I made an executive decision over the weekend that was difficult for me. It made my stomach hurt a wee bit, but I’m glad I did it. I decided to retire as our HOA newsletter editor after four years. I have a partner that works with me to create the newsletter and she also agreed with me. I am missing the joy and sense of accomplishment I once had. I wrote a resignation letter for the two of us and I’m waiting to hear back from the Board.
I found that photography is relaxing and rewarding to me. I enjoy taking my nature photos. I enjoy exploring Adobe Bridge and Photoshop and tinkering with the pictures to make them a bit better. I have decided to enroll in my second art workshop for DSLR photography beginning in January. This is becoming a lifestyle more than taking a random class.
Mourning Dove on our fence.
I also want to get back to writing and working on my several WIPs. If I get too busy with things I have to do, I don’t get in the time to write and edit.
Red is fortunately a constant in my backyard. I’m enjoying taking his photo along with Mrs. and various other creatures and plants.
Mrs. in a setting of purple flowers.
Agave with sharp red tips.
The same plant from a distance.
I never get tired of watching the squirrels.
Have you made any difficult decisions lately? When you are faced with a decision, how do you go about deciding what to do?
Here’s the new month’s syllabus for my DIL’s high school senior’s AP English class. I’m posting the reading assignment on the first of each month, in case you’re interested in adding to your TBR list. October covers the ’60s, ’50’s and ’40’s. There’s some good stuff here including Albert Camus, Eudora Welty and Tennessee Williams.
I’m participating by reading along with them — but not doing the writing assignments. I’m a little bit behind schedule and need to finish Toni Morrison’s “Beloved.”
HERE’s OCTOBER’S READING ASSIGNMENT:
If you’re interested in reading the poetry or short stories, my son sent me a packet of the material for October. If you send me an email to eawickham31@gmail.com, I’ll be happy to email you the pdf.
Have you read any of the authors or books, poems and short stories on October’s syllabus? If so, which ones?
Before I get to the homework assignment, I’m sharing a photo of the beach from Saturday’s morning walk. We got to the beach extra early because it was the start of Labor Day Weekend at the beach. The freeway was stopped on Friday afternoon beginning at 2 p.m. through the night. We were expecting to have no parking at the beach and believed it would be really crowded. You can see going early paid off!
My DIL is teaching AP English to high school seniors this year. She and my son worked together on her curriculum for the year. They were both Lit Majors at the College of Creative Studies at UC Santa Barbara. They selected poetry, short stories and novels to read beginning in modern times and then going back 50 years, 100, 150, etc.
They asked if I wanted to read along with them, as they are planning on conquering the list as well as my DIL’s students. I said yes!
I’m posting the first two pages of the syllabus which covers September. Early October I’ll post those assignments, because I think posting all 13 pages at once would be overwhelming. The short stories were excellent. I also am enjoying re-reading “My Brilliant Friend,” which shockingly was published almost 15 years ago! I can’t believe that much time has passed since I read it.
I remember loving this book which is the first of four in the NeapolitanSeries. I wrote a blog post about it and was surprised at the comments. Many people found it too gritty with too much violence and wondered about my taste! I found it to be filled with details and complex, memorable characters. I think it’s an accurate reflection of life in1950s Naples, where women led a subservient role to their husbands. The characters lived in a violent, poor neighborhood. It was interesting to get so many different opinions on the book.
Here’s September’s reading list:
FYI, I’m trying to do all the reading, but have not agreed to do the writing assignments! So far I’m on schedule. If you’re not interested in this reading challenge, at least you have an abundance of literature to add to your TBR list!
There’s a lot of poetry to read which reflects my DIL as a published poet. Here’s a poem of hers that I love, I know I’ve shared it before, so if you’ve read it, enjoy it a second time! Maybe it will be a first for you.
