For fifty-five years words have been my constant companion. When I was an infant I struggled to recognize them, as a child I needed to master understanding them, saying them, using them. When my grandmother taught me to read and write, my four year old mind was in heaven.

As a young person I was led to believe that my life would be easier if I found a vocation and stuck to it. And it was understood that a vocation involved hard physical work, or being trained in a highly technical trade. Read more

I dislike the word “marathon”.

Since it involves extensive sustained activity, there is an implication that it will take more than my average daily output of energy for achievement.

Even though there are many things that I love to do, such as eat, drink wine, play with my dogs, I don’t necessary want to do them in a marathon kind of way. So when Lori Twinning told me about a writing marathon in Huntsville and that it was the best writing event of the year for her, I said no. That was last year.

This year, I had made a new years’ resolution both to try something new outside my comfort zone and to write more. The writing marathon would sacrifice a weekend, but would achieve both goals with one swoop. So with trepidation, I agreed to try out my first writing marathon.

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I’ve heard that exercise boosts creativity.

My third novel marathon begins this Friday.   At eight o’clock sharp the writing will begin – 40 writers in a room with their laptops, typing away the hours, the silence will envelope us and we will focus.

However, I have stared at the end of a sentence for god knows how long, the lovely silence lulling me into a stupor that I can’t seem to shake.

What to do…. Read more