Everyone's writing time is individualized to that person and what works best for them. One person may only have an hour at lunch time to devote to the craft whereas someone else may have the entire day. We all lead different lives. Some are married while others are single. Some have children others don't. Some have a job outside the home and some may have no job at all. We can't judge someone else's output by what they do. Personally, I am now a stay home mom who homeschools her niece. I work … [Read more...]
Day 60: Showing Up
I think this has been my exact problem these past several months. To be reliable to my own writing muse. Ever since last July when Mari's 4 year mark came and went, I've had a hard time trying to motivate myself to do any kind of writing. Whether it was writing something for Mari's website, writing something for her book, or just writing for my fiction book, I just couldn't find the motivation. I kept being told by others that even if I only write a sentence a day I needed to write something. … [Read more...]
Day 59: What Writers Can Learn from Six-Year-Olds
As writers, we love to go into the recesses of our brain and come up with stories out of no where. It's what fuels the fire of our story as we write out each word. I think of Mari as I'm writing this today. Sometimes while Mari would be sitting in her chair, and it looked like she was starring off into space, she would start to giggle incessantly over what appeared to be nothing. You could take your hand and move it back and forth in front of her face and she didn't see it. She had retreated … [Read more...]
Day 58: Retreating to Play
We can look at kids with all the energy we wish we still and get tired by looking at them. Sometimes we joke and say, "Man, if I could bottle all that energy and sell it I'd make millions." We all laugh and agree. I think sometimes we forget what it's like to play. I'm not saying to go out to the monkey bars or anything. I'm talking about taking time out to do some fun adult things like rock climbing, paintball or going to a dance club to just let loose. Kids are undeterred by what holds … [Read more...]
Day 57: Juggling
In life, the perfect day would be 100% smooth. If we're doing something we don't get interrupted. We blissfully move from one activity to another. The dream life. Well, that's just it. It's a dream. Whether at home or at a job, you will always inevitably be interrupted by someone or something. That's just life. Sometimes those interruptions are either wanted or good. Other times you wish you could disappear. Ultimately, we have to juggle everything we do in just the right combination so we … [Read more...]
End of month two in my year long writing journey
It’s a scary thing as a writer when you’ve written something about your writing journey, go to save it and everything you’ve written disappears. You remember bits and pieces of what you wrote but it’s nothing compared to what you had written and your heart sinks as a result. Well, the original piece I wrote for the end of March, wrapping up my second full month on my 365 day writing journey, completely disappeared when I tried to save it as a post. I very rarely write a post directly onto the … [Read more...]
Day 56: No Drama
In life I think we all wish we could lead a drama-free life. It sometimes feels like my family, not my immediate, there always seems to be some kind of drama. From my sister to whatever made up story she has told recently to something with my brother to something with one of Keith's brothers. And I'm sure I'm not the only one who has family members who automatically bring with them drama. But when we sit down to write, and we're in our own world in our own little bubble and the only drama we … [Read more...]
Day 55: One Lie Leads to Another
This puts a smile on my face. All our lives we are told lying is bad. It's a sin. And then you become a writer of fiction. Now you have the freedom to tells as many lies as you want to because now you are creating a story. When we go to read a book, we don't think about how it's a completely made up story. A story the writer has spent hour upon hours writing and editing all from the made up story in the recess of the author's head. Personally, I can't wait for the day when my first book is … [Read more...]
Day 54: The Beginning Writer
It's interesting to think that when you are staring at a blank piece of paper, or in many cases today a blank document on the computer screen, that we are all beginning writers. As far as literally, someone who's had several books published or been writing for several years is not a beginning writer. A beginning writer is someone like me. Someone who has recently begun to write. I have no published books. I don't have several books I've written waiting to be published. I just have two books … [Read more...]
Day 53: On Work and Sentences
When I was young and growing up, English was a hard subject for me. I always had a hard time knowing when a run on sentence became one and was I supposed to use there, their, or they're. My dyslexia always made it more difficult. Today it has gotten easier but it still is hard work. I've been able to learn to compensate. For example, when I take a college class I probably spend a lot more time than most to get the same 'A's as someone else. The bottom line is it takes work. Anything truly … [Read more...]
