Word Strumpet

Practical Considerations for Journal Writing, Second in Series

Yesterday, in a post titled, Journaling, One Path to Writing Abundance, I began a series about, you guessed it, journaling.  I wrote a bit about why I think journaling is valuable for a writing practice and how indispensable my journal is to me.

Today, before we go any further in this series, I want to talk about some journaling practicalities.

Don't let that word, "practicality," scare you, because this is actually the fun stuff, all about choosing the correct journal and pen with which to write.   You might, at this point, be balking just as much over the word, "correct," as you did over the word, "practicality." All of us creative types hate concepts like correct, and structure, and organization.

But in this case, I mean the correct journal for you.  The correct journal is the one that you fall in love with on the shelves of the store.  It is the one that makes you feel good every time you pick it up.  The journal it makes you happy to open.  The one that you love so much you will actually fill it with words.  

What works for me might not work for you at all.  What I love in a journal may be what you hate, or vice versa.  So take some time and try some different options out and see what you like best.  If you've tried journaling in the past and not taken to it, there's a chance that you weren't using the correct journal.  Honestly, it is that important.  Besides, whiling away the afternoon in an office supply store is almost as good as whiling away the afternoon at a bookstore.  Or, you could do both and pretend you are Christmas shopping.**

Here are my guidelines, the qualities that work for me:

1. Lined paper.  I don't know, maybe I like structure more than I think.  The unlined pages are almost overwhelming to me.  Plus, they make me feel like I should be adding delicate sketches or artful doodles and I'm just not good at that.  So my journals are lined.
2.  Spiral or soft binding.  I carry my journal with me everywhere and could as easily be perched by a stream (okay I made that up, because I'm not generally that outdoorsy) writing as near a table.  I need a journal I can balance on my knee and still write on easily.  Up until recently, I was an adamant defender of the cause that all journals should be spiral bound.  But then I became the last person on the planet to discover the Moleskine journal.  Its soft cover doubles back on itself easily and works fine to write on in various situations.  Another type of notebook that falls into this category is the good old composition book you can buy cheaply at any office supply store or stationery department.  They'll have lots of good spirals, too.  I still love me those spirals.
3.  Size does matter.  I prefer the 5 by 8ish size, which is easy to stash in my purse or carry along.  Some of you may prefer a pocket size, which I find a bit confining, or the big desk size.  It is all about what works for you.
4.  Um, I guess I don't have a fourth guideline.  Except to repeat what I said earlier: find what works best for you.  Experiment, play with the process.  Find a journal that makes you long to stop everything, open it up, and write!

Besides the journal itself, there is the matter of the pen, which is nearly as important.  Again, while some may prefer a bold tip, others may always go for the fine.  I went through a long phase of preferring a medium point but am not back to an obsession with the fine point.  Then there's color...while I have a long-standing preference for blue, it is harder to find than black.  Plus these days there are all those great sets of multi-colored pens you can buy.  When you find a pen you fall in love with, stock up on it immediately because, A. manufacturers stop making them for no reason I can tell, and B. pens are like socks and Legos, they disappear.

So that's it for journaling practicality.  Feel free to share what your favorite journal and pen are in the comments.  And stay tuned for the next installment (which, with luck, will be tomorrow) on journaling.

**Speaking of Christmas shopping, don't forget my free holiday gift to you this season--I'm giving away coaching sessions!  Totally and completely free, they are, with no strings of any kind attached.  Head on over here and check out the details.

Journaling: One Path to Writing Abundance

 
I'm an inveterate journaler.  As a matter of fact, I'm certain the reason I'm a writer today is because of the fake red leather diary, complete with lock and key, that I got for Christmas when I was 8 or 9.  Unlatching it was so enticing--all those lined pages to be filled with words!  I've been journaling off and on ever since.

When, as a young adult I decided I wanted to be a writer, it was to my journal that I turned.  There, I scribbled notes for stories I didn't have time to write, accounts of the events and activities of my life, and entries about the joys and frustrations of being a mother.  Gradually, the time I spent writing lengthened out, and the journal expanded to personal essays and short stories.  Eventually, I returned to school to get my MFA, and now I make my living as a writer.   I'm fairly sure none of this would have happened without my trusty journal always at my side. 

