IWSG: Memories of Writing

Time for another posting with the Insecure Writer’s Support Group, where writers can share their insecurities and encourage one another. IWSG was founded by Alex J. Cavanaugh and we share our posts on the first Wednesday of the month.

The IWSG question for November is: How has your creativity in life evolved since you began writing?

That is a good question! It is fun to take a walk down memory lane through my writing history. This is one of those moments when I wish I still had my first stories I wrote in 6^th grade. I cannot remember what they were like, but I know that my imagination ran wild when I was a child. I had a lot of ideas in my head before I started writing, and I still remember some of the worlds I would pretend to be in when I played. I have some of my high school diary entries, which do not include a lot of creative writing, unless you count the number of ways I fantasized about “accidentally” bumping into my crushes. I have a couple cute stories I wrote for my 11^th grade English class. They lack details, but I included some interesting ideas.

 In college, most of my writing was for assignments and tests. A couple of my professors applauded my writing skills, but I’m assuming they were referring to my grammar, because most of my chapter reviews or summaries were complete BS. After rereading some of my homework, I never realized I was so talented at making it sound like I actually read the textbook. Beyond required writing, I wrote a lot of emails during those years, since I was away from my friends.

The most consistent writing I have done over time has been keeping a diary or journal. It seems I have matured in how I approach my journaling. I use it to work through my emotions, to write out prayers, or just to get all of my thoughts out of my head. Sometimes journaling inspires me to work on my fiction stories or poetry. It also inspired some of my past blog posts. I started this blog in 2010, and I actually enjoy reading many of my old posts. I used to think that I’ve lost some of my creative ability, but I think my real problem is that I have been more distracted in recent months than I was eight years ago. My focus has been off of writing. I still add ideas to my list, but I have not actually sat down to work on those ideas. My most creative writing pursuits of the last two years have been my WEP entries and a fantasy story I occasionally work on.

I have found other creative pursuits. From time to time I work on craft and sewing projects. My biggest pursuit lately has been photography. I have always enjoyed pictures, and after getting myself addicted to Instagram about a year ago, my picture taking has increased exponentially. I feel that photography is in a similar plane to writing, because it’s another way of expressing oneself. Also, my pictures make me want to write more – to write about the feelings and experiences behind the photos. 

Winter Poetry

            Occasionally, on the last Friday of the month, I do a Flashback Friday post. I suppose this post would fit into that category because I am sharing some things I've written in the past, although I have never shared these on my blog before. I'm sharing two short poems I wrote about winter. The first was written when I was 17 for my Junior English class portfolio. The second was written in 2013 as a response to someone on Facebook who wrote a poem about how she disliked winter.

Change

The winter winds are starting to blow.
Blowing the orange and red leaves to the ground.
The ground is covered with an icy dew.
Dew that makes the grass crunch with each step.
Step-by-step, the season is changing.
Changing as snowflakes begin falling from the sky.
The sky is a pale blue without much light.
Light comes from the bright, white blanket of snow.
Snow that glistens with beauty.
Beauty surrounds you in the snow and ice.
Ice covers the ponds and trees.
Trees are now bare, in the beginning of the winter.


In Defense of Winter

Would you like it with a good book,
or how about cuddled in a nook?
Would you like it nestled by a fire?
That should satisfy your warmth desire.
Would you like it with boots and a sweater?
Those certainly make the best of the weather!
Not even in the fresh, fallen snow
with beautiful whiteness all aglow?
I love the cold! Please don't wish it away.
It's much more pleasant than a hot summer day!

I know there are many people who do not share my sentiments of winter. Which season is your favorite? Have you ever written about it?

A Very Merry London Christmas

            This past month has been amazing! London was not the only wonderful thing that happened recently, but it will be the focus of this post. If someone would have told me at the beginning of the year that I would get to go to London in December, I would have thought they were high. Something that I have prayed and dreamed about since I was a teenager has finally come to pass, and I thank God for providing the opportunity. Even though I only got to spend a week there, that trip helped make 2017 a great year for me. And going in December with Christmas right around the corner made it seem even more magical! I thought I would share a fraction of the pictures I took during my trip. I hope you enjoy and have a very Merry Christmas!

