Heather Rae Scott

I’m back. It’s been awhile and I’m sorry. I’ve just been trying to readjust to recent major life changes. I think I’m finally ready to get back to the life I’d started what feels so long ago.

My children started reading The Hunger Games. Neither of my sons are big readers, but the Twilight series started my oldest son reading. I didn’t care what anyone else thought of the series or what I think of it now, but I’ll always love it because it got my son reading. My youngest son is a slow reader, which frustrates him when people are pushing him along to read faster. He doesn’t have an issue with comprehension, just that he reads slow. He keeps asking me how I read so fast and I tell him lots and lots of practice. The Hunger Games got him to read–viraciously. He loves talking about it and even pushed me to read the series. I’m the only one who hasn’t seent he movie in this house.

I loved this series. It was extremely entertaining and the new world that the author built was fantastic. It reminded me of the past and things that could potentially happen in the future, in other words, to me it wasn’t so far-fetched. It was reminiscent of the movie Arnold Swartzneger was in in the 80s , The Running Man, tied in with Survivor, The Amazing Race and Big Brother.

I remember lots and lots of people being upset and calling Edward from Twilight, a pedofile because of the age difference. I’ve heard that there’ve been people upset with the cast of the movie and are calling the author racist. I didn’t get racism at all when she referred to people as being brown. I don’t think the author even thought twice, it was just how she invisioned them in her mind–in her world. But what I haven’t heard and perhaps it’s out there somewhere and I can’t be arsed to find it is that no one seems upset with the fact that the main theme of this book is kids killing others or kids being killed.

And to be completely honest, I hadn’t thought of it until the question was posed to me. However, I can’t remember if the person had finished reading the series or quit with the first one. The third book, The Mockinjay addresses post-tramatic-depression, the nightmares that come with having been put in the situation of being seventeen and having to kill or be killed. I give the series five stars for entertaining and keeping me captivated and turning the pages, crack for my mind.

What about you, have you read the series or do you want too?

It’s been a long time! Too long.

So, this is where I make excuses, right? Wrong. I blame it on my personality and sun sign. I’m a cancer. We’re nurturers and that’s what I’ve been doing for a long time. I put myself, my dreams on the back burner and it’s time to get them back. I’m not going to lie, I’m scared as hell. I haven’t written beyond a blog post or a couple of chapters in what feels like forever. I’m not going to totally reinvent myself, but in some ways, I have too. I’m starting baby steps towards getting what little career in being an author I had and transforming it into a big career. Or at least I hope I can. So, here I go again. I’m digging in and writing a story that’s been in my head for a lot of years. It should be easy right? Not really. I have to step outside of my comfort zone on this one and go to a place that hit way too close to home. But it needs to be told in one form or another. I have more than two stories in me, I suppose it’s time to prove to myself that I can do it. Wish me luck!

I love to DIY. Seriously and I love re-purposing old things and making them look new again. I found a new site called Pinterest and I can’t stop searching on it and the ideas I’m getting are wow, not in this lifetime could I do everything and one of the things I plan on doing for the upcoming baby showers I’ll be attending, but I won’t show anyone until I’m done because, well, the people I’m making them for could potentially look over here and well, it needs to be a surprise.

Did I tell anyone that in May or maybe sooner, I’m going to be an Aunt again? I am! I’m getting a brand new, baby nephew. *bouncing* Considering the youngest of my nieces and nephews just turned nine in October of last year, I’m in dire need of a baby that I can cuddle and smell and then hand back to his parents.

Okay, so back to Pinterest. There are all kinds of things that you can do over there. One of the authors even started pining (that’s what it’s called) pictures of her characters. I LOVE that idea. Love it. What a neat thing to be able to do and then perhaps point people that way and save some memory on your computer.

Can you tell I love this site? Some of the photography on there is amazing as well and the quotes…when I couldn’t write I was making signs, because it’s a creative outlet. There are some many quotes that I’d love to make…but I fear I’d run out of wall space. I made this one….and I’m finishing this post so that I can go practice what this sign preaches….

I’m finally free of Yahoo! I switched everything over to one place. Soooo much easier! So, with that,  heatherraescott.net was born. I’ll be changing things up. New year-new look. And I’m actually going to start writing again! I have an excellent idea and as it transforms into something, I’ll let you know. No title yet, but I may get everyone to help me come up with one. So stay tuned, 2012 is going to be a better year than 2011 was. I don’t know about the rest of you, but I was so glad to see the New Year come in. What are you looking forward to this year?

I’m watching the Nate Berkus show and they’re talking to women who work from home. I wish I could call him and have him make over my office space since my husband has tunnel vision right now when it comes to hunting. I’ll become a widow in two weeks. A hunting widow. Although, truthfully, I already feel like one and I tend to avoid him a lot because I know it sounds horrible, but hunting is not my thing, kinda like writing is not his.  Only, I don’t bludgen him to death with talks of adverbs, dangling participles and so on. He bludgens me with bullets and gun accessories–mostly the ones he cannot win on ebay…but I digress.

