Happy New Year! 'Sweet 16', we're calling it in Australia!
Be nice and pay them a visit!
I'll just remind you of the two fabulous romantic February Blogfests coming up--the Lost and Found on February 1, and the WEP Valentines on February 17. Eyes right. See my sidebar? The pretty badges. Click here to see my post about them if you missed it.
Now I meant to slowly ease my way back into blogging in 2016 but that intention was quickly wiped away with Arlee's invitation to help out with the Lost and Found blogfest, then I'd already promised Alex I'd help in the IWSG. So, bang!
I've been around and read lots of posts in the last few days, and of course so many are about New Year's Resolutions. I used to make them, but quickly learned that they don't have legs (or willpower), so I gave up. But I read a great article recently which asked us to think about what we're doing with these resolutions.
NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTIONS
Apparently, in this order, our 5 biggest concerns are: losing weight, getting organised, spending less, enjoying life to the full, getting fit.
Signs of insecurity?
Nothing wrong with any of those resolutions. Self improvement is an intrinsic human goal. But how about instead of making it all about us, let's make a resolution to put ourselves last. (Well, ha ha, many women, especially mothers, have been doing that for generations, but you get my drift?)
Let's find one new thing to do. I agree. The world looks hopeless at the moment, but we must never give up hope. The media paints a bleak picture and we feel so small, so insignificant...what can we do to help?
We can feel so insecure about our lack of charity.
Will our few paltry dollars really help those starving kids in our city or town or village, in war zones, in dysfunctional homes? What about the people who've lost their homes and livelihoods in floods, droughts, fires or earthquakes? Plenty of that going around at the moment. In Australia, we can go to our banks and donate directly to these causes and no doubt your country has its ways and means. Finding some way to help those struck with misfortune makes us feel so much better, give us so much more hope.
And as writers, we can use the Power of the Pen to make a difference in this world. We are good listeners, observers. We can entertain. We can offer hope. We can offer solutions. We can tell the world what we've learned.
Be insecure about our writing style, or writing process, or the amount of time we spend at the computer. But never feel insecure about what we can give to the writing community and the larger community.
GREAT BLOG POSTS I'VE SEEN IN THE PAST COUPLE OF DAYS
If you haven't already read it, Kirsten Lamb has posted an excellent article on writers getting paid and how we can help this happen.
Then after I finished one best seller, reading the Acknowledgements I saw this author had, like a gazillion people working with her to make her book amazing. As indies we don't have this help. I think we need more than a couple of betas, critique partners and a couple of paid edits. How can we make this better?
Here's an article comparing modern writers to the great writers of old.
A GREAT WRITING OPPORTUNITY
Damyanti at Daily Write has been publicizing a great writing opportunity. The Forge Literary Magazine is actively seeking submissions now! Stories under 3,000 words preferably and they love flash fiction as long as it is literary. Check them out!
I'm done. I hope you enjoy reading the posts today.
Today is a special IWSG day as the winners of the IWSG Anthology Contest are announced. Thanks to everyone who entered. You'll want to get around and read lots of posts, so thank you for coming by. I won't keep you long.
Helping Alex with the commenting this week are the co-hosts for January:
 |
| Click here to read more of the 260 blogs signed up |
L.G. Keltner http://lgkeltner.blogspot.com/
Denise Covey http://dencovey.blogspot.com/
Sheri Larsen http://www.salarsenbooks.com/
J.Q. Rose http://www.jqrose.com/
Chemist Ken http://hogwartssabbatical.
Michelle Wallace http://www.writer-in-transit.
Be nice and pay them a visit!
Now I meant to slowly ease my way back into blogging in 2016 but that intention was quickly wiped away with Arlee's invitation to help out with the Lost and Found blogfest, then I'd already promised Alex I'd help in the IWSG. So, bang!
I've been around and read lots of posts in the last few days, and of course so many are about New Year's Resolutions. I used to make them, but quickly learned that they don't have legs (or willpower), so I gave up. But I read a great article recently which asked us to think about what we're doing with these resolutions.
NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTIONS
Apparently, in this order, our 5 biggest concerns are: losing weight, getting organised, spending less, enjoying life to the full, getting fit.
Signs of insecurity?
Nothing wrong with any of those resolutions. Self improvement is an intrinsic human goal. But how about instead of making it all about us, let's make a resolution to put ourselves last. (Well, ha ha, many women, especially mothers, have been doing that for generations, but you get my drift?)
Let's find one new thing to do. I agree. The world looks hopeless at the moment, but we must never give up hope. The media paints a bleak picture and we feel so small, so insignificant...what can we do to help?
We can feel so insecure about our lack of charity.
Will our few paltry dollars really help those starving kids in our city or town or village, in war zones, in dysfunctional homes? What about the people who've lost their homes and livelihoods in floods, droughts, fires or earthquakes? Plenty of that going around at the moment. In Australia, we can go to our banks and donate directly to these causes and no doubt your country has its ways and means. Finding some way to help those struck with misfortune makes us feel so much better, give us so much more hope.
And as writers, we can use the Power of the Pen to make a difference in this world. We are good listeners, observers. We can entertain. We can offer hope. We can offer solutions. We can tell the world what we've learned.
Be insecure about our writing style, or writing process, or the amount of time we spend at the computer. But never feel insecure about what we can give to the writing community and the larger community.
GREAT BLOG POSTS I'VE SEEN IN THE PAST COUPLE OF DAYS
If you haven't already read it, Kirsten Lamb has posted an excellent article on writers getting paid and how we can help this happen.
Then after I finished one best seller, reading the Acknowledgements I saw this author had, like a gazillion people working with her to make her book amazing. As indies we don't have this help. I think we need more than a couple of betas, critique partners and a couple of paid edits. How can we make this better?
Here's an article comparing modern writers to the great writers of old.
A GREAT WRITING OPPORTUNITY
Damyanti at Daily Write has been publicizing a great writing opportunity. The Forge Literary Magazine is actively seeking submissions now! Stories under 3,000 words preferably and they love flash fiction as long as it is literary. Check them out!
I'm done. I hope you enjoy reading the posts today.