So as you might guess, I'm a big fan of using journaling as part of a regular writing routine.  I've been thinking a lot about journaling the past few days, maybe because on these cold late-autumn days, curling up by a fire and writing away in my Moleskine feels like just the right thing to do.  I've also been thinking about it because journaling is an important aspect of the practice of creating, one of the seven practices of the prolific and prosperous writer. I'm writing about these practices for the Writing Abundance E-book I'm working on, and I also talk about them in my live workshops (the next one of which I'll be presenting in Nashville in January.  Go here for more info.)  So I decided I'd share some of my thoughts on journaling here.  And then I realized that I had way more material than would fit in one blog post.  So stay tuned for an ongoing series, which I'll post over the next few days.  (Um, that is, with a little bit of luck.  It is Christmas, after all, and I've barely begun my shopping.)

Let me start by listing  a few reasons why I think journaling is good for your writing:

• Flow.  First and foremost, because committing to writing in a journal regularly keeps your flow going.  It teaches you to let loose and just write about your day, your dreams, or anything at all.
• Momentum.  Writing in a journal regularly gives you a sense of momentum, and the realization that yes, you can do this thing called writing.
• Ease.  Journaling teaches you to be facile with words.  The knowledge that you can put one word after another boosts your confidence.  And this skill is transferable to other projects.

I use my journal in many different ways and you'll literally always find me with it open by my side.  I use it for:

• Lists
• Notes on Projects
• First Drafts
• To-Do Lists
• As a life chronology
• Notes
• Ideas
• Things I've Overheard

As you can see, my journal is pretty much a mish-mash of collected words and uses, which is why its so valuable to me.  It contains my life in one location.  But nearly every day I also find time to write some sort of journal entry in it, and it is this practice that I find so valuable and what I want to talk about further.

In tomorrow's post I'll talk about the various kinds of journal entries I've identified: Morning Pages, The Whiney Emotional Outburst, Day Planning, and my favorite, all the variations on the Chronology.  See you then.

Free Coaching Sessions!

Oh, and don't forget that I'm offering free coaching sessions for writers.  Yes, free!  Honest!  Why not start 2010 right and get clear on your most important writing goals and what might be holding you back from them?  Step right up and claim your writing life.  Hop on over here and read all about it.  And email me for an appointment!

The Writing Life: Walking the Labyrinth

Writers are always looking for ways to boost their creative practice.  I know I am.  I collect writing exercises and creativity activities nearly as obsessively as I collect books.  Today I want to write about another excellent practice I've recently discovered: walking the labyrinth.

In a recent post, I mentioned my stint as the "book doctor" at Room to Write, a writing retreat held in Nashville. The retreat was held at the Scarritt-Bennett center. Rabbi Rami Shapiro, the organizer and guiding light of the retreat, talked to us about the history of the labyrinth one very cold morning, and afterward guided us on a labyrinth walk.  I'd like to share a bit of that experience with you here. 

Most people hear the word labyrinth and think maze.  But a maze is a very different beast from a labyrinth.  Navigating a maze, your left brain is activated.  At each puzzling juncture, you are forced to make a choice or a decision as to which path to take to reach the center.  It is a problem-solving activity.

Conversely, there's only one choice to be made with the labyrinth: whether to enter or not.  (Isn't this a great metaphor for writing already?)  Because once you do make the choice to enter the labyrinth, there is only one way to go and your only job is to follow it.  Once you are on the writing path, you’ll need to trust that you are exactly where you need to be.  You need to allow yourself to succumb to the process of writing.

Once you set foot on the labyrinth, the way in is the way out.  Walking the labyrinth is a metaphor for the journey to your deepest self and returning again to the world with a more profound understanding of yourself—and the words to share it.  This is the very process that the writer repeats day by day, one word at a time onto the page.  The labyrinth encourages a deep trust in the process, that surrendering to it is not only okay, but desirable—something we often forget in our organized, logical world.

A labyrinth is also a symbolic form of pilgrimage, and as writers we make pilgrimages to our deepest selves every day.  The labyrinth is an ancient form, with the first labyrinths being mentioned in Pliny's Natural History as being located in Crete, Egypt, and Italy.  Later adopted by Christians, they fell out of favor for many centuries but have recently been resurrected as a tool for spiritual, contemplative, transformational and creative paths.  Not surprisingly, they are incredibly useful for solving writing problems.

On that cold morning last week, as we walked the labyrinth at Scarritt-Bennett, Rami encouraged us to repeat a problem with our writing (or life) on the way in, pause in the center, and then ponder a possible answer on the way out.  Or, he said, you can just repeat a word such as peace or love or home.  I was quite taken with labyrinth walking and how useful it was to shaking free ideas.

