Recycling Words

It's not plagiarism - I'm recycling words, as any good environmentally conscious writer would do. ~Uniek Swain

Writers can't let a good word,phrase or piece of work go by them unnoticed or ignored.My notebooks are full of hastily jotted down words or sentences that I love, knowing that at some point they will work their way into an essay or another piece of work. A simple phrase can inspire you when you feel stuck.
Today, look for some words you can recycle into another piece of work. Maybe it's a sentence from an essay that can be recycled into a piece of short fiction. Or maybe it's a line of a poem that would be a great title for an essay. Poets do this often, writing an original poem based on a poem of a famous poet. Here's an example.
Dover Beach
and a modern poet, Anthony Hecht's response. Or just take out any book and randomly select a line, use this starting point to brainstorm a new piece of work or use it as the first line in a new piece of work. Here's some examples from books on my desk.

Discomforts of yesterday
Hard as apples
Delicate gifts of the earth
My daughter as the guinea pig
My world

Now get back to work!

Lovingly,
The Writing Nag

A Pearl of Food Safety

“If you don't love life you can't enjoy an oyster; there is a shock of freshness to it and intimations of the ages of man, some piercing intuition of the sea and all its weeds and breezes. [They] shiver you for a split second.”

Eleanor Clark

Moving to Colorado after living on or near the coast for most of my life was different in many ways but the thing I miss the most is the accessibility to great seafood. We regularly ate fresh seafood three or four times a week without thinking much about how lucky we were.One of our favorites was fresh grilled oysters cooked over hot coals for just a few minutes or until they just opened with a squeeze of lemon and a dash of hot sauce. But there was also oyster stew at Christmas time, and oysters Rockefeller or on the half shell for dinner parties, oyster poor boys at Mardi Gras and oysters Casino. At the catering company customers often requested grand displays of shellfish and smoked fish and although we made sure to keep it at the proper temperature, I didn't think much about oyster safety or people who might be at risk when eating fresh shellfish.

Louisiana seafood is addressing this issue with their campaign for Gulf oysters. Not only have they created this important food safety campaign they but their website also has a recipe book you can download for FREE including Oyster Pizza, Oyster Kabobs, Oyster Dip, Oyster Quiche and many more.
Their slogan is a good one for any type of food safety; Be Informed. Be Cautious. Be Smart. Be Sure. So enjoy your Gulf oysters grilled, deep-fried in a Poor boy, or on the half shell but if you're an at-risk individual step away from the oysters on the half shell. You can still enjoy them fully cooked and what's not to love about deep-fried oysters? If you're not an at-risk individual enjoy them any way you like.

Perfectly Healthy Sentence

A perfectly healthy sentence, it is true, is extremely rare. For the most part we miss the hue and fragrance of the thought; as if we could be satisfied with the dews of the morning or evening without their colors, or the heavens without their azure. ~Henry David Thoreau

I didn't post yesterday as I was frantically trying to pull together my submission for Listowel and another one for Artella. Both are done, last minute as everything I do is...somehow I thought as I grew older I would lose that bad habit. Not so. But now both are done and I can do my boring paperwork/tax work the rest of the week.

One of the reasons I liked the ASU Conference so much is that I was introduced to so many different forms of writing. Creative nonfiction and prose poetry, are still new to me so it was exciting to hear from writers who use words so eloquently in other forms of writing than commercial fiction. Dinty W. Moore read from his new work and here speaks about the form and his literary journal.
So what is Thoreau saying is a perfectly healthy sentence? I think when you hear a perfectly healthy sentence you know it is something special...it is that sentence that reads like poetry where no word is wasted and each word is the only word that could have worked.

Today, read more about creative non-fiction and then look at the list of writers who write in this style. Many are popular fiction writers. There is a freedom in just writing what appeals to you and not trying to pigeonhole your work.Now get back to work!

Lovingly,
The Writing Nag

Writers and Taxes

If you make any money, the government shoves you in the creek once a year with it in your pockets, and all that don't get wet you can keep. ~Will Rogers

I spent most of the morning working on my taxes, both business and personal so I thought I should take a break and blog about the least favorite part of my job...paperwork. I'm good at keeping receipts, I have all the appropriate software that would make my job easier and yet every year I feel unprepared and overwhelmed by all of the paperwork. Every year I tell myself that I will only take a couple of hours and then weeks later...when I'm still working on last April's receipts I think I should hire an assistant (unrealistic, I can't afford one) or sell my business (unrealistic, I need the income) sigh.

