Tag: Writing Buddies

FIVE Tips to START and CONTINUE Writing

Donna Judy Curtin Leave a comment

For someone who claims to love writing, I sure can find every excuse NOT to write. Here I am… on a dedicated writing retreat. A clean house, with big inviting windows, open wide to the creativity. The quiet that only a place away from home can provide; with no chores, no dishes, no laundry, no pets… only the sun streaming in and the trees waving their wishes to the wind. The house hums… hums with electricity, heating and… potential.

That’s it. Potential.

I make a coffee. For once, with no rush of the day, no next thing, no must be on time. I’m able to stir. Listen to the tin, tin as the metal spoon strikes and scrapes the sides to lift and mix my sugar, like I’m mixing my thoughts.

Starting, for me, is sometimes the hardest part.

Then… it’s about sticking to it and meeting my potential. That word again. Potential.

After a week away, dedicated to drafting, I need to find the fortitude to continue. This post is a pep talk for my writerly self. I hope you will find a nugget to polish into a gem. Read more

Writers’ Summer Camp with 13 Strangers

Lori Twining 4 Comments
Lori Twining ~ Camp Zeke

Several decades ago, before I even had a steady boyfriend, I had this weird habit of flipping through bridal magazines, dreaming about the perfect wedding, the over-the-top Royal Princess taffeta ballgown, the jovial bridal party, and spending the most romantic honeymoon hiking through the Poconos Mountains in Pennsylvania. 

That never happened for me. 

I mean, I did have a wedding–in fact, I had TWO beautiful weddings to two different people, with incredible velvet and satin dresses, and cool-but-not-that-funny bridal parties, but I never experienced the thrill of hiking through the Poconos Mountains… until this past weekend. A part of my old daydream finally did come true, slightly skewed from the original fantasy. 

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Why Walking More Impacts a Writer’s Brain

Lori Twining 4 Comments
Discovering new places by walking in nature ~ Lori Twining

Last week, I scheduled some time away from work and my every day responsibilities to attend a seven-day writing retreat in the middle of the woods in Haliburton County. I hoped to review and revise my current novel by taking my characters deeper and solving a few lingering issues I had with plot holes.

The weeks leading up to this retreat stressed me out. Lists needed to be made for everything I required to accomplish at work before I could leave. I had lists of food that I must shop for and pack. I also had a weekend wedding in Hamilton to get ready for that followed the writing retreat with only a one-hour break between them. My brain was fried when I finally arrived at the retreat, and I didn’t have a plan of exactly what I would be working on. Poor planning.

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Mixing Solitude with the Camaraderie

Lori Twining 6 Comments
Lori Twining ~ Coffee at Sunrise
Lori Twining ~ Coffee at Sunrise, Elmhirst’s Resort

What writer wouldn’t love to disappear from their life and spend an entire week hidden away at a remote location? With no other obligations other than to put fingers to keyboard or pen to paper and tell a story. Maybe, a story no one will ever read? That’s a possibility. But hey, if you are a writer, you will have a strong desire to write that story whether someone reads it or not, right? 

Disappearing to a remote location sounds fantastic, especially after the tough year or two we have experienced. My doctor said I was becoming a workaholic, even though I’m working from home now, and I should take a mental health break. She said something like, “Take a vacation.”

In my mind, I watched her scribble a prescription on her pad for me:

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Be Audacious & Take the Risk

Lori Twining Leave a comment
Lori Twining on Twitter – #5amwritersclub

On Monday, April 5th, I posted a blog about “Stepping Outside Your Comfort Zone,” and I dared you to do something completely different from your regular routine in your writing life… doing something that might scare you. If you haven’t already read that, you should. You can find it HERE.

It has been seven days since my scary adventure ended. I still can’t stop thinking about the incredible and invigorating weekend I spent with 19 other like-minded and passionate writers. I survived the daunting inaugural session of the UNFORGETTABLE CHARACTERS & INCREDIBLE JOURNEYS (#UCIJRetreat2021) virtual writing retreat presented by Ralph Walker. My fears were unwarranted. I absolutely loved it!

Many different kinds of writing events catch my eye, but this was my first virtual writing retreat where you are on a ZOOM call with 19 other writers—most of them strangers or people I have only met online. The schedule was intense, Friday night to Sunday night (approximately 17.5 hours), but it was designed that way with pure intention. It was brilliant. I didn’t want to miss even one minute of the conversations.

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The End of a Decade: Glancing Back, Racing Forward

Lori Twining 4 Comments
Lori Twining writing in Hotel Heaven

It is hard to believe, but another decade is ending in 16 sleeps!

Glancing back over the last 3, 650 days, I wonder what the hell I have been doing with my life? How did ten years just disappear in a blink?

Sure, as a mother, I’ve raised three wonderful children and sent them off to University: one is married and has a job, one is almost married and has a job, and my baby is currently wading through a whole bunch of biomedical science jargon that I can’t even begin to understand and always has a summer job. Obviously, education and jobs are important in this household. All three kids are smarter and more respectful than their mother and can handle the world without me. What more can a mom ask for? Seriously, that means I did my job as a mother.

But, as a writer… hmmm, that is a completely different story.

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Thankfulness of a Writer

Lori Twining 2 Comments

A writer’s life is full of many solo hours of rolling around in doubt, heartache, heartbreak… and a few happy aha! moments, that ultimately make us smile and laugh as if we have been riding a standup rollercoaster for three hours straight, jumped off, puked and then screamed, “Let’s do that again!”

Thanksgiving is the perfect time to be reminded of just how thankful I am for being a writer with an active imagination, an anxious heart and a not-so-strong stomach. This kind of up and down rollercoaster feeling happens to me often. Daily, in fact. But without the puking. Mainly this happens because I struggle with the whole concept of “Do I know what I’m doing?” to “Of course, I know what I’m doing, I just sit down and write what I’m thinking, right?” Yeah, that doesn’t always work out as easily as it sounds.

Today is Thanksgiving, so as a writer I am thankful for many things…

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Turning Leaves and Going Deeper with Andrew Pyper

Lori Twining 2 Comments

Turning Leaves Writing Retreat ~ Writescape

There are so many ways for writers to invest in their future career as an author.

Ultimately, as a writer, it’s your meandering pathway to follow until you get published… However, what if there were a secret in jumpstarting your career and taking the express highway to publishing, eliminating the many wrong turns along the road?

Would you want to know this secret?

Of course you would… or you should. Read more