One of the most famous labyrinths is at Chartres Cathedral in France, and many labyrinths are modeled in this style, including the one at Scarritt-Bennett.   Because of a recent surge in popularity, you’ll find labyrinths in many public places, including parks and churches, most of which are open to the public.  A quick internet search will find you a labyrinth in your area.    If you absolutely can’t find a labyrinth to walk, you can find finger labyrinths for sale on the internet, or perhaps at your new age bookstore.

I highly recommend it as a creative tool, to say nothing of a profound spiritual experience.  I've already scoped out a few labyrinths here in Portland, and plan to visit them as soon as possible.   Do any of you have experience walking the labyrinth?  Feel free to share.

PS.  Don't forget to sign up for my free coaching sessions for writers!  You can find out more about this offer here.  Please sign up!  I really want to talk to you!

Free It's Time To Get Off Your Duff and Write Sessions

Yes, you read that headline correctly. 

I am offering a limited number of free It's Time You Got Off Your Duff and Write sessions, otherwise known as life coaching for writers. 

Because, honestly?  It is time.

• Time for you to write that novel you've always dreamed about...
• Time for you to write the book that will promote your career and get you speaking engagements...
• Time to start journaling for self-improvement, time to begin that memoir, time to write the articles for your job or copy for your website.

These days, we all have writing to do.  And lots of us are not getting it done.  I know, because I read about the struggle to find time to write in the comments, and I hear about how difficult it is from students and clients.

The thing is, writing echoes life and life echoes writing.  And a funny thing happens when you decide to really commit to your writing and get to it.  As you begin putting words to the page, over and over again, your life suddenly looks brighter.  All of a sudden you are in love with the world, experiencing that glorious feeling that delving deeply into your creativity gives you.  And when you are in love with the world, magical things happen.  Your diet and exercise resolutions are easier to stick to.  Your relationships improve (after all, once you're in an intimate conversation with yourself, it is easier to be intimate with another).  Your life opens up in a million new directions.

Do I promise that all these things will happen if you commit (or recommit) to your writing?  No, of course not.  But I can promise that all these things have happened to me as a result of writing and I've seen it occur for countless others, too.   So let's find out what might happen for you.

What might you want to discuss in one of these sessions?  Here's a few suggestions:

• Your new year's resolution for writing.
• Fitting time for writing into your life.
• Getting unblocked.
• Establishing a connection to the universe to help the words flow.
• Ways to generate ideas.
• How a book benefits your business.
• The writing process.
• And anything else you can think of having to do with writing and life...

And now you might be wondering why I am doing this?  Besides the fact that I'm a nice person and my favorite thing to do besides write is to help other writers,the main reason I'm doing this is that I want to coach more writers next year.  I want to do less manuscript reading and more coaching and this is one way I can introduce you to my coaching practice.

In case you were wondering, I've got me some credentials for this coaching, yes, I do.  Here ya go:

• MFA, creative writing, Spalding University
• Certified Action Coach, American Seminar Leader's Association
• Reference Point Therapy, through Level Two workshop
• Theta Healing, through Advanced workshop
• Director, Writer's Loft at MTSU
• Years of writing and mentoring others

So now that you've come this far with me, you are no doubt asking what the specifics of the free sessions are.  I'm offering them on certain upcoming dates over the next few weeks, which I'll list below.  Choose a first and second choice for date and time and email me at wordstrumpet@gmail.com.  (Please put "Free Coaching Session" in the subject line.)  I'll email you back with the time, a wee little homework assignment,  and the number to call.  Remember, I'm on the west coast, so all times will be Pacific time.  Each session is 15 minutes.

Tuesday, December 15th, morning

Wednesday, December 16th, evening

Thursday, December 17th, afternoon

Monday, December 28th, afternoon

Tuesday, December 29th, evening

Wednesday, December 30th, morning

I can't wait to talk to you!

Writing in the Rain in Nashville

If the title of this post sounds familiar, its because it is....I wrote a post called The Writing Life: It's Raining in Nashville back in September when last I was here.  It rained hard then, and it is raining hard

once again today.                     (Above: View of labyrinth from my room at Scarrritt-Bennett)               

Personally, I like the rain.  I'm an Oregonian, after all--I'm used to it.  But I also like the cold, wintry days we had here last week, with the sky gray and threatening snow.  I arrived on Wednesday to be the "book doctor" for Room to Write, an amazingly wonderful four-day writing retreat.

