Category Archives: Writing

The Colors of My Feelings

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With my son at Woods Cove in Laguna Beach 10 years ago.

When my son was in kindergarten, he had a friend who wasn’t that nice to him. In my opinion, the other five-year-old boy was too competitive with my son.

One night as I was tucking my son into bed, he said the “friend” had hurt his feelings.

“I think he only feels in black and white,” my son explained. “I have more feelings than in a big crayon box.”

My muse had spoken! I quickly wrote down what he had said. Next, I wrote a children’s story called “The Colors of My Feelings.” I was and am a member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI). I submitted the story to my So Cal chapter for a writing contest and it won first place. I also entered it in a Writer’s Digest national competition and it won for Children’s Fiction. Even after winning two awards, I submitted it to dozens of publishers only to have it turned down. That was close to 25 years ago.

I’m thinking about revising it and going through the SCBWI market research report for publishers. I’m starting with small ones. But compared to 25 years ago, there are not many options to submit unsolicited manuscripts. Something I did learn was most publishers who will read queries or accept manuscripts, want them by snail mail. For a while they preferred email. Can you imagine how inundated they were with emails?

They have returned back to paper and a self-addressed stamped envelope if you want your story back and a response. That’s how it was in the good old days.

Here’s my story. I may clean it up and try to find a home for it again.

The Colors of My Feelings

I have a friend who doesn’t act like a friend. We used to be best friends. But now he always wants to be the leader. I said it was my turn, but he called me a name. He hurt my feelings. I think his feelings are only in black and white. I have feelings in many colors — more than you can find in a crayon box.

When I’m feeling smart, I feel bright blue. I’m bluer than the bluest sky.

When I feel shy I turn yellow inside. It’s a soft secret yellow like the petals in the center of a dandelion.

My happy feelings are the brightest shade of white. I have bright white feelings when it’s my birthday. Happy birthday to ME!

When I fall down and skin my knee, I turn black and blue on the outside and inside, too.

When I see a special girl with long brown hair and big brown eyes, I feel all purple inside.

When my friend cuts in the lunch line to stand next to her, I get a little green.

When he trips me while I’m carrying my spaghetti lunch, I turn red, I see red, the whole world is red, red, RED.

When everyone laughs, I turn carnation pink. I hate being pink.

Sometimes I wish I only felt in black and white.

But the girl with the long brown hair has feelings, too. She comes over and asks if I’m okay. I look into her eyes and I see a soft, deep brown. I really like brown. I ask her if she wants to be my friend. She smiles and with gold sparkles in her eyes she whispers, “Yes.”

School’s out. We race to the playground to see who gets to the swings. I get there first. The girl with the long brown hair gets the swing next to me. I pump and swing higher and higher in orange.

When I get home, it’s time for homework. I look in my backpack. I left my worksheet at school. I feel gray and pink colors swirling around me like they are going down a drain.

I feel magenta when I tell Mother.

She makes me feel better, like the color of a juicy fresh peach, as she drives me to school to get my homework. I promise not to forget it again.

It’s bedtime and Mother and Father have turned out the lights. It’s scary in my room alone. All I see is black. I close my eyes and it’s still black.

I wake up in the morning. All my colors are rested and refreshed, ready to shimmer and shine. Mother and Father give me a hug. Together we look out the window at the gray clouds and see a rainbow bending across the sky.

Many of my blog friends are published authors

I greatly admire them and enjoy reading their books. Congratulations on being published. I’m going to continue to try. Although I started writing fiction when my kids were young, I’ve had years when I had no time to write. There were things that got in the way called life, work, raising a family, moving and even homeschooling for three years. But I have time now, so I plan to take advantage of it.

What ideas for stories or blog posts have your children sparked for you?

If Ray Bradbury Were to Give You Advice About Life and Writing

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I wrote this post 10 years ago, but I think it’s worth taking another look.

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I was looking through my book shelves for summer reading. I picked up Ray Bradbury’s Zen and the Art of Writing: Release the Creative Genius Within You. It’s a small paperback book that has sat on my bookcase, unread. I opened the cover and on page one the autograph of the author and the date May 1996 stared me in the face.

