Goal Setting for Writers

 

It's a brand new year. Yesterday, I put a calendar on the wall in my office,and another on my desk. That's the one where I keep all our appointments and social events marked. I've never had to purchase a calendar as they pop up in the mail long before year's end. The hard thing is to choose which ones to use. 

Last Friday, my post centered on reflections of the past year. Today, we need to consider goal making for 2023. I would far rather come up with goals instead of resolutions. Everyone talks about the resolutions they made and promptly broke. But what about goals we set for our writing life?

Will we break those just as easily as the resolutions? I hope we will take them more seriously. 

Goals give us a sense of direction. They are also motivators and give a sense of control to us. 

I ran across a simple explanation of a goal that I liked. 'A goal is a dream with a deadline.' If you make your list for 2023, you are hoping to achieve your choices by the end of the year. Thats twelve months, or fifty-two weeks, or three-hundred-sixty-five days that you have to work on them.

Some things to remember when making goals: 

A. The fewer the better. Far too many people create a super long list of goals, then wonder why they all seemed to fade away. Maybe, there were too many to keep track of in our minds. 

B. Make realistic goals. If I make a goal of getting a novel published in one of the top publishing houses in America, I'm fooling myself. I'm not at that level. At least, not yet. 

C. Make them general rather than too detailed. 

D. Put the list somewhere you see it on a frequent basis. Out of sight, out of mind!

E. Give thought to what part(s) of your writing life you want to improve. Then set one of your goals in that direction. 

Goal setting comes with an assessment of your writing life. Look back to see where you were, where you are now, and where you hope to be by the end of this year. 

Make your list as soon in this month of January as you can. Put it off a day, or a week, and you know what will happen. Do it now!

If you made a list of goals last year, take a look at them. How many did you achieve, or even partly achieve? How many came to no fruition whatsoever. If you had a goal that you didn't accomplish, there is nothing wrong in repeating it on this year's list. 

Assessing Your Writing Life

 

We're nearing the end of August. I have a few questions regarding your writing life today. Answer them and then make a list of what you want to change in September.

A.  Did you have any writing goals set for August?

B.  Did you meet any, most, or all of those goals?

C.  If you had no goals for August, why not?

D.  Did you use your writer's eye as you moved through this month?

E.  Did you find yourself inspired to write during this month?

F.  Are you satisfied with the amount you wrote this month?

G.  Did you have any late summer experiences that you hope to write about?

H.  Did you completely ignore writing in August? 

I.  Are you satisfied with your writing life right now? 

J.  Have you set any writing goals for September? 

K.  If you haven't set any writing goals for September, why not?

L.  Do the lazy days of summer give you an excuse for writing less?

Lots of questions to ponder. I am of the mind that we should assess our writing life on a regular basis. It helps us grow as writers, takes us out of complacency, and gives us a bit of inspiration. It's human nature to want to do better. 

I am also aware that the pandemic world we've lived in the past year and a half made a big difference in all aspects of our lives, including our writing lives. I've seen it in my online writing group. What they are producing is still nowhere near normal. Look at it as a reason, not an excuse. If you choose excuse, you give yourself permission to not write and feel no guilt. If you choose to consider it a reason for not writing, you should be able to overcome it and get back in the groove. There's a vast difference between an excuse and a reason. 

There are still a few days left in August. What are you going to do with them in your writing life? 

Fill A Blank Page With Words

 

Blank Page

The first day of the month feels like a blank page to be filled in by you. So does each Monday. It's the beginning of the week, and writers can start putting words on that page. Today is Monday. So, what are you going to write first on your clean white paper (or screen)?

Will you continue with a work in progress, or will you begin a new project today? Will you outline a new story or book? Might you pen a family story? Or a new personal essay? Maybe you'll write a poem today. As long as several pages or as short as a haiku. 

It doesn't matter what you write on this first day of the week. What's important is that you do write something before the day is finished. I like beginnings, and Monday always feels like a new start to me. 

If you've had an idea swirling in your head, this would be a fine time to start writing. Last week is done, this one only beginning. Take advantage of it.

Sometimes, when we look at a blank page, we feel every bit as blank as it looks. We want to write, but what to write is our biggest question of the day. That old 'writers' block' term could be applied here, but I prefer to call it 'waiting for words.' That shows a little more hope, I think. You know those words will arrive, but you're not quite sure when. 

