Planting a Cutting Garden

Take thy plastic spade,
It is thy pencil; take thy seeds, thy plants,
They are thy colours.
~William Mason, The English Garden, 1782

This year I am planting a cutting garden, I wanted to make sure the seeds were in before I left for my trip. I planted The Bee's Knees Sunflowers, Double Click Cosmos, Carnations, Dahlias, Salmon Queen Scabiosa, Ace of Spades Scabiosa, and Black and White Minstrel Dianthus. I love planning a garden, deciding what colors will look good together and when and how it will all bloom. The perennial garden is magical with iris coming up next to poppies and daises nestled up to chocolate mint, so beautiful and calming.

Lovingly,
The Writing Nag

Key Ingredient Makes Posting Recipes Easy

As part of my semester work I had to work in a science and what better science for a chef than the study of gastronomy. One of the ways I'm discussing the science of food is through lost recipes. So when I found this site that makes it really easy to add your Food Recipe I was excited. For food and recipe bloggers it has it all built in, I could have added a picture of this delicious pear and cranberry chutney and also added more descriptive copy. You can choose to make your recipe public or just share it will friends and family. Maybe this could be the start of a multi-generation family cookbook.

Although this is usually a holiday chutney it would also go great with summertime grilled chicken, turkey and pork tenderloin. I'm looking forward to enhancing my recipes with Key Ingredient. And also looking at the other cooks delicious family recipes. I'm working on adding my childhood neighbors Molasses Chews, of course I'll have to bake a batch first, photograph them, do a little taste tasting with a cold glass of milk and then I'll post it here.

Save 300-700 Plastic Bags a Year

I keep forgetting to post about the ChicoBag, thanks to my sister for sending me one. According to the ChicoBag literature using reusable bage will save 3-7 gallons of crude oil per American a year. I bought green bags for the supermarket but this one is really handy because it folds up into its own bag that can be thrown in your car or kept in your purse so you're never without your own reusable bag. It's the small steps...

Another Great Mark Twain Quote

Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime. ~Mark Twain

In less than one week I'll be in Listowel, Ireland. My tickets are purchased, my passport has been found and my suitcase is ready to be packed. I'm hoping when I get there I'll have some sort of Internet access so I can check in kind of regularly. If not I'll be gone from my blog for a good 10 days. There are a million little loose ends I need to tie up before I leave...I had forgotten how much time going back to school takes, all weekend I was tied to the computer getting in my 2nd packet of work. And now that that's in and critiqued I am diligently working on the 3rd packet which takes me about half way through my first semester. Luckily a big part of my 3rd packet is the poetry workshop I'm taking with Listowel poet,John McAuliffe. I'm very excited about that and the fact that my uncle is taking the workshop with me is a bonus.

Lovingly,
The Writing Nag

Catching the Changes of Your Mind

It is necessary to write, if the days are not to slip emptily by. How else, indeed, to clap the net over the butterfly of the moment? For the moment passes, it is forgotten; the mood is gone; life itself is gone. That is where the writer scores over his fellows: he catches the changes of his mind on the hop. ~Vita Sackville-West

What Is A Friend?

Spring in the High Plains Desert

For this is what America is all about. It is the uncrossed desert and the unclimbed ridge. It is the star that is not reached and the harvest that is sleeping in the unploughed ground.

Lyndon Johnson

SocialSpark Props to Money-Making Bloggers

“Ben Franklin may have discovered electricity- but it is the man who invented the meter who made the money”
Earl Warren
It's been almost a year since I started blogging and the best part about it has been the opportunity to meet and learn from other creative people online. IZEA has seen the trend and has created SocialSpark a community of like minded bloggers who are looking for creative ways to earn some money from their blog. If you are looking to drive traffic to your blog, earn some extra money and find a community where your opinion is taken seriously check out SocialSpark, unlike other blogging communities SocialSpark adheres to a strict code of ethics so you'll know when a blogger is being paid to post, their rules are simple 100% Audit-able In-Post Disclosure,100% Transparency, 100% Real Opinions and 100% Search Engine Friendly. At the end of each sponsored post you'll see a badge sponsored by SocialSpark, see the bright orange one at the end of this post. They also offer bloggers the opportunity to post about each others blogs called Sparks, these are unpaid but most often the "sparkee" will blog about your blog in exchange a Blog U Back venture.It's only been a week since I joined SocialSpark and I've already found some great new blogs to peruse. So if your blog is more than 90 days old, you're serious about making money blogging and you want to give Writing Nag some props check it out. You can "prop" or "drop" blogs and profiles in SocialSpark giving props to your favorites and dropping the ones that don't hold your interest. How's that for the power of the blogosphere?

