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It's the first Wednesday
of the month ~
the day when members of the
Insecure Writer's Support Group
share their writing struggles
and offer their encouragement
and support to other members.
To visit the IWSG website, click here.
To become a member of the IWSG, click here.
Our wonderful co-hosts who are stepping up to help IWSG founder Alex J. Cavanaugh are:
J.H. Moncrieff, Madeline Mora-Summonte, Jen Chandler, Megan Morgan, and Heather Gardner.
I hope you have a chance to visit them and thank them for co-hosting.
I'm sure they would appreciate an encouraging comment!
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Every month the IWSG announces a question
that members can answer with advice, insight,
a personal experience, or story in their IWSG posts.
Or, the question can inspire members
if they are struggling with something to say.
Remember, the question is optional!!!
This month's IWSG featured question is:
Did you ever say “I quit”?
If so, what happened to make you come back to writing?
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When it comes to writing, I have never said, "I quit."
Never, ever.
On occasion I have had to defer working on certain pieces,
but I have never quit one forever.
During the years that I was working, I had to put aside my goal
of writing my memoir about my family's time
in the North among the Ojibway people.
My career was all consuming, and I couldn't find
the time and energy to devote to such an undertaking.
But I am writing it now, slowly, but surely.
Memoir Writing: A Learning Process
One of Many Temporary Writing Spots
One of Many Temporary Writing Spots
Bullhead City, Arizona, USA
© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue
All Rights Reserved
When I said that my career was all consuming, it was no understatement.
It was slowly killing me, much as I loved teaching elementary children.
I retired early, thanks to the urging of my husband, my sister-in-law, and my siblings.
Heading in for My Last Day of Work
June 6, 2012
Aurora, Colorado, USA
Aurora, Colorado, USA
© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue
All Rights Reserved
When I woke up five years ago today on my first day of retirement,
I was mentally and physically exhausted.
I had often thought about waking up on that day,
but it wasn't like I had imagined: Whoo hoo! Freedom!
No, I was shot.
I went back to sleep and slept the better part of Day 1 and Day 2.
Tackling that deferred memoir was not #1 on the list.
The thought of it was terrifying.
I started with walking, with regaining my health.
I decided to walk to St. Anthony, Newfoundland
from Aurora, Colorado, metaphorically speaking,
by recording all my actual walks, day by day.
The Finish Line I'm Headed For
Me, St. Anthony, Newfoundland, Canada, July 2011
© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue
All Rights Reserved
As of last night, June 6, 2017,
I have walked 3,274.7 miles or 5,270 kilometers.
I'm about 1.7 miles shy of River of Ponds, Newfoundland,
with 140 miles to go to reach the finish line.
I'm closing in on St. Anthony!!!!!
Closing in on St. Anthony!!!!!
Blue Route, The Great Northern Peninsula, Newfoundland, Canada
Bullhead City, Arizona, December 15, 2016
© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue
If I can walk to St. Anthony, I can do anything!!!!!
I was retired for over five months before I confronted
the goal of writing my memoir. I began on November 27, 2012.
It has been a slog through the muskeg, and I've got a ways to go.
But I'll get there!
IWSG Reads:
This year I set a goal of reading at least five books
by fellow Insecure Writer's Support Group members.
This month I've read two more.
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| IWSG |
The first was the latest IWSG Anthology,
Hero Lost: Mysteries of Death and Life.
It has been great fun reading the stories
of authors I have come to know
through the IWSG.
I enjoyed each of the twelve stories in the anthology,
but I particularly connected with The Wheat Witch by Erika Bebee.
It has such a sense of place, and I have often found
my way into reading and writing through landscapes.
Kansas has a subtle beauty in all seasons,
and it was among the winter, stubbled, wheat fields of Kansas
that I began to come back to life after a devastating divorce.
I fell under the spell of the wheat witch as quickly as Ethan,
and remained in it after Ethan's return to life.
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| It's Rhyme Time |
The second was Pat Hatt's latest novel,
The Connective.
This is the third Pat Hat novel
that I've read,
and what I have learned for sure
is that his books are going to be a wild ride.
You have to let go of all expectations and hang on!
This is the story of Travis and Sally and their widowed mother
who move to a small community in rural Nova Scotia
to rebuild their lives after their tragic loss.
On the first evening a neighbor boy Billy taps on Travis's bedroom window
and whispers a sinister warning to Sally and him:
"Get out now ... Go before The Connective makes you a part of them."
Sally and Travis dismiss Billy's warning as a little weird,
but they are about to find out that their new town
is weirder than they could possibly imagine.
Overnight Sally and her mother are merged into The Connective,
and Travis discovers they are radically changed in the morning.
It is up to him, along with Billy and a few others who have not been merged,
to find a way to destroy the ancient power behind The Connective.
They all want to rescue their families and friends
and escape with their lives, which is easier said than done!
No Confusing the Two Sides in The Connective
Good Versus Evil ~ Jordan Fall: Deviant Art
The farther I got into The Connective the faster I read,
until I was racing through the final 50 or 60 pages.
Wild is an understatement,
but Pat captured how kids think
and how they tackle scary mysteries
with imagination, derring-do, and half-baked plans.
In their conversations, I heard echoes of words and idioms
from my own childhood in rural Nova Scotia,
and I was reminded of the wild escapades my brother and I got into.
If you, as a reader, have difficulty suspending disbelief
or have an inner Grammar Nazi, then this book may not be for you.
If Samuel Tayler Coleridge could suspend disbelief
in a fantastic tale for sheer enjoyment,
then it works for me ~ I like letting go for the ride.
And, after decades of teaching young kids
and communicating with my family's NexGen,
it's a relief to retire my inner Grammar Nazi.
English is in flux, and I'm in flux with it.
Pat is the most prolific writer I know,
and half the fun is seeing what on earth he is going to do next.
He knows no boundaries and enjoys tackling all sorts of genres
just for the fun and challenge of it.
Pat has a work ethic as a writer and blogger that doesn't quit,
and he has published dozens of books of all lengths, rhymed and unrhymed.
He doesn't agonize over the perfect sentence or the perfect subplot;
he's done and on to the next adventure.
I find it fascinating to watch Pat grow as a writer from book to book.
Guaranteed I'll be reading the next book in this series.
I can't resist the fun!
Happy writing in June!
Along Piney Creek
Where I Have Racked Up Hundreds of Miles
Walking to St. Anthony
Where I Have Racked Up Hundreds of Miles
Walking to St. Anthony
Aurora, Colorado, USA
© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue
All Rights Reserved