ROW80

June 10 Writing, by gosh!

Elizabeth Anne Mitchell

Following the theme of last week, I have continued to make baby steps. Yesterday, I managed to post Shan Jeniah’s guest post on kinship here. I have also spent the past week slowly getting more involved with old friends and new through Facebook and Twitter, but also through WANA International, a new venture by Kristen Lamb and Ingrid Schaffenburg, which looks exciting with classes from several of our ROW80 crew (Jenny Hansen and Kait Nolan, for example) and other luminaries.

I also joined Jeff Goins’ 15-day challenge, outlined here, which is forcing me to take some scary steps–all to the good. I admitted to a colleague at the day job that I wrote things other than academic articles, and was pleased that she didn’t laugh outright.

I went back to getting up early to write, something I had let fall by the wayside in the past few weeks. Further, I made myself stay off the internet for the first part of the morning, so that I could actually write–create rather than react.

What I have learned: I have ideas about what to write. Not having anything to say was one of my greatest fears in coming out of my corner–people laughing at me being one of the others. But I found in the early morning hours that not only was I managing to come up with ideas for blog posts and themes (sheesh, finally), but I was coming up with ideas that had plots and characters, somewhere to go and things to say.

I also learned what a wonderful, giving, supportive cast of characters the writing community holds. I never had to worry about anyone laughing at me in the ROW, or in the other groups I’ve joined in my travels these past months.

Penultimately (sorry, but I love that word), I want to shout out to the people who have followed my blog in the past month. I’m not going to try to catch up in one swell foop, but here are some people who are worth checking out, if you don’t know them already.

Janet at http://mrsbongle.wordpress.com

Ruth at www.ruthnestvold.com

Eric at http://healthdemystified.wordpress.com

Kourtney at http://kourtneyheintz.wordpress.com

CK at http://academicmystery.wordpress.com

Tune in next week for the next installment 🙂 In the meantime, please go encourage the rest of the ROWers here as we try to redline it for the last weeks of Round 2. There are some wonderful people in this group 🙂

Published by Elizabeth Anne Mitchell

I am the youngest of four children, raised in the old-fashioned Irish-American way. I suspect my mother encouraged me to write from an early age to keep me out of her hair, although she may have regretted the decision when my teachers began to call about the controversial stories I was writing. Thus I began my career of butting heads with the good sisters at my Catholic elementary school, and ended it by leaving high school for college with no diploma. I wear my high-school dropout badge rebelliously and proudly. In college, I became fascinated with the Middle Ages, which was described as a “starry night” by one of my professors. So began a trek through languages and legends that informs my narrative non-fiction and historical fiction, as well as my blogs. I love feedback and enjoy discussing ideas. I have an accountability blog for the Round of Words in Eighty Days entitled Leavekeeping; I write a blog on literary history, intellectual history, and the history of words entitled Lapidary Prose. I'm on Twitter and Facebook; my email is lapidaryprose@gmail.com.

16 thoughts on “June 10 Writing, by gosh!”

  3. Woohoo! you’re writing! Good for you! Yes, come out of that corner–you don’t belong there! Have a great week ahead!

    1. Thanks, Robin! It is hard to get up, but I am more a lark than a night owl, and I do get more writing done before the day job than after. I’m glad you liked the links, and I’ll continue to list good ones that I find 🙂 Have a great week, too (even if I’m talking about a different week!)

  6. Yes! This is wonderful news. Figuring out the time of day when ideas come the most readily is half the battle, and I’m so glad that you’ve been able to take some time out of your morning to write.

    Have a wonderful week, my friend!

    1. Thanks, Lena, my friend! It has been a struggle, since I live with three night owls. As much as I would love to stay up and hang out with them, I really am a lark. I will also need to set aside some work time for work writing, but that’s not entirely a bad thing. You’ve probably also found that the academic and the fiction writing feed off one another, as if any writer’s block means both or neither. A bonus is if the research for both works into both, as well.

      I hope you have a lovely week!

  7. I’m glad you’re writing. That’s what writers do, and when we aren’t writing, something is missing. I’ve been having trouble with that myself lately, but I’m back on track as of today.

    Hey, no one should be laughing. I think writing is AWESOME. Who wouldn’t love to have a job making stuff up? LOL

    1. It’s good to hear that you’re back writing as well, Lauralynn 🙂 And thank you for the insight into writing–making things up–I love it! So much of what I write for work has to be checked and re-checked for accuracy and truth–what a kick to write something totally made up!

  8. Thanks for the mention 🙂 I find early morning is the best time to write. They say the first hour after waking you’re still tapped into your subconscious, which is where a lot of our best ideas come from. Best of luck!

    1. You’re welcome, Ingrid! I believe it about still being tapped into the subconscious. I have very vivid dreams, and sometimes have trouble shaking them off in the morning; when they are fodder for stories, I work hard not to shake them off!

Comments are closed.