The Pen of a Ready Writer

     When I look back over the changes of the past 3 years, I am impressed that I am still standing.        In 2015, I was finishing up a midwifery apprenticeship that ended up being a little rocky at the end.  I became a Certified Professional Midwife after about 8 years of study (5 part time and 3 very full time) and a Licensed Midwife in the state of Virginia.  I met Garrett.      In 2016, I started working as a midwife at the Birth Centre of Charlottesville.  And I got engaged.  And I got married. And I moved to "The Valley" (as everybody up here calls it).      In 2017, Garrett and I moved into our beautiful little trailer.  And had countless adventures.      And this year, the changes have continued at an alarming rate.  Now I am getting ready for another change -- a job shift.      I am backing down from full-time work at The Birth Centre of ...

Life. It's been good. There's been a lot of it. But not much time for creative writing. I'm still keeping a journal.  It will come in handy someday...someday when I have time to turn my reality into stories that the world can relate to. This year has been so full.  I know I'm not alone in feeling this.  You each have your own fullness.  Someday...like I said...I will regale you with my adventures.  But not today. Today, I am sad. And tired. I touch this blog like a girl caressing the cover of a beloved book that she has missed.  I have missed you guys.  Missed you so much.  And yet...still not sure when I can return.  Which sharpens the little pang I feel. I will return.  That is one thing I do believe. It's like a compost pile...are any of you familiar with this precious recipe of the gardening trade?  You throw your rotting vegetation into this pile -- leftover salad, old banana peels, the random apple core -- and wait...

     Life.      It gets busy, doesn't it?      The amount of things I've taken onto my plate plus the amount of things that I WANT to take onto my plate is overwhelming and daunting to say the least.  I've been forced to drop a couple things to the side. One of them is the writing Facebook groups. Another is the editing and expanding of Blood of Beauty.      I can't say that I've abandoned the story entirely. I say down one night and ended up staring at the page for several minutes before closing it. It's not ready -- it needs to simmer. And I've been thinking on it in the back of my mind.      No one has ever asked me to make a story longer. Ever since I was little, the constant question was, "How long is this going to be, Esther? Can you make it a little shorter? Just get to the point?"       So, now I'm going to make something longer, and I want to do it without skewing the bala...

     Today is Wednesday, and Saturday doesn't seem far away at all.  I'm starting to count by half-days now: 3 1/2 days...3 days...2 1/2 days...       My husband's best friend, Skooter, is also a writer.  He isn't published as far as I know, but he has an appreciation for storycrafting.  I've read part of one of his stories, and it was good...good enough that I hated being left hanging when he only gave me the first 19 pages!  Aaaaaah!       I think my husband forgot that Saturday was the big Facebook reveal party, so he invited Skooter to come over and hang out Saturday evening.      I was one of the contestants thinking that I'd like to hide in a closet and get the news of the party by myself.  It's an introvert thing.      But you can't very well do that when you are the lady of the house and you have guests.  Can you imagine the guests entering and asking my ...

     The lovely Skye tagged me in this challenge (originally created by Deborah O'Carroll). Feeling honored, I have decided to partake, although I freely admit that Spring Cleaning is not my forte. Rules:  1. Link back to the person who tagged you (which, for me, was Skye at Ink Castles ) 2. Share the picture 3. Answer the questions 4. Tag 3 other writers and inform them you have (You're allowed to use carrier pigeon if preferred) 1. Dust-bunnies and Plot-bunnies: Reorganize Your Writing Goals (Or Make New Ones)      In playing around with this blog, I looked at my WIP page, thinking I could delete some of the stories on there. And I found that I still love those stories, even the unfinished ones. See? I told you Spring Cleaning was not my thing. I'm one of those people who gets emotionally attached to the memories captured within useless objects ("oh, look, guys!!!! It's that smashed penny I picked up in the parking lot that day ...

Hello, friends! A week ago, I posted a guessing game with 10 truths and 2 lies about myself, and I challenged people to guess which was which.  Today, I give you the answers! 1. I am married.      It's true!  I am pouring my love and passion and prayer into my marriage, and seeing it blossom delightfully. 2. I am 5 ft 3-3/4 inches tall.      Nope.  Guess again. 3. My mother self-published a book when I was a child.      That one is true!  It is called Bring Them Up . 4. I have read Plenilune by Jenny Freitag.     True.  I like the "bigness" of Jenny's writing style.  And I relate to her main character more than I usually relate to female protagonists. 5. I wear glasses.      Yep.  It's not exactly a super-power.  But...almost. 6. I ran over a toad with a car.      Sad day!  I was stil...

