Happy 2013

Holy CRAP! I haven't written anything on here since October??? Many apologies, although I think I remember warning you guys it might happen again!

I've been extremely busy lately. I didn't even get to really focus on my writing during the past few months. I'm hoping that's something I can correct this year. Speaking of which... HAPPY 2013!

I proposed to my girlfriend of 4 years on Christmas Eve and she said yes! So now we're engaged and we couldn't be happier. Still not sure about the exact date, but we're thinking November.

So, that's the big news with me. Probably deserves a longer post, but this will have to do for now. :)

Here's a post... because I'm slacking on the ol' blog again!

I know. You're all shocked. I really need to do a better job of keeping this thing updated.

My apologies. It's been pretty busy around here. Mainly, my girlfriend and I finally moved into an apartment a few weeks ago. After living all of this time at home with my family, it feels good to finally get out there and have a place I can call my own--well for seven months, at least. We're hoping to find an actual home by the time our lease is up (although we're so in love with our apartment, I don't think it'd be overly devastating if we ended up having to stay for a little bit longer).

I know, this is something I should've done a long, long time ago. But it really worked out for the best. I was able to save a lot of money while living at home. I worked, so it wasn't like I was mooching off my parents. It's hard to turn down a free roof over your head. And when you're not in a relationship, then you feel like there's no rush to leave.

But once I finally got into a wonderful relationship, I knew it was time to get out and finally find a place.

We're loving the new place. I should post some more pics. If you're on Instagram, you can follow me on there. I'm "mdrabbles" (yes, I'm sooooo original it's scary. I suck at coming up with user names, so lay off!) I've taken a bunch of pictures of our cats taking advantage of our new home--and constantly stealing my chair.

In fact, here's one of them. While both cats love the chair, Bubbles (or Bubbs) seems to be the repeat offender:

So overall, we couldn't be happier. And that's one of the main reasons why you haven't heard from me for a while... other than... you know... me just being terrible at keeping a regular blogging schedule.

I've done very little writing, but I'm doing my best to correct that. Working on something right now. Another problem was I had a pretty nasty fight with writer's block--well, I don't know if I can call it that. I had ideas, but none of them worked when I tried to execute them. All writers hit a rough patch or a dry spell every now and then. I've still written little prompts for myself, so at the very least I'm still writing something.

That's all for now. Hopefully I'll remember to do another post before 2015.

Milestone!

I just wanted to thank you all. Yesterday I hit a pretty big milestone. I ended up selling my 5,000th book. I still can't believe it. When I started this, I really thought I'd sell a couple here and there. I had no idea these books would reach so many.

You guys are the best! Thanks for all of your wonderful support. It really means the world to me. Have a great day!

Tumblr: My new home

Don't panic. I'm still going to post here, but I think this blog is going to be more about my writing, projects, etc.

I joined Tumblr a few weeks ago (you can follow me at http://mdrabbles.tumblr.com/). I'm still tweaking it here and there, and I'm still trying to figure out how I want to use it.

But I will say this... it is very random. Hence the title, "Random Shenanigans."

Kind of like my Twitter account, this is going to be me posting about a bunch of random things. The vibe I'm getting over there, I feel a bit more free to do whatever I want. Of course, I can do whatever I want here as well, but for some reason I feel like I have to stick to a certain structure.

On my Tumblr, I'll be re-blogging a bunch of pics that catch my attention; I'll post some random thoughts/entries; oh--and I'll be posting a BUNCH about Breaking Bad, so let that be a warning to you!

I'll still post here, but again, I might keep this more as a writing blog. Who knows? I might not even be able to keep up with my Tumblr page. But I figure what the hell? Might as well give it a shot.

Hope to see you all there!

I'm writing, NOT slacking! (I think...)

I started work on a potential haunted house story a few weeks ago. I think it shows some promise, but I haven’t been able to do any work on it this week.

Slacker.

Yes, I’m slacking. No, actually it’s been pretty busy at work… so it’s been a bit tougher to sneak in some quality writing time. Hope to get some done over the weekend. I always feel better when I get a little bit of writing done.

A little bit is always better than none.

Oh, and I'm also on Tumblr now. Just joined maybe a few days ago.

Time to get some serious writing done

I think I've figured out why I've been in such a writing rut. For the past month or two, I've been driven to try my hand at something longer, like a novella or a novel. It's just not happening now. Not to say that'll never happen (it will, I'm sure), but you can't force anything when it comes to writing. Because that's how it'll turn out. Sounding very forced. I need to get back to what I'm good at: short stories. If one of those stories end up wanting to be a novel, fantastic.

Short stories may not make me a bestseller, but then again I never became a writer to get rich or sell millions of books. The fact is short stories will always be my strong point when it comes to writing.

And I'm not saying that I'll never write a novel, or should make an attempt. I should, but the time isn't right. Right now, I just want to write. ANYTHING. A little bit of writing is far better than no writing at all.

So thanks again for all of your support! Let's see if I can find a story that needs to be told.

Writing rut

I'm stuck in one of those ruts where it feels like everything I write isn't working. These ruts happen from time to time, but they're still annoying as hell. Nothing breaks my spirit more than working on a project and then feeling like it isn't clicking. Then when you try to move onto something completely different, you still get the same result.

I'm probably overthinking my stories. That is almost always the reason for such a rut. I think I have to get complicated with characters and storylines when I should stick to what I do best, which is keeping it simple.

Still, I'm not letting it bring me down too much. I'm doing plenty of reading, which is always the next best thing when you feel like you're in a tough spot. Reading classics from Vonnegut and company always cheers me up.

Of course, there are times when I curse myself for even calling myself a writer when I read a masterpiece like MOTHER NIGHT or CAT'S CRADLE.

I'll snap out of it. I always do in the end.