IWSG, Being Thankful

Posting the First Wednesday of every month, the Insecure Writer's Support Group, is the brainchild of Alex Cavanaugh. YOU can sign up HERE to participate.

Every month a question will be posed that may prompt you to share advice, insight, a personal experience or story. Remember, the question is optional. You can write about anything that relates to your writing journey.

Let's give a warm welcome to our co-hosts:  Erika Beebe, PJ Colando, Tonja Drecker, Sadira Stone, and Cathrina Constantine!

This month's question is: Have any of your readers ever responded to your writing in a way that you didn't expect? If so, did it surprise you?

I am often surprised that people seem to like my writing. Sometimes I thinks that's just false-modesty. Other times I'm truly baffled. But always, always, ALWAYS, I'm humbled and honored and grateful for the many kind words.

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On the 19th of this month I'll be participating in a book blog hop to help Chrys Fey's mom, Elaine Kaye, promote Bad Fairy Strikes Again, her newest addition the the Bad Fairy series! 

Hope you will stop by.

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With it being spring and all, and birds fledging right and left, 

I thought this would be an appropriate quote.

You've got to jump off cliffs all the time and build your wings on the way down.

Ray Bradbury

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Being Thankful

Today I'm thankful that after a 3 day stay in the hospital last month

 -- due to Crohn's Disease -- I'm doing well! No surgery required!!

I'm also thankful to Mother Nature for the much needed 6 inches of rain we got at the end of April

What are you thankful for? Have your readers ever surprised you? Have you read any of  Elaine Kaye's books?

IWSG

Posting the first Wednesday of every month, The Insecure Writer's Support Group, is  the brainchild of Alex Cavanaugh. YOU can sign up HERE to participate. 

To change things up a bit, every month, we'll announce a question that members can answer in their IWSG Day post. These questions may prompt you to share advice, insight, a personal experience or story. Include your answer to the question in your IWSG post or let it inspire your post if you are struggling with something to say.

Let's give our co-hosts  a warm welcome! C. Lee McKenzie, Rachel Pattison, Elizabeth Seckman, Stephanie Faris, Lori L MacLaughlin, and Elsie Amata! 

Today's question is: How do you find the time to write in your busy day?

I don't have any excuses. I'm retired. I can write or not write whenever I damn well please, or feel like it, or not. I've never been one of those sit-down-every-day-at-such-and-such-a-time-and-write-for-X-amount-of-time-or-until-I-have-X-number-of words. I used to feel guilty about that, but not any more. When I am writing, I'm rather prolific. When I'm not...well, I'm not, and I don't sweat it.

Which brings me to this quote from Confucius.

It does not matter how slowly you go so long as you do not stop.

As for other news... I'm pleased to say that some loose goals I set for myself have been met. (I'm not big on making goals.) All the guest posts I committed to for my October Book Tour  (except for one) have been written and sent to my various hosts. I have quite a line-up that I'm rather excited about. Every post will be different, even if the subject is the same. I hope when October comes you'll hop around with me. I'll let you know where I'll be when the time comes.

Also, I'm doing my first Goodreads giveaway for The Bowl and the Stone, which you can enter HERE, and which ends on September 30th. Also, come October I'll be doing my first Rafflecopter in which you have another chance to win an autographed copy of my book.

All in all, I'm not feeling so insecure these days. How about you?

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Are you excited about the next IWSG anthology contest? Are you going to enter? Is it easy or hard for you to find time to write? 

IWSG!

Posting first Wednesday of every month YOU can sign up HERE to find out more about the purpose of the Insecure Writer's Support Group, the brainchild of Alex Cavanaugh.

Let's give our co-hosts  a warm welcome! 

IWSG

Posting first Wednesday of every month YOU too can sign up HERE to find out more about the purpose of the Insecure Writer's Support Group, the brainchild of Alex Cavanaugh.

In an effort to keep these posts short and sweet, I'll be sharing an appropriate quote. 

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Today's quote is from , Under the Wide and Starry Sky, by Nancy Horan, an historical novel about the extraordinary lives Robert Louis Stevenson and his wife, Fanny.



 l to r: In Hawaii, Lloyd (Fanny's son) Fanny, RLS, King Kalakaua, and Stevenson's mother, Margaret. Around 1889.

I've always had a deep fondness for RLS. I knew a little about his life, but this novel opened my eyes to many things. Nancy Horan obviously did a great deal of research.

 Did you know he wrote Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde while near death's door? In fact, he wrote the first draft in three days. Then he decided he didn't like it, burned it, and wrote a second draft in the following three days. All this by hand, in pen and ink.

Despite battling chronic lung problems and other health issues his entire life, that often kept him bed-ridden for weeks, even months at a time, Stevenson had an incredibly optimistic and positive outlook on life.

