Megan Morgan's Blog, page 59

I got time.

During the month of May I’m doing the NaBloPoMo challenge–blogging every day of the month on the theme of photos.

Today’s prompt: When was the last time you asked someone to take a picture of you?

Photo: Your Time

I’m a bit of a photo hound, so every time I’m out with friends I’m having pictures taken. Luckily, most of my friends like to take pictures or have their pictures taken too. I love having a visual record of the good times. People tend to think you won’t forget them, but not every ‘good time’ is necessarily an occasion, and many times I’ve gone back through my photos and was reminded of a good time that I’d forgotten about. It’s a nice little jolt of happy and puts a smile on my face!

My time is largely taken up by three things: writing, working, and having fun. Writing is a big deal in my life and takes up a lot of my ‘free time.’ I don’t mind it though, writing is a joy for me. Although going to a day job sucks, I love my coworkers and what I do to make money, so it’s not that bad. And having fun is the best–I love to go out, hang out with friends, go out for dinner and drinks, and to all sorts of events and entertainment. My life is busy and fun!

Here’s to the good times.

And the happy work times.

Filed under: NaBloPoMo Tagged: blog hop, me, personal life

Today is both #IWSG day and day six of #NaBloPoMo!

Let’s combine the blog hops today, shall we?

This post is part of the Insecure Writer’s Support Group blog hop. The first Wednesday of every month is Insecure Writer’s Support Group day. Post your thoughts on your own blog. Talk about your doubts and the fears you have conquered. Discuss your struggles and triumphs. Offer a word of encouragement for others who are struggling. The awesome co-hosts for the the May 6 posting of the IWSG will be Eva Solar, Melanie Schulz, Lisa-Buie Collard, and Stephen Tremp!

 

During the month of May I’m doing the NaBloPoMo challenge–blogging every day of the month on the theme of photos.

Today’s prompt: How often are you in your photographs?

Photo: Your Love

I thought about how I could combine today’s posts. How often am I in my photographs? Constantly! I love having my picture taken and having pictures taken of what I’m doing. And from the writing perspective, how often am *I* in my photographs–that is, my books? How much of myself is in each one, and how would that make me insecure, exactly? Let me explain.

All of us have heard the phrase “write what you know.” Some people live by it and some people think it’s ridiculous. After all, how would any spy novels or murder mysteries get written if only spies and detectives wrote these novels? Or historicals, or sci-fi? Do you have to live on an alien planet or travel back in time to write these things? Of course not. You do research and use your imagination. I interpret ‘write what you know’ as ‘write what you’re enthusiastic about and can put the time and dedication into.’

But putting yourself into your work can make you feel insecure in two opposite ways:

– If you put too much of your passion and yourself into something, and people don’t like it, what then? Does that mean they don’t like you? Does it mean you should change genres? It’s scary to put your heart and soul into something and put it on display for other people.

Or

– What if you branch out and research something you don’t ‘know’ and you don’t write it well enough, or correctly and honestly? Will people who have experienced the subject call you a phony? What if you get laughed at? What if they can tell you’re just an intruder in their sandbox?

Writing is a lot of nail biting and hoping that your work resonates with someone, or they at least don’t mock you. Putting yourself into your work–writing what you know–is even more nerve wracking. Just like taking a picture of yourself, you hope somebody hits that ‘like’ button.

My love is writing. This is my three book contract from Kensington–yes, I love being in the pictures I take!

Filed under: IWSG, NaBloPoMo Tagged: blog hop, contract, insecure writer's support group, kensington, me, writing

My style and reflections on the A-Z Challenge.

Today I’m combining my NaBloPoMo post with my A-Z Challenge reflection post.

I loved doing the A-Z Challenge during the month of April. This was the first year I did it and I was surprised by how much fun I had, how many new people I met, and how many wonderful conversations I had on my blog as well as the blogs of others. I honestly wasn’t much of a blogger before this challenge, but it certainly turned me into one!

The challenge is quite a marathon, but I queued up all my posts well ahead of time (I started writing them in February). I don’t think I could do the challenge if I wrote the posts daily, so I’m glad there is plenty of time in advance of the challenge to get the posts written. Being able to pick your own theme–or no theme at all–is great too.

I have no complaints about the challenge. I think it’s what you make of it. The idea was great, the community is great, the blog hop is enormous and gives you the opportunity to visit and be visited by many others, and overall it just made me a better blogger. I will definitely be doing it again next year. Thank you so much to all the organizers and co-hosts. Your job was huge and you did it beautifully!

And now, hello to all the new friends I made, and thanks for sticking around to see me through the next challenge. Which is…

During the month of May I’m doing the NaBloPoMo challenge–blogging every day of the month on the theme of photos.

Today’s prompt: What is your favourite angle for being photographed? Head-on? Slightly above, below, to the side?

