Radine Trees Nehring's Blog, page 6

Humility about your work is a virtue.     Circle your answer:         True          False

My dictionary says to be humble is to offer submission, to be insignificant, unpretentious.  To humble someone is (by one definition) to “destroy the power,  independence or prestige of.”

Humility is defined as “the quality or state of being humble” and next to it is “humiliate,” which, I imagine, you can define for yourself.

So–is humility a virtue?   Most of us, including me,  would have circled “True” without giving it much thought.

Would you do so now?

Hmmm.  If the answer is still “True,” then think about this:  If we don’t value our own work, then why do we do it?  To have a job that isn’t too difficult?  To make money?  Or, simply, to keep busy?

On the other hand, I hope many of us will admit we like our work, and are proud of it.  Those of us who are writers may confess, “I enjoy creating stories, “  “I love the power of language,”  “I love using my imagination to make new worlds,” or “I like helping people by doing research and sharing facts.”  (Or . . . . . . you fill in the blank.)

It’s amazing to me how many times I read some version of “I enjoy promoting others’ writing but not my own,” or, “It seems pushy for me to talk about my own work too much, ” or even, “I don’t want my name on the book cover to be that large.”

Come on! Isn’t it okay to be proud of what we create? There’s a lot of hard work in any job or profession, and much of the time those notengaged in an active writing career haven’t a clue that writing is hard work–which detracts from their appreciation of what the writer has accomplished. If you’ve been writing a while, haven’t you been approached by adults who tell you some version of, “I have thought I’d write a book like yours some day.”?   It’s possible–no, probable–that they haven’t a clue that writing a novel is hard work.   You may even have been approached by a few people who say “I have a terrific idea for a story, I’ll tell it to you, you write it, and we’ll split the profits.” (Are all writers reading this laughing now?)

If we don’t believe in our work,  if we aren’t truly proud of it, if we  don’t think it worth while and don’t tell people about it, then who else might?  Who better than the source of the work to promote the work, to say interesting things about it, to ask others to write words of praise, and, indeed, to brag a bit.

C’m on — you’re a creative person.  You know the difference between obnoxious bragging, and sharing ideas about writing that may (who are you to judge?) lift its readers to new insights, to an awakening, or, most importantly, to a few pleasant hours away from the daily grind while they simply enjoy (!) being entertained.

Go forth, and share good things with your neighbors.   Then you can be humbly grateful. 

http://www.RadinesBooks.com

New facts revealed about Tempe Crabtree!

1. Tempe was born in the small mountain community of Bear Creek. Her grandmother, a full-blooded Yanduchi Indian, helped raise Tempe while her mother and father worked. Her grandmother entertained her with stories from when she lived on the reservation, and with the many legends she had heard there.

2. Grammar school for Tempe was uneventful. Being part Indian made no difference to the kids she grew up with, but things changed when she started high school. Shunned and mistreated like the Indian kids bussed in from the Bear Creek Indian reservation, Tempe became ashamed of her heritage.

3. While Tempe was away at college, her mother was killed in a crosswalk in the nearby town of Dennison by a drunk driver. Her father died soon after. Tempe met and married Milt Kinkaid, a highway patrolman. They had a son, Blair. When Blair was only two, Milt was killed while chasing a suspect, and Tempe started using her maiden name again.

4. Tempe and her son moved in with an aunt in Bear Creek. When Blair started school, Tempe attended the police academy in Visalia, graduating with top honors, then applied for and was accepted in the Tulare County Sheriff’s Department.

5. She served in several areas in Tulare County and then was assigned as resident deputy of the Bear Creek area.  Though the area is large, covering the entire Western mountainside, the population is sparse, and at first she spent most of her time arresting drunk drivers, handing out speeding tickets, stopping fights, and taking burglary reports.

6. Being female and Indian, Tempe has to contend with prejudice from her peers and the civilian population she deals with.

7. Tempe’s aunt died and left her small cottage to Tempe. She didn’t expect to marry again until she met Hutch Hutchinson, pastor of the Bear Creek Community Church. At first, Blair wasn’t happy with the idea of someone romancing his mother.

