Tag: Secret Past

Music Sooths the Savage Beast

by eileentroemel, posted in Life, Writing

In my office, I generally allow student workers to pick the music so long as it is work appropriate.  I’m pretty easy when it comes to music.  I’ll listen to almost anything.  However, the last few weeks I’ve been on a kick of classical and celtic music. 

I find this music helps me focus and shut out the chaos that can reign in my office.  I’ve been struggling with the chaos.  It isn’t that the chaos is new or overwhelming.  It is more that my stress level has been high enough without the chaos. 

The change in music has helped me focus more on what needs to get done and less on the chaos.  It helps me work through all of it without becoming overwhelmed by any of it. 

Normally I’m pretty even keeled about just getting stuff done.  Now and again, something will make me grumble but generally at work I just go with the flow and handle what needs to be handled.  This summer hasn’t gone well for me in that area as I’ve had other stresses in life. 

Something as simple as changing the music I’m listening to helps me get more balanced and centered.  This puts me back in a good place at work and keeps me from strangling people (mostly) or grumbling at my student workers which they appreciate.

I’ve also noticed when I’m writing that I like to have classical music going.  It is background noise mostly.  I listen to Pandora through the Roku and I’ll notice the same song being played and become annoyed.  Then I have to remind myself that the last time I heard it was two or three hours previously.  When I get to this point, I usually turn the music off but that is also a good signal that it might be time for me to quit writing – especially if it is around midnight.

Music helps me to smooth out the rough edges of my day and cope with anything thrown at me.  It is an equalizer for me in maintaining my balance.

Check out my four books:
Secret Past
Available on Barnes and Nobles:
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/secret-past-eileen-troemel/1119169953?ean=9781499159868
Available for sale at:https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/426548
Available on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Secret-Past-Eileen-Troemel-ebook/dp/B00JL38Z7C/ref=la_B00JL4PEJ8_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1398097355&sr=1-1

Moon Affirmations  Daily Meditations Using the Moon Phase to Focus Your Energy

Moments in Nature

Moments in Spirit

Available at Smashwords:  https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/461839
Available on Amazon:  http://www.amazon.com/Moments-Spirit-Eileen-Troemel-ebook/dp/B00MDKBO5A/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1407857733&sr=8-3&keywords=Eileen+Troemel

Playing on the teeter totter

by eileentroemel, posted in Life, Writing

Balance is important in life.  I know this but like most people I struggle with finding the time to do all the things that are important.  Like a teeter totter, balance is difficult to maintain.

It was a good day yesterday stepping out of writing mode and hanging with friends to do a double feature of movies and dinner.  I got a bit of everything yesterday.  I ran errands, worked on writing production, had fun with friends, and talked to my girls.

Last night while Ken watched football, I opened up a file of a story I’m trying to get finished.  I have two books done and am part way through the third.  The intention is to finish the story in the third book.  With all the tasks on these books, I get lost in the work and don’t make time to write.  Since I seem to be in a writing mood, I’ve started reading this series again to get back to telling the story.

I also took time out of writing mode to talk to my girls.  I video chatted with two of them and talked on the phone with the third one.

In my head, I know where I’m going but I just need to get it down on paper.  To do that I need to be less concerned with editing the second book and more concerned with finishing the third one.

Ken is working around the house today.  I’m going to work on the production of the next poetry book.  When I’m tired of that (or get stuck or my legs hurt too much) I”m going to switch to the recliner and either watch tv and crochet or work on the story.  I’ll see how the mood goes.

I’m trying to incorporate a little of what is needed in all aspects of my life.  Yesterday was a good day for balance.  I know that balance is a momentary thing.  With all that was scheduled, I managed to have some balance.  Who knows what today will bring.

The full moon is tonight and for the next three nights.  I’ll be trying to maintain some balance during this time.  I’ll also be thinking of what I need to let go of with the waning moon.  The waning moon decreases a little each night until the dark moon.  My question will be – what do I need to let go of by small (or large) increments during the harvest time?  I’m not sure I have an answer but as normally happens, I’m sure something will present itself.

Goals to Live By

by eileentroemel, posted in Life, Writing

The last three weeks have been filled with little sleep, lots of pain, and a lot of writing.  I started a story because I couldn’t sleep.  I worked on the story as the vision came to me of what it should be and where it should go.  The first rough draft is done.  93,181 words.  

