Author Archives: Megan Taraszkiewicz

Double Vision

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You remember the Foreigner song, Double Vision? Let’s just take a moment to sing it a together:

Fill my eyes with that double vision
No disguise for that double vision
Ooh, when it gets through to me, it’s always new to me
My double vision gets the best of me

I have no idea what it means. The late 70’s were a weird time. What does this have to do about writing? Well, I’m glad you asked!

This past Friday I participated in a great webinar put out by Dr. Mira Reisberg and Kelly Delaney, Assistant Editor at Alfred A. Knopf. The main reasons why I signed up for this webinar was:

1. It was free

2. I need all the help I can get

3. Did I mention it was free?!

I wasn’t expecting too much from the webinar. I thought they would gloss over some things I already knew but I thought, “Eh, why not (and free!)” Boy, was I wrong! The webinar was all about voice-not The Voice with that guy from Maroon 5 who sings like he’s sucking helium-YOUR voice. Your writing voice, the one that distinguishes your work from everyone else’s.

I thought I knew my voice. I mean it’s only constantly rambling all day in my head and it comes out of my mouth saying things like, “Put that down! Don’t eat that! Please eat this! No we can’t have macaroni and cheese for breakfast. Don’t sit on your sister.” But that is not my writing voice (though I could probably write a book about all of the weird things I say to kids). Turns out that I wasn’t really in touch with my voice and the manuscript that I had worked on and polished and had professionally edited was not, in fact, reflecting my voice. Total. Bummer.

I spent the weekend alternating between sulking and muttering to myself (in search of my voice) and furiously revising and rewriting (and more muttering) to get my voice onto the page. It was a long weekend to say the least.

I learned a lot from the webinar which I will cover in other posts but today I just want to touch on a suggestion from Kelly about how to find your voice. She mentioned that you should take small written pieces that you come across (think newspaper articles, blurbs about tv shows, obituaries if your particularly morbid) and rewrite them in your voice. I thought it was such a fun suggestion and one way to be creative everyday. What a great way to stay in-tune with your voice.

If you are interested in more with Mira, she does a Children’s Book Academy which looks great. I hope to take it in the future. If you’ve taken it before or are signing up this year, let me know! In the meantime, go out and find your voice! (Not you, Adam Levine, I’m done with your voice)

Focused Imagination

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“You can’t depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus.”
― Mark Twain, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court

 

That quote really hits home for me. While running through the daily grind, I find that my imagination is often out of focus. It takes work for me to think creatively. Between the daily tasks of raising two children, I find it hard to allow my mind to wander in that necessary way in order for the thoughts to flow. I try to drift off to sleep daydreaming but I’m often so exhausted that I can’t think of much else other than sleep. My other creative place is the shower-so many good ideas I get while shaving my legs!

I happened upon this article from Reading Rainbow. Can we just stop one moment to sing the Reading Rainbow theme song….”Butterfly in the sky, I can fly twice as high!” Don’t worry, I sang the whole thing to myself out loud.  Jenni Buchanan, the author and “Reading Rainbow Mom” (I love that!), came up with 3 solutions to ramping-up your creative mojo. I’m happy to say I’ve done all three this week!

I know for myself, I need daydreaming time to get more creative. Sometimes I need to just sit and not think about what I am doing or what I need to be doing that I’m not getting done (I’m looking at you, housecleaning). Kids have a wonderful way of keeping you in the present but it stifles my creative thoughts. Although I do play with my kids actively, I think I need to introduce more imaginative play. That will be my plan to get creatively focused.

How about you? What is your plan? How to you stay creatively focused?

A Clumsy Balance

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A career path is rarely a path at all. A more interesting life is usual a more crooked, winding path of missteps, luck and vigorous work. It is almost always a clumsy balance between the things you try to make happen and the things that happen to you.

~Tom Freston

My last post focused on being a writer mama and how difficult it is to write while being a full time stay at home mom. I am happy to report, though, that Stephen King did not find my little blog and get offended so that was a good thing.

After receiving a comment from the OG Writer Mama, Christina Katz, I realized that I should explain further where I find the time to write and create. Where do I find my clumsy balance? I’ll give you an example:

On Mondays and Wednesdays, my older daughter, My Chickadee, goes to nursery school. It’s a “Mommy and Me” so my mom takes her and I stay home with my younger daughter, The Big Booper. If everything works out right and the planets align, Booper, will be napping for part of school time. I quickly use that  time to write or read or do whatever I need to in order to catch up on work. Sometimes catching up on work means watching the previous night’s Game of Thrones or Walking Dead but I try to watch those when Booper isn’t sleeping. If I’m lucky, I’ll get 30 minutes of work time. It’s usually less.

