this is what i work towards

what you are seeing above is what I want my typical day to contain at some point in my life. (you can find the following on author Kristin Hannah's website)  like i mentioned in my last post below is that i have 5 jobs right now. i'm not saying i only want one; goodness knows i probably would find another "paid hobby" soon after i whittled it down to 1. i'm just that kind of person.

but i am interested in doing some whittling. someday. maybe i'll have a FAQ section in this website where i tell you what i get to do all day... and most of it be writing. it's not all that far off now, i guess. i do write most of the time. but i feel like i don't always get anything done.

say a prayer that i start finding more hours in the day... or at least can trick myself into thinking so.

again, have a great weekend!

AHR

saying yes and no

i'll be honest with you, i am tired these days. i feel like i can't get anything done even though i only have a few things on my schedule. i guess that's how it goes... you can make your own schedule, you can break your own schedule.

with five jobs (not including being a wife), i feel like i say yes to almost everything because, yes, i technically make my own schedule. the problem lies there. saying yes all the time is my achilles heel. i am learning (with the help of my friends and family) how to say no to things, even if they are good for me to do.

i think girls/women/people in our generation feel the need to take on the world every day. we set unimaginable goals for ourselves because we think we are capable, only to find out that there are still only 24 hours in a day, 7-8+ of which we should not be working.

i love what i do, and i love having my own schedule; please don't get me wrong. i love being able to say yes to things that i do want to carve out time for, need to carve out time for. like yesterday, serving a meal to women who just got out of prison at a center in Nashville. that's worth every minute. those women were searching for a second chance, a real restart. i'll definitely be back there again, no matter how busy.

i just need to learn how sit still i guess, long enough to get the work done that i have on my plate in front of me. today, i intend to get some of it done...are you with me? haha weekends are actually good for me work-wise. people are taking it easy, our restaurants are full, no one calls... and i'm all of a sudden productive.

maybe that's just how it is going to be for me right now?  work more on the weekends and free up my time to be helpful during the week? hmm, writing this blog is actually helping me right now. funny how that works.

i hope you have had a fruitful week! and here's to a productive weekend--for those of you who are in my shoes.

ashlyne huff revelette 

oh charles

my dog, for now, is my child...and if you know me at all, you know i'm not kidding! not one bit. this little guy has been in the huff family for nine years now. and i am finding it very difficult these days to think about the day he will go to doggie heaven. right in the middle of being with him, i will just start weeping. i know it sounds stupid and maybe even a little morbid, but my thoughts are none of the sort. in fact, i'm just being realistic. small dogs live shorter lives, and he's already nine.


if you were to get a chance to talk to my dad, he would probably tell you that charlie is the first dog i've truly loved. he's right. he's very right, actually. when i was nineteen, i came home from college during a time when i was emotionally fragile. emotionally devastated truthfully. my mom, sister, and brother were in tampa for one of her dance competitions (something i had done just one year prior since i was seven), my dad was in the studio all day and night working on keith urban's new album at the time, and my best friend farmer (jennifer) was studying abroad in south france. i was hurting and alone, and that's when it happened. charlie came into the playroom (which was right outside my dad's studio) where i was sitting on the carpet. i just sat there and listened to keith's voice being compiled into what would be the finished product on the record. my dad was a whiz at that stuff, still is. anyway, i was sitting there trying not to think, trying to think i was happier, as if i could pretend such a thing into being. if any of you are wondering why my dad didn't open his studio door and spend some time with his eldest daughter in her time of loneliness, don't worry. he didn't know i was even feeling less than perfect. i didn't tell him why or that i was sad, lonely, or emotionally nauseous in the first place. trust me, if he would have know, it would have been a different story.

that's when i really met charlie. he had been given to my sister (4 years younger) on her birthday right as i was getting ready to graduate from high school, so i really only got a couple months with him before i went off to college. and because he wasn't mine, and i wasn't all that much of a 'dog person', i honestly didn't notice him as much i would have had i gotten him today.

