Category: Anecdote (Page 15 of 31)

ELIXIR BOUND Book Blitz Sign Up

September 4, 2014 / Katie L. Carroll

Hi all! I’ve got a lot going on right now. We had The Boy’s third birthday last week and his birthday party over the long weekend. We went to the zoo, just me and him, the morning of his birthday and had ice cream cake that evening. Pretty low key.

For his party, I made him a fire engine birthday cake (thankfully I bought a cake pan that made the job a little bit easier) and cake pops, which took a good chunk of time. Somehow we ended up having like 30+ people at the party, so it was fun but a big time suck for me. Not so much low key.

In writing news, I have a short poem coming out in Highlights HIGH FIVE magazine. It’s a tough market to break into, so I was super excited to get an acceptance. And I have big news coming on Monday about a fun, collaborative project I’m working on to be released next year. And my mommy Tumblr blog is up and running. Not necessarily of interest to all of you, but I think even if you don’t have kids, it offers some entertaining thoughts (and the posts are super short, so not much commitment time on the reader’s part).

I’ve also been gearing up for a big promotional push for ELIXIR BOUND. The ebook will be on sale and the paperback will be up on Goodreads for a giveaway, both happening September 14th-28th. I’m currently organizing a big book blitz (and hopefully releasing the book trailer as well…if the creator of my trailer–my brother–can get his you-know-what together!). I’d love if any bloggers who have some space between the 14th and 27th could sign up.

Here’s the sign up link: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1JPEek1w3PPHuGNpX3XNCV24uF9tHhqep2GvJ6zQMYTo/viewform

So what have you all been up to?

Embarking on a New Writing Venture

August 25, 2014 / Katie L. Carroll

The Observation Desk (which you may not know is the official name of my blog) has changed a lot since I first started it back in May of 2008. First of all, I was still on blogger back then and it was more of a personal journal than anything else. I wasn’t always consistent on posting either.

Since I moved to a full WordPress site in June of 2012, the Observation Desk has definitely moved in the direction of being a place for other writers to come and share their thoughts and experiences in addition to my personal journal. I try to keep a nice balance of the two with one of my posts early in the week and one guest post later in the week. I’ve really enjoyed my couple of blog series: Confessions of an Author and Females in YA.

Even after six years of blogging, I’m never sure how personal to get on my posts, but I’ve found that some of my most personal posts have gotten the most response (in both number of hits and in comments). Notably my post called “How Does a Mother’s Love Grow?”, which voiced my fears about having a second child, was terrifying to publish and so uplifting when people wrote nice messages to me in response. And, of course, any time I’ve had big writing news, you all have always responded so kindly to those posts.

So what’s with all this reflection about the blog and when am I going to finally get to the point of the new writing venture that this post title so directly mentions? (Whenever I ramble in a blog post, I always think about THE CATCHER IN THE RYE and how Holden had that speaking class and yelling out “digression” whenever someone got off topic.) Anyway, enough digressing…to the point…

Since becoming a mother, I find I have the urge to write about it. Often just little things come to me during the day. And these thoughts feel significant to me and I feel the need to record them. But I’m not much for keeping a physical journal and writing by hand, well, bothers my hand. But this blog doesn’t feel like the right place for these little thoughts either. It’s not that I don’t mind talking about being a mom here (you all know I do that here), but I save my more long-winded thoughts for here.

The more I thought about my desire, which has quickly become a need, to express these little things, the more I realized I needed an easy and quick way to do it. Because I want to do it frequently when the mood strikes and I don’t always want to have to haul out my laptop because, frankly, some days there just isn’t time for that. And when I do haul out my laptop, I want to be able to write and not have to take all my little thoughts and record them.

“Digression!” No, really, all this blabbering is on topic, I swear. So I’ve decided that Tumblr is a good place for these motherly thoughts. I plan on keeping them short, almost poetic in nature. No need for full sentences or even much coherence (which is in short supply when you have little ones). I chose the Tumblr blogging format because it’s well suited for snippets and I think it will be easy to access and update from my phone (which will be key in me posting often on it). I’m not sure if I’ll be able to post daily, but maybe almost daily…we’ll see how it goes.

I’m calling it Observation Mommy and the link is http://katielcarroll.tumblr.com/. My first post will be on Wednesday because that’s The Boy’s third birthday and I thought this was a good milestone to start on. I hope some of you will check it out and visit frequently. Of course I’ll still be posting some motherly thoughts, and the adorableness that is pictures of my sons, on occasion here. But I think this new blog will satisfy that craving I’ve had for more writing about parenthood and kids in a manageable way.

Stayed tuned for more writerly news coming soon as well. I’ve got a fun new collaborative project I’m involved in and will announce that soon. Yay! Any good news for you all?

