Tag: writing life (Page 1 of 2)

Middle Grade Author Micki Bare on Needing Distractions from Writing

May 31, 2022 / Katie L. Carroll

I’m very happy to have children’s author Micki Bare on the blog to talk about the writing life and her latest release, the middle grade novel SOCIETY OF THE SENTINELIA. Welcome, Micki!

What do fairy tea, gardening, and closet karaoke have in common?

Let’s start with the fairy tea. I recently discovered it in a boutique shop a few blocks from my house. It smells amazing and is quite soothing after a long day of work on top of author obligations. It’s whimsical, yet practical. It occupies all my senses as I sip.

Next we have gardening. My hubby built a new raised bed this year. The tomato plants are heavy with green fruit. The cucumber and pepper plants I grew from seeds tossed in the soil are huge and healthy. The grapevine I planted last year has dozens of clusters bursting forth. The plants require almost daily attention, pulling me outside into weather of all sorts.

Then there’s closet karaoke. That’s when I crank up the music on our Echo Show (it displays lyrics) and I belt out my favorite tunes along with the artist. I do this when no one is home. When I’m writing, editing, or working, I have the music on in the background. But when a song jolts me into the present with a blast from my past, I have to get up and sing. I stand, I stretch, and I forget everything except the lyrics as scenes from the 30-something-year-old music video flash through my memory.

If you haven’t figured it out yet, fairy tea, gardening, and closet karaoke are distractions. And while distractions often get a bad rap, they also have a glass-half-full side. Distractions can reignite creativity. They can ease the messy, uncomfortable aspects of life. Distractions can also help an author who is on the precipice of a book release maintain their sanity.

Writing a book is a huge accomplishment. If you also want your work “out there,” being an author includes the publishing process and marketing. Many authors, like me, also work full time. When I signed the contract for my Zahra of the Uwharries middle grade series in August 2021, I essentially took on a second full time job.

When you write, edit, and market before work, then write, edit, and market after work, and then write, edit, and market on weekends and holidays to make your dream a reality, you can burn out. You can become a little batty. You can run out of every ounce of steam. That’s why you need distractions.

My closet karaoke habit, which I developed as a tween with my boom box and my version of lyrics, gives me an extra boost of energy. It also cranks up feel-good hormones, which help authors overcome imposter syndrome.

My thumb wasn’t always green, but I enjoy being out in the dirt so much that I’ve gotten better over time. The smell of dirt, vegetable plants, and herbs always makes me feel better. That feeling of accomplishment when I pick herbs for Friday pizza or harvest tomatoes and squash for summer recipes fills me with hope, inspiration, and resolve to make healthy choices.

Discovering the fairy tea a week before the release of the first book, Society of the Sentinelia, was serendipity. I’m going from the moment I wake up until I try to sleep at night. The tea pulls me away from the chaos without pesky ‘I’m wasting time I need to be doing something’ guilt tied to it. Technically, because it’s called fairy tea, I’m researching a product I can use in my marketing or networking endeavors. For example, I may bring some to the session I’m presenting at the SCBWI-Carolina’s fall 2022 conference and give it away as a door prize. Or maybe I’ll send fairy tea to my editor as a thank you.

You don’t have to be a crazy busy writer to need distractions in your life. We’re all busy and we all need the oasis of a rejuvenating break now and again. Reading is another great distraction. For tweens (and adults, too), I humbly recommend Society of the Sentinelia. And while you’re busy reading, discussing, and recommending it, I’ll be knee-deep into book 2, THE BLIND FAIRY, due out May 2023.

SOCIETY OF THE SENTINELIA blurb:

Zahra, a sprite-like tween no bigger than a loblolly pinecone, befriends an 11- year-old human on a quest to find her parents and sister. When a neighbor muddles their plans, kidnaps Zahra, and threatens her new friend, Zahra discovers unnerving truths about herself and her family.

Set in the Birkhead Wilderness of the Uwharrie Mountains in central North Carolina, Society of the Sentinelia is the first book in the Zahra of the Uwharries series that chronicles Zahra’s unique and critical role in saving her species.