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That’s the first time I heard Ray Bradbury speak — and the first time I asked him to sign a book. My daughter was three months old, and my son was three years old. That’s a lot of years to have this book sitting on my bookshelf.

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Yes, I’m now reading this collection of essays and remembering how inspiring his talk was. Earlier that same day in May 1996, I recognized Ray Bradbury at Las Casuelas the Original, a small Mexican restaurant a few blocks away from the Riviera Hotel, where he was speaking later. I introduced myself to him, as he ate alone, and I said I couldn’t wait to hear his talk.

It was one of the first writer’s conferences I had attended, and I was kind of in a fog, having a newborn child and little sleep.

Ray Bradbury was amazing. He reminded me of a young child, finding wonder in the world. He had the ability to stay young at heart and observe the world as though seeing little things for the first time. I loved his story of how he wrote Fahrenheit 451 in the basement of the UCLA library at a rental typewriter for 10 cents for a half hour. He said he was literally a “dime novelist.” It gave me courage and the belief that we can do anything — if you want it badly enough.

“Garbage in, garbage out,” he said. He advised us to turn off the TV. Don’t watch the news. He said they were selling soap and there was little or no good news and it would rot our minds. Instead, “Read the Bible, a poem and an essay every day.”

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How I’d wish I’d listened more carefully and followed that advice all those years ago. How different would my life be today? The good news is, it’s not too late to start. And I’m proud to say, I started down that path.

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My all time favorite Ray Bradbury book is Fahrenheit 451. My son Robert loves this book, too. I took my son to meet Ray Bradbury during another local speaking engagement years later. Robert has a signed copy of Farenheit 451 that he treasures. Ray Bradbury was a very accessible and kind man, willing to share with all of us enjoying his gift and genius — and striving to be 1/100th the writer that he was. 

“What do you love most in the world? The big and little things, I mean. A trolley car, a pair of tennis shoes? These, at one time when we were children, were invested with magic for us.” — Zen and the Art of WritingPostBlock

What is your favorite Ray Bradbury book?

What do you think about Bradbury’s advice about turning off the news and reading instread?

A pain in the neck

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A bit of beauty in my neighborhood.

I have a work in progress and felt my plot had some gaping holes in it. So in January, I took a writing class on plots. One of the assignments was outlining along a very constructive plot point path. I used my WIP and found that the assignment helped. Then I got feedback from the instructor with further suggestions.

It took me until late March to mull over the suggestions and get to work on rewriting and revising.

After spending countless hours sitting at my laptop, I decided to mix in some simple exercises. (My former writing mentor Gerald Petievich once told me that writers need buns of steel.)

I began leg exercises for strength and balance. They are from my PT when I had knee surgery post ski accident. I’ve been reading that falling when we get older is not a good thing. Once elderly start falling, they usually don’t last long. So why wait? I break up my writing with those exercises.

Then I decided to do something about my flabby arms. I started with three pounds weights and now I’m at five. But I have a sharp pain in my neck and shoulders. I was on the phone with my daughter yesterday and she said, “You’re not doing the exercises correctly.”

“How do you know?” I asked. After all she isn’t here.

She said, “Because you sit with your shoulders around your ears. You aren’t engaging the correct muscles.”

I explained that my husband (her dad) showed me how to do them. She insists he doesn’t know how, either. Well, she is coming by for a short visit, dropping off Waffles the Pug while she goes to a destination wedding in Portugal. Maybe I can get some private instructions from her.

In the meantime, I’ve got a pain in the neck and shoulders. Maybe I should stick to legs?

Do you find you need to get up and move after sitting at the computer?

What exercises do you do?

Tips on how to catch typos

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Some of my most embarrassing moments have happened with typos. I’ve been writing professionally since college graduation. I won’t mention exactly how many years that is. But, it’s plenty. Plenty of time to make a few mistakes.

1. I made a typo on SwimSwam. I left out a number on my tips.

My process began with a small idea. Then I’d write a rough sloppy draft. Then I’d hone it down into something tight and simple. Along the way, I cut out one tip that didn’t seem to fit. But, the story didn’t automatically renumber itself. Making a mistake like that on a busy forum like SwimSwam was decidedly embarrassing. The readers most definitely let me know in the comments section that I had made a typo.