Put this first day of the week to good use. Fill that blank page with words.

Writers--Never Give Up

 

Today's quote can be condensed into those final three words. Never give up. If you have a plan for your writing journey, you keep moving along the path. You continue learning and writing and rewriting and submitting. You're skipping along with the sun shining and all is well with your writing world.

That's a nice scenario, but a writing journey rarely goes exactly that way. You are going to meet bumps in the road now and then. Sometimes, it feels as if you are hitting one after another. All you end up getting is discouraged. 

When those problems arise, like a piece you felt was excellent that comes back with a rejection, you feel like someone lassoed you and held on tight.  Remember when your children were toddlers and they sat down in the grocery aisle crying? That's what you'd like to do, isn't it? I fear no one would come to soothe you. Instead, they might call the manager and ask to have you removed. So, that is not a solution. 

Hit enough of the bumps in the road, and you're likely to tell yourself you can't take much more. You're done writing forever. The quote tells you to 'go over, under, around, or through.' You can find ways to meet that hitch in your writing life if you don't give up. 

Give up, and all is lost. Consider all that you have put into your writing journey. The hours and the worry, the editing and revising. the time spent finding markets, and the submitting process. Do you really want to stop? Remember that you had the passion once to do all the things mentioned. You can find that desire again as long as you don't give up. 

It might take some time off to help you have the desire to write again, along with some thoughts about your successes and what it is that you loved about the writing process. Did creating something from nothing feel exciting? If it did once, it can do so again. Did you enjoy editing to perfect that first draft? I find it a rather satisfying process. Were you thrilled when you sold a story or poem or essay? Wouldn't you love to experience that feeling again? 

You can try making two lists on one sheet of paper, the Pro and the Con of your writing world. Which one is the longest? That should tell you something.

When problems arise, go over, under, around, or through, but please don't give up. You're part of my writing world just as I am part of yours. I don't want to lose you. 

10 Steps To A Writer's Dream

This poster quote seems made for this blog. Note my two keywords within the text--patience and perseverance. 

Look at the separate parts of the advice here. Sometimes, we read something like this in its entirety, get the gist of it and quit. Take it apart a bit at a time, and you'll find greater meaning.

1.  It starts with a dream.  We all know about that. Every one of us has had a dream related to our writing journey. Maybe several dreams.

2.  Add faith,  Faith is something we must all have. By that, I mean faith in ourself. If we don't have that, we can get lost very easily.

3.  and it becomes a belief  One of the most important things a writer must do is to believe in him/herself. If you don't have that belief in yourself, no one else is likely to have the same. 

4.  Add action,  Yep. We can't merely sit around and wait for the good stuff to happen. We have to make a plan and execute it. 

5.  and it becomes a part of life.  When we create a habit of being active rather than sitting around thinking about the dream we have, we'll see results. They might not come in explosive fashion, but maybe a little at a time. In small steps as I wrote about in yesterday's post.

6.  Add perseverance,  There's that pet word of mine. Perseverance versus giving up after trying a time or two is what is going to bring you closer to that dream. 

7.  and it becomes a goal in sight.  Keep working, continue with the small steps and that dream is not going to be nearly so far away.

8.  Add patience and time,   Patience is a needed quality in your journey. The trip down the writing path to your dream will take time. In the end, you'll be glad you were patient and didn't rush.

9.  and it ends  Any sensible person knows that everything comes to an end eventually. It might not happen when we'd like it to, but it will happen.

10.  with a dream come true.  I sincerely hope that your dreams come true and mine, too.

By looking at each part of the quote, we can gain more than when reading it in a flash.

How Do You Relate To This Quote?

Maybe some of the poster quote today relates to your writing life.

1. You might be stronger because you've learned to accept constructive criticism from others. You have had enough rejections of your work to toughen your skin. You had to be stronger if you wanted to continue your writing journey.

2. You are probably smarter because you made mistakes. After making those errors in life, you know what to do when you meet the same situation again.

3. You're most likely happier because you've put the sadness of not making the kind of strides in your writing life that you had hoped to. Dwelling on the negative parts of your journey only makes you sadder. Learning to overcome that feeling will definitely help in the happiness department.

4. Are you wiser because of what you learned from your writing life? I'm betting that you are. The keyword here is learned. Three people might experience the same situation in life but not all will become wiser.