Some tax articles I found while taking a break:

Taxes for Writers

Tax Tips

Of course, talk to your accountant or check out the IRS website before following any info you find on a website.


Lovingly,
The Writing Nag

"Fair Play to Those Who Dare to Dream"

I was so disappointed when the orchestra cut her off...glad to see and hear her words at the end. My favorite speech of the night.

An Experienced Poet

And as to experience--well, think how little some good poets have had, or how much some bad ones have.
- Elizabeth Bishop

I'm back at home in front of my computer, it's strange how blogging at a strange computer doesn't feel quite right. Because I journaled each day of the conference I have to go back and fill in Saturday and Sunday. Just trying to keep up my Blog 365 obligation.

The conference ended on a high note with former Poet Laureate, Robert Pinsky reading some of his new work and answering questions. My favorite poem he read was The Green Piano.

Today, after your daily writing listen to Robert Pinsky read The Green Piano. Could you write with such passion about an inanimate object in your life that meant as much to you as The Green Piano meant to Robert Pinsky. After he read he said I loved that piano. And I believed he did. Now get back to work!
Lovingly,
The Writing Nag

Invigorated by Learning

Tomorrow is the last day of the conference and my notebooks are jammed with information. Usually after a writers conference I feel overwhelmed and tired. This one has instead invigorated me, I am looking forward to getting my notes and working on my writing. It has come up more than once in the last three days that more and more writers are doing two or three conferences a year instead of going through an MFA program. Lots of debate about this...
Lovingly,
The Writing Nag

Collaborative Writing

Today's lecture with poets Denise Duhamel and Beth Ann Fennelly was about collaborating with another artist/poet/photographer/book maker/collage artist, this is a very exciting idea to me because I like the idea of not settling for one type of creative work. Denise talked about exquisite corpse which I had never heard about. What are your feelings on collaborative writing?
Lovingly,
The Writing Nag

Responding to Visual Art

A synonym is a word you use when you can't spell the other one.
Baltasar Gracian

Forgive my short posts for the next four days, the conference runs from 8:00 a.m.-9:30 p.m. and it has been full of great information so far. I've never spent so much time concentrating on poetry and it's a little disconcerting how little I do know. The people in my small group and this is the beginning poetry group are all very knowlegable and many of them are already graduates of a MFA program. Poet, Jim Daniels lecture today, Responding to Visual Art was an eye-opening talk about using art as a starting point for your poetry. Collaborative books between poets and artists/photographers were also discussed. I did take good notes so I will expand on this in a later post.


Lovingly,
The Writing Nag

Writing Funny

A person without a sense of humor is like a wagon without springs, jolted by every pebble in the road.
Henry Ward Beecher

I love to read funny books and blogs they can be serious too but with little elements of everyday humor they are more like life. Marion Keyes is one author who comes to mind. In the clean sweep assessment one of the questions was do you laugh hard every day. I do most days.

Writing funny however isn't that easy and I have turned down taking free workshops on "how to write funny". Maybe I have a different sense of humor but the people who teach these workshops usually don't fit my definition of funny. Can you be taught to write funny? I don't think so, you either got it or you don't. And I think humor is family and locale based if you come from a funny family you most likely have a good sense of humor.In my experience,self deprecating humor is funny on the East coast on the West coast and in Colorado I've gotten blank stares. My friend who moved out to Oregon with me (a very funny guy) came home from work one day and said "they don't think I'm funny" his shtick which worked for him for years got little more than a grin...he was used to side-splitting guffaws.

What do you find funny in writing? Have you tried to write funny? What do you think is the most important element in writing funny? Now get back to work!

Laugh Often,
The Writing Nag

Next Stop, Phoenix, Arizona

“You lose sight of things... and when you travel, everything balances out.”
Daranna Gidel

I am leaving for the conference tomorrow in Tempe, Arizona. I plan on posting daily but without a reliable laptop to take I am hoping that the hotel or the university offers access at the conference. If not, I will be journaling and taking pictures so I will be updating as soon as I get back to Colorado. I'm never ready for a trip, I always have great plans that I will be completely packed and ready a day before but that has yet to happen. All of the trips I planned last year are now coming to fruition...that means Ireland for Listowel Writers Week. For more than fifteen years my uncle and I have talked about attending the festival so I'm getting really excited. We have signed up for Introduction to Poetry and in Tempe this week I will also be taking a beginning poetry workshop for three days. I have a lot to learn.