You can read that story here. 12 Parent Tips on How to Behave at Practice.

On the bright side, I got a RT by Natalie Coughlin. I was super excited about that, so the story still worked even if it was not perfect.

Natalie Coughlin
Natalie Coughlin

2. My second worst typo was when I worked for a PR and advertising firm. I wrote eight newsletters a month, plus three or four press releases daily. It was a busy, intense job. I was in charge of a fundraiser for abused women which was held at a local country club. In my press release that ran just about everywhere — I mistakenly put in my own phone number instead of the club’s to RSVP! There was no taking that one back. I lived through it by hooking up an answering machine.

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I felt humiliated though, when my co-workers relentlessly teased me.

3. My all-time worst typo was when I had my own PR and advertising business. I had some super-duper clients including the hospital’s cancer center and a local branch of a major Wall Street firm. When the boss at the Wall Street branch was promoted to corporate headquarters on Wall Street, he still used me for all of his work. I was SO excited! Then I made a typo on a Power Point presentation. It was on the new logo he had me create for the Western Region of the United States of America. Ugh.

He was so angry with me, because I made him look bad. I’ll never forgive myself for that one.

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The thing with typos is your brain can trick you into seeing what you want to see.

My tips to catch typos are:

1. Read the piece from the bottom, sentence by sentence.

2. Read it out loud.

3. Put it away for a few days to get a fresh view.

4. Have other people proofread for you.

5. Don’t forget to proofread the title and headers. Numbers, too.

What tips do you have to catch typos?

What’s the worst mistake you’ve made in writing?

Where do ideas come from?

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A flow chart my daughter made for me after she proofread an article I wrote for SwimSwam.

Shout out to Ally Bean of The Spectacled Bean for her post yesterday. It inspired me to write about where we get our blog ideas, plus reminded me of the flow chart above that I used in an article called “Does Your Child Want to Swim in College” for SwimSwam. Ally had a flow chart in her post called “Is it a penguin?”

I used to write a weekly sports parenting column for SwimSwam. I came up with an idea every week for five years from my personal experiences, parenting mistakes, plus observing other parents with their kids on the pool deck. I’d get ideas from coaches and interview Olympians and coaches. I even got emails from parents around the world asking me for advice, which started a Dear Abby-type column called “Ask Swim Mom.” I began swimming myself and would ask my coach for ideas while I was hanging onto the wall. I’d ask my daughter to read my columns before turning them in and she had great advice (like adding her flow chart).

Swimming is a sport that lasts 50 weeks a year with practice six days a week, with a couple two-a-day practices thrown in per week. You can imagine how obsessed and focused swimming families can become. My goal with my column was to let kids be kids and own their own sport. In other words, parents need to back off.

Now, that my kids have left the nest, I no longer have the desire to write about swimming or parenting. I began my blog writing financial advice for women. I realized within a few weeks that nobody wanted to read that. Then I moved on to swimming, parenting and things that were going on in my day-to-day life. I’m still writing about my daily life, but life has slowed down. Sometimes my posts are photos of birds from my Bird Buddy or sunrises and sunsets.

Where do you get your ideas for blogging?

How has your blog evolved through the years?

New Year’s Resolutions Reviewed

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three swimmers

This is a photo of my daughter (center) swimming with two club teammates

I wrote this January 2015. There’s not much I’d change nine years later. As far as my New Year’s Resolution that year to swim with my kids’ club team in their Master’s program, it took me until April to get up my courage. But I did it. (Master’s is swimming with a coach for 18 year olds and older.)

Kick It up a Notch! Or How to Build on Last Year’s Resolutions

This year, I  might start swimming Masters.

I sat down to write my New Year’s Resolutions story for my blog when I got distracted by checking out FaceBook. Just for a few mintues, mind you.

What did I see? An article written by a friend of mine, Susan Murphy, published in a local wellness and health publication, called Desert Health. She wrote about New Year’s Resolutions, too. You can read her article HERE. Susan’s a Ph.D., life coach, business advisor and author of several books.

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I tried a couple of her tips last January. I made goals that were small. They weren’t overwhelming. And, they were specific.

