Adrenalizing

What do you think of the new look?

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I started blogging originally on LiveJournal, mainly because I thought blogs were a cool way to say what I was thinking without having to bore the people around me. I'm kind of an opinionated person.

*pause for the fake incredulity and sarcasm*

I added a Blogger blog somewhere along the line, because people had their preferred formats. I posted the same thing in both places. Then eventually I let LiveJournal go, mainly because I'd outgrown a lot of the communities I'd kind of become part of. Except one person. Hi, Gail! :) (Gail is awesome, and I will always think of LiveJournal fondly because it made our friendship possible.)

As time went on, "author branding" grew more and more important. Everyone lives online now, and Internet real estate is vital. My writing has coalesced, so that all of my books, however different they may seem on the surface, are similar at their core.

My paranormal romances (Goddesses Rising and the Soul Series) have kick-ass heroes and heroines who are trying to save their world and each other, and some of those people have otherworldly abilities.

My romantic adventures feature kick-ass heroes and heroines who are trying to save their world and each other, but there's nothing paranormal or otherworldly about them.

My YA books are going to be slightly different, in that the same heroine will be the protagonist of many books, and the romance will be stretched out through them. But they're still about teenagers kicking ass and saving the world—while they figure out who the hell they are and how they fit into the world they're saving, of course.

I don't want to import this massive blog to my website, smart as that would be, but the time had come to tie it a little more closely to the rest of my online property. So I renamed it using my author tagline, Love with a Shot of Adrenaline, and changed the template. Climbing a mountain in the rain generates adrenaline, I bet. And the colors tie in to everything else.

You know what else generates adrenaline? Being overworked. It's not something I want to complain about. I'm very happy to have the amount of work I'm doing, and it's of a type I enjoy. But when Monday kicks you hard in the face, and you're like me, that nonstop adrenaline has bad side effects. Like dreaming about work when you're not checking the clock every half hour. And getting your heart flutter back.

My problem is that I care too much. It's not okay that I left work on my desk yesterday, even though I got all the urgent stuff done. It's not okay that I had three client projects in my inbox when I went to bed, even though I have to, you know, at least try to get half a night's sleep. It's definitely not okay when my daily word count doesn't get done, and it's especially not okay when work takes me away from my kids and husband—even if they're doing their own thing and wouldn't be hanging with me even if I wasn't working.

I'm a crusader for pushing my friends to be good to themselves and not beat themselves up for what they don't do, and to be happy with whatever balance they achieve. It's stuff I believe with my entire being.

Except, apparently, for myself. :/

Over on Everybody Needs a Little Romance, we had a recent guest who pulled soul cards (kind of like tarot) for all the commenters. I was floored by what mine said. I taped it over my desk:

Flow

It's time to let go. You're entering a period of gracious ease and flow. All is unfolding perfectly and with good timing. Everything is falling into place because you aren't resisting the drift of the great river of life.

When you're in a state of flow, you aren't pushing the river to go faster, and you aren't swimming against it. You just let go of the shore and enjoy the ride. If you aren't feeling the smooth currents of life, it might mean that you're trying to control situations in your life, or your'e being self-critical or judgmental. The way to move into the flow is through gratitude and appreciation, and by allowing others to support and help you.

I'm trying. Failing more than half the time, but trying!