Morning Musings

Morning Musings

Often, upon waking I have thoughts that seem grounded, logical and noteworthy, but when applied to laptop screen results in disjointed, confusing and sometimes bizarre writing. This morning, for instance, I awoke and the stop-start-pause-restart of my writing life seemed much comparable to Vincent Van Gogh staring in a mirror to paint himself sporting a bandage over his freshly lopped off ear and Ludwig Von Beethoven composing with his piano’s legs sawn off and flush on the floor so he could feel the vibration of the music in an attempt to replicate his failed hearing

As you might ascertain, I am feeling by turns tragic and pathetic about writing. Why my squirrely brain is conjuring a mentally ill Expressionist painter and a deaf composer, I have no idea. When I have no idea about a subject, I hit the Internet and Wickipedia. Today’s search uncovered knowledge that Vincent Van Gogh painted 37 self-portraits and Ludwig Von Beethoven’s temperament might have put Oscar the Grouch to shame. One of their common traits was a passionate drive to perfection hindered by illness, in Van Gogh’s case, acute mental illness and in Beethoven’s, as medical science discovered since his death by testing a lock of his hair, lead poisoning.

Another trait these two gifted and tragic individuals shared was the need to search, grow and mature in their craft. Every talent is shaped by outside influences. Van Gogh painted alongside Monet and Gaugin, Beethoven began his career as a pianist and composer under Hayden and Mozart. Artists absorb from the universe then filter, distill and translate that information through their art, whether by paint on stretched canvas, musical notes on pages of ledger bars, or words typed on a laptop screen.

My waking induced musings may never produce anything but disjointed, confusing and sometimes bizarre writing but is ranks with the common denominator shared by all artists since the birth of time. It is the human mind reaching for a way of expressing itself through God-given talent and striving to understand and be understood by the universe.

Susan

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The Art of Juggling

In the hands of an expert juggler all the balls stay aloft, the pins fly in a blur and beneath this flurry of motion the juggler pedals his herky, jerky unicycle across the high wire while the crowd holds it collective breath waiting for the pins, balls, unicycle and rider to crash into the floor in a giant puff of sawdust. It doesn’t happen because this is the show. In practice sessions the juggler gets a crash helmet and a net.
Juggling is learning proficiency while everything is in motion, which reminds me of writing. Writing is just like juggling without the high wire. Writing has tension wires aplenty. The other elements of writing are outlined as follows:

What do writers do when they don’t feel like writing?

This blog is written by four writers of Paddle Creek Writers Group. The title line was our assignment. And I am supposed to post today.

It is 4:14 am and I am finally putting words on the “page” on my computer screen. What do I do when I don’t feel like writing? Apparently, I just stall and put it off until the last second! Plus:

1. I think about the fact that I should write.
2. I scribble a few words in the notebook in my purse and count it as writing.
3. I ponder.

Number three is what I’m really good at. Pondering. It is a great way to spend time not writing. It feels like writing. At times it leads to writing. Oftentimes it improves the final product if, and should, you ever actually get to the writing stage. And it’s fun because there are no editing rules. You can play with your thoughts as if they are balls in a giant ball pit. Just toss up the thought, throw another one up with it, give them a pop as they come back down and watch them bounce and soar. It’s fun. Not really productive, but fun.

Over the years (read decades there) I have had every experience of writing and not writing (like any other writer I am sure).

Through the first years of this century I could have written the e-book “How to Get Yourself Writing When You Do NOT Feel Like It”. It would have been 55 pages of practical how-to’s and charts and examples and my story of how I produced dozens and dozens of children’s ministry products. I was diligent and excited and productive and I loved it.

The end of the last decade if I would have written the same e-book it would have been 16 words long: “I really wish I knew because I have a ton of writing I want to do.” The end. Eighteen words if you count “The end.”

Oh the phases of a writer’s life. You can smile here if you are a writer. We all have the same stages. Yes, indeed, misery really does love company.

It’s comforting to know that my writer friends struggle with the same thing. It’s tremendous to have others to reach out to when you need to be encouraged or receive a kick in the seat of the pants. And it’s lovely to have someone who will say: “Let’s meet for lunch!” when you both know you should be doing something else.

At our writing sessions on Saturdays invariably someone (or someones) will not want to write a prompt. But someone will say “Let’s do it!” and we do it. And we are glad that we did. Then, when it is time to work on our personal projects, most of the time we set a timer and work away for a while then break and chat and work again. But sometimes someone (or multiple someones) has to be goaded into working (and, by the way, that someone can be any one of us on any given Saturday) so someone goads and we work. And we are glad for it.

And sometimes there is a void of someone to do the goading and we do this:

Pathetic, aren’t we? But we have fun! And we do have written credits each of us so somewhere along the line we have actually written productively.

I read this phrase the other day “You can do hard things.” I love that. And it’s true. I can. And I have. And I will again.

Just not when the Monopoly Deal cards come out.

What do you do to get yourself doing what you don’t feel like doing?

Pat Meyers

http://www.amazon.com/Patricia-Meyers/e/B00FPIKPZ2/ref=sr_tc_2_0?qid=1405676833&sr=1-2-ent

 

What do you do when you don’t feel like writing

Mark Twain once wrote: “Writing is easy. All you have to do is cross out all the wrong words.” When I don’t feel like writing I look up writing quotes. I hope for inspiration but usually just wish I had thought of it first. That is when I get out a notebook and pen and try writing my own memorable writing quotes. They go something like this: “Writing is as hard as a two pound block of cheese sitting on a plate on top of the heat pump behind short attic door in your daughter’s bedroom. The gnaw marks are from when the cheese was soft or there is a very large rat living behind the other door.” Conclusion; writing is scary. That is not helping. How about this? “Each day a writer needs to use an allotted amount of words. If they do not exit the mouth, flow under the pen or plink onto a computer screen they pile up at the exit points and die of suffocation.” Now I need a distraction from imaging all those words gasping for air and crushing each other at the door of my imaginary Wal-Mart exit.

I pick up my Kindle and check my e-mail, wherein I discover I don’t even feel like weighing in on the current conversation amongst my writing group. They are venting their daily allotment of writing words with lots of capital letters and exclamation points. It is so loud I have to close up the e-mail and finger trot over to Candy Crush on my carousel. Since I am at level 107, five tries go supersonic fast. It will be two and a half hours before I can try again. What to do? What to do?

I know, I can hop on over to the Web on my Kindle and see how my two cookbooks are doing. Sigh. No sales again today. Now I know why I don’t feel like writing. I am not a writer. I am so discouraged I need a nap. If my nap lasts two hours and twenty five minutes I can have another go at Candy Crush.

Susan

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

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