The author, Ms. Horan, has Stevenson say this about writers who believe they need to write literary realism. "Obviously, I'm not afraid to write about cruelty or violence." (He's talking here about Dr. J and Mr. H.) "But for a writer to feed the reader great dank heaps of ugliness in the name of realism is dispiriting. And to foist such stuff on young minds? It's evil. Writers should find out where joy resides and give it a voice. Every bright word or picture is a piece of pleasure set afloat. The reader catches it, and he goes on his way rejoicing. It's the business of art to send him that way as often as possible. I have to believe that every heart that has beat strongly and cheerfully has left a hopeful impulse behind it in the world. If I cannot believe that, then why should I go on? Why should anyone go on?"

I love, love, LOVE this.

Are you familiar with the novel? Have you read any books by Stevenson? Got a favorite?

Posting first Wednesday of every month YOU can sign up HERE to find out more about the purpose of the Insecure Writer's Support Group, the brainchild of Alex Cavanaugh.

In an effort to keep these posts short and sweet, I'll be sharing an appropriate quote. 

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Thomas Berger

Why do writers write? Because it isn't there.

I didn't know who Thomas Berger was until I read up about him. 

He wrote Little Big Man. How many of you remember, or saw, the movie with Dustin Hoffman? That was way back in 1970... an age ago.

Berger died last year at 89. I don't remember reading or hearing anything about his passing. But then, maybe that's how he would have wanted it, as he was a recluse and satirist. 

I think his response to the age old question of why writers write, is spot on.

Go forth then and write what isn't there. Don't let yourself be bound to genre, or style, or what (heaven's forbid!) is currently popular. Certainly James Joyce wasn't thinking about ease of reading when he wrote Ulysses. As he said, he "put in so many enigmas and puzzles that it will keep the professors busy for centuries arguing over what I meant," which would earn the novel "immortality". 

So there. Go ahead and be enigmatic if you want. Write what isn't there. 

A is for...

This is my 6th year for doing the challenge. To learn more go to The A to Z Challenge Blog.

This year it's all about the 
A to Z of 
A LIZARD'S TAIL

In which I will describe, show pictures of, and otherwise expound on plants and animals mentioned in the novel.

A is for Alfred. 

Alfred is the leader of a gang of three lizards who take great delight in teasing and bullying our hero, Marvin. Like Marvin, he is an anolis (or anoles) lizard. He operates during the daylight hours and sleeps in hidden places.

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This is also the first Wednesday of the month and time for the Insecure Writer's Support Group, the brainchild of Alex Cavanaugh.

In an effort to keep these posts short and sweet, I'll be sharing an appropriate quote. 

Confidence is the feeling you have before you really understand the problem.  

Ogden Nash

I'm sure NONE of us as EVER experienced THAT before! It's what we do AFTER we understand the problem that REALLY tells the story of who we are.

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I JUST got back, as in I didn't get into the house until after midnight, from spending the month of March with my sister in St. Thomas. I don't know how much I'll be visiting around today or even tomorrow as I recuperate. I tell you the older I get the longer it takes me to catch my breath.

So... do you know what Ogden Nash meant? Do you think no knowing what your getting into is sometimes a good thing?

Insecure Writer's Support Group

Posting first Wednesday of every month YOU can sign up HERE to find out more about the purpose of the Insecure Writer's Support Group, the brainchild of Alex Cavanaugh.

In an effort to keep these posts short and sweet, I'll be sharing an appropriate quote. 

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B. B. King said:

We all have idols. Play like anyone you care about but try to be yourself while you're doing so.

Substitute "play" with "write" and what do you have have? You have permission to write what you want, how you want.

As an example, Eric Clapton was strongly influenced by B. B. King and yet he has his own distinct sound. Here they are together on Key to the Highway.

Who's your idol? Who's writing has influenced you the most? (Jack London and John Steinbeck are two writers I always wanted to write like.)

Insecure Writer's Support Group

Posting first Wednesday of every month YOU can sign up HERE to find out more about the purpose of the Insecure Writer's Support Group, the brainchild of Alex Cavanaugh.

Our fearless leaders have asked that we share a little bit about ourselves. Well, if you really want to know, you can click on About Me to discover the secrets of my fascinating life.

In an effort to keep these posts short and sweet in the coming year, I'll be sharing an appropriate quote. 

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E. L. Doctorow

Writing is an exploration. You start from nothing and learn as you go.

My whole writing life has been a process of learning as I go. Sure, I've taking plenty of writing classes and courses which have taught me many wonderful things. But still,  I'm never quite sure how a story is going to proceed, or how I'm going to tell it, or how the characters are going to evolve. What works for one person, may not work for me. What works for me, may not work for you. So... the actual process of writing remains a mystery.

This post is a perfect example. I had no idea what I was going to say...

And this, I believe, is what makes writing, for me, so wonderful and terrifying at the same time.

What about you? Do you pretty much know what you're going to say/write when you sit down? Or do things just sort of flow out of you unbidden?

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The month of January I am the Author of the Month on Carol Kilgore's web page. I'll be giving away books. Come check it out!

It's About Friendship

I'm kind of in a semi-state of limbo, waiting for news of the not so happy sort. It's hard for me to express myself so I'm going to try to say it with quotes.

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Bob Marley
The truth is, everyone is going to hurt you. You just got to find the ones worth suffering for.