The full moon is tomorrow.  I’m hoping that I can bring some balance into my life.  The story is done but the work to bring it forth is not.  I’ve got a rough draft which will need refining and smoothing out.  There are a thousand steps before the story can be grown into a book.  
With the full moon I’m looking for some balance in my home, work, writing and crocheting aspects of my life.  Maybe with the story out of my head I can go back to getting all the other tasks done that are grumbling at me.  
The completion of the story is exciting and a bit sad.  I have to let go of the story and move on to the next project.  Editing has to wait.  I can’t write this week and edit the same story next week.  I don’t have enough objectivity.  It’s a bit sad for me because for three weeks now these characters and their story have been almost all consuming.  I’m almost saying goodbye to some good friends.  Though I think in this case I’ll be revisiting them because I think there is another story to follow.  
Next project – the next poetry book – Moments in Life.  These will be all the poems I’ve written about life – my life. I have the cover done.  I’m happy with how it looks and I think it fits part of how I look at life.  I will be working today on narrowing down the poems and getting them categorized.  After that it is all production time – getting the poems in the order I want, cleaning up the file so they can go out there.  
Once I’m done with the poetry book, I’m going back to editing the second Defenders book.  I’m about halfway through that one and it is progressing.  The problem with the editing process is I sometimes get lost in where I am in the story.  When this happens, I have to go back and really think about what the purpose is of what I’m changing.  
It is a pay week and we are doing easy errands this weekend.  We went to Sorgs first thing this morning and tomorrow Ken will do the shopping.  I’ve had high pain levels all week and am still not at a great place for pain levels.  All I can do is manage at this stage in the game.  Until whatever is irritating works itself out of my system, I just have to keep working to get through every single day.  Some days I manage very well and other days I just want to sit in the dark and hope that I can sleep in order to escape the pain.  There isn’t anything anyone can do.  It is arthritis.  It can’t be cured or fixed.  It just is.  So I just cope.
When I have higher pain levels, it helps me to have goals.  They may be small goals like – I will sort poems or I will eat.  But these goals help me cope.  This is why my to do list is so important.  It gives me easy access to the things I want to get done so I can pick a goal and work on it without having to think about it.  
Pain level today – 8 (kinda sucky) but the goal – sort poems and finalize the cover.  Cover done.  Other goal – go see two movies to escape from life for a few hours.  I’m finally going to get to see How to Train Your Dragon 2!!!!  We are also going to see Guardians of the Galaxy.  This will be my afternoon goal.  Fun and escapism – two things I don’t often indulge in.  Today they are an important goal.  
   

One Final Scene

by eileentroemel, posted in Life, Writing

Three weeks to write 90,000 words and complete a story.  I have finally gotten through the battle scene.  I have one more wrap up scene to bring together all of my plot points and then I’m done.  I should finish that today.

The full moon is on the tenth so I should have this done before then.  This weekend my plan is to work on the next poetry book.  I’m hoping to get final selection of the poems done.  I also think I can finalize the cover.  Then it will be time for production.  All the fun prep work before I can put it out in book format.

My Defenders series is grumbling at me.  There are so many layers to this series I need to get back to that to do list.  I have to make some final decisions on the content of the first book.  I have to figure out what I’m doing on the art for it.  I need to work on editing the second book.  I need to finish writing the third book. 

I’m hoping once I get the poetry book done, I can focus solely on the fantasy series.  If I become a bit obsessive about it, I’m more likely to get the work done. 

On the other side of life, I need to get my craft room organized and start thinking about holiday gifts.  It is already August and I’ve not decided what I want to do.  In the last three weeks, I’ve only made a wedding gift. 

I’m sadly lacking balance right now with writing being the focus of all my non-work hours.  Even Ken has gotten the “What do you need, I’m writing.” attitude from me.

Full Moon

by eileentroemel, posted in Life, Writing

August is the beginning of harvesting.  It is time to start gathering up what has been planted and grown all year.  The full moon, which is fast approaching, is about sharing the fruits of your labors. 

With the waxing moon it is a build up of energy towards the full moon.  It is about getting prepared to share what you have been doing and what you have accomplished.  As the energy shifts to the full moon, I’m starting to feel pressure to accomplish more. 

While I’ve been working on the creative story telling since the waning moon last month, I’m starting to feel the pressure to get some of the other things done on my list.  I have the third poetry book to finish selecting the poems, finalize the cover, work on the Defenders series, marketing tasks like press releases and a myriad of other things. 

This is the time when my energy becomes more frenzied with getting things done.  I usually feel like I’m not getting enough done and then when the full moon is full force I’m overwhelmed with all the energy. 

