Lost and Found

Have you ever felt lost then found? (Now I sound like Katy Perry, don't I?) Throughout life, I think we grapple with how to feel "found." Some people achieve this by looking to a higher being: God, Buddha, Mohammed.  Some people find themselves by realizing what it takes to be happy: for me, that's writing.

When I was little, I had this pink and blue blanket. I've been told it wasn't my first blanket, that I had a white whale blanket that was lost, and then it was replaced with this pink and blue blanket that had been given to me at birth by my awesome grandparents, Gigi and Gipop.  (Who knows how much of this is true: my Mom and Dad could tell you).  I carried this pink and blue blanket everywhere. There's something about my family: we're all attachment oriented. My kids have their blankies too, and they won't sleep without them.

Well, I was one of those privileged kids. My parents had a housekeeper.  We went through several housekeepers, some that I loved and some that I didn't. We had one who stole $100 out of the freezer (why was it in the freezer in the first place?), one that drank out of my parents' alcohol bottles and refilled it with water, but we also had one that would talk to me, watch Little House on the Prairie with me, and who I still think of fondly to this day. But on this particular day, we had a new housekeeper. I tucked my blanket underneath my pillow, and I went to school for the day: sixth grade.  I came home that evening, and when I went to my room I noticed my bed had been made. I never made my bed. I figured the new housekeeper must have done the sheets and re-made the beds, so I began looking for my blanket, and it was nowhere to be found. The pit of anxiety welled up in my stomach, as I marched downstairs to my mom.

"Where is my blanket?"

"Oh, Lauren, it must be in your bed."

"It's not there, Mom."

"Well maybe she threw it away, thought it was a rag."

"How could she think it was a rag. It's my baby blanket!"

"It is rather holey."

So I went dumpster diving, and guess what? The maid had thrown it in the trashcan, but luckily the trash wasn't to be picked up until the next day. It went through the washing machine twice, and my mom told the new housekeeper that the blanket was special and not to be thrown out.

The blanket still lives in the top of my closet, well-loved.

It's funny how we find attachment in objects, security needed so we can make that next step: be it leaving our mothers as kindergartners or writing our first novel.  Before the blanket, I used to carry around one of my mom's satin slips, because it felt like her and smelled like her.  She replaced it with the blanket, because carrying around her slip could have been considered inappropriate.

When I lost that blanket, and thought it was gone forever, I felt so lost and insecure.  I used the blanket when I was sad, anxious, feeling bad, and it helped me get through those moments.  In writing, I have used so many things like a baby blanket to get me through too.  And there's no problem with that.  I've found writer's groups, and I've depended on them, stroking them for information, having them help promote my upcoming book, and creating a network for asking questions.  We all have crutches, and for a long time I used my insecurity as a hindrance, until I realized I needed to replace my baby blanket with something real and tangible that could help me get past the insecurity I felt.  Because let me tell you: everyone feels insecure, everyone is afraid of criticism: it's getting past those fears that allows you to be successful.

The thing is there are always going to be people who don't like your book.  There are also going to be people who love it. And I'm betting every published book has a typo. I know I've found them when I wasn't even looking.  We are all human, and therefore we will always make mistakes.

So grab a hold of your baby blanket, and find what you love to do. Don't be afraid.  Find security in the little things to help you move forward.


Guess what I did yesterday? An interview on Bookreader Magazine. You can check it out here: http://bookreadermagazine.com/featured-author-lauren-greene/

If you liked this post, be fair and share! It helps an indie author out!

And by the way, Social Media has taken over the world: 

Check out my Amazon Author's Page: amazon.com/author/laurengreenewrites

"No Turning Back," is available for pre-order and will be out on January 31st! 

Read "The Devil Within" on Wattpad: http://www.wattpad.com/82001959-the-devil-within-chapter-one?utm_source=web&utm_medium=link&utm_content=share_reading&ref_id=40841265

Follow me on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/laurengreenewrites?ref=hl

And follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/laurenegreene

California, No More

I've become a little obsessed with Flash Fiction.  Honestly, I think of it mostly as a writing exercise for me: a challenge.  I've always told myself I'm not a short story writer.  I'm a novelist.  I write long stories, about conflicted characters, and they are in no way funny. Humor sells, or so I'm told.  I have a really good sense of humor in real life.  I'm not sure why my books are mostly serious, but that's just the way they are.  In real life, I'm sarcastic and I'm fairly good at sticking in a little comment to elicit a laugh at just the right moment, sometimes an inappropriate comment. For some reason, that's hard for me to figure into my writing. I took a stab at it yesterday day, over on Alissa Leonard's blog:

http://alissaleonard.blogspot.com/2015/01/finish-that-thought-2-30.html 

I wasn't crazy about the first sentence prompt: 

None of us really believed in [UFOs] until the night [the cameraman] went missing.

Those little brackets mean the pronouns can be changed.  Thank goodness for that, because I am not a Sci-Fi writer (even less than I am a humor writer).  

So I went for it, and this is what I came up with. I'm sorry to my friends who live in California, nothing against you, it was just where the prompt took me!

California, No More

None of us really believed in global climate change until the night California went missing. I was sitting at my kitchen table, eating a piece of chocolate cake left over from Ethan’s birthday party.  It was a night like any other: my overweight tabby cat, Slippers, was sitting in the recliner licking her leg incessantly, as was her habit, and my husband was nodding away on the couch. 