I got a lot of writing and pondering (c'mon, it is a vitally important part of writing) done, got introduced to the quiet thrill of walking the labyrinth, discovered a couple great new Nashville restaurants, and most importantly, met some incredible people.

I feel blessed to work with Rabbi Rami.  A mutual friend described him as one of the sharpest theologians of our time, and I think she's right.  He's also got a passion for writing and a passion for helping other writers.  He's awesome, plain and simple.

My very first coaching appointment was with Janet Hagan.  I came away from it with A. a new social media consultant, and B. (and most importantly) an awesome new friend.  This woman is amazing, people!  Go read her blog and soak up her wisdom.  Or hire her.  She is great at demystifying social networking for writers.

Ruth Williams is a therapist whose mission is to spread joy...and just being with her begins that process! I also shared the weekend with John Anderson, whose smile, jokes, and enthusiasm for writing lit up everyone's day, Sarah Young, Deborah Hatton, and Samantha Yeargin, new friends who were a pleasure to get to know.  I could write pages about any of them, but I won't because I have other things to discuss.

My job at the retreat was to be on hand for coaching, hand-holding, and offering advice about writing.  Besides writing, I love coaching writers (and other creative types) more than anything else in the world. It is satisfying to hear that my efforts have helped others past blocks but that's not why I do it.  I do it because through my own years as a writer, I've discovered techniques to unblock myself and keep the words flowing and its my mission in life to share them.  Why?  Because I'm a sappy soul who believes that if everyone followed their creative path regularly, we'd have a lot happier world.  Fewer wars, less anger, more joy and happiness and good old fashioned contentment.

My pleasure in coaching writers this weekend has led me to a Thought.  And the Thought is that I want to spend more time coaching in the new year.  I'm not talking about reviewing or critiquing writing here--that is a totally different beast.  I want to spend time helping you get the words on the page, whether that requires gentle prodding or swift kicks in the you-know-what.

The coaching will be based on my own system, Writing Abundance: The Seven Practices of the Prolific and Prosperous Writer, because I want you to be both madly prolific and wildly prosperous in the new year.  (If you want to learn more about this system, you can also subscribe to my newsletter, at the top right of this page.)

To celebrate this decision, I'm going to be offering free coaching sessions.  Yes, you heard it right, free coaching sessions.  Soon as I get back to Portland, I'll sit down with my calendar and figure out the specifics, so keep your eye on this blog.  And if you can't wait until then, if you need help right this very minute with your writing, just go ahead and email me.  You'll find the address at the top of this page.  So until next time, happy writing.

Book Giveaway

One of my faithful readers, novelist Heather Justesen, is having a wonderful week full of giveaways over at her blog this week.  Check it out here.

Heather is the author of the newly-released, The Ball's In Her Court, and she's got another book coming out this summer.  Gotta love that.  Here's a brief summary that I snitched from her website (in the interest of promotion, I don't think she'll get too upset with me):

She's got a great job, a loving group of family and friends and basketball skills like you wouldn't believe, but Denise DeWalt's life is far from perfect, and she's about to come face-to-face with a past she hoped to leave behind forever.

Twenty-six-year-old Denise thinks she's come to terms with her childhood in the foster care system, but when her old nightmares return, Denise realizes that she must deal with her past once and for all if she ever wants to move on to a brighter future with Rich, the only man who can see past her former life. As Denise's search leads her closer and closer to the one person she hoped she'd never have to face again, she begins to realize that her future depends on just one person--herself.

This emotional and inspirational love story proves that life is full of unexpected twists and turns--especially when it comes to facing your demons, fighting for love, and finding happiness for the future

Review: The Future That Brought Her Here

The Future That Brought Her Here

by Deborah Denicola

Before we get started, I want to make one thing perfectly clear, just in case the FTC happens to be reading my blog (stranger things have happened, but not many).  I have an ulterior motive in writing this review: I got a free book to do so.  Gasp!  I know, I know, shocking but true, review copies of books are given out so that writers can read them.

Okay, that taken care of, let's get started.  This memoir by Deborah DeNicola is about a spiritual quest.  The author found herself plagued by strange visions (a room she was in completely changed itself to a previous incarnation) and intense spirits, for lack of a better word, who made her life somewhat of a living hell with their antics.  But, ultimately, this turned out to be a good thing, as it set in motion a journey through many mystic and mystery traditions, including goddess worshiping and the gnostic gospels, and consultations with psychics and channelers.  Denicola, a poet, also set off on journeys to sacred sites in Israel and Europe.

