Inspiration and Stuff

Dear Mom,

My posts may slow up as I’m going to school this semester. Learning web production, html and all that techy stuff and then with any luck at all, I’ll be creating a new look with my personal website: lynnobermoeller.com.  The “Dear Mom” may go bye-bye, although you’ll always be there in heart.

What I want to share with you has to do with another one of your creative grandchildren, Victoria. You know she’s a professor of music at Macalester College in St. Paul, MN, however, recently she has decided to share her own music with the universe. She started a blog where she will post a new song each week. The first song, “Hold On” brought me to tears—I cried like a baby. How could one not be moved by this piece? Go to Cool Awesome Whatever and listen for yourself. You won’t be disappointed. Scroll down to the first post - Welcome to my blog.

She already has a second song, "Why" posted. Thanks for sharing--it is more than cool awesome.

Last Saturday, I attended St. Louis Writers Guild’s (SLWG) monthly workshop, featuring Catherine Rankovic on essay writing. (You can check out more at her website BookEval.)  Talk about another cool awesome.... Because I journal daily—free writing—it wasn’t difficult for me to use Catherine’s approach in free writing an essay. I’ve decided rather than ramble and whine like I normally do in my journal, I’d step it up a few notches and write an essay every day. Thanks Catherine.

Beautiful people doing beautiful things, how's that for inspiration?

Writing Inspiration and Give Away!

In my previous blog Informational Highway, I talked about a cool calendar notebook called Bylines created by Sylvia Forbes. I’m here to announce that anyone who leaves a comment or signs up to follow me (if you're too shy to comment) will have their names put in a drawing to receive a copy of this awesome writing tool—Bylines! Oh, and I'll keep this open until February 5 and I'll announce the winner on February 6.

I thought I’d share a few more of my favorite writing tools, starting with the one that inspired my creativity some 18 years ago—The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron. I’ve recently picked up this book since all three of my kids just finished it. (You don’t have to be a writer to enjoy the benefits of this book.)

Some of my other favorites that get my juices flowing:

Escaping into the Open: The Art of Writing True by Elizabeth Berg
Old Friend from Far Away by Natalie Goldberg
What It Is by Lynda Barry
Your Book Starts Here by Mary Carroll Moore (This is the one I’m working with now.)

Bylines will help me to keep it all organized, along with inspiration from writers all over. January is almost over, but there are 11 more months to keep track of your goals… 11 more months to be inspired... this year anyway.

And you can start by submitting to Bylines and have a chance of being published in the 2013 calendar. Now that Bylines 2012 is out, Bylines 2013 is currently open for submissions. Deadline is March 1, and complete guidelines are at www.bylinescalendar.com.

Do you have favorite books that inspire you? I’d love to hear about them—and slip your name into the drawing!

Chicka Peeps aka WWWP

Dear Mom,

I meet with four incredibly talented writers. I've heard us called Chicka Peeps or WWWP (Wild Women Wielding Pens). Don’t you just love either name? I’m going to miss the next meeting (tonight, if I have managed to post this ahead of time and correctly) and it makes me sad. I don’t really know them all that well yet but I feel a kinship with them that opens my heart… and inspires me to write (better). Guess that’s what a good critique group does.

Here’s a few general things that I took away from the last meeting—first of all, I will never go straight to bed. I will stay up and write until I can’t hold the pen any longer. (I will be a real WWWP.) I tossed and turned so much when I went to bed after the last meeting and I didn’t even drink any caffeine. I must have been on a high of writing. My brain was like a runaway train. It jumped track, collided with other trains, chugged along processing information. I wanted to beat myself up for not taking advantage of this excess energy, however, there’s no more of that—beating myself up!

Linda inspired me to be more disciplined.
Sioux inspired me to change my attitude.
Tammy inspired me to use humor.
Beth inspired me to market myself.

All of these things are going to take some work on my part. These women have inspired me to have a more relaxed frame of mind. They have inspired me in more ways than I've expressed or that I can imagine. I will miss those WWWPCPs!

Kind of a Confession

Dear Mom,

Last night I went to Chesterfield Arts to listen to the winners of a writing contest that I had entered. I didn’t make the cut. After submitting, I had used an attitude of being positive, but I’m thinking my ego was so inflated that it ruptured something in my brain. Not only was I sure I was going to win first place, but I had submitted two pieces, and figured I would win second place as well. Just ask any of my friends and family, they’ll tell you. My stomach churns thinking about it.

The folks that read and won deserved to win. No doubt about it. I left humbled. I also left with that silly critic in my head that tells me (most of the time) to give it up—writing.

I know this voice, and struggle constantly to shoo it away. I tell myself, no, you have to keep trying, keep working at it, keep moving forward. I have to remind myself that on the day I was notified that I didn’t place in the contest, I was also notified that my piece, “Geoffrey” was accepted for publication in Storm Country Anthology. I tell myself, it’s okay.

I write because (as all writers know) I can’t NOT write.

The nonsense that rolls around in my head can cause me to cease showing anyone any writing.

After losing you 40 years ago, a piece of me fell off the planet. That missing piece keeps me grounded in a weird sort of way. For whatever reason I know it’s to help me—to always move forward, never give up, know that something good is around the corner no matter what kind of situation I’m in that causes me to change or my situation to change. Just like my friend Peat. Just like the ton of other people I read about. People I know, some I just know of. People I’m inspired by.

What would the world be like if every one gave up?

I’ll win some and I’ll lose some. I’ll struggle and it’ll flow. I'll think it's good and I'll think it stinks. But give up? Never. I'll die trying.