once little one-year-old charlie snuggled up to me and sat in my lap, i was hooked. it was as if he absorbed my pain, saying everything and nothing at the same time. he was great. really great. and the rest is history, i guess.
today, charlie finally lives with us (mason and me), and he's a great roomie. he's preparing me to be a real mommy someday because he acts like a little kid. he whines and cries, he begs for things he shouldn't be able to have (like human food), and he freaks out when we are about to go on trips. suitcases actually make him throw up and go #2 in the house uncontrollably. all my years of leaving for tour caught up with me and bit me in the tush...big time. can you imagine being so excited to go on your real honeymoon to the bahamas and then realizing you can't go to sleep because your dog keeps walking on your legs in the bed trying to tell you something bad is about to happen...and then it does four times on the floor next to the bed and in the hallway... so you take him out for the hundredth time (without a leash because it's two or three in the morning) only to see him dart off to a bush....where an opossum is hissing at him...and who knows what they carry. then you take him back upstairs and try to go back to sleep all over again, only this time you think he might throw up on the bed because it's dark and he can't jump off the bed and don't actually sleep at all.

so you force yourself to try to think about everyone involved and put him down stairs into the small bathroom...with towels, water and the light on of course... and you finally get about thirty minutes of sleep. at 5:00 am, you decide you can't deal with it anymore, so you call your mom and wake her up (sorry mom) and ask her if you can go ahead and bring charlie over for the week. she says yes because a. she's the best mom ever and b. you've called her all night long telling her what was going on, so she knows the deal. you go get charlie and he's throw up and #2 free in the bathroom...which is confusing to you because you still don't know that he recognized the suitcases. you think he's sick with some bug or a reaction to food you weren't supposed to give him from the dinner table.

you drive with him in your lap and he seems just fine, which again, confuses you at a this point. he loves the car. he's growling at nothing...barking occasionally just like normal. you get to your mom dad's house and it's still dark, but by the time you get back to yours, it's light out. and you've only really slept for a full thirty minutes. and your father-in-law is coming in about an hour or so to pick you up to take you to the airport.

that's what you do for your dog...if your dog is charlie :) do you see now why i love him so much? haha but seriously. this little furry deer/fox/yorkie looking mix of a dog is one of the best souls in my life. and it all started with a need. a need he filled when i was in pain. thank you God, for my sweet bandaid. i know You sent him to fill the space.

i love you charlie huff-revelette. and even if no one ever understands just why, i do. and that's enough.

love, ashlyne

words to write by

"the best way to become acquainted with a subject is to write a book about it" -benjamin disraeli

i happen to fully fully agree with you, benjamin. :) 

right now i am getting to know a woman who is becoming one of my favorite friends. i am learning about where she's from, about her family, about her struggles and worries, about her little joys, about her life. and i have thoroughly enjoyed every minute. 

as i continue to quiz her on details, nuances, and her family's little ticks, she smiles and lets me into her world. she never makes me feel like i am too nosy. (even though i am...it's my job.) she tells me it's how she copes with the recent happenings in her life. i couldn't agree more. 

i can't wait to finish this book so that she and i can have one more thing to share, to build our friendship on. but i also love the process of writing and giving her what i've gotten to see if she thinks she's well enough represented. thankfully, so far so good. 

benjamin is so right. the best way to learn about something/someone is write a book about it. so i will. who knows, maybe i'll write a book on every friend i've got! 

let me know if you're in, and we'll get this party started... well, give me a little while. this particular party is going to take a little bit. 400 pages of a little bit :) 

what's your favorite quote ...or one of your favorites? 

time is of the essence.

why haven't i blogged in forever? i am happy to say i have been so busy with my writing and projects that i haven't had any time. that in no way means i haven't missed my blog. i really love writing it. but i think this conundrum brings up something i am very passionate about. your time vs. what everyone thinks you should do with your time. 

