grow older better

Tag: writing

  • Muses and Emotions: Is It Aging or Is It Me?

    writing_scroll

    I woke up with this post in my head and I’m slowly learning to just “go with it.”

    So I went with it

     

    Over the years I’ve seen that I work in cycles of various lengths.

    Jobs? Two years max!

    Daily exercise at a club? About 1.5 years!

    Regular worship attendance?  Very varied so I guess it is never what you could call “regular.”  

    But writing? That’s one part of me with a cycle I cannot yet figure out. And after the last few weeks I am no longer trying to figure it out – I'm sort of just "accepting" it's cycle….[or whatever it has] 

    I just finished up an e-book about the 10 Commandments [a political snarky take on same] and I thought “wow! I’m on a roll with writing – let me finish up another of the ones I’ve started.”  [There are more than a few.]

    Bad idea. I could not put words to computer at all or even work at videos, etc. – instead I sniped at anyone who talked to me.

    I was in a very foul mood and still I tried to write.  It was not working at all and I was getting grouchier.

    Then I basically said, “screw this” and decided to give up on writing about anything.  It felt like a big defeat.  

    I took a staycation. I played computer games, read a whole lot of books, spent time on web browsers – mostly feeling like my own words had left my head forever.  

    But aha!

    After 2 weeks, the muse came back. I am writing this, getting back to videos, and I working on material for a class I teach.

    But that muse won’t touch e-books right now!  

    Lesson learned? My muse did not desert me.

    • She needed a break. 
    • She too has a cycle – just like me.

    Why did I not know this?

    • Because when I was in my foul mood I was not thinking.  

    I'm not sure if it's part of an aging experience and emotional changes, if it's just me or just situational

    2nd lesson learned?   When in a foul mood – do not make major decisions about anything – and do not try to write!   

  • Brains and Multitasking Written Products

    In my book, You Can Totally Screw Up As A Mom And Still Raise Great Kids, I say this:

    I had a conversation one day with the mother of a one-year-old who was saying that her daughter's language development had seemed to stall – but that she was running all over the place. That happens – pieces of the development puzzle often compete with each other. Some adults, the saying goes, can't "think and chew gum at the same time." Well – in adults we see it as funny – in kids – it's part of the pattern of language and physical development.

    The body needs a lot of energy for language and for running – or in broader terms for cognitive development and physical development. At this point in your child’s life, it may be that the amount of energy required for one of these activities is so great, that one is all your child can do at a time. 

    After the walking/running is under control – language will zoom ahead. It hadn't stopped developing – it was still undergoing the process but we weren't seeing it – or hearing it. 

    Well – I seem to be like the child. I finished the book and fiddled with it: working on the cover and formatting to get it up for sale: You Can Totally Screw Up As A Mom And Still Raise Great Kids [on Amazon for your Kindle] and at Barnes and Noble for your Nook.

    Then my fingers and brain seemed to be controlled by another ebook just waiting to be written and that one is It's Not Always Baby Fat! which is about our childhood obesity epidemic.

    It too is now published:  It's Not Always Baby Fat! [for your Kindle] or [for your Nook.]

    BUT

    it seemed my brain, fingers and time can only go toward "so much" writing and then no more – and so my blog posting stopped! Just like the one-year-old's language development had stopped when she started running.

    I could switch from writing one book to the other – but until recently [a lull in the brain?] I could not switch from book to blog…

    Is it normal brain functioning? Or aging? Or just my quirk?

    Or is it a simply a good lesson to learn!

    That what we think of as childhood development is not always only in childhood – sometimes the same normal processes are at work in adults!

    Do you ever have tings like this happen?  Please share your thoughts.

  • Family Folktales- a book review

    Family Folktales: What Are Yours? by Karen Pierce Gonzalez

    http://www.folkheartpress.com

    This is not only a fun book to read, it’s super helpful for those wanting to document family history and be at a loss as to where or how to start that process.

    Karen likens the family history process to writing folktales – you know – those stories you loved as a child and may still love. They have heroes and heroines; great feats of daring, wild hairstyles and clothing, silly but catchy anecdotes, tunes and lyrics, etc.

    Well – doesn’t your family have tales that have things just like those? Mine certainly does.

    In fact, not that long ago, my now 30-year-old son and I had this conversation:

    “Mom you ought to write about your life.”
    “Why?” said I
    “Because it’s unique,” said he
    “Eh” said I

    Maybe that’s part of growing up in Cambria Heights,
    [Queens, New York City] in the 40’s and 50’s.

    But – thus began the writing
    and this display

    That exchange started me writing about my own life and the words above were the opening description of a photomontage for a museum exhibit – and that montage is now expanding into an e-book.

    It has grown as I write about things I remember thru phone calls with friends, family and even newer neighbors – you never know what will start the flow of thoughts and words. [I never thought that that conversation with my son would lead to where it is now going.]

    So it’s great that Karen provides her readers with all sorts of useful tools and hints to get that writing brain in gear. She lists different folk “characters,” places and events that might joggle the memory, and things or items that might do likewise.

    What I liked best, though, was she offers a process for actually getting the writing done and this is a good process for the doing of folktales or for whatever you might be writing.

    In short: Warm up, find a “spot,” don’t try to be perfect, don’t worry about the format, don’t edit as you write and more.

    She even has starting sentence stubs and blank pages in the book to get you going!

    And great suggestions on how to enhance and share what you do and concludes with some sample family folktales.

    It got me going just in doing this review – I’m on a writing roll again.

    Thank you Karen ☺
     

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