Category: Writing

Books, Everywhere But Home, I Am Traveling, My Writing, Organizing, poetry, What I Love, Writing

March 2025 Stats

I hesitated in posting this on April Fool’s Day, but please know that this post is in earnest. 🙂

In March, I wrote 21,346 words, which boggled the mind. Of those words,

  • 473 were for this blog (5 short posts),
  • 1,564 were for my journal,
  • 15,562 were for handouts, scripts, and slides for lessons (one for East Texas Writers Guild and one for the Open Door Writing Group and one for the Tyler Public Library’s Try It Tuesday Class),
  • 1,355 were on various social media accounts,
  • 894 were poetry (6 poems),
  • and 1,716 were in short stories (11 pieces of flash fiction).

There were 8 days that I didn’t write anything, but this month included traveling for Spring Break and two out of town Winter Guard competitions for my kid. I also haven’t heard back from any of the submissions I’ve sent out lately, but all the submitting guidelines said I probably wouldn’t hear back until mid-April or later, so I’m not worried about that yet.

As for reading, I read parts of:

  • Concessions by Libby James (e-book; thriller)
  • Agatha Arch is Afraid of Everything by Kristin Bair (e-book; mystery)
  • The Practice of Poetry: Writing Exercises from Poets Who Teach edited by Robin Behn and Chase Twichell
  • How to Read Poetry Like a Professor: A Quippy Guide to Sonorous Poetry by Thomas Foster (paperback; non-fiction)

…and I finished reading:

  • If Women Rose Rooted: The Power of the Celtic Woman by Sharon Blackie (audiobook; non-fiction)
  • Our Lady of Mysterious Ailments by T. L. Huchu (e-book; fantasy)
  • Such a Thing to Behold by Umar Turaki (e-book; fantasy)
  • The Midwife (volume 1) by Jennifer Worth (e-book; non-fiction)
  • The Truth of Me by Patricia MacLachlan (e-book; children’s lit)
  • Storyteller: 100 Letter Poems by Morgan Harper Nichols (e-book; poetry)
  • Call Us What We Carry by Amanda Gorman (hardcover; poetry)
  • The Poetry Home Repair Manual by Ted Kooser (paperback; non-fiction)

So I have finished 16 books so far this year (and read parts of another 8, mostly for research, but also a couple of things I’ve had to mark DNF.).

I feel like I’ve finally hit my stride with this year, so of course the next couple of months are going to be ridiculously busy in my personal life, as I have graduating high school senior in my household and another kid who’s applying to law schools and may need help moving. Wheeeeee!

Everywhere But Home, My Own Personal Weirdness, poetry, Speaking, Writing

Upcoming Speaking Engagement – ODWG on March 29, 2025

I’ll be speaking this upcoming Wednesday afternoon at the Tyler Public Library’s Open Door Writing Group. We meet on the 3rd floor of the Tyler Public Library in the Makerspace from 1-3pm. I’ll be speaking about Using Rhythm in Poetry and Prose. Hope some of y’all can make it! 🙂

Crafts, Everywhere But Home, Lifelong learning, Music, My Own Personal Weirdness, poetry, Speaking, What I Love, Writing

Speaking engagements today and tomorrow!

I’ll be speaking tonight at the meeting of the East Texas Writers Guild on “Sounds in Poetry” at the Tyler Area Chamber of Commerce Building at 6:30pm.

Tomorrow night I’ll be leading a lesson on “Beginner Calligraphy” at the Tyler Public Library at 5:30pm.

A busy week – I’m so excited! 🙂

Books, health, My Own Personal Weirdness, My Writing, poetry, Short Stories, Speaking, Writing

February 2025 Stats

In February, it felt like I had written practically nothing, so it was sort of a surprise to find out that I wrote 13,543 words. Of those words,

  • 353 were for this blog (three short posts),
  • 3536 were for my journal,
  • 7203 were for handouts, scripts, and slides for lessons (one for East Texas Writers Guild and one for the Open Door Writing Group),
  • 1629 were on various social media accounts,
  • 421 were poetry (one short poem and one long),
  • and 401 were in short stories (two pieces of flash fiction).

There were only four days that I didn’t write anything. I was sick for a lot of the month. So, I didn’t get any poems or short stories submitted anywhere.

As for reading, I read parts of:

  • Sound and Form in Modern Poetry by Harvey Gross (paperback; non-fiction)
  • Call Us What We Carry by Amanda Gorman (hardcover; poetry)
  • Storyteller: 100 Poem Letters by Moran Harper Nichols (e-book; poetry)
  • A Poet’s Guide to Poetry by Mary Kinzie (paperback; non-fiction)
  • If Women Rose Rooted: The Power of the Celtic Woman by Sharon Blackie (audiobook; non-fiction)
  • The Sounds of Poetry: A Brief Guide by Robert Pinsky (paperback; non-fiction)

I finished reading:

  • The Green Man: Tales from the Mythic Forest edited by Ellen Datlow (e-book; fiction short stories)
  • The Wonder Engine (Clocktaur War #2) by T. Kingfisher (audiobook; fantasy)
  • Legends & Lattes (Legends & Lattes #1) by Travis Baldree (paperback; fantasy)
  • On the Spectrum: Autism, Faith, and the Gifts of Neurodiversity by Daniel Bowman, Jr. (e-book; non-fiction)

PS. It is totally do-able to read Legends and Lattes #1 AFTER you’ve read Legends and Lattes #2 (Bookshelves and Bonedust) if, like me, you didn’t know it was a series.

