The Writing Life: My Outdoor Room
Envious? Don’t be. Usually it’s raining.
It’s a glorious afternoon here in greater Portland (Oregon) where I live.
So I’ve taken the laptop out to my summer office.
Isn’t this ideal?
Well…yes and no. I still have to work.
My students will smile to see the yellow composition book.
Yes, that’s a timer clipped on the cover. I still use both, just like in class.
When the going gets tough, I follow Barbara Baig’s advice and write for 10 minutes without stopping. It’s like priming the idea pump.
Bottom line, writing never gets any easier.
Even in Paradise.
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About Me
It began with the Internet. And Jane Austen.
Talk about an unlikely combination!
Jane Austen’s Persuasion provided the inspiration as I wrote and posted serialized stories. To keep readers coming back for more, I developed my signature style: intertwined plots, cliffhangers, and laugh-out-loud humor.
The comedy I come by naturally in my job as a teacher—there’s never a dull moment with teens!
I’ve been stirred, but not shaken.
These days I am working on the fourth Mercy’s book. Regrettably, I share too many personality traits with Jane Austen’s opinionated Elizabeth Elliot … and also with Mary Musgrove, the queen of procrastination and complaints!
In case you’re wondering, my fiction is for everyone, even teens.
Have you discovered Mercy’s Embrace?
My books are available in print and ebook versions at most on-line booksellers, such as Amazon and Barnes & Noble
Around the web …
I share a lively blog with my writing pals at Jane Started It!
Follow me on Facebook and Twitter
Reviews of my books are here.
Websites: MercysEmbrace.com and LauraHile.com
… and here at home
I live in the Pacific Northwest with my husband and three sons. And I love cats, but I’m too busy to have one. Which is pretty sad.
I should just say “No” to NaNo, but …
New Friends, New Stories
So Rough a Course
So Lively a Chase
The Lady Must Decide
My Rooting Squad
I love it! It looks beautiful there.
The jounaling class I took last year had us writing every day with a timer. I should start doing that again. It was really was helpful.
I must confess, I used the “magazine photo shoot” strategy and piled in all the nicest flowering plants. There isn’t enough light in my shady grotto to keep them alive! But it makes a nice picture.
Thanks, Candy! It’s 78 degrees, 47% humidity … perfect.
Usually it rains.
As for the timer, something happens when one is forced to keep writing—anything that comes to mind—without stopping. At about the five minute mark, the creative brain begins emptying out. All kinds of ideas, conversations, plot twists come boiling out. Things I never knew were in there!
Kudos to you for journaling. When I’ve tried that, my inner Mary Musgrove speaks. It’s all complaints and whining!
Haha…Well, the jounaling fell by the wayside, but the class did help me learn that I can write!
Hardest part is getting started.
And now that you blog, you have a healthy appreciation for the time people put in. Just for the love of it.
The timer would drive me nuts, and I would stomp on it. I hated metronomes with a passion, and timers remind me of them.
Ah, but you are not a sloth like I am, Robin.
And it doesn’t tick. That would drive me nuts.
I hated metronomes too—and the glaring bust of Beethoven that sat at eye level to my right. (What is it about pianos and Beethoven?) Another reminder that I could not (would not) read music. I have a sharp memory and would duplicate what the piano teacher played.