Tell the Truth Tuesday: Balancing Is A Tough Act

Anyone who does anything besides write novels knows that there is a huge part of an author's life that no one really tells you about.

It's called balance.

And it's incredibly difficult to achieve, especially if you're like me and are balance-challenged. I'm more on the pit bull side of "balance" where I sink my teeth into something and don't let go until either I'm dead or the other dog is dead or I've gotten what I wanted.

So yeah. Not so great for the whole balance thing.

I could make a list of the four kagillion things I have to do everyday, from household responsibilities to parenting to teaching to writing to church obligations. I'm sure you have a list ten miles long too. (And if you don't, I sort of hate you a little. And you know by "hate" I just mean "am extremely jealous of" and/or "love".)

How does one balance it all? The cooking dinner with the edits? The book signings with the family time? The church responsibilities with the job responsibilities with the family responsibilities? And the TV! Dude, the TV.

Here are some things I do that help me achieve a semblance of balance.
1. DVR. Seriously. Some of you may not watch TV, but I do. And it's nice to know I can just record and watch whenever.

2. Google Cal. A lifesaver. I can put all events on that thing, and it syncs to both my son's and my husband's phones. Then we can coordinate who's going to take whom where and when.

3. Strict bedtimes. This allows me to work after the kids go to bed. Then I don't feel like I'm neglecting them.

4. Make a list. I'm a huge fan of lists (really? Just like this one!), and sometimes I even put things on my list that I've already done, simply so I can feel the joy of crossing them off. I make a ginormous list, and prioritize what needs to be done that very day and what can wait until another day.

5. A dedicated day for chores. Every Monday, I clean my whole house and do all my laundry. This frees me from worrying/thinking about cleaning the other 6 days a week. (Of course, I still sweep up spilled cereal and wash the dishes and other stuff that has to be done every day.)

6. Layering activities over "dead time." When my daughter has dance, I make sure to write/edit during that time. When she has swimming, I bring my pages. Any dead time is used. I no longer just wait for my son to show up. I read or comment on blogs. I tweet in line at the post office. I am always working while I wait for my kids or while they're at their activities. That way, when they're home, so am I.

7. Sacrifice. When you have forty billion things going on all the time, something has to be sacrificed. Sometimes it's my writing time. Sometimes it's family time. Sometimes it's making dinner. I try really hard to juggle these things around, so that a different thing is being sacrificed each time. So I'm not always choosing writing over going to a baseball game. I'm not always editing over making dinner. I'm not always blogging over going out with my husband.

But no matter what, it always comes down to sacrifice. Weaving writing into life is a delicate balancing act, and it's always tough.

How do you work toward balance? What is in your rotation of sacrifices?

Tell A Big Fat Lie Tuesday: Reviews

Dude, I totally don't care about reviews. Not from book bloggers, not from the industry professionals, not from anyone. I welcome scathing comments. I enjoy it when people say my book is confusing, hard to read, and inferior to other novels.

I just don't care. I am immune.

Bring on the soul-damaging, depression-inducing reviews! I likez them.

My favorite review?
"...fails..." ~Kirkus

I'm stoked for what the future might hold in the review department. Can you tell? Why are reviews so hard to stomach? At least I'm not on national TV, being torn apart in front of a live television audience.

***This blog post was brought to you by sarcasm, fibs-I-tell-myself, and the letter J.

***This next portion brought to you by non-sarcasm: I support anyone who writes reviews of any book. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, and should be able to express it.

Tell the Truth Tuesday: Zombie Flu Edition

Holy Undead, Batman! It's amazing how completely ruined I was last week. I'm thankful for all the well-wishes, but mostly, I'm thankful for:

1. Codeine.
2. Antibiotics.
3. My bed and pillow.
4. Water.
5. Chap-stick.
6. Fast food.
7. Sick days.
8. Substitutes.
9. My family.
10. Ally Condie and Carrie Ryan. (For making Wednesday fun.)

Photo by Heather Gardner (@fireicephotos)

ZOMBIES! I am actually scared of myself in this picture...
(And those are some fabulous Utah book bloggers, and Utah authors Brodi Ashton and Bree Despain!)

Things I Know I Missed:
1. The WriteOnCon chat of awesome.
2. Anything pop culture related.
3. Commenting on your blogs.

As a result of #3, tell me! What's going on with you right now? What are you most thankful for this uh, tax season?

