The Chair

After much pondering and debate I decided to purchase a new chair for my new work space. I realized after spending four hours or so sitting at my desk writing, my back was killing me, along with my shoulders, my neck, my hip, okay you get the picture. I had never given much thought to my seating arrangement until this issue came up. Perhaps that was the very reason that I could never find a comfortable place to write. So, I headed to the internet and began my search. One of my main issues is that I am rather short. What may work for the average height person, usually doesn't work for me. I was pleasantly surprised to find there are quite a few companies that offer chairs for short people. I searched long and hard and was, as on my desk, shocked by the sticker price on a good ergonomic chair. I feel that anyone who sits for hours at their desk should, no, must, get an ergonomic chair. Think about it, we spend more hours in our chairs than we do in our beds! I am not sure how we can justify getting a cheap $40 chair when we will be in it at least 7 hours a day. On that caveat, I will say if it works for you, great, but it was not working for me. After searching for about three days I decided I had to at least try out a Herman Miller, Aeron even with the $900 price tag. After all it had won tons of awards. I packed my entourage in the van and headed down to Savannah, as there are no furniture stores that had any of the chairs on my list. I visited two stores, both of which had lovely things for the office, sigh... So the adventure began. As soon as we entered the second store, which was Mason, Inc on Jackson St. downtown, my little people turned into a wild pack of monkeys, again. The staff was very nice and helpful and did not mind too much the little ones climbing, "testing out the chairs" and rearranging their displays. As much as the Herman Miller was nice, I fell in love with the "Life Chair" by Knoll. This company has some of the coolest and ergonomic office products I have seen. I could have waited, and ordered a custom chair with the colors and fabrics I had picked, but the one they had on the floor was great. This chair is fully customizable, as in the depth of the seat, the height of the arms rests, the depth of the arm rests, the flexibility of the back, the height of the chair, and the lumbar support.  Again, this is a great feature as I am short and my hubby, should he ever want to sit in it, can make it fit him as well. It's kinds of like having two chairs in one. I will admit the price was a bit steep, but I think well worth the benefits. So while you may not was to spend a small fortune, keep in mind the hours you will be sitting in the chair. If you are going to search for a chair, don't take an entourage with you, bring a book or magazine to hang out in the chair for a while so you can get the real feel then decide what is best for you. Good luck.

Florina Craven

The Search

I realized after spending hours writing my writing space needed a revamp. Actually, I had no real writing space. First, I started sitting in my comfy overstuffed chair, then I would move to the couch, then the kitchen table, then the dining room table. You can see this was a problem. We do have an office, what we did not have was a desk where my computer could nicely and my arms too. So I grabbed my entourage and headed to the local furniture stores to see what could be found. When I embarked upon this mission, I had no idea of the expense involved, so you can imagine I was floored by the cost of a nice desk. I searched on-line as well, but did not feel right about getting a desk I could not actually touch and sit at. As I shopped and tested out lots of varying models I realized two things. One, when brought into a nice furniture store children who are normally well behaved turn into a hoard of wild monkeys and two, what you end up loving always costs more than you had intended on spending. I rationalize this with the fact that I spend more hours at my desk than I do in my bed. I am excited to say I did find a nice desk that I absolutely love and already lots of work has gotten done. Next will be a new chair but more on that later.

Florina Craven

Back to the red pen

A friend of mine so kindly noted that RWA national were only 6 months away. Did my heart falter, studder with the shock before I screamed in panic? Yes, yes I did. The fact of the matter is I was really hoping to be father along with my second manuscript. Alas, I am no father then I was in November. Aside from thinking about the darn thing, not much has been written. I keep getting pulled back to do revisions. To participate in this annoying thing called life and family and work outside of writing. It seems the revisions will never be over. As I look over each word, each sentence each unending paragraph for the tenth time I am annoyed with myself for finding errors. I don't mean to give the impression I am a perfectionist. That is not the case. In fact those who know me, know that is far from the truth. I have decided that despite that this will be round eleven, I will go at it again. Red pen in hand I will slash and cut, paste and copy till this beast has been hacked into some semblance of a better story.

