I’m inundated with writing information

I get posts from the sites listed below either daily or weekly. They take over my email stream. And if I read each and every one of them every day, I wouldn’t have time for anything else – including what I’m sitting down to do – WRITE! 

Mind you, this list doesn’t include posts from blogs I regularly follow, a daily poem, and other various emails from the Writer’s Market, Amazon, Powell’s Books, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Twitter – the list goes on and on.

So what do you think? Which ones should I continue getting? Which ones should I toss? Also, are there any that I’m missing? I’d love to hear from you.

Storyfix is about getting real with your writing dream. About writing the kinds of stories that attract a readership through an understanding of craft and harnessing the power of the underlying principles that make it so.

“If you want to publish your work, if you want a career as a writer, then you’ve come to the right place.” ~ Larry Brooks

Copyblogger has been teaching people how to create killer online content. Not bland corporate crap created to fill up a company webpage. Valuable information that attracts attention, drives traffic, and builds your business.

The Write Practice is here to kick-start your practice. You have to write millions of words no one is ever going to see before you can write the ones that will change someone’s life.  

The Story Circle Network is dedicated to helping women share the stories of their lives and to raising public awareness of the importance of women's personal histories. We carry out our mission through publications, a website, classes, workshops, writing and reading circles, and woman-focused programs. Our activities empower women to tell their stories, discover their identities through their stories, and choose to be the authors of their own lives.

Seth’s Blog Seth Godin is a writer, a speaker and an agent of change. American Way Magazine calls him, "America's Greatest Marketer," and his blog is perhaps the most popular in the world written by a single individual. As Seth says, “Choose wisely. It's perhaps the most important decision we make, every day.”

Brain Pickings is a human-powered discovery engine for interestingness, a subjective lens on what matters in the world and why, bringing you things you didn’t know you were interested in — until you are.

  

She Writes Press is an independent company founded to serve members of She Writes, the largest global community of women writers online, and women writers everywhere. Its regular emails include articles by successful authors and an opportunity to write something related to your writing in six words.

 

Writer’s Digest includes prompts, articles about writing and publishing, competitions, and info about conferences and workshops.

Author Marketing Experts blogs about book marketing, publishing, social media, writing, author and book promotions.

Guide to Literary Agents Part of the Writer’s Digest family, it includes posts about all aspects of writing and provides lists of agents looking for new books. I had a guest post there, so there are opportunities for you. Chuck Sambuchino is very accessible.

CRWOPPS Creative Writers Opportunities List Group provides daily lists of publishing and writing contest opportunities.

HARO Help A Reporter Out  is your exclusive publicity genie, delivering you three free email alerts daily, straight from journalists and media companies on a deadline who want your story and expertise! Plus, with HARO, you can submit unlimited pitches to top journalists from local, regional and national media outlets. I’ve had a couple of successes here, including a paying gig.

My Name is Not Bob  provides guest posts and writing and marketing tips by Robert Lee Brewer, who describes himself as Father. Poet. Editor. Curator. Occasional slap-happy smack talker.

BookBaby is a small team of authors, bloggers, programmers, and dreamers. We're dedicated to helping authors make the journey from composition to publication. Includes lots of writing and publishing tips in its blog.

The April Poem A Day Challenge is back

I'm participating in Robert Lee Brewer's* month-long Poem A Day Challenge, as I've done each November and April for the last several years.

At this point my poems are just drafts, but it's fun just to get something down that I can tinker with once the challenge is over. 

Robert's prompts are always interesting. Here's a few poems I've written so far, following the days' prompts.

3. Write a tentative poem. The poem could be about a tentative date, a tentative person, a tentative situation. The narrator could be tentative. The subject could be tentative.

She once said,

I’ll pencil you in.

I bristled.

In fact, I erased her

from my calendar

and datebook entirely.

I’ve also erased her

from my mind.

4. Take the phrase “Hold That (Blank),” replace the blank with a word or phrase, make the new phrase the title of your poem, and write the poem. Possible titles include “Hold That Thought,” “Hold That Space,” “Hold That Poem,” or whatever else holds your attention.

Hold That and That and That

It’s always something when I order a meal.

Hold the cheese, the milk, the bacon, the bread.

The list is endless: red meat, wheat, gluten.

I wonder if a time will come

when I’ll be holding so much

that everything I eat

will taste like cardboard.

5. Write a plus poem. Plus can mean a lot of things, and even the act of addition could equate to subtraction.

Today’s list:

Write a poem

Plus

Write a journal entry

Plus

Write a blog post

Plus

Work on novel

Plus

(and this is the most important part)

Monitor the Putting a Face onSuicide page.

All other work stops for that.

* Robert is: Senior Content Editor for Writer's Digest writing community, poet, and father.

Visits to our "Family Home"

It’s been busy at our house lately. In the last several weeks we’ve had friends and family come over and visit and make use of our downstairs guest bedroom and bath. And that brings us great joy.

My sister arrived on Friday from Oregon two days after our cousins returned to their home in the Midwest, and they arrived just three weeks after our friend visited from Massachusetts.

With each set of visitors we showed parts of the Los Angeles area in keeping with their interests: the Stanley Kubrick exhibit at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the gardens at the Getty, Palos Verdes Peninsula and lunch at the gorgeous Terranea resort, the famous shopping street in Venice - Abbot Kinney Road, and a movie theater where we can get reserved seats in advance. And of course we are always proud to show them our little beach town complete with surfers, the pier, beach volleyball, long walks on the Strand, non-chain-store shopping, and hordes of restaurants.

I’m beginning to sound like a travel tour guide – that’s probably because of all the touring we’ve been doing lately.

It will be quiet here for a while, but I look forward to more visitors in late May. Now I understand more than ever why our house has been named the “Family Home.”

Aging goddesses in my heart

“How old would you be if you didn’t know your age.” 
Golda Meir

A dear friend’s mother died this week. She was ninety-five. I only met her one time, but I heard she had a good long life.

She lived in the retirement home where another friend’s ninety-three-year-old mother lives. My aunt lives there too. She’s going on ninety-eight. And I still see her as the beauty she was in her thirties, forties, and fifties.

I wrote the poems for Paul Blieden’s book of photography, The Emerging Goddess. I dedicate this poem to these ladies. They are in my heart.

Aging Goddesses

The crones – our mothers, grandmothers,

aunts, old friends, and teachers –

walk arm in arm in pairs

each one supporting the other 

on the old cobble-stoned streets.

They are squat, stout

with veiny legs and thick ankles,

their bare feet in flat sandals

showing jagged toenails

or clothed in thick hose

and wide oxfords.

Some move slowly

barely able to walk,

clutching each other for support.

They are perfectly coifed.

Their hair short and bleached

hides their age

but not too much.

They wear suits

with skirts always below their knees.

Jeans just don’t do.

They talk as they walk

closely together.

Almost in a whisper

they solve the world’s problems,

impart their age-old wisdom

or decide what they’ll cook for dinner.

They wear their age

as an example.

Softly, simply, elegantly

they are our muse.

They don’t hide

but rejoice in their age

They thrive in their togetherness.

That’s what counts.

They aren’t alone as they walk

They walk together

as we follow behind.