On every blog, every website, and every facebook page, there are articles about resolutions and goals. Some people want to sell you their latest organizational book or tool, and some people want to sell you fitness advice or diet pills. Webinars, videos, podcasts all over the place, free and fee. Some people just want to talk about setting goals – their own or in general. Okay, so it’s not “everywhere”, but it’s a large percentage. Some people are more retrospective, writing about the past year instead of goals. I have one statement that wraps it all up for me: Last year, I lost my job. That changed everything. No more income of my own, but I have a husband who is encouraging me to follow my own dreams. I would like to keep contributing financially, so I will do some sewing, but what I really want to do is write. I can make pin money by doing some copy writing, but I really want to spend the time writing fiction. Resolution – to figure that out and do it all, without procrastination or distraction. Goal – next year, at this time, I want to be ready for publication of at Read More
Category: Inspiration
How to get old people to talk to you
When I worked with elderly people, especially retired farmers or the veterans of WWII, I used to urge them to write or tell their stories to someone, because they would be of interest to future generations. None of them were enthusiastic about the idea. Some found the task overwhelming. That much concentrated mental exercise can be exhausting. Some of them just didn’t believe that they had anything interesting to say – no one would care. Some were too sad or too bitter to review it. Some of them felt that it was none of my business. 😉 A note here: I worked for an agency that provided care for elderly people. For the purpose of this article, I am talking about men and women who are over 90, usually in need of some physical or medical assistance and often living alone in their own homes or in assisted living facilities or nursing home. Comfortable company is a blessing to them, and they are glad to have someone to talk to, but conversation is often difficult. When you talk to an elderly person in this situation, remember that you are talking to an intelligent adult, addressing them with dignity and respect, Read More
Life
My English teachers always told us: write what you know. Even then, I thought that was a silly thing to say to 14 year old kids, since they have limited experience. I did better writing about things I WANTED to know. My imaginings were much more interesting than my ho-hum reality. In the many years since then (pick a number between thirty and forty), I have experienced enough life to inspire a hundred novels. My Swedish Minnesota roots go waaaaayy deep, but after I was married, we lived in many places. My husband was in the Air Force, so a few of those moves were military transfers, but most of it was just my husband’s nomadic impulses. In twenty years of marriage, we lived in 22 houses. It was mostly just local moves, and as long as our family was together, it was okay. As David said, “The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful inheritance.” We lived in beautiful places. In those places, I made friends and met different people. Some of those people were very different. In Germany, we had lovely neighbors – mostly elderly people who welcomed us warmly, asked Read More
“There is something delicious about writing the first words of a story. You never quite know where they’ll take you.” ― Beatrix Potter
Beatrix Potter is such a charming name. How could she have possibly written anything other than the gentle children’s stories? To many of us, her life seems idyllic. She was intelligent, well-educated and lived in beautiful places. After a youthful loss, she married later in life and went on to become successful in her lifetime. My sons never fully appreciated Peter Rabbit. I had hoped that Mr. Jeremy Fisher or even Tom Kitten might appeal to their juvenile taste, but they were neither adventurous or disgusting enough for those boys. My youngest granddaughter will sit through a story or two, but she has nice manners and is only four years old.