Five Things Writers Do

Writing often seems mysterious, and a bit of a romantic notion - at least to people who haven't actually done it much. Some people are stuck at the romance part of the equation, and rarely venture into the actual reality part.

So, as a public service, I give you:
Five Things Writers Do

1. Writers write.
2. Writers revise.
3. Writers read.
4. Writers write more.
5. Writers revise more.

Bonus Tip: Writers professionally accept critique from editors. It doesn't mean you can never question it, but editors are doing their best to keep you from looking stupid. They are not your enemies. They are your friends. Treat them with respect.



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Life is Full

Life is a great big canvas, 

and you should throw 

all the paint on it you can. 

                          ~ Danny Kaye

Such good advice for life. The time is short. 

We never know how many days we have yet to live, so best to make the most of every one of them. Regardless of how many there are, it won't be enough. the world is so full of amazing places to go, sights to see, people to meet, and things to do. We won't have time to do it all. 

So, no point in wasting a moment. Might as well soak up all we can.

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Taking Action

An ounce of action
is worth a ton of theory.

                                   -- Friedrich Engels

This is something I keep reminding myself of on a regular basis. It's fine to mull over ideas, consider options, and think about what to do next. But, I must remember one of my rules for living; It's almost always wrong to do nothing. I must DO something beyond thinking if I want something to happen. It's such a simple lesson, but so easily lost.

I just recently completed a visioning process, and I do need some time to contemplate all of that. But it must be leading to putting new things into action.

Life is a thrill ride!

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Power to the Pen from Pilot

I'm participating in Pilot's Power To The Pen challenge. You can learn more about it by clicking here.  Essentially, the challenge is to write a blog entry with pen. (This was written with a Pilot G2 - purple.)

You know I love the handwritten word, which is why I have Words by Hand! If you feel the urge to be included in that project, see info here. 

Just to be clear - no one sent me any free pens, or paid me anything to do this. I just did it 'cause it sounded cool!
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Weird Moments

Today I was researching the Wildlife and Wetlands Byway in Kansas. I googled - as would be my wont. I found a newsletter. I glanced over it. And I found myself quoted.

http://www.kansaswetlandsandwildlifescenicbyway.com/pdfs/factsheets/EllinwoodFactSheet.pdf

It was from a piece I'd written on the blog, and it's lovely they found it and are using it. I just didn't know. And guess I never would have known if I hadn't gone looking for information for something else.

They are doing what I suggest clients do - use good things people say about you to your advantage. They just stopped before completing the circle and letting me know so I could promote them.

Life has some weird moments sometimes...

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Old Manual Typewriter

This is my latest purchase - Royal Typewriter, probably made in the 1930s. I asked on Facebook if anyone had one and a friend did. Her husband brought it into town, I forked over a $20, transaction completed.

Someone on Twitter asked if I was going "old school." In reality, I want it for an art project.

But, these things never go quite as smoothly as one might hope.

I just drove straight to Gary's Office Machines, which I had called yesterday to ask about ribbons. He nicely came out and got it out of the car (it's heavy!), took it in, and determined there were no spools in there. Apparently they can wind a new ribbon onto the old spools, (think cassette tapes and pencils) but we need the spools. So, I'm on the hunt...

I have a couple of places to check out that I didn't have time to connect with yet. Until then, it's just riding around in my car seat. I see no point in carrying it inside until I've located the necessary items.

It will work. Eventually. Just not today.

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Visioning Retreat Collage

I spent the weekend in retreat with friends, working on a visioning collage. I've done this three times previously, and this was the most intense one overall. These are a couple of snippets from mine, the theme of which was, "My Ideal Life."

I'm a firm believer in this process. It's quite amazing how it works. I'm eager to see what develops as a result in the next few months.



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Posting Here and There

You may have noticed I'm not posting every day on the blog lately. There are two things at work.

1. My computer is so slow it's cumbersome to do. I need to replace it and just haven't yet. Actually getting a post up is a process that takes longer than it should.

2. I upload photos and life details to Facebook almost every day, and often don't duplicate it here. So, while this was my "chronicle of life" place, that now happens more on Facebook. If you're not connected with me there, please just send me a request and we can connect there.

Once I get a new computer, I'm sure I'll get back into a more regular routine. Waiting on a computer makes me a little crazy, so I don't do it any more than necessary!


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Touch of Grace

It's often the little things that have such impact on how we perceive something. When I arrived at a B and B recently and opened the fridge to store some food I had brought, I was greeted with this. It was completely unexpected, and completely charming.

It was a little something extra the owner left for me. A delightful surprise on a scorching hot day. The tag told me it was fresh and had been prepared with me in mind.

