, because I would want to make sure that I was using all the strategies I could to help her build a strong self-image.I wasn’t completely out of touch with the topic, though, because I was teaching kindergarten and witnessed young girls that passed through my doorway struggle with self-confidence…and they were just five and six-year-olds.I found myself agreeing with the arguments being presented about how the media gives our young women a false sense of beauty and that our nation of young girls are suffering poor self-esteem. Then, one celebrity looked into the camera and with her perfectly red glossed lips said, “It’s not what you look like on the outside, but what’s on the inside that counts…” (This might not be a direct quote, but it is a very close approximation to what I remember hearing). In that moment, I was hit with the thought that I—as a full grown and mature woman—understood what she was saying, but would a young child understand? If I were trying to communicate to a young one that she was beautiful because of what’s on the inside, would she get it?My early childhood education brain said to me, “No, she wouldn’t.” A young child’s concrete-thinking mind would need less of an abstract explanation than, “…it’s what’s on the inside that matters…”, especially when she’s being inundated with media and fairytale stories that illustrate beauty with such a strong connection to outward appearances…the beautiful gowns, the fancy hair-do’s, the pink lips and delicate fingers, etc.So, with a sudden sense of immediacy I reached for a pen and paper to scribe the first words of Beautiful Me, which I think has had several different titles since its conception.At the time, I did not consider myself a writer and had no idea what to do with the words I had written. But I felt inspired by the act of writing and tried my hand at a couple other manuscripts. Life changes quickly came along and put Beautiful Me as well as all other writing aspirations on hold. All my pages went into a drawer.I finally got around to thinking about publishing the book after my first daughter was born. I started to research publishers and agents and found very few that published anything like what I was proposing, but I still wanted to give it a try so I sent out a couple of queries. I got one rejection back and another non-responder. So, Beautiful Me hit the drawer again. Self-doubt swarmed over me. Who was I to write some words that might help young girls understand inner beauty? Maybe the idea wasn’t as good as I thought it was. I let self-doubt’s strong hold take over as more life changes happened, including the birth of our second daughter.I soon realized with two young girls growing and looking to me as a mentor that I needed to start living my life as an example. And I would never want them to see me as someone who gave up easily or refused to follow my passions. What was my passion again? These early years of motherhood can cause a woman to forget about her passions, because she is so absorbed with caring for precious new babies, but I kept searching for what to do and at every turn, I came back to writing. I still had no idea what to do with Beautiful Me, so I jumped into writing novels (I still have no idea why writing a whole new 70,000 word manuscript seemed like a better idea than working out the wrinkles of a 250 word manuscript, but I’ve learned to not always question my instincts and to just go with them.)Writing and completing my novels were huge accomplishments and now after self-publishing both of them, I have moved into a position where I’m ready to re-examine my children’s book. I’m not only ready to push this book through now because of my publishing experience, but also because as my husband and I raise our girls we continue to find ourselves coming back to the foundational elements of this book as we talk to our girls about their inner beauty.The whole book and process has come full circle for me as my little loves took on their own roles as creators in this project. Something powerful happened while we sat and talked about the words on the page and as I listened to them talk out how to illustrate a picture that matched. It was amazing for me to see and feel their interpretation of inner beauty. Now, more than ever, I want to share this experience with others.There is nothing like Beautiful Me on the bookshelves. Good sign or bad sign? I don’t know.Most books don’t start targeting inner beauty for girls until the teen or ‘tween ages. And so, I have to ask why aren’t we starting to talk about inner beauty sooner? If we start sending the message to girls earlier rather than later that their actions define them more than their appearance, then maybe, just maybe when they hit those tumultuous teen years they’ll be better armed with a stronger self-esteem. Maybe?I believe it is worth a try…By no means am I trying to suggest that if you simply read this book to a young girl you will combat a low self-esteem later. I wish I could promise that, but there are so many factors that can and will affect a girl’s image of her body as she grows. I only hope that Beautiful Me is one tool people will use to open up the conversation about loving the goodness and kindness inside one’s heart.Release date for Beautiful Me is set for July….stay tuned for more updates!
June 15, 2014
The Family that Publishes Together Stays Together
Yes, this is a spin-off of those old license plate frames I used to see in the church parking lot every Sunday morning growing up. The family that prays together stays together.
Over the years, I’ve seen many variations of the saying as I am sure you have too. The verb may change, but the heart of the statement stays consistent. The family that does something productive together is stronger for it.