Photo: Your Style

Any good selfie-taker will tell you that the best angle is from slightly above. It stretches out your neck, makes your jaw sharper, your eyes bigger, and just makes your face look overall awesome:

And makes your boobs bigger?

My style is wild and colorful. I try to be unique and slightly fashionable, though I don’t really care much about fashion. People often tell me I have a fun style. I can rock the weirdest things and make them work. This is a huge advantage, because it means I can get tons of clothes and accessories on clearance that no one else wants.

I love pink, can you tell?

I also love scarves.

I never met a mirror I didn’t like.

Filed under: A to Z Challenge, NaBloPoMo Tagged: blog hop, me, personal life

Catch me from my good side. Pick one.*

During the month of May I’m doing the NaBloPoMo challenge–blogging every day of the month on the theme of photos.

Today’s prompt: Do you think one side of your face photographs better than another?

Photo: Your Energy

The front of my face, I guess!

I’m often told I’m quite photogenic.

Somedays I have lots of energy and feel like I can take on the world. Other days I would rather sleep. I love to sleep. I hate being woken up unnecessarily (unless it’s an emergency). Sleep gives me energy and keeps my head clear–I guess I’m turning into an old lady, all cranky about my sleep!

My alien antennae also absorb energy.

*Thank you Britney Spears for the post title!

Filed under: NaBloPoMo Tagged: blog hop, me

Because I’m happy…

During the month of May I’m doing the NaBloPoMo challenge–blogging every day of the month on the theme of photos.

Today’s prompt: Photo: Your Feelings

These days I’m generally a pretty happy person. I wasn’t always, but my life has changed dramatically in the last eight or so years. I made major changes location and relationship-wise, started working a job in an industry I love, and over the past two years, my writing has really taken off and I might actually reach my ultimate life goal in the next few years–to make writing my career.

Based on that, here’s a few happy pictures from my life:

The cake my coworker got me to celebrate my book release!

Me and my bestie with our toes in the water.

My favorite coffee mug. You can’t be unhappy drinking from this!

Filed under: NaBloPoMo Tagged: blog hop, me, personal life, wellness

My Passion

During the month of May I’m doing the NaBloPoMo challenge–blogging every day of the month on the theme of photos.

Today’s prompt: Photo: Your Passion

My passion is writing. Everyone who knows me knows I’m ‘the writer.’ I’ve been writing since I was a teenager, and this year my first major novel debuted from Kensington Books. The sequel comes out November 10th of this year. I have a bunch of other stuff published or about to be published this year, too–everything seemed to happen all at once, after all those years of waiting, working, dreaming, and hoping. It’s an amazing feeling, and a little scary, too. I put a lot of hard work in and I learned a lot over the years, and it’s finally starting to pay off.

Writing makes me happy. Writing makes me feel centered, calm, and excited all at the same time. It’s the essence of who I am. When I’m writing, I feel like everything is right with the world.

My workspace changes a lot, but my favorite place to write was high above Chicago–writing an article about my book, set in Chicago!

Filed under: NaBloPoMo Tagged: blog hop, me, writing

Selfies? Yes, please!

During the month of May I’m doing the NaBloPoMo challenge–blogging every day of the month on the theme of photos.

Today’s prompt: Do you like taking selfies? Why or why not? Photo: You

I love taking selfies! The thing about selfies is, they’ve been around far longer than our modern camera phones. The world’s oldest known selfie dates back to 1839.

He’s fashionable even today! Humans don’t change much, do we?

As long as cameras have existed, folks have been using them to take pictures of themselves:

And hey, back then they didn’t even need to put an Instagram filter on!

I don’t know why we’re obsessed with taking pictures of ourselves. Maybe it’s because cameras, even now, are still amazing things to us. They capture a moment and it lasts (almost) forever! Taking pictures of ourselves preserves memories of who we used to be and particular times in our lives. I think it’s silly to get mad about people putting selfies all over Facebook and Instagram–that’s what those platforms are for, after all.

Yes, I love selfies!

A portrait of the author.

Filed under: NaBloPoMo Tagged: blog hop, me, pictures

Z is for Zipping It Up

This post is part of the Blogging from A to Z challenge–blogging every day in the month of April (except Sundays!) with each letter of the alphabet.

On the last day of the challenge, I’m going to focus on the end of one part of the writing process and the bridge to the next: the submission. Zipping up your work and sending it off into the world can be nerve-wracking, and there’s so much to remember you might feel a little intimidated. As someone who has gone through the process a lot, I’m going to offer a few pieces of advice to make it easier on you.

Make sure you have everything: There is no sinking feeling in the world like hitting the ‘send’ button and realizing you forgot to attach something. Sure, you can do an ‘oops, forgot this’ follow up email, but how embarrassing. Make sure everything you need to send along is attached (and it’s the right things) and all the information you need to provide is in your cover letter. I’m a stickler for checking multiple times to make sure everything is good to go. This is an important interaction and you want to make the best first impression you possibly can.