Are you a perfect person if you can say 'yes' to all four of the above? No, but you may be a better person. You may be a writer who pursues his/her goals with a positive outlook. You may be more successful in writing publishable work than the person who puts a not before those four special words--stronger, smarter, happier and wiser. Read the quote again and insert not before each of the four words noted here. Which person are you?  The positive quote or the negative? Some of us might fall in-between or we might be positive on two or three but not the fourth one.

This quote definitely gave me food for thought. How about you?

Why Some Writers Don't Want Others To Critique Their Writing

Yesterday I wrote about what we see when we critique the writing of others versus what we see when we look at our own writing. I have always urged writers to let other writers help them through critiquing. Many of us do this on a regular basis.

But there is a group of writers who would rather walk naked through JFK Airport than allow another writer to look at what they've written. There could be a number of reasons for this feeling.

1. Self-doubt:  (See my recent post on this.)  If you suffer from self-doubt, you probably are not going to want to show your work to another writer. You hear this little voice in your head saying things like This is so awful. I know they'll hate it. Actually, you don't know that, you just convince yourself.

2. Fear of criticism:  Nobody likes to be criticized. Our parents scolded us for not doing something the right way. Our teachers criticized us in remarks on papers handed back or when giving an oral report. Nothing makes you want to curl up in a corner and disappear than this kind of criticism. The thing to remember when another writer is critiquing your work is that it is never meant to hurt you. On the contrary, it is meant to help you end up with a publishable piece of writing. Keep that as a mantra--It's to help, not hurt. 

3. Loss of privacy:  We feel very protective of the stories, essays and poems we write. Our precious words are like our children--to be protected at all times. If you want your work to be the best, a critique from one or more writers can be beneficial. Let them into this part of your life so that you can become a better writer.

4. Fear that work will be stolen by another writer: There are writers who do fear this. The critiques you receive are most likely going to be from writers that you know personally or belong to an online group together. They are not strangers off the street, so the odds of something being stolen are very minute.

5. Knowing that it is not your best work: If this is the case, hold back on asking for a critique until you have polished that piece of writing until it shines. Revise, edit, revise, edit--do it as long as it takes for you be satisfied with what your end product is. More than likely, whoever critiques your work is going to find more for you to work on. But that's exactly the reason we ask for help. It's much better to receive a list of suggestions from a critique than a rejection from an editor.

6. I don't want to return the favor: If this is the reason you don't want to have someone critique your writing, I have little sympathy. It's a selfish reason. If you receive help, be willing to give it. 

The biggest reason to ask for someone to critique your work is that, if you take the suggestions to heart and rework wherever the critiquer suggests, you will grow as a writer. I don't mean that you must change every little thing the critiquing person marks. You change the ones you agree with, the ones that make sense to you, the ones that you see can help this story. If you receive several critiques on one story and everyone marks the same area as a trouble spot, pay close attention. That is definitely an area you might want to work on. 

How Common Is Trouble In Writing?

Do you want to bang your head against a wall or your keyboard when whatever you're writing doesn't gel right away? Does your writing leave you feeling frustrated, angry, or disgusted? Guess what? You're not alone.

What Joseph Heller, a satirical novelist, said is right on. All writers encounter trouble when writing at some time or other. It may seem to you that there is little balance to it, that encountering trouble when writing sits on the heavy side of the scales.

I think it feels that way because, when we can sit down and dash off a great story with ease, we don't think much about it. I'm a writer. This is how it is suppose to happen. It's what our inner self might say. But when the story doesn't come together the first time around, or second, or third, then we feel burdened in our chosen profession.

Those who don't write might wonder why in the world, then, do writers continue to write if it gives so much trouble. Why not just quit?

Only the writer knows the satisfaction achieved when a story finally stops giving trouble and feels just right. Only the writer knows the desire someone in their field has to create a readable piece. Only the writer knows the passion within that drives the writer to continue writing, despite the trouble it might be.

Yep, we might have trouble writing a good deal of the time but it's what we've chosen to do, so we keep on putting words together until they make sense and we are satisfied. Maybe it all comes down to this: You have to love writing enough to stay with it despite the trouble you often encounter.

Writers Need Readers

Yesterday, Ken and I went to the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts in Kansas City to attend a symphony performance. It's a magnifcent building opened in 2011. An hour prior to the performance, the Symphony Director and two other men held an informal talk and question & answer time. To listen to a symphony orchestra director, a solo clarinetist and a composer talk about the music we'd hear was informative and quite interesting. 

