Social Distancing and Staying Busy

Photo by Leeanne Dodge

As we all do our part to participate in social distancing and stay at home, the issue becomes how to fill our time and stay productive.

I think the biggest thing we can do is to develop a routine for the day. This happens to also be one of the things that successful people do anyway, so why not.

I've decided that this is an excellent time to develop a daily writing habit. Between working a full-time job for over 40 years and last year's medical issues, I had not worked this into my regular schedule. This year, however, I am changing everything. I put in for retirement and started doing water aerobics. Then comes the social distancing, and out goes the water aerobics. There are, however, yoga and exercise videos on Youtube. Not quite the same, but they work.

For me, the routine I'm developing is a daily exercise video, an or more hour writing, a little housework (have to keep up the basics anyway), walk to the mailbox, read a book. They say if you want to write, you need to read. The other thing I'm doing to keep busy is online courses. I've been interested in creating one, so I've been researching that as well as taking some. Time is also filled up with Facetime calls to the grandkiddos and texting with friends. I even watched a live Facebook video when a friend fed her goats. Okay, okay, watching goats eat breakfast can get you off schedule a bit. Apparently, goats aren't into social distancing.  I'm still working on doing these things every day, but at least I'm heading in the right direction.

Another way to keep on track with your writing goals is to use NaNoWriMo. They are currently running a program called StayHomeWriMo (Stay Home and Write More). Their website has lots of information and checklists with ideas. You can join one of their communities and converse with fellow writers about things that interest you, including general conversation, characters, and more. They are providing daily writing tips for both your creative well-being and your social well-being, examples are below.

Creative Well-Being 🧐
Writing Prompt: Interview one of your own characters about what their social-distancing experience would look like.

Social Well-Being 👋
If you're not a caretaker and you're able to, offer to video chat with a toddler or child. Sing songs, play a game, let them give you a tour of their toys.

Have a productive and safe month.

Linda Sue

Writing is a craft

Margie Yee-Webb, Marsha Dowd, Lynn Tosello, Teresa LeYung-Ryan
March 2016 North State Writers meeting

A couple of years ago I had the privilege of listening to Teresa LeYung-Ryan and Margie Yee-Webb when they spoke at a meeting of North State Writers. They gave us a presentation on Teresa's book "Build Your Writers' Platform & Fanbase in 22 days". It brought home this blog post I wrote but hadn't posted yet so I decided to go ahead and post it.

How many times have you heard that writing is a craft? I'm not sure I truly understood this until I started writing myself. Like anything else in life, practice makes perfect. In other words, write, write, write, the more you write the more creative you become and the better the end result will be. I am loving the journey I've started. It helps to consult with the experts and I wanted to share a few books that have helped me.

There are so many books out there it's difficult to make a list of all of them but here are a few I've read over the years that I feel have helped me with life in general, business or the craft of writing:

Probably not complete and in no particular order:

• The Secret
• The E Myth, Michael E. Gerber
• 10 Things a Millionaire Taught Me, Richard Paul Evans
• Multiple Streams of Income, Robert G. Allen
• Between the Lines, Jessica Morrell
• Writing Subtext, Dr. Linda Seger
• The 3a.m. Epiphany, Brian Kiteley
• Book in A Month - Great tips on organizing your process and on creating characters. Once I retire I should be able to I can find the time to write one in a month. I'll have to try Nanowrimo someday.
• Anything in the genre you are writing in

If you have any other suggestions please share them, I am always looking for the next great read. Hope these help you on your own journey wherever you are headed, keep writing and reading.

Linda Sue Forrister

Author of  "The Poisoned Queen, A Joe Fish Adventure" (coming soon)

Powell's Books

Only half thinking it would be a different experience I walked into Powell's flagship store in Portland, Oregon and immediately knew it was unlike any other bookstore.

Lost in color coded rooms, it's much  more entertaining to explore them rather than asking directions. Except perhaps when you need to find the restroom, then ask for directions.

The Rose room on the first floor with light streaming thru the windows. Children are invited to just sit and read on the reading carpet. Tables and chairs just their size.

Floor to ceiling and shelf after shelf, volumes of books to escape in, travel to another world or another time.

The Gold Room has cookbooks, gardening, home repairs, music and more.

The Blue Room for Sci-Fi (my personal favorite for reading).

We all know people (including ourselves) who need help but who knew there were so many books on psychology in the Purple room.

Police procedures, murder mysteries, plot design, publishing guides, amazon marketing, character creation, it goes on and on. It was interesting to see that I already owned about five of the titles on writing.

I will make a trip back when I can spend more time browsing. The daughters and the grandchildren were patient but probably enjoyed the trip to Voodoo Donuts more than the one to
Powell's.

Bucket Lists and Zip Lines

Skamania Zip Lines - Washington

Bucket lists can include many things. It never occurred to me to put zip lining on my list and I never thought it was something I would actually do.