How Fiction Works

"The first 5.

1. Write every day.
2. Observe and listen.
3. Employ all of the senses.
4. Use strong verbs.
5. Detail."

Oakley Hall from How Fiction Works Proven Secrets to Writing Successful Stories that Hook Readers and Sell

More Billy Collins-Forgetfulness

Patience, Insight, Curiosity

At one time I thought the most important thing was talent. I think now that the young man or the young woman must possess or teach himself, training himself, in infinite patience, which is to try and to try until it comes right. He must train himself in ruthless intolerance--that is to throw away anything that is false no matter how much he might love that page or that paragraph. The most important thing is insight, that is to be--curiosity--to wonder, to mull, and to muse why it is that man does what he does, and if you have that, then I don't think the talent makes much difference, whether you've got it or not.
- William Faulkner

I have been reading a book on descriptive writing which pretty much says the same thing that Mr. Faulkner does are you so in love with your words that you're unwilling to throw out anything that is false? Are you patient enough to write through the mediocre writing? When you hear the term descriptive writing do you just think about superfluous details or are you paying attention to the story? Today read a page or a chapter of a work in progress. What can you add to the story by using descriptive writing?
Now get back to work!
Lovingly,
The Writing Nag

Run The Rivers, Ramble Out Yonder, Explore

Do not burn yourselves out. Be as I am -- a reluctant enthusiast . . . a part-time crusader, a half-hearted fanatic.
Save the other half of yourselves and your lives for pleasure and adventure. It is not enough to fight for the land; it is even more important to enjoy it. While you can. While it's still here. So get out there and hunt and fish and mess around with your friends, ramble out yonder and explore the forests, climb the mountains, bag the peaks, run the rivers, breathe deep of that yet sweet and lucid air, sit quietly for a while and contemplate the precious stillness, the lovely, mysterious, and awesome space. Enjoy yourselves, keep your brain in your head and your head firmly attached to the body, the body active and alive, and I promise you this much: I promise you this one sweet victory over those desk-bound men with their hearts in a safe deposit box and their eyes hypnotized by desk calculators.I promise you this: you will outlive the bastards.

Edward Abbey, Desert Solitaire

This weekend my wonderful sister-in-law invited the whole family to Glenwood Springs for the weekend. We spent hours soaking in the largest hot springs mineral pool in the country,my husband and I biked 16 miles on a tandem bike along the glorious Colorado and yesterday we did a half-day river trip. And I forgot my camera! I bought a disposal one so the pictures will have to wait but the beauty of this part of the country is enough for me to write my own environmental manifesto.

Today, in the style of Edward Abbey what environmental message could you write about? Pick a part of the country you care deeply about or a cause you support and write a one page passionate plea to save this for the next generation. Now get back to work!

Lovingly and much more relaxed,
The Writing and Rambling River Nag

River Hiatus

“What makes a river so restful to people is that it doesn't have any doubt - it is sure to get where it is going, and it doesn't want to go anywhere else.”

Hal Boyle

I'm taking a river hiatus this weekend and I'm pretty positive that means no Internet access. Pictures and details to follow.

Lovingly,
The Writing Nag

Becoming A Writer

"It is by sitting down to write every morning that one becomes a writer."
Gerald Brenan

This morning I sat down and wrote 2 pages pretty much effortlessly. Is it like that every morning? No. But I sit down every morning with the intention and desire to write and then I write, most every day. Some days I edit and rewrite. Does that make me a writer. Yes. Do I need to prove it to anyone else? No. If you write you're a writer. If you think about writing, read about writing, talk about writing with your writing buddies you're a student of writing. This year I'm a student and a writer. Like anything else the more you do it the better you become. How is your practice coming? Do you sit down most every day and write?

In The Power of Positive Habits Dan Robey writes "positive habits are powerful vehicles for automatic and permanent change, once you have actionized knowledge for 21 days, it is likely to become a permanent, positive habit." Can you write every day for the next 21 days? Make a commitment to write one page a day for the next 21 days. How far would that take your writing practice? Now get back to work!

