Scotland, Maine, and all manner of the unexplained!

Voice of the Blogger: Deborah
Mood: Reflective, wishful
Music: Tree toads on the wind, dishwasher on the wash cycle
Writing: Scotland, Maine, Colcannon, and generational memories

OK, folks, I sat down with the blank screen on my lap, in my sunroom (or, today, gloomroom, since there's only a misty-gray sky), and started typing. The goal: 30 minutes. The result: 60 minutes, 688 words, very little editing-while-writing, and a trip through the foggy waters of what I call Generational Memory--those memories, urges, desires, and sentimentalities that have been part of my soul forever, that I believe have been passed through my bloodlines from my Scots ancestors, and stir my soul like nothing else can.

I feel like I've started a great exploration in writing. A clarification of things unexplained (my urge to go to Maine--I've never been there--in the winter and stay in a cottage on the beach for six weeks, alone, with just a bottomless pot of coffee and a laptop and the dark waters on the horizon), a sorting-out of feelings (my sense of kinship to the high, black cliffs of northern Scotland--and I've never been there), and wishful thinking (getting whiskey-drunk--it would only take one shot--in a pub in Scotland and singing Celtic songs in fluent Gaelic with distant relatives I'm not sure even exist, and who, I find out after the songfest, are gifted poets and lyricists). Discovering a possible answer to the "why?" I keep asking myself about these memories of place and language and music and culture that aren't my memories, and aren't even memories at all.

The personal journey begun today is one I can't wait to return to, to continue the ride with words, nuance, and simile (the writing of which, for me, is like trying to catch a butterfly without a net).

To find joy in the practice, and desire in the gift.

And now to the store for leeks and potatoes to complement my first-ever organically-grown cabbage from my first-ever garden. The result? Heavenly, aromatic, Scots-created colcannon (how's that for a segue?).

Wish you were here!

Spider-writing

Blogger: Deborah
Mood: all over the place
Music: just the conversation in my head
Writing: back yard observations

Mike Stratton, the writing challenge is ON!!!! I did 45 minutes today! Finally. I took advantage of the quiet morning and experimented with writing my observations of the first rays of sunlight peeking over the fence and playing along lengths of spider threads, glistening bursts of greens and golds. It amazes me that a creature I find so abhorrent, and am, quite frankly, nearly terrified of, a creature that appears bulky and clunky and bulbous (I hate bulbous), can create something so beautiful, so strong, and yet so fragile. In an hour, the angle of the sun's rays will no longer illuminate those shining threads, and the arching vines in my garden will hang slack in the heat.

Some days I feel like those threads and vines: bright and shiny at the beginning of the day, full of strength as I face the sun; wilted and blended into the background after bucking the heat of my day. But today, this beautifully cool pre-autumn morning, I observed and wrote and reveled in words and sentences and thoughts strung across the page like glistening threads.

Happy writing to all!

Blogger: Deborah
Mood: Rebellious
Listening: NPR's This American Life
Writing: this blog

Well, I'm supposed to be cleaning my totally trashed bedroom so the hub and I can find the bed, find our shoes, find our clean clothes, and find some rest. But I'm here instead.

The goal was to get my butt out of bed this morning (Saturday) and spend 30 minutes writing. But no! I FORGOT!! Can you believe that? I FORGOT! And now it's well into the day, and I have to sacrifice the writing to do the things that make my space calm and peaceful.

I guess because writing daily isn't a habit yet, it's just not foremost in my mind. Maybe that's why I forgot. I just rolled into the old habits of trying to get a bit of extra sleep, and then feeling guilty because I haven't cleaned the bedroom in so long we can write our names in the dust on the bureau (Hey! At least I'd be writing!!). So the guilt of being slovenly overtakes the pleasure of writing.

OK. Tomorrow, Sunday, I'm devoting 30 minutes to writing something, and not this blog. Something else. I don't know what. Maybe a cruise to the big lake will be the inspiration. Maybe sitting in my sunroom will be. Maybe lying in my clean bed in my clean bedroom, gazing at the freshly dusted and shined ceiling fan will bring the muse. Or maybe I'll just write.

However I do it, the goal is 30 minutes. No word minimum. No word maximum. No perfection needed on the page. Just write, dammit! Write!

To inspiration, from whence it may come!

Back in the Saddle

Blogger: Deborah
Mood: Upbeat
Music: The lyric melodies of my interviewees' voices over the wires
Writing: none, but gathering that good ol' background


Well my day off yesterday did me some good. My date with Jean Luc went well, and I'm chipper, alert, and have already conducted two interviews with two more on today's docket. Then this afternoon I hope to get all those interviews translated into articles.

Speaking of interviews, they are pretty basic to writing a good story, and I'm sort of burning out on what to ask--I'm tired of asking the same things over and over and over. And while I do follow strings of consciousness that my interviewees bring up, and thereby get some interesting tidbits for my articles, the interviews are pretty much the same.

Anyone know of a good article, blog, or book on interview techniques?

How about research techniques for articles? I don't do a whole lot of research, because it's often not needed for what I write, but sometimes I'd like to delve into a topic a bit more and I'm sort of lost on where to find info (besides the Internet).

