Blog Elements

Half Sized Blog Element (Single Author Style)

Half Sized Blog Element (Multi Author Style)

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

December 22, 2015/0 Comments/in Writing, Year in Review/by Katherine Cowley

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

November 19, 2015/0 Comments/in Updates/by Katherine Cowley

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 […]

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

December 22, 2015/0 Comments/in Writing, Year in Review/by Katherine Cowley

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

November 19, 2015/0 Comments/in Updates/by Katherine Cowley

Full Sized Blog Element (Big Preview Pic)

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

December 22, 2015/0 Comments/in Writing, Year in Review/by Katherine Cowley

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.

600 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:

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

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.

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:

Other Publications During 2015

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

“Yongrui and the Tree of Life” won first place in Segullah’s 2015 fiction contest.
“Breastfeeding Mama” was a first place winner in the Tempe Community Writing Contest.
“The Five Year Journal” was published as a finalist in the 2015 Mormon Lit Blitz.

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)

November 19, 2015/0 Comments/in Updates/by Katherine Cowley

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.

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.