Today, ask yourself what have you lost sight of? Are there parts of your life that are out of balance? What do you or one of your characters need to see to get back into balance? Now get back to work!
Lovingly,
The Writing Nag

Standing Up To Live

How vain it is to sit down to write when you have not stood up to live.
Henry David Thoreau

thanks to all who stopped by yesterday to read and comment on my part of the blog tour for Eric Maisel's book the Van Gogh Blues. In about 10 days I will be posting a list of the other wonderfully creative blogs and websites who participated in the blog tour with me. As Eric's tagline reads "successfully manage the anxieties of the creative process". If you're lucky enough to have never experienced anxiety throughout the process maybe the book isn't for you but for me it has helped tremendously.

When I was thirteen I remember vividly a conversation I had with my father, I had just written a poem, (something with a lot of teenage angst I'm sure) and I told my father when he found it that I wanted to be a writer, his words were you have to do a lot of living to be a writer you have to go out there and travel and do things...experience life I'm pretty sure he wouldn't remember this conversation but those words stuck with me. In wasn't until I was in my twenties and read Flannery O'Connor's words

"Anybody who has survived
his childhood has enough
information about life to
last him the rest of his days."

that I thought differently.
I think to be a writer of course you need to live your life but does it really matter if you're well traveled or experienced? Are you observant, introspective, in love with words, language, are you a reader? Can you bring readers into your fictional world and make them want to stay? Do you find people and characters fascinating? Do you look at details? Are you a people watcher? Have you survived your childhood?

I'm curious what are your thoughts on this? Today spend about thirty minutes as part of your daily writing and list as many life experiences that you can think of that you could work into an essay, a poem or a short story. Now get back to work!

Lovingly,
The Writing Nag

Eric Maisel, PhD: Author & Creativity Expert

"By reminding ourselves that is our job not only to make meaning but also to maintain meaning when it is threatened, we get in the habit of remembering that we and we alone are in charge of keeping meaning afloat — no one else will do that for us.” Eric Maisel

When I met Eric Maisel at a local writing conference in 2007 I was making every excuse not to write daily. I was the master of procrastination, anxiety, and self-doubt. Maisel's keynote address was on the importance of writing every day, yes, seven days a week, and building a platform as a writer. This speech in addition to my work with one of his creativity coaches prompted me to start and continue a practice of daily writing. After reading The Van Gogh Blues: The Creative Person's Path Through Depression I have a deeper understanding of the fear and depression that can stop the creative process. Eric Maisel's book gives hope to creative people struggling to find meaning with their creative work.


WN: Eric, can you tell us what The Van Gogh Blues is about?

Eric Maisel: For more than 25 years I’ve been looking at the realities of the creative life and the make-up of the creative person in books like Fearless Creating, Creativity for Life, Coaching the Artist Within, and lots of others. A certain theme or idea began to emerge: that creative people are people who stand in relation to life in a certain way—they see themselves as active meaning-makers rather than as passive folks with no stake in the world and no inner potential to realize. This orientation makes meaning a certain kind of problem for them—if, in their own estimation, they aren’t making sufficient meaning, they get down. I began to see that this “simple” dynamic helped explain why so many creative people—I would say all of us at one time or another time—get the blues.

To say this more crisply, it seemed to me that the depression that we see in creative people was best conceptualized as existential depression, rather than as biological, psychological, or social depression. This meant that the treatment had to be existential in nature. You could medicate a depressed artist but you probably weren’t really getting at what was bothering him, namely that the meaning had leaked out of his life and that, as a result, he was just going through the motions, paralyzed by his meaning crisis.

WN: Can you explain the ways that a creative person may experience depression?

Eric Maisel: When you’re depressed, especially if you are severely depressed, if the depression won’t go away, or if it comes back regularly, you owe it to yourself to get a medical work-up, because the cause might be biological and antidepressants might prove valuable. You also owe it to yourself to do some psychological work (hopefully with a sensible, talented, and effective therapist), as there may be psychological issues at play. But you ALSO owe it to yourself to explore whether the depression might be existential in nature and to see if your “treatment plan” should revolve around some key existential actions like reaffirming that your efforts matter and reinvesting meaning in your art and your life.

WN:In the chapter on Nurturing Self-Support I was really struck by the statement "When you don't experience yourself as the beauty in life, you attempt small suicides every day". What are the long term effects of this negative behavior?

