I will be speaking to the Rusk County Poetry Society at their March meeting on March 19, 2026 in Henderson, Texas. My topic is “Line Breaks and White Space.” Hope to see y’all there!
Category: Writing
In February 2026, I wrote an unreasonably tiny amount of words (4422). Of those words,
- 416 were for this blog (2 short posts),
- 1972 were for my journal (27 entries),
- 722 were for handouts, scripts, and slides for lessons (one for the Open Door Writing Group),
- 1134 were on various social media accounts,
- 0 were poetry (none! at all! alas!),
- and 178 were in a single short flash fiction piece.
There were only 2 days that I didn’t write anything, but most of it was tiny little journal entries on my phone because it was a terrible, no good, very bad month. I got Covid again and then developed Adhesive Capsulitis in what used to be my good shoulder (while doing physical therapy for my bad shoulder). So either I couldn’t breathe or I couldn’t move. It was an agonizing month. I didn’t go to most of my writing group meetings and I didn’t get any poems or short stories submitted anywhere. I was a lump. A painful lump. (My kids redecorated my house for various holidays – the Super Bowl is a holiday, right – for me because I was so pitiful. They are such good kids.)
As for reading, I read parts of:
- Braiding Sweetgrass by Robyn Kimmerer Walls (audiobook; non-fiction)
- Write Smart, Write Happy by Cheryl St. John
- How To Make a Living as a Poet by Gary Mex Glazner
- Accessibility for Everyone by Laura Kalbag
…and I finished reading:
- An Offer From a Gentleman by Julia Quinn (audiobook; romance)
- The Hands of the Emperor by Victoria Goddard (e-book; fantasy)
- THOtE Bonus Chapters by Victoria Goddard (e-book; fantasy)
- THotE Further Scenes by Victoria Goddard (e-book; fantasy)
- Traditional Culture Days at Uni by Victoria Goddard (e-book; fantasy)
- Feonie and the Islander Regalia by Victoria Goddard (e-book; fantasy)
- The Return of Fitzroy Angursell by Victoria Goddard (e-book; fantasy)
- Saint of the Bookstore by Victoria Goddard (e-book; fantasy)
- At the Feet of the Sun by Victoria Goddard (e-book; fantasy)
Some of you may quibble about the bonus chapters and further scenes and short stories as being separate books, but I’m not having any of that because The Hands of the Emperor should have been about 5 full size novels by itself, as should At the Feet of the Sun. So I’m counting the rest individually. Sue me. Bwahahaha. (please don’t. why would you?) So I have finished 16 books so far this year (and read parts of another 7, mostly for research.).
This week at 1pm in the Makerspace at the Tyler Public Library I will be speaking at the Open Door Writing Group on What I Learned from “Write Smart, Write Happy” and “How to Make a Living as a Poet”, including tips and tricks to help you live your best, most creative, productive writing life.
In January 2026, I wrote 6066 words. Of those words,
• 802 were for this blog (3 short posts),
• 1230 were for my journal,
• 2156 were for handouts, scripts, and slides for lessons (one for the Open Door Writing Group and one for Asher Point Independent Living Facility),
• 585 were on various social media accounts,
• 214 were poetry (2 short poems and 1 long),
• and 1079 were in short stories (4 pieces of flash fiction).
There were only 12 days that I didn’t write anything. Mostly weekends and holidays, but also a few sick days. I submitted one poem online and heard back from a couple of places, one of which accepted a piece for publication. I also had two speaking engagements, lots of physical therapy appointments, a trip with my family to see my youngest perform with NOVA Independent Guard, the Icepocalypse of 2026, the purchase of a cover for my first indie-published poetry anthology (of just my work), and attended a ReCraft & Co Zine Making Workshop.
As for reading, I read parts of:
Secrets of the First School by TL Huchu (audio book; fantasy), Braiding Sweetgrass by Robyn Kimmerer Walls (audio book; non-fiction), The Relaxed Author by Joanna Penn and Mark Leslie Lefebvre (trade paperback; non-fiction), How to Make a Living as a Poet by Gary Mex Glazner (trade paperback; non-fiction).
…and I finished reading:
• Bee Sting Cake by Victoria Goddard (e-book; cozy fantasy),
• Whiskey Fool by Victoria Goddard (e-book; cozy fantasy), • Plum Duff by Victoria Goddard (e-book; cozy fantasy),
• Blackcurrent Fool by Victoria Goddard (e-book; cozy fantasy),• Love in a Mist by Victoria Goddard (e-book; cozy fantasy),
• Olive and the Dragon by Victoria Goddard (e-book; cozy fantasy),• Seven Dials by Agatha Christie (e-book; mystery),
So I have finished 7 books so far this year (and read parts of another 4, mostly for research, but also a couple of things I’ve just not finished yet.).
This week at 1pm in the Makerspace at the Tyler Public Library I will be speaking at the Open Door Writing Group on Planning Your Writing Life, including tips and tricks to help you live your best, most creative, productive writing life.
I’ve been very bad about tallying up all of last year’s writing, but I think I’m finally done with it.
- In 2025, I wrote 104,303 words. Of those words,
- 5559 were for this blog (29 short posts),
- 3,660 were in 2 essays
- 26,396 were for my journal,
- 43,436 were for handouts, scripts, and slides for lessons (15 lessons),
- 15,692 were on various social media accounts,
- 12,094 were poetry (68 poems – a lifetime record),
- and 7,566 were in short stories (36 pieces of flash fiction).