Coal Oil Point Tonight the sky with its plummy texture Is especially dear to me, and the small purple Flowers shuddering in the sand. Tonight the wind curls soft and salty against My bare arms with that strange lively mourning. You let me look at you and understand that Nobody has ever had eyes like yours, fringed with Red-gold lashes, and nobody will again. I look up at the stars and pity them: The more they burn the faster they die. How I burn makes me live beyond myself.
Catherine Simpson is a cellist who lives in Berkeley. She has been previously published in Big River Poetry Review, Right Hand Pointing, Spectrum, Step Away Magazine, Into the Teeth of the Wind, Poydras Review, and Splash of Red.
Are you familiar with the Neapolitan Series by Elena Ferrante? If you’ve read any of her books, what did you think?
Did you know that Elena Ferrante is a pseudonym?
Elena Ferrante maintains her anonymity for a combination of artistic, practical, and personal reasons, prioritizing the work itself over the author’s public persona. She believes that once a book is written, it should speak for itself, and the author’s identity is irrelevant. — Google’s AI Overview
Thanks to the amazing and compassionate Vicki from Victoria Ponders for nominating me along with 10 other bloggers for the “Sunshine Blogger Award.” This award was started by Kimberly Vargas Agnese. I usually avoid such things, but I found the questions intriguing and Vicki’s answers so thoughtful.
So here it goes:
What is your morning routine?
I follow Julia Cameron’s “The Artist’s Way” which grounds me for the day. I begin with three pages of journaling. Then I listen to a Bible reading on my phone and pray for an ever increasing list of friends and family members. After that (or before if the weather is too hot) I walk three miles. I’ve been doing this consistently for 10 years. If there’s a day when I can’t do my morning routine, I feel out of sorts.
What is your favorite season? Why?
Definitely summer followed by Spring. I have the best memories growing up in the Pacific Northwest in summer, which is such a beautiful season there. Raising my kids, we’d spend summer in Laguna Beach. Now we go to Santa Barbara for a few weeks up to a month. I love the water, yet live in the desert, so I look forward to being by the ocean all year long.
What is your favorite childhood memory?
Being with family on our boat in the summer. Enjoying fishing, digging clams and catching Dungeness crab with our mom cooking seafood on the boat within minutes of being caught.
Who or what has been your most unlikely teacher?
My kids. They taught me how to appreciate being present in the moment with them. Also, not to worry over things I cannot control.
Who or what are you most proud of?
Again, my kids. They are loving, kind adults and a joy to be with.
What is something that surprises people about you?
How outdoorsy my childhood was thanks to mom and dad. I took a fly tying class and Power Squadron boating safety class with them. I picked Chanterelle mushrooms, fished for salmon, rockfish, and trout, dug razor clams and little necks and caught Dungeness crabs — enjoying Western Washington state’s lifestyle.
What motivated you to start blogging?
A fellow swim mom who read my children’s stories and YA manuscripts. She loved to read blogs when I knew nothing about blogging. She encouraged me to start bleuwater.me, which then opened doors to writing a weekly sports parenting column for SwimSwam, a swimming website with more than 8 million views per month. I wrote that column for more than five years.
What forms of entertainment do you enjoy the most?
I have always been a reader since I was a young child. I enjoy finding a new author. It’s like finding a gem. I’ll know there will be more good books to read. I also enjoy being outdoors, walking, hiking and taking pictures.
If you are a book reader, do you prefer a paper copy or a digital copy?
Paper copies. I prefer paperbacks, because I feel less guilty about turning down the corners. Also, they are less expensive, easier to carry and read than hard bound books. My arms don’t get tired with paperbacks!
What’s your favorite music genre, and who is your favorite singer?
I like rock and roll from the 1970s and 1980s which were my high school and college days. I have Sirius set to 1970s in my car and I love to sing along to old favorites. My favorite singer is Don McLean from “American Pie” because my mom listened to him nonstop in the 1970s. She was a Coloratura Soprano and music major. She loved McLean’s voice and poetic lyrics. Listening to his songs brings me closer to memories of Mom.