In the next few weeks, the team here at Gray Digital Ink will be issuing its first picture book, Beautiful Me. Now, there is quite a story behind this story, but that will come in a later post. But it has certainly turned into a family project.
I wrote the words with a minor assist from the little ones when I struggled to find just the right verbiage for my new and younger audience of readers. My little girls never failed to come up with the perfect kid-word I needed.
Team Gray did the illustrations. Each of us had a hand in pulling this work of art together. And since everyone has been involved there is a buzz running through our house about its release. The patience level of the below age ten crowd is next to nothing.
The best part of working on this book for me was that my family took a genuine interest and active role in helping it come together. My original idea for writing a book about inner beauty in young girls has been brought to life in way I never imagined possible. So, whether I sell ten or ten-thousand copies of the book, it really doesn’t matter to me. The experience of creating this book with my husband and children is a far greater reward than any number of dollars I will pocket from its sales.
My family is very connected—our children are still young enough that we aren’t running on crazy teen-ager schedules yet. We still eat dinner together every night, a traditional sit at the table with no TV running in the background kind of dinner. We work in the garden together. We have movie night together. We go hiking together. We go on walks together. We read together and we bake together. There are no shortage of verbs for our family to throw into the above statement, because time spent doing something together is important to us and makes us a strong family.
How would your family complete this statement: “The family that [insert verb here] together stays together."?
Over the years, I’ve seen many variations of the saying as I am sure you have too. The verb may change, but the heart of the statement stays consistent. The family that does something productive together is stronger for it.
In the next few weeks, the team here at Gray Digital Ink will be issuing its first picture book, Beautiful Me. Now, there is quite a story behind this story, but that will come in a later post. But it has certainly turned into a family project.
I wrote the words with a minor assist from the little ones when I struggled to find just the right verbiage for my new and younger audience of readers. My little girls never failed to come up with the perfect kid-word I needed.
Team Gray did the illustrations. Each of us had a hand in pulling this work of art together. And since everyone has been involved there is a buzz running through our house about its release. The patience level of the below age ten crowd is next to nothing.
The best part of working on this book for me was that my family took a genuine interest and active role in helping it come together. My original idea for writing a book about inner beauty in young girls has been brought to life in way I never imagined possible. So, whether I sell ten or ten-thousand copies of the book, it really doesn’t matter to me. The experience of creating this book with my husband and children is a far greater reward than any number of dollars I will pocket from its sales.
My family is very connected—our children are still young enough that we aren’t running on crazy teen-ager schedules yet. We still eat dinner together every night, a traditional sit at the table with no TV running in the background kind of dinner. We work in the garden together. We have movie night together. We go hiking together. We go on walks together. We read together and we bake together. There are no shortage of verbs for our family to throw into the above statement, because time spent doing something together is important to us and makes us a strong family.
How would your family complete this statement: “The family that [insert verb here] together stays together."?
June 14, 2014
I'm a Quarter-finalist!!!
So HAPPY to announce that "The Bridesmaid" has made it to the Quarter Finals of the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award (ABNA)competition!!!!
Yay! There are 500 entries remaining in the competition, 100 of them are in the romance category.
I have been informed that excerpts from all the contestants will be uploaded by the end of the week. Customers will be able to download excerpts and leave ratings and reviews. If you can't wait that long to see what a quarter finalist's excerpt looks like just hop on over to the book on Amazon where you can read the first few chapters (this is actually more content than was judged in the last round).
Thanks again to everyone and their support of my new career.
Here's a link to get to the book:http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00H6OOSPG?tag=megr-20&camp=14573&creative=327641&linkCode=as1&creativeASIN=B00H6OOSPG&adid=19HCZ48VCAHVFX3WNXYP&&ref-refURL=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.megcgray.com%2F#reader_B00H6OOSPG
Yay! There are 500 entries remaining in the competition, 100 of them are in the romance category.
I have been informed that excerpts from all the contestants will be uploaded by the end of the week. Customers will be able to download excerpts and leave ratings and reviews. If you can't wait that long to see what a quarter finalist's excerpt looks like just hop on over to the book on Amazon where you can read the first few chapters (this is actually more content than was judged in the last round).
Thanks again to everyone and their support of my new career.
Here's a link to get to the book:http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00H6OOSPG?tag=megr-20&camp=14573&creative=327641&linkCode=as1&creativeASIN=B00H6OOSPG&adid=19HCZ48VCAHVFX3WNXYP&&ref-refURL=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.megcgray.com%2F#reader_B00H6OOSPG
"How Do You Find a Good Husband Like Daddy?"