One of the things that Anthony McGill, the principal clarinetist for the New York Philharmonic, said stayed with me. He told a story about an audience member saying to him, "I'm no musician but..." Mr. McGill said that he stopped the man at that point and told him that, yes, he was a musician. That a musician requires an audience to hear his music. There would be no reason for him to play over and over only for himelf. So both the man making the music and the one hearing it are musicians.

I thought about what he said and decided that we can apply the same principle to writing. As writers, we need readers. Most of us write so that our words will be read by someone somewhere. Oh sure, a few people write only for themselves but they are in a definite minority. 

When I write a children's story, I aim for a large audience of kids. I hope that the story I write will entertain them, help them see certain aspects of life, and make them want to read more stories. When I write a personal essay, my goal is to bring something to my readers that might be of interest and also remind them of some universal truth that the essay illustrates. I also write to give my readers pleasure in some way.

I write this blog to help other writers--to give them tips of the trade and to encourage them to keep on writing. What good would this blog be without you, the reader? 

Just as the musician needs an audience to hear the music, we writers need you, our readers. 

Back to the symphony performance. We were entertained by some fine classical music and a new composition by Richard Danielpour whose Concerto for Clarinet and Orchestra, "From the Mountaintop,"  The performance afforded us a rare treat. In the same vein, I hope that some of the things I write have provided a rare treat for some of my readers. 

Pure Drivel Or Hidden Gold?

My online writing group does a weekly Random Word exercise. An appointed member posts a word each week for a month. We are to look at the word, then freewrite for a full ten minutes without stopping. Write whatever comes from brain to fingers.

It's pretty interesting what evolves from these simple little words. Some are common words while others are a little more exotic.

The other day, the word was swift. I wrote rapidly for the required ten minutes, then read it over to myself. My reaction? Pure drivel! But I sent it off into cyberspace to land in the inboxes of my group members.

Later in the day, two emailed me to tell me how much they liked what I'd written. One said she smiled at much of it and almost cried, as well.  Another recommended that I expand the piece into a full essay because the subject was so worthwhile.

My mouth dropped open when I read each of the responses. They amazed me! Drivel--or so I thought. Maybe not. I decided I needed to work on that ten minutes worth and see what I can come up with. So I searched for the email with my Random Word offering. It is nowhere to be found! I looked in my inbox, my deleted file, the writing group website. No luck. Frustrating! But I've written one of the women who suggested I continue to work on this to see if she might be able to locate my drivel--no, my offering.

While waiting to hear from her, I have been thinking about my considering what I wrote as drivel and two others liking it well enough to suggest I expand it into a full essay. It tells me that I shouldn't be quite so quick to judge my work in a negatve manner. I need to give it a chance and to heed the words of others who have read the words I have written.

Maybe the short piece will not work as a full personal essay. But perhaps it might. How will I know unless I give it a try?  We writers tend to drag ourselves down sometimes when we should be boosting our own ego a little bit more. Did you ever read over something you've written and smiled, knowing you'd done a good job? Have you finished writing a story, essay or article and felt proud as punch? I hope so because that is what we strive for as writers--finding that golden nugget.

On the other hand, have you ever thought less than pleasant thoughts about something you've written? I have a feeling we have all been there a time or two. I know I've thought This is dreadful! more than once when reading a first draft.

Letting others read our work, whether a finished piece or just a Random Word exercise brings us the knowledge of whether the piece is worth working on or is it something to be set aside? I am a firm believer in belonging to a critique group or a one-on-one writer team. We hope to have thousands of readers for our finished work, so why not start out with those few who know good, bad, or indifferent writing? They can spur us on to success or let us know to move on with something new.

What a writer might consider pure drivel just might be hidden gold.

Stress or Dessert--Which One Do You Choose?

From the Mad Hatter Tea Room

I loved this poster, for what better remedy for stress can there be than having some dessert? No matter how we'd all like that to be true, we know it's not the best way to treat our stress. Still, I do love desserts!

Writers deal with stress on a regular basis. Deadlines, writers block, lack of motivation, running out of story ideas, rejections, the exceedingly long wait between submission and hearing from an editor--the list goes on and on. 

