Distractions at Distractions Espresso

Distractions Espresso, Southport.

It's happened...a broken toe! Of all the times I've hit my toes on a bed leg, corner of the wall or chair leg, I have never broken a toe ... until now. I really whacked it this time.

I can be a bit clumsy sometimes. Mainly because I don't always watch where I'm going because I'm caught up in my creative world with all my characters chatting to each other. I can't resist getting in on the action with them. They are usually acting out my story ahead of time and they are unaware of me having a life.  You don't need to be writing a book to whack your toe against the chair leg though. I was clearing the breakfast table when it happened. I yelled and said a couple of words under my breath that will remain unpublished and I shed a few tears. Yes, tears!

It hurt a lot, but I was in denial. My son was staying with me at the time and we were anxious to go out for a coffee at Distractions Espresso in Southport. Great coffee, by the way. I thought it might distract me from my hurting toe. It did!

By the end of the week though it was really painful. My son had returned overseas so there were no more distractions for me. Being sad to be on my own again my thoughts returned to the niggling ache on my left foot. A friend said I really should go and see about it. I did and the result was a broken toe. It is now bound up next to my little toe with a supporting strip of  bandage tape. The doctor told me it's the only way it can be treated. I'm glad because I though I was going to have to wear one of those moon boots.

This little event has taught me a few things:

1.  Slow down when I'm clearing the dishes, or better still, have someone do them for me.

2. Distractions, such as coffee at Distractions Espresso, are definitely good when one has an aching foot.

3.  Take the time to let the toe heal. That means sitting back with the foot up from time to time eating a bit of something sweet, like chocolate.

4.  Too much chocolate is bound to put on weight because I'm not walking my regular 6 ks. per day. When I can walk again, it's going to be agony in a different way.

5.  Waiting three weeks for the pain to settle so that I can do the walk is really, really annoying. I can read great books though, like Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty.

6.  I promise my feet I will slow down around all things that are traps for authors who think they live in a world where chair legs don't matter.

Ah, almost three weeks down ... three to go.

Have you ever had a broken toe? I'd like to hear your story and any handy hints that you might have to keep me out of trouble while I'm resting.

Home Schooling: In The Beginning

One of the hardest decisions I ever had to make.

It took me a long time to make up my mind when I was deciding to homeschool my son. I suffered many nights tossing and turning, and when I couldn't sleep I got out of bed and walked around the house hoping I'd come to my decision so I could go back to bed and sleep. I talked to neighbours, teachers, strangers I met in the street and family. All said, "Why would you want to homeschool? You won't have any time to yourself. It's the  only time I get away from my kids. It's going to take up too much of your time. You'll be with him twenty-four-seven. What about his socialisation, you can't cut him off from other children, especially when he's an only child. He'll end up a loser." These comments and more made me feel I was "the loser".

That last comment was the one that burned me the most and really got my ire rising faster than a tsunami. It was the turning point. Loser eh? The quote on the slate in this post says exactly what was going through my mind. My son wasn't coping with school life. He was bullied, the classroom was so noisy with rude children he'd become overwhelmed with the noise and have to leave the classroom. Teachers often found him out of the schoolgrounds. He just had to get away. I knew I had to do something because my son wasn't learning. When I checked his school books, nothing had been written in there for two terms. He was attending a private school. A week later, he was home with me and I was determined he wasn't going to set foot back in a school unless he wanted to.

Our first year was our hardest as Dan and I adjusted to being home together. Dan was in year seven. My husband ran a business from home, but he was out on jobs most of the time. I ran a business from home, too, so my time was divided between it and the homeschooling and running the house. What I learned about myself and my son during this time was more than I could have imagined.

Lesson number one, we were both individuals. Somehow, because he was my son, I thought he would work the same way I did: head done and just get the job done, also that when I'm focussed the rest of the world doesn't matter. Dan was different, he was easily distracted by noises, ringing telephones, and people coming and going, so that he just couldn't settle to the work. We solved this problem by encouraging him to listen to music while he worked. An outstanding result. At the same time, as he was completing his school work, he was able to do two or three things at one time which astounded me. He had two computer screens running several programs while he was listening to music and working.

My mind boggled. I stepped back and thought a moment. How could he be retaining all that he learned while he had all those distractions? The few times I insisted he focus on one thing, I was met with indignant stares and he refused my request. After much coercion from me where I said he would be more prolific and his school work would be finished faster, I got a shock to find his work stalled, and he was lost as though he'd been put in the middle of the jungle and didn't know which way to turn. My insistence in trying to organise his time failed miserably, so we returned to his way and hey presto, work was completed well before time with top marks. Well, if that was his way of learning, then who am I to change that?