This is a question I was asked two nights ago after reading a fairytale to my two little loves. I don't know if it is my daughters' new infatuation with the movie "Frozen" and the smooch scene at the end or if it is just their age that is prompting their questions, but the question of finding a man to marry has come up more than once in the past few weeks.
I think it has to be every mother's dream to see their daughter marry well and when I say well I don't neccesarily mean financially. I mean to see their daughter loved and respected by a man.
I have the honor of being the mother to two of the most ingenious, talented, and headstrong little ladies in the world and I will support them anyway I can in finding a partner that is worthy of their loyalty. But I also believe they will have the power to attract the kind of man they deserve by being confident and independent women.
Now, I have told them that they don't have to worry about finding a husband for many years. They are only six and four, so thirty (the age at which I will let them finally move out and seek a marital partner :), just kidding--sort of) is still a ways off.
But we have already started planting the seeds of recognizing the kinds of behavior we look for in friends and eventually spouses. Being kind, respectful, and honest are all the same qualities we will encourage them to look for in a partner. It seems unreal to me that we are embarking on these questions already, but I am glad that their curious minds are talking to us about it instead of just using the fairytales and movies as a road map for finding true love.
I am happy to know that they both have called dibs on their daddy, telling me they will marry him when they get older. There is no need for me to go into why that won't happen for them now. They'll figure that out when they are older, but it does tell me that their father treats me with love and respect and that they want the same thing for themselves when they get older.
Without a doubt I married a prince charming who has turned out to be an incredible dad to our two daughters. He empowers them daily by engaging with them positively, kissing them good night, and setting up expectations about treating people with respect.
I already dread the dating years, remembering the time from my own youth. But I can honestly say I think it will be harder for my husband to see his little girls opening their hearts to someone else. I pity the dates they will bring home, but pray my girls will find a match as good as the one I found.
Parents of little girls, let me know how you are dealing with this topic or what your greatest fears are in raising young women?
I think it has to be every mother's dream to see their daughter marry well and when I say well I don't neccesarily mean financially. I mean to see their daughter loved and respected by a man.
I have the honor of being the mother to two of the most ingenious, talented, and headstrong little ladies in the world and I will support them anyway I can in finding a partner that is worthy of their loyalty. But I also believe they will have the power to attract the kind of man they deserve by being confident and independent women.
Now, I have told them that they don't have to worry about finding a husband for many years. They are only six and four, so thirty (the age at which I will let them finally move out and seek a marital partner :), just kidding--sort of) is still a ways off.
But we have already started planting the seeds of recognizing the kinds of behavior we look for in friends and eventually spouses. Being kind, respectful, and honest are all the same qualities we will encourage them to look for in a partner. It seems unreal to me that we are embarking on these questions already, but I am glad that their curious minds are talking to us about it instead of just using the fairytales and movies as a road map for finding true love.
I am happy to know that they both have called dibs on their daddy, telling me they will marry him when they get older. There is no need for me to go into why that won't happen for them now. They'll figure that out when they are older, but it does tell me that their father treats me with love and respect and that they want the same thing for themselves when they get older.
Without a doubt I married a prince charming who has turned out to be an incredible dad to our two daughters. He empowers them daily by engaging with them positively, kissing them good night, and setting up expectations about treating people with respect.
I already dread the dating years, remembering the time from my own youth. But I can honestly say I think it will be harder for my husband to see his little girls opening their hearts to someone else. I pity the dates they will bring home, but pray my girls will find a match as good as the one I found.
Parents of little girls, let me know how you are dealing with this topic or what your greatest fears are in raising young women?
If You Could Do Anything...
Not very long ago someone asked me, "if you could do or be anything you wanted, what would you do?" And I surprised even myself by saying, "I'm doing it."
I'm living the exact life I want to be living right now. I'm homeschooling my children, spending time learning and growing with them and I'm selling books, that I've written. These were only hopes and dreams I had for myself a few years ago.
When I was teaching kindergarten I was doing exactly what I wanted to do at the time. I had the privilege to work in some great schools and with some incredible people, but I don't feel called back to the classroom. While I was there I loved it. After I had children my outlook on life changed and now I'm pursuing my new dreams.