DeNicola's background in poetry clearly shines through in her lyrical descriptions and beautiful flights of fancy.  Her accounting of her quest for spiritual answers in incredible in its detail.  Since I can't generally remember what I ate for lunch the day before, I'm amazed at the recall DeNicola has about things that happened years ago.  I don't mean this as a criticism--rather; I'm envious.  I presume she kept a meticulous diary.  And even with that, the level of detail is impressive.  I keep what I consider a somewhat obsessive diary and I still wouldn't be able to recount my every thought from years ago.

Impressive as the detail is, I also consider it the main drawback of the book.  At times I longed for a glance at the bigger picture because being inside DeNicola's head for the constant play by play of her quest was sometimes exhausting.  Upon occasion, I longed for a step back to ponder what all of this might mean. 

That being said, the book is well worth reading, particularly for those with an interest in New Age and spiritual topics.  There's a lot of interesting history and information here, on a wide variety of topics, sometimes all on one page!  Deborah DeNicola has written quite a fascinating memoir.  Here's a bit more information on her, in a blurb provided by her publisher:

Deborah DeNicola is the author of five poetry collections and she edited the anthology Orpheus & Company; Contemporary Poems on Greek Mythology. Among other awards she won a Poetry Fellowship in 1997 from the National Endowment for the Arts. Deborah has been a recipient of many writing colony residencies. She also teaches dream image work and mentors writers online at her web site www.intuitivegateways.com. To purchase a copy of The Future That Brought Her Here and receive up to 20 bonus gifts, please visit: http://www.thefuturethatbroughtherhere.com/bonusoffers/

Give Thanks for Being a Writer

Everyone and their uncle are writing thank you posts and sending out newsletters telling about how grateful they are today. 

Don't get me wrong,this is a good thing--I'm all for gratitude, especially now that I've figured out being grateful doesn't mean settling.  (This is generally where I get hung up on my spiritual journey, misunderstanding the basic tenets of it.)

The only problem I have today is how to say something original about being thankful and full of gratitude.  It is not yet even Thanksgiving, and I've read a gazillion posts and emails and newsletters that say essentially the same thing: we're so grateful for you, our customer reader, its all about me you, I'm going to give you something that costs a lot of money if you read the fine print free, etc., etc., blah, blah, blah.

All these people are well-meaning, even if some of their emails are thinly veiled sales pitches.  But from a writer's point of view, they tend to repeat the same old platitudes.  And let's face it, even the sweetest among us get tired of platitudes after awhile.  I'm not in the least bit sweet, and I get damned sick of them really fast.

But before you accuse me of massive curmudgeon-hood, hold up a minute.  Because I have lots and lots of things I am grateful and thankful for, not the least of which is you, my wonderful loyal readers.  But I'm not going to say that because everyone else already has and I need to be original.  But if I were going to say it, I would truly, deeply mean it because I do so appreciate every one of you.

What I am going to talk about being grateful for is the fact that I am a writer.  How I had the great, good fortune to get a career that is centered not only around words, but on pulling words up from the deepest levels of self to share.  A career that is about making meaning of life through story.  A career that enables me to spend my days doing what I love most--putting words on paper.  And, let us not forget, once in awhile I get to go out in the world and share my love of writing with you, and I love that, too.

Sometimes, even after all these years of doing this, I sit at my computer working away and the thought overtakes me: I'm writing.  I'm writing and it is the best thing ever.  I know people who write for a living and hate it (I'm not naming any names, you know who you are) and the thought is simply unfathomable to me.  Just as the thought of being alive and not writing in a journal is unthinkable to me, or not coming up with fifty million ideas for novels I'll never have time to write.

I've recently had the wonderful experience of someone coming up to me and saying, "I want to be you."  And in general, when I stop to think about it, I'm pretty happy being me--because I get to write. So besides the fact that I'm grateful for my family, my friends, many of whom truly are family, and so much else in the world this Thanksgiving, I want to state again, how grateful I am to be a writer.

It is a privilege, an honor, and a thrill.  I hope that all of you out there think of it the same way, no matter where you are with your writing, a beginner or an old pro.  And don't forget to give thanks for it.