I'm glad I learned this lesson. It made me aware that some of my employees may have had unusual working habits to be efficient. I learned how to get the best out of the people working for me to keep them happy and fulfilled in their work and develop a special relationship with them I may not have done otherwise. During the next few weeks I want to share other lessons I learned from home schooling.

Have you had a similar experience? Please leave a comment for me below.

For You...

Readers are awesome!!!

Thank you for buying my books.

Readers are special

Without readers I have no one to write for, and that prompts me to ask,'what am I writing for?'; and 'for whom am I writing?'

I write to entertain and to encourage my readers they aren't alone with their thoughts and ideas, that life gets in the way and the journey can sometimes feel insurmountable. At the end of a story, I hope my readers feel satisfied they have had a good read and are entertained for the few hours they've spent between the pages in my imaginary world.

I'd like to know if I'm achieving this for you, and what you would like to see in my books in the future. So don't be shy! I look forward to hearing from you.

Ouch...Rejection Hurts

In the beginning of my fiction writing career, I wrote five novels and had them all rejected. My motivation dived and I though I would never pick up a pen again. So how did I keep my motivation going to write that next novel and win that publishing contract?

Motivation helps us to achieve our dreams.

I knew I wanted to be a writer. Ever since I started reading in year one at school, words had captured my heart and I had to read every day. I loved writing stories and I would get carried away in my own little world. My teachers said I had a vivid imagination and encouraged me to keep writing stories.

The journey to publication has been one of the most difficult adventures of my life. My first five novels were rejected. It hurt and with each subsequent novel I wrote after each rejection, the writing became harder. Once I realised my first five novels were my apprenticeship and that  I had to learn how to write scenes that had a beginning, a middle and an ending; and the ending of the scene, had to hook my reader so that she had to keep reading the next scene and the one after that, until she finished the book, I was on my way to achieving my dream.

I learned how to create characters and how to develop them throughout the story so that they had grown by the end of the story. I learned how to structure my story of where the crucial high and low points of the story occurred. In this apprenticeship there was a lot for me to learn.

So how did I deal with the rejection letters? I gave myself permission to be disappointed and to shed a few tears. Life is about rolling with the good and bad times and being emotionally honest during those times. In the privacy of my own home, the next step was getting mad at the editor for rejecting me, and then mad at myself for being so naiive thinking all I had to do was write a couple of drafts of a book and send it off to a publisher. I was on a steep learning curve. After I nursed the hurt, I asked myself why I was writing and was I prepared to put the extra hard yards into the work?

I write because I feel compelled to write. A day without writing is like cutting off my right hand. I'm useless. I wander around lost and confused. There is nothing else I'd rather be doing than writing. I also write to entertain and to encourage people in their own life's journey. So, that left me with no alternative than to learn all I could about the writing craft and keep practising until I became published. I am a determined person and I don't accept defeat easily. I read every book I could get my hands on to learn my craft.

Because of my perseverance I was rewarded with a contract for African Hearts. What a thrill that was, but success came twenty long years after I started writing. I knew I wanted to succeed but I had to get over the pain of rejection first, develop a thick skin and believe that I could do the job. The most important lesson I learned was to keep writing, every spare minute I had every day.

Do you believe you have the perseverance to be a published writer? How have you handled your rejection letters? What motivated you? I'd like to hear your story.

It's Officially Launched

Web of Lies was launched last Sunday just in time for Christmas. Great gifts for grandmothers, mothers, daughters, nieces and sisters, or that special friend in your life.

Web of lies...hope for tomorrow

Here's the blurb:

High school sweethearts, Stephanie and Lachlan are torn apart by circumstance, bad decisions and a web of lies, leaving an unknown future for their son, Ryan.

Eight years later they reconnect, but the time apart has changed them. The family had made decisions based on lies and deceit and now must find a way to either reveal the truth or live with their mistakes. On the surface their arrangements seem flawless, but dig deeper, and the truth is not as it appears.

Lachlan and Stephanie are forced to confront the consequences of their actions and the entire family is compelled to reveal the truth, find forgiveness, and renew loving one another. but the hardest decision is still to come.

If you've been following my blog tour, thank you!

Here is where I'm blogging in the lead up to Christmas:

3rd December:  http://laussieswritingblog.blogspot.com.au/

4th December:  http://ishmarind.blogspot.com.au/2012/12/author-laura-oconnell-speaks-about-her.html?showComment=1354576020540

10th December:  http://nas-dean.blogspot.com.au/

10th December:  http://julietmadison.wordpress.com/

11th December:  http://internationalchristianfictionwriters.blogspot.com.au/

12th December: http://freshfiction.com/

19th December:   http://romancebookhaven.blogspot.com.au/

When you've read the book, I'd love to hear your comments, so don't be shy, leave a comment here or on my Facebook page. Thanks!