What National Breastfeeding Awareness Month Means to Me

August 19, 2014 / Katie L. Carroll

August is National Breastfeeding Awareness Month, so I thought I’d share my own breastfeeding journey. I come to this post with no agenda other than to share. How a parent feeds their baby is a highly personal choice and many factors go into it. Breastfeeding is simply something I’m committed to and it’s been a wonderful experience, even when it’s been tough.

The Boy way back in 2011 in a boob drunk stupor!

There was a big campaign to have all breastfeeding mothers nurse their babies out in public on August 1st. Honestly, I’m a big shy about breastfeeding in public; the thought of it gives me anxiety, not so much over the actual act or the possibility that I may expose part of my breast (after nursing two babies, modesty about my breasts is pretty much nonexistent), but more about how other people are going to react. So many people get squeamish about seeing it (even those near and dear to me), and there are even those who are downright against breastfeeding in public and are rude or belligerent about it.

However, I did actually breastfeed in public on August 1st. That evening I attended the CT Free Shakespeare’s outdoor production of AS YOU LIKE IT. We hadn’t started the baby on bottle yet (just to be clear, the bottle contains pumped breast milk, not formula), so my choices were to take the baby with the possibility of having to nurse him there or don’t go at all. So I went and I nursed him, and it wasn’t a big deal. It was pretty dark out and everyone’s attention was on the show. I don’t even think the people around me (even the ones I had come to the show with) knew I was doing it.

Once again it was a case of me needlessly having anxiety over something that turned out fine. And though this time was uneventful, I still try to schedule our outings so I won’t have to nurse the baby in public (or so I can at least do it in the car or somewhere moderately private). I know other breastfeeding moms would tell me to get over my worry and just do it, while others would agree with my strategy, and others still would never breastfeed in public. Again, it’s a personal choice and this is where I’m at with it.

Because frankly it’s nobody’s business how/when/where I feed my baby. I strongly believe women should be able to breastfeed where ever they want or need to do it. And no one can really tell me how to do it best. I know my body best and I know my baby best. I’m proud to have been able to exclusively breastfeed my older son until he was 6 months old and to have continued breastfeeding him until he was 20 months old. I plan on breastfeeding my younger son exclusively for six months as well, and we’ll see how long I continue once he’s on solid food…at least until he’s a year old, I hope, and maybe longer.

The Prince (yup, we have an official Internet nickname for the baby) positively blissed out on booby milk!

Nursing my babies has been one of the most personal, emotional, wonderful, and difficult things I have ever done. The bond truly is like nothing else. The time I’ve spend with my boys nursing them is time to be treasured. It has created so many special moments. But it’s demanding on my body and my time. Even when the baby can get the milk from the bottle (and someone else can feed them), I still have to pump around that same time to keep up my milk supply, especially in these early months.

It’s hard to describe the demanding nature of breastfeeding to someone who hasn’t done it. You literally have to drop everything when the baby needs to be fed. This has been particularly hard on my older son (The Boy), who for 2-1/2 plus years had mommy’s undivided attention. He’s been known to say about his younger brother, “I don’t want to keep him anymore.” Because, yeah, it stinks to have to share mommy! This from the child who stopped taking a bottle at five months old, before he was on solid food, and while I was still working full time. Some days I didn’t want to have to share myself with anyone else, but that sure as heck wasn’t happening! I gave up many a lunch break to drive home and nurse The Boy.

Overall, though I’ve been lucky. Breastfeeding has come somewhat naturally to me and my boys. I know other mothers who have had to struggle to keep up their supply or whose babies weren’t able to latch. I’ve been through mastitis (a nasty and painful infection that many breastfeeding moms experience), the aforementioned bottle strike, soreness, engorgement, feeling like I’d never have my old body back again (What are these huge things on my chest? Where did my tiny mosquito bump boobs go?) and that my body no longer belonged to me, and baby acid reflux (which is much more common among formula fed babies, but both my boys were afflicted with it and had to be medicated for it). But through it all I’ve been able to breastfeed very successfully.

See breastfeeding is full of contradictions. Great feelings of accomplishment that my body alone can sustain another human. Great feelings of inadequacy when things aren’t going right and overcoming the huge learning curve that is nursing a baby who has his own ideas about how things should be done. Great feelings of freedom because I don’t have to worry about toting around extra feeding supplies; I’ve got all I need right under my shirt. Great feelings of being trapped because no one else can really take care of the whole feeding the baby thing without me (even with bottle feedings, I have to supply the milk).