8. She became friends with Nick Two John, also Yanduchi, and he started educating her about her Native American heritage.

9. Hutch has had problems at times with some of the Indian rituals Tempe has used to help her find out about a death. However, he overcame his jealousy of Nick Two John, and the two men are now friends.

10. Because of her experiences calling back the dead, Tempe now has unexpected visits from spirits.

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Raging Water,  the latest novel in Marilyn Meredith’s Tempe Crabtree series, finds Deputy Crabtree investigating the murder of two close friends. Her investigation is complicated when relentless rain turns Bear Creek into a raging river. Homes are inundated and a mud slide blocks the only road out of Bear Creek, stranding many — including the murderer.

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Note from the author:  I know there are some people who like to read a series in order, but let me assure you that every book in this series is complete. Though the characters grow through each book, the crime is always solved.  Here is the order of the books for anyone who wants to know: Deadly Trail, Deadly Omen, Unequally Yoked, Intervention, Wing Beat, Calling the Dead, Judgment Fire, Kindred Spirits, Dispel the Mist, Invisible Path, Bears with Us, Raging Water.

And, another contest: The person who leaves comments on the most blogs will have his/her name used for a character in my next book, and can choose if they want to be part of a Deputy Tempe Crabtree mystery or a Rocky Bluff P.D. crime novel.

Bio of the author:  Marilyn Meredith is the author of over thirty published novels, including the award winning Deputy Tempe Crabtree mystery series, the latest–Raging Water– from Mundania Press. Writing as F. M. Meredith, her latest Rocky Bluff P.D. crime novel is No Bells, the fourth from Oak Tree Press. Marilyn is a member of EPIC, three Sisters in Crime chapters, Mystery Writers of America, and is on the board of the Public Safety Writers of America. Visit her at http://fictionforyou.com and follow her blog at http://marilynmeredith.blogspot.com

Marilyn borrows a lot from here she lives in the Southern Sierra for the town of Bear Creek and the surrounding area.

A number of years ago I told my niece’s husband not to worry that he (a young dad with a toddler son and new baby daughter) no longer had time to write.  “You can write at any age,” I remember saying, giving several examples, including that of his aunt-in-law, who’s first published writing appeared when she was fifty.

Not long after that I read the term “Silver Scribbler” in an article by Marjorie Kehe published in The Christian Science Monitor of February 8, 2010.  Kehe gave examples of many VERY mature successful authors, including Millard Kaufman. Kaufman was 86 when he began his first novel, A Bowl of Cherries, and 90 when it was published “to enthusiastic reviews,” Kehe says.

I know one of my favorite cozy mystery novels, The Maine Mulch Murders, was written by a woman in her late 80′s–I wish I could recall her name now.

It seems Nephew James has a long time to work on his writing career.

I know, only partly because I am a participant in two Facebook groups dedicated to senior writers (or as someone put it, “Prime Time Authors”),  that most, if not all, reading this blog are what might be called Silver Scribblers, and that’s assuming we are allowed the title even if we color our hair.   Yes, a writing career can take off after Social Security or some pension affords a cushion that allows us to spend time writing, and choosing our publishing pathways,  until our writing begins to sell.  We’ll probably never be rich, but we will be self-employed business owners, and that title is blessed by IRS standards!

By the way, speaking of the IRS–one of the mystery fan lists I participate in has recently had a discussion about whether or not a writer who hasn’t been paid for published work is truly an author.  It began when someone’s nephew (I think it was a nephew) said she wasn’t really an author until she got money for her writing.  Harumph.  Fortunately, no one that I know of on that list supported the young man’s opinion.  In fact, seems to me his statement is kinda like saying a waddling woman with a bulging belly and no “other” children can’t be called a mom.  Say what?

Moving to yet a third topic, this one about the age of readers, not writers.  I have just read a post on the Oklahoma Writers’ Federation Facebook group that quotes Bowker as saying 55% of  works that publishers designate for kids 12 to 17 are sold to and read by adults over 18–the majority of those aged 30 to 44.  Now, that sure gives one something to think about.  “Why?” being the opening question.

