The Best Pillow for Writing in Bed

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The Best Pillow for Writing in Bed

I’ve recently discovered the best writing tool since the laptop.

As a woman balancing writing, mothering, and a myriad of other obligations, I’m always trying to find new ways to up my productivity. I have limited writing time every day, and I use all sorts of tricks to make the most of it, like turning off the Internet and racing against the clock.

Enter the Healthy Sleep Wedge pillow by Furinno.

Furinno Healthy Sleep Wedge Pillow

Now I can write in bed. Seriously, isn’t that every writer’s dream?

Normally, one of my challenges is I don’t have a good, dedicated writing space. Sometimes I write on the sofa, sometimes at the kitchen table, and other times on a small, shared desk, which honestly isn’t great for creativity.

But with my new pillow, writing in bed is suddenly easy and comfortable. It has great back support, which prevents slouching and helps me work for much longer. The back is even tall enough for my husband (who is 6 feet tall). Sometimes I even have to remind him that it is my pillow and I need it…

In addition to using the pillow for writing in bed, I’ve also used it for reading to my kids, folding laundry, crocheting, and general relaxing. It can be set against a flat surface like a wall, but also used upright in the middle of the floor. It’s made of memory foam so it keeps it shape well. Another perk: It has an easy, washable cover.

The only thing I have yet to use the pillow for is sleeping. It’s supposed to help if you have breathing problems, acid reflux, back/neck pains, or are pregnant. None of which apply to me at the moment. But for when they do, I am prepared.

If you’re going to invest in a writing pillow, you want something that’s high quality and going to last. The Furinno model is well-priced and even comes with a five-year factory warranty. (It’s available on Amazon and through other online retailers.)

Some things increase my productivity for a week because of their novelty, and then lose effectiveness. I’ve tested out the pillow for two months, and it still is awesome. I use it to write in bed almost every single day. And yes, I even used it while writing this blog post.

 

Disclaimer: Furinno provided the Healthy Sleep pillow in exchange for an honest review. All opinions in the post are my own.

New Short Story: Misunderstood at 365 Tomorrows

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365 TomorrowsI have a new short story that has been published! It’s called “Misunderstood,” and you can read it at 365 Tomorrows. There is also a forum discussion of the story, for those who want to chime in.

“Misunderstood” is the shortest story I’ve ever written. Including the title, it’s only 483 words long. Yet the story also spans an epic time frame–over 4000 years.

Once you’ve read the story (go, read!) here are my author notes:

Scene I. Early in 2015 I did a fair bit of reading on Ancient Egypt, because I visited there in March. Pyramids, temples, tombs–Egypt has it all. If you do ever make it to Giza to see the pyramids, make sure you go to the Khufu ship museum. It’s amazing that you can see a boat that’s over 4500 years old. And it’s huge.

Scene II. In researching for another short story, which, a year later, I am still writing, I read 3 or 4 nonfiction books about Vikings. Vikings are pretty awesome, and Hollywood gets a lot wrong about them. Some of my ancestors may be Vikings. And so they snuck into the story.

Scene III. This is the scene that inspired the story. And it’s actually nonfiction. I went to Albertson’s one evening and saw this exact thing happen. Sure, the guy probably wasn’t named Louis. And while I don’t know what he was actually thinking, his facial expressions made it pretty clear. I just had to figure out what story he was part of–and I gravitated to speculative fiction. But maybe I’m right, and he really was a timesoul.

Scene IV. Not much to say about this scene. I just knew this was the ending, and I hope you enjoyed it.

Writing is my Part-Time Job: 2015, a Year in Review

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I failed at every single one of my writing goals this year. But I did spend a lot of time writing (over 600 hours) and consider the year a great success. The goals I made and fell short of motivated me to keep moving forward. And during 2015, one of my stories was published in a print book, which was a longer-term goal that I hadn’t anticipated reaching this year.

Failure is Required for Success: Number of Stories Submitted for Publication in 2014 and 2015600 Hours

600 hours means I spent, on average, an hour and forty minutes every single day writing. That’s 11.5 hours per week. Here’s the break-down of how I spent my time:

2015 Writing Time

  • I spent 53% of my time revising words, making chapters, scenes, and sentences better. Revising is painful, but it’s also one of my favorite parts of writing, because I can see my writing getting better at doing what I want it to do for the reader.
  • During 2015 I critiqued 7 novels and a number of small pieces (also known as grad school applications).
  • I wrote relatively little new content—in total, I wrote 46,000 entirely new words (compared to 135,700 during 2014). Of those 46,000 words, a lot of them were on my blog or personal/family writing. However, I did write two new short stories and a 10,000 word brainstorm on a new novel idea.

Project Focus

2015 Project Focus

  • I spent most of my year revising my steampunk novel, writing approximately one and a half drafts. It’s getting close to being ready for submission.
  • At the beginning of the year, my novelette “The Clockwork Seer” was accepted for publication. Between the editor and the copy editor, it went through five more drafts. It was an amazing experience to work with an editor, and to learn about publishing and marketing. And now I have a book with my name on it sitting on my bookshelf.

The Clockwork Seer: Opening the Box

I would like to point out that being published in print has instantly made me wealthy and famous. To prove this, a picture of my first royalty check:

Royalty Check

Other Publications During 2015

In addition to “The Clockwork Seer,” I had three other publications during 2015.

