Writing writing writingggggggg............gah!

ok. my bad. I forgot what it is like to be shy about what I write. Duh! So I'm an idiot. A shout out to thank those who contacted me via private message to remind me. I'll think of something more confidential that we can do. My apologies to anyone who felt stressed out by my asking for your topics of passion.

A shout out to the bunch at Immanuel Lutheran. Thank you for having me peak last week and for choosing my book for your book club. Please feel free to give me input when you're done. I'd love to hear from you.

My column comes out next weekend. Pick up a copy if you think of it. No spoilers here on topic. ;-)

I'll be at Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd in February giving a message on boldness. I've spoken for a lot of groups, many of them churches, but this will be the first time I'll have spoken at my home church. It'll feel different to look out and recognize so many faces. I don't usually get nervous  when I have to speak, but this feels a little more personal, you know? I hope I don't trip and fall on my face. It's not like I can leave and never see these people again!

Next week I start facilitating the master gardener level II class and I have to admit to being a little intimidated by the technology. We have a live feed from UW-Madison and even though I went to the university and grilled the techies I'm still unsure of the entire process. I understand how to plug in by entering the link into the computer, but according to the techie we'll need a phone line for questions or I'll have to type them.

Riddle me this, Batman  ... why the heck are there microphones in front of each seat then? I asked about it and apparently no one knows if they're working. If the tech department doesn't know, who does? Add to that, my pass key to get into the room didn't work until maintenance came and entered their pass code, which is as closely guarded as pass codes to a missile silo. ARG! I don't like the way technology can control the outcome of a well planned endeavor. Am I right?

I'm excited to speak to the Heart of the Farm ladies in March at the Heyde Center for the Arts. It promises to be a wonderful experience. If you're a blog reader please introduce yourself. I'd love to put a face to a name.

I'll also be in Madison speaking at the Circles of Life conference in April. It's an amazing conference and one you should take in if you have a loved one with special needs. The legal information alone is invaluable to say nothing of the other resources. There is still time to register. 

My first fiction book is done done. the second fiction book is half written. Still hacking away at nonfiction book two. Doing research now but I've been so tired in the evenings that when I sit down to read statistics I nearly doze off. Okay. So sometimes I rest my eyes ... with the recent study in hand. It's because of all the painting I've been doing ............

I've been painting the basement floor and boy do I feel it! We had ripped up all the carpet and painted the floor an off white. It was just too cold, you know? I bought a  warm terra cotta color and with the off white walls and blue accents I think it will really warm it up and take the institutional feel out of my office as well as the family room. I have deep blue accents and with some peach and light blue to brighten it should look nice. I was in Sherwin Williams buying more paint and decided it was the last time I'd do the job myself -- read that with family help. Anything else is going to be hired out. Some kid was standing at the counter covered in paint flecked clothing. When I asked the clerk for a good painter he had the kid write down his info. Do I call that a recommendation? Or did they say that because the kid was standing there and they didn't have a choice, not wanting to offend another customer, a good customer by the look of it? Am I overanalyzing this? The next room I'd like painted is my living room so I don't want to hire Larry, Curly and Moe.

Egads and little fishes! I've entered a month's worth of blog posts in one. Mea culpa. This is why I don't blog at the end of the day. I ramble. Next post will be my normal succinct issuance. I promise. Thanks for hanging in there with me.

Have a great week and write something ... anything!
God bless,
Karen

Passion

An Update:
I'm feeling guilty that I haven't blogged since October. Life seems to get in the way. My new leaf, or New Year's resolution is to blog once each month and gradually get back into weekly blogging. I used to do it so I know it can be done. (reference the writing blog you see at the side of this one!)

Writing is going well. I was hoping to have this therapy book into the graphic stage at the beginning of January but I want to add more photos ... and since they are pics of flora, fauna, gardens and landscape I need summer to arrive. Not really sure what I want to do on that.

Speaking engagements are coming in, which is nice. I love meeting people and chatting with them.

Our Topic: Passion

While I've written for newspapers and magazines at local and national levels, journalism is not my passion or my gift. Writing story is. This becomes self-evident when my "stories" go national, then international and are translated into other languages. It becomes obvious when those same stories win awards for passion.

When you truly care about your topic, it shows. People feel something when they read your words. They may laugh, or just chuckle. They might sob, or quietly sigh. Even anger is desirable (not pleasant, but still coveted) over indifference. No matter what the response, your passion has joined with the light that lives inside each of your readers and for a moment you are a combined being.

Write about what you are passionate about and proficiency will come knocking. And for God's sake, DON'T edit anything you aren't capable of writing! That's just ridiculous! Inability WILL show, just as ability does.

List twelve topics you are passionate about. Each month in 2012 investigate one. I will too. Post your twelve topics during the first week of January on this blog, in the comments section, and we'll talk about them during the first week of February. If you are a writer who has not been published and would like to be this is a good chance to start thinking about where to direct your efforts.

Have a Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah.
God bless you .... and for YOUR sake, WRITE SOMETHING!
Love and joy,
Karen

A Slight Hiccup ...

Work is going well. The book looks good. Lots to do though and I was derailed by a broken tooth filling which meant a crown ... OUCH$! It wasn't the dentist appointments that waylaid me, it was the price tag. It meant more piece work, more technical writing so I couldn't get to my own work. Ah well, gotta pay the bills, you know?