Eric Maisel:The most usual is not getting any creative work done. Because it is so hard to get in the right frame of mind to create and to keep in that frame of mind, it is creating that often falls off the table and becomes the way we commit those ‘small suicides.’ We also get ill, become indifferent, and so on. When we are not are own best friend and advocate, we play that distaste and despair out in every aspect of our life.

WN: I sometimes feel paralyzed when faced with all I want to do creatively, so I read the chapter on Braving Anxiety over and over. What is the first step you tell your clients to take to break the pattern of feeling overwhelmed by their anxieties?

Eric Maisel: Deep breathing. It is the simplest, most available, most effective strategy known to the species. Taking several long, deep breaths alerts the body to the fact that you want to feel differently and that you are mindfully dealing with your stress. If you also drop in a useful thought into that deep breath, a thought like “I am completely stopping,” that is even better. I teach this technique in my book Ten Zen Seconds.

WN: Working with one of your creativity coaches was one of the first steps I took in finding meaning, can you explain how working with a coach can make the difference between just thinking about a creative life and acting on it?

Eric Maisel: A creativity coach can offer support, which is in short supply in a creative person’s life, and can also offer compassionate accountability, holding the client to deadlines, asking the client to set and achieve goals, and so on. These are the twin pillars of coaching: support and accountability. Creative folks often fall short at providing either for themselves.


WN: This tour celebrates the paperback release of The Van Gogh Blues, How was the hardback version received?

Eric Maisel: Very well! The reviewer for the Midwest Book Review called The Van Gogh Blues “a mind-blowingly wonderful book.” The reviewer for Library Journal wrote, "Maisel persuasively argues that creative individuals measure their happiness and success by how much meaning they create in their work.” I’ve received countless emails from artists all over the world thanking me for identifying their “brand” of depression and for providing them with a clear and complete program for dealing with that depression. I hope that the paperback version will reach even more creative folks—and the people who care about them.

WN: How does The Van Gogh Blues tie in with other books that you’ve written?

Eric Maisel: I’m interested in everything that makes a creative person creative and I’m also interested in every challenge that we creative people face. I believe that we have special anxiety issues and I spelled those out in Fearless Creating. I believe that we have a special relationship to addiction (and addictive tendencies) and with Dr. Susan Raeburn, an addiction professional, I’ve just finished a book called Creative Recovery, which spells out the first complete recovery program for creative people. That’ll appear from Shambhala late in 2008. I’m fascinated by our special relationship to obsessions and compulsions and am currently working on a book about that. Everything that we are and do interests me—that’s my “meaning agenda”!

WN: Where can my readers go to find out more about your work?

Eric Maisel: Writers might be interested in my new book, A Writer’s Space, which appears this spring and in which I look at many existential issues in the lives of writers. They might also want to subscribe to my free newsletter, in which I preview a lot of the material that ends up in my books (and also keep folks abreast of my workshops and trainings). But of the course the most important thing is that they get their hands on The Van Gogh Blues!—since it is really likely to help them.

More of Eric Maisel's books especially for writers:

Deep Writing: 7 Principles That Bring Ideas to Life

Living the Writer's Life

A Writer's Space: Make Room to Dream, to Work, to Write

Eric Maisel's Podcast Purpose- Centered Life.

Visit Eric Maisel's site and sign up for his newsletter.

Eric's next stop on his blog tour.

Do You Have the Qualifications of a Writer?

A writer needs three things, experience, observation, and imagination, any two of which, at times any one of which, can supply the lack of the others.
William Faulkner

Don't forget to stop by tomorrow for my interview with Eric Maisel on The Van Gogh Blues.
Lovingly,
The Writing Nag

Vintage Valentine and Love to Monkey

When you love someone, all your saved-up wishes start coming out.
~ by Elizabeth Bowen (1899-1973) ~

Happy Valentine's Day!

Valentine's Day is definitely one of my favorite holidays...next to Halloween it has lots of good memories associated with it. Chocolate, love poems, romantic dinners,decorated shoe boxes stuffed with cards, Moms pink tissue-paper wrapped presents at the breakfast table every year, (Thanks Mom) and yes, it can be terribly commercial but I found a vintage Valentine at the flea market and had Cocoa (chocolate Lab) mouth deliver it to my husband this morning.She's very good with delivering mail.