For me, it’s all been worth it. Nursing my babies has been made up of a million little special moments that no one else can or will ever experience. The moment when he first latched. The little half smile he gave me while still numming (that’s the word we use for the sucking motion the baby does when latched) away at the breast. The little songs and games we play to keep him awake during feedings. The boob drunk look of fulfillment and contentment he gets after a good feeding. The first night he didn’t nurse and he was fine but I cried after I left his room.

And now that I’m nursing baby #2, my older son has provided even more entertainment over nursing. He loves to point to my wet shirt and say, “Uh oh, Mommy. Your booby is leaking.” Or ask his grandmas whether they have milk in their breasts (or his father or grandfather or any random stranger for that matter). Or very wisely observing how his auntie (who has a baby girl) does in fact have milk in her boobies. Then there was the time he called the breast pump the “milk fountain” or when he wanted to play with me and insisted that Daddy could nurse the baby. Endless entertainment!

Admittedly, my boobs–much like my stomach with all those lovely stretch marks–will never be the same again. But I’ll take saggy boobs in exchange for what I’ve got with my boys and having breastfed them because my heart will never be the same again either.

Adventures and Writing Prompts in the Backyard

July 29, 2014 / Katie L. Carroll

When people ask where my ideas come from, I always tell them from any and everywhere. As I’ve mentioned in my Confessions of an Author series, coming up with ideas is not a problem; it’s whittling down those ideas to find the gems and then following through on them that’s the hard part.

Out in the backyard the other day, just playing with the boys, there was no shortage of visual prompts that could easily turn into book ideas (and it was a different black butterfly on the butterfly bush that inspired my current WIP–see first pic!). So I thought I’d go ahead and share those visuals with all of you (and of course some cuteness with pics of said boys).

Whenever I find mushrooms in the yard, I wonder what kind of magical creatures might live there. Though I knew The Boy had created the little rock formation, I thought about someone who didn’t know its origin coming across it and wondering how it came to be. And bubbles are always magical and fun!

Where do your ideas come from? What gets your creative juices going?

How Newborns Are Like Hobbits

July 15, 2014 / Katie L. Carroll

Having spent a good part of the last month with my newborn son (and several years ago, lots of time with my first son when he was a newborn) and given my good working knowledge of characters created by J.R.R. Tolkien, I’ve come to realize that newborns are a lot like Hobbits.

Let’s start with the obvious physical similarities. Not only are newborns and Hobbits smaller than human adults (The Lord of the Rings prologue puts Hobbits at between two and four feet), but they both tend to be chubbier. Also they have different proportions than human adults. Though not necessarily mentioned in the books, in the movies, the Hobbits’ feet appears to be large for their sizes. And we all know newborns have proportionally large heads compared to their bodies.

And then there’s the hair. Hobbits have hair in weird places, namely their feet. If you’ve never had a baby, you might not realize it, but newborns often have hair in unexpected places. Many are born with fine hairs (called lanugo) on their bodies, commonly found on the back, shoulders, ears, and forehead. My own baby has adorable little hairs on the helix of his ears. Yet neither Hobbits nor babies tend to have facial hair.

Of course, there’s also the matter of food. Hobbits and newborns eat frequently. One of my favorite quotes from the LOTR movies is when Pippin asks Aragorn about “second breakfast” and Merry say, “I don’t think he knows about second breakfast.” Pippin replies, “What about elevenses? Luncheon? Afternoon tea? Dinner? Supper?” Going back to the LOTR prologue, we learn that Hobbits will eat six times a day when they can. My own newborn is on the twelve nursings a day meal plan. He has all the meals mentioned by Pippin, plus brunch, dunch (dinner-lunch), midnight snack…

I think the most interesting similarity is in their general philosophies in life. Granted no one can really know what a newborn’s philosophy in life is, but based on observation, I think it’s safe to say that a newborn is happiest when life is simple. Keep newborns fed, make sure they get their rest, and provide a fairly tranquil environment and they’re happy as pig in…well, newborns do quite a lot of that too (but we’re not here to compare newborns to pigs). Hobbits, too, prefer a simple, quiet life. In fact, Bilbo Baggins is considered highly unusual and outlandish for his adventurous ways.

That’s not to say there aren’t differences. Hobbits are fond of smoking tobacco in pipes, and with the exception of those very disturbing images of that smoking baby in Indonesia several years back, babies aren’t known for smoking. Going back to the LOTR prologue, Tolkien notes that Hobbits have keen eyesight, not so much for newborns. Tolkien also mentions that Hobbits are swift and silent, while even the quietest of newborns are full of cries, squeaks, snorts, farts, and any number of other strange noises.

Overall, though, I’d have to say that Hobbits and newborns are more alike than dissimilar, and they are both pretty darn adorable!