I think that there are times when we create our own stress, or when we take a seedling of stress and nourish it with our fears until it grows like Jack's beanstalk. That long waiting period after a submission? There's where we can invent more scenarios than fans at a football game. We invent reasons when we haven't heard about our submission. We don't practice one of my keywords in the writing world--patience. If you're an impatient person--and I speak from great experience here--work on acquiring a more patient nature. If you don't, you're going to dish up more stress than you might be able to handle. 

How about those deadlines? Fritter away your time and suddenly the date looms far too close. The next thing you know, you're lying awake nights thinking about it, your mind goes blank when you try to do the project in too little time, your stomach hurts every time you look at the calendar. The easy cure here is to start working on a project soon after you receive an assignment or a call for submissions. Give yourself time to write a first draft, make revisions, then polish before you must send it flying through cyberspace to an editor's desk.

Lack of motivation can bring stress into a writer's life along with running out of story ideas. I've found the best way to address those things is to get away from writing for a short period. Go for a long walk. Go to the mall and window shop. Fix a picnic lunch and visit a scenic area nearby. And when you do those things, use your writer's eye. Before you know it, you'll see something that will spark an idea for an article, essay or story. It's more helpful than sitting in front of a computer screen with a blank Word document and staring at it in hopes that the words will magically appear. 

How about the stress that comes with those rotten rejections? Who creates that stress? We do, of course. Instead of dwelling on the negative side here, start checking for another editor to send your submission to. Don't forget that there are many reasons a piece is rejected. Only one reason is a poorly written story. Others are out of the writer's control. So, ditch the dessert and the stress and move on.

How do you handle the stress in your writing life? You don't have any? Sure you do. We all do. Take a step back and assess you and stress. Ask yourself if you create some of it yourself. Next question to put to yourself is What do I do when stress moves into my writing life? If you answer honestly, you may gain some insight in how to handle it with or without eating that extra dessert. 

Time Is One Thing You Can Steal

This morning, I looked at my May calendar that is next to my phone in the kitchen. How in the world did we get to nearly the end of this month already? I had great thoughts way back in the early days of May about stories I wanted to write. Some others that needed revising and still others that I needed to polish up for the Kansas Authors Annual Contest which has a mid-June deadline.

My intentions were excellent but the social activities of this month nearly overwhelmed me. So many organizations hold end-of-year lunches or dinners before summer begins. Then factor in Mother's Day and graduations and birthdays of several people along with the normal routine things, and I found myself with nowehre near the writing time I'd hoped for. 

This past week, we traveled to Illinois to spend a few days with Ken's two brothers. It was a wonderful mini-reunion of the three brothers and their wives, but it sure cut into my writing time. You've read right here more than once about how I advised writers to make time to write. I do believe that, but sometimes life takes over and there is no way to make that time, or at least, no way to make as much time as you'd like. 

So, what am I going to do in this last busy week of May? I'm going to meet my obligations that are sprinkled throughtout the days marked on the calendar. But I'm also going to create a little "me" time so I can work on some of those projects. They may not be large blocks of time, but even 20 minutes or half an hour will help me make some progress. It might mean that I get up earlier and go to bed later than usual this week. I'll survive even if I'm caught yawning now and then. It will most likely be that I don't make meals that require a lot of time to prepare. If a friend calls and invites me over for coffee, I'm going to tell her I'd love to do it next week, that I cannot spare the time this week. 

Even when you feel swamped, you can still make a little time for the projects in your writing world. You only have to be rather creative. Wouldn't that be a good article for a woman's magazine? For the title---Make Time For The Things You Want To Do. Or Stealing Time For Yourself. 

Marketing Part 3: You Or The Writing Fairy?

Wouldn't it be nice to have a Writing Fairy who sits near your computer to do all the marketing work for you? Dream on! Not gonna happen. The cruel reality is that it is you who must do it.

We've talked this week about where to find markets and the importance of reading and following submission guidelines. 

Today's post regards a question that writers sometimes ask. Is it better to write the piece and then find a market or find a market you like and write something geared to it? Good question with no definitive answer. I hate to sound wishy-washy but the answer is yes on both counts.

Sometimes I write something with no particular market in mind. Then I set about searching for a place where I think it might be a fit. The longer you are in the writing world, the easier that becomes as you have a mental list of a number of markets. But don't rely only on those you've submitted to in the past. Keep them in mind but also look for new markets. Step out of your comfort zone. 