have you ever experienced a friend or acquaintance or even a colleague that makes you feel badly for not answering some message or calling back immediately? for not abiding by their time line? have you ever been that person who makes the other feel that way? 

i would say i'm way harder on my family than friends, and so on and so forth--BUT in my older age (27), i am realizing that even that is probably, well, IS not what i should be doing. why do i all of a sudden bring this up? 

well, i have had an extremely taxing last couple weeks. more has been thrown my way than in a long time...and i used to be BUSY. this is a different kind of busy though. this is all in nashville busy. this is you better be good a managing your time busy. and luckily, i have always been pretty good at managing my time, but i do feel like i'm always too busy to do anything besides work 24/7.

i literally make myself go to sleep these days, arguing with myself that i'll be able to get up early and get more done if i sleep right then. (arguing with myself means that i always win...but to what end, i'm not sure:) ) 

i knew you of all people would understand. i knew i could take a break and tell you how i felt and not be flogged for missing out. and i knew you would know that i did miss this. i love pondering things and telling you how 

deadlines and ideas are coming along. 

this blog helps me get out of my head. so thank you, and i'll try my best to get back on track. not that i'm out of the woods. i still have 99 problems and book ain't one :) 

it's probably good that hova doesn't read this. for those of you that don't know who hova is, look up jay-z and his song "99 problems"... it will explain my "joke" 

have a wonderful week!

ashlyne huff revelette 

rough patches

everyone falls into rough patches, everyone. i feel like i do all the time, but it's through them that i find out what i'm made of. if i thought i was amazing, i probably wouldn't work that hard. if i thought i was as good as i assume i'm not, i would dare say i didn't deserve to be writing in the first place.

lucky me, i don't think i'm good...mostly all the time. i can appreciate it after, but while i'm mid-paragraph, i am full of "should i even be able given this opportunity?" and "is anyone ever going to read this?" or "is this even second-grade writing level?".... it is a struggle to be in my head. i feel sorry for the little men and women who work in the factory in that part of my brain, haha.

i'm writing a new book... i have abandoned ship on Serial Monogamist... not forever, just so that this new one can be my debut novel. it's exciting and scary all at the same time. "debut novel" sounds like the coolest thing ever right now... and that, ladies and gentlemen is why i am a nerd.

i went to my grandparents' house tonight for my grandpa's 75th birthday, and i brought a book with me to read... a new elin hilderbrand hardback. i took off the cover and held the hard book in my hands...and i dreamed.

i cannot wait  to hold a book that i've written in my hands. i cannot wait, i tell you. all the labor, the love, the drafts, the research, the relationships, the questions asked and the questions answered...i'm smiling so big right now! just take my word for it.

i think i might make my own when i know it's the finished copy... just because i like to bind books. another nerdy thing. i think it would be so cool to have it with my own special cover, one that says "this is truly one of a kind".

i'll show it to you when i'm done...in a couple months (book has to be written first!!!) :)

have a great week!

ashlyne huff revelette 

ps. visit me again this week and i'll share a crazy idea i had for this new book! i'll give you a hint, it has something to do with MUSIC!

love what you do.

hi, i'm a writer.

i love what i do...but as i have said before, i didn't always know a. if i was good enough or b. what kind of writer i was.

it took me what feels like my entire life to figure it out... i remember my eleventh grade honors english teacher calling me to speak with her. she wanted me to make a decision. she said that i wasn't writing great formal papers, but that it was unique and creative. my choices were to either go on writing like i was and make low A's and high B's OR to learn how she'd like them written for high A's.

i asked her what she thought i should do. her answer was the mark of a true teacher, one who saw me as an individual rather than a statistic to report to the headmaster of how well she was doing. she told me that i wasn't going to be a scholar (you think? :) ) so i should keep writing like i was. she told me i was going to have to learn how each teacher liked me to write papers...she was right.

