Tales from the Nexus
Accidental Saints found its way into my library hold shelf a while back. I didn't review it. Not because it wasn't good. Just because I didn't. I can do that sometimes... read a book and not even have the decency to write about it. Apologies. I loved it. Nadia Bolz-Weber is a foul-mouth overly-tatted rough-and-tumble... Continue Reading →
Initial reaction: smile
2 seconds in: “I’m not really in a good place to start this one TODAY.”
5 seconds in: sigh
10 seconds: smileThere’s no better day than today, and no better time than when you’re not quite ready.
I’m in. Who’s with me?
KJ
Starting today – no complaints for one week. Only gratitude. As soon as you drift to the negative, yank yourself back to the positive. To beauty and light. Go.
“Gratitude is riches. Complaint is poverty.” – Doris Day
We're coming up on a critical juncture in the fight to protect the Boundary Waters from mining interests that threaten to pollute and compromise the watershed. The Star Tribune just did an article on Becky Rom, a driving force behind the Save the Boundary Waters Campaign. My husband forwarded me the link this evening, and... Continue Reading →
Give Thanks! Peace, KJ
It's NaNoWriMo? Are you writing yet? For the uninitiated, NaNoWriMo is National Novel Writing Month, or NOVEMBER. Millions of people join together in the common goal of completing a 50,000 word novel in 30 days. Sounds impossible? Not so, my friend. Some years ago, friends talked me into giving NaNo a whack. I mostly did... Continue Reading →
Committee might be a strong word. Soapbox, maybe. I am nearly through with my 5th book on Social Security, retirement, and investment; I've been on somewhat of a run. It's been enlightening, actually, and inspiring on many levels. So much so that I am teaching a class this month, to share all the eye-poppers and... Continue Reading →
I've got to be honest: the writerly juices just haven't been flowing into the valley of personal gratification lately. I've been spending so much time writing for others that I haven't given more than a drop's thought to my own creative streams. I guess that is why I started the Postbox; to jam the wellhead in... Continue Reading →
It's 1am. I am supposed to be diving into my thirty-seven degree sleeping bag on the shores of Lake Superior after a mad midnight setup spree right about now. But instead I am pit-stopped on my couch, typing my way to bed. We can debate the sanity of the midnight arrival plan later. 45 minutes... Continue Reading →
Off to the North Shore, so no words of writerly wisdom this week or next. Stay Tuned for Episode 6 in a few weeks! If you need me, I'll be around the fire, KJ
Darlings I was looking for something in my journal and came across this flash of an entry. It was inspiring, even though I only wrote it two months ago. July 2016 I wrote today. It was draining. I have been plugging along, giving the thing a once over with an ear for all my notes,... Continue Reading →
Writing Prompts I'm not big on them. I've encouraged my children to use them. I've read a good number of them. I've even thought, 'Hey, that one looks okay.' But actually taking up the challenge? Not so much. It may have been the recent freelance work - where I'm given exactly three things to turn... Continue Reading →
Natalie Goldberg - the same Natalie Goldberg that challenged me to attack the why of my writing life - is nothing, if not full of challenges. If you haven't picked up Writing Down the Bones yet, you should. For a bit I used each 1-2 page essay as a writing prompt, but sometimes I just needed to keep... Continue Reading →
If any man be devout and love God, let him enjoy this fair and radiant triumphal feast. If any man be a wise servant, let him rejoicing enter into the joy of his Lord. If any have labored long in fasting, let him now receive his recompense. If any have wrought from the first hour,... Continue Reading →
I meant to publish a 'year in the life' when I hit a full year of blogging. But it came and went with little pomp, or even thought. Somehow a 'thirteen months in the life' doesn't carry the excitement, so I just let it go. But one hundred posts seems like something to celebrate, too!... Continue Reading →
It's here. NaNoWriMo starts Sunday. Yikes. Last year I didn't participate, because I was completely engulfed in revisions on my novel, and refused to be bothered. This year I was tempted to do the same, but since the novel has been on a hiatus for the past couple of months, I thought I'd use NaNo... Continue Reading →
I judge. It is what I do. I am a people watcher from the word go, and for me it is not generally an exercise in edification, mine nor those so tormented to be found beneath my gaze. I do work very hard to stand in the way of my own comfort at the bench,... Continue Reading →
...Do not tell me you are a writer but have no time to write. I don’t have time for that (because I am writing)... Linda Lafferty on Finding Time to Write | WritersDigest.com. Ouch. Delivered to my inbox this afternoon was this article from Writer's Digest. Linda Lafferty is a busy woman. I daresay busier than... Continue Reading →
Last night was the first meeting of a small group of writers in my life, some amazing and wonderful fellow homeschoolers and a couple of glorious folks from A Weekend With Your Novel. Despite the numerous and compelling reservations many of us had about our physical ability to take on one more thing, we all... Continue Reading →
"It has been well said that an author who expects results from a first novel is in a position similar to that of a man who drops a rose petal down the Grand Canyon of Arizona and listens for the echo." P.G. Wodehouse, Cocktail Hour I'm planning all the ways I can make my rose... Continue Reading →
You never know when new adventures will begin. A fortuitous invitation to NaNoWriMo last November proved to be the catalyst that would change life forever in the Ottinger household. Who knew that life could take such unexpected turns, if only we allow our imaginations a little freedom? "Listen to the trees talking in their sleep,"... Continue Reading →