These little things, that took a bit of effort, but even more thought, are what stay with us. It's like the old adage about it being the thought that counts when it comes to gifts.

As always when I stay here, I was charmed by this little touch of grace. We all need more of them in our lives.

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Bales of Hay

I remember when hay started being baled in these large round bundles. It seemed so odd at the time. We were used to the rectangular bales that high school boys would toss up into the truck and eventually up into the hay loft. Some made it look effortless, some labored more, but all sweated in the heat.

These round bales can be moved around with machinery, which eliminates the need for the physical labor. One man on a tractor can do what a crew used to do. They don't require a hayloft, but can sit like sentinels in the open field, waiting to be used. I suppose if there's some rot, it's a minor amount and worth the loss. Plastic coverings protect them in some places, sheds in others.

A friend on Facebook tells me these are going for $175 each in Oklahoma. I don't know if that's the going rate elsewhere or not. I do know it wouldn't take very long for that to add up if you have very much livestock.

Every business has its trials, but farming seems to have more than its fair share.

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The Kansas Prairie

It has taken me a long time to appreciate the Kansas Prairie, and it is harder in these times of drought when the landscape is brown except for the weeds. But I have learned to find a different kind of beauty in the more delicate things that make the prairie home.

Weeds are one of the survivors, it seems. They flourish regardless of the weather. Only frost can send them underground, just long enough for them to gather strength to reappear with the first glimmer of spring. But that seems to be the case for all eco-systems, not just the prairie.

I do love seeing windmills in farmers' fields. I'm not sure why, but they symbolize a time and place and there's a beauty in that, too. Being able to understand a situation because of only one thing like that is quite wonderful.

I'm not sure the cows standing in the hot sun nearby were quite as thrilled with the scene as I was.

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Quote of the Day

He who cannot change the very fabric of his thought will never be able to change reality, and will never, therefore, make any progress.

                                                                   ---Anwar Sadat

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Twirl

I love this card. Such great advice for life - "When in doubt, twirl."

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Microburst Damage

We had a little rain last night, for which I was thankful. However, we also had a microburst that resulted in me having a broken window at my house.

I couldn't sleep last night so I was reading in bed. At some point I drifted off, only to be awakened shortly thereafter to see the French doors between my bedroom and the sunporch were open. I keep them closed all the time, and even have a doorstop in front of them to keep them closed. One of them was open about two feet.

I went to see what was going on and the blinds had fallen, and the top half of the window was broken horizontally across. Rain was blowing in. I was standing there somewhat dumbfounded, unsure what to do. Eventually I taped up some garbage bags to keep the rain from coming in and figured the 107 degree temperature today would dry anything that got wet.

Thank goodness, my handyman was able to come over today. He went and got a board cut to go up there temporarily because we couldn't find anyone today who could cut a piece of glass this big. Fortunately, we have a "real" glass place downtown where they can. So, tomorrow I'll call and get that started.

Apparently there are places in town with big trees down so I guess I was lucky overall. But, I certainly didn't get much rest last night, and didn't get anything done today that I needed to do. So it goes.

Hopefully it will all be addressed in a short time. I'm so thankful for Bobbie and that he could work on it for me. In the meantime, I'm "that person" in the neighborhood who has a boarded up window.

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Fresh Salad

This is my favorite summertime meal. Fresh mozzarella with home grown tomatoes, with basil infused olive oil drizzled over it. The only part of this that I grew was the basil, but it was delicious.

These tomatoes came from my friend, Julie. Don't they look wonderful? They were fabulous. Thank you, Julie, for sharing such deliciousness!

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A Person of Rivers

This week I was asked to participate in a panel discussing rivers, and what they mean to people. I grew up near the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers. If you've read "Huck Finn," you have read about an Illinois spot I return to each time I go to Kentucky. 

Not sure what I will say about rivers, but I'm certain I'll have no trouble with my couple of minutes. I remembered this piece I published on the blog earlier, and I think there are things here I might draw on. It's hard to believe this was written more than ten years ago.  

In 2001, I gave pieces of driftwood I gathered at the river to some friends with the following piece: 

I am a person of rivers.

For those of us born to rivers, they are life itself. We speak of them reverently. We fear them. We cherish them. We are drawn to them by a force we cannot comprehend but have no choice but to obey. They flow through our souls. They define us.

We go to the river for strength, for guidance, for solace. We cannot possibly find our way in the world without returning to the river periodically. It beckons to us. We cannot deny its call. We learn at a young age that there's no point in even trying. Not that we want to anyway. The river knows when we are away from it too long. It summons us home.

