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Four Years Old!

HelleboresI just got a notice from WordPress saying that I’d registered with them four years ago. Wow! That seems like a very long time.

When I began blogging, I focused on two of my loves: knitting and writing. That quickly evolved into just writing,  and then lately,  I combined my writing blog with the website that I created for teen writers and their teachers, and also to promote my books. Fortunately,  Wordpress made that last move very easy.

It’s been fun sharing my thoughts about writing, along with my thoughts about frustrations, and lessons learned, and books I’ve read, and challenges I’ve faced, and whatever has taken my fancy. I don’t find writing about myself an easy thing to do. I guarantee that you’ll never read that I published a personal essay–ever! But writing this blog has become easier, and it’s been wonderful chatting with some of you, too, through your comments. Thanks for taking the time to leave a few words.

This past week has been crazy busy, with a big new writing project added to the mix that I’m frantically working on to finish by Friday. All good. I’m taking the next two weeks off, though I’ll likely touch base here, just to say “hi”. I’ll be glad of a break when this week is done!

I hope that you are busy, too, in a good way, and that you are making progress on your writing projects, or are finding the patience to put them on hold for a bit while life sorts itself out. (I speak from a lot of experience there.)

Here’s to another 4 years!

Friday–and still writing!

A Quiet Sunset
A Quiet Sunset

Well, my strategy for leaving the laptop shut in order to get some writing done paid off. I’m over 2500 words further into the book today than I was when I wrote my blog on Wednesday. On top of that my journal now has several brainstormed plot notes that will keep me writing for a while. Whew! Now 2500 words in 3 days might not seem like a lot to some, but it’s a lot for me–especially considering my previous pace of glacial.

I was in one of those places where I was beginning to wonder whether anything would get me back to feeling like a writer again. Then, this morning I woke up  with a scene in my head that I quickly wrote down before I went for my morning walk. I haven’t had that happen for a long time. So, yay! Feeling writerly.

Onward into the weekend, and some more writing (and some golf, too). Hope your next few days are creative and relaxing and full of reasons for you to feel like a writer.

Friday Wrap-Up

Begonias and Something with Purple Flowers. My only planting of annuals.
Begonias and Something with Purple Flowers. My only planting of annuals.

This has been a busy chore-filled week. I am so not a gardener and our house is on a lot that presents a lot of challenges. A lot of my work seems to be done on a 45 degree slope. I’m strictly into low maintenance, but my mom, who has an apartment downstairs, is a force to be reckoned with in the spring, and plants keep coming home with her for me to dig in somewhere. What started out as just a little corner for her to putter in has grown this year by more than a dozen various plants and small shrubs and threatens to keep growing. I always cringe a little when she gazes over the back yard and says, “You know. I’ve just been thinking … ” You see, I’m a big fan of goutweed, hostas and day lilies to keep the weeds down, but her tastes are considerably more refined. I mean, she actually plants annuals! This is her happy time of year, so I keep digging holes where she tells me and trimming things that she says need trimming, and try to think positively of the calories that I’m burning, and the glass of wine that I’ll have earned by the end of the day.

On the writing side, I made a bit more progress at the end of the week and will be finishing a short story draft today that I started on Wednesday. Up until then, I was totally stymied by misgivings about whether I should rewrite a major project or just keep going ahead with the sequel. Should I change a project from third person to first? And then I realized I had started my mystery novel all wrong. And then … well, you get the idea. Shudder. Indecision is a real creativity killer, and there are times when I am nearly buried in it. Climbing out is a grim process, but I do, finally, get above ground again and back to the keyboard. Whew.

I’ve gathered a few months of writing starters and added them under the Writing Prompts tab today, and updated my list of publishing options for teen writers under the Where to Get Published tab. You can tell that I’ve also played around with the look of the site again. Sorry about that.

Have a great Friday and hope you have a relaxing and creative weekend ahead.

Writing Links for Writers and Teachers

Work-in-ProgressThought I’d share a few blogs and resources that I’ve found useful this week.

A great blog from Janice Hardy showing writers how to set tone and mood in their scenes. The examples are excellent and capture a lot of writer flaws that are easy to see in your own writing–mine included. Sigh. http://blog.janicehardy.com/2013/04/how-to-set-tone-and-mood-in-your-scenes.html?utm_source=feedly&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+janicehardy/PUtE+(The+Other+Side+of+the+Story)

An interesting blog on why the word “suddenly” should be deleted in your writing. The comments add some other words that can be deleted, too. http://www.helpingwritersbecomeauthors.com/2013/04/most-common-mistakes-series-why.html?utm_source=feedly

Skype in the classroom offers ways to connect with teachers and specialists who are willing to connect to you and your students through Skype. https://education.skype.com/

Have a great Wednesday!

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