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Eiffel Tower In Paris Reopens After The Holidays
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First Wednesday Fun! #IWSG #amwriting #Chuckanut2015
This is my first time participating in the Insecure Writer’s Support Group First Wednesday. This is when we release our fears to the world – or offer encouragement to those who are feeling neurotic. If you’d like to join us, click on the tab above and sign up!
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My kindergarten teacher once described me as “withdrawn” and said I preferred to play by myself. She hoped at some point I would join in to classroom activities. This was cause for concern, and no one said “Hey, maybe this is a baby writer!” No, I was different, strange, odd.
Trying to fit in has never quite stopped. When we moved to a small town a few years ago, I found myself swept up in the friendliness and thinking, “I can be social. I’m sure I can.”
But then my writing languished. One of my friends said, “Oh, I used to write, but since I moved here I don’t have time.” That freaked me out.
She decided to just roll with it, but I couldn’t. Writing steadies me, smooths out the rough edges, brings me joy. I had to make a different decision: to pull back on the social life.
Not every writer is like me. Some are quite gregarious. However, as I made my writing time a priority, I found I could still socialize, just less. If the writing comes first, everything else works out.
On the opposite end of the writing social spectrum is the writing conference. I like to go to one or two a year, and we have several to choose from in our area. One of my favorites is the Chuckanut Writers Conference, which happened this last week. It’s tiring, but fun, informative, and motivating!
I’d like to give a shout-out to faculty members I found particularly inspiring: Steven Galloway, who taught an awesome master class; Elizabeth George, who showed us how to use character development to unlock a story’s potential; and Carol Cassella, who discussed the proper use of research in novels (I’d love to know how she balances her busy life as an anesthesiologist with two sets of twins while writing and researching!). Brian Doyle eviscerated any of our excuses, and William Kenower reminded us to always, always listen deeply to ourselves.
It’s impossible to express in a blog post how these generous authors have impacted me, but I will say this: if you have the opportunity, find a conference you enjoy. This was my second visit to Chuckanut, and I’ve no doubt it will be an annual event for me. We writers are an insecure lot, indeed, and connecting with each other is a way to put a healing balm on that insecurity.
How do you balance work and social life? If you’re a writer, do you go to conferences or have other ways of connecting with writers?
What I Did on My Summer Vacation
I didn’t mean to take a blog break…but when the plane landed in Kauai, it appears I forgot to pack my ambition. But as with failed diets, broken resolutions, and other forgotten promises, what matters is beginning again.
Anticipation ran high for this trip. The husband and I have wanted to go to Hawaii together for years, but every time we tried to plan it, the schedule just didn’t come together. This year, we decided we were going no matter what.
Also known as the Garden Island, Kauai boasts three gardens that are part of the National Tropical Botanical Gardens. We visited two of the three, one of them twice, and saw rare and endangered plants endemic to Kauai.
My favorite tour was the Garden Island Chocolate Farm Tour. We got to break open cacao pods and taste cacao beans. What interested me most was the sweet/sour pulp surrounding each bean. Yummy! We toured the farm and ate fruit in season, including lychees (my new favorite) and ice cream beans. And, oh yeah, we sampled lots of chocolate!
Kauai is known as a hiker’s paradise, so we packed our gear. My assessment? There’s some hyperbole going on here. If you want a real hiker’s paradise, Switzerland is the place to go. The trails are well marked, including both distance, estimated time to destination, and intensity of the hike. Best of all, there are restaurants at the end of most hikes, even in the middle of nowhere, with restrooms and apple strudel.
Of course, I might be bitter because I took a tumble during one of our Kauai hikes and ended up one big bruise for a while. There is that!
For our visit to Waimea Canyon, then, we took the car and stopped at all the lookout points to ooh and ahh.
We snorkeled several times. This is no small feat for me, as I am uncomfortable in the water. I learned to swim at age 12 but never became a good swimmer. I rented a flotation belt that buoyed both my body and confidence, and I have to admit it was heavenly to swim among the fishes.
Returning home, friends commented on my lack of suntan, but this was by design. I have Celtic skin, ruddy and prone to burning, so I found shade wherever possible, wore my big hat, and slathered on copious amounts of sunblock.
One of the biggest challenges with travel these days is, I happen to live in a place that’s a tough act to follow. After two weeks, we were homesick, and as I write this, we are about to disappear again, this time for just a week. We’ve hurriedly caught up with friends and the garden. By this time next week, hopefully we’ll be back to a normal routine. If I haven’t visited your blogs lately, I’ll be back!
Fiction Friday – What She Knew #amwriting #novel #womensfiction
I know I said I would just blog weekly, but it’s time to get braver…this week I put Chapter 1 of What She Knew on WriteOn by Kindle to start getting feedback. I thought I would share the link with any of you who are interested!
Y is for Yarrow (and Yippee!!!) #AtoZChallenge
Welcome all AtoZ Challenge bloggers! After tomorrow, we go back to our normal blogging programming. This month I’ve focused on the garden, but I write about other things, too. I hope many of you will continue to join me, as I plan to continue following many of the great blogs I’ve run across this month.
So, to all of you who have hung in there, congratulations! And yippee!
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Yarrow grows freely in the Pacific Northwest. Native yarrow is said to be good for a variety of ailments, from toothache to GI discomfort to menstrual cramps. It may have anti-inflammatory properties.
However, you have to plant the right variety.
In my innocence, I planted ornamental yarrow in my front yard. It’s pretty, with bright yellow flowers (it’s not blooming quite yet, but any day now), but it couldn’t address health conditions I thought it might help. Native yarrow has white flowers and, at least what I have seen, is smaller and more delicate than the aggressive plants I have.
So instead of ingesting yarrow, I had a minor surgery instead, which solved the problem. I’m not fond of doctors, but when you need one, they’re good to have.
The yarrow has since threatened to take over one side of the yard. It and the lavender are duking it out. I keep cutting it back, especially since it tends to swallow up a tentative, shy elderberry plant that is growing slowly.
Still, I like yarrow’s moxie. I’m intrigued by anything that grows easily. The flowers are pretty, and they’re good for covering bare yard and providing nutrients to my pear tree.
I think, though, that I’ll leave herbalism to the herbalists and just enjoy the pretty flowers.