Occasionally, I run across a publication that appeals to me for one reason or another. If I have nothing in my files that fits it, I'm often inspired to write something new to submit. That's all very positive because writers need to keep writing new material. 

On another note, a good place to learn about new markets is through writer's newsletters. Most of them offer news about the writing world, articles on the craft of writing and some markets in each issue. There are so many of these newsletters in the cyberworld that writers need to be selective. Subscribe to too many and you eat deeply into your writing time. 

All the information I've given you this week might backfire and end up discouraging you rather than pushing you into finding a home for your writing. We know that knowledge is key, and to sell your writing you need to know as much as you can about the marketing process. Keep writing but also make marketing an ongoing process, as well. 

A Writer's Thanksgiving--Day 3

The First Thanksgiving

What a group picture this is. Two cultures coming together to share a meal and give thanks for surviving that first horrific winter. Which brings me to one thing I'm thankful for in my writing life. Groups!

I've been in four critique groups through the past twenty years. Two were in-person and two online. I gained something from all of them but the online groups have given me bountiful benefits.

When I first started writing, I attended a one day seminar. As it was breaking up for the day, a man approached me and invited me to come to his writer's group. Gave me time, place and directions. Hungry to learn more about writing, I found my way one night through a dark residential area. When I arrived, I found myself with three men. Tom apologized that there were not more members in attendance, and I wondered what in the world had I gotten myself into. Shouldn't have worried as I had such a good time listening to these three male writers that I was hooked and belonged to the group (which did have several women in it) until we moved away. The people in this group encouraged me, gave me some confidence in my writing, and became friends.

I started a group for people who wanted to write for children. As the moderator, I made sure I had something to read for the group at each monthly meeting. When we started, others also brought stories to read. We discussed the positives and negatives, encouraged one another to submit to a magazine. But little by little, the others petered out. They stopped bringing stories to read. Instead, they just wanted to talk about the writing world. They drifted farther and farther from that writing world because they talked but did not write. I finally disbanded the group after offering for someone else to take over. No takers. No group. 

My first online group was a joy from day one. An editor and a poet started the group, and I accidentally ran across it online aand was one of the first members to join. No application process necessary. The editor who moderated the group was brilliant, tough, sarcastic, a fabulous teacher and a caring individual. New members trickled in until we had a thriving critique group and our own journal published online. Even though I'd never met any of these people in person, they became good friends. I loved the group, so I was devastated when the moderator became seriously ill and had to disband. I felt so bad for her but also for all the members left adrift. 

One of those members happened to be the moderator of a different group. She wrote to a handful   from the original group and invited us to join hers. Feeling like I was at sea all alone, I accepted gratefully, and I've been a member of writersandcritters ever since. We've lost members, we've gained members, but the core group has stayed strong thanks to good leadership and a marvelous blend of international women writers. We're honest but fair in our critiques, sometimes painfully honest. We all know that whatever criticisms are given are meant to help us, not hurt. We give praise but never to make someone feel good, only if it is rightly earned. We support one another in our writing but also in our personal world because we are friends. In this group, I've had the good fortune to meet many of the members at our conferences in the Washington, DC area. We've supported members through family losses, having babies, job losses and even the serious illness and death of one of our members. 

Today, my thankfulness is for the quartet of critique groups I have been in. They have all helped me grow as a writer and they have expanded my knowledge of the writing world. I encourage anyone interested in writing to join a group. You, too, will end up giving thanks.

Look With A Writer's Eyes

I played Social Butterfly yesterday. It was one of those days when I moved from one event to another all day. I went to Book Club in the morning which was a group of only five. We gathered on the hostess's screened-in porch with our coffee and discussed the book, Mao's Last Dancer--one I wrote about on this blog recently.

After lunch, I attended a PEO meeting with 30 other women. We had a social time, followed by a patriotic piano/songfest program, and then the business meeting, ending with more social time. I exchanged news with many people, heard lots of interesting tales.

At five, I picked up a friend, and off we went to a hospital auxiliary social hour. $5 allowed you one drink and appetizers. The noise level of the chatter would have hit the top of a sound checker, but again, women were catching up on family news, job happenings and more.

On my way home, I thought about the many stories that had surrounded me all day. Women can be witty, so I also heard some memorable remarks. It would have been nice to walk around with a notebook to record some of them. Might be a quick way to make people clam up, though. 