We gather at the riverside for family celebrations, baptisms, and catharsis. We have rituals, public and private, that are carried out only on those banks. 

The confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers is a place I return to when I've lost my way in the world. I have said prayers of thanksgiving and prayers of entreatment from the same spot. I have sought direction and consolation. I will do both again as long as I walk upon this Earth.

I gathered this driftwood on an April Day of 2001 with the idea of sharing it with a few special friends at Christmastime. I had no idea then how profoundly changed I would be by the end of this year. My life will never be the same as it was that day.

I can't give you the river. I can't even explain its attraction for those of us born to it. But I want to share with you a small token of it. May this driftwood encourage you to visit what restores you. 

I hope the holidays are a time of joy for you and yours this Christmas.

Patsy
Christmas 2001

Other river thoughts: http://www.blog.patsyterrell.com/2011/12/down-by-riverside.html

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Corn Fields in the Drought

The other day I drove by some corn fields that are barely recognizable. The only green is the weeds. I wish I could say this was the only field that looked like this, but it was just one of many.

I've never seen anything like this.

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Being Needy

I'm not sure what my general "neediness" level is, but I think it's pretty low. Perhaps my friends will tell me otherwise, but I believe it to be minimal. Maybe I have a skewed sense of what a "normal" amount is. I do know my tolerance level for it is low.

Because I spend a great deal of time in social media, I see a lot of "virtual hand-wringing" from people on the periphery of my life. There is always a problem, often related to someone else in their world, and they need a lot of support from people. This requires their "friends" to tell them repeatedly that they're wonderful and the other person - the villian in this story - is terrible, will see the error of their ways, is unreasonable, will regret this decision later, fill-in-the-blank.

I don't respond because I just want to say, "Get these people out of your life and you'll solve this problem. Go cold turkey. Just stop engaging with people who bring this kind of drama into your life."

Some would say it makes me cold-hearted, but I just could not have anyone close to me who had this much drama in their lives. I can't muster energy for being supportive of disasterous situations that are completely foreseeable. Yes, I know we all have to learn everything. What I've learned is that I'm not good with that. It's just not something I can offer the world.

I would do almost anything for a friend or family member who needed something. But there's no one in my close circles who is "drama prone." When they have a problem, it's a real problem. And I will help them in any way I can.

Maybe this was formed early in life when I watched people be overly dramatic about things that didn't really matter. When girls squealed about how they would die if they didn't get a particular pair of jeans, I looked at them as if they were a different species. In my world, people really did die. It was nothing like getting jeans. So I just automatically wrote off people acting that way as people who couldn't be trusted to make wise decisions.

Was that harsh? Maybe. But it seemed perfectly reasonable to me then and, frankly, it still does. What kind of sense does it make to expend that much energy over something that has no real bearing on your life? How can a person who's that worked up about jeans or exes or any number of other things have the brain power and emotional capacity to make wise choices? Maybe they can manage just fine, but my instinct for self-preservation doesn't allow me to gamble on that sort of wild-card variable.

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Cactus Still Going

A few weeks ago I reported on the Agave Cactus Growing on the Prairie. Earlier this week I had reason to be in Chase again, and snapped a couple of current photos.

It is still standing, but the blooms are drying up. You can see in the above photo that it's less "fluffy" at the top.



Hopefully it will make some babies before it dies.

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Charmed Life

Many projects are percolating in my brain these days. Exciting things I've tried to figure out, off and on, for years. It seems the universe is providing me with ideas, and the people to make them happen, at just the right time. Resources are just appearing, as if by magic, to allow things to fall into place.

I've always felt I lead a charmed life, but these days it's all the more apparent. I'm doing my best to manage all of this appropriately, and to remain grateful. I am so incredibly grateful.

A few months ago, I scheduled a visioning retreat weekend with friends that is coming up soon. It is the perfect time for it. Such a blessed, and exciting, time in my life.

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Layers

I'm in a place where I'm trying to figure out a number of things. I'm contemplating some new projects, and trying to decide what I should let go of to make room for them, or if there's room for everything.

As with every crossroads in life, there are layers to peel back. What you find beneath them is always a surprise, and sometimes it's just another layer.

While I'm in this process, my writing here may be sporadic and not make much sense. But rest assured all is well!

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Life Cycles

Everything has a life cycle, from plants to relationships. There's a time to sow, and a time to reap. While those are easy to spot, the inbetween time is a bit nebulous. We can't see plants grow, and we can't see relationships grow apart.

But one day you suddenly realize the corn is six feet tall. And one day you see the relationship is six feet under. It doesn't necessarily mean anyone did anything wrong. Circumstances just conspired to make it that way. Just like time helped the corn, time caused the relationship to become distant.