Greetings, gang!  I stole another idea from Scattered Scribblings.  She played a game of 10 truths and 2 lies, where she posted 12 things about herself, 10 of which were true.  And all of her readers got to guess which ones were lies. Want to play? Okay, here are 12 things about me: 1. I am married. 2. I am 5 ft 3 3/4 inches tall. 3. My mother self-published a book when I was a child. 4. I have read Plenilune by Jenny Freitag. 5. I wear glasses. 6. I ran over a toad with a car. 7. I love the sound that crickets make. 8. Clear blue skies are my favorite. 9. I like dark green colors. 10. I am a midwife. 11. I used to live in Alaska. 12. I love to eat spinach. Leave your guesses in the comments below! Which are true and which are false?  I can't wait to see what you know about me! And, if you want to play this on your own blog, leave me a link in the comments below so I can come guess on your page!

     I have a confession to make.      I was grumpy.      I was so excited about the opportunity to do a Word War.  It's something I have never done before.  But the idea of sitting down with a community of writers, pounding out material for your manuscript, and then sharing how far you got just sounded amazing.      And maybe it isn't amazing.  I used to want to ride a school bus.  And I wanted to ride it so bad that, when I finally got the chance, the smell of sweaty socks and stale kiddy perfume was sheer delight.  But I'm sure that people who HAVE to ride the bus are not nearly as enamored with it.     But, be that as it may, when I realized that I actually got the chance to do a real, live Word War, I was ecstatic.  The night of the War, I sat down and started typing.  Ready, set, here we go!      And then my husband called.     And he needed...

          I. am. terrified.      This next scene is supposed to be big.  It's supposed to be powerful.  Climatic.  Thrilling.  Intense.  The peak for the reader.  This is my culmination of everything.        What if it comes out flat?      I am genuinely worried about this.  It is so big in my head, but what if I can't make other people see that?  What if my Mona Lisa looks like a stick figure when I put her on paper?         Ahhhk!      I remember some famous author (I have forgotten who) talking about what a ticklish procedure it is to extract a story from your head and put it onto paper.  He warned that sometimes stories don't survive the transplant and sometimes he wondered if it was worth the effort at all.         Please, please, please, turn out well! [P.S. The picture is one ...

       I think it is kind of interesting the way a blog morphs over the course of it's existence.  Do you ever look back over your blog and remember the way you felt when you first started writing it?  Maybe it's just me, because I attach memories to things.  But I pull up my early, early blog posts and I remember how excited and apprehensive I was -- so full of ideas and plans for what my blog would become and at the same time nervous that it wouldn't succeed or that it would fall into the category of "boring" for all my readers.  And there's more emotions that I remember -- ones that I haven't really learned to put into words yet.      Why am I reminiscing today?  Because today, for me, is actually May 3rd, 2016.  That's right -- 2016.  This is another one of my time traveler letters.  I write a post and then arrange for it to be published a year later.  You should try it -- it's kind of a fun ex...

(This is a second response to my location challenge , because I needed to do a cheerful one, too)      A surge of eager welcoming washes over me as I reach the peak.  This is a place I love, and it makes me happy to be here again.  And the thought that I get to show it to Garrett makes me even happier.      But there's another feeling in my heart as I throw a glance over my shoulder.  I nearly walked straight into a bear about 200 yards back.  As brave as I was in the moment, now I'm worried that it's going to sneak up behind me and corner me on this peak.  And for a few brief seconds, the fear blocks the beauty of the peak from my view.  Funny how fear does that.      But it is beautiful up here.  On either side of me, tower two huge rocks that are each probably almost half as big around as my house and are at least as tall if not taller.  Between them is a third le...

     So I haven't written anything since my wedding.  Which means my husband has never seen me lost in another world.      Until now.      First, I run away and hide with my computer.  I don't want anybody around.  I'm thinking. Apparently, I look disturbed or moody at this point in time.  My beloved husband came up to see what I was doing, and he kept asking me if I was okay. Of course, I looked at him with eyes that saw right through him into another world far away and told him I was fine.  Which, perhaps, was not terribly reassuring. But my thoughts are storming through my mind like a stampeding stallion, and no part of my writer brain wants to slow it down.  Let it run!  Let it be strong!  Let it be powerful!  This is the stuff epic plots are made of. I wave him away and stare into my computer screen like I'm drawing my bow and t...

I found this in my journal from a long time ago, when I worked in a job that wasn't quite a comfortable fit for me. Lately I've been sucked, bit by bit, into a world different from my own -- sometimes in direct opposition to my culture.  I accept things, tolerate them, for peace' sake, rationalizing the lower value of culture in relation to the higher value of principle. But I underestimate how much I identify with my culture.  The pride and comfort I take in it.  The value I have for it.  It feels sacrificial to trade my jeans and workboots in for jewels and shiny flat shoes.  To take the things I've admired and heard praised by all who are dear to me and to trade them for the wardrobe bestowed upon me like a royal gift. It makes it harder, you know, because they view it as a rags to riches transformation for which I should be immeasurably grateful.  They poured money into me, trying to make me one of them.  I'm supposed to twirl...