This Valentine's Day in Colorado we are in the middle of a snow advisory and I'm working lunch and dinner.Today do your daily writing but then enjoy the day with your loved ones. From my friend Olgy--Cupid was at it again...200 word first line prompt. No prize but a chance for a byline and a link to your blog or website. You have until February 29.Now get back to work!

Even More Lovingly on Valentines Day,
The Writing Nag

Almost forget link love to monkey! He made my day with a Valentine postcard thanks monkey, you special little terry-cloth friend. Happy Valentine's Day!

Make a cross stitch Valentine with monkey.

Dare to Write

Let us dare to read, think, speak and write. John Adams 1765

The U.S. Postal Service has a new campaign on their site...and a contest. The quote above was stamped on the envelope of a handmade Valentine I received yesterday. Thanks Michelle!

Valentine's Day is tomorrow and I had every intention of sending out handmade cards. The pieces of them are scattered like flotsam on my desk. Oh and there's the book I need to bring back to the library and the bill I need to pay and the time cards I need to file. Somehow I think if I could get all of this together I might just make my goals. sigh.

My friend told me about the clean sweep assessment, I didn't see this on Oprah but she said it was a very powerful show. Is the other stuff in your life getting in the way of making your goals? I don't think this process is instant in fact the website suggests it could take 6-24 months but it's worth a look if you feel like something is standing in your way.

Today take a few minutes to read the list. Maybe this isn't for you, maybe you're one of those people who never lets clutter get in the way...if so, take the time today to write a love letter or a poem for a special person in your life...Now get back to work!

Lovingly,
The Writing Nag

Just Keep Writing

Keep writing. Keep doing it and doing it. Even in the moments when it's so hurtful to think about writing. Heather Armstrong, Keynote Speech, 2006

Heather Armstrong's Blog.

As I've said before, if I don't write my post in the morning I find it painful and difficult to write past 3:00 in the afternoon. I've found that the morning time is easy for me where later on it feels like a chore.

Have you found your block of time when writing works? Or are you still struggling to fit it in? This week try to write at different times of the day, at any time does it feel effortless? Today, work "time" into a short story, essay or poem...don't think you need to finish it but just make a good attempt at setting it up maybe a character is always late or a poem about an antique time piece, a essay about the future of time or maybe a story about a time when you were lost, scared, or in new surroundings... Now get back to work!



Lovingly,
The Writing Nag

Online Rebates

I've been reading a lot of penny pinching blogs lately and almost every one of them talks about Ebates which I've never heard about. If you do a lot of online shopping which I do a fair amount, check them out you get cash back for every purchase and they have lots of coupons/discounts online too. Granted it's not a lot of money but I figured I missed out on $30 back on the trip I just booked online. And it doesn't cost anything to sign up.
Sign up with Ebates today and we'll each get a $5 bonus when you make your first purchase!

Click here to sign up:
Ebates

Sources of Creativity

The things we fear most in organizations -- fluctuations, disturbances, imbalances are the primary sources of creativity.
Margaret J. Wheatley

I've tried to explain this to my husband in regards to my office but he's not buying it.

If you're a regular nag reader you know that I've talked about hosting Dr. Eric Maisel's book as part of his book tour. The time is here. Don't forget to stop by on Saturday for my interview with Dr. Maisel on Van Gogh Blues.

Today, list 10 sources of creativity in your life maybe as of yet untapped; try to think beyond the most common sources. And then set the timer for thirty minutes and freewrite about one of them. Now get back to work!

Lovingly,
The Writing Nag

My favorite book for creative blocks. The War of Art. Small, powerful words on why the creative person resists the process and how you can change if you choose.

A movie star & a rock star

"Those who don't read good books have little advantage over those who can't read them."
--Mark Twain



My first celebrity sighting at the restaurant! Dan Futterman, Oscar winning actor, screenwriter and producer ate lunch at our place yesterday with some other writers/actors that were in town for the Dave Schultz International Memorial at the Olympic Training Center. I'm a HUGE fan of Mr. Futterman's t.v. work (played Amy's brother, a struggling writer in Judging Amy) his most recent movie role (A Mighty Heart) he starred opposite Angelina Jolie as Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearlman who was tragically slain.

I could hardly croak the words out how much I admire him as an actor. You think you're not star struck until you're placed in that situation.

Also saw U2-3D this weekend. As a lifelong U2 fan I highly recommend it. Bono is a ROCK STAR.

