Advice for Writing

How many books, articles, blog posts, etc. can a writer read about writing advice? I believe that is a rhetorical question. Between the 4 of us here at PaddleCreekWriters the number is unbelievable.

Read it again!

Confession time: I HAVE NOT WANTED TO BE  PRODUCTIVE FOR AGES!

Ok, that is off my chest. I wish I was being dramatic; but, alas, I am not. I have been struggling with it so badly.

Today I thought I would pull myself up by my bootstraps (except that I am wearing flats) and get in gear. I am beginning another personal blog regarding a line of my children’s ministry products. To that end, I needed to go through my stash of articles on children’s ministry and see if I can re-purpose a few.

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Once again…..Heeeeere’s Willie!!!!

A few months ago I introduced you to my beagle, Willie. He’s a rambunctious creature, stubborn and sweet—sugar and spice as they used to say. He, like most of us, has his faults, but we chalk them up to personality disorder (probably a result of feeding him table food) and move on.

There’s Always Someone….

Many (many, many) years ago, as a bride, it began to slowly dawn on me that my life as an Air Force wife was going to be significantly different from my former life as a college student in North Dakota.

We were new to the service, living in Japan in a village just outside of Tokyo. My husband had his dream job–flying a C-130 into lands we had only heard of as kids. Our life became fairly routine, as he flew off to Bangkok or Hong Kong and I stayed behind with the other wives exploring the more exotic environment of Tachikawa village and learning the fine art of Japanese flower arranging.

Beating Writer’s Blech

Words stringing into sentences, sentences stringing into paragraphs and paragraphs stringing into chapters. That is writing at its best, which produces a novel. What happens when the writing of words equals the backspacing of words? Writer’s blech. When I can write, I can write volumes on that.

Words! Words! Words!

My growing up years in North Dakota were idyllic in the sense that our parents more or less left my sister and me on our own. It was the time in history when kids played outside from dawn to dusk without interference from adults. A quick peanut butter and jelly sandwich at noon and we were good to go for the rest of the day. We were sent into the world with certain instructions however. “Wear shoes!” “Stay away from the river.” “Don’t chase strange dogs.” “Leave your sister alone.” “Be home by dark.”

7 Reasons to Write Your Own Book

I have heard lots of compalints through the years about how poorly something was written. I have read stuff and thought: “Ugh! That got published?”

SO . . .

What to do if you don’t like how books are being authored these days? Write one yourself!

So, You Wanna Be a Writer?

What is a writer? In my imagination I see a guy hunkered over a typewriter, pounding away on the keys, eyes glazed with passion and fatigue, mouth set in a grim line due to a flair up of hemorrhoids.

Two and Counting…

 

Two years ago, as I pressed the “publish” button and sent my first Paddlecreek article into cyberspace, my hands were shaking. It’s scary to put your thoughts out in public. Well, some things never change, as my heart will beat a little faster when I push the “publish” button for this column these many months later. It’s an overwhelming and heady feeling to think we can communicate with like minded people that we haven’t met…yet. Happy Anniversary to us!!!!

Hail and Farewell

HAIL AND FAREWELL

     Did I tell you that my friend is moving? Not just a down the street and over two blocks move. It’s a pack-the-china-carefully, hit the highway, and drive across the country move. And I am not happy. In all truth, of course, it isn’t about me. It’s about my friend and the enormity of what lies ahead for her. But in the nitty-gritty of life, it is about me, because I am going to be left behind to miss her.