Lazy, Hazy, Crazy Summer Writing

This title perfectly describes how I am enjoying writing during these mid-summer days. Well, not exactly lazily. More like leisurely.  I’m eager to write morning or evening pages and it is fun because there are no expectations attached. I commit to twenty minutes but almost always write longer.

It may be too soon to declare that a new habit is established but this latest attempt at the daily practice has continued for more than a month now. How freeing it is to just write direction-less.

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Travel for Inspiration

It was a balmy twenty seven degrees centigrade in late October in Venice, Italy; birthplace of Casanova and often referred to as the most beautiful and romantic city in the world. I was lounging in a café, sipping cappuccino and watching the world go by. Gondolas and river taxis glided past and the canal water gently lapped at the edge of the patio, a scant three feet away. Tourists stopped to pose for photos on the iconic Rialto Bridge.

Traveling can provide endless inspiration if you pay close attention. Immersion in new surroundings while being unplugged from the normal distractions of busy lives invites creativity. Travel really is all about living in the present, relaxing and focusing on the myriad of sights, sounds and people in front of you. Read more

Holiday Tasks & Seizing Opportunities

Dear writers,

The countdown is on! We have exactly two weeks until Christmas arrives… whether you’re ready or not, the day will still show up on December 25th, and so will all your company demanding your attention.

Therefore, you will need to prioritize your precious time and outline some kind of schedule to make sure you still get some writing time in over the last week of December (before the 2017 year is over).

If you are one of those writers who hold down one or two other jobs to pay the bills between small pockets of writing time, maybe you will get some much needed time off over the holidays?

Free hours? Free days? Free time?

What are you going to do with all this free time?

I have a few suggestions for you:

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Vacation – Just Do It

Bernice-photo-Aug 2016

Black smoke billowed from the car as we sputtered to a stop on the side of the road directly under the Kirkfield lift lock east of Fenlon Falls, Ontario. Hubby and I managed to move the vehicle to a shady spot in a restaurant parking lot a hundred yards away but it clearly wasn’t getting us any further. Not the best way to start a vacation.

The breakdown was a distant memory though as, several days and sixteen hundred kilometers later, we turned on to Took Titch Road in the northwest part of the province, and wound our way down a narrow lane to our own little beach on Rainy Lake. An old log cabin with red shutters and cedar deck would be home for the next week. Read more