This ‘N That

Once again it’s been a while, but at least it hasn’t been another 18 months. :-D

What can I say? The spirit was willing but the rest of me had a bunch of stuff on the go. I was on the committee for the Northumberland Hills Stitchery Guild’s 40th Anniversary Tea, and as such there was planning and meetings, etc., which I took part in. Then there was the baking . . . oh, so much baking: 3 dozen mini plain scones, 3 dozen mini ginger scones, 3 dozen mini blueberry scones, not to mention a batch that was gluten free. Then there was 30 mini quiches, 24 crustless quiches, 30 lemon tarts, 24 mini cheesecakes, and a few dozen brownies – some of which were gluten free.

At the same time, I was also making a dress for the granddaughter’s last father/daughter ball. The theme was Under the Sea, and because it was the last time she’d be able to participate (they have a cut off year for age) I went all out. She requested a dress with squid tentacles, and I was happy to oblige. I used iridescent organza to give it the underwater effect.

I only planned to take the weekend off after that, to give myself time to recuperate, but a funny thing happened . . . I picked up the latest Nora Roberts book (that I hadn't read yet), and when I was finished reading it I may have, kind of, kept going. As in, I pulled about half a dozen previously read books off my shelf and read them, too.

The good news is, I think I’m over the reading madness and I’m back to reading just a couple of hours a day. And I have nothing major going on, except hanging with the granddaughter four days a week. They’re not even full days either, just from lunch time to late afternoon, leaving my mornings free for writing.

But even with my reading binge, it’s not like I haven’t been doing any writing. I’ve been doing my morning pages . . . granted sometimes it’s more like morning page, and I’ve been doing a daily three-minute word, where I pick a word at random and write for three minutes using it as a prompt.

Sometimes I take the notebook I use for my morning pages with me when I go for my morning walk and sit down on the pier to write. I’ve seen some interesting characters, and I’ve come up with at least one potential story idea. It’s something to work on when I need a break from editing An Elemental Spirit.

I’ve set myself a goal for Elemental Spirit. I want to be able to release it into the wild by the end of the year, or, most likely, January of next year. I’m going to deserve those vanity plates yet!

Weird, or What?

William Shatner used to host a series by that name, but I tell you, it didn't come close to what I saw recently. Last weekend, I went to the Oddities and Curiosities Expo in Toronto. And let me tell you, I wasn’t disappointed. It was both odd, and very curious!

The exhibits ranged from kitschy to weird to downright creepy. But they didn’t hold a candle to the people attending. Most were dressed in costumes that were an interesting cross between steam punk and goth. I wish I’d taken pictures of them. Granted some were kind of lame, like the girl wearing a slip over top of a track suit, but some were outstanding, like the Victorian style, black lace wedding gown, complete with black lace gloves.

The merchandise . . . Wow, what can I say about the variety? I mean, sure there were pictures, and paintings, and tee shirts, and jewelry. But there was also a large selection of books on magic and demonology, herbs and potions, scented candles, crystals – so many crystals. There were masks and stuffies, papier mâché creatures, amazingly creepy dolls, dioramas, insects under glass, bleached bones, and let’s not forget the vast display of stuffed animals, literally, via taxidermy.

There were squirrels dressed like dolls, weasels in Victorian garb, jackalopes, and just ordinary animals – baby chicks, a lot of rabbits, coyotes, a really beautiful rooster, and a full sized bear. But my favorite was this guy:

I have got to write a story featuring this guy. A pet? A familiar? The main character? I don’t know yet, but he needs a story, don’t you think?

Even if you’re not into the weird or the creepy or the scary, there was plenty of story fodder at this show. Personally, my flash stories tend to be weird and/or creepy, and you can bet future stories will contain details of what I saw.

I found out about the taxidermy workshop too late to participate, which was probably just as well because I heard it was rather pricey. But I did get my palm read by one of the psychics, and I bought a set of oracle cards. You know, to be kept with all the other sets of oracle cards I have but never use. ;-)

The Expo was definitely time well spent. And next year when I go, because I will be going next year, maybe I’ll take a few pictures of the characters I see. Not to post online of course, but as reference material for creating characters in my stories.

Break Time’s Over

Wow. It’s been a long time, hasn’t it? When I decided to take a blogging break back in December of 2023 (was it really that long ago?) I honestly didn’t expect it to turn into an 18 month hiatus. Just a few weeks to clear my head, that’s all I intended. But weeks turned into months, and the months started piling up. So, what happened?

Looking back, I did a lot of blogging in 2023. So much so it was starting to become a real chore. And the writing I was doing seemed to be more for the blog than for me.

I was doing these big, long, wordage report posts for Sundays – and it would take me most of the weekend to do them. I’d preface them with some words of wisdom, something writing related usually, which meant research and finding just the right quotes.

Then I’d do a week in review piece, followed by a breakdown of the words I’d written that week and goals for the coming week. This was followed by an editing report, how many pages I’d done and how it was going. Next was a poetry report.

And that’s not all!

I was spending more time crafting, so there’d be a crafting report. It wasn’t really anything to do with writing, more what I was spending time on when I wasn’t writing. And let’s not forget the reading report. I’d touch briefly on what I was reading and whether it was electronic or a tree book. Not reviewing them at all, mind you. Just telling you what I was reading.

And even though I was setting a goal at the end of each section, I was still wrapping up my weekly wordage report with a detailed plan for what I wanted to accomplish during the week ahead. And that was just the one post!

I was also doing a weekly poetry post, researching a new form each week and creating an original example. The spontaneity was gone, poetry was starting to become a real drag. The posts were sucking all the fun out of poetry.

Then there was my fiction Friday posts, where I’d post something creative, usually in the form of a serial installment. I wasn’t sharing something I’d already written, I was writing each installment on a week to week basis. On the one hand, it might have been interesting to a reader to see my thought process in creating a story, but on the other hand, some times I’d be down to the wire when it came to posting a new installment and I’d end up with a piece of crap. Which is why my serials needed serious editing when I was done (which they haven’t received yet).

All this is to say that I think I burned myself out. Writing had become more of a burden than a joy, and I needed to take a step back. Of course I never imagined my step back would be such a lengthy one. So what happened?

To be honest, I’m not sure. But the longer I was away from my writing, the easier it got to stay away. And then my focus shifted as I become more involved with my stitchery. I still thought about writing, and I still fully intended to get back to my writing, but all of a sudden I found myself putting it off because I had all these stitchery obligations. Before I knew it, stitchery had subsumed my writing.

And then a few weeks ago I had an epiphany. I was at a stitching retreat, and as I looked around the stitch room I was in, I realized that for most of these women, stitching was a way of life. They were here because they loved stitching and would rather stitch than do anything else. I enjoyed stitching, but it did not consume me. It didn’t light a fire in me. And then I realized that I had been letting it take over my life and it was time to do something about it.

You would think at that point I’d be able to re-focus on my writing, but that’s not the way things work. While I do want to get back to it, it’s still been a struggle. I thought I’d ease my way into it by starting with my morning pages  . Only I called them daily pages because I seldom do them first thing in the morning. And then they became the sporadic pages because I don’t seem to be able to do them every day. I’m still working on that.

What’s given me new incentive, if you can believe it, is having to replace my car. I love my new car to the point where I paid for a set of vanity plates for it.

I want to be worthy of those plates. And the only way to do that, is to write.