Bookcases, Bookcases, the Joys of Bookcases

The thing about bookcases is that you always need more of them.  At least I do, because the stream of books in my life is never ending.  Books are like rabbits and ideas, they reproduce themselves automatically.  One minute you have plenty of room in your bookcases for more books and then suddenly there are books piled all over the house and it is time to buy a new bookcase, or several. 

I have so many full bookcases in my house that sometimes I think it will sink into the basement from the sheer weight of all of them.  Perhaps, you might suggest, it would be prudent to shed some of the books.  And in truth, I have gotten better about doing that.  Used to be, I would never, ever, let go of a book once it came into my possession.  But once the problem of storing them reached crisis levels I had to rethink that obsession.

One thing that helped, in a sink-or-swim kind of way, was the fact that many years ago half my house burned down.  The half that didn't burn down, the bottom floor, sustained serious smoke and water damage, and since that is where many of the books were, we had to go through them and throw a lot of them out.  Yes, I know, it is painful to contemplate, but it is true--some of the books were so badly damaged that they couldn't even be given away.  In the process, I lost some of my favorite books, that I mourn to this day--my omnibus edition of the Caroline books, for instance.

But I gained the knowledge that physical books are just that--things that are far less important than human connections.  Because, you know how everyone asks you what you would grab if your house is on fire?  When the real thing happens the only thing going through your mind is getting the living, breathing creatures out--in our case, the kids, the cats and the dog (who refused to leave and cowered under the kitchen counter as firemen tromped through the house).  You don't spare a thought for the family photos, or your carefully designed scrapbooks, or even the computer with your novel on it.  All you think about is getting your loved ones out safely.

Since then I've managed to convince myself that letting go of books is good.  And I have the great good fortune to live in Portand, where Powells is located, which means any time the bookcases get a bit too bulgy, I can sort through them and go sell a few boxes there.  The problem is they give you more money if you take a store credit, so one must be disciplined in this endeavor as well.

Oh, who am I kidding?  I still have way too many books to fit in my bookcases and they spill into every room in the house.  (Which is just as well, because I distrust houses that do not have bookcases and stacks of magazines in them.)  So when the nice people, or the one nice person, at CSN Stores offered to send me a bookcase to review, I leapt at the chance.  Actually, they offered me a choice--review the bookcase myself, or offer it as a prize in a contest.  Um, I thought about offering you guys a chance to win it, really I did.  But my need for bookcases won out.

So just as soon as they send me my bookcase, I'll be reviewing it. You will read it here first!

The Writing Life: LA in November

LA in November is warm and sunny, though everyone here insists is it freezing cold.  As I write this in Pasadena, it is 75 degrees, which, let me emphasize, is NOT COLD, though it was chilly enough this morning to have to cover up with a blanket during the daily writing session on the porch.

LA in November is green and brown, much like LA in August.  When I left Portland last week, everything was yellow and orange and red, leaves covering streets and lawns and sidewalks, everything glistening in the rain.  There were still quite a few leaves left on the trees when I departed, and I'm hoping the trees are not completely bare when I return home mid-week.

LA in November features soft light and incredible Saturday night traffic jams that require the navigational skills of several people using the GPS on my Iphone.  You know traffic is bad when every major freeway reads red on the Google map.  I provided the phone only, no navigation, since the geography of LA is still such a vast mystery to moi.  Although, this trip the plane flew in to Burbank at a different angle, from the west, in such a way that I could see the whole of the city laid out before me--downtown, the west side, the ocean beyond.  Expansive views like that help to set my navigational map down here.  But not enough to dodge around major traffic jams.

LA in November is seeing friends and hearing about their screenwriting projects or television deals and making me thankful I'm a novelist.  Dealing with the publishing industry is difficult enough, but Hollywood is a whole other level of stress and angst.  (Now, if only I would hear back from the wonderful agent who is reading my manuscript and then I could truly crow about how great the publishing world is in comparison.....)

LA in November is attending a great weekend workshop on an energy clearing modality (more on that in a future post), hanging out with friends, eating Mexican food, and even better, amazing home cooking from a gourmet organic chef.  It is sleeping with ear plugs in so that the five cats who live here don't wake me up...and taking walks in Eaton Canyon...and spending lots and lots of time reading manuscripts.

But mostly LA in November is being grateful for friends, old and new, and the time to hang out with them. It is being grateful for the fact that I am a writer, and my work is transportable so that I can leave Portland in the dreary days of November and come down here for a break.   The writing life, I'm telling you, it is the best thing ever and damn am I glad that it is mine.