This is a little late as far as posting when it was Memorial Day. Right now I am sitting in our temporary home while we start to the process of looking for a place to live. My husband and I got into Anchorage, Alaska just over 24 hours ago. We've been so excited to move here. The journey was long as we traveled both across the country by car and then a very long ferry boat ride. When my precious daughter passed away almost five years ago Memorial Day took on a whole new meaning for me. … [Read more...]
Day 107: A Love Story
Great loves of our life. Depending on the person, there can be many great loves or only a few to maybe only just one. For me, my first great love is for my Heavenly Father in heaven. It is through Him all things are possible. My next great love is for my husband Keith. In my childhood there were many kinds of abuse that happened to me and as a result shaped who I am today, or at least partly shaped. I don't have the greatest self-esteem. I have issues with letting go of control. I don't … [Read more...]
Day 106: Odd Notes
In life we all have our times where we will either jot down a quick note or store something away in the corners of our minds for later use. As writers I think it is even more important to write down those sudden thoughts that come to us. It's in those thoughts that the true magic of our writing comes out. Our hidden story ideas that get written in the page. I still remember the day about three months after Mari died where I had all these thoughts floating around in my head beginning to be … [Read more...]
Day 105: PERFECTION!
I don't think there is a single person out there who wouldn't want to do something and know they did it perfectly. The thing is we are human and we will never be perfect. As parents we try our very best to be the best parent we can. We want to raise our kids to one day be adults and be as successful Aa they can be. But no matter how hard we try we will never be perfect at it. We will make mistakes along the way. We will doubt ourselves. We have to learn from both our own mistakes but also from … [Read more...]
Day 104: Writing Your Own Front Yard
Think about this for a moment. When we write or talk about things do we use our past experiences during those times or do we just guess and hope what we say make sense to others. Personally, I think the best comes from the things we have personally experienced. For example, how could someone write about loss and how it feels if they have never been through any kind of loss. There are different types of loss. Losing a job. Losing a pet. Losing a friend or even just the friendship itself. … [Read more...]
Day 103: Closing the Gap
In our own world as we are learning to write down what has formed in our heads, whether a story idea or a journal entry, we all have a place where we start and somehow learn to close the gap to where we want to be. I still remember the first night I sat down to start writing the story idea that came to me. I wrote a little bit of it and then read it to my hubby. It was listening to his reader perspective and how in his experience of reading that he helped me to better the story I had come up … [Read more...]
Day 102: Five Things Writers Can Learn from Cats
1. Stay focused. As writers it's important to stay focused on our writing to make it the best we can. When we don't we end up with a mess and more likely than not have to go back and either do some major edits or to rewrite it all. No fun at all. So staying fucused is paramount to making the writing successful. 2. Retain mystery. It's important to keep the story a mystery so the reader will continue to keep the reader engrossed in the story otherwise they would lose interest. 3. Hunt … [Read more...]
Day 101: Waiting for the Train
We all have our ways of writing. Some write on a computer. Some write on paper. Some write in a journal. Some write on post-it notes. We each have our own unique way of doing things. When we do sit down to write do we allow ourselves to get into the moment to really take off like a freight train and everything flows smoothly out or are we trying to force something that may not be right for what is being written, especially writing a book. So far I'm the latter. If I'm feeling the story I'm … [Read more...]
Making it to 100
It's hard to believe I've been at this year-long quest of mine for 100 days already. I've been able to write about so many different things. Most of the time I'm either able to share about Mari or my writing experience so far. In a way it's like I'm bearing a part of my soul with all of you. Even if you never get to meet me in person you can start to get to know me as a person through my writing. And just think, five years ago I'd have never thought I'd have become a writer. It was the … [Read more...]
Day 100: Writing as Therapy
Since I can remember I have kept a diary. I think I was in the fourth grade when Grandma Patton sent me a diary for Christmas as well as a pen. I could write whatever was on my mind. Whether it was that I hated my mom for something I probably got in trouble for or that she wouldn't let me do whatever I wanted. If I'd only known then what I know now. I promised myself I'd never be like my mom, yet the honest truth is all kids can't stand their parents as kids but so appreciate all they have done … [Read more...]