Follow guidelines: Don’t deviate from the editor or agent’s guidelines for any reason. Some editors and agents will immediately reject any submission that deviates from their rules–cause ain’t nobody got time for that. You just helped them trim their submission pile which, make no mistake, is huge. If you want to survive the hacking, be professional, courteous, and follow their guidelines to the letter. Even if you think a guideline is silly, they have a reason for implementing it.

Check small details: You may do all the big things right and have some small detail trip you up. I operate several email accounts through Gmail, so I check to make sure I’m using the right email address when I send something out. Make sure THEIR email address is right, too. Make sure your attachments actually attached. Spell check your cover letter. Don’t let some small, silly detail screw up everything.

Keep track: You may send out multiple submissions, so keep track of where your work is going and when you sent it out, as well as when you can expect to hear back from the person you sent it to. This will help you from going as crazy.

That’s the end of the challenge! Do you have any additional tips for zipping it up and sending it off?

Thank you so much to everyone who visited my blog, read my posts, and commented this month–I’ve had a lot of fun doing this and making new friends! I’m quite sorry to see it end and I’ll definitely be doing it again next year. I had no idea when I started this how it would change me as a blogger. I never expected so many people to show up and chat with me, to tell me their stories, and to be so engaged in my posts. I am truly touched. If you want to continue following me and talking to me here, or on Twitter or Facebook, you are certainly welcome!

By the way, now that this challenge is over, I’m moving on to the next! Come join me in May for NaBloPoMo, blogging every day in May about photos! I’m a bit of a blogging addict now…

Hope to see you there–or at least here!

Filed under: A to Z Challenge Tagged: blog hop

Y is for Yearning

This post is part of the Blogging from A to Z challenge–blogging every day in the month of April (except Sundays!) with each letter of the alphabet.

For most of my life I’ve wanted to be a writer. It was never just a hobby for me, even when I wasn’t getting anywhere with it and I was far, far away from making any kind of money off it. Even through years of frustration, false starts, and rejections, I knew I was a writer. Nothing ever made me feel like writing did and when I looked into the future, I couldn’t imagine being anything but a writer. It took a lot of years to get to where I am now, maybe a lot more than some people take, but I always followed the same path.

That’s not to say the path was easy, or I didn’t sometimes fall off. More than once I shook my fist at the Universe and swore I was done. I’d had enough heartbreak, I’d failed enough times. I wanted to do something easier, something that wouldn’t hurt me so bad. The problem was, there was nothing else. The future without writing looked gray and bleak. Eventually I’d wander back to the page, roll up my sleeves, and get back to work doing what it was I was meant to do.

Writing has always been a yearning in me, something coded into my DNA that I couldn’t remove if I wanted to. It made me who I am from a young age and gave me a purpose. I always knew I was a writer and I didn’t question it. I’m blessed in that way, to always know what my role in life is, what I’m supposed to be. I struggled to get to a place with it where I’m content, but I have a feeling I won’t stay here long before I want to surge forward again. The yearning remains.

How about you, have you always been a writer? Did the yearning keep you on the path even when you wanted to wander off?

By the way, when this challenge is over, I’m moving on to the next! Come join me in May for NaBloPoMo, blogging every day in May about photos!

Filed under: A to Z Challenge Tagged: blog hop, me, personal life, writing

X is for Xesturgy

This post is part of the Blogging from A to Z challenge–blogging every day in the month of April (except Sundays!) with each letter of the alphabet.

The word ‘xesturgy’ means ‘polishing.’ Technically it means to polishing an object, like stones, but it’s hard to find good words that start with X, so I’m going to use it in the sense of polishing your writing. After all, a body of writing is an object, sorta, right?

The xesturgy of a manuscript is vital to its success (see, I used it in a sentence). No one turns out a perfect first draft. If you know any writers who claim they do, they’re lying. It’s impossible to turn out a perfect first draft because you don’t know what the story looks like until you get it all out. Something you inserted in the beginning might not fit anymore by the time you get to the end. Some details may have ran into dead ends. Things need to be clipped. Xesturgy isn’t editing, though. Editing and rewriting are vital first steps to shaping up a rough draft, but it still needs a bit of polishing before you send it out into the world.

Even when you think you’ve done all you can to edit and fix up a manuscript, you should go over it one more time. Run that cloth over it and make it shine. Ideally, let it sit for a bit so you can look at it with fresh eyes, then give it another wipe. This will increase your chances of success when it lands in the hands of an editor or agent. And don’t worry–if it gets accepted, there will still be more arounds of xesturgy. Editors will polish that baby until you can see your face in it. It seems like the polishing is never done, but some day it will be. Then you won’t ever have to look at that story again if you don’t want to.

How do you use xesturgy on a manuscript? How much do you polish before you’re comfortable sending it off?

By the way, when this challenge is over, I’m moving on to the next! Come join me in May for NaBloPoMo, blogging every day in May about photos!

Filed under: A to Z Challenge Tagged: blog hop