Blogger's Block or Not Blogger's Block...

That is the question, though it's actually not much of a question. I've put together photos for two posts and I've sat down at the computer five or six times and stared blankly at the screen. They're good posts -- or at least may be good posts -- if  I can come up with the words to go with the photographs. I've gone blank any number of times, but this may be a new record.  

 

The Music Hall, Tarrytown, NY in Waterlogue

 

I thought about when I first started writing and my first memory of any composition that was longer than a sentence or two was a book report in the fourth grade. There have probably been hundreds of times since then -- I wrote a lot during my working years -- when the words did not come quickly, but I can't remember a time when I actually sat down at the typewriter/computer/with a pen when I didn't compose something. This has been my longest stretch in my memory in over fifty years.

 

I decided to write about not being able to write instead of trying and trying on the posts, and finally there are words marching across the screen. My question to my blogging/writing friends is how do you keep the words coming? I tip my pen to my blogging friends who post every day. Do you have any inspiration or suggestions you can share with the rest of us who sometimes stumble to find words?

 

It's been a good and busy week. The photograph of a vintage theater in Tarrytown NY was taken during a visit this week. I had the pleasure of meeting two of my colleagues for lunch and window shopping in this lovely town in Westchester, just north of New York City.

 

As ever, thanks for visiting. Take good care and wishes for a great weekend!

 



I'm Making a List and I'm Keeping it Right in Front of Me...

My goals for 2016

 

 

 

 

Over the weekend I sat down and put together my list of goals for this year. It's not a long list, but to make headway over the year will take a lot of focus and organization. The longer I am retired -- two and a half years -- the easier it is to focus on the things that are important to me. There are four items on my list and I will be doing four separate posts in the next two weeks.

 

In December I went to a lecture on travel photography by Andy Katz at the store in the photograph. His photographs were fabulous and I realized I missed using a camera. I've been relying on my phone, and while the pictures are good, I really like having a camera with a good zoom lens. I bought one before my trip to Japan last year, but it was heavy, big and clumsy. I used it on the trip and it's sat in my drawer since then. I'm travelling next month and I wanted to make sure I had a camera with me.

 

I was close to this store today, and in an effort to declutter, I sold the camera I had and bought the much smaller camera I wanted. I usually keep things thinking someday I will use them or give them away, but I'm no longer sure when that someday will be. I have another camera, also little used now, that the store didn't want. "No market," I was told. I am happy to mail it to anyone here who may want it. It's a relatively early digital camera, but not a collector's item. Please let me know if anyone would like to give it a home. If not I will donate it to one of the local thrift shops.  

 

Making space -- physically in my home and mentally in my life -- is my top goal for this year. It's time for both things and habits that are of the past to stay in the past. I'm enthusiastic about change, and bubbly Buttercup is making room. I'm not sure what I am making room for, but excited for all of the possibilities. 

 

And that trip I mentioned...Please stop by on Thursday. I'm going to do a post about the trip and my ideas on travel for 2016.

 

As always, thanks for visiting. Keep cozy and have a wonderful Wednesday!

 

   

My Writing Process

Today I'm joining the Writing Blog Tour  to share my thoughts on my writing process. It was fun to reflect on the process instead of being involved in the writing process.

1) What am I working on?

I've tabled the mystery novel I started in the fall. I hope to get back to it -- there's a Christmas theme -- in the next few months. I've been working on a monthly piece for Manilla blog for the last two months and even though they are short pieces it's taken a lot of time and thought. I'm also trying to pull together a workbook on preparing for retirement. There's no date for the latter, but it's definitely on my agenda for 2014. This blog is the center of what I write and despite my sometimes absences, it's the base for everything else and the place I find the true north of my writing voice.


2) How does my work different from others of its genre?

It's my voice and composed of my thoughts and experiences. I've been making notes about mystery novels for a blog post and there are lots of mysteries and lots of authors. They all write mystery novels, but Janet Evanovich is different from Ian Rankin is different from Patricia Cornwell.


3) Why do I write what I do now?

I added the now to the question.  Really simply, I like these genres. I wrote as part of my job for years. I wrote letters, I wrote reports, I wrote for a newsletter and I wrote for our corporate website. I didn't always find these things especially fun and really didn't find some of the endless rewrites fun, but that was the job and I was glad to be paid to write and eventually, edit.

4) How does your writing process work?

Sometimes words just flow and I find I have a blog post that practically wrote itself. Other times, I make myself sit at the computer until the words are written down and a coherent, possibly good, article/post has emerged. I don't think of myself as wildly creative, but I've found the more I discipline myself the more creative I get. I can't wait for the muse to land on my shoulder.