Tell the Truth Tuesday: I Was Done

Okay, so wow. I feel like we should just bask in yesterday's awesomeness. I read every single comment, and who knew the crowd outside was so big?

I *heart* you all, into tiny bits and pieces. Thank you.

Okay, sappy stuff over. So I seriously spent the weekend off-line. It was one of the best weekends of my life. I read a book. I watched like, four movies. I did a whole bunch of stuff that's been sitting on the back burner for a while.

I felt productive, people!

I think I was just done. Like stick-a-fork-in-me done. I feel better now. Rejuvenated or something. Ready for the month of February to kick me to the curb and back. Bring it on February. Bring. It. On.

How are you feeling? Are you done? Just gearing up? Ready for the shortest month of the year to blow by you?

Oh, and the winner of The Lost Saint book and nail polish is Kelly Bryson! Sorry I forgot to do it yesterday. Email me, Kelly, so I can get your addy! (elanajohnson(at)gmail.com

Tell the Truth Tuesday: Confessions

Okay, so not really confessionS. More like just one. And it's pretty amusing, I think.

Ready?

Confession for today: When I read, I imagine everything as a cartoon. Everything. The ghosts in Harry Potter? They're like Casper. Fluffy and white and shapeless.

The people? Mostly I see Manga-type people.

I don't know why I do this.

But it makes seeing movies made from books I've read a real shocker. I seriously have to have a little session of self-talk when I go to the theater.

Elana: This isn't a cartoon. You know that, right?
Elana: I know, sheesh. Don't talk down to me.
Elana: Just wanted to make sure you know the ghosts are going to look like real people.
Elana: I know! Stop badgering me.
*settling into the movie, previews over, feature film about to begin, opening scene flashes onscreen*
Elana: Wait a second...
Elana: This isn't animated. I told you that.
Elana: *pouts* This isn't at all what I imagined.

Le sigh. Embarrassing, yet true.

Any confessions from you today? Do you imagine in cartoon characters too?

Tell the Truth Tuesday, Christmas Edition

Let's just launch right in, shall we? Yeah, who needs these introductory lines?

1. Once again, my blog posts aren't written in advance. This makes me queasy each night when I go to bed, because I haven't edited them to death. You've been warned.

2. The reason my blog posts aren't written is because I wasn't sure I was going to be blogging this week.

3. I decided to take next week off instead of this week, but I still didn't write any posts over the weekend.

4. I'm sure you're all fascinated by my blogging thought process.

5. Then blogger freaked out. Wouldn't open. Spun. And spun. And spun. Which prompted this tweet.

6. I learned how to use the program "Snipping Tool" on my computer to capture that shot for you. You're welcome.

7. I made two pans of ghetto toffee (delish), 35 homemade oreo cookies (2 cookies each, yo) and like, a million Oreo bon bons (dipping chocolates is sooo not my thing. It requires patience.) yesterday. I hope the neighbors are happy.

8. I found the perfect song for my WiP. "The Harold Song" by Ke$ha. Very angsty. Right up my alley.

9. It's my dad's birthday today. I guess I better get on the horn and sing.

10. My new favorite movie is "Despicable Me." Don't judge. ("It's so fluffy!")

11. You might be asking yourself how this is the Christmas Edition of Tell the Truth Tuesday. I know I am.

What's on your mind today? Tell me the truth now...

[Insert Lame Title Here]

Yeah, I can't even title this post. Moving on.

Okay, so I attended the League of Utah Writers Annual Roundup over the weekend. It was pretty dang exciting, if I do say so myself (and not just because I was presenting). My brain is fried, and therefore I'm sure most of my posts this week will be subpar. You've been warned. Like today, I give you a random mishmash on conferences, writing, and life in general. #getexcited

1. James Dashner (best-selling author of The Maze Runner) is pretty awesome to hang out with. Even if he does hog all the horseradish. ;-)

2. I like to chew gum. A lot. I usually chew gum for about 6 hours every day. No lie. Guuummmm.

3. Meeting other authors is awesome. Driving 100 feet to a convenience store is even awesomer. Yeah, walking is totally overrated. And sodas are needed for sanity.

4. I've used awesome four times in this post already. Is that a problem?

5. I randomly pull up my cover just to look at it, even though I know what it looks like. In my defense, this is a step down from just having it open permanently.

6. This "break" I'm taking from writing? It's not a good fit for me. I'm going insane. Remember yesterday's post and why I write? Well, yeah. I'm on edge, almost to the snapping point, so clearly this separation isn't working for me.

