Category Archives: Writing

These are posts related to writing.


How to Find Time to Write

It isn’t easy for me to find time to write. Like most people, I have a lot to juggle in my life, appointments for my kids, my husband, and me. There’s also homeschooling 2 daughters and keeping my oldest on track as she begins college as a commuter, church activities, housework, cooking, speaking engagements, and my part-time real estate business. I could go on, but the fact is, I’m no busier than anyone else. We all have 24 hours a day, and we all find ways to fill those hours. How we fill those hours makes the difference between getting Read more…


Badge for Insecure Writer's Support Group

It’s the 1st Wednesday of the month again. That’s when I take part in Alex J. Cavanaugh’s Insecure Writer’s Support Group. I encourage you to check out their website and even sign up for the IWSG Newsletter. Today I will explore putting a schedule in place for writing. I’ll focus especially on blog writing/publishing, as I answer this month’s IWSG Day question: What steps have you taken to put a schedule in place for your writing and publishing? Success in a blog schedule starts with making a plan. A plan for your blog schedule starts with inspiration. Last fall, I read Meera Read more…


SMART goals

Every New Year I ask people if they’ve made a resolution, Most people respond with a resounding, “no!” it’s as if resolutions are dirty words rather than opportunities to create positive change. Goals give you a challenge. They help you to grow, not only as a person but toward the fulfillment of your dreams as well. Everyone has goals—or at least, they should have goals. My theory is that people avoid making resolutions because they have grown frustrated with failing to keep them, year after year.  This year, make some resolutions by making SMART goals. Before we get to what  SMART goals are, Read more…


Writing Resources

I love books about writing. Sometimes, though, you need to wade through a lot of fluff to find great ones. I’ve put together a list of writing resources that I purchased and read/used in 2017–and loved. Though this list could be much longer, I’ll limit it to 6 of my favorites. Resources For Fiction Writers   Fiction writers can’t go wrong with the following writing resources by K. M. Weiland. I have read them all and have found them incredibly useful for getting the timing and tension right in my fiction writing. She’s an engaging writer whose books on writing Read more…


Badge for Insecure Writer's Support Group

It’s the 1st Wednesday of the month again. That’s when I take part in Alex J. Cavanaugh’s Insecure Writer’s Support Group. I encourage you to check out their website and even sign up for the IWSG Newsletter. Today I will look back 2017 and consider my successes and failures, as I answer this month’s IWSG Day question: As you look back on 2017, with all its successes/failures, if you could backtrack, what would you do differently? Rating My Successes and Failures My writing life is comprised of several different aspects. I’ll share a few of them and how I view my successes Read more…


Badge for Insecure Writer's Support Group

It’s the 1st Wednesday of the month again. That’s when I take part in Alex J. Cavanaugh’s Insecure Writer’s Support Group. I encourage you to check out their website and even sign up for the IWSG Newsletter. Today I will share my experience with NaNoWriMo and critique groups, as I answer this month’s IWSG Day question: Win or not, do you usually finish your NaNoWriMo project? Have any of them gone on to be published? NaNoWriMo 2016 Last year, I participated in NaNoWriMo. It was a great experience. I did win. I completed my VERY rough draft of about 75,000 words during the Read more…


Police

It’s the 1st Wednesday of the month again. That’s when I take part in Alex J. Cavanaugh’s Insecure Writer’s Support Group. I encourage you to check out their website and even sign up for the IWSG Newsletter. Today I will share about how spending time with the local police and firefighters has helped me make my characters and scenes more realistic, as I answer this month’s IWSG Day question: Have you ever slipped any of your personal information into your characters, either by accident or on purpose? What do you know? I love the old axiom “write what you know.” Unfortunately, that Read more…


Badge for Insecure Writer's Support Group

It’s the 1st Wednesday of the month again. That’s when I take part in Alex J. Cavanaugh’s Insecure Writer’s Support Group. I encourage you to check out their website and even sign up for the IWSG Newsletter. Today I will share about how hard it can be to make changes in your writing as I answer this month’s IWSG Day question. The IWSG Day question for September is: Have you ever surprised yourself with your writing? What has surprised me are the times when I have made changes, despite how difficult it is to do. Artists, including (perhaps, especially) writers, get very Read more…


Badge for Insecure Writer's Support Group

It’s the 1st Wednesday of the month again. That’s when I take part in Alex J. Cavanaugh’s Insecure Writer’s Support Group. The IWSG Day question for July is: What is one valuable lesson you’ve learned since you started writing? My answer: Take Time. This is the perfect topic for me to write about right now. I just got back from our family’s annual “Erickson Cabin Week.” About 25 of us (the number varies slightly each year) go to Woman Lake Lodge where we spend time together, swim, read, and play games. I recently had surgery on my foot and can’t bear weight Read more…