I'm stuck on a couple of formats. I like them both. One day I like one better, the next day I change my mind. Still somewhat of a bonfire going here.

I will start taking submissions in January of 2012 but am concentrating on several types of books. More to come on that later. I'm not being coy, I just haven't talked to my consultancy board yet. They'll help me make decisions on the details.

Well, I'm done for the day. I have press shots tomorrow, pray that I don't look like an idiot which is usually what happens. Not this time, right? ;-)

Talk soon ... and for goodness sakes ... write something!
God bless,
Karen

Back to the Blogosphere ... Never having left the writing world...

I've been so busy with life and work that I haven't had time to blog. Mea culpa. Bad writer.

For some odd reason I feel the need to be outside as much as possible in the autumn before the snow flies. It's not unusual for a work day to start extra early so I can be done by 11:00 a.m. on my way to the Mississippi River to watch the eagles, check on the tundra swans, buy a sprout and avocado sandwich at a favorite haunt ... well you get the idea.

Work is going well. I'm in the weird twilight of organizing a book that I'm still researching. It's the point where I dance around it, working on it like the silly thing is a bonfire, too hot to handle. It sits on the table, or on the living room floor if the table doesn't have enough room, in pieces that seem to come together like a build function in a Lego Batman or Lego Harry Potter game. Wish I had a wand to wave them around. Instead I pick them up, set them down, arrange them and rearrange them. Some chapters are settled and I move them in their entirety. Others have sections that need to shift and morph into somewhere or something different.

It feels more structured now. Less an entity and more of a book-like thing. Walking, much as I hate it, helps. So does driving places, working in the yard and cleaning. The last time I left the chapters all over the living floor to do dishes, because I needed that "break", I came back to find the dog sprawled across everything. Strangely enough, the pages that she kicked over into other piles ... well, some of them looked better there. I bribed her off my text with a dog biscuit and settled in to rearrange, the dishwater getting cold as momentary clarity hit.

I'll get there. It's just how the process works.
Hope your writing day is going well.
God bless....

Karen

In-flow

As an artist, I'm starved for 'in-flow' right now. Julia Cameron advises artists to make artist dates with themselves and head out to explore their inner child. While I see the value of consciously keeping tabs on the amount of artistic stimulation we experience, I disagree that those pursuits need to explore the inner child. Perhaps, instead, we need to tap into our inner artist, our creative spirit.

One of the best ways for me to reconnect with my creativity is to head out into nature. If I can spend time gardening, nature walking or taking in the out-of-doors with all five senses I'm in good shape to write. While I'm viewing an grandfather oak, certain connections in my brain take place and stories form.

Right now, the ground is soggy and the air is cool, 32 degrees this fine May morning. I think I need to head out to a greenhouse where it's toasty and filled with the flora and fauna of spring.

Make a date with yourself to get out and experience life. Feed the artist within.
Much love and joy,
Karen

Summer is coming!

Today has been a good day to write. While I can't usually wait for a "good day" to write, some days it's hard to put my butt in the chair and do it. Days like Sunday and Monday. Both were 70 and sunny. Today it's rainy and hard to come up with excuses to "dance around the fire" as it were.

May is an incredibly busy month. It seems like everything comes to an end. Summer is twelve weekends jam-packed with an extravaganza of fair and festival attendance, family and friend reunions, and other sundry obligations and activities that keep us running most of the months of June, July and August. We don't have to live by the mantra "weather permitting" as the sun actually packs some heat and the breezes grow soft and balmy.

This summer I have an activity that I'm cooking up with one of the city council members to combine our Best Buddy group and the Master Gardeners in an effort to grow flowers and herbs along the riverfront. I'm really looking forward to it. I'm a big believer in therapeutic horticulture so can't wait to see what kind of benefits are reaped for the kids, along with the herbs. I'm sure it'll be amazing ... with the added benefit of slowing me down in the summer months.

I'll post an invite for the ribbon cutting of the raised beds. I hope you can join us! Take care and leave a few weekends open this summer. I may need you all to water plants for me! lol.
Much love and joy,
Karen

Eaglets

It's another day and I'm torn. I need to work on my therapy book but my fiction books are the most fun. Seems like I face this decision daily. To say nothing of marketing the book that is already out there ... and researching ... and editing ... and ....watching the eaglets hatch in Decorah. Yeah, I know I derailed a bit there. My family is from Decorah so it carried a little more meaning for me I guess, than the average person.

I watched the first eaglet hatch and was struck by the mother's constant gathering, positioning and moving around the eggs and chick. She fed the first little dude some meat that I assume was regurgitated, although my view was blocked a little. I wondered it this was her first batch of eggs. Do all new mothers feel the same way? Nervous, overattentive, continually adjusting our responses to the baby's cries? I watched the mother eagle and it seemed almost as though there was a tangible intensity emitted from her. The movements were broody and tense.

You never know when you'll need those kinds of details when you're writing. All experiences feed into the stories you write in some way. A writer friend of mine, when bad things happen in her life, is fond of saying, "It's all material." Yes ... and no. Some of our experiences serve to change our view, others feed into our bank of sensory awareness, still others we merely enjoy or get through.

Today I'll check on my eagles. Brood a bit over my book babies and finally settle in to feed one.
See you next time.
For goodness sake ... write somethin', will ya?
Much love and joy,
Karen