Is it because the words in young adult stories are simpler — easier to grasp, and fewer adults are accomplished readers these days?

Is it because plots are also simpler, maybe less violent, less inclined to include stomach-turning details?

No, that really can’t be.  Think of Harry Potter.  Or are Harry, and books in a similar vein, the exception?

I’m puzzled.   What do you think?

http://www.RadinesBooks.com

Recently I saw on Facebook that I had “Liked” something I had no connection with.  None whatsoever.  Now, whether or not the product or person is something I would “Like,” if asked,  really isn’t the point here.  The point is — I had never  seen the ad I would have had to see in order to make the choice attributed to me, and the only way I could correct the rogue “Like” was to post a disclaimer as a follow up.

Amazingly, others then responded that they, too, had been victims of the broadcasting of “Likes” when no such click had happened.  Hmmm.  Were all of us either unwary or unaware “clickers” in the wrong place?  Hardly seems credible.

I know, I know, the Internet does peculiar things, OR we (me) inadvertently cause it to do peculiar things.  But my illegitimately posted  “Like” of the subject of a paid ad caused me to begin thinking about things only partly related to Internet aberations.

What about ads in general?  I’d guess I’m different than most because I rarely pay any attention to them in any print medium.  Broadcast media?  Nope. We listen only to public radio, watch only public TV.  Not that we are against commercial channels or (some of) their content.  Our television reception here in the Ozarks forest only brings in Arkansas Public Television, and we are very happy with their programming. We have never been tempted to go to satellite, partly because there is no way to justify such an expense when we’d rarely use it, and also because satellite dishes are notably unreliable in a heavily forested area.  (We’ve learned this from neighbors who invested in them.)

Therefore — unlike most Americans and others around the world — Radine is rarely influenced by advertising.  I am the bane of the huge advertising/lobbying-for-products industry.  I am outside their circle of influence.  And, influence it is. Recently a very intelligent woman admitted that she is subject to strong influence whenever she sees a Febreeze ad. Every time a new flavor is advertised, she buys  it, and she already has a cabinet full of Febreeze.  (I don’t know if I am spelling that product name correctly.)  I didn’t know what Febreeze was, but checked in the grocery and, as I am sure everyone except my husband and I  knew,  it’s a type of room freshener.  Oh dear, I am hopelessly “out of it.”  Do I care?  In this instance, no.)

I admit I am not immune to some types of advertising.  As most readers of this blog probably know, I am a full-time writer and have been for a number of years. Eight published books, numerous published feature articles, essays, and short stories prove my bonafides and some degree of success in this profession. And–these days–in order to succeed, we writers are told over and over that we must promote.  In fact, that means WE MUST ADVERTISE OURSELVES AND OUR WRITING.  A major way to do this is on the Internet.

So, on the Internet, we make friends, learn about their work on lists, blogs, and otherwise, and share our own professional news in the same way.  In other words, we advertise.  So here I am, advertising (??) via a blog.  I prefer to think of it as writing an opinion essay to share with unseen friends.  And, normally, Internet “ads” by authors are much less offensive than shouting ads for products on television, and they are much more interesting to me.  Many of them are informative and useful.  Ah well, when it comes to ads, it seems I, too, pay attention to some of them.

Unfortunately, there are a few authors who post and post and post their “ads” (news of this or that to do with their latest publication) so frequently that they become only noise.  I am currently getting posts from one author seven or more times a day.   I now delete all of them, unopened.   Wish I had the courage to tell her I used to read her posts.  When the number expanded to what I considered an annoying level, she lost me.

But then, you know how I feel about advertising . . . .

http://www.RadinesBooks.com

No, not books about a popular children’s drink.  Here’s the story:

I was in a store, standing at my table full of books and greeting passers-by, handing them book post cards if they were interested, and often asking “Do you enjoy reading mystery stories?” or some version of that.

A white-haired woman stopped.  She was formally dressed for the hot day, and stood ram-rod straight.  She looked briefly at the books, actually sniffed (people really do that!),  and said, “I never read Kool-Aid books.”

My instant reaction was, not anger, but amusement.  I suppressed the giggles and looked interested–or I think I did, at least. I asked, “What do you enjoy reading?”

