Only a fellow writer really knows and understands both the satisfaction and the pain of being a writer. The satisfaction comes from putting together a sentence that you don't have to rework because as it flows onto the paper... doesn't end in a preposition. I am not sure if that is considered a big 'no no' anymore...but, I'm old school so, I do all that I can to work around not ending a sentence with a preposition. The painful part, which there are many but the one that comes to mind is when you have a great idea or a perfect sentence on the tip of your tongue and someone else is blabbing to you and you can't get away to write it down so that you won't forget it. I have been known to pull out a Kleenex, a piece of paper, a receipt, anything and write those ideas down when I can't just run over to my computer. I do say 'excuse me' for one moment - and mention that I need to write this down before I forget. Friends and acquaintances know me well enough to know what is happening when I start writing on my hand.
I am a writer of stories. Out loud, or just in my head and then sometimes onto paper or typed into my computer. I have self-published one book, and I have six other stories in a variety of 'not done yet" stages.
In addition to writing books, I blog. I think of blogs as short stories. Easier to get into, easier to finish. So, I blog more often than I write on any of my longer stories. I have blogged for over 13 years and during that time, I have written well over one hundred blogs. My blogs are generally, about 'whatever'. The whatever is that thing that moves me at that moment in time. 'Whatever' generally keeps building and growing and rolling around in my mind until I get it out and on paper/computer. Often, it is about a flash of a remembered memory of some past event(s) or a special place in my long, much-lived life. Other times it is about something that I just noticed for the first time or am viewing with a different eye. Often it is a fleeting thought or feeling that I decide to expand upon. That thought or feeling just seems to catch in my mind rather than just the regular 'float through'. So, there it is wanting its story to be told. I start expanding on that thought or feeling, generally very quickly, and it most often becomes a blog but could end up in one of my - in the process - books.
When these thoughts occur and linger...if I can, I sit right down at my computer, and the words just seem to flow. If they do not...I have learned to just stop...because it just might not be the right time, mood or the whole story is just still just simmering in my writer's brain. And, anything that I write feels forced and meets my 'I love it' - clap my hands stage.
I am not sure a writer's brain is more of a left brain or right brain activity or if it has its own place somewhere in the middle. I feel that way because my stories always contain some fact, a bit of research but also a whole lot of whimsey, fun, silliness, heartwarming events and just generally a softer, lighter, warmer way of looking at well, anything. So, the middle.
I am also a very active crafter. I look at everything in this world as a possible component or idea for a whimsical, fun or even possibly useful item to create. When I become 'really present' in any situation, my mind goes to the 'what if's. or 'what abouts'. And then, my flow goes as long and as hard as it does. When I am somewhere other than home, I feel like I want to just get home so that I can take those ideas and either sit at my computer and let it all spill out or climb the stairs up to my craft room and begin pulling together what my mind's eye has begun to design.
Everywhere I go, I am always picking up sticks, rocks, acorns or anything that appeals to my creative self. I am fortunate enough to live out in the woods with plenty of natural objects to pick up. Sometimes I need to remind myself to look up and around because, I am always looking down for the next find.
Living much of our time in our old log cabin and some of the time in our intown Victorian in and of itself provides the motivation for so many stories.
When out at the log cabin, we have animals to feed and tend to (there is that preposition). After feeding and tending to our animals if it is winter or inclement...I fill the feed bins, make sure the waterer is working, throw hay, give a few rubs and then run back to my waiting truck and head back to the log cabin. If our woodstove isn't already blazing away, I start a fire or add more wood. A warm, crackling fire always adds to a creative mood. Something about the radiant warmth and the snapping sounds makes me feel all cozy and ready to either write, create or take a cat nap...with my two cats.
The same goes for when we are at our Victorian home intown. Just the history and the beauty of this older home always make my mind drift into yesteryear and the way this house was when it was first built and occupied. Who lived here, what did the family conversations sound like. There is a carriage house in the back of the property, so they did have horses and a carriage of some sort. And then possibly eventually an automobile. Did they go for rides on Sundays? Possibly out towards where our log cabin is located. A drive out into the country.
We have been able to go to the county seat of each of our two homes/property and look up as much history as they have for both of the homes/property. I have found quite a bit of information about each of these homes. I will use that information to write separate blogs on each. I will also add, what I always add to all of my blogs and stories. Details that I am sure were present...because I can actually, mentally, put myself into those times and feel all that I think my characters felt and how they lived during those times.
This is our log cabin when it was nearing completion...
Both homes and their histories are so rich and provide so much material to me as a writer. I am blessed to have both of these homes/properties and experience the two different lifestyles.
add to an existing. Or I might just put it on the shelf for a later date in time
