Glow Word Books Blog

Differences in Mum and Dad

For the last five years, my wife and I have been in sync… we had a lot of the same experiences, similar reactions and always understood where the other one was coming from.

It’s been interesting having a baby because we have had radically different experiences. She had to strain to birth the baby — I applied counter-pressure here and there. My sore arms vanished in a day — she’s still not 100%. I have gotten good sleep every night — she has chosen to breastfeed the baby and thus had fragmented sleep. She is exhausted simply feeding the baby and napping — I’m in charge of everything else around the house.

But all of this has been a very good lesson in understanding and patience. Even though we’ve been together the last few days, we’ve also been apart. I need to remember where she’s coming from. A bit of understanding probably isn’t a bad thing — I hear it occasionally comes in handy with children….

The day my son was born

Birth is much more practical than I had ever imagined. Because the birth of a new life is so spiritual and ceremonial, I always had a fantasy that it would be calm, peaceful and meditative. My wife and I would sit under a tree with moonlight shining down on us… and through a zen-ed out bliss, we would finally get to look at our new son (who would instantly smile at us and then use baby-sign-language for milk).

It was quite a surprise to see how messy, raw and intense it was. A wave of guilt washed over me looking back to see the array of towels soaked in blood, amniotic fluid, and pooh we left as we checked out of the birthing center. I have never been surrounded by so much bodily goo before in my entire life!

I also will never forget the look of pain/pure-focused-purpose/exhaustion/determination on my wife’s face as she worked through the final few minutes of labor. It was such a piercing concoction of emotions.

And looking at my child for the first time — it’s the definition of pure happiness. Somehow the whole 8 hour ordeal seemed worthwhile for one moment of holding your son.

When did you meet your muse?

I never thought much about my muse(s) until I took a year off to write in New Zealand. I was unemployed and poor — just like all struggling authors should be. But then I stumbled across this Ted Talk which changed my view about creativity. In it she claims that all creativity comes from your muse. If people don’t like what you wrote, you probably had a bad muse assigned to the case.

It’s freeing to think that creativity can come from a muse and all I need to do is show up and write. I don’t need to be poor and depressed — worrying if the world will like me. I just had to write. Just show up and write.

Creativity from a muse feels right… so many ideas pop into my head without ever purposefully thinking them… that makes it much easier to believe in muses.

So thanks, muse, for all the hard work… see you tomorrow!

Saving Energy for the Baby

My wife and I are supposed to be saving energy for the delivery of our first kid, so this week we:

Replaced regular light bulbs with CFL.
Filled preserving jars with static electricity.
Reduced our Air Conditioning consumption.
Removed the keys we had put in our electric plugs. (If our electric plugs had keys and paperclips in them already, we thought our kid would be safer since they couldn’t put things in the electric plugs.)
Flew all of our now-unused keys from kites off of our balcony.
Walked more and drove less.
Converted toaster to Coal, so we could use left-over briquettes gathered from the park BBQs

Scared to be funny?

Have you ever come across a laugh so cold and menacing that you were actually afraid of being funny?

Walking through a parking lot, I heard a woman in a white SUV laugh a crueler cackle than any Disney villain. The whole time I walked by her car, I consciously held my mouth tight so no accidental quips from a passing stranger would set her off.

Give me a strange honk or snort any day!

10 Ways to Find More Time To Write

When my wife and I got serious about making time for writing, something had to be cut. I’m a big believer that there’s always time… you just have to make it.

Here are some ideas we came up with to help fit writing into your life.

Cut back on TV: The average american adult watches roughly 2.8 hours of TV per day. (http://www.bls.gov/news.release/atus.nr0.htm/) That’s a lot of leisure time for writing.

Find a consistent time to write each day: Writing is about showing up and working…. the muse will come if it comes. Find a consistent time you can set aside all distractions and focus. If you have kids, that might mean waking up early or staying up late. If you work, that might be your lunch hour or commute time (if you have ride the bus — not if you bike!)

Work Collaboratively With People: Writing doesn’t have to be a solitary endeavour. David Wright and Sean Platt (http://selfpublishingpodcast.com/about/) co-author a series of books. My wife and I usually brainstorm while walking together after dinner. I think people are afraid to work together because their ideas will be stolen, but as Tim O’Reilly said, “Obscurity is a far greater threat to authors and creative artists than piracy”

Look at your expenses: How much time are you working at your day job? Do you have multiple jobs? Lots of overtime? Take a look at your expenses. If you can reduce them, you might be able to reduce your day job. How much is your rent? Are you signed up for services you don’t use much anymore? How much are you spending on entertainment and eating out? Do you sneak off to buy snacks every day? Look into reducing your workload if that’s possible for your profession.

Outsource what can be outsourced: How is your time best spent? Are you trying to do the whole book process yourself? Sometimes it makes sense to hire professionals to handle editing, cover design, etc, even if you can do it yourself. Given your talents you need to figure out what’s the best use of your time and what you should hire help for. Ask friends for help if they have an interest in books as well.

It’s OK to say no: People are always making demands on our time. It’s easy to feel guilted into doing them. (I’m from the midwest — I know all about guilt). It’s ok to defend your writing time and say no to requests that cut into it.

Always carry a notebook: You never know when you’ll have an unexpected block of time. Maybe you’ll be waiting for an appointment or the grocery line will be an hour long. (I know it’s unlikely, but keep a notebook handy just in case.)

Speed up household chores: How can you speed up household chores? Can you cook food in batches? Buy more underwear so you can wash clothes in bigger batches? Just don’t cut corners on cleaning — you never know when Mom will stop by.

Do things that inspire you: You don’t need to be a poor, deprived, starving artist. Do things that inspire you (maybe that’s hiking, watching rodeo, or going to a museum). If you’re not taking care of yourself (physically, mentally, spiritually), then you won’t have as much energy for everything… including writing.

Work on projects you love: If you love what you’re doing and it makes you happy, then you’ll find time for anything. Pick writing projects you love and that inspire you. If you don’t love what you’re doing, it’s time to do something else.

-Steve

Last Night I Dreamed In Haml

My apologies: this post is very nerdy.

Haml is a programming markup based on indentation. How far you indent makes a big difference.

Last night I dreamed I lived in a Haml world, which made moving so much easier.

The apartment I lived in was Haml compliant, so it was setup like this:

All I had to do to move from my last place was copy everything under my old bedroom to my new bedroom. Just like that, it was magically unpacked! No fuss! No movers!

If only life were really that simple…

Stocking up

Just looked through the cupboards… we now have 84 bottles/cans and 18 bags (like rice, beans, chips) of unopened food… It looks like a hurricane or baby is on the way… either way I don’t plan to shop much in Sept!

Glow Word Books Blog

Authors Steve & Natasha