From Kayla's Perspective #3

From Kim:
So many people contact us on a regular basis about how Kayla does certain things with her rare nerve disorder. Well, this past month was no exception. Kayla and I are writing our novels together, and she overheated a few weeks ago (which can be life-threatening.) But, I'm thankful to say that she is recovering well. She's still really tired, but her sense of humor is still intact. She's amazing. Here's a little note from her perspective about the ups and downs of writing when you hit a speedbump:

From Kayla:
Once again, I learn how much of an adventure writing can be within the tight confines of life. (Especially when you have a rare nerve disorder and overheat at swim team.) {Smile.}

As you might’ve already guessed, life is a wee bit crazy at our house. You should have seen us when Holly lived here, but that’s another story.

Anyway, the fact is that when you overheat at swim team—when you’re not even working all that hard-- things get a little bit strange. (Especially when you can’t feel pain and can’t tell your mom how it feels.)

Yes. I know this from experience. A few weeks ago this fascinating event happened. LOL Since then, we, my Mom and I, have been attempting to write while I try and get some rest. Again, LOL. But, it’s just a little weird trying to write when you’re tired, or in some cases even asleep. (I don’t suggest attempting the latter. Doesn’t work well.)

One thing’s for sure: when I overheat, I get really tired. Which means sleeping for eleven to fourteen hours at night and then taking a two-three hour nap that evening.
Like I said, I don’t sleep-write. Personally, I don’t really think anyone does. {Smile.} Although if I did, I would probably come up with some very interesting stories, don’t you think?

So I guess I’ll just stick to writing while I’m awake, if that’s okay. Jesus, writing and swimming, what a life. {Smile.}
-Kayla

I Fell Down

It has been a wild couple of weeks. Kayla overheated a few weeks ago and that really turned things topsy-turvy. And while there is a post coming up about that intense situation, today I was reminded about falling down.

There are lots of ways we fall down. Sometimes we are tripped by someone or something. Sometimes it's because we just don't have the strength to go on. Sometimes we're knocked down forcefully by the world around us. Sometimes we fall because of our own foolishness or stupidity.

Last March, I fell in the Grand Canyon (not literally inTO the Grand Canyon, but at the Grand Canyon.) I was even wearing my sturdy hiking boots! That fall was unpredictable, it blindsided me. Just one uneven stone and down I went. In front of dozens of other people who wanted to gaze upon the majesty and beauty around them. I turned an ugly shade of pale white (so I'm told) and had to stick my head between my knees because of the intense pain. My pride stung from it. I wondered why I had to fall basically while walking, when I'd just been jumping from rock to rock and hiking all over the place? And then, I had to get OUT of the Canyon. With a severely sprained ankle. (Yeah, that was fun.)

Then in September, I took another tumble. (No, I am not normally this clumsy, but thanks for asking.) Only this time, I was attending a professional writer's conference. Assisting a friend of mine, I was walking backward out of an elevator when my heel caught in the little groove between the elevator car and the actual floor of the hotel story we stayed on. This time, however, I was in a business jacket and skirt and three inch heels. Pretty picture, huh?

There was one big difference between the second fall and the first. (And I'm not talking about footwear.) The second time, I was willing to sacrifice all pride and decorum to protect my ankle. I didn't care who saw me. I didn't care how ungraceful I looked. The only thing I could think about was making sure I didn't injure that ankle again. It took months for it to heal the first time--I wasn't going to go through that again if I could help it.

I fell down.
But, I learned something.

And surprisingly, I wasn't hurt at all. My friends laughed with me, and I'm sure it gave them quite a sight and story to tell others, but the end result was an un-injured ankle.

My point? Every time we fall down, literally or figuratively, we can learn something from it. Yeah, yeah, you might want to get angry and blame everyone or everything for the fall. But, what good does that do? How does that really matter? Once you've fallen, you've fallen. It's not like you can change the past. What matters is what you do AFTER you fall.

Are you going to sit around on the ground and cry and whine about how the fall was not your fault? About how horrible it is on the ground? About how hard it will be to get back up?

OR...

Will you pick yourself up, dust yourself off, bandage the wounds, and face the future with an appreciation for falling down--and the beautiful chance to get up. Begin again. Keep going.

Life is an adventure full of learning. Don't dwell in the past. Think positive. Look forward.

From Kayla's Perspective #2...

God works in mysterious ways. He creates us each unique and different for His own special purposes. When I was younger, I had no clue that I would become the youngest-published-full-length-novelist ever. (Try to say that ten times fast!)