(Note: I have never used Flickr before, so I'm not sure if my album will show up properly. If you have any trouble clicking through the photos, let me know and I will try to fix it.)

Flashback Friday: Cats

            **I forgot to pre-schedule my Flashback Friday post! But, it's alright because it is still Friday where I am. Since it is a bit late, I thought I would include something new at the end as a bonus. Flashback Friday occurs the last Friday of the month. Participants repost an old post that needed more attention, that you're very proud of, that you think is still relevant, etc. It was hosted by Michael G D'Agostino, but he has opted out. You can still find a list of previous and current participants on his blog.**

Just a Quick Word (With Cats!) - Previously published July 24, 2015

 

            Just for fun, I thought I would introduce everyone to my cats.  They have made some appearances in post pictures before, and I thought they deserved a proper introduction!

 

Here they are:

 

 

They're pretty lazy

 

 

 

This is Kitty:

 

 

We wanted to come up with a great name for her when she was a kitten, so we waited for her personality to develop.  But the next thing you know, we just couldn't come up with anything more fitting than Kitty or just The Cat since she was our only indoor cat for a while.

 

 

This is Sawyer:

 

 

He's my lap baby and a great comforter after a long day at work.  He also likes to sleep in a lot of strange positions, so he ends up in more pictures than the other two.

 

 

This is Sophie:

 



 

She is the bratty, "little sister" of this clowder.  She sometimes ninja-strikes all, whether cat, dog, or human, who cross her path.

 

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And now (3/31/17), here is a little bonus picture. Can you spot the new cat?:

 

 

This is Arwen. While Kitty, Sawyer, and Sophie rule the indoors, Arwen is an outside cat who chose my family. She is a bit camera shy and she doesn't always come around, but I managed to capture her in a rare moment of getting cozy in the little house we got for her.

If You Give a Page a Picture

            I really don’t know where the time goes. I feel as though I lose track of it so easily. I wanted to be more proactive with my blog posts this year, but I did not have a solid plan in place so it has fallen by the wayside yet again. I think of the quote attributed to Benjamin Franklin: “If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail.” I mean to make amends to this, so I have spent the majority of my blogging absence analyzing my goals, schedule, and time usage. I even bought a Life Planner, which has encouraged a lot of journal writing. Elsewhere in writing, I started a couple short stories. My main problem is that I have a lot of starts and few finishes.

One reason for these infrequent finishes (and loss of time) is that I tend to make things too difficult for myself. I spend too much time on tasks that should be simple. For example, a few weeks ago, I wanted to start putting up a weekly quote on my Facebook page and I found one I liked. I was about to schedule it to be posted on a Monday, but then I thought it needed a picture. So, I searched through some internet memes and couldn’t quite find the right picture and quote combination. I have been wanting to start using more of my own photography and less from the internet, so I decided I’d put the quote on my own picture, and I opened up the rarely used GIMP program that my brother downloaded on my computer. GIMP has so many functions, too many, and I don’t understand most of it (it’s one of those programs that you need to watch video tutorials in order for it to be beneficial). After changing the font size ten times and endlessly shifting the position of my quote, I saw a shadow in my picture and thought, “I could probably edit that out.” After multiple attempts at finding a function that removes shadows, I gave up and my Facebook page still lacks this new update. I don’t even want to know how long this useless process took me, and in order to gain closure on it, I am sharing that photo (with unwanted car shadow) today.

The font still looks too small...

 

Sadly, this example is how many blog posts, writings, and other projects go for me. My life plays out like a never-ending If You Give a Mouse a Cookie story. I need to add this to the goal list in my planner: Simplify things! I think I will start that weekly quote on Facebook and I'll use a less-complex program, or just share the quote and photo separately. Watch for it on my page, Monday!

Anyone else guilty of overthinking/overdoing simple things?