Buy Link: https://tinyurl.com/yc4myafz

About the Author:

Micki Bare is a graduate of N.C. State University. In addition to Society of the Sentinelia, she’s the author of three early reader chapter books and has short stories published in two anthologies. She wrote a weekly human-interest column for 18 years and published articles in Thrive Magazine, Piedmont Parent, Asheboro Magazine, and Our State. Her career in early childhood spans more than two decades, with service as a teacher, administrator, and marketing director. She currently serves as the Director of Marketing and Community Engagement for Randolph Partnership for Children. She has three grown sons. She and her husband, Dave, live in central North Carolina.

Visit her website at www.mickibareauthor.com or connect with her on social media: Twitter @turtleauthor, TikTok @inspiredscribe, Facebook @MickiBareAuthor, Instagram @mickibare.

Her main character in her middle grade novels also has an Instagram account: @Zahra_Aylward.

Stuck In The Writing In-Between

April 22, 2021 / Katie L. Carroll

I’m currently in between big writing projects, and I’m having trouble getting out of that space. Some of that is because there are things currently out of my control in regards to what happens next in my writing career, so it’s hard to look too far in the future. Which makes it hard to commit to anything big right now–mainly on deciding what novel I want to write next.

I did have a sort of break planned where I was going to read and catch up on some non-writerly stuff…and wait and see where my muse takes me next. I’ve definitely done this, and worked on some smaller projects in the meantime. All those small projects have turned out to be on the quirky side, so I’m not really sure what to do with them.

It’s not that I don’t have novel ideas (I literally have notebooks of ideas stashed away); it’s more that I can’t quite seem to figure out what one is calling to me the loudest. There’s also the consideration about what makes sense to work on next as far as my career goes, and that brings me back to having to wait to see where those things out of my control shake out.

The waiting is part of the business of writing. I’m growing impatient with the waiting, though. My fingers are itching to get to work. My dreams (like the sleeping kind, not goals and aspirations) have gotten even weirder than those small projects I’ve been working on, which is a sure sign that my brain is getting antsy to work on a big project.

I thought maybe writing this post out would help me have some insight into what to do next. But here I’ve reached the end and I still don’t know what to do.

What Does A Writer Do When Not Reading or Writing?

February 4, 2020 / Katie L. Carroll

I haven’t been reading much lately. I’ve only finished one book this year, though I’m in the middle of at least five books right now. I haven’t been writing either. The last drafting I did was in the fall, though I’ve been working through edits of ELIXIR SAVED, which, of course, are taking longer than expected as has everything with this story.

(If you’re curious about how an indie author differentiates between writing, revising, and editing, I’ll be blogging about my process later this year.)

So what have I been doing? I’ve been taking part in a few challenges. In January I did Storystorm, which was created by author Tara Lazar and is a brainstorming event where you come up with 30 story ideas in the 31 days of January. Are all my ideas winners? Definitely not, but I think there may be a few gems in there when I sort through them when I’m looking to start a new project.

This month, I’m doing Nonfiction Fest, presented by the Nonfiction Chicks and is a “month-long crash course in writing nonfiction for children.” I’ve been reading through the daily blogs, but I’m little behind in the daily challenges. I should have some time to catch up by the end of the month.

I like these types of challenges because it forces me to think about writing-related things every day, but they’re quick and you can do as much or as little as you want towards the challenge. For me, it’s not always about “winning” (i.e. completing every aspect of the challenge) but about learning and trying new things.

I’ve also been taking some time to celebrate ELIXIR BOUND for winning the Connecticut Author Project for Best YA Fiction. It’s not every day your book wins an award, so I’m trying to pause and enjoy it. I’ll be heading to Nashville later this month for the Public Library Association Conference where there will be a reception for all the Indie Author Project winners. My awesome cover artist Susan Tait Porcaro took the time to put the award badge onto the cover, so that version is now available (with a couple of small updates to the text as well, though the story is still the same…I might blog about this later, too).

I’ll be revealing the cover for ELIXIR SAVED soon, which I love so much, and was also created by the talented Susan Tait Porcaro. If you like Frozen 2, feminist matriarchal worlds, magical queens holed up in an ice palace in snowy woods, and epic quests, then you might just like ELIXIR SAVED. My goal is to get it up for pre-order in the next month or so…stay tuned for all that!

