What Do I Do With My Time?

I never thought that I would be a stay-at-home mom. However, I had no choice. While I was on maternity leave, the company that I was working for went bankrupt. I decided to look on the bright side. I’m not pressured to go to work as soon as my maternity leave ends. I get to spend time with my second son and enjoy watching his toddlerhood. Since we only plan on having the two kids, I saw my unemployment as a blessing in disguise. In Canada, maternity leave is one year. I could have looked for a job once my maternity leave finished, however, the cost of daycare for toddlers under the age of 18 months is astronomical. The cost doesn’t get better after 18 months, but to start at entry level at a new company is financially straining.

So, the question I asked myself was, “What should I do with my time outside of caring for my son?” I am applying to various companies, but the job market is slow. I decided to pursue my aspirations as a writer. Reading a plethora of romance novels inspired my dream to be a writer. To do this, I realized that I needed develop skills that were outside those I learned academically. I majored in Biology and Zoology, which is far from related to writing romance—unless the novel involves a science geek, which has its possibilities. I signed up for a variety of online courses, Networking 101 through the Romance Writers Association (RWA), Self-Editing, Editing Camp through Scribendi, Microsoft Office 2010 through ITU Online, and Story Writing for Children through Write Story Books for Children. It may look odd to take a story book writing for children course for romance writing, but the basic concepts are there for writing books. The course for Microsoft Office helped improve my knowledge of software that can be useful for writing and planning my novel.

I was surprised with two particular courses. The networking course showed me the great potential social media has for marketing your book. Being introverted, I hate the concept of selling. The networking course revealed that subtly can work. Just get your brand known and recognized. The other course that surprised me was editing camp. I am still working through it but I have learned a number of new things.  

The main obstacle for me is time management. So far, I go through the courses, network, and write my novel after everyone goes to bed. But, this doesn’t leave me with much sleep. There are also distractions like TV and housework that do not help. I did find a little something helpful, late night cafés that have internet access. So, on evenings like today, I head to the nearest late night café and write this blog. Right after I post this, I will work on my novel. So, until my next post . . .  

Pen Names and Cherries

Trying to figure out what pen name to use is difficult. You want to pick something memorable, something easy to say, and something you would respond to. I thought about using a different first name so that I can keep my personal life from colliding with my author life, but I would never respond to the name Caryn (one of the first names I thought of and liked) or Alexis (a name I decided to use as a character in my WIP because I love the nickname). With the name like mine, there are not many variations that I can come up with. I can't go with my initials because I've never responded to CC. I thought about going with a name that sounds like my name, like Jessica, but I didn't want to use the name Jessica. I realized after hanging with my bestie and her sisters, who are just a hair shy of being my besties too (I tell my best friend slightly more things than I do with her sisters) that the perfect first name for my pen name is Chassy. That's how they refer to me sometimes—usually it's Chassypooh but that doesn't sound like a great romance novelist name.

Now to come up with a last name for my pen name. I didn't want to use something like my current last name because, like I said before, not a fan of worlds colliding. My maiden name is also prone to worlds colliding. Even variations of either name would not do. Also, many places tend to use your maiden name as a security feature, so that was out of the question. Then I thought about my middle name and it seemed appropriate since I would probably respond to the pen name if it was similar to my middle name. And I have plenty of aunts that would call upon me as "Chas dear". Chérie is dear in french. So, I just dropped the e and there we go.

I know that Chéri has nothing to do with cherries. Cherry in french is cerise. It's similar but that's not why I chose cherries as my logo. I love cherries. Oddly enough, I don't like eating the fruit unless they are white cherries. I find that they tend to be too sweet and tart. White cherries are subtle but expensive. I also like the flavor of black cherry or regular cherry in drinks and desserts just not maraschino cherries or black forest cake because I don't like mixing chocolate with anything—chocolate is too divine to muddy its flavor with anything else.

I do love the way cherries look though. Bright red or dark red, round and succulent.They make a great pattern from purses to dresses, of which I own both. So, I made a logo out of cherries and used it for all my social profiles, including the background image on the cover photos. I do plan on posting a picture of myself (I do have one on my website) but I'm waiting for the day when I debut my cute cherry patterned dress and get dolled up the debut of my book. I'm also in the process of making a petticoat to go with the dress so that I can get the full rockabilly look.

Now, back to the petticoat...and writing...and social media...