Happy New Year!

I don't make resolutions, but I do make goals.  This year, I've made a concession. For myself.

I'm not offering Friday journal prompts anymore.  Although I believe writing in a journal is helpful in storing fodder for fabulous stories, I no longer feel the desire to provide the prompts.  If you are new to the blog, please click on the journal tags and go at it. If you have been using the prompts, then you've probably picked up by now that anything can inspire an entry.  As far as creative journaling is concerned, it's not really what gets you started.  It's what you have to say.

So, have a happy new year, find inspiration, and keep writing.

Look what the dog dragged in!

My parents live in a log cabin on the edge of a small wooded area. Deer linger beneath their fruit trees. A fawn settled on their front steps once.

We dropped by to see their new furniture and rug. The evening was picaresque. Everything was perfectly arranged. The Christmas tree twinkled. Picture windows offered a view of the woods. Sadie-dog lay at my father's feet on the floor--chewing on a bone.

No, check that. She was chewing on a bone---covered in fur---with a hoof!

That Bambi was fresh, too.

I don't know where she found it, but I heard that antlers are on the porch today.

Journal: superhero

Journal: Create a new superhero. Check out this link for ideas.

Happy Halloween!

Zap!Pow!
Bam!Happy Halloween from Spiderman.

Halloween at School

I wasn't able to convince our son to wear his Elmo costume for school, but Miss Emily sure did. Here he is posing sweetly for her. He had a blast that day. The kids wore costumes, and they had a pumpkin hunt and ate candy. I'm not sure if there was a beanbag toss or not, but he sure talked about one a lot! He claimed he didn't participate, though. Hmmm.

Our little Elmo didn't want to leave. His teachers are great.

Here he is showing off his pumpkin to his Papa.
He told us it took him a long time to find his pumpkin. It was "hard" because it was "hidden in leaves."

NaNoWriMo

It's that time of year again.

November 1 marks the beginning of a frenzied month known as National Novel Writing Month--affectionately known as NaNoWriMo.

The "rules" are here.

But those rules aren't mine.

My NaNoWriMo month means a commitment to daily writing on my novel. I will not make myself write 50k words merely to write 50k. (I've heard people admit to writing gibberish merely to achieve the goal. What a waste of time and energy.) I commit to making progress on a novel that I cherish and will give it the attention it deserves, even if other things suffer.

Hopefully, by the end of the month, I'll have my rough draft. Then the real work/fun will begin.

Whatever you write and however you go about it, consider November as a special month.

I've always loved Thanksgiving because it's the one holiday you're allowed to just be thankful. Well, I'm thankful for the month it's in because it's the only one where I give myself permission to write my novel and let dishes sit in the sink and dirty clothes pile up. Surely, I can handle the stench until December or the completion of my novel, whichever happens first.

Journal: What the topic of your NaNoWriMo? If you're not doing it...what would it be if you were?

Plans for the weekend?

If you don't have plans for the weekend, plan a trip to Tahlequah, OK.

Come see me.

I'll be at the Eastern Oklahoma Author Fest with a multitude of other authors from 9-3. You can purchase personalized copies of books--even Glamour.
Books are great Christmas gifts!

Plus, if you are an aspiring author looking for extra training, some of us have volunteered our time to offer free (yes, FREE) writing workshops. Click here for a list of offerings.

My workshop is usually a 1-3 hour workshop that I've shortened to 30 minutes, but it will still be chock full of useful information. Cross my heart.