"Up and Over the Mountains"

"Newspaper Rock" in Colorado - subject of one of my poems

In addition to the essays I'm writing about the National Park trips we have made, I have also written some poems.  Originally they were in the same project, but late last year I decided to break out the poetry into a separate book, tentatively titled, "Up and Over the Mountains."

There will be 25 poems in the collection - to represent the 25 years we have spent travelling to the parks.

I'm going to publish this small chapbook myself in a limited edition - and may even do it by hand - sewing the pages together with some kind of special cord and picking out paper that I think would suit it.

This is the creative part of writing that I'm free to do when I don't have to worry about "getting published" by an outside publisher. It lets me celebrate not only my love of writing, but the textural feel of paper and thread and the patient hand-work of sewing each page together. I also plan to hand-insert photographs taken by my talented husband, with tissue paper to protect each image.

This should be another fun project that the two of us can tackle this summer.

Cure for Busy

"Page after Page" by Heather Sellers

Earlier this month I was moaning about being too busy and after I got to a certain point of feeling sorry for myself, I remembered a source to turn to - the wonderful writing book by Heather Sellers called "Page after Page."

This book was published in 2005 and I saw it by chance in the bookstore around that time and bought it. To my delight I found that Heather taught at Hope College, which is only a little over an hour away from the Box Factory for the Arts.

Through the Writers' Studio at the Box Factory, I have hired her to come teach classes twice.  She's fun, energetic and full of enthusiasm for writing.

Here's what she says about being busy:

Not being busy. That is the greatest, most fearless act we can commit. ... Being, and not distracting ourselves with the illusion of the power that is busy.

Every time you tell the world you are busy, you are saying to the universe: I need busy work because I am afraid. ... When you groove on the busy drug, you are qualifying yourself, perhaps, for a job you don't want.

Are you sick of saying you want a writing life, more time for writing when you keep not doing anything about it? ... You have to pick. And then support that choice with every fiber of your being - aka stop complaining.

I have read this little book several times since it joined my collection, and I'm grateful that I have it to bring me back down to Earth when I'm floating away.  If you are at all interested in carving out a writing life, I strongly recommend this book.

Manuscript Workshop

Tackett Family Rafting - 1999

I have been working on my collection of National Park essays for five years now. It covers a time period of 25 years - 1989 to 2013, so this is the year I will put the finishing touches on it.

I'm taking a Manuscript Workshop through Barbara Simpson's writing group, Sunset Coast Writers. There are four of us in the group, plus Barbara and I am workshopping this national park manuscript.

We meet on a Saturday afternoon every other week and I submit 10 pages of my manuscript for their critiques. So far I have submitted only material I already have written, while I work separately on a few more pieces that I have in the pipeline. I will also add work from our trip to Yosemite, Kings Canyon and Sequoia this summer before I call it done.

They have several great suggestions and almost universally want more information than I'm giving them.  Because of my current schedule and the fact that we only have about nine weeks before we head out to California, I'm not even going to try to take their suggestions for revision until this summer after we are back and I've tackled the new material I want to write.

Then, I anticipate a fun summer spreading out my notes and their notes and starting at the beginning and looking at it with fresh eyes.  My goal is to have it completely revised and ready to search for a publisher no later than October 1. We'll see how that works out. Goals are good.

Whining Writer

A wish for a quiet mind    (photo by Tom Tackett)

I'm finally in a situation where I can actually pursue my writing. My children are grown. I don't have to report to work anywhere. I have a dedicated studio space. I don't have tight deadlines to meet.  And yet, I find myself struggling to find the time to write.

I have no one but myself to blame. I'm involved with two organizations that need a lot of work done by volunteers. There are not so many volunteers to go around, and I can't seem to say no. And once I've said "yes" it's nearly impossible to back out of it.

So, then I get stuck in the place I am now. I really could work full-time doing busy work for these organizations and not spend a single hour all week long producing any kind of original writing. The truth is, I have done this more than I want to admit.

I try to schedule time for writing and tell myself I must take this seriously. But somehow life intrudes and I make no progress on things I want to accomplish.

  It's not just the actual hours needed for writing, it's the time I need when I'm not writing to have a quiet mind. To just observe and think and let the images percolate. That's what's missing when I'm so busy living a busy life.  Actually, I'm beginning to think I am sabotaging myself and this is just another way of procrastinating. If so, how do I make it stop?

Frosty View

For years I wanted a window in my writing studio and I finally got one in December when Tom and I moved into our new place on the third floor of the Box Factory for the Arts.

Unfortunately this view, which I'm sure is fabulous in the summer, is cold and frosty this time of year. It's a little chilling to look out and see snow flying and the icy water of the St. Joseph river flowing with slush in it.

But, cold or not, I'm working on three writing projects I'm determined to finish this year and perhaps having it be so fridgid outside just inspires me to stay put and not venture out.

Tom and I are anticipating a trip to California in June, which will be here before we know it and the view from this window will be much different. And if I can keep to schedule, I'll be nearing the completion of three writing projects I've been working on for five years.

New Studio, Finally!

Tom and I finally have our studio up and organized on the third floor of the Box Factory for the Arts in St. Joseph, Michigan. We have three windows in our studio, which is something I've wanted since I first took a studio here about 6 years ago. We moved in the first part of December



My side of the studio

Although I really liked my old studio, it was dark and had become chock-full of stuff to the point where I had to apologize for the mess to everyone who came in and I found it almost impossible to work there.

Tom's side of the studio

This studio is light, bright and organized - this is how I plan to accomplish so much this year.

New Year Update

I haven't written for a while, mostly because Blogger had an issue where they would not let me upload a photo from my computer. Evidently that has been fixed, so I can update with this illustration of me holding my latest grandson, Weston, born January 27.

As for my writing goals for the year - they are pretty simple - but work intensive at the same time.

Novel:
I plan to finish the novel I've been working on for five years - working title "Copper top" - by the end of July. Then I'll let it sit for August, before beginning rewrites. By the end of the year I hope to be able to shop it around to agents.

National Park Essays:
I have also been working on this project for five years, but I'm very close to being done.  I plan to finish this collection of essays I'm writing about Tom and my travels to the western national parks after our trip to Yosemite in June. I'm in a manuscript critique group and I'm running this project through that workshop.
By this fall I'll be ready to look for a publisher. The title: "Canyons Calling, Michiganders Exploring the West."

National Park Poems:
I originally thought I would include poetry in the above project, but this year I decided it would be better as a completely different project. Once again, I will finish this project after we return from Yosemite and self-publish in the fall. Tentative title: "Heading to the Canyons."

And that's it! Three long term projects done so I can move on to other projects percolating in my brain.