The New Leaves Are Stirring

The woods are hush'd, their music is no more;
The leaf is dead, the yearning past away;
New leaf, new life
the days of frost are o'er;
~ Alfred Lord Tennyson

So . . . the new leaf I was turning over is a little crumpled around the edges, but dare I say I think I’m starting to smooth it out? I mean, check it out – I got my poetry post done for the first Friday of the month. Can more posts be far behind? LOL

I ordered myself a copy of Anne Lamott’s Bird By Bird and I’ve been reading it a little bit at a time for inspiration. Though it’s not a writing instruction book per se, it starts out with her talking about the writing classes she’s given and describing a few of the exercises she’s given her students. Trying to get back into the writing habit (as a start to getting into a productive writing habit) I thought, why not give them a try?

The first one had you thinking back to your childhood and describing your early school years, starting with kindergarten. Anne advised that you don’t worry about the order, just write as many details as you can remember.

It was a kind of interesting exercise. Given kindergarten was a long time ago for me I didn’t think I’d have much to say, but the more I wrote the more I remembered. Before I knew it, I’d filled a couple of pages.

I’m still fumbling a bit, trying to find a routine, but I am writing more. Finding a balance is harder than you’d think. Or maybe it’s just me.

Maybe there’s hope for me yet.

The Week Ahead…

I’m hoping to expand on the writing I did last week. And by that I mean continue the exercise from Bird By Bird. I’d probably be happy with just that, but I’d like to see about adding a daily ‘three minutes with three words’ writing prompt.

My reading has slowed down considerably, but I’d really like to pull out of the Nora Roberts black hole I seem to be in. I did start reading a book of poetry written by one of the members of my poetry group. I’m quite enjoying it, but I’m taking my time, reading only a few at a time to make it last.

And finally, I’d like to reduce the amount of time I spend mindlessly playing games. I got tired of waiting for them to come up with new levels for Solitaire Garden and reset it. I’m ashamed to admit I’m already back up to level 389. Seeing as I made a trip to Michael’s (craft store) yesterday for more craft stuff I really don’t need, I’d like to replace at least some of that gaming time with crafting time.

Wish me luck. ;-)