My Book and My Baby

I promise I am not going to make every post about being pregnant, guys. I swear. But I've always thought of this blog as about more than just the nuts and bolts of writing, but also life that comes with it.

And right now, life is going through some pretty big changes. Being a writer, I compare a lot of what I am going through with writing and getting a book deal. The feeling of disbelief. The shocking realization that this is happening, and within a set period of time.

And my favorite, the feeling that I have no clue what I am doing. 


The interesting thing is that even though pregnancy is something you hear everyone talk about, there's a whole lot of stuff I am experiencing that never gets mentioned. Then something happens, like for example, my hips have been killing me lately, and I think there's something wrong with me. Until I check with my books, and it turns out it's completely normal.


It's a good lesson for doing your research I think. There's a lot of general information about things that "everyone" knows, but when you get to the daily life of a doctor, a mental patient, and a pregnant woman (those last two may be connected) there's a slew of stuff that no one ever talks about. 


So here are some funny observations:


*Morning sickness is a misnomer. Lately I am sick to my stomach all day. For a few days last week I was having dry heaves the very second I woke up. I couldn't even eat a cracker without gagging. It was water, water, water until about 3 or 4 in the afternoon. Luckily that's getting better.

*Which brings me to the next point. You assume your level of queasiness is going to stay the same for the rest of the first trimester. How how naive I was. Last week I was sick to my stomach all day and couldn't eat a thing until the evening. This week it's getting a little better.


*Food aversions. The weirdest things will make you sick to your stomach. Usually it's not until I put the food in my mouth too, will I know if I want to eat it or not. This makes ordering in a restaurant adventurous at best.


*Body aches. Because of the hormones coursing through your veins, your body will ache. Just...everywhere. I can't sleep on one side for very long before it starts to hurt my hip and shoulder. Also I'll get hot and cold and hot again and then cold.


*People over sharing. You would be very surprised how many people have told me their miscarriage horror stories. Most people are trying to help reassure me that it's "totally normal" but seriously, folks. I don't need to hear about that right now. I am still in the first trimester. That's like, Valley of the Shadow of Death for miscarriage. I am taking my prenatal vitamins, eating healthy, not drinking caffeine, and generally doing everything I can to be healthy. But there's still only so much control I have over things. And since I don't want to be a crazy person, I am just not thinking about the Bad Things that could happen. There's no sense in becoming neurotic.

*Have I mentioned that we're also looking at houses? Yeah, we're going to move sometime this year, depending on how quickly the house hunting goes.

*Have I also mentioned that my best friend Melissa is getting married December 3rd? I am the Matron of Honor (that sounds so old, but I am married, so no longer a "maid"). I will be in my third trimester then, and probably huge. Finding a nice dress is going to be...interesting. It's also funny how people act like I will totally be incapacitated and unable to help her with the wedding. I'm pregnant, not dead. 


*Fatigue. This one's a killer, especially for my writing. Imagine that you're moving and you have to pack everything in one day. The next day, you have to move all your stuff and unpack it. Let's also say that you didn't get any sleep at all for a few nights in a row, and your day job is as a construction worker. This scenario barely scratches how tired I am. I still have a day job, so some days it's all I can do to just go to work (which is physically demanding). I've spend a lot of nights on the couch trying to perfect my Jedi mind tricks so I can will the fruit over to me. So while it's been a challenge, I've still managed to make progress on my book.


Because I want to try to be completely done and querying before I go into labor. I am nine weeks right now, so that gives me 7 months to finish rewriting, pass it off to the beta readers, implement beta reader feedback and then start querying. That should be plenty of time, but we all know how life likes to creep up on us. Did I mention moving and a wedding, for starters?


The really great news is that despite all of these funny things, I am still making very steady progress on the book. I rewrite at least a scene a day, and two days ago I managed to write 7k. The tiredness and malaise kicked in, and I didn't feel like doing anything. 


So I just wrote, since it's my first escape.


So there you have it. An update on my book and my baby.


How are all of you dealing with your projects? How do you deal with life's curve balls?