7. I wish this school year were over. And in case you didn't know, it's September. And we get out in June. Le sigh.

8. I hate getting my picture taken. More than slow drivers. More than going to Wal-mart, more than just about anything. In fact, I'd rather trudge uphill through snow--both ways--to school than get my picture taken. Again.

9. Finally, some good TV is going to be on this week!! Dancing with the Stars, Survivor, Glee. Man, I love TV.

What's weighing on your mind today? Got some opinions you gotta unload? Lay 'em on me. And what would you have titled this post??

Truthful Tuesday Gets Personal

Okay, I'm going to admit something scary and wildly personal and something I hope I've been keeping deep inside (except from my CP's and others insane enough to encourage an email relationship with me).

But who am I kidding? You guys can see into my head, right?

Are you ready, though?

Okay, so I got my copy edits, and holy cow, you guys. It's the first time EVER that my book actually feels like a book. And it's still printed on 8 1/2 x 11 sheets of paper. But dude, it has all this writing on it from ACTUAL EDITORS, and it had the front pages of the book. You know the ones that we authorly people all read first. The ones that list the imprint, and the font the type is in and the date it was published. You read those right? Or is that only me...?

Ahem, anyway.

So those pages are in the copy edits. And it says "Copyright [insert little copyright symbol here] by Elana Johnson 2011."

I can feel the tears starting, but I'm blinking rapidly so I can keep reading what else is in those opening pages.

I look down, and there's an ISBN number for both the hardcover and the e-book.

My husband loses it.

I'm thisclose to sobbing, and I'm just sitting there holding this HUGE stack of paper, and it's not even a book but it's so a book, and not just any book, but MY BOOK.

And just as I'm about to let the tears out, I get hit with this giant wave of...

Fear.

And that's my truth for today.

I'm terrified of my book being born.

More than dogs, more than ducks, more than running out of bacon, I'm scared of my book becoming real and the fact that other people are going to read it.

Crazy?

You decide.

What are you afraid of?

Tell the Truth Tuesday: So Sue Me Edition

So it's Tuesday and I've been buried under like, forty thousand pounds of whatever. Edits, laundry, cleaning out the garage, we've been doing it all here at my house. So I'm feeling a tad snarky, which means today's version of Tell the Truth Tuesday is going to be extra-entertaining. Yeah, entertaining.

The Truth:
1. I jump to conclusions, even in situations where I know I shouldn't. So sue me. Twice.

2. I have two tubs of red vines. One is 5.5 pounds, the other 4. So sue me.

3. I have not showered before 3 PM in like, a week. So sue me.

4. I tend to drama-queen everything up. Even though I hate drama. So sue me.

5. I totally watched Jake and Vienna duke it out after The Bachelorette last night. Yes...I watch The Bachelorette too. So sue me.

6. I've been under a self-imposed no-forum rule, but I can't stay off WriteOnCon. It's amazing -- and anyone can register! I mean, it's free, so why wouldn't you?? So yeah. I'm on the forum there, I can't help myself. So sue me.

What do you need to get off your chest today? Tell the truth now...I promise I won't file any lawsuits. O:)

Oh, and do you like free stuff? Enter to win a signed copy of The Healing Spell by Kimberley Griffiths Little, and a sweet gator too! (And she's giving away two more gators at her signing on Thursday night, so if you're near Salt Lake City, come on over to the King's English!)

And today on the QueryTracker blog, literary agent Suzie Townsend is taking your pitch -- twitter style. Click here for all the deets, and the contest opens at noon, EST.

Tell the Truth Tuesday

First, dude, you guys! Did you see Beth Revis's amazing news?! No? Okay, skip my lame blog today and get over to hers! She sold her book -- or should I say bookSSSS!!

Truth: This is the most amazing news, like, ever!

Truth: Beth is amazing.

Truth: This was not going to be my post today. But my other post was uber-lame.

Truth: This post is about my, uh, unconventional email habits. Try not to fall asleep.

Truth: I email myself stuff. Links for my newsletter. Blog posts I need to come back to when the firewall at work isn't blocking them. Whatever.

Truth: I usually can't find those emails later.

Truth: So I created a folder for them.

Truth: I almost never come back to the blog posts with videos once I get home. Or anything else I've emailed, really.

Truth: I'm still emailing them to myself.