“The great southern writers.”  She named a few.

“Eudora Welty?”

She hesitated, then nodded.

How about British writers?  Dorothy L. Sayers?”

She said nothing.

“Mmm.  But, like me, you enjoy reading.”

“Of course. I’m a retired English Lit. Professor.”

She moved on.

When I told a few others about this conversation they reacted negatively to her comment.  I can’t really tell you why I didn’t.  As I said above, her comment only amused me, and I supposed she meant she didn’t read books “without substance”– substance being like real fruit juice in relation to Kool-Aid?  The fact she judged my books as having no substance when she’d never read any of them was her problem, not mine.  I had no time to explain the human struggles, the victories over evil, the depth of personality development, and the ultimate triumph of justice  that I believe I include in my writing.

But her comment got me thinking.  What, really, does she see as a “Kool-Aid” book?  If I don’t write them, who does–if anyone? What about a few books that offer “only” pleasure,  no . . .  meat, nothing of “substance?”  And, truth be told, what is wrong about reading for enjoyment and relaxation only?

How would this woman judge the Confession magazines?  You can certainly guess the answer to that.  And yet, those magazines’ publishers and their writers see their work as providing insight, ideas for problem-solving, and the comfort of shared experience to the women who eagerly read them.  Definitely not Kool-Aid.

Going over a list of books I have enjoyed, I spent some time mentally surveying their plots and characters.  At the very least, I remembered learning more about something–history, a job, a part of the country, even just the human condition and how to cope–that was of value.  True, a couple of true “chick-lit” books, of the very few I have read, are maybe mostly fluff, but in the main, every book I recalled  (or have on my stuffed bookshelves) offers thought-springboards of value.

One example of value offered is seen in reading and writing about strong women, partly impelled by Sylvia Dickey Smith’s writing, and her excellent blog, “Writing Strong Women.”  We certainly do find meat there, and her book A WAR OF HER OWN is one of my all-time favorites.  I wonder what my English Lit Prof would think of that one, could I persuade her to open it?  And what about Carrie’s triumph (using prayer and feminine skills for problem-solving) over danger and death in A FAIR TO DIE FOR? Her example provided inspiration for me.  What about others?

To read more sharing of ideas about female strength, see Sylvia’s blog,  http://writing strong women.com

Then share your thoughts with us — do you read or write Kool-Aid books?   And, exactly what defines this new genre identified as “Kool-Aid?”

(Worthy of note:  I read, while looking up Kool-Aid on the Internet, that Lemonaide Kool-Aid is recommended (on Huff Post)  for cleaning dishwashers. ( It must be the lemonaide flavor.)  You pour one packet in the soap dispenser and then run on any cycle.  The publicity says t his cleans stains and anything else negative in your dishwasher.)

Radine at http://www.RadinesBooks.com

When I sent my fall schedule of book-related events around to my writers’ critique group, I got a message back from one member that startled me.

(This member wrote three novels while an active member of our group, but stopped coming several months ago. Reasons?  That’s another blog.)

He wrote:  “When I see this, I’m almost glad my books haven’t sold.”

That gave me something to think about.  Was it, indeed, too much?

Here’s a partial schedule of recent August and future Sept. and Oct. events planned in celebration of the release of my latest novel, A FAIR TO DIE FOR.  (The fair in question is a fall craft fair, so the timing is natural.)

Friday, August 17, Book signing, all day at T. Charleston’s in Branson, MO and same  Saturday, August 18, at Ozarks Writers League,  College of the Ozarks, Point Lookout, MO.

Saturday, August 25, Trolley Line Books during the Frisco Festival in Rogers, AR.  Signing all day in the Trolley Line window.

Friday, Saturday and Monday, August 31-Sept. 3  Harps Food Market in Rogers, AR (The sanctuary store in A FAIR TO DIE FOR).  All day.

Friday-Saturday, Sept. 7-8. Price Cutter Grocery, Rogers, AR.  All day.

Sunday, September 16, Nightbird Books in Fayetteville, AR. Mini craft fair being held in the store in celebration of A FAIR TO DIE FOR. Book sales and chat.  1-4.