A. A. Milne

“We'll be Friends Forever, won't we, Pooh?" asked Piglet.

"Even longer," Pooh answered. 

Promise me you'll always remember: You're braver than you believe, and stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.

 Elbert Hubbard

A friend is someone who knows all about you and still loves you. 

C. S. Lewis

Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another: "What! You too? I thought I was the only one."


Ray Bradbury
"Why is it," he said, one time, at the subway entrance, "I feel I've known you so many years?"
"Because I like you," she said, "and I don't want anything from you."

Ralph Waldo Emerson
It is one of the blessings of old friends that you can afford to be stupid with them.

Let us even bid our dearest friends farewell, and defy them, saying, "Who are you? Unhand me: I will be dependent no more." Ah! seest thou not, O brother, that thus we part only to meet again on a higher platform, and only be more each other's, because we are more our own?

Random Thought Thursday

I haven't done one of these in a while. Today I thought I'd share two quotes by two different people that relate to their friendship and speaks volumes.




George Harrison said of Bob Dylan:
Can you imagine what a world it would be if we didn't have a Bob Dylan? It would be awful.




Bob Dylan said of George Harrison:

He inspired love... the world is a profoundly emptier place without him.

The two collaborated many times.

Let's hear it for collaboration.

Do you have a favorite someone you'd like to collaborate with? 

Random Thought Thursday

I'm a bit late getting this up. I have my reasons...like helping to care for a friend who's had surgery. (Nothing life threatening, she'll be fine.)

Today's quote is from my favorite American heroine, Abigail Adams.

She said: Learning is not attained by chance, it must be sought for with ardor and diligence.

I think I see determination and self-reliance lingering around her lips. Yet there is a wistfulness about her eyes as if she is staring off into the distance, into a future that she can catch glimpses of and sense what will come. Think of all the years she spent parted from her beloved John. What strength she had, what fortitude. She took care of their farm, raised and educated their children, dealt with illness and the hardships of the Revolutionary War.

And she did it all without our "modern conveniences." No cell-phone, no computer, no electricity, no microwave, no refrigerator or freezer, no heat or AC. The list of what she didn't have is long.

What she did have was ardor and diligence.

How well would we do if we were in her shoes? How diligent are you, strong is your ardor?

Random Thought Thursday

Today's quote is from Robert Browning. What is it with those under the chin whiskers? Henry David Thoreau sported them too. I guess it's one way of keeping your neck warm. No need for a muffler.

In reading up about him I discovered he had a connection to the Caribbean. His father's father was a wealthy plantation owner on the island of St. Kitts. Browning's father was sent to work on the plantation and was so disgusted by slavery that he became an abolitionist. Browning's parents seemed to have been quite liberal for the times. When he couldn't/wouldn't handle school he was educated at home, and had the run of his father's extensive library. Within a few years he was fluent in five languages (I'm including English.)

He grew up quite comfortably (living at home until the age of 34!) married the love of his life, traveled around Europe and appears to have had a pretty nice life.

And I like this quote... a lot.

The aim, if reached or not, makes great the life: try to be Shakespeare, leave the rest to fate.

Inotherwords, it's not the goal or end result that's important, it's the journey. Strive always to do your best and that in itself will be rewarding.

I've lived long enough now, to know this is true. For you young puppies, with your eye on the ball, that's good, that's very good. But remember as you run after it, to stop and sniff that interesting something over there, or roll in the grass and kick up your legs.

Have you ever reached a goal and then felt somehow, let down, disappointed, empty?

Random Thought Thursday

William Butler Yeats has long been a favorite poet. Doesn't his hair look a bit tousled in this picture, like he just got out of bed, or hurriedly ran his fingers through it without looking in a mirror? It was taken on July 15, 1911. He was a handsome 46 year-old.

He wrote: It is one of the great troubles of life that we cannot have any unmixed emotions. There is always something in our enemy that we like and something in our sweetheart that we dislike.

How true, how true. Although when it comes to some evil doers (Hitler for example) I can't think of a single thing I like. But I believe Yeats may have been talking about people we know. I can think of people I don't care for but who, despite certain personality traits that cause me to experience them as untrustworthy, still have something about them which is good or likable. And those whom I care for can sometimes be irritating.

And so it is with our characters. To make them more human, more realistic, they must be sprinkled with both salt and pepper, sugar and chili. Think of sitting down to a banquet with absolutely gorgeous food spread out before you. Yet when you bite into it, it's bland. No seasonings, no herbs, no spices. How disappointing would that be?

Let us season our writing. Let us become chefs who have learned how to use the right amounts of fear or angst or longing or love or desire or peevishness or cruelty or deception or...you get the picture. Too much of one or not enough of another can spoil the whole meal.

I just have to include it, my favorite poem by Yeats.

He Wishes for the Clothes of Heaven

Had I the heavens' embroidered cloths,

Enwrought with golden and silver light,

The blue and the dim and the dark cloths

Of night and light and the half-light,

I would spread the cloths under your feet:

But I, being poor, have only my dreams;

I have spread my dreams under your feet;

Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.

Are you familiar with Yeats? Do you have a favorite poem?