I will admit that somedays I get tired and bogged down by the responsibility of schooling my children at home and feel like I never have enough time to write. And I certainly do look at the "work" I do and the teeny-tiny number in my bank account. The financial rewards in my life are small right now, but that's not what drives me to do what I do. My passion drives me and yeah, someday, I'd love to see a little increase in the bottom line, but for now I wouldn't trade my experiences for a little more cash.
I honestly can't think of any "job" I want right now other than writing. And while the homeschooling and writing schedules don't always complement each other I'm doing the best I can with it. And it would be a whole lot harder to do if I didn't have the incredible support of my husband. We're a team, supporting each other.
What about you? Are you doing exactly what you want to do? Or if you could change what you're doing now what would you do? What's holding you back from pursuing your passions? And who's on your team supporting your goals?
I'm living the exact life I want to be living right now. I'm homeschooling my children, spending time learning and growing with them and I'm selling books, that I've written. These were only hopes and dreams I had for myself a few years ago.
When I was teaching kindergarten I was doing exactly what I wanted to do at the time. I had the privilege to work in some great schools and with some incredible people, but I don't feel called back to the classroom. While I was there I loved it. After I had children my outlook on life changed and now I'm pursuing my new dreams.
I will admit that somedays I get tired and bogged down by the responsibility of schooling my children at home and feel like I never have enough time to write. And I certainly do look at the "work" I do and the teeny-tiny number in my bank account. The financial rewards in my life are small right now, but that's not what drives me to do what I do. My passion drives me and yeah, someday, I'd love to see a little increase in the bottom line, but for now I wouldn't trade my experiences for a little more cash.
I honestly can't think of any "job" I want right now other than writing. And while the homeschooling and writing schedules don't always complement each other I'm doing the best I can with it. And it would be a whole lot harder to do if I didn't have the incredible support of my husband. We're a team, supporting each other.
What about you? Are you doing exactly what you want to do? Or if you could change what you're doing now what would you do? What's holding you back from pursuing your passions? And who's on your team supporting your goals?
Change of Scenery
I have to confess. I hit a wall a couple of weeks ago. Book #3 has been taking formation, but not very smoothly. I finished the first draft about two weeks ago--which to be fair is only a glorified 10,000 word outline. That may sound like a lot of words, but in reality is a choppy mess of about thirty pages. But that's okay. This is how it all starts.
The real problem is that I have been stumbling to get back into it again. I want to get moving on draft two, but feel literally stuck in the mud. At this point, all I'm going to say is that I am experiencing new challenges with this book, which can be a good thing if you want to look at the brightside of things.
I'm excited to push myself to work on something a little beyond my comfort zone, but it's been creating a number of mental blocks for me at the sametime.
So...when I fell ill to the viral bug circulating around our home I hauled my behind up to bed, dragging the laptop with me. Between sniffle blows and sips of tea I got moving on draft two. I'm about 5.000 words into the second draft...and that feels pretty good. I guess what I am getting at is that if you find yourself stumbling with your writing...if you're getting blocked...try a change of scenery (and unplug from the internet).
I found that when I was out of my office, which provides a number of distractions, like papers to file, school lessons to plan, the internet, Facebook, email--just to name a few--I was able to contect with my story and my characters. Our laptop's wireless connection has been disabled, so whenever I would get that wild hair to research a little something I couldn't. I had to stick with the story, make a little note in the text, and keep writing. And I will have to admit I was pleased with the results!
What sort of writing struggles do you have? How do you combat them?
The real problem is that I have been stumbling to get back into it again. I want to get moving on draft two, but feel literally stuck in the mud. At this point, all I'm going to say is that I am experiencing new challenges with this book, which can be a good thing if you want to look at the brightside of things.
I'm excited to push myself to work on something a little beyond my comfort zone, but it's been creating a number of mental blocks for me at the sametime.
So...when I fell ill to the viral bug circulating around our home I hauled my behind up to bed, dragging the laptop with me. Between sniffle blows and sips of tea I got moving on draft two. I'm about 5.000 words into the second draft...and that feels pretty good. I guess what I am getting at is that if you find yourself stumbling with your writing...if you're getting blocked...try a change of scenery (and unplug from the internet).
I found that when I was out of my office, which provides a number of distractions, like papers to file, school lessons to plan, the internet, Facebook, email--just to name a few--I was able to contect with my story and my characters. Our laptop's wireless connection has been disabled, so whenever I would get that wild hair to research a little something I couldn't. I had to stick with the story, make a little note in the text, and keep writing. And I will have to admit I was pleased with the results!
What sort of writing struggles do you have? How do you combat them?
