Hi all,
Just a short post to let you know I am taking a blog break over the summer. I will still be writing, but just not for my blog. Which is sort of why I’m taking a break.
My day job gets intense in the spring and summer, and I only have so much band width. One of my goals is to learn to write first and edit later, but I can’t seem to break the “edit as I write” habit with my blog. I fall into a perfectionist cycle and end up with writers block and a severe aversion to my writing room. And writing is as important to my sanity as walking in the woods with my dogs, riding my bike, and eating cake. Sue not writing = Ungood.
To shorten what is certain to quickly become an 800 word very boring dissertation about my life – I need to retrain my brain. And the only way I can think of to do that is to write with abandon – without worrying about making it sound pretty right out of the gate. And I haven’t been able to do that with my blog. I have tried – with varying degrees of success – but I keep going back to my old habits.
I’m going to keep a journal over the summer, and I’m going to practice writing fiction and dabble in some ancestry stuff – I’m thinking a Belgian time traveling German elfin princess astronaut who uses warp speed to sling shot the sun and bring back dinosaurs while fighting off Romulans and Darth Vader, while teaming with StarLord while riding trained raptors. You know, the usual.
Most of you who read my blog are friends with me on Facebook, so you know where to find me if you feel desperate for a stupid story to laugh about.
See you in the fall,
Sue
PS. This may be a smokescreen excuse because I really just want to ride my new bike more.
PPS. You’ll find out for sure this fall.
PPSS. Unless it’s a warm fall, then you might have to wait until late fall.
PPSSS. Feel free to eat large amounts of cake to comfort yourself in my absence.
Brick House 
This is an interesting twist! Tomorrow I plan to jump start my blog!! On my 53rd birthday I will begin a year of thankfulness…..and you are leaving 😦
If it helps to guilt you a bit…I have a Facebook page I will be posting my blog posts to….its called 365 Days and Counting.
https://www.facebook.com/365-Days-and-Counting-543401735751945/
No matter what…I will see you on Facebook! Ride that new bike girl!
Oh I will still be reading and commenting – just not posting. Gotta stay in touch with my blog buddies! I love that you are doing a year on thankfulness! That has been my personal focus lately so I am looking forward to reading your thoughts on it and adding my two cents now and then. 🙂
Ok- I’m going to go Like your FB page!
I actually started that FB page after doing 365 Days of gratitude (note the name!). I’ve neglected it for some time now. But I’ve decided to post on both pages (usually the same post…possibly with minor changes). I want to improve Conversations around the Tree and since gratitude is where it all started….I need to revive 365.
I will look forward to your thoughts and comments!
Best of luck with the writing Sue. Although I shall miss you here i applaud anything that keeps you in the creative mode. Have a wonderful summer and yes let’s keep in touch via Facebook. xo
Will do!!
Well that is interesting. I just found your blog. I will follow along and wait to see what you have to say this fall. Enjoy your summer.
Thank you! Hopefully you will still find me entertaining then. 🙂
I’m sure you will be.
“One of my goals is to learn to write first and edit later.”
I, too, have had this goal for years. Finally I found a way to accomplish it. Only problem is, I’m halfway through my first draft and I’ve run into basic indecision again… about whether I should be writing fiction or nonfiction.
First I’ll tell you my breakthrough method that I learned from Chris Fox, an sf writer who is unabashedly into selling books. Here’s his site: http://www.chrisfoxwrites.com/
I have no affiliation with him, by the way.
Long story short, I wrote a story outline (I’m naturally a seat of pants writer), went over it with Jessica Brody for 250 bucks, got Dragon Naturally Speaking and a new set of headphones, and began dictating the story. Each day before I dictated I would spend a little time writing down mainly visual aspects of the scene with a paper and pencil, and summarizing briefly how I thought things would likely go. Then I’d start dictating. Since I spent 26 years dictating pathology reports into a microphone, the dictation aspect wasn’t a hurdle, but interestingly, even Chris Fox who promotes this approach in one of his books says that he still types.
Anyway, as a writer who’s not used to having an outline and who’s accustomed to editing more than I write, I find that some of the illusion of having my characters present with me is gone when I go fast and don’t edit. This has taken some of the joy out of the process, but maybe it will come back when I do the second draft and allow myself to edit.
I’ve written fast once before with another method and the same thing happened. I got 30,000 words or so into the draft and felt alone. So I started over, went very slowly, edited ten times more than I wrote, wrote and posted each chapter on my blog, and finished the thing is under three years. If my mother were a snail, she’d be proud.
Sorry, I’m going on and on here. Hope you have a great time off. You’ll be missed here.
Take care,
Talmage