Florina Craven

Happy New Year 2010

I am not one to keep or even make real resolutions. I think many people have good intentions but it goes out the window usually about January 3, and that's being generous. I don't really do resolutions but rather, I set goals for myself. I try to keep them small and doable, as in it can be achieved and/or measured. Last year I set one simple goal for myself, finish my manuscript. I am happy to say about six months into the year I achieved that goal. This year I intend to have much the same goal with a few additional. So here is my guide for new year non-resolutions:

1. Keep it reachable.
2. Don't set too many goals.
3. Can you measure your progress toward your goal?

Good luck and may you have a richly blessed New Year.
Florina Craven

Sarting another project

I didn't realize it would be so difficult to get on with my next project. The idea is there, floating around in my head, tapping on my skull to be let out. Yet, somehow, I have not found the motivation or the time. I think the biggest problem has been trying to adapt to the complete change of schedule and demands on my time. Nice as it is to have the family back together a whole new set of issues present themselves. Perhaps, the other problem is that I was a bit burnt out after completing that 120k manuscript. It was an intense time, trying to finish and revise it all on a tight schedule. I am glad I rushed t complete it, so I can wait to hear back. Sigh... I know it's just part of the fun. It's crazy to think that Christmas is almost upon us and I feel like it should still be July. The good thing is my life is settling down to a point where I feel a routine coming on. I need routine, with little monkeys running circles around the house I need to plan my hours so I can get those stories out. Christmas and New Year, then Lord willing, a better more productive schedule. Then another finished product.

My own hero retuns

So I took a break, actually it was a rather long one, from blogging. Life caught up to me and little time was left for fun. Alas, here I am returned. Speaking of returns my darling husband has returned from his six month stint in Afghanistan. Being a military wife is really not so bad and deployments aren't all gloom and doom. I for one don't mind them so much. I am sure the kids would say something different but that is a whole other topic. The spring and summer are my busy seasons. I keep a grueling schedule of 8am to 2:30am. I hate to sleep alone so this was no real hardship. Now that my beloved has returned, so too has a "normal" bed time. This means 1am, not too bad, but wow an extra hour and a half of sleep is really amazing. Then to have extra help is like having hired full time help. You would think I would be super productive, with extra time and sleep to fuel my brain. Sadly this is not the case, distractions abound. It is difficult not to want to singgle up to a nicely formed bicep instead of work. Did I mention that said bicep is significantly larger then before it left, which was pretty nice to begin with. Sigh...Next week this pleasant idle will be over and life will return to our pre-deployment schedule. Until then I am going enjoy his return and curl up next to my very own hero.

RWA Conference

It's been a few weeks since the Romance Writers of America conference. It was held in DC this past July. It was an amazing experience. I got to meet so many wonderful authors, agents and publishers. Granted there were a few sangs, such as a flood, car accident and even the death of a family member on the last night it was still great. I plan on going next year if at all possible. I learned so much about the industry it was mind boggling but in a way that got me very excited despite the many, and I mean many hardships writers face. My favorite part was hanging out and just talking to everyone, and there were lots of people to talk to. It was my first conference but I jumped right in. If anyone knows me that's how I am. I do not let the fact that I know no one deter me. As it turned out I knew quite a few people and had not expected them to be there. I had two friends up for awards and made several new friends. I encourage anyone who is thinking about going, or wants to know about the publishing industry to go. Aside from the great people, the workshops are amazing. As it turns out I got to talk to two very wonderful ladies, whom I admire very much. First off I got to meet J.R.Ward, her talk about being a writer was bluntly honest and motivating. Second, I got invited to Nora Roberts' pre-Rita party. She was just so gracious and has one of the coolest personalities. It was a real treat to attend. Now off to more work. After crazy events and more travel than one person should have to do in three weeks this MS is finally going out this week.

In case you are wondering that is a picture of my talented blond friend Sharon Wray, who won first place in the Kiss of Death contest for best Single Title with J.R.Ward in the middle and me in the black and white at the RWA literacy signing.