Saturday, September 29, War Eagle Mill at 1105 War Eagle Road off Highway 12, east of Rogers, AR.  (Some of the action in A FAIR TO DIE FOR takes place in the Mill and surrounding area.)  Schedule not complete yet.

Saturday, October 6, Signing at Steve’s Books and Magazines, 2613 S. Harvard, Tulsa, OK. 1-3 p.m.

Sunday, October 7, Fall Festival in Hobbs State Park, 20201 East Highway 12, east of Rogers, AR.  Signing and reading a bit of the story set in this park. 1-4

Sunday, October 14, Rogers Public Library, Rogers, AR. Book signing, craft chat, and display of Radine’s hand-crafted doll house. 2-3.

Thursday, October 18 – Sunday, October 21. War Eagle Craft Fair, 11036 High Sky Inn Road, Hindsville, AR.  All day book signing in a Fair staff booth.

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I admit the schedule does look full, and I am sure I will be grateful for “in between” times to catch up on work at home and in my office, but, when I read the e-mail quoted at the beginning of this I realized I was looking forward to all of these events.

How could that be, when I grew up a shy, introverted female who was almost physically ill when she had to get up and speak in class?  Speak in public?  EEEK, no way.   And how could that be when my at home and office schedule was also jammed to the fourteen-hour work day limit?  Well, let’s see . . . .

I began my writing career when I was certainly a mature adult, and it started almost entirely because I fell in love with the Arkansas Ozarks.  I was born in a large city, and, except for a short time away at college, spent my entire life there. I married there, and my husband and I lived there happily for over 20 years. Then we began yearning for a life away from concrete and lined-up buildings.  We searched for, and found our sanctuary in an Ozarks forest.  Ten years after purchasing our land (in 1978) we moved there full-time, and became “poor hillbillies.”  We loved it.

I wanted to share my place with others who would never see it, so I began writing about life there.  My essays and articles telling about the people, animals, and events in and around Spring Hollow went out to the world, and, in a few cases, all around the world.  Some of these became a book (DEAR EARTH, a Love Letter from Spring Hollow) and, eventually, a series of mystery novels set at wonderful Arkansas tourist destinations.

What I wrote about, I was willing to talk about.  I also found I enjoyed talking about writing.  So–because of Arkansas, because of Spring Hollow, and what followed, I will enjoy my fall schedule.

See more at http://www.RadinesBooks.com

Recently I’ve read samples of work by beginning authors who have asked me to critique their writing.  Usually what I see are the beginning chapters in a novel.  In all cases (yes, all) I found the bare bones of the stories acceptable.  These writers knew their genre, they had created plausible characters, the story theme made sense.  Good, strong bones.

But as to the flesh . . . .

In one story the writer opened by telling me it was a warm and sunny day.  By re-writing he could show me what the day was like, even should he want to give me a weather report in the opening paragraph.  (In the sample I read, I couldn’t see how the warm and sunny day had anything to do with the story.  Maybe later?)

Reading on in paragraph one, I soon learned the main character was far from wealthy. (His old car motor coughed and sputtered, rocking the car, when he tried to turn it off–a good description that told the reader a lot.)  Continuing,  I discovered  some of the language assigned to this man sounded quite “upper crust” if you understand my term.  Dictionary words.  Hmmm. Was there a reason for this?  Whether there was or not, I noticed that the speech of the man didn’t fit the image I was forming of him.  I guess you could say  some of the story’s flesh was sagging.

Writing blips like these can be corrected, especially with the help of a critique group and then, an editor.   Trouble is, many writers don’t know there are problems, or won’t acknowledge them.  I doubt if they have even read their work aloud, one great way to catch blips.  I also suspect that “second readers,” if they existed, were friends and relatives.  Trouble with that? Quite often our friends and family like/love us a lot, and that very liking erases any problems they might otherwise notice in what they were reading, just as our own pleasure in our work erases problems we might otherwise see.  Yes, the mind plays tricks on us.