I had heard on the news a few days before that the winter storm had been dumping buckets of rain on the West Coast.

“Four to five inches more and California might disappear altogether,” my brother-in-law had said.

My husband and I had laughed.  We didn’t believe him. We knew global climate change was just a liberal ploy.

   

The phone rang, and it was my brother-in-law, Pete.

“I’m wondering where we’ll be getting our stuff now that Amazon is in the Pacific Ocean,” he said.

“What are you talking about?” I asked, mouth half-full of cake.

“Turn on the news. California is no more.”

“Amazon’s in Washington,” I said.

“I’m not joking. California is in the ocean.”

“The next thing you’ll be telling me is that the planet Mars has disappeared,” I said, hanging up the phone and chuckling to myself.

He obviously had no idea what he was talking about: Amazon in Washington, seriously what was he talking about?

I put my dirty dish in the sink, and walked into the living room, running my hand across my husband’s sleeping face. I found the remote, stuck securely underneath him, and all he did was groan and turn away from me as I removed it from underneath his back fat.

I clicked the power button.

“Yes Scott. That’s right. It’s gone. There wasn’t even time to evacuate. Dropped off the face of the earth into the Pacific Ocean. No Golden Gate bridge, no Oakland Raiders, no more Napa valley.  This is a sad day for wine drinkers everywhere.”

My mouth gaped open in shock as I took it all in: Pete was right. I glanced back at my husband snoring away on the couch, and my cat looked up at me with her bright green eyes then went back to licking her leg as if nothing had happened.  

And by the way, Social Media has taken over the world: 

Check out my Amazon Author's Page: amazon.com/author/laurengreenewrites

"No Turning Back," is available for pre-order and will be out on January 31st! 

Read "The Devil Within" on Wattpad: http://www.wattpad.com/82001959-the-devil-within-chapter-one?utm_source=web&utm_medium=link&utm_content=share_reading&ref_id=40841265

Follow me on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/laurengreenewrites?ref=hl

And follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/laurenegreene

Flash Fiction Fun

Every week, I participate in two flash fiction contests.  One is here: http://alissaleonard.blogspot.com.
The other is: http://www.microbookends.com.

I love these Flash Fiction contests for several reasons. First off, people it's like a creative writing assignment, with a very small (tiny) word count.  Secondly, it's so neat to read how other writers use the prompts. Given certain words and photo prompts, people can come up with so many different stories. 

Micro Bookends is always a challenge for me, because you have to get across the point of your story in 90-110 words. No verbosity there.  For this week's contest, I had to use the word, "club," at the beginning and, "foot," at the end.  The photo prompt was of a foggy cemetery.

So without further ado, here's my entry for this week:

Savior (110 words)

“Club it!”

“It’s already dead.”

The fog rose from the cemetery, and the boys stood there shivering in the briskness of the night.  Hendrick’s Spiderman pajamas were short-sleeved and goose bumps rose on his flesh. The boys had stumbled across the cat, laying under a cross that read, “SAVIOR.”

Brains spilled out of its head oozing like toothpaste from a tube.  Hendrick leaned down, the sickly sweet smell of blood reaching his nostrils made him want to gag.

“It’s still warm.”

Anxiety gripped the boys with its vicious claws.  Suddenly the shadows behind the trees did not look so innocent.

“Let’s go,” Hendrick said, kicking the cat with his foot. 

There's No Turning Back Now!

Yesterday was a monumental day for me.  Yesterday, I changed my life.  Yesterday, I did something I've been saying I was going to do for years.  Yesterday, I listed my book on Amazon for pre-sale.

You can pre-order it here: http://www.amazon.com/No-Turning-Back-Lauren-Greene-ebook/dp/B00SM94ENU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1422013133&sr=8-1&keywords=No+turning+back+by+lauren+greene&pebp=1422013147725&peasin=B00SM94ENU

It's also now on Goodreads, so if you love it (which I hope you do), you can add a review.

Link to my Goodreads author's page: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/13113697.Lauren_Greene

The thing is, the day went by like every other.  I went to work, I went to Number Two's basketball practice, I came home and ate dinner with the family, then we all snuggled on the couch and watched an episode of "The Simpson's."  After the kids went to bed, I worked for two hours on sending another piece of work in for submission and putting, "No Turning Back," on Amazon.

People ask me how I do everything I do. I have a lot going on in my life: I work a full time job, take care of three kids, write, and sell Jamberry nails. I exercise consistently, and I have a social life too.

The thing is, when you have a dream you do whatever it takes to achieve it.  If you really want to succeed in life, then you have to work for it and stop waiting for it to come to you.  It won't ever come to you, if you don't put the effort into making it happen.  Three years ago, I was "woe is me". I wanted to be an author, but I didn't realize the work I had to put into it (and let me tell you, it's a lot of work but well worth it). To make it happen, I've had to spend countless hours writing, editing, socializing with writer's groups, reading about how to create an e-book (which I didn't have to do on my own thanks to +Dash McCallen), and figuring out how to get my name out there.  The book may sell one copy, or fifty copies, or it could be a bestseller.  I don't really care.  What I do care about is that I decided I was going to do this, and I went for it.  I stopped worrying about what everyone else thinks about me. I know there will be people who don't like my book, and that's okay.  I stopped doubting myself.  I started believing in the power of me, and that gave me the ability to live my dreams.

You can live yours too!

Check me out on Wattpad. 

Follow @laurenegreene