I'm a writer, you're a writer....



I thoroughly enjoyed reading Jeff Goin's newest ebook, "You Are a Writer."  I was glad I had a free weekend to read it because to be honest, I couldn't put it down.  I'm one who likes to print out the pages of an ebook so that I can highlight and make notes and mark it up.  This was a smart move on my part, as I immediately recognized none other than myself described in the pages of his writing.  I couldn't stop highlighting, or nodding my head in agreement as I read, or murmuring a hushed "amen, brother" as I read page after page. Each time I was done a section, I headed back to the laptop to print out more, eager to keep reading this jewel of an ebook that had come my way. I couldn't get enough of it.  It was just the direction and advice I'd been looking for to be able to believe in my writing again.

Jeff has an innate ability to aptly describe what all of us writers go through at one point or another; that surge of excitement upon discovering this writing that we love to do, and then that slow slide down the other side of the hill called Slight Success that takes us to the bottom where we sit looking around and wondering where our thrill went.

And wondering if we'll ever write again.

"You Are a Writer" recognizes that we all get to a crossroads in our writing life where we are faced with the choice of either turning back or pushing ahead.  Jeff wisely gives us real tools and challenges to show us how to get up, brush the dust off our backside, and head out once again into the dream that we have always known was ours for the taking.  The writing life is waiting for us; we just need to claim it.

If you've ever written, if you've ever dreamed of writing, if you do write, or if you're simply looking for the permission to call yourself a writer, this ebook is for you.   It's a drink of water in a dry and thirsty land where we wonder if we really can make it doing this thing called writing that we love.

Jeff assures us that we can. 

And I, for one, believe him.

my un-themed blog


It's been a while since I've been here.  Thanks for your patience!  A full time job, a husband, a 24/7 fur-shedding golden retriever, a bossy cat and three grown and growing kids who haven't quite left the nest yet keep my days and life busy...and I wouldn't have it any other way.  But it leaves little time to write at present.

To be honest, I sometimes struggle with what to write.  When life is quiet and I find myself with time on my hands, my writer's block yells - "You have free time; write something!"  Here's a tip - the absolute worst time to try to write something is when an obstinate voice inside you is pressuring you to write something. 

So I don't. I wait.

And I read.  Read about writing, read about blogging.  The common advice out there is, "Blog your passion; write what you know; write posts about what you're passionate about."

Makes sense.  Sounds simple enough.

But for me, it's not.

I've been racking my brain about this.  I'm passionate about a number of things, but I'm not sure it's stuff that blogs are made of. And I'm really not sure I want to pigeonhole myself into one quasi-passion of mine to try and make a killing blogging about just that and only that. At the end of the day,  I don't feel good enough at any one thing to focus solely on it for content day after day, week after week, year after year. 

(and you're saying, cut to the chase already and just tell us your passions.  Ok, I hear you.)

 Here's my short list -

Photography (I'm in the learner position on this one)
Women's ministry (just getting my feet wet, but I love it)
Writing (again, I'm a learner)
Picture books (not nearly as captivating to others as it is to me, me thinks.)

See what I mean?  Ugh.  Stuck, stuck, stuck am I.

In the process, as I read article after post after tweet about having a blog with a theme, a niche, a passion, a hook, I keep coming back to the same common denominator; I keep zeroing in on the same idea. It's broad and it's wide, but I've come to realize it's what I know.  It's where I'm comfortable. It's why I write.

As for me and my blog, my theme is God, and my niche is life. 

There.  Done.  Settled.

Wow, that feels better.

That being said, I'm giving myself - and this blog - carte blanche to write posts about any thing, any day, any time.  Just the way I like it.

Hope you do, too.