13 Years with Writing.com

Today is my Thirteenth Anniversary with writing.com. I joined the wonderful writing site on October 13, 2002. Joining writing.com, like every other good decision I have made in my life, was a spur of the moment decision. My intuition suggested I join, so I followed its advice and joined. I have never regretted that decision. Sometimes I had problems keeping my paid membership, but, with the help of my friends, I always found a way to afford the cost.

I log into writing.com every day. I review a few poems or stories everyday. I write everyday. I work at improving my croft everyday. I submit a story and poem to a contest every week. Writing.com is a wonderful place to meet and read other writers of various skill levels. Check out my portfolio below. Check out the free membership to see if you want to join the writing.com community.

Thursday Morning Epiphany

I had a sudden and striking realization this morning as I was waiting in line at one of the food banks. My moment of enlightenment occurred when I realized that no matter how old I get, I will always be directionally challenged. Unlike wisdom and knowledge a person's sense of direction never improves.

I am not sure what topic we were discussing, but I know it had something to do with growing older and getting lost. Since my sense direction will never improve I have to learn to get around town without it. Being directionally challenge is not the worst thing that could happen to me. I have learned to cope with it and I can survive in the city. All though I might have problems surviving in the country. Maybe I should write a story about someone who is directionally challenged.

5 Days to NaNoWriMo

In five days National Novel Writing Month begins and I am off to a good start. I went to the NaNoWriMo website and set up my novel by imputing the working titles, which is the name of the star ship my protagonist commands. I might change that after the novel is finished, but for now that will give me something to work with and help me focus on the plot.

I have four more writing exercises to do in planning the novel. I also have to set up a tentative writing schedule so that I can work on the novel at least thirty minutes a day. I have to write a minimum of 1,667 words each day to achieve the 50,000 words by November 30. I know this will not be easy, but it is achievable. There is probably a few other things I need to do. I cannot think of them right now, so as they come to mind I will put them on a list.

At this moment I am not sure whether I am looking forward to NaNoWriMo or not. I think that is because October has been weird month for writing. On some days I wrote over 2,000 words and on other under that mark. Fortunately, November will be a better month or at least less weird. Since I still have other work to do today, I will close and post this entry.

6 Days to NaNoWriMo

November, National Novel Writing Month, is six days away. This morning I realized that I need to sit a tighter writing schedule to accomplish the NaNoWriMo word count goal in thirty days. Fifteen minutes is the minimum amount of time I need to spend writing each day. I suspect I will need to set aside more time in order to accomplish the minimum word count goal of 1,667 words per day.

Considering the way I have written lately I am adding another fifteen to twenty minutes to that time. I also need to take interruptions into that time; therefore, I am setting aside one hour each day to work on my 2015 NaNoWriMo novel. I intend to break this one hour up into fifteen or twenty minute writing sessions to give myself some time to think about what comes next. It is possible I will write for longer or shorter periods at a time. I usually write for ten or fifteen minutes at a time before I have to get up from the computer for something.

The next thing I need to decide is when to work on the novel. I think sit aside thirty minutes in the morning and thirty minutes in the evening. I may change that in November after I get into the writing process; however, right now that is my NaNoWriMo plan.

Eight Days Until Halloween

It's time to get your costumes
and purchase all the sweets
because you only have eight days
until Trick or Treat.

I remember growing up in a time when Halloween was not as scary. As a child we went trick or treating in our neighborhood or my Grandparent's neighborhood. I liked going Trick or Treating in my Grandparent's neighborhood, because my Grandmother (who was called Grandma by all the neighborhood children) always may cookies for everyone the neighborhood.

My Mother or my Grandfather always took my siblings and me trick or treating. They did not let us go with the groups of children whose parents let them go unsupervised. I suppose I should have ask why, but I never thought to ask that question. Parents or guardians taking children trick or treating was unusual. Getting homemade treats was not unusual though.

I remember one lady did not give homemade treats. She was a very religious woman and instead gave us wrapped sucker attached to a religious pamphlet with a Bible verse. Some of the homemade treats we received were candy apples and cookies. I miss the Halloweens of my childhood, but most of all I miss my Grandparents.

I am not planning to give out any type of candy or other treats this year. I am going to close the shades, turn the lights out, and hope no one can see the computer through the closed shades. I do not enjoy Halloween the same way I did as a child or the way I did when my Mother was alive. In fact, the only thing I enjoy about Halloween is the candy corn because it brings back pleasant memories.