Too many people fail at their resolutions. Last year, I managed to make four of my goals happen.

My successes: writing, exercising and reading the Bible every single day. I’m proud to say I did it!  I also started bleuwater a year ago. I posted at least one story a week. It’s rewarding to look back on my work and know that I didn’t give up.

I also have a list of failures. But, I don’t care to discuss them right now.

So what am I going to try to do this year? As Emeril would say, “Kick it up a notch!”

I write my morning pages without fail. I have several writing projects I’m consumed with. But I want to do more. Make more progress.

My exercise is very consistent, but not challenging enough. I am getting stronger, but I need to kick it up. I walk several miles every morning and then in the evening with my husband. I am thinking about either joining a gym or swimming with masters.

What are your New Year’s goals?

How did you do with your resolutions last year?

A look at a goal for 2024:

FYI, I want to revise my rough draft of my NaNoWriMo project from two years ago. I struggled with it in 2023. I took a suggestion from LA from Waking up on the Wrong Side of 50 and signed up for an online writing class. It begins in two weeks. I’ll be off and going on one of my New Year’s resolutions.

Interesting interview with a favorite author

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Ann Patchett is one of my favorite authors. I enjoyed her book “The Dutch House.”

I read an interview of Ann Patchett in the Wall Street Journal by Lane Florsheim called

“Ann Patchett Shares Her Reading Resolutions for 2024“

The author, most recently of ‘Tom Lake,’ talks about her to-be-read pile, running her beloved Nashville bookstore and when she gets her best writing done

https://www.wsj.com/arts-culture/books/ann-patchett-tom-lake-nashville-35f2415b?mod=arts-culture_trendingnow_article_pos5

I learned some interesting facts about this author including that she owns a bookstore in Nashville. She writes on a treadmill desk. (I never heard of that before). She also has a tip for writers to work during their most productive time of day. She said it’s different for everyone and we all know when it is. She doesn’t have a set number of words she must write each day or a set schedule.

Of her nine novels, two children’s books and five nonfiction books, I’m not a fan of all the ones I’ve read. I admire how she has such diversity in her writing. Her fiction books take on different tones, styles and subject matters. That’s probably why I absolutely love some — and others not so much. I’ve actually put down one or two and didn’t finish them. On the other hand, her writing speaks to me and I find some of her books are outstanding.

Another one of my favorites by Ann Patchett.

Here’s a snippet from the WSJ article:

Reporter: I read that you wrote “Tom Lake,” in its entirety, on a treadmill desk. How was that experience, and what were those hours like? 

Ann Patchett: I loved it. I would go to work around 9 a.m. I would stay on the treadmill anywhere from two to three hours at 1.5 [miles per hour], which is slow. Usually, I would get off when my feet hurt, when I would just start to think, “Oh. I’m tired.” Then I would get off, and I would not go back to the book for the rest of the day. 

I always think about Liz Gilbert. All great advice comes from Elizabeth Gilbert. That’s what I should say. She says in her book “Big Magic” that everybody has two hours a day in which you’re your best, and everybody knows when those hours are. She said, “Don’t spend those hours answering email.” One of the things that makes the treadmill desk so great is the fact that the two things that I want to do in the morning when I get up are write and exercise. I’m like, “Oh. Look. I’ve done them both. That’s great.”

https://www.wsj.com/arts-culture/books/ann-patchett-tom-lake-nashville-35f2415b?mod=arts-culture_trendingnow_article_pos5

I also learned that she used to write for Bridal Guide and wrote so many articles for issues that they changed her byline for some so it didn’t look like she wrote the entire magazine. In one article she asked for wedding advice and shared a tip from her stepmother:

“[She] told me that the brain naturally focuses on what is wrong, what it doesn’t like—towels on the floor, or somebody who interrupts, or somebody who’s late,” Patchett, 59, says. “And so then, every time your partner does that, it’s just like hitting a gong.” The good things, by contrast, often go unnoticed or forgotten, her stepmother told her. “She said, ‘It is possible, with practice and discipline, to flip the equation.’” 

Are you an Ann Patchett fan? What are some of her books you like?
Who are your favorite authors?