On the other hand, if friends do notice problems they often won’t mention them because of love.  Maybe that’s best.  It’s  much easier to take even the most constructive criticism from strangers rather than friends.  (Who wants to ruin a friendship?)  Solution?  Hire an editor.

I haven’t yet downloaded one of the free or 99 cent novels being offered for e-readers, but I have heard from others that such books, often put on Amazon or Barnes & Noble by self-publishing authors, are sometimes badly written and in need of editing.

I have no quarrel with those eager to offer their books to readers.  All writers feel that urge (or dream that dream).  But those who do so without editing are, as slang has it, “shooting themselves in the foot.”   Having struggled to read a badly-fleshed story, how likely would you be to try that author again?

Readers are a precious commodity.  All writers–me, you, the members of your critique group, the people we meet at conferences–need to value them as such, and be sure our work is worthy of their interest and trust.  We must give them more than bare bones.

http://www.RadinesBooks.com

One of my favorite authors is Charlotte Macleod, (now deceased), and my favorite books by Macleod are those in the Professor Peter Shandy series.  Peter is “professor of Agrology at Balaclava Agricultural College and co-developer with Timothy Ames of Brassica napobrassica balaclaviensis, that super rutabaga which has brought fame to the college and wealth to its propagators.”  (Do you begin to get the idea that, at times, this author can be, not only funny, but hilarious, with some of her “funnies” not (in my eyes, at least) appropriate for quoting in this family-oriented blog?)

As the Mcleod novel, WRACK AND RUNE, opens, Peter’s new wife, Helen, is planting petunias along the walkway to their home. (These petunias, upon request from Helen, were specially bred by Peter so their color would match the brick color of the house.)  It’s June, and they are discussing the weather:  “And what is so rare as a day in June,” quotes Helen.  (James Russell Lowell.)  “A drink on the house in a Scotch saloon,” says Peter.  (Fred Allen.)

Other than the distracting fact my Scottish Mother-in-law would have bopped Fred for saying “Scotch” (a drink) when he meant “Scottish,” this got me smoothly into thinking about weather in books.   And, in life.

I guess everyone here knows about current weather patterns, not only in the world, but here in the United States.  For some time USA citizens have read about drought and famine in countries that  seemed far from our borders.  We probably felt sympathy, but perhaps not empathy.  And now empathy has hit us in the chops.  Right?  It sometimes as if nothing teaches us compassion and care for others as much as a disaster close to home.  I think of this as I look at brown pastures, and at forests with an increasing number of brown/tan trees among the fading greens.

We are really feeling the weather these days.  100-degree plus days.  Drought.  Pastures empty of cattle.  And on and on . . . .   A friend commented that she was busy watering gardens and shrubs.  We have few Nehring-planted shrubs in Spring Hollow, and, at this point, no remaining garden other than a few brave asparagus fronds still showing green here in our small clearing in the Ozarks forest.  “Well,” I said to my friend, “we aren’t watering much.  After all, you can’t water a whole forest.”

Turning away from what’s outside our doors, maybe we’ll now have time to read.  And what would YOU rather read in this kind of weather?  How about:  “Summer in Benteen County, Kansas, is a season possessed of all the gentle subtlety of an act of war.”  Those are the opening lines of MAD DOG AND ENGLISHMAN by J. M. Hayes.  The first page is guaranteed to make the daintiest female sweat.  (No, not “glow” as someone suggested as a more gentile word for sweat.)

On the other hand, would you rather read about Jim Qwilleran falling into a snowdrift in Pickax (north of everywhere) in a novel by Lillian Jackson Braun, or one of Wm. Kent Krueger’s novels that opens with a white-out blizzard?  (Go get an afghan for me, please,  I’m reading.)

Interesting to notice how skillfully many authors use weather to take us into their stories, introduce us to the coming danger, and have us shaking with cold (fear?) or sweating nervously as we pull the blinds.

Note to me:  Gosh, I must have more weather in my future novels!)

Can you think of novels where weather plays a huge part–where it helped you feel the plot?   Come to think of it, tell us especially about the cold weather ones!

