Laura Bowers

February has just flown by, hasn’t it? It feels like I just wrote my January post and now it’s time to once again chat about the stories I enjoyed last month! This list is short since I spent a lot of time prepping for the Princess Half Marathon, doing business and rental tax work, and spending many evenings working on 2018’s Princess video recaps in a last-ditch effort. ( I knocked out the Expo, Princess 5k, and Enchanted 10k but I ran out of time for the half marathon. Drat.)

So rather than reading more, I ended up watching TV and a movie I’ve already seen as a way to relax while packing or doing costume work. Starting with…

As part of my goal to live with intention this year, I’m tracking the stories I consume each month in a journal! My husband raises an amused eyebrow whenever I bring my journal to the living room, but this really helped cure my SADDA habit. (Story Attention Deficiet Disorder.) Now rather than hopping back and forth between TV shows or abandoning good books after only a few chapters, I’m more focused and enjoying stories more!

I wasted time yesterday morning in the most delicious, productive way. (Yes, that is possible!) For some reason, I got the hankering to visit my YouTube channel for the first time in about two years. (I also discovered a year-old review of Beauty Shop for Rent, but I avoided watching it because my self-esteem couldn’t take the possible negative hit.)

Oh, my poor neglected channel with its six videos and nine subscribers. (Not that I’m complaining about the nine … I’m rather thankful they’ve stuck around.) With chocolate-flavored coffee in hand, I watched a video from a builder show we attended back in 2016 that might seem boring to some, but made me smile. [continue reading…]

I must admit: The title alone was the first thing that drew me to Unfuck Yourself, by Gary John Bishop. Those who know me well knows how f***ed up I’ve been with my writing for the past six years after Just Flirt came out. Actually, the few people who have been reading this blog for any amount of time has most likely come to that conclusion as well. I won’t get into a long, boring story about why I’ve fallen into a major writing slump … that’s a tale for a different day. Instead, I’ll just summarize by saying every writer has mental demons.

Mine have been winning. Like, seriously winning. [continue reading…]

So this past Tuesday, I did something that I haven’t done in a long, long time: I FINISHED A MANUSCRIPT!!! Maybe this doesn’t sound like a big deal since I’ve already published two novels, (also a long, long time ago,) but to me, it’s MAJOR. Finishing a novel has been on my quarterly goals list for … wow, years. The mid-grade novel I’ve just finished, Heroes, Wish, and Trailer Park Hitches, showed up on this year’s first quarter as well as my 2017 Third Quarter list. Completing A Year of Happy Endings was on my 2017 Second Quarter post over at Joyful Miles plus this novel made it on my 2017 First Quarter as well.

But no matter how much I claimed writing as being my number one goal … I just. Couldn’t. Finish. ANYTHING. [continue reading…]