Musings on a Sunday morning

[azhure]

Life is slowly beginning to settle down into something vaguely resembling a routine. A very, very loose routine Liam is sleeping better in general, and some days even manages to nap for several hours at a time. Right now, most of that time is being spent dealing with house stuff or obsessively researching baby stuff. I really need to start getting some writing and reading of non-baby books back into my day.

So. I need to set myself some goals.

I’m not going to be able to write and read the way that I did before Liam was born, not for a while, anyway. But I can do something, at least. Which brings me to the question – what is a reasonable amount of work for me to cope with right now?

I’d like to start working on a first draft of Never, but I don’t think I know enough about that story yet. The logical thing is to begin working on the next draft of The White Raven. I think I’m going to approach this almost as though I was writing a complete new draft. Which isn’t the most productive way to go about it, but it’ll work.

First thing I need to do is get organised. Which means importing all of my drafts, outlines and character sketches into Scrivener. And going through all the feedback I have from beta readers to figure out what things I need to change. Hell, I might even write a proper outline before writing this draft.

Which boils down to this: you can expect something more than just photos of Liam on this blog now I probably won’t return to any kind of proper metrics until I start working on the draft (and then they’re likely to look pathetic for a while) but I will, if anyone is interested, go into details of how I’m trying to balance life with a new baby and writing.

Which leads me to my next question – where are all of the writermama blogs out there? Are there any that you read and find useful?

Mirrored from Stephanie Gunn.

Comments

[kathleenfoucart.livejournal.com]

I don't have kids, but I've heard good things about this book: http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Writer-Mama/Christina-Katz/e/9781582974415/?itm=1&USRI=Writer+Mama

And I know she's on Twitter & has a blog (just not sure what it is... google her name, maybe?)

Might be worth a read?

[azhure.livejournal.com]

I've been following her on Twitter (as much as I've been keeping up with it) - have ordered her book now, too :)

[ltlpengy.livejournal.com]

you'd think there would be some writing mama blogs...good luck with getting everything organised.

More photos of Liam are always nice.

[whitecrow0.livejournal.com]

I have no idea who is on your friends list, but I recommend haikujaguar.

[felicitydowker.livejournal.com]

Well, for what it's worth, I'm a writermama. Two kids. I'm always happy to chat. Email anytime. Can't say I necessarily talk sense, though. ;o)

I think lots of us writermamas don't actually blog about our kids (I know I rarely do, I'm a bit funny about discussing them in detail online), for varying reasons. I know I do love reading about it when people do blog about it (case in point is that I've been stalking your wonderful Liam posts!).

I'll watch with interest to see what sites are recommended to you!

[dameboudicca.livejournal.com]

Not that I can't understand why Liam takes so much of your time and all - rightly so of course, and the photos of him are really cute - but it would be fun to read something about your writing again too! *cheering on*

[azhure.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I think *I'd* be bored reading my blog atm ;)

[stephanieburgis.livejournal.com]

I love Rebecca Woolf's blogs: Straight from the Bottle (http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/straightfromthebottle/default.aspx) and Girl's Gone Child (http://www.girlsgonechild.net/).

I also love Stephany Aulenbeck's blog, Crooked House (http://crookedhouse.typepad.com/crookedhouse/).

[azhure.livejournal.com]

Subscribed to them all :) Thank you!

[dang-dodo-ditty.livejournal.com]

Not relevant to your writing post, but I wanted to ask you - what kind of diet are you following atm? I remember you posting a while ago about vegetarianism and such, and I was curious what you kept up with. I've been reading a lot online lately about vegan pregnancies etc.

[azhure.livejournal.com]

At the moment, I'm an omnivore. I haven't posted about this, mostly because I fear getting flack from people for moving away from veg*nism.

It wasn't really my first choice. I'd always planned on staying vegan, or at least vegetarian, during pregnancy. I know quite a few people who've done so successfully, so I knew it wouldn't be a problem from a nutritional standpoint. But I got *massive* food aversions, most of which were to foods that were staples in my diet (Most vegetables were well off the menu, along with all soy products). I didn't want to put my baby at risk, and so I just went along with what I could eat.

Right now, I'm still an omnivore, but thinking about changing back to some form of vegetarianism if I can do so successfully without impacting breastfeeding.

[dang-dodo-ditty.livejournal.com]

You should totally do what you feel is right for your body, above all else. When I was weak with hunger in Peru, and sick, I ate the non vegan food because it was all I could get for a while. I felt rotten and a little ill, but not as ill as I would have been if I passed out in the street. You do what you can at the present time. I would hope people wouldn't give you flak for that.

These are the two articles I was reading, if you are interested:

- The Vegetarian Resource Group
http://www.vrg.org/nutrition/veganpregnancy.htm

- The Vegan Society (http://www.vegansociety.com/)
http://www.vegansociety.com/uploadedFiles/References_and_Resources/Downloads/Babies%20and%20Children%202009.pdf


When I decide to spawn, I'm going to spend some serious time with a nutritionist, for a good time before I even try to conceive, so that I can get in good shape, before all the hormonal fun starts.