Just thought you guys might like to see a picture of me and my fiance.  :) 

     Greetings, one and all.  I have a couple minutes to myself this evening, and I thought I would pop in to say I haven't forgotten about you.  But I have bank accounts to manage and business licenses to get and zoning to apply for and a marriage license to obtain and a million tiny wedding preparations to make.  Life has been really busy.  I should be filling out my zoning application for my business license right now, but that can wait 5 more minutes, can't it?      For me, the time is flying.  My wedding is less than 4 months away, and I still have so much to do.  It's a little overwhelming and the day will be here before I know it.      For my fiance, the time is dragging slower than time has ever gone before in the history of the world.  It's funny how time is so relative and variant in how people perceive it.      There's not a lot of time for self-reflection, which is a shame....

     Sooo...do you guys remember me telling you about my awesome boyfriend?  Well, I am pleased to announce that we are now engaged!  He took me on a hike this weekend and asked me to marry him.  And I said yes (after spouting out, "oh, my goodness!" about five times -- I was totally surprised even though I knew it was coming at some point).      The picture is from our hike (yes, he proposed at the top of a mountain).  The hike was full of adventures.  Mysterious fog.  Steep climbs.  Bears (yep, that's a great story).  Sunlight beaming down through the clouds.  Pretty cool stuff.      I'm not sure how normal people feel when they get engaged; but for me there is a huge churning of emotions, and my insides kind of resemble a washing machine.      I told my future-father-in-law that I was really excited and really happy and...just...a...little...bit...terrified.   ...

     The Mental Ward came to a close this past weekend.  I very much enjoyed writing this story and discovering it along with you all.  Your encouragement made a world of different to me, in helping me finish.  And it was kind of fun to just write without worrying about anything.  There were definitely some motivation-and-pleasure advantages to writing and sharing a story as you create it.      That being said, there are reasons we plan our stories before releasing them to the public.  If you read over The Mental Ward, from beginning to end, you will find multiple errors, some people speaking or acting out of character, several overused gestures or expressions, a few plot holes or unresolved threads, and so forth.  That's because stories are not perfect the first time through.  Remember, we edit for a reason.       Writers are often categorized as plotters or pantsers.  Plotters have their novel pla...

Because, as it turns out, people don't touch your life without causing ripples. Or cannonball splashes. So, last fall, an awesome, one-of-a-kind man waltzed into my life.  And it turned my writing world upside-down. First of all, I was distracted.  Ah-hem.  Yep, that probably doesn't need to be explained.  He was on my brain almost all the time, and I didn't really want to think about much else. Secondly, I was busier.  Normal writing times were replaced with long phone calls.  My life focus shifted from writing "the best story ever" to building a relationship that would potentially last for the rest of my earth-based existence. Of course, when I did get a minute to write, I wanted to spend it journaling about him.  Because real life was suddenly more important to me than my imaginary one. Go figure. So that resulted in several months of very little creative writing.  Which sounds bad.  But really isn't. Because... ...it made me ta...

Greetings, one and all!  I am writing this letter in 2015, and it will be posted on my blog one year later.  Which means that you are likely reading this on May 1st, 2016.  It's great fun to write something that you will read so much later.  I almost feel that you might could hear me, across this great gulf of time, if I yelled really, really loud. HELLO! HELLO! HELLO!  GREETINGS, O FUTURE ONES!  I CALL TO YOU FROM THE NOT-SO-DISTANT PAST OF 2014! Enough nonsense, now.  I thought I would start by responding to some of the things in my last letter. First order of business: inspiring blogs.      Rachel Heffington and Anne-girl continue to be inspirational to me, and their blogs will always hold a special place in my heart.  However, I have been especially helped recently by goteenwriters.blogspot.com .  K.M.Weiland's blog and http://thepenslayer.blogspot.com/ have also been influential for me this year.  And I am j...

I just wanted to pop in and express my gratitude to all of you.  You make me happier than you realize. So...hello to the new followers!  I'm so glad to have you on board!  Thank you for stopping by my little corner of the blogging world and liking it enough to come back regularly.  That makes my day.  You should see me counting my followers like a little girl counting how many presents she has under the Christmas tree. ;) And...hello to all of you who have joined me so wholeheartedly in this countdown to the Rooglewood contest announcement.  You guys are the one making this countdown so much fun.  I love reading all of your comments and feeling the friendship in them.  And I really, really, really am grateful for the support because this "wait" has truly been so much easier this year. And...hello to all of my old followers who let me take a long break and then welcomed me back with open arms.  I really appreciate you all.  So. ...