What societal causes do you care about the most?
Currently, my focus is helping sex trafficked victims in the Phoenix area. Phoenix is one of the nation’s hubs of sex trafficking — and our country is the first or second purchaser of children for sex in the world. Today, I’m visiting The Phoenix Dream Center, which is a residential facility that provides a safe, secure home complete with medical, mental health, and career training, to help victims return to a “normal” life. They are having a ribbon cutting for a new kitchen which my women’s group fundraised to purchase all the appliances. I’ll also be donating clothes after Spring cleaning my closet. I’ve volunteered in my community for different causes since college.
Don’t worry if you’ve already been tagged or if you’d prefer not to do this. I’m taking a page from Vicki and using most of the questions she asked and have thrown in a few new ones:
Here are the guidelines from Kimberly about the “Sunshine Blogger Award”:
• Display the award’s official logo somewhere on your blog. • Thank the person who nominated you. • Provide a link to your nominator’s blog. • Answer your nominators’ questions:
What is your morning routine?
What is your favorite season? Why?
What is your favorite childhood memory?
Who or what has been your most unlikely teacher?
What is your favorite meal that you would never get tired of and why?
What is something that surprises people about you?
What motivated you to start blogging?
Would you rather spend a quiet evening at home or out with friends or a party? Why?
If you are a book reader, do you prefer a paper copy or a digital copy?
What’s your favorite music genre, and who is your favorite singer?
What societal causes do you care about the most?
• Nominate up to 11 bloggers. • Ask your nominees 11 questions. • Notify your nominees by commenting on at least one of their blog posts.
Have you heard about this trend? You don’t have to be a writer. You don’t have to be an artist or an illustrator. You don’t need technical skills. But you can make money self-publishing children’s books on Amazon!
It’s called a side hustle. I talked to my kids about it and they said it’s a “thing” right now. They said there are numerous books, seminars, podcasts and youtubes that tell you how to make passive income with AI generated children’s books on Amazon. They’re unaware if anyone is making money selling children’s books, or if it’s the people pitching the “how to” deals who are increasing their monthly incomes.
I guess having a degree in journalism, a career in public relations, writing for magazines, newspapers and having a weekly column and blogging isn’t necessary to become a published author. I can toss my dog-eared “Strunk & White” good-bye.
I have written children’s stories and had small successes being published in children’s magazines, the LA Times, and even included in a text book by Houghton Mifflin. I won a couple competitions for children’s stories including children’s fiction for Writer’s Digest. I got a contract from a small book publisher — and biggest mistake in my writing career — I turned it down! Oh my. If I could only turn back time.
Now I understand my years of work is all for naught. Anyone can do it. And apparently they can make a living at it. And guess what else? It only takes minutes to create a book, thanks to ChatGPT and AI.
Check it out for yourself. Google something like “Make money with AI children books on Amazon.” You’ll find too many websites and youtubes to count that will give you all the secrets of success.
I wonder how this new AI trend will effect writers’ careers and book publishing? I know many of my blogger friends are writers and have either self-published, used traditional publishers — or hybrid. With a flood of AI books on the market, how do you think it will affect writing careers? Do you think people are making money at this?
Please share your thoughts on selling AI children’s books on Amazon.
Here’s a shout out to my published author-blogging friends — in no particular order:
I took two fiction writing courses while in college as electives. To be honest, a lot of my college courses fell into the “elective” category. The sage advice I got from mom and dad was “You can study whatever you want. You’re going to college for your MRS. Degree.”
They told my brother that he should enroll in Pre-Med.
On the positive side of my parents advice, I took classes in whatever interested me. From ballet, to writing and drama, with a mind’s eye out for credits I needed to graduate — science courses like Botany, Astronomy plus math.
