Insurmountable?

I feel like a tiny spec at the bottom of this mountain.
And I need to be to the top of this mountain in less than 30 days.

And I don't have a lot of expience mountain climbing.
OK, I've NEVER climbed a montain.

I've hiked.
I've climbed hills.
But never a mountain.

What on earth am I talking about?
(I love analogies & symbolism)

I've joined National BlogWritingMonth (NaBloWriMo)
and
National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo)

The blogging part I can handle.
The novel part...feeling a bit overwhelmed.

Every time I sit down to write, I get a little out...and then I think it's so horrible I restart.
I think I've restarted three times.
I can't committ to a story line.
What's wrong with me?!

In order to complete 50,000 words by November 30th, I need to write an average of 1.667 words a day.  And right now, as of Day 4...I'm way behind.

If I can get caught up this weekend, it may be hopeless.

Are you participating in any kind of writing challenge?
If you're not a writer, what's your poison?  What kind of challenges would you participate in?

Famous People Who Journal; Why you should keep a journal

For as long as I can remember I have journaled.
I have a wooden trunk in storage full of diaries and journals.

Some of it I can barely stand to read, it's so silly and trivial.
I wish I could go back and have a talk with my pre-teen and teenage self...
but that's a story for another time.

Why should you keep a journal?


It becomes a keepsake as you age.

It reduces stress.

Great way to bust writer's block

It's a good way to make time for yourself.

It helps keep you organized.

It's a great place to set goals.

It's a safe place to get out frustrations or bookmark a special moment.

My favorite type of journal?
Colorful, exotic covers with blank pages and NO lines.


Throughout the ages, others have kept diaries and journals.
Here are some of the famous characters who've also chronicled their thoughts and feelings and daily events...

Lewis & Clark

Charles Darwin

Anne Frank

Tennessee Williams

Charlotte Bronte

Virginia Wolf

President George Washington

President John Quincy Adams

President Thomas Jefferson

President Harry S. Truman

Eva Braun

Have you read any great diaries or journals written by famous people?
Do you journal regularly?

My Not-So-Midlife Crisis

I just discovered Gene Simmon's Family Jewels, 

which is a great reality show following the Kiss rock star and his family.

I admire his business acumen 

(did I use that word correctly? It just came out! so I'm going to leave it there).

Ironically, it inspires me to follow my dreams.

I'm not satisfied with the career path I've found myself blundering along. 

I need to be writing. 

I spend more time thinking about writing than actually writing.

And I want a small farm. 

Or just a little house with a little bit of land to have chickens, a dairy cow and some donkeys. 

A garden to grow vegetables.

an apple tree?

Maybe I've been playing too much We Farm on my iPhone?

I have a strong need to live more "country" and write about it.

Have I lost my mind?!

The Desert of my Being

My creativity has been sucked dry.
Gone.
Not a drop left.

I've worked so much this week,
putting in overtime,
that my creativity has vanished.

Where did it go?
When will it return?

Give me a good night's sleep, and I bet it'll be back.

Meanwhile, you can read about my visit to a Mexican pyramid/temple over at UpTake
or read what I have to say about home buying at United Credit Source.
Two very different forms of writing!!

Ride 'em like you stole 'em

I saw this saying today at the local Trade Days:



Ride 'em like you stole 'em.



I fell in love immediately.

To me, it means, approach things with passion, give it your all.

Then I started to think.
What do I approach with passion??
What do I give my all to?


I have a lot of potential passion stored up inside of me.
I can feel it bubbling and swirling and brewing inside.

It's going to explode like a geyser when I find my calling.

I'm passionate about my children. about writing. about blogging.

But, I don't put enough time into writing like I should.
Like I want.

I need to make myself...

I'm alone right now.
My husband and kids are spending Spring Break with family in Austin.

Well, ok, not completely alone. I have a fierce attack dog with me.





and my elderly father.



I'm spending lots of time introspecting...

Writing in Wisconsin

So, as some of you know, I spent the weekend in Wisconsin, a state I had never before visited. I went to a writer retreat in Baraboo, WI. The retreat was put on by All Writers Studio, a fabulous resource for writers who want to take online writing classes (or if you live in Wisconsin, a real live class). I've been taking online classes through them for a year now and decided to try out the retreat. It was great!!!

I actually took very few pictures...mainly only of the drive from Madison to Baraboo (where the retreat was in the middle of nowhere). There are lots of fams, barns and tractors along this drive.

and they're really into cheese...

So, I listened to some great lectures, completed lots of fun creativity exercises, spent all day Saturday WRITING, got to workshop 10 stories and met a nice group of writers from all over!

I'm a pretty shy person, so this was out of my comfort zone...going somewhere I'd never been, all by myself, to meet and stay with lots of people I'd never met, and I had a great time.

I've come up with a fun new idea for a novel and have started it, so the retreat was definitely inspiring.

6-Word Writing Challenge

I got this idea from another writer's website. She writes:

"Legend has it that Earnest Hemingway once entered a bet to write a short story in six words.

By now, it must hold the world record for Story Most Often Quoted in Its Entirety. Hemingway's story: "For sale: baby shoes, never worn."

A six-word memoir, though. Quite a challenge! I can tell a story in six words (not necessarily a good one)...but can I tell a story of my life in six words?"

Here is my attempt:

Bookworm, ink-slinging, shutterbug nurturer; adrift ipseity.

Now it's YOUR turn!! Put your 6-word memoir in the comment section of this post or link to your blog where you posted your own. It's a lot of fun and really telling...and a dictionary and a thesaurus are very helpful to have around while completing this. Ready, set, GO!!

Writing

I love writing. I love the swirl and swing of words as they tangle with human emotions. ~James Michener

This quote says it all for me today. Writing is such an incredible freedom. A place to share emotions, to be whatever you want to be, say whatever you want to say. It can be rough, raw feelings or fantastical imagination. Skimming the shallow surface or diving deep into theory and seriousness.

This blog will be about anything and everything.