Wednesday Word: Halloween

Halloween is ten days away. I have decided that I am going to close the shades, turn the lights out, and hope no one sees me working at the computer. The computer is in the living room next to the television set, so it is possible for people to see the light given off by the computer from the outside even with the shades closed.

When Mom was alive, I enjoyed Halloween because Mom enjoyed it. Giving out candy to the neighborhood children was a fun activity for both of us. However, I do not enjoy doing it by myself. I also have too much candy leftover after Halloween and that is not good for my weight. I am attempting to lose weight, but the only thing Halloween candy does is put on the weight. Also the only type of Halloween candy I really like is candy corn.

Once a year I can get a couple of bags of candy corn, eat it during October, and then no have it in the house the rest of the year. If I want something sweet in any other month then I can have a small piece of cake or something. I do not eat much candy anymore.

Writing about Falling Down and Getting Back Up

“Falling down is part of life. Getting back up is living.”
—Unknown

I have fallen down many times in my 68 years on this planet. I have always gotten back up and pushed forward. Sometimes it took me a few minutes to get up. Sometimes I needed help getting up. However, I always got up and moved forward even if that moving forward meant changing the direction I was traveling.

Now I am incorporating those falls and risings in my poems and stories. I have a lot of experience and wisdom to share with younger folks. I know that they will not always listens because the youth and young people of today have to make their own mistakes. The only way we humans learn is by making mistakes, by falling down, and by getting up again. This does not mean that I cannot share my wisdom when asked directly or by writing it into stories and poems.

We senior citizens of today have a duty to leave our wisdom behind. At death our souls and bodies separate; our bodies go into the ground and our souls ascend into the next world. The only thing we leave behind is our written wisdom. Even if we incorporate that wisdom into fiction or poetry it still remains behind for the youth of today and tomorrow to read.

Success Saturday: A very good week

It is the end of a good writing week. I did not finish writing everything I wanted to write; however, I did manage to write a few items. In order to remain positive, I need to focus on what I accomplished not what I did not finish. I have to pull myself out of this depression because it does not help me succeed at anything.

Word after word
and sentence after sentence
writes a paragraph.

I have no problem writing stories or blog entries. The problem come in with the poem. I do know what is wrong, but whatever it is started on the first of October. Perhaps I just need to push through the lines and stanzas and then worry about rewriting after the poem is finished. I am find when I write short poem to go with blog entries, but writing a poem that is not part of a blog entry is giving me difficulties.

Word after word
and then line after line
writes a stanza.

Thursday Thoughts: Dealing with writing, rewriting and technical difficulties while planning my NaNoWriMo 2015 novel

I am in the process of rewriting one, finishing another, and writing at least one short story. I am also planning my NaNoWriMo 2015 novel. All this work means I do not need any distractions caused by technical difficulties. Yesterday I encountered the Blue Screen of Death, which meant that today I had to re-enter my log in name for Facebook and my g-mail accounts (among others). When I went to my g-mail account, I found out I had forgotten my password and the back up e-mail account I use. I changed my password and found out what my back up e-mail account is.

Next I decided to post some video ads to this blog. When I attempted to post the ads I encountered an error message. I don't know if the problem results from the yesterday's rebooting the computer after encountering the blue screen or something else. I e-mailed tech support of the company I get the ads from and included my cellphone number if they need to contact me. In the mean time I am going to continue writing and not worry about the ads. If it is God's will that I post the ads then tech support will get back to me before the ads are taken down.

In the mean time, I have a NaNoWriMo novel to plan, several writing projects to complete, and an apartment to clean. Since I have no plans to go anywhere until Sunday I am remaining home. I hope to complete at least three of the writing projects before Saturday just in case I have to leave the house for something important.

Wednesday Word: Humidity

Double digit temperatures,
blue autumn sky
and scattered white clouds;
humidity is 21%.

I don't remember the humidity bothering me this much last year. It could be worse the humidity could be 25 or 30% and I'd like that even less. I don't know what I was going to write next because my computer just shut down unexpectedly. I don't know what I did or what happened. I'll have to call tech support to see what's going on. I will post this now before it does it again.

Twenty Days Until Halloween: A Free Verse Poem

Twenty days until Halloween
and I want to scream
because there is no place for me to go
on All Hallows' Eve.