The stories I heard from the few people at Book Club would have made good material for a fiction story, even though they were all factual. Some of what I learned at the afternoon meeting was fascinating enough to end up in a book. The point is that there are stories all around us every single day. 

A writer can gather story ideas and pieces of ideas while grocery shopping, sitting in a doctors's waiting room, or at a local coffeeshop. When you see or hear something that might be useful in a future story, jot it down. Keep a small notebook in your purse or pocket. It's all too easy to forget about it once you get home. 

If you see an interesting looking person, write a short description to use for a character in a story later. If you witness a conversation that is caustic, romantic, or even leading up to a physical altercation, make a memo to yourself as soon as you can. Watching real life developments makes your story characters and situations more realistic. 

Key to doing this is to train yourself to be observant. When you're out doing errands or at a social event, look with a writer's eyes. 

Pondering On Blogging

The blogathon challenge today is to write a post that finishes the following sentence. If I started blogging today, I would.... I've given it some thought for the past few days.

I think there is going to be a huge range of responses to this one. Some bloggers will berate themselves over every little thing. I can imagine what some of them might say. Look at this list in italics and see how many relate to your blog or a blog of someone you know

Some people's answers to If I started blogging today, I'd... might be:

I'd post more often than every couple of months.


I'd put more thought into my posts.


I'd be more active in recruiting readers.


I'd look at more than one blog provider.


I'd ask other bloggers for advice.


I'd use some clipart or graphics once in awhile.


I'd finish with a question to encourage comments.


I'd respond to people who took the time to send a comment.


I'd try to vary my posts a little more so the blog doesn't become boring.


I'd have guest bloggers.


I'd stay with the theme of my blog, not jump all over.


I'd increase my reading of other blogs.


I'd post my blog titles on twitter, facebook and wherever else I might find readers.


For me--If I started blogging today, I would not change a great deal. On the whole, I'm pretty satisfied with my blog. I've tried to do most of those things mentioned in italics above. I gathered as much information as my brain would hold before I took the bold step of setting up my blog and writing that first post. Right now, I have no idea what the subject of that first effort was. I've been blogging for about 3 years. I started out 7 days a week because I knew readers want new content on a regular basis. If it isn't there, they move on. After a few months, I cut back to Monday through Friday.

The one thing I would change is the name of my blog. I chose Writer Granny's World because it is pretty descriptive of me. But after awhile, I got to thinking that the name might turn off a lot of young writers. I considered changing it, but then I feared losing some of the Followers and readers already established. I am a writer granny, so I left it as is.  The sub-name--My Writing World With Tips and Encouragement For Writers--tells exactly what this blog is about. I like it as is and maybe younger readers will respond to that.

Like all bloggers, I hope to continue to increase my Followers and readers. The Blogathon Challenge this month has helped in that department.

Readers, what would you like to see change on this blog? Send me a wish list and I'll see what I can do.

Celebrate Poetry Month

April is National Poetry month. So, what are you going to do to celebrate? A poetry website I found lists 30 ways to celebrate National Poetry month. I must admit there were some I'd probably never do, but a few others did seem possible. Check out their suggestions. 

Poetry is not for everyone but more people would gain an appreciation of it if they gave it a chance. What does a poem do?

A poem: 

can be soothing

paints a picture with words

conveys new ideas for some readers

can be beautiful

can be powerful

can be emotional

might tickle your funnybone

is sometimes difficult to understand

What other things do you think a poem can be? What does poetry do for you? Or does it turn you off? Tell us why with a comment.

Sara Teasdale is one of my favorite poets. The website I've linked to gives you a brief biography of Ms. Teasdale and a list that will link you to her many poems. The poem I've included below is lovely and bears reading more than once. In fact, most poems should be read multiple times. I find that I see more with each reading. Start celebrating April's National Poetry Month by reading Sara Teasdale's words. (Note that many poems use the first line as title)

"I Have Loved Hours at Sea"

I have loved hours at sea, gray cities,
The fragile secret of a flower,
Music, the making of a poem
That gave me heaven for an hour;

First stars above a snowy hill,
Voices of people kindly and wise,
And the great look of love, long hidden,
Found at last in meeting eyes.

I have loved much and been loved deeply --
Oh when my spirit's fire burns low,
Leave me the darkness and the stillness,
I shall be tired and glad to go. 

Sarah Teasdale