Springtime

Identifying the various things that inspire the writer in us intrigues me. It might be color of a stormy twilight sky - more pewter than indigo, but not either alone. Or the lilacs I just saw on my walk with the dog. They're the first of the season around here and they reminded me of the opening scene of my WIP. Sometimes it's a cup of tea and a rainy afternoon (though that's mroelikely to inspire the reader in me).

If you happen to wander by - now or 6 months from now - let me know. What inspires the writer (or reader) in you?

It's been awhile

A long while. It seems I blog best when I'm on break from school. I'm good at keeping up my class blog on a daily basis, but the writing blog - like the writing itself - takes over once I'm on break.

This week I have a whole glorious week to write with no major obstacles (*knock wood). Easter is behind us so no holiday preps to interfere. School is winding down so there are no major projects to plan there either.

So it's just me and the keyboard.

How's that for scary!

Seriously. Blank pages terrify me. I have to play mind games to get around them.

Last night I was watching a Keith Urban concert on television and I got 500 words written while he sang. Since it was only "play writing" it wasn't as terrifying.

What about you? Do you have tricks to get you by or are you one of those lucky (hated) people who love to face the blank page?

Filling the Well

A few years back when I took a break from writing, I was very conscious of a need to stop and "fill the well". To put it bluntly, I was out of ideas.

Well, that's not exactly accurate. I had plenty of story ideas but creating the scenes to develop them seemed beyond me. I guess you could say my creative well had gone dry.

Discussions about "filling your well" were all the rage so I set off to fill mine.

A few years later, I'm thinking that what I really did was just take my tendency to procrastinate to a whole new level.

Filling my well was probably just a cool sounding excuse for not writing. Nope, can't work on those revisions right now, I'm filling my creative well. Haven't written anything new in months? Not a problem, I was filling the well.

Based on the time I took off, my well should be overflowing.

But when I sat down to write this week (mid-winter vacation) the scenes still weren't there.

I got past it, but the experience got me to wondering about all that time filling the well.

What does it really mean to fill your well?

The meaning of the expression is obvious, but as I would ask my students - What does it look like?

I used to think that filling your well had to be about relaxing, exploring new and good things, being uplifted, but lately I've been thinking it's more about filling your life with rich experiences.

But what of the experiences that sap your energy? Do they count?

There's a lot of discussion in education about authentic learning and making connections between words and life.

I think filling your well with varied experiences - good and bad - makes for far more authentic writing.

And now I'm off to fill my well watching Hugh Jackman host the Oscars.

So how do you fill your well?

A Brave New World

"O brave new world, that hath such people in it."

That's what blogging is to me. A brave, new world full of people far more talented and entertaining than I could hope to be.

But it's so tempting.

I remember a few years back when the blogging craze first started to hit. It seemed everyone I knew was starting one. All I could think was whatever are they going to talk about so much?

I still wonder that about myself.

Socially I'm an introvert. I hate small talk at parties, at work, anywhere - because I never know what to say. Maybe I'm too self-conscious. Maybe my self-esteem is too low ;) Whatever the reason, I tend to listen more than talk.

That's one reason I love writing. No pressure to converse. You have all the time in the world to figure out what clever things to say.

Blogging feels different to me. It feels more like that pressurized party talk.

So why is she blogging, you might ask.

Well, mainly so I can listen to what you have to say. Assuming there are any "yous" out there who want to come chat.

I write romantic fiction, but I'm also a teacher. In recent years, my focus has been much more on the teaching because I was burnt out on the writing. But lately, that need to write is surfacing. Diving back into it hasn't been easy, but that's a topic for another day's blog. (Maybe this won't be so hard after all.)


So, what about you?

Do you blog?

If so, why?

If not, why haven't you started?