Twenty days until Halloween
I have no candy in the house
to give to the little monsters
when they come
begging at my door.

Twenty days until Halloween
and I have to make
a shopping list:
light bulb for the front porch light
and wrapped candy for costumed hoards
that will come knocking
at my door.

Twenty days until Halloween
and the prospect
of blowing my diet
with leftover Halloween candy;
I wonder if I should
purchase tooth brushes instead.

Looking for Writing Ideas on Saturday Morning

This was an interesting and stressful week. I got behind on my writing project and then I got caught up. Today I have a story and a poem to write. The problem is I have no idea where to start either of them. How do I remedy this? I started by taking two bags of trash to the alley, which did not seem to help.

I then brewing another carafe of coffee, but this time I brewed hazel nut coffee. That helped a little. I composed two lines, unfortunately they do not have enough syllables for an English sonnet. This is the issues I have encountered with this sonnet all week. I can think of wonderful lines without enough syllables. Since I do not intend to let these two lines go to waste, I am posting them in this entry.

I inhale the fragrance of morning
The bold aroma of hazel nuts

It is so frustrating. Anyone who does not write form poetry does not know how frustrating it is to have an idea for a poem while being unable to compose lines with the proper syllable length. Yes I know I could write a free verso poem using those line; however, the prompt I am following calls for a sonnet that needs a specific number of syllable in each line. Since I cannot let myself get behind again this week, I will move on to the story. Perhaps if I just open a document and start writing words will come to me.

Thursday's Topic: Catching Up on Writing Projects

I am almost caught up. I have to finish a short story and one poem this week. I think the short story will be a romance because the prompt has a moon and boat on a lake. The poem is a sonnet. I have no idea how to begin either, but I think that is because I just finished catching up on projects that had to be finished by today.

The problem right now is a sinus headache. It is not bad at this moment, but it could turn into something serious. I suspect the cause is the change of weather. The triple digit temperatures have left (I hope), we are experiencing double digit temperatures between the low 70s and the high 80s. I never know when I leave the house whether I will need a sweater or not. The sinus pain dos not help me think. I am going to post this and get offline for a little while to see if that helps my sinuses.

Tuesday's Tip: Lack of Focus Causes Writer's Block

Don't look at the big picture
when you have a dozen things to write
because lack of focuses cause writer's block.

Writing one word at a time completes a sentence. Writing one sentenced at a time completes a paragraph. Writing one paragraph at a time completes a page. Focusing on one thing at time overcomes writer's block.

Writer's block encourages procrastination,
which rises the level of fear
and anxiety.

If you tell yourself "I don't know what to write" then you will put off writing something. Just sit down and begin to write. Open a document and begin typing something. Describe the sound of the dog you hear barking across the street. Describe the weird noise you hear the garbage disposal make. Describe the feel of the air on a cool autumn morning. Once you begin writing then you will write something and whatever your write can bed edited into a story or a poem.

Thoughts on Saturday Afternoon

It's Saturday afternoon
I have so much to write,
but my muse has taken flight.

My muse has flown to parts unknown,
so I think I need to get away from home;
I think I need to take a rest
away from the internet.

I think I need to get out of the house
because the only rhyme I can think of is mouse.

There is no mouse in my house
and I don't have a spouse.

Tomorrow is Sunday
so I'll take a day of rest
and spend the day on a spiritual quest.

These are my thoughts
this Saturday afternoon;
I'm going to post is poem
and hope that it makes someone laugh.

My goal is to write a poem a day;
I'm going to post this
because I've accomplished my goal today.

One Writer's Poetic Gratitude List

I am thankful for
the coffeemaker that brews
my first cup of joe.

I am grateful for
Folgers special coffee blend
rich, hot, dark, and bold.

I am thankful for
the senryu poetry form
nineteen syllables.

I am grateful for
My ninety-five green prayer beads
And focused meditation.

I am thankful for
writing.com inspiring
and encouraging reviews.

I am grateful for
October's arrival and
double digit temperatures.

I am thankful for
the candy corn memories
inspire poetry.

I am grateful for
my prayer book and the prayers of
Baha'u'llah and the Bab.

I am thankful for
waking up on another
beautiful fall day.

I am grateful that
ten items to put on my
Thankful Thursday list.