Anyone know of any good articles that have been written about urban development? I'd like to read another writer's stuff so I can learn from them. New techniques to infuse my work would be great.

Hey! I'm also going to the fall retreat. Can't wait!!!!! Hope to see you there.

Larry, when are you coming to a retreat again? We've never met, and the group, while always talented and interesting, could use your perspective on life. This fall would be a great time to re-join us, don'cha think?

Mike? You, too? Coming up to join us?

Hey, Sarah. We should talk about some ideas I have for promoting the blog.

Later, all.

Day Off

Mood: Lazy (is that a mood?) Music: Tim O'Brien Fiddler's Green Today's Writing: Nothing!

Hey everybody! It's not Sarah. It's Deborah. Surprise!!!

Today I took a day off from interviewing for articles and writing those articles, and spent the whole day lying on the couch watching HGTV. I'm feeling a big punky now, after not doing a thing today, but man, it was great! I soooooo needed to not look at a computer screen or think about anything. Vegging out has its moments, let me just tell ya.

I put in a 40-hour workweek just on M, T, & W for the publication I work for (http://www.rapidgrowthmedia.com/ -- shameless plug), and when I got up today I didn't want to interview one more person or write one more "work" word I also didn't want to write any other kind of words, work-related or not, until now.

I love doing what I love for a living -- writing -- but there are nights when I go to bed with my thoughts whirling, whirling, whirling with the 10 or 12 interviews I did that week and the pressure of hitting a deadline week after week. Last night was one of those nights. I was so overly tired I couldn't get to sleep, and when I did, I slept until 10 AM today, something I haven't done in months. Plus the hub and I just expanded our cable TV selections, so what's a gal to do? Lie on the couch all day and stare at HGTV, that's what!

After coming back from the summer Glen Lake conference I've been following a pretty good routine of getting up early, having breakfast, getting ready for the day, and spending a while spiffing up the place before walking the 10 steps into my office for the day. That routine has been great for me. I feel like my life is so much more balanced--even though the "balancer" is just a bit of housework or laundry. It has helped me so much--I don't feel overwhelmed like I was feeling for months (because I was overwhelmed) and my house feels better, so it's a happier place for me to be--and I'm here all day, so I need to be happy with my "spot."

So... the next goal: continue with that routine, and add 30 minutes of writing my own stuff. Even if it's just blogging. I'll let you know how the new routine goes, and what wonderful things I write.

I also want to get my old blog started again. I have new fodder for the "presses." It seems that after a year of reporting on West Michigan haps I am forming a few opinions about urban development, land use, and water pollution. Go figure!

Well, I've gotta go and get some supper. Then I have to watch some more TV because I taped a bunch of stuff that I need to watch (I had to practice with my new DVR)-- and I don't want to keep Jean Luc waiting!

Blessings!

Moving forward

Today's Mood: Comfortable. Today's Music: U2--The Joshua Tree. Today's Writing: Chapter seven of IFFY. Today's Quote:

"I write when I'm inspired, and I see to it that I'm inspired at nine o'clock every morning." -Peter de Vries, quoted in The Writer, June 1994

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I read a good book yesterday--The Looking Glass Wars. It is the true story of Alyss in Wonderland, and it celebrates the power of imagination--both for good and for bad. Besides being an entertaining book, it made me excited to get working on my own story. I've had a hard time maintaining a scheduled writing time this summer, and too many days off makes it hard for me to get into the story when I do finally sit down to write. Of course, all that will change in a few weeks when school starts again--and with it a scheduled writing time. But for those of you facing the same difficulty, I read a great blog post on how to overcome writer's block on Diana Peterfund's blog. Check it out here, and if you have tried any of these or other methods and found them useful, let us know.

Hope you have all been writing.

Dancing

Today's Mood: Celebratory. Today's Music: Robert Pollard--From a Compound Eye. Today's Writing: Nothing until now. Today's Quote:

On this road there are no godspoke men. They are gone and I am left and they have taken with them the world. Query: How does the never to be differ from what never was?

Dark of the invisible moon. The nights now only slightly less black. By day the banished sun circles the earth like a grieving mother with a lamp. -from The Road by Cormac McCarthy p.32

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Uh-huh...oh yeah...that's right...I'm dancing...oh yeah! I'm going to the fall retreat. I finished the last Harry Potter. I have a laptop computer that works--and has all my information on it! Ya-hoooooooooo! I'm so excited to be writing this on my own computer. Finally! Granted, I now have an antique computer that I've paid more for than a new MacBook-but hey, it works. And I've got my sign up sheet all set to go for the fall retreat. (just need a stamp) Yessssss! I'm dancing*, oh yeah. Come on everybody--dance with me! What are you celebrating?

Oh, and tomorrow my kids go to daycare so I can WRITE! Which is a good thing because I got nothin' for Monday's small group. But I will.

Since I wasn't writing I was reading. I did finish Harry Potter and thought my small group would tell the author that the book really should have ended before the Epilogue-but hey, she's the millionaire. I also read The Road. The writing is poetic, lyrical. Of course, hard to say I loved it since it is apocalyptic literature and therefore rather depressing. But it was still an awesome book. Inspired me to write--again.
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*And no, I'm not dancing naked (see previous post here) because the air conditioning is on too high.