Finally, I’ve been working on planning some events. In addition to going to the PLA Conference, I’m scheduling local library events, I’ll probably be going to the New England SCBWI conference, and I’ve already booked a group Unworkshop retreat to the Highlights Foundation in the fall with my writing bestie Katlyn Duncan and a few other writers.

And of course, all the usual parenting stuff with the kiddos! I’m a room parent for both my kindergartner’s and 3rd-grader’s classrooms, so I get to help organize the parties. I’m coaching my 3rd-grader’s basketball team. And the usual story time at the library and such with my two-year-old. Busy times!

What have you all been up to lately?

What Is This Life Even?

October 10, 2018 / Katie L. Carroll

I’ve got all these thoughtful blog posts simmering in my brain, ideas sketched out in my notebook. What I haven’t got is time to write them. Which is actually a good thing. I haven’t had the time because I’ve been lucky to have a bunch of writing events this fall, I’ve got three wonderful kiddos that keep me busy and laughing and loving, and some days the weather has been too beautiful not to get outside. Plus, I’ve been devoting as much of my writing time as I can to drafting ELIXIR SAVED, and that’s actually been going well (fingers crossed I can writeTHE END by the end of the year).

And while my personal life is in a good place, the larger country and world is more often than not a trash fire, so on days when I do sit down to write, it’s easy to get distracted by that. And then I feel guilty that I have the privilege to be able to call all the politics and stuff a distraction. Yet I also know that my work of writing books for kids is an important and political act (as is all art), so when I’m working, I’m not actually ignoring those things but contributing (hopefully) to the growth of the very people who will be running the country and the world one day.

I try to remember to pause and be in the moment and appreciate where I’m at. I have this writing life that is gaining a little bit of steam and maybe (maybe!?) one day will be a full-time career. And, of course, I have this beautiful family that is a joy and a pain and a million other things all at once.

I guess what I’m saying is life is complicated in a wonderfully messy way. I love my blog, but lately life has been moving too fast to stop and give it the attention it deserves. But that’s okay…it’ll be here when I have the time for it.

Coming To The Realization That This Isn’t My Story To Write

March 19, 2018 / Katie L. Carroll

In light of some really thoughtful, hard conversations going on in the children’s literature world about representation, I was thinking about a manuscript I’d started but never finished.

I loved the characters. The world I had begun to create had lots of story elements that I both love reading about and writing about. It is a YA retelling at its heart but has unique elements that I thought would make it stand out. I completed over 50,000 word on it for National Novel Writing Month (quite a few years ago). My critique group liked the bits they saw of it. I adore the story, and the plot had really started to come together in my mind. I did quite a bit of research for it. But I never finished it.

I thought it was because I couldn’t find the right character to tell the story. I played around with having a different point-of-view character. I played around with multiple points of view. I rewrote the beginning and tried it in third person instead of first. Yet I could never quite figure out how to tell the story. So I put it away. I had intentions of maybe coming back to it someday when I was a better writer who could maybe find the right voice.

But now, I don’t think I’m going to come back to it. I think I now know why I was having so much trouble trying to figure out how to tell that story. It’s not because I don’t think I could write it and write it well. And it’s not because I don’t think it would make for a good story. In fact, I think it would make a really great story, one I’d love to read some day. But I’m not going to write it.

One of the things that we as storytellers need to be asking ourselves, beyond if we can write a story and write it well, is should we be writing a story. I couldn’t find the right way to tell this particular story–as much as I love the idea of it–because it’s not my story to tell. It deals with cultures and characters who would probably not be best served with me doing the telling. I can (and have) visit the place where my story takes place and research the culture, but I’m not part of it, so the story would suffer for it. It could end up being harmful in its representation.

Maybe I’ll come back to the basic idea of doing a retelling of the tale that inspired the original idea, but with a totally different spin to it, one that I am more equipped to tell. And I have plenty of other ideas floating around in my head and notebooks that I certainly am not lacking for new stories to write.

Of course, it hurts a little to put this manuscript to rest. I’ve put a lot of work into it, and I want to be able to tell it. I won’t, though. And I’m okay with that.