The trick is to realize that everything has a season, including relationships. It's just hard to see that when you're in the middle of it. Looking back, it's much more clear. 


To everything there is a season... 

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Colorado Shooting and Conspiracy Theorists

Twelve people are dead and dozens more wounded because of a shooting in a crowded theater in Colorado. Yelling fire in a crowded theater suddenly doesn't sound so bad.

Before the dead have even been identified and their families notified, the conspiracy theorists are at it. I find this incredibly cruel. Why add to the pain of grieving families?

It's fascinating that the people who seem most likely to believe in conspiracy theories are the same people who have no faith in the government. But somehow they believe this same government is able to plan, execute and cover up incredibly complex events. How can both of those beliefs coexist?

I do not believe in conspiracies. At least none that I've heard yet.

I think government does some things really well. But planning and executing complex events has to involve humans. And, covering up anything relies on humans to be quiet. Big, big, big flaw in the conspiracy plan. So far, throughout human history, that hasn't happened. People cannot resist telling what they know. How many crimes are solved because someone blabs to a bartender, or one inmate brags to another. Even Deep Throat couldn't resist revealing his identity before his death. We do not have it in us to keep what we know to ourselves.

So, no, I don't believe in conspiracy theories because it would demand capabilities that are beyond humans. However, I know there are others who do, and that's their choice. I do wish they could curb their enthusiasm for conspiracy theories until those who are grieving have some time to do that. Why be so cruel?


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Fun Glasses

Tonight was Third Thursday in Downtown Hutchinson - live music and art. It was a great night.

I broke out the cool, fun glasses for the occasion!

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Emotion

“I can only note that the past is beautiful because one never realises an emotion at the time. It expands later, and thus we don't have complete emotions about the present, only about the past.”
                                ― Virginia Woolf


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Something to Say

"I can't teach you how to have a voice. 
You either have something to say or you don't."
                                                    - Dan Wieden

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Possibilities

Life is a fascinating adventure. The days bring surprises more wonderful than you dreamed. Those surprises bring possibilities for futures I wouldn't have imagined.

I'm still mulling it all over. So much to think about.

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Community

I spent a few hours this week in a series of classes about Amish culture. There's an Amish settlement a few miles from where I live in Kansas. They also live in multiple places I've visited in recent years from Ohio to Iowa.

The overriding concept is the idea that the community is the most important thing. The good of all takes precedence over the individual needs and wants.

The class was taught by an ex-Amish gentleman, and there was another ex-Amish man in the class. Both of them left because they wanted an education. The Amish don't believe in formal education beyond the eighth grade.

It was really fascinating to learn about a culture that I see from afar regularly, but have no intimate knowledge of. It's something I like about living here. Occasionally you'll be in a line and someone will come up to another person in line to say hello and before you know it, they're speaking German. I don't understand a single word of German, but I find it fascinating how people easily switch from one to the other. I learned in this class that most ex-Amish say they'll always think in "Dutch," which is actually German. (Pennsylvania Dutch is actually a reference to Deutsch, i.e. German.)

Multiple people asked about shunning, and he did talk about that a bit. He also asked the older gentleman to talk about his experience of being disciplined by the church when he was younger. He was never shunned, but he was disciplined for something he did that was wrong. The bishop came to see him, then he confessed in the church, and everyone stood up and he knew they forgave him. Something I would have missed if the instructor hadn't mentioned it that this forgiveness, like so many things in Amish culture, is visible. That theme kept repeating.

By the way, if you're wondering what this gentleman did that required discipline, he went to see a movie. While that may seem harsh to us, it's important to keep things in line so they maintain their culture.

It was an interesting couple of days. It gave me some insight I've been missing.

And, it reminded me that something that delights me is learning.
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Pushed and Pulled

I'm in a bit of a funk. At least that's what I'm calling it. I don't have another word for it, although "funk" implies something negative, and it's not that. It's more that I feel pulled in a dozen different directions and I'm not sure from moment to moment where to put my attention. I'm pushed and pulled this way and that. Somewhere in between I'm looking for the straight line that moves things along.

Obviously all will work out, as it always does. It's just the middle of the process and I'm trying to figure out how best to manage.

In the meantime, there are other things that are more fun beckoning me to spend my attention there. I think I will have to put those on hold for the moment and focus. Focus, focus, focus - not my best thing - but I will buck up and manage!

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Just Because it's Pretty...

I took this photo more than two years ago but just recently looked at it carefully and now I see there's a bee inside the flower.

I wonder what else I've missed all this time...

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