Merry Christmas!

I hope that each of you find blessings and joy in this season and the year to come!

Merry Christmas!

 

-From Elizabeth and her cats =^..^=

 

Here are some photos I took of Christmas light displays and my mischievous cats:

 

Garden of Lights, Muskogee, Oklahoma

More Garden of Lights

Rhema Bible College, Tulsa, Oklahoma

Sophie (Yes, that is a lamp shade)

Kitty finding warmth under the tree

Sawyer

 

Question of the Month: Favorite Beach

 

The Question of the Month is a bloghop that occurs the first Monday of each month and it is hosted by Michael G D'Agostino from A Life Examined. Here is this month’s question:

 "What's your favourite beach?"

            I have had the privilege to visit a handful of beaches on the Pacific and Atlantic coasts and along the Gulf of Mexico. I enjoyed aspects of each of the beaches I’ve been too, but the one I enjoyed the most was in Cape Canaveral, Florida. My friends and I had access to a semi-private beach with the resort we were staying at and it was such a peaceful place. Plus, we saw a manatee, which was awesome! For the rest of my post, I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves. And if you want more pictures, I featured some in one of my Throwback Thursday Photos posts last year.

 

 

 

 

 

Throwback Thursday: Pets

            I don't know about you, but June seemed like it just disappeared and July isn't looking much better since we are already about half-way through the month. Wal-Mart put out it's back-to-school displays on July 2nd or 3rd, and I'm not currently going to school or teaching at a school and that sight still makes me feel squeamish! I'm still trying to work on that whole time/balance thing with work, church, writing, blogging, etc. and I have been absent from online communities a lot lately. I think I forgot how quick and busy summers can get! And the internet around the lake community I live in can get really slow at times, but thankfully it seems to be working ok at the moment. So maybe these pictures will upload quickly. Without further ado, here are some older pictures of my cats and some gone but not forgotten pets.

Kitty was fairly content as a solo cat

 

 But, she seemed happy to gain a new friend in Sawyer

 

Even though Sawyer was quite the mischief-maker!

 

This was Zoe playing with her favorite ball

 

I miss her so much!

 

 

These were Zazzles (black) and Link (orange), they were indoor/outdoor brothers who made a great addition to the clowder (group of cats) for a short time

 

And finally, here's Sophie as a kitten right after hearing the vacuum for the first time :)

 

The Struggle Continues

 

            Well, I thought I had more to say on my Struggle is Real post, but after reading it over again, I think there is not much more I could say on the subject beyond what I already said in that post and others like this one. I’m not sure where my train of thought was heading, but it’s gone now. That happens to me a lot in writing and speaking. I think I’m going somewhere and then my train of thought disappears entirely, sometimes right in the middle of my sentence! Like I said in that previous post, I have been distracted and demotivated by work, so I'm sure that's a factor in my inability to focus. I have also been trying to get some things done around the house over the past week and my internet connection has been very slow at times. I will try to sit down and make some blog visits eventually when I am ready for a lesson on patience (as I wait for pages to load), but my chores are calling me right now. For now, here are recent pictures of my lazy cats and a beautiful peacock I saw at the Renaissance Festival last month.

 

 

Verses for the week: "Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.  For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.  So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal." 2 Corinthians 4:16-18 (NIV)



Cat-astasis

 



            I think the above meme speaks for itself. I spent Tuesday gathering more of what I need for my A to Z Challenge theme and hoping that it will all work together. With the theme reveal next Monday, I figured I would just do a short picture post today. It's a mostly wordless Wednesday, and now, let's cat with Sawyer, Kitty, and Sophie:

 

 

Snow, How I Miss It So!

