I have a writing buddy!!

I am so glad I married into this family. You have no idea how grateful I am that of all the people I could pick to marry, I picked one with a fabulous mother-in-law. We have always talked to each other about creativity, since she is an artist and I am not. She helped me improve my sketching, and mentioned that she used to write little stories. I encouraged her to work on those stories.

When I told her about my friday nights in California, she offered to write with me here in Washington. Our first writing session was today!

We didn’t go anywhere special. We went to a Safeway store nearby and hung out at the tables next to their deli. We each got ourselves something to drink, settled down with a notebook, and wrote.

I have a confession to make. I did not work on Life of a Suburban Unicorn. I wrote a short story for the first time in two years. It felt real good. I wrote it all the way to the end, expanded on it in a few notes on deepening it, and then closed the notebook with no plans to look at the story again. I’m sure I will some day, but for now it’s okay to leave it where it’s at. In my notebook.

I guess writing that short must have triggered some memories, because I came home write away and started submitting a short story I’ve had hanging around for ages. I take it out and read it sometimes because I love it so much. I change a word or two. I put it away. Now it’s time to send it out there and see if someone else loves it. Cross your fingers.

If it succeeds, it will be my first publication under the name A.M. Kuska, and my first published story in WA. Wish me the best of luck!

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Dear Coffee, I love you.

Like most aspiring authors, I do not have a wealthy sponsor to tuck me away in a private villa while I work on my literary masterpieces. Writing must be fit around more mundane tasks, like for example going to work. For the record, I love my job. My boss is fantastic, my co-workers are people I’m willing to hang out with after work, and who wouldn’t love working with puppies all day long? The job isn’t the problem. It’s the whole concept of waking up in order to go to it.

What’s worse is, if I want to write, I have to get up even earlier. My least favorite part of the day? 6AM. My husband compares me to the robot from Wall-E before his batteries are charged. I remain that way until either a cold shower has blasted me into a vague sort of alertness, or I get a cup of coffee.

Guess which option is my favorite.

I’m currently nursing cup number two as I work on this post, and try not to think too hard on chapter three. (I know what needs to happen. I don’t know how to say it.) Coffee gets me going in the morning, and without it my writing would be drastically reduced. What do you do to give your writing a boost?