Monday’s Pen to Paper: My Writing Process Blog Tour
Recently I was asked by fellow blogger Lisa Gouldy, to join her in a Blog Tour. The idea behind a blog tour is to expose readers to new writers and to share information about their writing life. I have done one before and decided to jump right in.
Lisa and I met in a young adult writing class at the Hugo House last spring. When she introduced her book RELIVE, I was hooked. I can’t wait for her book to be published because I love the storyline’s unique twist on classic time travel. In her book, RELIVE, everyone can travel through time to the future, where they can watch recordings of their lives to see how the choices they’re planning to make will turn out. If they don’t like what they see, they can make different choices.
Lisa is an attorney by day and aspiring young adult novelist by night. Her blog Planning for Sun shares stories of her adventures as an aspiring novelist, experimental cook, and novice gardener who is always chasing the sun.
BLOG TOUR QUESTIONS ON MY WRITING LIFE:
What am I currently working on?
My heart is in YA right now and my current novel is a story of a young woman’s journey through a post-apocalyptic world.
“Dylan wakes in a post-apocalyptic world where a majority of the human species have died. With no friends or family left alive in her small town in central Washington, Dylan embarks on a challenging journey across the state in search of her sister, her strength and ultimately her future.”
How does my work differ from others of its genre?
Often post-apocalyptic titles take place quite some time following the event that has changed the landscape and political structure of the world. My novel bridges that gap between the […]
PeaceLoveBasketball Friday: The Secret Life of Teens
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I turned on the Today Show during a segment about prescription drug abuse by teens when I was folding clothes this morning. I felt sick inside. I have two teens and I know many more as a high school basketball coach.
It was frightening to hear about the abuse that is going on. The life’s lost. There is such easy access to prescription drugs for kids. Some just reach into their parent’s medicine cabinets for pills, while others are GIVEN prescriptions from their parent’s bottles.
In the documentary “Out of Reach,” by 17-year old by Cyrus Stowe, a teen tells of parties where kids bring pills from their parent’s prescription bottles and toss them all into a big bowl. Then the teens reach in and take pills at random.
I told my husband about this and he said, “Why would they do that?”
It just scares me to think about it. Maybe that’s it? The danger. The thrill of the unknown. But perhaps the teens truly don’t understand how much danger is involved. Maybe some think, “Hey it’s prescribed by a doctor, my […]
Monday’s Pen to Paper: Back to Basics
This week I need to go back to the basics. Stop over-thinking and worrying, and instead reestablish my writing goals and just sit down and write.
Join me, grab your computer or a pen and paper and lets get to work…
WRITING PROMPT #1: Three writing goals that I have set for myself are…
WRITING PROMPT #2: Lucinda scanned the area around her and then with great care picked up the…
PeaceLoveBasketball Friday: Learning to Love Mornings (or at least appreciate them)
One of the players that I coach asked if I could open the gym at 6:15 AM so that she could work out. YES of course! (Who can say no to that kind of enthusiasm? Especially from a 17-year-old Senior). It’s not basketball season, so I can’t coach, but I can open the gym and let my team, and anyone from the high school, use the facility.
I scheduled to have the gym Monday and Wednesday mornings since I play basketball Tuesday and Thursday mornings at the YMCA. And I decided that if I was going to be at the gym, it would be a good opportunity for me to get back into good shape. I’ve been nursing a bad hamstring for a while so I haven’t been working out the way I need to, to stay in basketball condition and this lack of movement has also started to rearrange my body in a way that I’m not crazy about.
6:15AM? A win-win.
I’m really not a morning person, but I’m learning to use the dawn hours to my advantage. This Monday and Wednesday I put together a light “Crossfit” routine and told the kids at the gym, “This is what I’m doing this morning, feel free to join me.” And they did. (Though something tells me they didn’t join me in my soreness.)
Afterward, each player grabbed a basketball and did whatever they wanted to do. Most shot around and I just rebounded (since I’m not allowed to coach). But, I was smiling. How could I not be, when there were a group of girls that had given up sleep to hit the gym.
Find ways to enjoy all the hours of your day…
Meet Sonya
Meet Sonya
Sonya Elliott’s memoir, Back on the Court: A Young Woman’s Triumphant Return to Life, Love & Basketball, is her story of finding hope in the wake of tragedy after she and her fiancé were hit by a train. She blogs about writing, basketball, and life and is currently working on a Young Adult Novel and a Non-Fiction Coaching book. Stories of her career as a fashion model are woven through her memoir, as both the Soloflex and Easy Spirit Shoes commercials were filmed during that time period, and this unique and intriguing business continues to be a part of her life.
Sonya played basketball at Eastern Washington University and was a starter for the Big Sky Champion team that went to the 1987 NCAA tournament. She coached for almost 25 years and was voted Seattle Times Coach of the Year, Seattle Officials Women’s Basketball Association Coach of the Year, and twice voted Metro League Coach of the Year. She loves the game of basketball and is thankful, not only for her husband and kids but for her ability to continue to get back on the court.
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Monday’s Pen to Paper: Growing Hip
Honey 1919-2015
I’m trying to grow hip as I grow older. My husband always tells people that he wants to be like my grandma, Honey, when he is old. “She was HIP,” he explains and then goes on to talk about how she was current with news, sports and of course politics. (She and my grandpa leaned to the left, which I loved.) She stayed relevant with her grand and great-grand kids, up until she was in her late 90’s. Her great-grands loved her, chatted with her, played cards with her (She played a mean hand of Bridge or any card game for that matter) and learned from her until she was gone, and that is cool. HIP.
Honey wasn’t perfect, but she was darn close. She was an amazing grandmother to me, and just […]
Monday’s Pen to Paper: Tidying House & Soul
Bags of stuff to donate
I’m on a mission. Over the past several years my house has gotten cluttered. I can usually keep the main level livable but the rest is getting overtaken with stuff. Anytime we have company, extra things get tossed in my office. I can’t even work in my office anymore, it’s much too crowded. When I write I go to the kitchen, it’s open, has lots of light and is relatively uncluttered, but it would be nice to be able to use my office if I felt like it.
So the daunting task is underway. It started a couple of weeks ago when my kids and I cleared out their rooms. We sent bags of clothes to Goodwill, and then I hit my closet and did the same. This week I focused on my office, the worst room […]
PeaceLoveBasketball Friday: The Power of Positive
I love quotes. I use a couple of my own from time to time and I love finding quotes that fuel me.
If I talk to one of my kids before their games I always end with, “Play hard and have fun!” When I sign my memoir I use, “Always believe in you.” And when I was coaching I searched out quotes to encourage and inspire. Our locker room walls were covered in quotes, my coaches and I would text quotes to the players and I would use quotes in my pre-game speeches. Our team was surrounded with positive energy, added fuel to the fire of our intended goals.
During the five years that I was head coach, I watched the energy change with our team. My final year, we were in no way perfect, but we grew as a team and placed […]
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