Lovingly,
The Writing Nag

In Love With Language

A poet is, before anything else, a person who is passionately in love with language.
W. H. Auden


Two weeks from today I'll be in Tempe, Arizona. I am excited to be in the small group instruction with poet Denise Duhamel.Seven other beginning poets and myself will have an opportunity to critique each others work and I'm guessing work on new stuff, it is after all a workshop. When researching some poets I found poem hunter has some
Free Poetry Ebooks. available for download.

Lovingly,
The Writing Nag

How Much Effort Are You Putting Forth?

When something can be read without effort, great effort has gone into its writing. ~Enrique Jardiel Poncela

Sometimes when I read those craft books that tell you exactly how much work it takes to write a novel I get tired. I just want to write and in my head everything will fall into place. I don't want to interview my characters, structure my plot, yes, I know all about the hero's journey but that's a lot of work. I'm kind of lazy. But then I think wait a minute, my manuscript hasn't really moved forward very much in the last year, yet in that same time period other writers I know have cranked out three books. If I was really honest with myself I haven't put in the effort necessary to finish my manuscript this year, I want to do the fun stuff which for me is writing about food, blogging and writing poetry. Not exactly big money makers (not that novel writing is either)...so I'm going to give it a try in February, really put out the effort to finish 2 chapters. I'm pretty positive my manuscript won't be ready to pitch in April but I'm going to try.

If you were honest with yourself how hard do you work at being a writer? Do you make excuses or do you do the hard work. Today, write 10 ways you can improve your effort in February. Now get back to work!

Lovingly,
The Writing Nag

No Entry Fee-Short Story Contest

Bebo Author is holding a no-entry-fee short story contest. Read more here.

Finding Your Voice

"To gain your own voice, forget about having it heard. Become a saint of your own province and your own consciousness." --Allen Ginsberg

Thanks to all who posted about some of their favorite creative blogs.I'm going to have to schedule some time this weekend to pay a visit to each one. Most of the blogs that I read on a regular basis I have found through friend's recommendations and social blogging networks such as Blogcatalog, BlogLog, Technorati and most recently Entrecard and Project Wonderful. I just started with Entrecard and Project Wonderful in the last two weeks and the amount of blogs out there is staggering. The last statistics I read there are more than 11 million blogs online. So regular readers please feel free to give me suggestions about creative bloggers/writers you read. At the end of the month I will compile them in one post.

Through Entrecard I found a great article on finding your voice as a writer and a blogger that I thought you'd find interesting.

How to find your voice? I think it develops over time as you continue your daily writing practice. When I read work I wrote ten years ago it is different from my voice today. And my blogging voice is different than my short story voice. There are quite a few writing-craft books out there on voice, and some I have read but I don't think this is something that can be taught in comes with time and experience. Read, read, read to hear other voices but work on your own.
Lovingly,
The Writing Nag

Blogger of the Day

Please check out my blogger of the day, I'm trying to find blogs that are creative, fun, informative and different. With an emphasis on writing/blogging.

How to Find A Balanced Writing Life

I have learned, as a rule of thumb, never to ask whether you can do something. Say, instead, that you are doing it. Then fasten your seat belt. The most remarkable things follow.
Julia Cameron


If you're not familiar with Julia Cameron you might want to pick up, The Artist's Way, for many creative people this was the book that changed the way they felt about the creative process. I am not surprised when I hear writers, artists and other creative people say that this book changed their life. So I was surprised to hear that she has written a diet book, The Writing Diet: Write Yourself Right-Size.

And although I haven't read it yet, reviews have been for the most part positive. From what I hear it's more about balance in your life than eating 5 fruits and vegetables a day.

You hear this term used frequently on business and self-help websites,but what does it really mean?

For example, the other day I spent 4 hours online reading other blogs, doing a little marketing, reading emails and generally wasting time... granted I got up at 5:00 a.m. but 4 hours? On the other hand when I was working out regularly I got up at 7:00 a.m. to be at the gym at 8:00 a.m., did my 1 1/2 hour workout and spent little time online or writing. Now hear comes the balance part, both activities ended up taking a majority of my free time, so when I was going to the gym I wasn't writing in the morning, when I was writing in the morning I wasn't going to the gym.


How to find balance

1. Identify what's really important to you that day/week/month. Making money writing or fulfilling your creative need. Becoming healthy or writing a poem.

