Sandy Williams's Blog, page 5

Newsletter, Exercise Doesn’t Give You Energy, and Weekly Update

Words were written last week, but just barely. I wrote 5,357 words and had a few scene epiphanies. My goal was 5,000 so I guess that’s good, but I was really distracted last week. I could have done better.

But, man, was I tired. I started Jazzercise again. Those people who tell you that exercise gives you energy? They’re lying. It has never given me more energy. It makes me want to crawl under the covers and sleep the rest of the day away. Gonna stick with it, though, unless my knee gives o...

Review: Mary Poppins Returns

Who else has watched Mary Poppins Returns? We saw it over the holidays. I went expecting to be disappointed, but hopeful that I wouldn’t be. The original was just so good, how could a sequel compare? It didn’t help that I’ve been supremely disappointed with a lot of Hollywood sequels. Some stories are just better left alone, you know?

I sat with the family in the theater hoping for a decent movie. I didn’t expect to LOVE it, but I did. It was phenomenal!

If you were wanting to know how E...

Happy New Year: Take 2 (Monday Update)

Happy New Year! Again!

My year is just now getting started. We spent last week in Colorado and had a beautiful time. Spreadsheet Guy skid three days and Kid C took snowboarding lessons for three days. Both loved it. I took skiing lessons one day, and my feet hurt like hell. Seriously. The boots I rented smashed down the front half of my foot. I don’t know if it was the boots, or if it was because I was wearing toe warmers, but my feet were numb the entire time so it was a bit painful.

Skiin...

Looking Back at 2018

It’s the last day of 2018!

2018 was a GREAT year. No surgeries for me! And I learned a ton about myself. I ditched distractions, focused on what matters most in my writing (the writing, duh!), and I increased my productivity by about a thousand percent. And it’s about time too. I’ve been reading and listening to productivity books and blogs and podcasts for several years, but I just now feel like I’m getting the hang of it. So lets take a quick look back, shall we.

2018 Words Writte: 81,304

Co...

Boot Camp, Party, and Weekly Update

Happy Monday!

I had a fantastic weekend. Not only did I finish the day Friday with my 5,000 word a week goal met, but I went through Sarra Cannon’s HB90 Boot Camp. That’s the class I mentioned last week that helps authors plan their year. Or rather, plan the next quarter, since it sets goal deadlines every three months. That should make it much easier to stay on track. I’ve done so, so well this last quarter of 2018. If I carry it over and use the HB90 method of planning for 2019, I expect i...

Sandy Recommends: Crown of Midnight by Sarah J. Maas

I don’t know how to review this book. It was magnificent and heartbreaking. I’ll just transcribe some of the thoughts I had as I was reading and as nonspoilery as possible:

(annoyingly, I can’t figure out how to see the page numbers of these thoughts, only the “Location.”)
(this review is also on Bookbub. Follow me over there for more reviews!”

Loc 92: She shoved the questions down, down, down, until there was no possibility of his reading them on her face. [LOVE the writing! I suck as an aut...

Review: Crown of Midnight by Sarah J. Maas

I don’t know how to review this book. It was magnificent and heartbreaking. I’ll just transcribe some of the thoughts I had as I was reading and as nonspoilery as possible:

(annoyingly, I can’t figure out how to see the page numbers of these thoughts, only the “Location.”)
(this review is also on Bookbub. Follow me over there for more reviews!”

Loc 92: She shoved the questions down, down, down, until there was no possibility of his reading them on her face. [LOVE the writing! I suck as an aut...

December 10 Update

Happy Monday, you guys!

I’m excited to start another week! Last week was good, but I just barely squeaked through and met my work count. My goal is 5k words a week, and on Friday, I still had over 3k to go. I headed out to Target for the first time in ages so I wouldn’t be distracted by the messy house (why won’t it stay clean!?!?). Got 2k in there, then I woke early to write Saturday and Sunday. Most of Sunday’s words were plotting notes. I’ll mark that down as a win, though!

But…I’m debatin...

Five Favorite Games of 2018

We play a lot of games here in the Williams’s household. Pre-kids, Spreadsheet Guy and I would get together with friends several times a month. We don’t get to do that as often now, but the minions are getting older, they’re learning how to read, and they’re getting a LITTLE better at losing graciously (still totally a work-in-progress, though). 2018 has been an exciting year because they’re finally old enough to play one of my favorite deck building games ever, Dominion! We’ve also play...

Goal Met and Decluttering my Brain

October was a 25,000 word month! The first in, like, forever. I’m feeling pretty good about myself. lol

But it’s not lost on me that many authors do this much in a week. I just…can’t. I don’t even want to do more. I mean, sure, it would be nice to double that amount, but ohmygosh, I can’t imagine the stress. I just don’t work like that, and 25k is good. I should be able to meet my 2-books-a-year goal with that amount. And again, it would be nice to be able to release more than two books a yea...