Peer pressure applied by grandchildren is a powerful motivator, along with the fact that the opportunity would most likely never arise again.

Hannah and Savannah, our zip line tour guides, were patient, kind and helpful to a Grandma with bad knees. It wasn't easy to climb up the steps to hook up to the line.  Let alone "zip-away" as our guides would say to each other.

"Let go of the rope" the son-in-law says.

"Easier said than done" I squeal in mid-zip.

The most difficult task was the transfer to the ground  after zipping to the first few platforms and letting go of those pesky control issues. Stepping off a perfectly good platform high above the ground and trusting that the tiny little rope would actually lower you gently to the ground. Turns out I was right, well at least half right, as I landed on my rear end instead of my feet. Fortunately, only my pride was injured but I was vindicated when the son-in-law had a similar landing. BOOM!

Seven platforms into our adventure I was able to open my eyes and at least let go of the rope with one arm for a few seconds and then we were done.

While zip lining is not for everyone, and I did enjoy the swinging bridges, however, I don't think I will repeat the experience. I'm glad I was able to finish the entire course and face some of my fears and let go just a little bit.

Pink

Pink is such a beautiful color for flowers (it happens to be my favorite) and May is the perfect time to “stop and smell the roses” as my husband is always telling our grandchildren. Try to find time to sit a garden. Close your eyes and use your senses. What do you hear? What do you smell?

You aren’t done yet, get out your pen and paper (or laptop/tablet) and write it out. Describe it as though you were telling someone who couldn’t see it, hear it or smell it. Good writing includes sensory descriptions to pull the reader into the scene and keep them engaged and interested.

Writing is an expression of both who we are and who we want to be.

Enjoy your month writing and work on those sensory descriptions.

Linda Sue Forrister

Co-author of "Those Meyerson Women" (a work in progress)

Raindrops

Have you ever thought how raindrops are like words? One raindrop joined with others can end a drought. One word alone can have a multitude of meanings, but tied together with others the meaning becomes richer and more fluid. The quest for just the right words in just the right order is one we are all pursuing.

The elation that results from completing the task cannot be duplicated, nor can the satisfaction that comes with seeing your name on the cover of a completed project.

The more you learn about the process of writing the better you are able to string the words together and the better the end result will be.

I continue on my quest.



Linda Sue Forrister

Co-Author of "Those Meyerson Women" (a work in progress)

Everyday Book Marketing

http://www.lyonbooks.com/

My fabulous local book store, Lyon Books, bought in author Midge Raymond last week to talk about her book "Everyday Book Marketing". Of course, I had to buy it (one more book never hurt anyone did it). Midge did a fabulous job presenting her book and has some great ideas for "Promotion ideas to fit your regularly scheduled life". I highly recommend this anyone who is writing or needs to promote any type of endeavor and suggest you read it cover to cover. Very worthwhile read.

/http://www.midgeraymond.com/

UP

Someone sent me this in an email, it was a forward so I'm not sure who wrote it but I liked it and wanted to remember it and share it.  I can't take credit  but I hope you enjoy it too.

Here is one word in the English language that can be a noun, verb, adj, adv, prep.

UP
Read until the end ... you'll laugh.

This two-letter word in English has more meanings than any other two-letter word, and that word is 'UP.' It is listed in the dictionary as an [adv], [prep], [adj], [n] or [v].

It's easy to understand UP, meaning toward the sky or at the top of the list, but when we awaken in the morning, why do we wake UP?

At a meeting, why does a topic come UP? Why do we speak UP, and why are the officers UP for election and why is it UP to the secretary to write UP a report? We call UPour friends, brighten UP a room, polish UP the silver, warm UP the leftovers and clean UP the kitchen. We lock UP the house and fix UP the old car.

At other times, this little word has real special meaning.

People stir UP trouble, line UP for tickets, work UP an appetite, and think UP excuses.

To be dressed is one thing but to be dressed UP is special.

And this UP is confusing: A drain must be opened UP because it is stopped UP.

We open UP a store in the morning but we close it UP at night. We seem to be pretty mixed UP about UP!

To be knowledgeable about the proper uses of UP look UP the word UP in the dictionary. In a desk-sized dictionary, it takes UP almost 1/4 of the page and can add UP to about thirty definitions.

If you are UP to it, you might try building UP a list of the many ways UP is used. It will take UP a lot of your time, but if you don't give UP, you may wind UP with a hundred or more.

When it threatens to rain, we say it is clouding UP. When the sun comes out, we say it is clearing UP. When it rains, it soaks UP the earth. When it does not rain for awhile, things dry UP. One could go on and on, but I'll wrap it UP, for now . . . my time is UP

Don't screw UP. Send this on to everyone you look UP in your address book . . . or not .. . . it's UP to you.

