New Beginnings?

Yes, there is a question mark there in the title. You see, I've had so many new beginnings in my life that I'm actually getting kind of sick of them. Though for the most part this one has been better than many of the others.

First of all I found a city that I love. I felt at home in New Orleans from the first moment. A far cry from Annapolis which I hated as soon as I set eyes on it. Most people who know me are stunned by the fact that I survived my first summer here. (I am known for loving the cold and snow.) I can't say that I loved the heat, but I got used to it. And of course it was a fairly mild summer, or so I'm told. I am looking forward to their version of winter though :)

One of the best things about New Orleans to me is that it is a city of contradictions. The old and the new (and don't forget the new that has to look old), different architectural styles right next door to each other (not separated by neighborhoods), there's city and country, educated and uneducated, rich and poor, beautiful and ugly, clean and dirty. The list could go on forever, but I think you get the gist of it. I'm sure a lot of people in other cities would say the same thing about those others cities. They might be right, but I've never seen, never felt it in any other city I've been to. New Orleans truly has something for everyone if they take the time to look past the tourist traps in the Quarter (and totally skip Bourbon Street).

So New Orleans is now home, and I have a feeling that even if I leave some day, I'll be back.

Second, I opened one of my documents today for the first time in ages. Almost a year really. Things were so hectic from last spring until now - plus my laptop was stolen with all the newer versions of the writings I had been working on (yes, I know - very bad to not save in many different places - lesson learned). So writing has been nonexistent for over a year.

But today I did it. And honestly I'm kind of sorry I did. Pretty much everything I've ever written I looked at today and thought,"Really?? You considered this worth your time?" I'm not saying it's all crap, but even with extensive work, I doubt even 10% of it will ever be worthy of querying.

Even though I sound annoyed by it, it been very beneficial reading over everything. For starters, it's really helped me realize where I want to focus my writing. I used to be all over the map YA (sci fi, fantasy, romance, paranormal, contemporary), chick lit, romance, mystery, erotica. You name a genre and I guarantee you I had at least one project if not more going in it. But one thing rereading everything did was it showed me what I really want to write - edgy YA for those teens who are truly on the brink of adulthood but are not quite ready to move on to books where the MC is 10 to 15 or more years older than them. I want my readers old enough that I don't have to censor myself so much in my writing (I have young teen kids. I know there's stuff I don't want them reading so why would I put it in my books?).

The other great thing about this whole new beginning was meeting my current roommate, whom I will call Bald &Sexy (or BS for short). Not completely bald, but it works as a pseudonym. I met him my second day in New Orleans. He also was staying and working at St. Vincent's Guesthouse (and that whole saga is a post of its own). He was one of those people I just clicked with. And when the owner of the Guesthouse fired him because he demanded the money he was owed for his work, I was devastated. Thanks to one of the guests in town for Jazz Fest with her husband, I made a choice that changed my time here in New Orleans a great deal.

See, one thing all the people living and working at St. Vincent's had in common is that we were all broke and had nowhere else to go. We worked as hotel employees in exchange for our room. So when BS was fired, he lost his home with it. Irene (the guest I mentioned) convinced me to go after him and not leave him alone. I followed her advice that afternoon, and we spent the rest of the day and a good portion of the evening in the Quarter. BS has lived here on and off for the past 15 or so years and showed me the city as only a local could (notice I say local and not native - big difference). At about 1:00 a.m. I knew I had to get back and go to sleep, but I was terrified for him. He had nowhere to sleep and no money. Having spent my share of time homeless, I didn't want that for him. Already he was one of my best friends and you don't turn your back on friends. So instead of letting him sleep in the park, I snuck him back on hotel property and into my room. That was on April 7th this year. We've been roommates ever since.

Hurricane Isaac is how we got found out though. Hotel management found out he was living in my room and I got fired. Believe me when I say it's the best thing that happened to both of us. Now we work, we have a real apartment, and just on Tuesday we got a dog. And I'm back to writing.

So maybe new beginnings aren't as bad as I was beginning to think they were. When I break it all down like that, it seems like this one is actually pretty kick ass :D

Impossible Situations

I’ve had a really difficult time recently sticking to a writing schedule. Part of that is due to job hunting. To job hunt effectively, a person really has to spend time at it. Part of it is due to school. Being the nerd I proudly admit to being, I insist on reading through all my textbooks, taking notes on them and writing up vocabulary lists from each chapter before classes ever start, and that takes up a lot of time as well. Part of it is that I have had houseguests off and on (mostly on) since the beginning of September. I write best in silence. I despise noise, and houseguests are rarely quiet (to my needs) even when they try their best to be quiet. They watch movies or listen to music (something I almost never do) or just move around. Normal activities, but when a person is used to living alone and spending most of their time in complete silence, it’s noisy.

But I can’t really get rid of the houseguests, even though I desperately want privacy so I can write. My original guests were a friend, his cousin and his cousin’s girlfriend. They were through out of their aunt’s house with no notice and no where to stay. So they stayed and got jobs (and drove me out of my mind J ). My friend left at the beginning of November, and the other two went back home to California the first week of December. For a month I had my apartment back to myself and writing happened. I revised a couple of more chapters on my YA #1and wrote outlines for my YA #3 and it’s sequels (yes, that one is meant to be part of a series). Then last week I get a call from another friend. His buddy has been thrown out of his house and my friend’s family won’t let the boy stay there. It’s below freezing out, the weatherman is calling for snow, and the boy is only 16. I truly don’t think that anyone with a conscience could refuse to help. So long story made short, I once again have a houseguest.

So writing has pretty much come to a standstill again. School stuff is completely finished, I am still job hunting, but I am itching to write. Literally. It’s like this scratching inside my brain of ideas trying to get out and into the computer. But I just can’t do it. Writing does not happen for me with people around.

To make matters worse, as soon as this boy is gone (he leaves on the 28^th to another place) the girl who went home to CA is coming back. Her mother refuses to allow her to stay there since she is pregnant. She has nowhere to stay here in Maryland, so it looks like I’ll only have a week between my two houseguests. I’m going to have to write nonstop that entire week to get any significant work done next month. Either that or learn how to deal with noise, but seeing as I’ve been this way since I was young, I don’t see it changing any time soon.

Are there any situations in which you find it impossible to write, no matter how many ideas are clamoring in your brain?