I know there are great writers out in Buttercupland, and there's still time to be part of the Writing Blog Tour. The next posts are Monday, March 17. Please leave me a comment if you're interested.

I'm back in New York after my very fun weekend in Florida. Loved the weather, the company and seeing new sights. Happily, I came home to sunny and relatively warm weather here.

And since this post is about creativity...

I spent a very fun afternoon in Delray Beach yesterday and saw Mona Lisa reinterpreted at a local ice cream store. With apologies to Mr. Da Vinci. 

What are your thoughts on your writing process? Inquiring bloggers want to know!

As always, thanks for visiting. Have a great week and take very good care. 

Calling All Writers...

...Or just three brave souls. On a whim last week I answered the call to be part of a blog tour for writers.  I'm enjoying the blog that's this week's focus, Wendy Karasin -- Musings of a Boomer  very much. The questions are interesting and as I've been thinking about them this week, it's been useful to put together my thoughts on why I write. I'll be posting my answers next week and the names of three people who would like to take part. It's fun and not too hard and a great way to meet interesting bloggers. Please raise your hands...or leave a comment and I'll be in touch with you for a little background to post. I'll be doing my post next Monday, March 10 and ideally would love your information a few days before that.

As promised we have a winner for the Peanut Butter & Co tote bag and it's Rachel at "Once Upon a Miracle."  Rachel, congratulations! I'll be in touch for your address.

We're not there yet, but it was an almost balmy thirty five degrees today. I snapped this harbinger of spring at the market at Grand Central Station yesterday. Definitely need some spring flowers soon. 

As ever, thanks for stopping by and thanks for your comments. Love to hear from my bloggy buddies. Take good care!

Snowy Day Random 5 Friday

It's time to join the fun group at Random 5 Friday, one of the most enjoyable ways to spend the coldest day in New York City in the last five years.

1) I like the idea of snow in theory, but in reality... I have drippy snow boots in the bathroom and I got myself caught in my down coat when the top button loop got tangled. But it was so nice to be outside today, or as my mother always said, "to get some air."

 The trees may be here for awhile. The sanitation truck/snow plows were busy with other pursuits. 

Broadway in the snow. Sidewalks were okay, but crossing the street was tricky. 

2) I like the idea of staying indoors and being cozy in theory. By two o'clock I was getting a little stir crazy and went on an expedition to the grocery, which is two blocks away. At first I thought I can't go out because it had snowed. I realized that last year I would have been out in the dark to trudge to work, and while I didn't have to do that -- thankfully -- I certainly could go outside in six inches of snow.  

3) Signed up to read fifty books this year, which is only one book a week. Have I started even one...

4) I also signed up for an on-line writing class for next week. There will be a novel in 2014, or at least a novella, or at least a long short story. You all will be the first to know.

5) Anyone else excited about "Downton Abbey" on Sunday night? I'm not quite counting the hours, but it's less than fifty. 

It was twenty-six degrees this afternoon and now it's down to eleven. This is the time to stay in and be cozy. I think it's also time to begin the first book of 2014. Next week I'll let you know what I read.  

As always thanks for visiting and keep warm and cozy! 

This Old Dog Learned a New Trick

Last week I posted my thoughts about my retirement honeymoon being over. I realized that I was ambivalent and anxious about actually wading out into the deep water of making my dreams come true. I also realized after I finished the post that I had probably been ambivalent and anxious about every major adventure in my life. This would include going to college. I hated to leave my parents and high school friends. Of course, I had been thinking about college for years, but I didn't skip off without several hundred looks back. It would include moving to New York and getting a job in publishing. I had dreamed about moving to New York since I was twelve, fourteen, sixteen, but when the time actually arrived, I was scared. 

I have long believed that maturity isn't the lack of making mistakes, but it's the ability not to make the same mistakes. I thought my inborn anxiety was simply a mistake I made and one I could just ignore. I am certainly less anxious than I have been in the past, but new situations bring anxiety out full-force. I don't think that will change no matter how "mature" I become. At sixty-three I came to this realization. I am happy to report that this old dog learned a new trick about herself. 

No fear, I'm sticking to blogging, to writing and to the pursuit of the dream of publishing for the next eight months, just as I planned when I retired. I once again learned that everything worth doing takes more time and a lot more work than one would suppose. I also learned -- for the hundredth time at least -- that it very rarely goes as quickly as I would like. But if history has taught me anything I have learned that keeping at one's dream is the best course to pursue, and that makes for one happy old pup. 

Please come by tomorrow for our Random 5 Friday fun. As always, thanks for visiting and take good care of yourself.