The article is title 52 Ideas for an Inspired New Year.  The front of the magazine was what caught my attention with the title of 52 ideas to boost your creativity in 2018.  In June of this year I took a trip to New Orleans to try to get back in touch with my writing.  My divorce was final and I needed more to reconnect with me and everything that I loved. New Orleans was exactly what I needed to light the creative spark, though I tried to focus only on writing, New Orleans is so rich in culture, music, writing and the arts that the creative juices started flowing like crazy in all creative areas.  The problem was when I arrived home I began paining more and then I decided to make a quilt.  I am not a quilter by any means but I had a vision that I wanted to create and I sat out to do it.  I will say my quilt tells a story all of its own. 

My point is whatever helps you find your creative spark, embrace it.  I am not writing as much as I want, but I am still writing and reading at least 15 minutes a day and now I am expressing myself with art as well.  I am hoping to write poems to go with my art, we shall see where this creative path takes me. 

I recently read an article asking readers if they continue to read a book if it is not catching their interest. Previously, I was one that had to finish a book no matter if I loved it or hated it. However, in the last 10 years I have realized that I don't have to finish the book if it is dragging, lost my interest, is poorly written and/or if there are massive editoral errors.  Now, if a book does not have my interest by chapter 2 I can close the book and never look back.  There are just too many good books to be read in this world, that I don't need to waste my time on the ones that can't keep my interest or are poorly written just because I want to know what happens.  

​In the article it mentioned the 60 page rule, meaning that if by page 60 the book had not caught your interest then that was the time to walk away. Can you walk away from a book that you have started? When do you know that you like, love or hate a book? If you decide to not finish the book at what point do you finally say enough?

I have started making serious changes to my website. Over the next week or so I plan to completely vamp up the pages and update all of the information.  I hope that you will check back in often to see all of the changes. 

2015 seems to be flying by. It has been a busy and amazing year with work, softball, powwows, and of course writing.  I attended an online workshop for 21 days back in Sept; it was created to get authors and writers to believe in themselves and simply write. It was a great refresher and reminder to write at any opportunity possible, regardless if it is for 5 minutes or an hour.  It also reminded me to be my own cheerleader and not beat myself up all the time. 

I had started beating myself up if I was reading instead of writing, but then I remembered to be a great writer I have to be a great reader. As long as I read, write, or edit I am making gains in my writing career, I just have to remind myself of that.  It honestly makes life easier if I accept where I am and what I am doing at that moment in time.  I wrote 2 chapters on a new story this weekend and I edited one of my manuscripts. It felt really good to make the time for myself. Life doesn't stop or slow down for anyone, I do need to remind myself to embrace those little 5 minutes treasures of writing with a good cup of coffee every now and then before life and time completely flies by leaving me behind. 

On June 4-5, 2015, the 11th Annual Clarksville Writers Conference took place.  It was an amazing conference with some really good presenters.  What I love most about the conference isn't just listening to the writing styles of published authors and learning new techniques for myself. It is actually seeing familiar faces and networking with all the wonderful talent that is at the conference.  

Thursday evening at the Meet the Author banquet the keynote speaker was Sharyn McCrumb and I want to say she is the most interesting and captivating speaker I have had the pleasure of meeting in a very long time.  Sad to say that I haven't read her books, but I now have several of her books on my to read list.  If you get the opportunity to meet her, I promise you will enjoy every second of it.  The research that she does to write all of her books is absolutely incredible. Ms. McCrumb is an absolute joy and inspiration to me as a writer. 

Thank you to the committee who planned this annual Clarksville Writers Conference.  Every year seems to get better and better. 

The expression when life throws you lemons make lemonade; it is a constant reminder that life is ever changing.  Every day that my son doesn't have a seizure is a blessing and when he does have a seizure I am constantly reminded to try to see the brighter side of the situation.  It is gut wrenching to see my son's body betray him and to watch him lose complete control. I beg and pray that he will come back to us and when the seizure finally ends I am flooded with tons of emotions that are normally overwhelming and I try so hard to keep it together so that my son won't see my tears.  As he gets older the seizures have become more violent and here lately it seems like the medication is not working.  I read an article about a mother who used writing as a way to cope with her son's accident that left him with a traumatic brain injury.  I cried all the way through the article and then I went back and read poems that I have written over the years and I see the transition in my work especially in regards to my son.  Looking back, I can tell by my writing style when he had a seizure. My words are frantic or sloppy and very raw with emotion, but they speak volumes to what was going on in our life at that time.  My son was diagnosed with epilepsy over 12 years ago and I will tell you time does not heal all things, however my writing has helped me heal and accept.  Everyday is a blessing and I just have to continue to believe that one day the right medicine will control my son's seizures or that he will out grow them, until then I am going to creatively try to make something with those lemons and it probably won't be lemonade, maybe a nice pie that is so tart it makes me cry but beg for more.