From the waning moon in July until now, I’ve been working on a story.  It is now over 83,000 words and I’m down to a final scene.  It is the culminating battle which is going to have a lot of layers to it.  I know what I want to happen but I’m struggling with getting it on paper.  One of the things I feel I need to do is map it out.  I’ve done this with other battle scenes.  Seeing on paper where people are in connection with each other and the landscapes helps me get it down on paper. 

I’m hoping to write the final scene, or section really as there will be a lot of little scenes within this last part, before the full moon.  I feel like it is the culmination of the dark moon energy that needs to be done by then.  I’ve got all the components it is just a matter of getting it all down on paper.  It will mean I’ve gotten a rough draft of a novel done in just about three weeks. 

Rough draft is one thing.  There are about a thousand steps from the rough draft to publication but I think this is a good start on this project.  I’m looking forward to seeing it through.  I guess I’m harvesting a novel with this full moon. 

Moments in Spirit

by eileentroemel, posted in Writing

My second poetry book is now available.  This one focuses on poems that helped me grow spiritually. 

As I have learned about my own beliefs and refined my practices, I used many of these poems to focus my energy and my thoughts.  I strongly believe that no two people will connect with the divine forces in the same way.  However, I hope these poems will help make a connection for the reader. 

This is the second in my poetry series of Moments.  Moments in Nature is all about Nature and how I feel connected to it.  Moments in Spirit connects nature to the divine.

Moments in Spirit is available:

Amazon
http://www.amazon.com/Moments-Spirit-Eileen-Troemel-ebook/dp/B00MDKBO5A/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1407159134&sr=8-2&keywords=Eileen+troemel
(The paper version should be available later today or tomorrow)

Smashwords
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/461839

Writer’s High

by eileentroemel, posted in Life, Writing

My grumpiness reached an all time high yesterday.  I wasn’t feeling well and generally didn’ t like anything.  After Ken went to bed, I tried fixing some production issues for my next poetry book and it didn’t help.  I was frustrated again.  I didn’t want to crochet.  I didn’t want to read.  I didn’t want to watch tv.  I was cranky!

The music I was listening to we repetative and annoying me.  I skipped a number tracks in an attempt to hear something different.  I reluctantly opted to write about seven.  Opening up my file, I was trying to decide where I was going next with the story. 

As is my habit, I went back to the beginning of the scene.  I started writing and fell into the work.  At one point, I heard the music and was annoyed because they had just played something similar.  I looked at the clock and realized it was two hours previous that they had played the same song. 

Shrugging I went back to writing.  I had a scene to finish.  At the culmination of my scene my main character went through a difficult labor and birth of twins.  When I finished the scene, I was thrilled with my progress.  The word count was just under 63,000 words.

I have about three or four scenes left to write and the story will be done.  I need to think on the next step.  I’ve written another evil girl scene so the readers can keep up with the bad girl.  I know I’ll do one or two more with her.  I need a good move the story along because the culminating scene will be a battle and that is already in my head but it can’t happen for another year in the story time.  I need to figure out some milestones between birth of babies and one year birthday. 

By the time I was done last night, my mood had completely changed.  I went from super grump to completely happy.  It felt wonderful to add to this story, to see the characters develop further, and to see things come together.  Now to continue the adventure, bring together some loose ends, and get ready for the final battle.  I can’t wait to see how it all turns out.

 

Moon Energy

by eileentroemel, posted in Writing

The moon has the power to shift the tides, it is to be expected that it would also affect other things as well.  The phase of the moon affects the energy around you and how you feel.  We’ve all heard how the full moon pulls out the crazy people. 

My sister loves the energy of the full moon.  It gives her energy and fills her with positive energy.  I, on the other hand, am not so thrilled with the full moon.  Full moon energy overloads me.  I have a lot of headaches around the full moon.  I also feel over tired and cranky (crankier than normal for me).

The dark moon for me is like sliding under the most comfortable blanket.  It gives me energy and creativeness.  I find comfort in the calm of the dark moon.  My meditations are more intuitive and have more depth.

This last week has been the last crescent dark moon through the dark moon and moving into the first crescent energy.  Last Sunday I started writing what I thought would be a short story.  At ten days of working on it, I have 53,000 words done.  I believe it will be a novel and possibly a series of novels.  I’m got the book planned out and will likely finish it before the full moon – I hope. 

By the full moon, my energy will likely shift from creative to practical.  The practical helps me shut out the blast of energy the full moon gives me. 