with her blessing, i stayed true to my "way", and i got low A's and high B's. but then in college,  when i took my freshman seminar class about the holocaust with a senior professor who didn't like to deal with freshman because "they were high schoolers", i made an A+ on my first college research paper. my teacher gave me confidence, she gave me the backbone to continue on. and because i knew how i wrote the best, i actually started to learn how to do it both ways. because i knew who i was, i could be strong enough of a writer to be someone else for a paper or two.

that's what a writer is right? it's acting on a page.

hi, i'm a writer...and maybe an actor, too. (the difference is, i can sit in my robe all day and not sit in a makeup chair...and if you know me, you know i like that perk!)

have a great week!

ashlyne huff revelette 

why all the pretense?

when you go somewhere and see someone you haven't seen in a long time (for whatever reason), how do you catch up? do you ask how he/she is doing? of course you do. but do you mean it? are you asking someone how he/she is because you actually want to know?

what if he/she asks you back? will you tell the story or hide behind a catch-all? will you say, "you know it's been a long week, but i'm glad to have been so productive?" or will you say "everything's great!" and leave it at that?

i'm not saying that you two have to go back into your entire life stories or go down paths that might be inappropriate or unsavory. i'm not saying that you want to say it or he/she wants to hear it (and vice versa).

but what does "everything is great!" get you? it tells the other person to either back off and stop the interrogation or that you have an absolute perfect world...and most likely that the other person doesn't. so what do you say when someone says they have a great/near-perfect life? you say the same thing back, for how could you say anything else? you can't just hear that and answer with "wow you're lucky, my life sucks..."

awkward.

i understand that not every conversation has to be a long-winded one...yes even long-winded me. but if you have a past relationship at all and possibly a future relationship, doesn't the conversation deserve a little bit more than the creepy man on the elevator?

just think about it.

ashlyne huff revelette 

when it rains...bring a bucket

i tried to write this blog a couple days ago, but the site wasn't working.... and it didn't save...:( oh well! i will try remember what i wrote. i know i woke up wednesday morning with excitement about the night before. 

while i'm still writing drafts for my current novel, i started a new one because...well, because i have to keep going. i'm not satisfied without a new work in progress. and it just so happens, this new novel is based on one my favorite friends from my bible study. we met on tuesday night at a starbucks in brentwood, tennessee. we talked until it closed on us (which was relatively early since it was a "school night". :) and then we took our convo to her car...which is where lightning struck!! 

i have never written an outline before for a story, from start to finish, title, etc. but i did that night. and it was magnificent! i wish all my stories were like that!!! anyway, i went back home and tried to flesh out some of the story before i got too tired...and when i was, i turned out the lights and got comfy in the bed. (like a good child) :) 

BUT like a writer, i got idea after idea once the lights were out. and because i'm a wife now, i cannot just turn them back on unless i want to hear about it from my husband. so i stealthily grabbed my cell and wrote the ideas into the notes section. god bless the iphone. 

if you are creative, you know how annoying ideas can be...but also how golden. i used to get (and still do obviously) my best ideas when i wasn't supposed to: i.e. in class, while i was supposed to be paying attention in dance class, in tour rehearsal (different life), while i'm driving, when i worked at a tanning bed, restaurant, etc. and of course...when i'm trying to go to sleep! 

so i got smart and i now travel with a moleskine journal. it's thin, convenient, and it fits in my purse. plus i drew a little representation on it to remind myself that i'm crazy...and that i should just roll with it. 

here it is!

anyway, the moral of the story (no pun), is that when it rains ideas, don't grumble. don't resent them. don't get all huffy:)

get a bucket and catch every single one! it's our bread and butter after all right? and the joy is  that once you get it out of your system and onto a page or cell phone note, you can rest easily and go back to paying attention to what you are supposed to pay attention to! 

i hope you all have a wonderful weekend! i'll write you next week!

ashlyne huff revelette 

draft # 3: labor of lack of sleep

i just finished the third draft of f.t.d.s.m. (aka, the name of this blog) and can truly say i slept very little. why? because i set my own deadlines and i always try to keep them. i can't say i kept this one, but not for lack of trying. i was only seven hours behind. 

