Catherine West's Blog, page 6

I see her there. This sad reflection of myself. Sitting.

Alone.

Alone only with her thoughts and the icon flashing fierce on the blank screen.

Cautiously I slide into the seat opposite her. Offer coffee. And a smile of recognition.

“Hello, writer.”

She looks up, bleary eyed. Befuddled. “How did you know?”

The question sighs from her, sings over the casual conversation around us and lands with a deflated thud that shakes my soul.

“Thought it would be so easy, huh?”

“I did. I actually did.” A...

Ever been in car, just coasting along and then BAM! A tire blows. You’re forced to pull over. If you’ve got a spare, you can replace the blown tire and get on your way. But if you don’t for some weird reason have a spare or you just have no earthly clue how to change a tire, (that would be me), then you’ve got to wait.

You’re forced to pull over.

It happens so quick sometimes. The abrupt slamming ofbrakes, stopping and knowing there’s no place else to go. And you’re kind of mad because you h...

Okay you guys. I have seriously been swamped.

Yes, that’s my little baby right there. Final proofs, right there on my laptop. Also a hard copy – pages and pages of it. My book. (Cue SQUEAL!)

So. For anyone that thinks writing a book, getting it published and out into the world is a slam dunk . . . heh. Here’s how it goes down. Or how it went down for me.

Offer of contract. Open champagne. Discuss with agent. While drinking champagne. Emails go back and forth. Final deal offered and accepted....

Okay, I’ll wait until you’re done dancing around the room.

All set? Good. Now shut off your sound and play that again. Read the words. Carefully. A few times if you need to.

When this song first came out, the tune got me. It’s catchy. It makes you want to get up and dance. And Sara Bareilles. But then I started really listening. And the words . . . yes. Those words. Ooo boy. Hit me hard. Because I knew. I wasn’t be brave. Not by a long shot.

And maybe I needed to be.

So I started a journey...

Yeah, okay. But it’s Monday morning and I just spent two hours working on changing up this blog, and five minutes ago I sat staring at this screen in full out panic mode, thinking I’d just deleted the ENTIRE THING!!

So I need more coffee.

Because this is pretty much me in the morning. And, not gonna lie, sometimes in the afternoon. I’m lovely. Really.

Okay, so here’s my new digs, like it? I’m still fiddling, but honest to Pete, I have no idea what I’m doing. Like I said, I thought I almost d...

My last blog post of 2015! How crazy is that! I’m hearing from a lot of people that this year has flown by, and I have to agree. Seems like just yesterday we were preparing to welcome in 2015, and here we are, saying goodbye.

If you’re like me, you take a little time to look back and reflect on the past year before moving into the next. I’ve thought a lot about it actually, about how the bottom dropped out at the start and I didn’t know which end was up for the longest time. About the soul-se...

In the quiet of the morning, after two days of rain, calm crests over the ocean beyond my window. I watch gentle waves and wonder why it feels so impossible to make a difference in this world. Wonder why so many are hurting in a season supposed to be filled with joy. Where is the peace in all the madness? And why don’t I know what to say?

Because I am afraid.

Afraid of speaking the wrong words. Afraid of saying too much. Not saying enough. And so I sit in silence.

The past few weeks the worl...

It came down to this. These words.

You have a choice. You can stay in this place of despair and despondency, waiting for things that may never happen … or you can move on.

Find another place to dwell.

A moment like that, if you’ve ever had one, can be life changing. And once you’ve been there, you never forget it. You never forget that minute, the way you stood up, shaky on legs unused to standing firm. You never forget the way it felt when you tipped your chin just so, raised your eyes and f...

I’m going for the record on starting blog posts with, “So, I haven’t blogged in a while…”

And it’s true. I haven’t. Why? Good question. Oh. You want the honest to God truth, huh?

Because I haven’t felt like I have anything to say.

Nothing you haven’t heard before at least. And let’s face it, whining about this, that and the other just gets old after a bit, doesn’t it? Not that I ever set out to whine or moan. Sometimes it just seems, to me anyway, that’s how a lot of my thoughts come across....

That’s probably one of my favorite writing-related funnies. It pretty much sums up the entire inner process. My office may not look like that (not every day at least), but my brain sure does.

And sometimes it’s too much.

It’s too much to sit at the computer and force the words. We shouldn’t have to force anything, dang it! We’re writers! Perfect prose should simply flow from our minds to our fingertips at warp speed. All. The. Time.

Yeah.

You’ve probably had those moments. I like to call the...