Music, My Own Personal Weirdness, poetry, Speaking, What I Love, Writing

Upcoming Speaking Engagement on March 10th, 2025

I have been rescheduled to speak at the March meeting of the East Texas Writer’s Guild on March 10, 2025. They meet from 6:30pm-8:00pm in the Genecov Room of the Tyler Area Chamber of Commerce Building (aka The Blackstone Building) in downtown Tyler. I’ll be speaking on Sounds in Poetry. Hope to see some of you there!

Books, My Own Personal Weirdness, My Writing, Organizing, poetry, Short Stories, Speaking, What I Love, Writing

January 2025 Stats

In January 2025, I wrote 9,847 words. Of those words,

  • 830 were for this blog (six posts)
  • 3121 were journal entries
  • 3149 were lessons, scripts, and slides (for one ODWG lesson)
  • 2045 were on various social media accounts
  • 151 were poetry (one poem)
  • and 651 were short stories (three pieces of flash fiction)

I sent off three poems and three short stories for publication, but haven’t heard back from any of them.

I also read parts of these books:

  • A Poet’s Guide to Poetry by Mary Kinzie (paperback; non-fiction)
  • Call Us What We Carry by Amanda Gorman (hardcover; poetry)
  • The Wonder Engine (Clocktaur War #2) by T. Kingfisher (audiobook; fantasy)
  • The Green Man: Tales from the Mystic Forest edited by Ellen Datlow (e-book; fiction short stories)

And finished these books:

  • The Wonder Boy of Whistle Stop by Fannie Flag (e-book; fiction)
  • Just Dying to Glamp by April Nunn Coker (e-book; mystery)
  • When She Returned by Lucinda Berry (e-book; thriller)
  • Peace is a Practice by Morgan Harper Nichols (e-book; non-fiction).

January is always a tricky month, I think. The first couple weeks are still half-way holidays and then there are a few random at-home days for my school-age kiddo as well. Which means that you don’t get a full month of writing days, but I managed to write at least a little something for 26 out of 31 days in any case. I think that’s pretty good. 🙂

Everywhere But Home, My Own Personal Weirdness, Speaking, Writing

Upcoming Speaking Engagement on February 10, 2025

I have been asked to speak at the February meeting of the East Texas Writer’s Guild on February 10, 2025. They meet from 6:30pm-8:00pm in the Genecov Room of the Tyler Area Chamber of Commerce Building (aka The Blackstone Building) in downtown Tyler. Hope to see some of you there!

Essays, Lifelong learning, My Own Personal Weirdness, poetry, Speaking, What I Love, Writing

Today’s Speaking Engagement

Today I’m giving a lesson on Sounds in Poetry over at the Tyler Public Library at 1pm in the Makerspace (behind the computer lab on the third floor). But don’t let that scare you away if you’re not a poet. I’m covering poetry, a little bit about songwriting, and how to use lyricism in your prose as well.

Hope to see you there!

Everywhere But Home, Lifelong learning, Speaking, Writing

Upcoming Speaking Engagement at the Open Door Writing Group – Day Group on January 22, 2025

I will be speaking at the Open Door Writing Group (at the Tyler Public Library) at 1pm on January 22nd on the topic of “Sounds in Poetry”.

If you think this sounds familiar, it’s because I’ve been talking about doing this lesson for about three years now, but we needed more poets in the audience. We have more poets now! 🙂 YAY!

Come on over and join us!

Open Door Writing Group

Around the House, Books, Lifelong learning, My Own Personal Weirdness, My Writing, Organizing, poetry, Short Stories, Speaking, Writing

Happy 2025!

I know, I know…you almost forgot I worked here. I have the usual excuses, all tied up with string, sitting under a cat somewhere. Last year was a doozy of a year, filled with all manner of distractions, procrastinations, and other sundry explosions of my life.

I’ve spent the last couple of days thinking about what my writing goals are for this year. One is to make my usual chart of what all I wrote last year, but that isn’t done yet because the transcribing isn’t done. So no numbers today. Maybe tomorrow. After I’ve written, of course.

I’m on the schedule with an editor for September, so my big goal is to finish the latest draft of my big epic fantasy novel and polish it up. This is the novel y’all have heard me refer to as Caro’s Quest in the past. I still need a better name for it, but that will come. 🙂

Smaller goals include finding homes for my poetry and short stories, finishing putting together my first poetry anthology, finishing my research on the best time to release it, and then publishing that anthology. I’m aiming for sending off at least one poem and one short story a week. We’ll see if that’s a manageable goal as time goes on and reassess after the first quarter is over.

I’m no longer on the board for the East Texas Writing Guild, nor my UU church board. Those were positive decisions for me, based on me needing more time to write. I’m continuing on as a moderator for the Open Door Writing Group at the Tyler Public Library for the foreseeable future, which means writing and giving a presentation for a monthly lesson about writing.

That’s about it, y’all. It’s my first day back at the writing desk. I’m planning on starting off all my weekdays from here on out at my writing desk, working on stories or poetry for the first half of every day before moving on to social media, lesson writing, and marketing in the afternoons.

Yay 2025! I hope this year will be so much better than the last. 🙂