what used to be in the ball park of 340 pages turned into 400 or so with this rewrite, and with that came a lot of rereading and changing every single page after i made a change. this time i added an additional chapter after chapter  4, making a new chapter 5. 

no one on this blog has even read the book  yet, but i'll tell you a little of what i changed and why i like the changes.

thanks to my amazing editor, ainsley now struggles more. life isn't all about boys/men even if it's all you think about. it might be all you actually want in life, to get married and be loved and wanted, but that's not all that you actually have to do deal with. and so ainsley chambers now has more in her life than just a bad date (or seven). 

this draft brought carter, sidney, and ivy in more often in more conversations. this draft brought aunt bella into a real support system, not just a previous store owner. this draft brought drama to dayton, not just heroism.

this draft brought life in. the little struggles, the little annoyances, the let downs, the freak outs that are not life-altering, but still happen. this draft has made the old draft look too linear, and so, i am excited. 

it was a lack of sleep week for me, but it was totally worth it. and i can't believe it took me until i was 27 to realize how much i love this process. 

and because i get to turn this one in to be read and critiqued, i now can start on my latest novel and get some of that research on paper :) i'm a happy writer, camper, whatever. 

rejected much?

have you ever been rejected? by a person? a team? a squad? a job? a club? a friend?

if you haven't, you're missing out. wait, what?

i started college in the fall of 2004, and i graduated in the winter of 2007. worst time ever to graduate with a degree because you couldn't get a job no matter how qualified! you were young and no one was hiring people without gobs of experience...if they were hiring at all.

i was lucky because i had a job waiting for me after i graduated, but it was a 24 hour/365 kind of job, so don't all that excited for me. don't get me wrong either--i was super grateful to take a stab at a dream i had been dreaming for most of my childhood. i got a record deal.

but that's not what i'm talking about in this post. (i was rejected all the time in the years i was touring and singing and writing if you were wondering--by radio, by tours, by television, by film and

tv music supervisors, etc.) :)

so what am i getting at?

rejection made myself and my peers hungry. not just hungry for money, but hungry for survival. we felt blessed to have a job at all when thousands and thousands of people got laid off. we know no security in our jobs now, so we don't take them for granted.

as our country is crawling out of a recession, we are finding ourselves to have a scrappiness that can really help us thrive as young professionals.

personally, rejection has helped me come to where i am right now as a writer. i've always written everything down. always, whether it was a in a journal (i have 27 now), re-writing my

notes from school (yes, really), my church sermon notebook, or my prayer book. i'm sure there are more, but i can't think :)

i always knew i was a writer (it's plain as day that i love it), but it wasn't as obvious that i was an author.  until now that is.  see why being rejected has been good for me? it led me here. it whittled down my jobs and opportunities until i got to this moment.

and now it's here, so i can safely say: rejection is my friend.

what's your story? what has rejection done for you lately?

have a great day!!!

ashlyne huff revelette 

monday funday?

i've written about sundays, but now it's monday and i'm feeling like i should talk about this love-or-hate day. i actually don't mind mondays any more. but oh how i did.

funny enough, i don't remember knowing which day it was while i was on tour...it didn't really make a difference in a bus:) during college, monday meant homework all day... i tried to take classes on tuesdays and thursdays. during high school, mondays were the devil.

what does monday mean to me today, right now? time to write again...music, well, not actual music... to my ears. i worked through my the second draft all last week, making changes, mapping out new conversations, etc. and now comes the fun part: writing it into my storyist software!

i've said it before but editing and rewriting something you love is totally different than a paper for school.

today is also one of my best friends' birthdays. happy birthday whitney :)

have a great week!

routines and robes....i need them.

how do you fight this ?

i have friends who love to fly by the seat of their pants. i have friends who love to travel for a living. i have friends who prefer a nine to five in a cubicle. i guess all these types of people make the world go round, right?

