•December 23, 2009 •
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What would you give a fellow writer for Christmas?
My gift to all writers and authors would be the ability to keep writing, no matter the circumstances.
This is what I wish for myself.
Considering the circumstances of the economy I think many of our fellow comrades, like ourselves, could use a good dose of encouragement.
Continue reading ‘Christmas Gifts…’
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Tags: gift, books, writer, reader, publisher, Internet, Barnes & Noble, Nook, economy, 20th century, 21st century, Amazon Kindle, encouragement, contract, electronic reading device, Walmart, Costco, Sam's Club, Target
•December 22, 2009 •
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I find it hard when praying to ask for blessings regarding my writing. perhaps that’s because I feel already gifted in that I am able to write, that my ability to craft stories and that I am doing so is such a wonderful gift.
And then there is the matter of making money from my writing. I’m certainly not doing so well in that area. Still, I love writing. Continue reading ‘Prayers Enroute to the Pot of Gold…’
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Tags: giving, writing, writers, gift, craft, process, truth, love, pot of gold, money, publisher, traditionally published, financial reward, material gain, blessings, worthiness, authenticity, business, employee, employer, livelihood, income, job, sadness, depression, rejection, determination, Internet, promotion, marketing, fanfare, patience, diligence, fruitful, nurturing, good, prayers
•December 21, 2009 •
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Posted in Musings
Tags: novel, fear, life, mother, compassion, psychotherapist, desire, The House, love, child, salvation, regret, friend, persona, bravado, equal, resolution, adult, ignorance, client, myth, narrative, macrocosm, microcosm, spiritual direction
•December 20, 2009 •
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December has been an interesting month. Besides the uptick of Holiday events and other matters requiring my attention such as my two older children entering finals and needing support.
And though I have returned to exercising–I walk and climb hills–and my body feels great, I have simultaneously felt a general lag of energy to write.
Most specifically it has been difficult to write on my novel that accomplished a fair amount on during NaNoWriMo. Continue reading ‘The Holidays and Traveling Slowly…’
Posted in Musings
Tags: characters, children, Christopher Vogler, December, desire, emotions, excercise, holiday, journey, NaNoWriMo, novel, psychotherapist, story, suicide, tension, The Ordeal, The Writer's Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers, writing
•December 19, 2009 •
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•December 16, 2009 •
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A teacher under whom I studied one said that, “Writing is the mind on the page.”
Now a published author, I often wonder when reading, whose mind does what I am reading reflect, that of the writer/author, or is it that of the characters or the protagonist?
The question may seem moot, since all writing on some level reflects the mind of the writer/author.
Yet the personalities of us authors and writers, like those of other human individuals, hold many aspects.
Whose mind?
Whose personality? Continue reading ‘Mind of Mind…’
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Tags: author, characters, compassion, description, dialogue, engagement, entertainment, fiction, frailties, gratitude, mercy, mind, other, page, personality, prose, protagonist, reader, reading consciousness, story, transformation, unconcious, weaknesses, writer
•December 15, 2009 •
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I attended a Christmas brunch this past weekend. It was wonderful. These kinds of events challenge me.
With so many in attendance, over 100, the threat of emotional overwhelm looms large.
The sheer presence of so many human individuals in a single space and during a time that brims with symbols and themes of family, mortality, life meaning and purpose leverages an intensity of spirit and feeling that causes one to stop and pay attention, particularly if their livelihood and mission in life requires observance of human interactions and relationships. Continue reading ‘Fodder for Our Writing…’
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Tags: caress, Christmas, discovery, embrace, emotion, engagement, event, evolution, experience, feeling, fodder, greeting, hugs, human, human connection, human relationship, identity, interaction, journey, mortality, nascent, other, spirit, story, writers
•December 14, 2009 •
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This week was busy. The children returned to school. Fall semester finals loom ahead for my 11th grader with two paper due in just one class.
My eldest, a graduate student, faces no examinations but has 2 papers due, both averaging 25 pages.
During our conversation on Wednesday afternoon, she stated earlier that day the head of her director of her graduate program in whose class my daughter is a student, assigned a 15-page document outlining the research each student proposes to carry out during their internship.
Alas, my 5th grader loves to sing. This year she auditioned and was accepted in to the school choir. The choir will perform 6 times during this Holiday Season.
I’m very involved in the lives of my children and with their work. An author I feel obligated to use my skills at writing and at persevering when the going gets tight to assist them in helping them in life.
It gets crazy sometimes. I feel pulled in 10 million ways. Continue reading ‘Passion and Responsibility…’
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Tags: children, craft, family, papers, passion, responsibility, writing
•December 13, 2009 •
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Between all of this I want to finish the rough draft of the novel I started writing during NaNoWriMo. Though having reached the 50,000 minimum, I still have to complete the middle and write the ending.
The facilitator of the on-line writing class I am taking gave us two exercises during our meeting this week. One was to list the key scenes we have yet to write of our novel. All of the students participated in NaNoWriMo.
The second exercise was to list all the things concerning our protagonist’s dilemma that we have yet to address or include in our novel. Continue reading ‘Peaks, Valleys and Plateaus…’
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Tags: character, craft, crevices, dilemma, ending, exercise, hiking, hills, master, MFA, middle, NaNoWriMo, novel, peaks, plateaus, protagonist, refine, rough draft, scenes, valleys, writing, writing class
•December 12, 2009 •
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