Now I'll shut UP!

What do you mean I can't just write a book and they will want to readit?

Visiting with family from Texas and discovered that niece Jamie has a dream to be a writer. Between catching up on everyone's activities we had some little conversations about writing and some of the things like marketing that you don't think about. I thought it would be a good idea to put a few ideas down in writing so we could remember them. Some highlights are:

1) write everyday, even if you only have 15 minutes

2) no, you don't just sit down and write a book, it takes time and thought to craft a sentence, a paragraph. You can spend as much or more time editing and refining  your work 

3) network, network, network

4) build platforms to market to including Facebook, a blog, a website, twitter, linkedin, etc

5) join or start up a local group of fellow writers, you can share ideas and tips for writing, marketing, you will meet some amazingly talented people and learn an incredible amount from them

6) read, read, read

7) if you have a small bookstore near you see if they support local writers, they can get your book on the shelf and maybe have a book signing for you

8) go to conferences

There's so much more, I will put together a list of some favorite books I have read that have been a great help for both writing and business in general for my next posting

A little short story I wrote as an exercise for a writing group I belong to, thought I would share it, let me know what you think.

My Saturday morning started like many others at my favorite coffee spot, the French bistro and market around the corner from my apartment. A brisk October morning sitting on the sidewalk terrace with hot chocolate and a perfectly  baked croissant with just the right amount of crisp on the outside, soft and buttery on the inside and reading AM New York.

Limbs from elm trees overhang the street, black and white striped awnings on the building where the café is located. With last of the seasons yellow Marigolds blooming in pots, you can almost believe you are at a little café in Paris. 

People watching provides me with both entertainment and insight into the lives of strangers. I enjoy trying to figure out what they were doing that led them to the same place and time as me.

This Saturday there happened to be three couples sharing the terrace with me, each at their own small table and absorbed with their own lives, not really paying close attention to their surroundings. One young couple had that look that identifies them as tourists wearing their “I Love New York” t-shirts. They were looking at maps and various brochures planning their activities for the day, obviously excited and enjoying the adventure of a visit to The Big Apple. An older couple at the table farthest away from me looked like the type who came into the city for the theatre and stayed over in one of the city’s many boutique hotels before driving back to their home outside the city. At the table nearest me sat a couple, in their early thirties I would guess, his hair was dark with slight waves and hers was long and blond. Considering their striking good looks one might assume they worked on the stage. There are several theatre groups in New York who would scramble at the chance to hire either one of them.

The table occupied by the “beautiful” couple was close enough that I could hear their conversation without straining or appearing to be eavesdropping. The young man had deep brown eyes and his voice was deep and soothing, reminding me of a radio announcer. It seemed totally out of place to hear him say “We need to get rid of him, he’s in the way”.

“Your right” the woman said to him, “but how, poison can be traced and so can bullets”.

“What about an accident?”

I was shocked when I realized they were planning someone’s murder.

The pretty blond got such an excited look on her face and started smiling. “That’s good, a hunting accident, that way we wouldn’t need to worry about the bullets being traced. You know he likes to get out in the woods. He loves putting on all that camouflage gear, cleaning his gun before he goes out. What if the gun were to “accidentally” discharge while he was cleaning it? A gun could be rigged that way couldn’t it?”

“Should I contact the police” I thought to myself. There must be something I could do to stop them. I was weighing my options and about to step inside the café so they couldn’t hear me on the phone when a black town car pulled up on the street in front of the café.

The young couple got in and as the car drove away I noticed the decals on the doors identifying it as belonging to the Murder Mystery Writers Guild.

I smiled and sipped my hot chocolate.

Had a meeting with my writer's group tonight, small group but we were able to cover a lot of ground and had a new member attend. We talked about the importance of developing platforms for marketing purposes. Facebook, blogging, twitter, etc. Got to show one member how to create a Facebook page for her book which just went to print. Here's a link to her book available on Amazon.

http://www.amazon.com/Detour-Suzanne-Markuson-Roberts/dp/1493679120/ref=tmm_pap_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1383885088&sr=1-1-fkmr0

I think I need a theme or a name for my blog, something fun and creative. I sent my novel off to the editor last week,  it's a murder mystery but I'm not sure that will be the theme for all of my writing. I'm still working on exactly what type or style of writing I want to do. If anyone has any suggestions I'd love to hear them.

I attended a blogging class tonight put on by Robyn Engel, it was very helpful so I thought since I had set this up I should at least put in a post. Monday I started a short story writing class. It's just a short 4 week class but so far interesting. I submitted a short story that I wrote and we will be discussing it next week. Once we review it and I make any changes I'll post it on here just for fun. Tomorrow I have my writer's group that meets at my house and Saturday the small writing group where we workshop our stories and do fast writes. I am loving this learning process and really enjoy the writing process.