Being aware of the affect the moon energy has on my own energy helps me make the most of it.  I’m able to tap into and use the creative energy when it is flowing.  I’m able to buffer myself from energy overload.

For more on using the moon energy, see my Moon Affirmations book available on Amazon, Smashwords, and Barnes and Nobles. 

Temporarily Stuck

by eileentroemel, posted in Writing

I came to a transition point in the story I’m working on.  If I were putting chapters or parts to it, I’d say I came to the end of part one.  I knew where I wanted to go.  I know the next scenes but there were some details I wanted to get down. 

Briefly, the main character is transitioning from her old life to her new life.  During the first part of the story, she is traveling to her new town where she will take up a new powerful leadership role.  Part of what I wanted to get in was that she was feeling overwhelmed in her new role, new position, new relationship, and so on.  It is like that moment when you walk into a new job which you know is going to be great but you look at the tasks ahead and think – What the hell did I get myself into? 

At the same time, the reader doesn’t want to hear about the minutiae that goes into her daily life.  An awareness needs to be made and I don’t want it to seem like she stepped into the role and just ran with it.  It makes her more believable and likeable if she struggles.  Struggling is good.

Last night I was going to work on the story some more.  Repeatedly I reached for the netbook to open it and type but never could bring myself to.  I had essentially written myself into a scene that I wasn’t sure where it was going. 

I don’t consider this writer’s block mostly because it never lasts.  I consider it a pause in the process.  I knew what the scene overall was supposed to be and how it would transition to the next scene.  I just wasn’t sure of the details. 

Last night I putzed.  I worked on a couple of other things but was just tired and a bit growly.  I knew I was thinking about it too much.  I changed my focus and let it go.  Eventually I get a solution.  Either I talk it out with one of my people who listen to me ramble about writing or something just comes. 

This morning in the shower, I saw the scene in my head.  I saw my characters just as I had left them.  I saw the scene play out in my head.  My fingers itched to get to my computer.  Unfortunately I couldn’t immediately get it down.  I was a bit grumbly about this until I realized it just kept getting more detailed and fleshed out the more I thought about it. 

The scene I was stuck on is written.  It has led into the next scene which will allow my characters to give some background information without it feeling like an info dump.  The story just keeps coming and as it comes it just gets better.  It solidifies what I’ve already started and leads forward to what I hope will be a great climax.  I can’t wait to see where it takes me. 

Obnoxiously Early

by eileentroemel, posted in Writing

Sunday I was up at 6:30 which for me on the weekend is too early.  I slept from 3:00 am to 6:00 and would have liked more sleep but by 6:30 I knew it wasn’t going to happen.  The good thing about being up that early – I got a lot of writing things done. 

I finished another step in pre-production for another poetry book.  I redid the cover for Secret Past and uploaded it to all the places as well as several other items on my to do list.  I worked on production of Moments in Spirit and failed miserably at making it through the process.  It is available electronically through Smashwords but there are issues (background not with the text) and I need to spend more time on it. 

After a couple of hours fussing with the file trying to figure out what wasn’t working and not getting it to work, I gave up and hit my recliner.  I worked on the story I’ve been working on for a week.  I decided to show more of the antagonist in this story.  There are flashes of her throughout the story but I actually took the time to write up a synopsis of her. 

Normally I don’t do this as I like my character so just develop.  However, with her it will have to be more subtle.  I won’t be telling her story per se but overlapping her story with the protagonists.  This means I have to work harder to show who she is. 

Writing the synopsis and little scenes for her.  It helps me to keep her darker.  I haven’t written a lot of dark characters and it was kind of fun to tap into motivations that I don’t normally explore.  With good characters it is all about protection, overcoming, and higher purpse type qualities.  With a bad character it is much more self -motivated – gathering power, me oriented desires, and revenge at any slights, real or otherwise.

I don’t know that the little scenes for her will make it into the story. I think some of them will have to but they help me see how someone like her would work.  She’s power hungry and she likes being that way.  I like that. 

I know there are at least eight major scenes left in this book.  I’m sure there will be others as I illustrate how the main characters live and adjust to their new life together.  I’m already at over 43,000 words and can’t wait to move forward. 

I want to be careful not to let the details bog down the story.  No one wants to read lengthy descriptions on all the details in a life.  It gets tedious.  It will be a matter of finding the right balance between giving the details and keeping the adventure and action moving forward.  The more I think about it the more excited I get about it.  It will be fun to see it develop and expand into more than just some strange imagining in my head.