We need a freezer–we’ve needed one. I found one. BUT guess where the hubby suggests it goes? My office space. *insert huge sigh here* I always loose my space. So, I need to think fast and decide where I want my stuff to go and how I want to do it and do it while he’s at work so that it’s done and he can’t steal my space. Maybe I’ll take the small space in the basement where all his fishing crap is. Maybe then he’ll think about taking my space again.

Or I should show him this show and the importance of having a space when you work from home. Maybe then he’d take the things I do with a little more appreciation, because I think he thinks I just sit here playing around like he does at night during the day, especially when the only place sometimes I can be is in the living room. When the house is quiet, I can get some things done. But if they’re here. Fuggedaboutit!

What about you? Do you have a great office or are you like me struggling for space?

Decisions make or break us. As human beings, we’re always facing some sort of decision. Some are small like what brand of bread to buy. Should I take this job? Can I afford to quit this one? Should I become a member of this booster club or even the PTA. Others are larger, like when we buy a car or a house and others even bigger like when to start a family. There are the heart-breaking decisions that people have to make concerning animals and even our loved ones. Parental decisions, life decisions. They mold us, shape us and even define us. I don’t ever remember making a conscious decision to quit writing—but it happened and for that I’m extremely sorry. I snuffed the light inside of me and I’m trying bit by bit to rekindle the flame that used to burn bright.

Years ago a very dear friend of mine sent me Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott. It’s a book about writing told not so much as a how to, but more of a realistic way to look at writing. I highly recommend it to everyone. She had me laughing out loud, nodding my head and I could completely relate to the majority, if not all of the things she said. I’ve been pondering a blog post about decisions, because I’ve made some lousy ones as of late, and for some reason, Anne’s voice popped into my head about her radio station she heard in her head called KFKD. It doesn’t take a Rocket Scientist to figure out what the letters stand for. It’s the radio station that plays in our heads 24/7. The channel playing in one ear is constant self-aggrandizement. You’re wonderful, you’re talented, you’re brilliant. The other ear plays a constant stream of bitter self-doubt. You suck. You quit. You’re talentless, worthless. Nobody will ever read or enjoy your writing ever again because you stopped. But then I have static that sprinkles into this station. Life’s static that bogs you down and let me tell you, if I took away the drama from January until July, I would be golden. I broke my own rule about becoming drama free from one issue and ended up being sucked into the drama pit of a much worse one. But it was my decision because it involved something that was so important to me—family.

After months of being pulled in this direction, yanked in that direction it came to a head. Words were said that cannot be taken back and feelings were sliced to the bone. It was a hard lesson learned, but I realized that I don’t miss the static. In fact, for the first time in a long time,  I’m looking forward to drama-free holidays this year. There’s no one to worry about offending or pleasing. Except for me and my little family unit.

So decisions. I let the radio station rule me in all aspects of my life. I neglected myself and stopped being true to my dreams. Writing. They say that writing is like riding a bike, you can always get back on and ride it. They lied. Maybe it is for some people, but for me, it’s more like learning something new. My brain was conditioned to listen to the voices in my head, to see the vivid scenes and they’d just spew out of me as if I were watching a movie. I’d get a sprig of dialogue here, a glimpse of a face, another bit of dialogue and so on. I’d also made the decision to try and please everyone-a flaw I seem to possess. I became a proposal gal. I had the ideas, I had the names, I had the plot. But when it came to writing beyond a chapter or four, I couldn’t do it. So being the proposal girl got me absolutely nowhere. I stopped writing for me and writing towards something. I sold myself out.

I won’t be doing that again anytime soon. So, for me, NanoWriMo this year isn’t necessarily about winning, because if I can write beyond chapter four this month, with everything that I have going on, I’ll consider myself a winner. I’d love to push myself or get to a place where the words start flowing and spewing like they did a few years ago and I hope against hope that I can. But just writing—forcing myself to sit down and write something every day has helped a lot. The words are by no means great words at the moment, but with some editing and revising, I think I have one helluva story AND the ideas are coming again. So, I’m making another decision. The decision to write every day no matter what, even if it’s for an hour. Eventually, I will have a book to submit somewhere again and little by little the flame burning is what I hear instead of the static that is KFKD.

What decisions do you need to make? What does your KFKD radio station say to you?

Last year, Harlequin.com sponsored a week long writing type boot camp with chats, discussions and a chance to sell your book to fifty editors. People often ask authors how they do things. Not everyone writes exactly the same, not every author feels comfortable enough to instruct people. Some of us still struggle on a daily basis to find our muse and as our lives change, so does our writing time and ways of doing things. I know there’s a saying about those who can-can, those who can’t teach. Even though sometimes I can’t, I most assuredly would hate to steer someone in the wrong direction.

This week is for everyone reading this who has said to me, “I want to write a romance book.” Whether it was in person, on Facebook, in a chat…There’s going to be a plethora of information that you can use. Advice, tips, tricks and best of all, editors who are taking time out of their busy schedules to chat one on one with YOU. And even if you don’t want to write for category romance, there are things that extend into other venues as well. So, to me, this is a total win-win situation. And if you miss a chat, we’re posting transcripts. So even if you have to work during the scheduled chats, you can still read them.

So, this week is for you! You can start out here. If you do come to a chat, you can shout out to me. I’m Rae-Harlequin Host.