Writing is an adventure, let’s just get that straight right now. But I wouldn’t trade it in for the world. By pursuing what you want to do, you learn, you grow, and you laugh your head off. Plus, if you’re like me, you get grumpy sometimes. (LOL)

Each week I learn new things. For example:
-This week, I learned about the “uh ohs” in author intrusion when writing in first person.
-When you write on the computer, it helps to use the synonym thing-a-ma-bob and the spelling correcting whatcha call it.
-Don’t write when you’re about to fall asleep.
-And always get a good book (as a reward) to push you toward finishing your goal, (such as Isle of Fire by Wayne Thomas Batson), even if your goal is 15,000 words for over the weekend.
-I’m a weird person and listening to music while I write helps me think.
-It especially helps me block out the click-a-tick-a-boom-boom of the keys as I type.
-Of course, I use my headphones so I don’t drive Mom crazy by listening to End of the Beginning (by David Phelps, the best singer EVER) over and over and over and over and over (etc).
-It’s fun to write blogs too. I love coming up with stories for my blog, Dragon Claws, Dog Paws, Swimming Laws. . . I mostly love to get ideas back from other kids.

But I’ve got to admit that I didn’t know what to write about for this blog. But thanks to our friend Mrs. Lori (whose son Austin home schools with us) I decided to kind of wing it and see what happened as I wrote. {pats the computer} (I’m not trying to offend you little blog post, please don’t take that the wrong way.) But thankfully, God gave me the words to type. (Smile.)

As you probably know I’m only twelve, (and am NOT going to turn thirteen, we’re going to skip my next birthday. Thankfully. LOL) and I’m kinda new at this whole writing thing, (That will explain it, if you're bored) but I promise to get better.
Eventually.
Hopefully.
Maybe.
Anyway.

I guess you could say that the theme-thing of this blog is write, write, write, re-write, re-write, re-write, and re-write some more until God says its good.
Well, we’ve got to go do school, (not sarcasm; I LOVE school! It’s fun!) So. . .
Adios and see ya!-Kayla

Monday Morning Madness...

*This blog is cross-posted on all our blog sites*

Out of all the blogs I've posted - I've received more email and responses on these random blogs. So, here ya go - every random thought I've had in the past 60 seconds:

-my doctor friend thinks it's funny that I always ask questions like, "how long would it take someone to die from... ?" (I promise I only kill characters, not real people)
-but I hate to kill bugs. huh.
-however, I do kill bugs - (with great flare, I'm sure) - because I can't stand to have unwelcome visitors in my home.
-thankfully, Colorado doesn't have many bugs.
-my friend Chris once climbed onto a table and called me to come kill a spider for her.
-maybe I scare people?
-I wrote 10,000 words yesterday.
-my brain is tired
-my husband will probably wonder if I have any words left today.
-nah. He knows me better than that.
-I wonder who ever thought it would be "fun" to climb the highest mountain in North America in January?
-My feet are cold.
-I love to take pictures.
-The Grand Canyon is amazing.
-The rangers laughed at me when I asked, "How many people die here every year?"
-I told them I really wasn't that morbid - "I'm a writer."
-Someone actually wrote a book about people dying in the Canyon.
-It's called, "Death in the Grand Canyon" (Imagine that)
-Yes, I bought a copy.
-We brought home our organic cow from our butcher this weekend. Since we split it with a friend, my husband came up with the name, "Half-Calf Moocha"
-Last year, our beef's name was Sherbert
-My friend gave me a weird look the first time I told Josh, "Go get a couple pounds of Sherbert out of the freezer..."
-All of a sudden, I'm in the mood for a hamburger.

Let's Get Together... Yeah, Yeah, Yeah...

There are so many things I would've missed out on had Kayla and I not started writing together. (And I'm not just talking about book contracts...)

It's funny how you don't realize these things until you are in the midst of them. Kayla may be only 12, and will be the youngest published full-length novelist, and she has opportunities placed in front of her that a lot of us would have dreamed of having at her age - but she's also been through more--persisting through the tough times--than most of us have had to deal with our entire lives.

Writing together has brought us even closer together. Our creative brains just feed off each other - brainstorming and plotting take on new meaning. And the laughter is doubled - (and we laughed a lot before, so this is significant!)

It's also been fun to understand a little more about her. She's so precious, and we've always been close (I'm really close to both of my kids) - but this novel-writing journey has opened up more ways for me to understand Kayla. And because of her nerve disorder, it's sometimes eye-opening to see her describe how she "feels" things. She's learning, and I'm learning. It's an incredible experience.

Other things I've learned? Well...
-she's faster at writing than I am (and I'm pretty fast)
-she's faster at finishing her edits than I am (sigh)
-she's got a crazy sense of humor, and more depth than most adults I know
-she knows who she is, and rests in God's direction each day (I wish more of us could do that)


Now Josh loves to write as well... but the thought of writing with him scares me to death. Why - you may ask? Because frankly, his creativity is so off the charts, I'd never be able to keep up -- and I think I would constantly ache from all the laughter. (You should hear him and Kayla when they are working on a story together - just wait - that duo could definitely be something to watch.)

So for now, I'm content to learn from and with my kids, and enjoy this precious writing journey.