- If you tally all those numbers up, I wrote 150 discrete items, not counting social media posts and journal entries because those don’t really get published. (So 150 items in 215 days, which means about 1 item every 1 and a quarter days)
- There were only 120 days that I didn’t write anything, mostly due to illness, travel, or moving my kids from house to house. So I wrote on 2/3rds of the days of the year, which basically comes down to working on writing 5 days a week and leaving myself weekends for living, if I were the kind of person that followed a schedule like that. I mean, I try, but there were loads of weeks where I missed several weekdays and wrote straight through the weekends.
- I only submitted about 5 items all year because it was just sooooo much chaos. I had 2 acceptances and the last 3 items are still well within their response timezones (there’s a better word for this, but the phone in the next room keeps ringing and ringing and I cannot think of it). The two acceptances will be published in early to mid 2026.
- I had 15 speaking engagements last year. The vast majority did not pay, but were for a group that both feeds my soul and lets me practice my topics with them. Two were for free for the library (who I love and who graciously supports two of my writing groups), but I got several paid teaching side gigs out of them, so that about broke even in terms of payment, really.
- As for reading, I finished 65 books and read parts of another 13, mostly for research, but also a couple of things I’ve had to mark DNF because I didn’t like their take on the topic or the writing style or something.
That’s it! One more year as a writer in the books. 🙂
As several of you know, a couple of years ago I wrote an essay for a traditionally published book about living with disability and then, as usual in my life, things went amiss. The publishing company had an office fire (or maybe the whole building burned? Reports vary.) and timelines went askew. Time went by. I got a few emails asking for patience. Then one that said they were rethinking the whole way the book was going to be presented.
A manuscript arrived in my inbox last week and I was asked to check if the parts of my essay used were used in ways that did not negate the message I was trying to give with my entire essay. In fact, we were all asked to read the whole book, if possible. But there was a four day deadline and I didn’t have time last week to do so. In any case, my parts sounded fine. The parts of the book I read seemed mostly on target for what I was expecting (as long as they proofread it before sending it on to the printers).
So yesterday I got another email, with the title of the book. It’s supposed to come out mid-late summer, so watch out for it: Beloved As We Are: Building a Congregational Culture of Disability Inclusion. (I will, of course, post more about it when I get cover art and links and such.)
Asher Point reached out to me through the library to come speak to their book club about writing, books that I’ve written, and all things books and reading. I can’t wait to talk to their Book Club! 🙂
In November, I wrote 16,268 words! Yay! Finally a good writing month after months and months of delays, trips, moving kids, etc. I’m so happy I finally got to sit down and just write. Of those words,
- 409 were for this blog (2 short posts),
2777 were for my journal, - 1234 were the essay for that anthology I talked about last month,
- 2426 were answering questions to help make my essay for the anthology, many of which did not end up in the anthology because they were excised from the first draft to make way for words that did not sound like they were answering questions,
- 0 were for handouts, scripts, and slides for lessons (I reused an old one for the Open Door Writing Group),
- 1572 were on various social media accounts,
- 3327 were poetry (16 poems – a new record!!),
- and 1073 were in short stories (2 pieces of flash fiction).
There were only 12 days that I didn’t write anything, but that’s not bad because I wrote A LOT on the days that I did write. I did host part of Thanksgiving and a board games night at my house this month, as well as building shelves and moving my husband’s entire board game collection from The Living Room to The Library.
Another one of the books I beta read for came out this month, so once again I’m feeling that weird sense of accomplishment about that.
As for myself, I had one piece accepted for an anthology that will come out early next year (probably around graduation season, I’m guessing, since the topic of my essay was “advice I’d give a teenager who wants to become a volunteer coordinator for a non-profit organization”).
As for reading, I read parts of:
- Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer(audiobook; non-fiction)
- West of Yesterday, East of Summer by Paul Monette (e-book; poetry – I finally got it back on Libby!)
Memory’s Daughters: The Material Culture of Remembrance in Eighteenth-Century America by Susan M. Stabile (hardcover; non-fiction – written by my Women’s Diaries professor at TAMU while I was taking her class) - How to Read Poetry Like a Professor: A Quippy and Sonorous Guide to Verse by Thomas C. Foster (e-book that I have AND trade paperback at my dad’s house; non-fiction)
- Poetry’s Data: Digital Humanities and the History of Prosody by Meredith Martin (e-book; non-fiction)
…and I finished reading:
- The Viscount Who Loved Me by Julia Quinn (audiobook; historical romance)
- Poetry Magazine Jan/Feb 2025 by Poetry.org (paperback; poetry)
- Let Loose the Dogs by Maureen Jennings (e-book; historical mystery)
- The Pale Horse by Agatha Christie (e-book; mystery)
- The Comfort Book by Matt Haig (audiobook; self-help)
- The Carrying by Ada Limon (e-book; poetry)
- Stargazy Pie by Victoria Stoddard (e-book; cozy fantasy)
I really am trying to finish most of the unfinished books I started earlier in the year. I have finished 56 books so far this year (and read parts of another 12, again mostly for research, but also a couple of things I’ve had to mark DNF.).
This book from A Worthy Press hopes to help teens and young adults choose a career path that best fits their God-given talents. Each contributor shared insights from their own career journey—what they learned, what they’d do differently, and the wisdom they wanted to pass on to the next generation. I wrote my essay on the one thing I’ve done most consistently in my life – wrangling volunteers. I know, not an official job title, but you know what jobs are like, your title could be just about anything that made sense to an HR person at some point. Hahaha. In any case, this book should be out sometime in February. I’ll post more about it when I have cover art, etc.
Lisa Holcomb 