Another example is when Booper goes down for her afternoon nap. I try to employ quiet time during the afternoon nap but I’ve gotten lax on that lately. I have quiet baskets/boxes filled with goodies that Chickadee can do by herself. I’ll put on the kids station on Pandora for her, give her the basket in the playroom and I’ll work in the living room. (If you Pinterest “quiet boxes” there is a plethora of stuff there-I think I pinned for days) If we aren’t doing quiet baskets, I will put on a movie or let her play the Kindle. Again, if I’m really lucky, I’ll get 30 minutes but I usually don’t. There’s a lot of, ” Mommy, can you help me? Mommy, I’m hungry. Mommy, can you play with me? Mommy…Mommy…MOOOOMMMYYYY!?!” You get the idea.

When Booper gets up in the afternoon, it’s a mad dash till bed time. We do our afternoon walk with the dog, play in the yard, eat dinner, bath time, clean up after someone poops in the tub, story time and bed routines. By the time they are in bed, I’m beat and don’t get much else in. I spend the time vegging out. But keep in mind that throughout the day if I get an idea I write it down on my phone using the Evernote App. I have a folder filled with story ideas and general writing thoughts. I can’t live without it.

Overall, you can see that my writing time is limited. When The Big Booper was a newborn, I worked out story ideas during night time feeding which was surprisingly productive. I squeeze in moments when I can and that’s the best I can do.

So those are some examples of how I get it done. Where do you find the time? I’d love to hear how you find your clumsy (or maybe not so clumsy) balance!

Writer Mama

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I am a “Writer Mama”. I write this sitting on the floor next to my almost 9 month old who is sitting in a pile of toys to keep her distracted. The hum of my other daughter’s monitor buzzes behind me as she just settled into sleep. This is how I write-juggling my creativity with my 24/7 duty. I know I am not alone.

When I was reading Stephen King’s On Writing I was struck by how much time he said he wrote and how you weren’t really a serious writer if you didn’t spend every free moment writing. Well, Stephen, clearly you were not up all night with your crying, teething kids or making the school runs. I don’t really want to call out the king of horror though because I fear I may ending up like Sissy Spacek in Carrie. No thanks! (I’m legit scared. Sorry Mr. King)

This article by Dorit Sasson discusses how this balance takes place in so many lives and how she is able to overcome it. I love her honesty and tips for maintaining our sanity while trying to carve out a writing life.

Personally, I feel guilty when I am writing and my child wants me. I’ve started giving her a “quiet basket” filled with activities and books she could do on her own so I can get a moment to write. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t.

Writing at night after they’ve gone to bed almost never happens. I’m tapped out and usually ready for bed myself. I use that time to read articles, catch up on emails and check all the internet nonsense that would be a distraction during the rest of the day.

But here I am, still plugging along. Writing myself notes here and there for when I have time to work. I just had to pause in order to change a diaper. That’s how we get it done. To all my Writer Mamas (and Dads) out there, I salute you and keep it up!

How do you carve out your writing time? Do you have magically cooperative kids? (If so, can we swap? Just kidding, I love my kiddies)

P.S. Another Writer Mama-THE Writer Mama- who has a lot of great advice is Christina Katz. Loved her book: Writer Mama, How To Raise A Writing Career Alongside Your Kids-check it out here.

 

Books That Changed Your Life.

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There are perhaps no days of our childhood we lived so fully as those we spent with a favorite book.

–Marcel Proust

Believe it or not, I was a nonfiction reader most of my life. I enjoyed fiction but when I went to the library, I headed straight for nonfiction and always for the weirdest things I could find. I loved The Guiness Book of World Records and anything about Bigfoot or ghosts-still do!

In fifth grade, my teacher, Ms. Smelas, started a reading club with us. She separated us into two groups:boys and girls. Well, that didn’t sit well with me so I was the only student who refused to participate…at first. When I was finally persuaded, we read The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett. I loved it. I also desperately wanted a garden space of my own and spent lots of time planning the layout of my own secret garden which appealed to the nonfiction part of me. What I’m trying to say is that a book has the ability to reach you somewhere deep inside that you aren’t even aware exists. It can transport your soul. The Secret Garden did that for me and I am forever grateful for Ms. Smelas and her sexist reading club.

