A Thousand Words, a Hundred Posts

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Just happened to notice that this is my hundredth post on this blog. It's just a nice complement to the real point.

If you write a lot, do you remember when writing 1000 words was a big deal? In high school I took an honors Literature class at Cornell. Every week we had to write an essay of 1000 words answering whatever question the professor thought we should be getting out of the short stories of the week. Sigh. I seldom agreed with the interpretation of the academics, and cranking out 1000 words seemed monumental.

Now, not so much. I just banged out a short story of that length to enter in a contest. I probably shouldn't give a sample or the name, just in case a judge happens to wander by. The contest is to be judged blind... always a good plan.

Now, if I would get busy and write some of the things I'm supposed to be writing.

Writing for Shared Reviews

I have written two new reviews and revised one older one.

My most recent new review is about a kind of cookie that I picked up at a markdown price, but OH, it was good. Grisbi Lemon and Ginseng Cookies- Exquisite

I also wrote about a pair of Dolfino Swim Goggles- You Get What You Pay For

The revision was more complicated. The required length of a review has changed off and on over the life of the site. For a while, it was a meager 200 words. Now, any reviews that short are being flagged as "thin," and opened for revision or they may be rolled into some kind of group review/article. I am struggling with how to fix these two reviews. (Note that most people had a lot more than that to fix.) But I managed to re-do one of them. It was a review of a unique art glass suncatcher... not a good choice of item to review anyway. I turned it into an article about tips for choosing art objects as gifts for people. It's now called Giving Art and Handcrafted Art Objects as Gifts

Use this link if you would like to sign up at Shared Reviews. There is a whole new structure and format coming to the site on Sept 1.

Booked another Program

I just booked another showing of "The North Country Trail and the Kitchen Sink," for Sept 20th in Traverse City. September is turning out to be a very busy month.

Ideally for me, the programs would be spread out a bit more, but one has to take them when people want them! No real complaints of course. Income is good.

This program will be for the Grand Traverse Hikers Club, at the DNR Nature Center on Cass Road- click on the Program Schedule tab to see all my upcoming programs.

Home Again- Lots to Do

I'm home again after being gone for a week, and my top writing priorities are three articles for the North Star, the quarterly publication of the North Country Trail Association. Unfortunately, I don't get any money from any of those. I had anticipated one article for this issue, but the editor is very sick, and they asked me to step in and cover a couple more things this time. I need to get my program schedule listings up to date ASAP too. Lots to keep me busy... more income from it all would be good.

New Computer, No Time

It's real... I have my new laptop. But, I'm also getting ready to leave town for a week. It will be going along, but I'll be hiking and attending a conference. There will be some writing taking place, but it will all be pretty frantic.

I'm just glad that the computer is ready to go. I think I've got all the critical stuff loaded on it. And if I don't.... well, most critical things turn out to be not so critical if there is nothing you can do about them.

How Chained to the Keyboard?

My laptop computer (only 3 years old) died completely on Monday. Not good timing. Is there ever good timing for this?

Frankly, I haven't done any real writing all week. My desktop, that I used to think was speedy, feels like a tortoise, and I can't make myself sit there and wait for it.

I used to say that my brains flowed out the end of a pen onto paper, and I wasn't sure I could make the transition to using a computer keyboard. Although I was a good typist, a typewriter was never my preferred method to write. However, I quickly adapted to a keyboard-- a long time ago.

Now, this week, I can't make myself write by hand. A new laptop is ordered and I should have it today or tomorrow.

Positive Feedback Feels So Nice

My newspaper column ran on Saturday. This title was "sKumquats and InYourFace vs My www." I occasionally write funny entries, and this was one of them.

A few months ago, I started putting my email address at the end of the column, and yesterday I received an email from a total stranger. She says, "I just wanted to tell you that I am a lady 67 years old and I totally agree with your artical [sic]." She asked me to help her find some people to hike and paddle with. I can do that!

Later in the day I had to go grocery shopping. Not my favorite activity. As I was returning the cart, a man in a truck called out, "Hey, are you Joan-Get-Off-The-Couch?" I said, "yup, I suppose I should recognize you." He went on to say that he just reads the column and likes it a lot. He recognized me from the picture of me they run with the column each time.

There is nothing more pleasing to the ears of an author than to be told that people like your writing!

See Ludington Daily News Column- July 2011