During 2015, I reaped a lot of benefits from previous years’ work. Both “Yongrui” and “The Clockwork Seer” were originally written during 2014. “Breastfeeding Mama” was written in 2012, and then suffered major revamps in both 2013 and 2014.

A Part-Time Job

Many people ask me when (and how) I write as a stay-at-home mother. But the same can be asked of anyone who has another job and is unable to devote all their time to writing. Basically, you treat it as a part-time job on top of your normal job, spending an hour here, an hour there, and setting a minimum for how much time you will spend, no matter how tired or busy you are or what other things you are doing. Writing has become like brushing my teeth before sleeping: I will do it no matter what happens.

If there is a goal you want, learn how to build a habit (I recommend the book The Power of Habit) and then work for it every single day. Yes, I have those magical moments where writing just flows. It happens a handful of times every year. But most of the time, I don’t know where the muse is and I sit down and treat it like a work project, something that gets done. And, slowly but surely, I make progress.

A Tribute to Crappy, Little Parks (And Other Crappy, Little Things)

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Today we walked to our neighborhood park. There was a mom’s group there, one of those groups that takes their kids to a different park or activity every week. “I think now we’ve been to every crappy, little park in the area,” one of the women complained to her friend.

Just as you can become a Connoisseur of Wines or Chocolate, you can become a Connoisseur of Fine Parks. And there are some pretty amazing parks within a 15 or 20 minute drive of my home, parks with splash pads and fancy climbing equipment, kid’s zip lines and real trains that you can ride for a few dollars.

Our crappy, little park has four swings and a modest playground. There is a poorly kept sand volleyball court and a few basketball hoops. And then some grass and trees.

A rather crappy picture I took at our park a few months ago. But my kids are smiling.

A rather crappy picture I took at our park a few months ago. But my kids are smiling.

But even though I’ve been to Fine Parks, I love our crappy, little one. At a toddler’s pace, it takes us 5 or 10 minutes to walk there from our home. And we always walk–we never drive. My little daughters race across the grassy field toward the playground, thrilled at the adventure. It’s a neighborhood park, so there’s always a swing available. A canopy shades the playground, so even when the Arizona heat is stifling, we can still play as long as we go early enough in the morning. My girls run and make up pretend games among the grass and the trees, and build things in the sand of the volleyball court. Sometimes we visit our little park 3 or 4 times a week, and we can go for a short 10 minute visit. It is always a familiar, intimate, and fulfilling experience.

I can attend a world-class performance of an opera or ballet and never be satisfied with community theater again. After seeing the great works of art in great, metropolitan cities, we can find a local museum boring and mundane. We can undervalue our own attempts at singing, writing, photography, art, decorating, or any act of creation, simply because we know how our attempts compare to the best on youtube, instagram, and pinterest.

Or we can find joy and value in the little things. We need little parks that add greenery to our neighborhoods, that we can walk to instead of driving. We each need to create, to make something truly beautiful and valuable, without having any need to compare it to the world’s best things in its category. We need to find meaning and joy in the everyday, or we will be forever seeking something bigger and better, and never find happiness.

And that is why I love my crappy, little park.

“A Witch for a Day” – A Picture Book Illustrated by a 4-Year-Old

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Myra holding her illustrated copy of A Witch for a Day

I wrote a picture book for my 4-year-old daughter and she illustrated it. She wanted me to post it online so that everyone could read it for Halloween. It’s titled A Witch for a Day and her illustrations are absolutely delightful.

But before I include the story/pictures, a little background. (You can scroll to skip if you just want the story.)

Last week, I received my very first fan art, for my novelette “The Clockwork Seer.”

The Clockwork Seer Fan ArtIt was made by my daughter Myra. When “The Clockwork Seer” was released in the anthology Steel and Bone in June, Myra asked me to read it to her. It took two days, but she listened attentively to the entire thing, despite the lack of any pictures.

After one of our reading sessions, Myra declared, “she feels tastes!”

I read it to her four months ago, but she still randomly brings it up (“there was an automaton, wasn’t there?”). And the picture she drew me about the story (which includes the title, under the orangish-brown square) even says “The Clockwork Seer.”

I flipped over the picture and on the back I found the following:

 

Pumpkin Story RequestMyra said, “I drew you a pumpkin because your next story needs to be a Halloween story. And it needs to have witches and wizards in it.”

So I brainstormed a little, and sat down and wrote her a picture book. I printed it out and read her each page so she could illustrate it.

The results make me very happy. I hope you enjoy our story and have a very Happy Halloween!

 

 

A Witch for a Day – by Katherine Cowley; illustrated by Myra Cowley

A Witch for a Day - Cover

A Witch for a Day - Page 1

A Witch for a Day - Page 2

A Witch for a Day - Page 3

A Witch for a Day - Page 4

A Witch for a Day - Page 5

A Witch for a Day - Page 6

A Witch for a Day - Page 7

A Witch for a Day - Page 8

A Witch for a Day - Page 9

A Witch for a Day - Page 10

And that, folks, is A Witch for a Day. Part of me thinks that every picture book should be illustrated by a 4-year-old.

Bonus Witch Pictures

My daughter has been rather excited about witches this year. Not only is she dressing as a witch for Halloween, but she has drawn several other witch pictures that she wanted me to share.

A WitchUnfinished WitchA Witch for a Day - Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween!