I’m Bringing Up the Rear , Susan

Hello, blog readers.  My name is Susan Korich. Yes, I am number four of the Paddle Creek Writers My beginnings were humble, my middle was humble and I am working on making my endings outrageous. I haven’t yet figured out how I am going to do that.

I like putting words together and painting pictures with them. Writing, for me is a solitary endeavor best performed with coffee and chocolate. I do not take writing for granted. I also do not take writing seriously. There is trouble afoot when I get serious about something. Most would probably liken it to obsession. It takes an inordinate amount of brain power to be obsessed and frankly, I don’t think I have that much to spare any more.

Of course, like my fellow Paddle Creek Writers, I found an outlet for writing when I was young. I also found an outlet in reading, drawing, painting, sewing, cooking and watching movies. I picked up a few more outlets over the years and can add quilting, cross stitch, beading, upholstery, piano, gardening and cat keeping to the list. You might consider me like a midcentury house. If I had more outlets I would probably blow a fuse. Come to think of it, I am more like a midcentury house in other ways too. The structure could use some underpinning, the insulation is subpar, there are more creaks and groans than there used to be and let’s face it, the old house is in need of a facelift.

What more can I say that wouldn’t bore us both to tears. If you want to know more about me and the quirky way I write, come back to this blog, add a few pithy yet complimentary comments and you will have a friend for life. If not, it won’t bother me since I didn’t know you were here to begin with.

Susan

Advertisement

Hi, it’s me…Bev.

 

The pure truth is, I love to write. Anytime. Anywhere. About anything. The magical summer after fourth grade, when I spent hours perched on a limb of Kathleen Dunn’s crab apple tree writing, has stayed with me all my life.

Ah, those were heady days. School was out and Kathleen and I were doing what we liked best—reading books and pretending to be great writers. North Dakota skies stretched as far as the eye could see and the prairie wind kept the leaves rustling as we scribbled away. I never got over the feeling that writing was special and exciting and what I wanted to do forever.

Fast forward a “few” years to grown children, grandchildren, a husband who retired from the Air Force and Boeing and now golfs and gardens and you will still find me following the same passion—writing. But I no longer clamber up onto a sturdy branch surrounded by little hard green apples. Today I go to my office in the basement and tap away at my computer. Unfortunately I’m no longer surrounded by the clear blue skies enjoying the prairie breeze, but the thrill of putting words on paper is still the same. After years of writing non-fiction, I finally worked up my courage and started a novel. Now I have two. Maybe someday they’ll be published. Whatever happens, I’m having a great time.

Much of any success I have had in the last twelve years is a result of the cheerleading that comes from my writing group. We don’t critique. We don’t compete. But we do encourage. And that encouragement got me past the rejections and frustrations inherent in writing a book.

Hope you’ll join us as Paddle Creek Writers launches this blog. We’re excited to share and to get to know you and have you get to know us. We hope we have something to say that will send you running to your computer to pursue your writing adventure.

Bev.

 

Greetings from Pat

 

Hi! I’m Pat

I live in a little town in Illinois with my husband and a little, bossy toy poodle. The third of my three children moved out last year and we have been adjusting to a quiet house. Three grandchildren have stolen my heart, soon to be shared with a fourth. And I love to write.

Two decades of my life were spent as a children’s minister. Loving the kids, encouraging the workers, and building a great team of volunteers consumed what hours and mental space my family did not claim. I loved it all.

In 2003 God stirred me to launch out on my own as a speaker, writer, trainer, encourager; and I did. For five years I wrote materials for children’s ministry and children’s ministers and I spoke at conferences and churches across the country.

Then life took a turn. My kidneys failed and, boy oh boy, does that take over your life for a season. I was blessed with a kidney transplant by an awesome friend on June 24, 2010 and have been picking myself back up and getting back on the writing track ever since.

Through all these years my writer’s group, Paddle Creek Writers, has been a rock for me. They have encouraged me, cared about me, and challenged me. And they helped keep writing alive in my life when sickness and craziness attempted to drive it out.

One of the major tools we use to stir our creativity is to write for half an hour using a writing prompt. Thus, we were “prompted” to write our first book to encourage writers: Prompted To Write. You can find it on Amazon.com by clicking here:

http://www.amazon.com/Prompted-To-Write-Michelle-Connell-ebook/dp/B00KOTOL20/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1401979552&sr=8-2&keywords=prompted+to+write

My current writing resume consists of a number of books on Kindle supporting children’s ministers and home school families as well as … drum roll please … my first novel for young girls. Caitlin’s Summer Adventure is the first in a series. I am loving working on this series. (I know that is not appropriate grammar, but I really am loving it.) You can peek at my stuff by clicking on my Author Page.

Additionally, I have a blog whose sole purpose is to encourage children’s ministers. My passion is to help those whose heart is to minister to children to have the resources and help to do it well. Children’s ministry is tough when it is not going well, but awesome when it is! You can check it out at www.ChildrensChurchStuff.com

Let us know how we can encourage you on your journey. This is an open and honest forum where you can share your frustrations, help other writers, and vent if you need to. You’re among friends. Writing friends. The best kind of friends!

Pat Meyers

Pat’s Amazon Author page

Introducing Michelle

My name is Michelle and I have been freelance writing part time for nearly twenty years. I work around homeschooling, my family, and normal daily life. I love to write and can’t wait to get to my computer most days.

I am now working on novels, which I never would have attempted if not for the other members of Paddle Creek. Originally, I thought I would write children’s stories and articles. But one year my friends encouraged me (harassed gently :)) to try writing a novel. At the time, my youngest was ten-months old and I thought my friends were crazy. But in the evenings, while my son played on his blanket, I wrote a novel, word by word. I finished the National Novel Writing Month challenge by writing 50,000 words that month. I couldn’t believe it could be done. And since then, I’ve been writing novels, editing them, and now am blogging one at HeirForceNovel.wordpress.com. It has been such fun and made me realize I could write more than I thought possible.

I also know that I can sit down on the first of November with no idea of who my characters are, where my setting is, or anything about a plot, and write a story. If you have nothing written, you have nothing to edit. Writers write and that’s what I’m doing.

My writing journey began when I was young, according to my dad. He said I wanted a hypiter (typewriter) when I was two. I recently asked him why I had wanted one and he thought in my mind a typewriter would write words. He added that I was reading billboards around town when I was three and four. I have loved words ever since—I love to read and now am working on books of my own. If I can do it, around my homeschooling lifestyle and craziness, you can too.

You have to decide to be a writer and then write.

Welcome to Paddle Creek Writers!  We hope you enjoy our blog and feel free to introduce yourself as well.

Warmly,

Michelle

Welcome

Once a week, our merry little band of writers in Southern Illinois meets, writes, struggles, encourages and rejoices in each other’s success. We are known to lug our computers to a local restaurant, or to a home, or travel to writing conferences or go on retreats. And all the while, we write. Some days things go well and some days we are …well… up a creek without a paddle. And thus was born Paddle Creek Writers.

We knew that we were constantly learning and thought it would be fun to share with others who had the same passion. It was out of the joy that we have gotten from writing that we decided to share our experiences with others by writing this blog.

The Paddle Creek Writers, Michelle, Susan, Bev, and Pat support each others’ writing as well as the various issues of life. You know what we mean: marriage, children, surprise pregnancies, teen-aged children issues, grown children issues, grandchildren, illnesses, surgeries, deaths. We have continued to write together through every season and have grown as writers and women.

We have four completely different writing styles and purposes, and that makes a great group. We have all been published. Pat and Susan have books on Kindle. Michelle and Bev have published non-fiction and will be published on Kindle soon. We recognize and celebrate each others’ strengths and thoroughly enjoy our differences. Mostly we support and encourage each other.

Our first group publication, Prompted to Write, is Paddle Creek Writers’ answer to over twelve years of searching for writing prompts. We’ve taken them from printed books, online sources, and magazine articles looking for perfect literary inspiration. It is full of writing prompts, yes; but it also has encouragement from us on how we feel about prompts and how they have benefited (or annoyed) us. We offer hints on how to use prompts to encourage you or your group.

We love being part of a writing group, we recommend it highly!

Michelle, Susan, Bev, Susan