Lovingly,
The Writing Nag

Writing for Free?

I saw this first on a wonderful writing website. Warning strong language.

Do You Have What It Takes?

"Bear in mind, if you are going to amount to anything, that your success does not depend upon the brilliancy and the impetuosity with which you take hold, but upon the ever lasting and sanctified buldoggedness with which you hang on after you have taken hold."
Dr. A. B. Meldrum

Last night in yoga class my teacher was talking about how in the hardest poses your body wants to give in to the uncomfortable feelings, but instead if you just breathe through them and ignore them you can achieve amazing results. Often these results are ones you didn't think were possible. Sometimes the mind tells the body it's time to quit, but you can ignore the voices in your head and hold on deep breathing through the hard times because you believe in the outcome. How deep is your commitment to writing? Have you folded because of one criticism or do you believe so strongly in your words that you continue? Have you stopped writing because the voices say you can't be successful?
Today, think about times that you could have folded but instead you held on. What were the results? How can you use these times to strengthen your resolve as a writer?

Yoga for Writers and Artists.

Yoga for Writers

Lovingly,
The Writing Nag

Why do you write?

“I write entirely to find out what I'm thinking, what I'm looking at, what I see and what it means. What I want and what I fear.”
Joan Didion

I never made it back to the computer last night, after a long busy day at work, a 1 hour gym session, and a 1 1/2 hour grocery trip...the computer wasn't beckoning.Today I have to work on some poetry rewrites and get an idea about what I want to accomplish school wise in the next two weeks.

Today, write about why you write? Is it to make money? or work through something? to see your name in print? Set the timer for 20 minutes and write; don't think too much about it just put the pen to paper or the fingers to the keys and write. When you're done read it over, did anything surprising come up? Now get back to work!

An interview with Joan Didion. The Year of Magical Thinking.

Lovingly,
The Writing Nag

A Barren Nothingness

If I'm trying to sleep, the ideas won't stop. If I'm trying to write, there appears a barren nothingness. ~Carrie Latet

My quote would be when I'm in the middle of work at the cafe, the ideas won't stop. When I sit down to put them to paper, there appears a barren nothingness. Last week I did so much reading for school and so little writing. This week I'm going to put down the books and sit until I got something on the page. Even though much of my study is research and reading, if I don't have any work produced I feel lost.

More on this tonight...

Lovingly,
The Writing Nag

An Amazing Journey

“The best day of your life is the one on which you decide your life is your own. No apologies or excuses. No one to lean on, rely on, or blame. The gift is yours - it is an amazing journey - and you alone are responsible for the quality of it. This is the day your life really begins.”
Bob Moawad

Yesterday was my 9th wedding anniversary. Nine years, seems like only yesterday I was trying on dresses and planning my reception but then again it seems like Portland, Oregon is a lifetime away. I couldn't have imagined we would still be running a restaurant, lived through the failure of another one, and would still be living in Colorado. Next year I will have officially lived in Colorado as long as I lived in Oregon. Instead of doing something fun yesterday, I spent most of the day working in my office trying to get caught up on paperwork. Which seems to take a backseat to my schoolwork most days. I vacillate between large bouts of poetry and this week I am obsessed with story. Maybe because I've missed my short story obsession. Because the books I find are my textbooks they really have to inspire me to keep reading and writing. If they don't I'm out searching for new ones. This week's recommendations:
Poetry The Art of Attention-A Poet's Eye by Donald Revell
Creative Writing The Making of a Story A Norton Guide to Creative Writing by Alice La Plante

Today, an exercise from Alice La Plante's book.

Choose a person in your life who has influenced you (parent, sibling, friend)
Write a list of things that have taught you.
Write a list of things they didn't teach you.

For example from my list:
Things my mother taught me
How to make each holiday feel like it's the most important day of the year even Valentines Day with pink-tissue paper wrapped gifts at the table and pick strawberry cupcakes with heart sprinkles.

Things my mother didn't teach me
How to balance my checkbook and write a check; Mrs. B. taught us that in a Girl Scout meeting in 7th grade and I think of her often when I'm writing checks because I don't write paper checks very much anymore.

Try to write about six for each list. I think you will be surprised at the memories this brings up. Now get back to work!

Lovingly,
The Writing Nag