Authoress N.L. Hudson

Good Afternoon Everyone!

So, today I just wanted to take the time to talk about me in general; things such as what my day entails, and what it is like for me to be a writer.

Well, first, my day begins at 5:30 in the morning. I get up, and help my nine and eleven year old boys (I call them the gap twins) to get ready for school. Which by the way is no easy fate. It's almost like pulling teeth just to get them to leave the comforts of their bed. I can probably count on one hand the number of times they have actually gotten up when the alarm clock first went off. And, it's worst if I'm still sleepy myself, because then I fall back asleep and after that we're all scrambling around running late. Okay, so if we actually get up and get the ball rolling at a decent time, then I have them ready about 7:10. We then warm the car, if it's cold like it is now, and I'd say about 7:20 maybe 7:25 at the latest we're headed on our way. By 7:30, I dropp the boys off. We each say our goodbyes and I love you's. This is a general practice that I've been doing since they were first born. We do not...I repeat, we do not part without telling each other that. Some people may think that it's quirky, but I feel as though my children need to hear that from their mama. They are only little people, but people nonetheless so I want them to know at all times that I love them. Although, at some other times they make me want to run away. No, I'm just kidding. Well not really. I do sometimes think about running away to the imaginary room in my house that no one knows about, including myself. It's only in my head when they are working my nerves.

Alright, so after dropping them off, I head over to the park and walk for about an hour. Now, I'm not going to lie and say that I do this every morning because I don't. :(  However, I try my best to get in a workout at least three times a week, and on my good weeks, I aim for five. But it's been awhile since I did a full straight week of working out. I need to work on that. I was once pretty dedicated to exercising to a point, that I would feel extremely sluggish if I didn't workout. Well, I guess it's no difference since I feel sluggish if I don't. Lol.

After my workout, I usually come home and fix me some oatmeal and have two glasses of lemon water. I read on several sites that drinking lemon water early in the morning wakes the organs that had been sleeping all night. Not sure how true, but if it's on the internet then it has to be correct, right? Anyway, so after that, I usually do a little cleaning around the house. I don't genuinely have much because I clean in the evenings, and when my boys  come home from school they have chores as well. Not major ones, but little small chores that I feel they can handle on their own. I'm trying to raise responsible, young men here, so yes, I put them to work at times. I believe that by doing that it's grooming them to handle being on their own when they become adults. And that way, they won't need a woman to pick up after them. She'll be an addition to their life and not a filler for their mama.

Once I've done everything around the house, I then go to my favorite spot, which is my room and sit on my comfy, King sized bed. After that, I pick up my laptop and place it on my lap. I tell myself, "get to work now, and don't stop until you've written over five thousand words!" Ha, funny huh? Well, if not to you, it certainly is to me because I never do that. After picking up my laptop, I grab my cell immediately after. I go to Facebook and I look through it for over an hour. And then, I'll finally tell myself that I need to work. Now, usually I do get to work after procrastinating for over an hour. But then, there is my cell calling out for me to pick it up again. And you know what I do? I pick it up because who am I to neglect something that has been there for me when I needed it most. I can always count on my phone to dial out when I need to make a call, or to take some pretty dope selfies when I finally do decide to post them online. So, yeah, I give in and once again look through one of my social medias. I can say though, I'm not always caught up on funny videos that make you laugh so hard you actually have tears in your eyes. Often times, I'm searching ways to promote and brand myself. Occasionally, I post inspirational memes or cute little quotes. But since I'm such an introvert I rarely ever post. This is something else that I need to work on. 

Now, once I've finally cracked down on myself and admitted that I need to get to work, then I once again open my laptop. I'll jump right in to whatever character is speaking to me the most, and I'll write consistently for like an hour straight. I mean I will really be into it. All type of ooh's and ahh's will be leaving my mouth. Then, once those voices in my head calms down, I'll be stuck again trying to figure out what I'm going to write next. Because, as I've stated before I do not like to write an outline. I feel it takes away from your creativeness when you do that. At least that's how it works for me. However, on those rare occasions I do decide to outline say a chapter or two, then they are not strict by any means. I write it so that they are as bendable as I need them to be. At any minute during any of my stories, I can take out a character, add one in, change the city or whatever I feel is necessary to make the story flow to me. I'm my own worst critic, so I hate for a story to not jump out to me. If it doesn't pop then I might delete a chapter or two, or even start over fresh. Then I take forever to write because I'm like the biggest perfectionist. I actually go through grammar check while I'm writing my rough draft. How insanely time wasting is that? And then, what's worst is that I'll check over it so many times that I still miss something. I won't catch it though until I've actually walked away and came back to it at a later time.

Alright, so once I get a good flow going, my characters are acting right, and I feel like writing, then I'll work sometimes for a whole day. My quitting time usually comes around 3 o'clock when it's time to start preparing myself for the boys to come home. Then, depending on the day of the week, I may or may not have to plan for football or basketball practice. Oh, by the way my boys LOVE sports. I mean they will play sports in their sleep if they could stand up straight. It is so serious that my husband and I sometimes have to check their schedules to make sure they don't have anything going on before we'll be able to plan a date night. Crazy huh? Well, sort of. But I have to admit that it keeps me balanced. When you're grieving it's good to have something that keeps us occupied. And outside of writing my family does just that.

Once I've cooked dinner and went over homework, taken the boys to whatever practice, watched television, or played the game, (whichever family activity that my boys have picked out) I'm finally able to have a little me time in the late, late, afternoon. It's not much time because after all that is finished, I'll usually have to get ready for bed myself. But it is enough time to browse my social media or watch one of my shows until I fall asleep. Then afterwards, guess what, I wake up by the Grace of God to do it all over again!

So, there you have it; my life in a nutshell! I wanted to use this opportunity to share a piece of my life with you guys and I honestly feel like I've done that. I'll continue to take you along on my journey as I travel it. I'm not a big author by a long shot, and I don't pretend to be. But what I can say is that I'm confident enough to know that my work is so great that one day it'll reach somebody that will be big enough to give me the exposure I need. That is why I'm never giving up writing. It is my passion, and I'm damn good at it. And this is coming from someone who believes in them self enough to know that N.L. Hudson will be a household name.

Thank you everyone for reading, and until next time! I hope that you enjoy this!