                I know most people would probably disagree with me on this, but I love winter! Of course, I only love it on days I don’t have to go to work or when it snows. I like to be home watching the snow fall as I sip my coffee and stroke my cat and maybe venture outside to walk around and take pictures of the beautiful white blanket covering everything. I think this love stems from the fact that I grew up in the Phoenix area. So, my only childhood experiences with snow were an occasional dusting at my grandma’s house in Globe or a two-hour drive to Flagstaff or Prescott Pines on a couple day trips to "see the snow." Moving to Oklahoma and having snow days and ice storms was a completely new experience for me. I could do without the ice, but it only snowed a small amount one day this winter in my area, and it just hasn’t felt like a proper winter yet. So to help ease my longings, I thought I’s share some pictures from past winters. I have a lot of snow pictures, but not too many that don't require editing, so I've used some of these before. But, I know I haven't shared my picture of Fred the snow-frog until now :)





 



 

 

 

 

              I also have a random question which may seem odd for this month, but we'll just say it's for "research purposes": Can you think of a young adult or realistic fiction book that does not include romance as a key plot point among the main characters?

The Joy of Christmas

 

                It’s time for the Christmas Joy Blog Hop! I’m excited to be hosting today and I would like to thank those of you who shared my sign-up post on your pages! I would also like to thank the participants, it wouldn’t be a blog hop without all of you and I look forward to reading your posts :)

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                Christmas was a very special time when I was a kid. I would get so excited about opening presents on Christmas Eve at home and then waking up early the next morning to drive two hours to Grandma’s house to open more presents. I did not realize the true value of those moments until after my grandma died. My mom, dad, brother, and I moved to Oklahoma about a year after Grandma passed away and the next few Christmases seemed very sad and lonely with just the four of us. I have longed for another big family Christmas since then. I cannot believe that this Christmas will mark 20 years since the last time my mother’s side of the family all gathered together at Grandma’s house. Over the years, I have realized that the presents were only a small part of the joy of spending the holiday with family, and my small family has started our own traditions to celebrate each year. We started using stockings at some point when I was in high school, we had a few Christmas dinners with friends from the church, my brother and I have taken care of Christmas dinner for the past couple years, and my dad likes to read the story of Christ’s birth from the Bible on Christmas day. Christmas has become special for me again, and it has nothing to do with what I receive. I enjoy seeing someone’s face light up when I finally find the right gift for him/her. I enjoy hearing about how God sent His son to the earth as a little baby in Bethlehem and all the beautiful songs about Him, like this one:
 

 

                Christmas, especially this year in light of recent world events, reminds me that we still have hope in Christ. When life looks bleak, I think of the genuine, innocent joy of a child watching Christmas lights. In the midst of bad news, I am grateful to find stories of good Samaritans who help the poor, weary, wounded, and brave. As the Bible says in Ecclesiastes, there is a time for mourning and sorrow, but there is also a time for joy and laughter. I find joy in Christmas when I seek time to fellowship with family and friends throughout the month of December.

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And now, here is a quick list of a few of my favorite things:

Christmas food: decorated sugar cookies

Beverage: Peppermint Mocha from Starbucks

Decoration: My snow globe collection

Songs: O Come, O Come Emmanuel and What Child is This?

Tradition: driving or walking through Christmas light displays

Party: my church’s young adult Christmas party is usually the most fun

TV Episode: Garfield's Christmas Special

Movie: White Christmas

Speaking of a white Christmas, I also really enjoy seeing snow on the ground on Christmas day and I hope to see some this year.
Let it snow! Let it snow! Let it snow!



 

I will be taking a break from posting for the rest of the month, so I would like to wish all of you a very Merry Christmas! If you would like some more Christmas cheer, please visit the other participants below. The sign-up will remain open until 11:59pm CST if anyone else wants to join in!
 

Christmas Joy Blog Hop Participants:

 

1. Liz's Random Ponderings

2. A Bench with a View

3. Ninja Captain Alex J. Cavanaugh

4. Pile of Smiles

5. Writing in Wonderland

6. Susan Says

7. Tamara Narayan

8. Writing Off the Edge

9. Star Trek Sci Fi Blog

10. Birgit

11. Abba's Lap

12. My Holiday Decorating

13. Getting Back the Meaning of Christmas

14. Stacey @ a little bit of me