Buzzfeed has a list of 67 Children’s Books That Actually Changed Your Life While I haven’t read all of the books on the list, I know quite a few of them and they are really great. A “Back to Childhood” Summer reading list may be in order. Will anyone look at me weird on the beach if I’m reading Beverly Cleary or The Babysitter’s Club? Would I even care? Nope.

What was the children’s book(s) that changed your life?

 

Sweet Retreat

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“In order to understand the world, one has to turn away from it on occasion.”

[The Minotaur]”
― Albert Camus, The Myth of Sisyphus and Other Essays

Sometimes the hardest thing to do as a writer is to find time to write. I know that for myself, I often go to bed with the best of intentions: “I’ll write first thing in the morning and if that falls through, I’ll get some time in the afternoon and if that doesn’t work then I’ll write when the kids go to bed.” What happens the next day, you ask? Nothing. Life gets in the way-kids won’t nap, laundry piles up, the dog needs a walk. By the time the kids go to sleep I can hardly string a coherent sentence together.

I was lamenting about this problem the other day while bouncing a teething baby on my lap and I came across this link while scrolling through Facebook.  A whole blog by School Library Journal about writer’s retreats for children’s writers! I gotta say that I read the page several times, day-dreaming about each retreat.

Look at those cozy cabins!

Wow, the view from that place!

Could I really sneak away to Oregon??” 

While I probably can’t make it to Oregon (at least not this year), there were so many other retreats that seemed doable. The list had something for everyone and I am desperate to go.

“You mean there is a quiet place I could focus on my writing? No screaming kids? No barking dog? Sounds like heaven!” 

So if you see me picking up pennies on the street, just know what I’m saving for. Hope to see you there.

 

 

Real, or Not?

Posted in books, Jersey Devil, Monsters by

Came across this article about a book written by a Jersey Devil descendant, Bill Sprouse. The book titled, “The Domestic Life of The Jersey Devil: or, BeBop’s Miscellany” attempts to prod through family history to explain the story. While I do agree that the original tale of the demon being born to Mrs. Leeds could be explained away by saying she had a physically or mentally handicapped child, it doesn’t account for the sightings that have happened regularly since the 1700’s. Looks like an interesting read though and should definitely offer some insight into the Leeds family.

Submitted/An iconic image of the Jersey Devil

picture from shorenewstoday.com

Bigfoot in New Jersey!?!

Posted in Bigfoot, Jersey Devil, Monsters, Sasquatch, Yeti by

For those of you who are not watching Animal Planet’s hit show Finding Bigfoot, I pity you. This fine piece of television brilliance takes viewers right into the thick of bigfoot hunting and smothers you in all kinds of squatchy goodness. It’s worth the watch for Bobo, the lovable, lumbering trucker hat-wearing bigfoot hunter, alone. Check out this clip of a bigfoot rave they are going to throw in the woods…yup, that happened.

Anyway, this show is one of my must watch (not so) guilty pleasures. The only thing better than squatching is squatching in my homeland of New Jersey. Now you may not think of New Jersey as a bigfoot habitat but let me assure you, there are sighting here. While they occur mainly in the northwest part of the state, I was curious to see this article today showing that the BFRO group recently filmed an episode in the Pinelands of South Jersey.

I’ve never heard of any bigfoot reports from the south so I’m very interested to check out this episode when Finding Bigfoot begins airing again in November. Maybe bigfoot got together with my boy, The Jersey Devil, and had a rave in the Pinelands with Bobo-now that would be good t.v.!

picture from http://www.carriejkeenan.com

Ooh Bigfoot? Here Biggy, Biggy, Biggy……..

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Remember when CNN used to be a serious news source? It’s hard to even think back that far. Now it’s just a bunch of crazies talking about random sh*t to fill the day-except for Anderson Cooper, of course. That silver fox is an American treasure. Anyway, this little nugget of journalism (?) comes fresh off the CNN website and fell right into my little crypto-lovin’ lap.

I’m confused….this is his backyard but where is his house? The story makes it look like he lives outside and that glider is his “couch”???? How is the “expert” so sure that this guy lives on a bigfoot migratory trail? So many unanswered questions! What I DO know is that my poor bigfoot is so misunderstood. 

Yeti DNA??

Posted in Monsters, Sasquatch, Writing by

I saw this article yesterday about a geneticist apparently unraveling yeti DNA. It made me think about why he was wandering the Himalaya Mountains  but, of course, I already knew why-I wrote a book about it!

It’s still cool to read more and more articles referencing the science behind solving these mysteries. The truth is out there, folks! As the poster in Mulder’s office read: I Want To Believe