I loved my children’s lit class. I struggled more with literary fiction. I enjoyed it just as much and worked on a story based on my experiences working part-time in a hotel restaurant with a creepy customer who was a stalker. My professor didn’t see much merit in my writing style. He said my sentences and paragraphs were too concise. He gave me suggestions of authors to read including William Faulkner.
Have your read Faulkner?
In describing the writing process for his work, “The Sound and the Fury,” Faulkner said, “One day I seemed to shut the door between me and all publisher’s addresses and book lists. I said to myself, ‘Now I can write.'” After its completion, Faulkner insisted that Wasson, his literary agent, not do any editing or add any punctuation for clarity.
I wasn’t a big Faulkner fan. I told my literary fiction professor that I was graduating as an editorial journalism major.
“That makes sense,” he said. But he encouraged me to expand my writing style for his class.
In the old format of writing for newspapers — before websites and blogs — the goal was to use as little space as possible, write clearly and and get important information up front. As it’s said in Strunk and White’s Elements of Style, “Omit needless words.”
In a 1957 New Yorker column, writer E.B. White (Cornell Class of 1921) praised “The Elements of Style” by William Strunk Jr., his former Cornell English professor, as “an attempt to cut the vast tangle of English rhetoric down to size and write its rules and principles on the head of a pin.” https://news.cornell.edu/stories/2009/03/omit-needless-words-elements-style-turns-50
Here’s another famous quote from “Elements of Style:”
“Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts. This requires not that the writer make all his sentences short, or that he avoid all detail and treat his subjects only in outline, but that every word tell.” ― William Strunk Jr., The Elements of Style
I believe there are different styles of writing used for different formats and purposes. I’m trying to expand my sentences and paragraphs a bit for my NaNoWriMo manuscript that I wrote about HERE. But, then I think with our micro-attention spans, maybe short chapters with shorter sentences works in today’s world.
How would you describe your style of writing?
Have you used Strunk and White’s “Elements of Style?“
This is my third year participating in NaNoWriMo. Above was the award for my first attempt to write 50,000 words of a novel in November, which I completed by Nov. 29.
What is NaNoWriMo? According to their website: “National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) is a fun, seat-of-your-pants approach to creative writing.”
A funny thing happened a few months after my first try. My computer randomly began deleting files (not really funny!) I worked with Apple for three full days, but never got my manuscript “The Playgroup” back. It was gone along with many other things including my HOA newsletters. I thought I had a backup automatically scheduled every week. But I was wrong about that. Nothing hurt more than losing losing that one file of 50,000 words.
One day when my son was four or five, he deleted all my writing files from our Apple computer. I don’t know why he did it, or if he knew what he did. I literally started screaming and crying all at once. I must have terrified him.
That’s how I felt when my laptop randomly did the same thing. Apple knew what caused it, but didn’t admit to me that it was a known issue. They did say it wasn’t a software issue, but was due to hardware.
My second year of NaNoWriMo was 2023.
I had recovered mentally enough to recreate my manuscript. Then a few months later, I signed up for an online writing class on plots. I view my writing as more character driven and I wanted to improve my plotting. LA from Waking up on the Wrong Side of 50 was taking classes with Gotham Writers. I decided to sign up, too. For my final assignment, which was creating a complex plot, I used my Playgroup manuscript for the outline. I got good feedback from the instructor on how to improve and make the plot stronger.
Fast forward to November 2024
I’m using the notes the instructor from Gotham Writers Workshop gave me to revise my manuscript. I had tinkered with it earlier this year, but got bogged down. I tend to revise only a few words here or there. Big changes eluded me.
But with NaNoWriMo and writing every day with accountability, I am getting to the meat of revising. I’m making big changes. I’m adding chapters and deleting a character. If it doesn’t move the story forward, it’s gone. It’s not really a matter of writing so many words each day as in previous years. It’s more sitting down every day and working on it for an hour or two and letting the drama unfold.
If you have participated in NaNoWriMo, what was your experience like?
When you edit or revise, do you tend to tinker around the edges or take a chain saw to your projects?
