If at first you don’t succeed, set the bar lower

Okay, that sounds a bit pessimistic. But hear me out. If you wanted to become a high jumper, you wouldn't set the bar at a height impossible to clear, right? You'd start low and get really good at each level before moving up to the next. If you are learning a new skill, you'd start...

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Dog days

Happy summer everyone!! Back in my teaching days, the end of June meant two months of sleeping in, but now that I work over the summer, it's more about the shifting of routines. Instead of heading off to school, the boys head off to camp. We still have to get up, make lunches, and get...

Week four of camp: What really counts

My stats for Camp NaNoWriMo are embarrassing. However, I am proud of the fact that I blogged every week, which is a goal I set for myself in late March. And while writing often slips down to the bottom of my to-do list, it has not fallen off completely, even if my desk is a...

Week one of camp: Procrastination and doubt

Camp NaNoWriMo started last Sunday. I didn't add any new words to my project until Wednesday, when I managed to eek out a measly 142. Part of the problem is that it was spring break this past week and the boys were off from school. To save money hubs and I alternated days off with...

Waiting for the muse

Words to describe me: mom, wife, friend, counselor, household manager, volunteer, health nut, writer. Notice where writer falls on the list. As something that brings me joy but also a fair amount of heartache, it easily slips to the bottom of who I decide to be each day. And when I do carve out time...

Cheerleader for a month

Back in December, I decided to help out an online writing community by volunteering to be the January hashtag leader. Let me back up. Sometime last year I discovered the monthly writing challenge on Twitter; each day you try to write at least 500 words or edit for an hour, then enter your stats on...

Turn into the skid

Writing is a lot like driving in the snow. It takes a fair amount of practice before you are able to confidently keep yourself from careening into a snowbank. You need to stay focused, proceed slowly and with caution. Be mindful of others on the road, but don't get too close - in other words,...

My Time at Camp

The night before my early July road trip, a bunch of writer friends were texting and tweeting about Camp NaNoWriMo. For those who don't know, NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month. It takes place every November and the idea is to write a novel (50k words) in a month. Camp NaNoWriMo takes place in...