The other day, in the midst of spring, or so the calendar indicates, our mountains received a layer of snow. I’m itching to pull my bike off its hook from the garage, lower my kayak from where it's hoisted for the winter, and slide on my hiking shoes for a walk by the lake, watching my dog lope without either of us getting chilled. But I know better. Spring is slow to emerge, if at all, at our elevation. Sometimes we skip the season altogether and just launch into summer.…

I have so many lofty goals with writing. Do it. I want to write a book, but don't know how to start. Do it. I want to be published... or start a blog... or keep a journal... or write touching letters. Do it.

I wish I could figure out how to embed a video in this post. I keep trying, but I just can't seem to make it…

You know those type of people that say they're going to do something, multiple times, like, "Oh yeah I'm going to start exercising tomorrow" or "I'm totally planning to get into sewing" but then that day never actually comes? I'm one of those people. I start hobbies - lots of them - and I never seem to follow through with any of them. It is my greatest flaw, to be a jack of all trades but none of which I am a master of. 

Why is technically why I'm here at SheWrites. I desire to be a…

One of my favorite movie scenes is from the film City Slickers. In the scene Jack Palance’s character, Curly, a grizzled cowboy with a cigarette dangling from his lips, is riding on horseback alongside Billy Crystal’s city character, Mitch, who is in the throes of a midlife…

I've been ruminating.

The dictionary defines ruminating as "to go over in the mind repeatedly and often casually or slowly", or the more gross and picturesque, "to regurgitate partially digested food and chew again". Uh huh, like a cow. Moo. And that's exactly what I have spent the last two months…

Back in the 70s, when I was very young (of course), I used watch a game show called, Name That Tune. The theme of the show involved contestants bidding against each other to name a title of a song in as few notes as possible.

"I can name that tune in eight notes,Tom," one contestant would…

Sleep lifts me out of its mishmash fogbank of dreamscapes. A Charlie horse gallops up my right leg, making me stomp the savoy out of the carpet. The bathroom mirror projects the new crop of salt-and-pepper hairs along my hairline, lip, and chin.  The Piccadilly’s cashier I smirked at last year and I will soon have matching mustaches and goatees. She and I could probably be fill-ins for Brad Pitt’s Chanel commercial.

Ahh…another morning has made its presence known.

I go back…

Anne Lamott says in her writing tips book Bird by Bird, to get moving, not to get hung up on “shitty first drafts.”

But what if all your drafts are shitty? What if after you “kill your darlings” and not-so-pet words, after you stab and stroke and massage your sentences it’s still shitty?

Start again. Rebound.

There exists an inexhaustible list of words for the essential trait of propulsion towards our goals as preached by motivational speakers:…

There is a great scene in the movie Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade where Indiana, in an exhausting and perilous journey to find the holy grail, is at last confronted with the final obstacle to his goal. The entrance to the cave holding the coveted cup is within sight. The problem? In order to get to it, Indiana must somehow cross a seemingly bottomless chasm. But the distance is too great to jump, and Indiana can't see a way to the other side. As far as his vision can tell, if…

Last week I shared a little bit about the value of collecting "clips"-- copies of articles-- to add to your writing resume. Hopefully you felt inspired and decided, sure you'd like to write an article or two. After all, you have good writing skills, you can whip out 1000 words fairly easily. Let's do this! But maybe you pulled up Word, stared at the blank screen and searched your brain for ideas and...nothing. Panic set in.…

What prohibits me from writing? My self esteem/confidence in my writing ability/skills and comparing myself to others. I never really realize how "juvenile" my writing was until I entered college. My grammar skills was (and still is) something left to be desired, although it is not as…

I gave up dance at the age of seven for good reason.  I mean really who wants to go around in a pink leotard with rabbit ears on their head.  I don't care now if you're only seven and I didn't care then.  Of course then my reason for quitting dance had nothing to do with the slightly off the wall costume and more to do with my belief that I was a tap dancer not a baton twirler.  I quit right after I learned that twirling with my left hand, well it, like the bunny suit, just wasn't…

By Becky Green Aaronson  

Ingredients

1 Open Mind

1/2 cup Inspiration

3/4 cup Talent

1 cup Originality

1 cup Authenticity

2 cups Motivation…

I know lots of teachers eschew the longstanding "What I Did On My Summer Vacation" assignment. They think it's hackneyed and perhaps overdone.

I love it, though, and I always have. When I was in the classroom, I always assigned this on the first day of school, due the next day. It was a written assignment, coupled with an oral presentation. Kids could add art if they were so inclined. The assignment doubled as both writing homework and as a "getting to know you" activity so…

Women’s abilities are always being called into question. Take Rick Santorum's poke at women being too emotion for duty at the front lines of combat situations. A select corps of women is fighting back. Read the story of one American and two Afghani teenagers who are trying to make history and become the first…

Got to, got to, got to!

Click here to view blog post. (Word Press)…

For years now, I've been the master of my domain; that is to say, I've created and updated my own web sites. I won't mention which hosting company I had been going with, but it dawned on me that this company was basically holding me back because their web templates, service, etc. were very limiting.

About six weeks ago, I decided to take the big plunge and hire a developer to revamp my website. This included going with a new hosting company and utilizing a new template with greater…

Let's assume you've put together your writing calendar for the year or maybe for the next couple of months. 



You have a story idea and you sit down to write. Then the phone rings. Then you get an email. Then your favorite show is on and then when you look up the clock says it's bed time and you have only written your name on the page.…

It's Monday, folks. In fact it's the second Monday of the year. And if this is the year you promised yourself that you were going to get your writing off the ground, this is a good time to put some sort of game plan together. After all, the game plan is nearly everything and can give you the boost and motivation you need. So let's start off this first of many #MotivationMondays off with a bang.



Let's make a calendar!



Wait! Before you…