well, i don't know about you, but i am a routine lover and a homebody. in a nut shell: i want to make my own schedule, stick to it, and be at home all day. i love my house and i love working in my PJs...somehow i am way more productive when i am fully comfy. i understand how getting "ready for work" could help someone who is working in an office setting remotely, but how about creative writing? isn't that different? that's not a real  job right? Haha

ok, after all my ranting on why i love routine and blah blah blah, you know what? i cannot get into a routine this year. it's just not happening for some reason. maybe it's because i do multiple jobs all day long or because i'm adjusting to life after a Christmas season. whatever it is, it has to stop! :)

so here's what i am going to do. remember my calendar from a few days ago? the one that is also a mouse pad? well, i am going to keep writing my daily tasks on there just like before. and i am going to write my day down in couple-hour blocks. 9-10 will be dedicated to getting up and getting the house and office cleaned up from the previous day. 10-11 will be other, less creative jobs i have that require more numbers. 11-3 will include lunch while i write.

this way i can do what i want and also get done what i need. maybe rigid routines are unrealistic after all. maybe i just need to set my routine the night before every day so that i have something to follow? maybe my routine will change times, but it will be just as productive? gosh i hope so. if anyone has a tip or two on how you juggle different jobs on different days, etc, etc, please do share!

have a very productive day!

ashlyne huff revelette 

editing 101

after finishing the first draft i felt accomplished. after the second draft, i felt malleable, like i could take direction. and now while i'm writing the third draft, i feel... empowered somehow. i thought when i was told my story needed

more, it needed fuller characters, more drama, more explanation, etc. that it would make me feel defeated and make me think i wasn't as good as i had hoped. but, now, more than ever, i am sure that this is where i belong.

i am halfway through the rewriting process, and i love it. absolutely love it. it is even better than the first or second drafts (well, hopefully haha).

so here is my editing advice: be open-minded to the feedback you are given. if people take the time to read your work, they deserve your attention when they give comments.

also, write all their questions, suggestions, etc. down on a piece of paper. don't try to remember it. by the time you are off the phone call or the person has left your office, you will be really mad at yourself. it's better to write it down. (you're a writer right? this shouldn't be so hard.) :)

and then actually try to change it (for the better). keep all your drafts saved as different versions so that you don't lose any. but try to change your story.  and don't be afraid to print it out and actually cross out sections. one pink line through the paragraph will not keep you from putting it back in there if you change your mind.

* oh by the way, i don't use red pens...they make me think i did something wrong...pink is way less intimidating.

editing is way more fun for a novel than it was for me during school. i knew i was a writer, just not a formal one...and i'll admit, i was pretty nervous to start the editing process because i thought i was going to be stuck...get choked by all the words on the page and the lack of new and improved thoughts in my head. but it's a novel of fiction. i can make it up. it's amazing how that works!:)

so, because i am for-real in the middle of this novel, i should probably get back to it.

have a great day!

ashlyne huff revelette 

how do you get your ideas?

i get asked this question a lot, even from my husband: how do you get all your ideas?

great question, dear:)

i ran across this amazing quote the other day and it has completely changed my attitude towards writing...for the better.

"if you don't have time to read, you don't have the time or tools to write." -stephen king

seriously? i couldn't (well, i didn't) have said it better myself. writing is a freeing task for my heart and brain and soul and all those other great things, but reading is where it begins.

one might ask: isn't reading like getting ideas and stealing them?

my answer is no, not exactly. it's the same as listening to music and writing it exactly as you just heard it. of course people copy, people plagiarize, people steal from drug stores (it happens--just not to me). but for real creative minds, i believe that it unlocks a side of your writer's brain that you didn't have open for business. you start thinking in a way you didn't before. you start looking at things in your regular life that you wouldn't have even noticed before.

i went to the library the other day and picked out 5 books for my new novel. they are more for research than for writing style, so i went back to my parents' house to see if any of the books i had in my old room would help me in my quest. (don't discount books you have already read! sometimes you don't know what you know---does that make sense?