2. Schedule your week. Make appointments for work, gym, and fun time.

3. Don't let one activity monopolize your time. Unless you're on a deadline for a book, find time for other activities.

4. Resist the all or nothing approach. I can't exercise because I want to write in the morning. My compromise- walking to work every day and going to the gym at night.

5. Learn How to Say NO. Your time is valuable, treat it as such.

6. Beware of Time Suckers. After my 4 hour internet excursion I decided to start setting a timer for my morning internet time. Eek I have only 10 minutes left. This cuts down on the "where did the time go?"

7. Consider a weekly writing schedule. Monday- business stuff, writing/sending queries, marketing, finding markets. Tuesday- just for fun poetry. Wednesday-writing contests. Of course, fit in your interests to your week.

8. Maybe a vacation? Just like trainers recommend an occasional week off, you may need a vacation from writing?


Today, ask yourself if your life is balanced. If it's not what could you do to get back in balance. Suggestions in the comment section would be appreciated. Now get back to work!

Lovingly,
The Writing Nag

How deep is the chasm?

Every creator painfully experiences the chasm between his inner vision and its ultimate expression. The chasm is never completely bridged. We all have the conviction, perhaps illusory, that we have much more to say than appears on the paper. ~Isaac Bashevis Singer

I think in poetry it's easier to bridge that chasm or at least it is for me. You have a vision and very few words (comparatively) and I usually end up pretty satisfied with the final result. With short stories, it seems much harder. Often when it is finished I think that there is much more that I wanted to say or it's not quite where I wanted it to be. If only I could pluck the image from my mind and it would miraculously appear on paper. Another reason why I think the short story format is the hardest form to write. Talking with my aunt and uncle last night about Listowel Writer's Week, they recommended I read more Irish short story writers...they are considered by many to be masters of the form. Writers like Frank O'Connor, Brian Friel, Maeve Brennan, John B. Keane, I wonder if they ever felt that they didn't quite get it right.

Today, take a piece of finished work and analyze in this way. Is there something else you wanted to say that you didn't, did the story fill in the gaps from your mind to the paper? Now get back to work!

Lovingly,
The Writing Nag

Zest...not just for lemon poppyseed cake

Zest. Gusto. How rarely one hears these words used. How rarely do we see people living, or for that matter, creating by them. Yet if I were asked to name the most important items in a writer’s make-up, the things that shape his material and rush him along the road to where he wants to go, I could only warn him to look to his zest, see to his gusto.
Ray Bradbury

I don't really know what zest means, except for the tiny shavings of lemon peel I add to a lemon poppyseed cake. Zest and gusto seem like such masculine words and maybe a little old fashioned, my favorite writing words as you might know are passion and persistence. With persistence, in my eyes, being the most important. If I don't blog by 8 a.m. I seem to have lost my zest for writing a post. That said, take today to watch the Super Bowl and maybe at half time whip up a lemon poppyseed cake. Or not. Happy Sunday.


Lemon Poppyseed Cake


Lovingly,
The Writing Nag

The Beach or the Mountains?

I have always been a beach gal, since the age of 8 months which I'm pretty sure is the first time I stuck my teeny toes in the surf I've been in love with the sun, the waves, and the sand. Home movies show me with my brother, sister, and cousins ridiculously happy frolicking in the waves. From eight months to 22 years old I was lucky enough to live one block from the beach every summer. And then nine years ago I moved to the mountains. I made sure to tell my husband (I'm pretty sure daily) how much I hated the mountains, they're just big rocks, they don't move, there's no shells or sea glass, or strange sea creatures you find washed up at low tide, no hermit crabs, or sand dollars or water. Just big rocks in the high desert... and then in the last few years I felt myself falling for them. At first it was subtle a beautiful sunset that lingered far longer in the sky than anywhere else I've lived, the natural hot springs, the wild rivers, the rustic log cabins in the woods, bugling elk at Estes Park, and the mountains, the beautiful, wonderful awe-inspiring, mountains you write poetry about (Katherine Lee Bates did anyways). I think those big rocks are growing on me.



Lovingly,
The Writing Nag

Hemingway's Writing Tips

His talent was as natural as the pattern that was made by the dust on a butterfly's wings. At one time he understood it no more than the butterfly did and he did not know when it was brushed or marred.
Ernest Hemingway


One of my favorite professional blogging sites is Copyblogger. For any writer this is a good read 5 Tips For Writing Well.

Lovingly,
The Writing Nag