Badge for Insecure Writer's Support Group

It’s the 1st Wednesday of the month again. That’s when I take part in Alex J. Cavanaugh’s Insecure Writer’s Support Group.  This June, the question insecure writers are writing about is: Did you ever say I quit? If so, what happened to make you come back to writing? When my husband and I were first married, Dan was working part time as a Realtor and thanks to the housing market implosion, a full-time bus driver. I was a contract sewer. The kind that sews things, not the thing waste water passes through. I also was homeschooling our 3 daughters. It Read more…


Badge for Insecure Writer's Support Group

For this post, I will take a refreshing break from writing about cancer. Today is the first Wednesday of the month. That’s the day when members of Ninja Captain Alex J. Cavanaugh‘s Insecure Writer’s Support Group post an article answering the question of the month. This month, I will share about the importance of research as well as my recent interview of a Wisconsin conservation warden. May’s IWSG Day Question:  What is the weirdest/coolest thing you ever had to research for your story? Without further ado…My answer: My interview of a Wisconsin Conservation Warden I’m working on the revisions of my Read more…


A to Z Challenge

On March 29th, I saw a post about the A-Z Challenge in my Facebook feed. At the time, I was publishing one post once a week. My website was in serious need of resuscitation. Could I do it? Blog every day for a month (except for Sundays)? How would I come up with a topic for every letter? My blogging habits were terrible and I already had a lot on my to-do list. Should I even attempt the A-Z Challenge? For a list of links to my A-Z Challenge posts, go HERE. How I began The first thing I had to Read more…


Making Memories

Making memories as a family Every family makes memories, either intentionally or unintentionally as they move though life together. When someone in the family is diagnosed with cancer, it’s especially important to become intentional in this memory making process. Your life as a family is much like an orchestra. You all have a part to play. As parents, you conduct, moving your family through the music, through the high notes, the low notes, and the rests. All too often, families put their lives on hold, with the intention of resuming once the cancer is under control or out of the Read more…


  The Memory Maker’s Journal is available in 5 different covers!   The Memory Maker’s Journal- Ruby Edition   The Memory Maker’s Journal- Turquoise, Red, and Orange Edition   The Memory Maker’s Journal- Navy and Violet Edition   The Memory Maker’s Journal- Pink Edition   The Memory Maker’s Journal- Turquoise Edition   Why a Memory Maker’s Journal? When my husband, Dan was diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer in 2012, one of the things we soon realized was that our time on earth was finite. Would our children and grandchildren know our stories and what made us who we are? Read more…


Do you like a good thriller? A book that takes you by surprise, grabs you and doesn’t let go? Then Jacqui Murray has a book for you! Check out To Hunt a Sub! Jacqui Murray is the author of one of my favorite blogs,  WordDreams. She is the author and editor of over 100 books on integrating tech into education. She shares “must-know” tech advice for anyone who likes to use a computer. This, along with her popular thesaurus style posts which offer a ton of different ways to describe things in your writing, is why her blog is so Read more…


Badge for Insecure Writer's Support Group

As part of the Insecure Writer’s Support Group, we write a blog post the first Wednesday of every month on a particular topic. The goal is to encourage and support one another. This month’s question is,  “What was your very first piece of writing as an aspiring writer? Where is it now? Collecting dust or has it been published?” It’s a great opportunity to answer a question I frequently get, “Did you ever publish your novel?” I finished the rough draft of a mystery about a year ago. It’s sitting in my scrivener files. A printed copy that I began Read more…


Badge for Insecure Writer's Support Group

I’m part of the Insecure Writer’s Support Group. it’s a fun group of writers and bloggers who share how things are going with their writing and encourage one another. You can find out more about these awesome (and sometimes insecure) writers,  HERE. One of the things we do on the 1st Wednesday of each month is to write on a specific topic or question. July’s question is: “What’s the best thing someone has ever said about your writing?” I only had to look back a couple of weeks in my memory… I recently published a book called, Facing Cancer as Read more…


Facing Cancer as a Friend

In case you haven’t heard, Facing Cancer as a Friend: How to Support Someone who has Cancer, is now available in both Kindle and paperback formats! This morning, Dan and I were having coffee and a bagel, on Panera’s patio,  when I overheard a conversation that stopped me dead. I wasn’t trying to be nosy. It’s just that when I hear the words “cancer,” and “lymph nodes,” my ears perk up. I looked over to see 4 couples sitting around a table, all the ladies on one end, and the men on the other. They were all retirement age. I Read more…

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