so now, i'm ready to get my read on.

piece of advice--if you have a genre in mind that you want to write about, find some authors who write those kinds of books...start with them first!  (that narrows it down a little:) )

have a great day!

ashlyne huff revelette 

30 must-haves and must-knows

ainsley's character is just around the corner from 30 for half of the book, and this post on 30 came out today. i think ainsley was right on par with the worries she had concerning her impending 3-0. take a look at this Huffington Post post :) 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/24/turning-30-30-things-every-woman-should-have-and-should-know_n_1447368.html

i'm smiling because my maiden name is huff...and i posted this, haha. ok i'm sorry.

have a great week!

ashlyne huff revelette 

cross it off the list

this has absolutely nothing to do with writing, and yet it does. i used to dread sundays. it was a "school-night" technically--as in i had school the next day. it was the day i had to get everything done that i had put off on friday and saturday in order to have a typical, fun weekend. and even when i was out of high school and college it was still the day before i went back to work or had to travel somewhere for a press thingy (don't mind my terminology...it's actually sunday today and my brain is elsewhere.)

and if you procrastinate until sunday, the last day of your weekend sucks...which means you start off your week with stress, which carries into monday, tuesday, and by wednesday you don't think you have it in you to finish out the last two days...only to do it all over again. vicious cycle i tell you.  vicious.

so. i came up with my new organized lifestyle. it started as a weekend lifestyle but quickly became an all-week thing. i'm about to blow your mind by the way:

do a little every day so that by the weekend (or whichever day you hate the most) you don't have much left to do. don't hold off, put off, or pretend you don't have something when you clearly do. you become someone else when you get stressed. so make a weekly list of what you have to do for EACH day. you can technically write it in your calendar, but it can get difficult to see what your appointments/homework assignments/etc. are on that day if  your list is on there too. plus, your list can sit on your desk at home waiting to be crossed off when you finish :) 

                                        here's what i use:

i give myself a few aspects of the massive-scary task to do each day so that i can actually cross something off my list and feel like i got something done. i used to just write the name of the entire task every day, and it started to frustrate me because it looked like all my hours had gone to waste, and i had nothing to show for it.  i know some of you are thinking i'm crazy... but some of you are totally understanding this.
to recap-

TWO THINGS TO DO DURING YOUR WEEK

1. on sundays, write down your list of things to do for the week, itemized and fully executable. remember to write things that are actually feasible to get done or you will never be able to cross them off. (i am an over-achiever, so i used to put more than i could do to stretch myself, but i ended up making myself feel even worse when i realized i wasn't wonderwoman after all.)
2. actually do the little tasks on your list. don't put them off or you won't get the peaceful sunday. it might seem like you're wasting time on small things when you are "not in the mood--i'll do it all later--all at once", but trust me, you've tried that before and to no avail.
try it for one week. just see. and get back to me. :)
have a great one. i'm going to go write my second novel now.

ashlyne huff revelette 

cereal vs. serial

hola. i grew up thinking a serial killer was a cereal killer…and that didn’t make very much sense. why does this matter? well, this memory stuck with me until i was twenty-six years old. i watch a lot of law & order: svu and criminal minds, and they are constantly saying serial killer. and i thought to myself: am i serial about anything? turns out, i am. all my life, all i ever wanted was to be married to the man of my dreams. i’m southern:) 

so i figured out, i am a serial monogamist. i don’t want to date, i don’t want to be casual, i don’t want to keep myself “available” and meet all the fish in the sea, i don’t want to be anything other than serious. that makes me seriously, serial right? 

and that’s how i came up with my book title and the title of this blog. 

ainsley chambers is the star of my novel, and she frankly feels the same way i have always felt. i can’t wait for you to meet her. but for now, i’ll talk about myself….boring? maybe   

a a serially seriously killer mongamistish week. 

ashlyne huff revelette