A “glowing” Radine.     http://www.RadinesBooks.com

You said:  “Write well?   Me, I’m not all that interested in learning to write well. Don’t need to know fancy words.   Oh, wait a mo, got a message.”

“cm 7, par-t brendas.”

While you might be excited about the seven o’clock party at Brenda’s, how do you feel about the words in the invitation?

Oh, you didn’t notice anything about them?

Hm, no wonder.  There are no words there except for Brenda’s name.

I suspect many think they don’t need good writing skills for communication today.   What do you think?

Guess it depends on your activities and life interests. It also depends on how well you listen to words that go across the screen of your mind.   Do they sing?  Jerk?  Rumble?  Do they show you things you haven’t imagined before, or state a fact and walk off the stage, leaving you in silence?

Well, how about words used in  political speeches?  (Okay, shudder, but, talk about clever use of words . . . !)  How about your pastor’s sermons? A teacher’s transmission of knowledge? Business and sales presentations?  Words expressing sympathy and friendship? AND, of course, words of love.

And, what if you’re a writer?

You know, there’s great personal pleasure in the ability to use language well, just as there is pleasure in any other human skill we master.  Developing skill in communication–which implies one or more people are going to be touched by our words–is right up there with skill in sports or in any other area where we strive for mastery.

Sports mastery is personal, though others will cheer any of our victories. Writing mastery, too, is personal.  It takes people into our idea-sharing web, it brings them into a world we have created.  Besides that, writing well is fun. If you are a writer, can you tell me it isn’t fun to turn on the computer in the morning, read something you wrote yesterday, and think, “Gosh, that’s pretty good, did I write that? If you are a writer and haven’t discovered this great pleasure yet, keep writing.  You definitely will!

Using only words, and your imagination linked to pictures inside your head, you can create dark places of fear, whether in street, cave, or jungle. You can create happy places, sunny weddings, colorful festivals, bright flower gardens.  No camera. No drawing pencil or paint brush.  Just WORDS!

Okay, get going.  Dig for the magic words only you can bring to life!  And don’t tell me “cn’t no tym.”

http://www.RadinesBooks.com

I wonder how many of us can really define contentment.  I guess different folks–even different writers like me–will define it in varying ways, and probably change their definitions depending on current circumstances.  How would you define it?  It takes some thinking, doesn’t it!

I like what author Robert J. Wicks says in his book, “Streams of Contentment.”  Wicks, a Marine Corps officer in Vietnam, and now the author of more than forty books,  lists what I would call a few steps toward contentment:

-Be clear about what is truly essential

-Appreciate everything and everyone in your life now

-Know what a renewing community is

-Recognize that a little silence and solitude is no small thing.

Big ideas, those!  They take some thinking about, don’t they.

He advises:  “Contentment is not a fulfillment of what you want, but the realization of what you already have.”  He ought to know–there were dark-thought days in the wilderness during his own journey from Vietnam to today’s contentment.

Is your today going well? What contentment issues do you have?  Let’s see, as a writer, I often awaken each morning with an awareness of unfulfilled tasks and “I wish” dreams.  (In fact, I sometimes mull these during the night as well. It does help to have made a list of what I need to accomplish on the following day, however.)

Events to plan? People to contact? On line promotion to do, and for that, how and where, to the best of my technical ability? A blog to write, since I promised myself I’d be regular about that.  Or, um, pretty regular. And that’s not to mention housework, meals to prepare, chores unrelated to writing to accomplish.

Doesn’t sound like a day full of contentment, does it!  However, there are many “findable” things to enjoy and be grateful for. These are often unrelated to me personally–like a sunset, or wildflowers along the roadside. There are closer-to-me things like a quick hug from my husband,  watching feisty hummingbirds at the kitchen window feeder, a fulfilling conversation with a family member.  And, of course, I am grateful to have a comfortable home.   Career-related strings tied to my contentment today could be a bookstore eager to plan an event for my new novel,  a succession of interesting Facebook comments, or (very important) words I have written that please me.

Seems to me at the moment that, wherever we are in our careers or life circumstances, it’s possible to seek and find contentment triggers. The very fact of living dictates that, doesn’t it?  What else “that I already have” can I think about today?

What about you?

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