Our furnace broke again. The news came last Wednesday. Because we have a dual hot water-on-demand and in-floor heat system, this means that we also have no hot water in addition to having no heat. Of course this happens in February because the last three times this happened (oh yes, I am now experienced in this particular calamity), it always occurs in the winter. Never in July or August. The good news, I am not sick or dead. The same cannot be said for the mice.
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It’s a new year and a perfect time to think about writing goals for 2023. There are four approaches to setting new years’ goals:
1. Set multiple goals but break them within minutes, hours or days because we never had any true intention. This is more a “wish” list of wants / desires rather than a true goal setting.
2 . Set one or two goals and managed to keep it until around Ground Hog’s day and then give up because honestly, keeping to your goals is hard work.
3. Refuse to set goals at New Years because either we know there’s no point (because we won’t keep to them), feel it is too cliche or we are completely content with our present life so we need no goals.
4. Set actual achievable goals and keep to it, even if the the goal is not ultimately achieved, the steps and habits get developed over the year.
How do we get to number 4?
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I love bagels. I discovered the bagel when I was about seven years old. It was not a fling, nor a passing trend, like many other bread products, but a life-long love. New York or Montreal style, you ask? I must admit, I love them all. For me, the ultimate comfort food is a toast bagel with plain cream cheese.
I decided that 2022 was the year that I would conquer making bagels. I had tried at various times in the past with meh results.
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I love writing retreats. In my busy life with my work, home, dogs, garden, more dogs, canning and preserving, kayaking, building, wood spilting, and spending time with friends and family, it can be hard to find dedicated extended periods of time to work on my novel.
Spending a week with writing friends and getting up early every morning to write all day and into the evening feels like stepping into a different world. Not to mention, talking and brainstorming ideas with people who are also passionate about writing and want to help each other write the best possible story. Returning home can feel a little like leaving the magical world of Oz.
How can you keep the magic flowing for your writing? Or maybe you haven’t had the opportunity for a writing retreat and want to find a way to inspire you to write more consistently. How can you get that magic flowing?
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Here’s my secret writing tip:
Tell your reader your secret!
We love knowing other people’s secrets – it makes us feel connected to that person. Knowing their secret–something that no one else knows–is forming a bond between people. Think of a time when someone asked you: “Can you keep a secret?” Usually this makes us feel closer to that person; they trust us with a secret. Either that or we feel instantly horrible knowing we will tell our other friends as soon as possible even after we promised we wouldn’t. As writers, we can use this as a way to form a bond between your character and the reader instantly.
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I know you are anxiously awaiting the results of my pseudo-science experiment from my last blog. I had pondered the question of the effect of physical space on creativity: Do You Have Enough Space for Creative Thought?
Do you have enough space for creative thought?
In my previous blog, I wondered if writing in a high ceiling location or better yet, in the wide open space of the outside, would produce more creative writing than writing in a low ceiling room or smaller space. I designed my experiment as follows:
I wrote for 15 minutes on a new writing project (yes, I did use a timer). I wrote short scenes (or what I could produce in 15 minutes) on a completely new story idea. I wrote in different locations from outside, to a high ceiling room, to a basement room with one small window, to my tiny trailer with room height of less than 6 feet (my small space). I kept track of how many words I wrote in each location and scored the work on my non-scientific and completely subjective “creativity” scale.
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I caught three minutes of a radio documentary exploring the concept that to foster creativity, a person needs both time space and physical space. The time space seems obvious – the freedom to allow a mind to wander and explore— would help any creative spirit. Who doesn’t need more time to allow themself to write, paint or basketweave with pine needles?
But in the few minutes I heard of the documentary, it also discussed the idea that a person would be more creative working in an open air or high vaulted room. Is this true?
Time for research!
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Shikoba prefers the term Dove to Pigeon. The latter conjures up images of park scavengers who peck at the ground and then fly up to poo on your head. However, the former “dove” is a symbol of love and peace. I’d rather be a dove too.
We rescued Shikoba after the tornado pushed her from her nest and left her homeless. She was hunkered into the long grass and as a baby bird, we weren’t sure of her species. The mother was nowhere to be found and if we left her overnight, she would have been likely eaten by a predator, like a raccoon or maybe a rat. Instead, we put her inside our bird rescue box (yes, we have one) and attempted to save her life.
It wasn’t easy.
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