Truth: I'm a bit disappointed that sometimes the only email I have is from myself. It's not like, "Ooh! Email!" or anything. It's just lame. Because it's from my-freaking-self.

What's your truth today? I'd like some email that isn't from myself, please. *grins*

Sometimes Your Best Isn't Enough

Okay, today is tell the truth Tuesday.

Here's a tough one for you: Sometimes your best isn't good enough.

It really isn't. Sometimes you try really hard to do/change/fix something, and it's not enough. This was brought to my attention as I was reading a book over the weekend. In the dedication, the author said "To XXX who kept saying, "This is good, but not good enough."

And so today, I'd like to submit that it's okay to not be good enough.

Right now.

Once you've accepted this Truth, find and surround yourself with the people who will demand more from you. More than you think you have. More than your best. Because then you'll rise to a new level of "best."

Thoughts? Who have you found that forces you to dig deeper, try harder, do better? I have many--including a lot of you who demand I think of semi-interesting things to post here every day--but I won't name them because I'm pretty sure they know who they are.

Confessions

First off, I should stop writing my blog posts when I'm angry/depressed/revising/hungry/working/up too late. Wait. That's all the time. So yeah. I apologize to you, my dearest readers, for taking out my...whatevers here on the blog.

Anyway, today is confession day here at the Elana Johnson blog.

Mine?

I hate (hate hate) how Twitter makes me feel like an utter and complete loser/outsider.

There, I said it.

Twitter is by far my least-favorite social medium. Because there's all these people that you "know" and they're all having these exclusive conversations with each other. Not you. Oh, no. You're not funny/smart/famous enough. You haven't been to NYC. You haven't been to SCBWI-LA. You don't vlog. You're a loser!

So there. There's my confession. I don't like Twitter. And as irrational as my feelings may be, I hate how I feel like a freaky sixteen-year-old who doesn't fit in with the cool crowd on Twitter.

I adore the #kidlitchat and the #YAlitchat on Twitter. And last week, we dished about social media. One of the big things that I swear I knew, but don't do, is that you should do what you love. Love blogging? (Yes.) Do that. Twitter? (No.) Don't do that.

So I'm going to be taking that advice. I might still lurk on Twitter, but as soon as I feel the I'm-a-loser vibe coming on, I'm closing it down. Sound good?

What about you? Do you like Twitter? Hate it? In between? What else do you feel like you need to get off your chest today?

Confess.

The Responsibility of Authors

So today is Tuesday. And I've been thinking about something truthful to say for Tell The Truth Tuesday.

My girl kidlet has been listening to the Safety Kids CD's, so here's what I've been stewing on.

I think authors have the responsibility to show authentic consequences for the bad behavior of their characters. Especially in young adult literature, with underage protagonists doing dangerous and often illegal things.

I'm not saying authors can't have their characters doing "bad" things like drinking and smoking and doing drugs. I'm just going to go out on my limb and say that authors have the solemn responsibility to show the consequences of those things.

I'm sure many of you have seen that video that's circulating. The one about the accident that stemmed from a teen that was texting while driving. That's real. A real-world consequence for bad behavior. Bad things happen when humans make bad choices. So we must paint the accurate picture in our novels.

In a world where teens (and a lot of adults) think they're invincible, think they can do whatever they want without repercussions, I believe authors should portray the natural consequences of those actions. Life has consequences, no matter what parents do or don't do. No matter if you believe in God or not.

And that's the truth.

What do you think? Do you as an author have the responsibility to show authentic consequences for the bad behavior of the characters in your novel?

Tell The Truth Tuesday...Sort Of

Dude! THE HOLLOW came out today! I've read this book and you need to read it too! It's fan-freaking-tastic!

There's Jessica Verday at the bookstore, looking at her beautiful books! Order yours from Amazon or go pick it up! You won't be sorry.


And now on to the Tell the Truth portion of this post. Katie Anderson started this last week over at Plot This. I did a lame version on Monday--the day I seriously was considering just walking away from the whole writing thing.


Because let's face it: Writing is hard work.


That's my truth moment for this week. I used to sit down and read and take the writing for granted. Like the author just chillaxed in front of the computer and the words poured magically from wherever magical words pour from and then they got it published with a sweet cover to match the sweet story inside.


Um, not so much.


Writing is hard hard hard. It takes discipline. Heartache. Patience. Willpower. And absolute love. And that, my friends, is why I could not quit. I absolutely love it. Hard work and all.


I am a writer.


What's your "truth moment" for this week?