My Ground Hog’s Day Spectacular…with 50 First Dates!

Have you ever felt like you are trapped in the same day – everyday and that there is no escaping it?  I have. It is not always the same day everyday…most of it is the same—just small variations make adjustments of the outcome.

If you have every watched Bill Murray in “Ground Hog’s Day”, you may have been amused…even laughed a couple times or through the entire movie. I wish that it were that simple to laugh about.

*DEEP BREATH*

For those of you who are not familiar with my life, let me explain to you that my husband was injured three years ago in a construction accident. He was hit in the head (while wearing a hard hat – thank goodness!) with a 9 foot steel beam that fell 12 feet.

They diagnosed him with TBI (Traumatic Brain Injury). He suffers from continuous pain that is sort of like a migraine, short term memory issues, behavior issues, and blanks out to where he sort of spaces out and walks around and ends up in places that he does not remember going. This has resulted in him not being able to hold a job or drive. Plus they just told us this is all permanent and he is unfixable.

So when I say Ground Hog’s Day that relates to his short term memory. If you have ever watched “50 First Dates” with Drew Barrymore and Adam Sandler…then understand that he is my Drew. Once he goes to bed, the slate wipes clean and we start over. He is supposed to keep a journal so that he knows what happened, but doesn’t always do that. So for those of you who have had a marital spat…try having the same one three days in a row because your husband forgot that you told him something or forgot that you already had that fight.

Things have been hard on us for awhile now with this work related injury alone…but I must keep going because we have five children. Two are his, two are mine and one if ours together. His daughter lives with her mother and the other four live with us. Well that was up until two months ago. My 16 year old daughter moved out and moved in with her father because she couldn’t be in the same house with my husband’s behavior issues or lack of good behavior. This broke my heart but I am dealing thinking that the medications that they are giving my husband will eventually help him and we will get him in a good place. In the mean time…I miss my daughter terribly.

One minute he is supportive of my writing, the next he is tearing the internet satellite out of the ground with the tractor…so for those of you that I was beta reading for—it is not that I was trying to slack—I love the work you are doing and it is all brilliant and hope that you send me more. I just had to start trying to squeeze things in on my lunch hours and at breaks at work. I even got an iPhone with internet…

I can come home and if he is bored from staying home he will rip a room apart to be remodeled and then I am stuck with cleaning up a mess and spending all of my free time redoing a room. So he is a box of chocolates because you never know what you are going to get when you go home. He could be nice, sweet, loveable, bitter, jealous, rude…basically my own Jekyll and Hyde.  So if there are any of you out there that have a loved one that is suffering with a traumatic brain injury, you are not alone. I know how you feel and may know what you go through.

So when I say I am muddling through…that is what I am trying to do. So tell me my wonderful faithfuls that keep me motivated and that I adore very much…have you ever had anything that you would call your groundhog’s day or even have the same dream over and over again?

Of course you know this is why I have so many raw emotions to use in my writing and so many ideas. Writing is my escape and it has saved me more times than I can count. It keeps me sane.

Volleyball Season is in Session...Whoot!

Last night our girls had their first volleyball scrimmage of the season. That officially kicked off the season. They played for two hours. About four different matches and different types of scrimmages. It was awesome. GO SEEGER! WHOOT! WHOOT ! It was an eye opening experience and one that made me realize that I really need one of those comfy cushiony thingys for my rump that was numb for an hour after that.

Bleachers are not made for comfort. I kid you not...Some may look pretty, but they are tricky little flat demons that pain your tail bone on purpose. Anyway. Yeah, can't wait for more games. We have two a week, meaning that my schedule is about to become hectic. Volleyball will be Tuesdays, Thursdays and some Saturdays and football every Friday night. PLUS...yes, there is a PLUS. Little one starts peanut football practice on the 24th and will have practices on some of the same nights that I have volleyball. Can we say crazy?

Lots of coffee and who knows what else (insert any prescription name here)will have to get me through. Maybe that is what is wrong with me lately. I haven't been chaotic enough. I seem to do better under stress. I have slacked off on my writing, editing...ya know, stuff. I am still beta reading and still jotting down ideas and some things for some of the WIPs I am working on, but...I lost motivation along the way. It will find me again though soon, like a stalker in the night sneaking up on its prey. It will find me, oh yes, it will.

And I say BRING IT ON! I am ready for my minions to head off to school and will try to get back on track.

What makes a title?

I’m sure that many of you have been through this before and are still struggling with this now.  How do you find the perfect title for you manuscript?  You have just spent so much time, weeks, months, even years working on perfecting your most treasured work…now what do you call it?

Where do you get inspiration for a name for your book? Where do you look for a name? Does it just come to you easily or are you someone who struggles with it?  I know that they say sometimes when you sign with a publisher that when they read your manuscript, they may want to make changes and may want to change the name. Can you live with that?

I mean that I have around six to seven WIPs…some I have titled. But I don’t know if they are solid titles. I know that there are some that I feel very strongly about and some I am mediocre about because I need to differentiate my works because I would be completely confused if I called them all untitled…lol.

Some titles come to me in my sleep or during the middle of the day. I have even just been listening to music and a title comes to mind. Sometimes I come up with titles that have nothing to do with any of the WIPs that I am writing but I write them down …just in case.

So tell me, where do you get your inspiration for a title?

What is your sanity?

I often wonder how my days fly by without me even knowing where the time goes.
Example.

Yesterday.
Wake up and get ready for work - get kids off to school.
Go to work and work on items throughout the day until my lunch hour.
Lunch hour I leave for a doctor's appointment.
Get done from doctor get back to work late.
Leave work at closing time, pick up boys and drop them off home.
Go to town to pick up a prescription and visit with mother -in- law.
Leave her town to drive back home.
Go to pharmacy to fill prescription.
Get home fix dinner, help kindergartener with homework.
Eat dinner and then go to bed by nine.

Then wonder why I don't have time to write when I want. I have to stay up uber late to get anything accomplished. Days vary with tasks that need accomplished after work. Groceries, sporting events, programs to attend, etc. Sometimes balance is not always achieved, but that is the consequence of the beast of family and career and writing hobby. Yes writing is classified as a hobby for now because I cannot devote enough time to it to pay the bills. I will never give this hobby up because it is also my sanity. It keeps me grounded and helps me escape when I need to from time to time. I can go to another world and become another person for a little while before I have to step back into my shoes. I love my life and would not change it for the world, but sometimes we all need a little distraction and writing is a wonderful distraction for me. It is my survival technique. Many of us have them for different aspects of our lives to overcome and prevail. So for those of you writers out there, keep writing. I believe in you and your abilities.